2) They screwed over the AP base. I even heard talk of them wanting to remove APs altogether! They purposely weeded out their AP base by removing parking privileges out of fear of overcrowding. When FJ was a walk on later on grand opening day, guess who they crawled back to?
Damn, I had totally forgotten about all the AP fiascos. But I do think you're right, in that it was tied to what they expected to happen for WWOHP. On reflection, their business and crowd control
intentions were in the right place, but the execution and what ended up happening didn't help them.
Watch though, the turn out for SW:GE will be much greater at Disneyland than at Hollywood Studios. Only because it beats the opening by 6months. But the turnout will still be great in Hollywood studios since it will only be 6 months and not 6years.
Yes, and not only will it be because Disney will be beating out Hollywood Studios, but also because of Disney's insane AP fanbase, which Hollywood Studios lacks. Really, Disney is already unpleasant (crowd control-wise) now; I can't even imagine how terrible it'll be with GE. Which is a pity, because I do believe that GE will be an amazing addition to the park... but I figure the crowds will be so insane, that I'm probably not really going to enjoy it simply because it won't be worth fighting the hoards of insane Disney fans that have to be "first". Part of me is honestly surprised there aren't already people camping out to be in line for it. Like, I'm not kidding about that. If Disney allowed them to camp now, you know people would already be doing so.
USH is already overcrowded, if it goes over 10 million without substantial expansion of areas to fit crowds I can see this preventing it from overtaking Florida in total attendance.
Honestly, they should be moving right now to do a expansion of Jurassic Parking structure and a hotel (to the vein of The Park from USJ), because they need the hotel seats and the parking space to accommodate the western debut of Super Nintendo World.
Well, they already have the ET parking structure, which, except in a few rare instances so far, isn't being used to it's full capacity. I think at least parking-wise, they're pretty set for a while. A hotel would be nice. And expansion would be nice, but the question is, how do they do that? This park has a lot more constraints to its available land; they have to work around functional studios, existing attractions, the hilly geography, and the nearby residents. That's quite a juggling act. It's one thing to state that problem--it's another to propose a solution.
Knott's Berry Farm is now a TOP 10 park in North America! This means that all the parks in the top 10 are in either California or Florida.
I have noticed Knott's is getting busier. Which is a mixed blessing. I am actually pretty happy for Knott's... for a very long time, it's been largely regarded as Disney's step-child. It's really great to finally see it come into it's own.
At the same time, much like Disneyland, the days of low crowds and being able to just walk on to most rides (a reputation it enjoyed for most of my life) are quickly fading away. Such is the price of success, but it does find a way for us to keep coming back with it's events (mostly the Boysenberry and Peanuts Festival) which are so much more full of heart and energy than the seemingly corporate and cold-feeling money grabs at the DCA food festivals.