I think what's throwing me as far as the theory that they're intentionally slow walking people through the lines... how does that benefit Disney? If they're trying to even out the crowds, why would they intentionally make it unappealing to go during the "down" times? Why would people take their kids out of school or risk freezing weather if they know it's going to be just as hard if not harder to get around the parks? And why would they want to entice more people to start going at time when they already know they don't have the capacity even going full tilt. And how does intentionally giving people a bad experience make sense when there are at least 3 other major theme parks less than an hour and a half away? (Universal, Busch Gardens, and Sea World) It would be one thing if they were the only game in town, but they're not. Maybe I just don't understand...it doesn't make sense to me.
Well for one thing, Disney is untouchable. No matter what they do, people come. They raise prices, the crowds are crazy busy, the food has gone downhill, reports of parks being dirty etc. NOTHING and I mean NOTHING they do will deter crowds. Sure some will be "one and done" type guests, but so many people are hooked and keep going and going and going no matter what they do. I see folks on these boards and IRL who go multiple times a year. It's like a drug.
Disney can do things like charge too much, give sub-par service and sub-par food, and people will smile and open their wallets, no price is too high it seems. And yes, I know that kind of stuff is subjective, some will eat a meal and declare it delicious, others can eat the same meal and say it's garbage, but I'm just using examples of things I have read on these boards. Same thing with service. Peoples opinions vary.
We still go because we still have fun, but when the day comes that it's not fun anymore, we will stop. The crowds are getting close to my breaking point. I think part of it is the "old timers" like me can remember when it truly was slow. I am talking years and years ago. We used to go in Feb and everything, and I mean everything was a walk on. We have photos of us on Main St. and there are about ten people there. Plenty of room to move around, no lines etc. You never waited more than about ten minutes for anything. That is a thing of the past, and it's great from a business point of view, but not so much from a guest perspective.
So many of the things people complain about are due to large crowds. Take food quality, when trying to feed such a massive amount of people, the quality is going to go down, it just is. Same with park cleanliness, it is hard for cleaning staff to keep up with the volume of people going in and out of the bathrooms, the parks etc. But it is the way Disney seems to be going, quantity over quality. And it seems clear they are trying to even out crowds so it's always busy.