Are things awful or awesome at Disney parks? You decide

Trying to follow what is happening at Disney’s theme parks right now is like watching the old Akira Kurosawa film “Rashomon.” Everyone has a different story.

To Wall Street investors, Disney represents a COVID-19 comeback fairy tale. Guests are returning to the parks and spending more per person than ever, driving the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products segment to its second-best quarter ever, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in a conference call with investors this month.

The parks segment reported operating income of $2.45 billion for the final three months of 2021, on revenue of $7.23 billion. That beat the profit that Disney showed for its theme parks for the comparable period in 2019, just before the pandemic closed businesses around the world, including Disney’s parks and resorts. At Disney, the COVID-19 recovery appears nearly complete. For leading Disney through perhaps its greatest economic challenge, Chapek is Wall Street’s hero.

To many vocal Disney fans online, however, Disney’s theme parks are broken. Free Fastpasses are gone, replaced by pay-to-play Lightning Lanes.

Required reservations mean no more spur-of-the-moment visits to the parks. Getting something to eat from Disney’s understaffed kitchens means waiting in long queues to order or to pick up food.

These visitors say they are not spending more per person out of love for the parks. They’re being squeezed by a company that is working to monetize every moment of a Disney visit. To many of Disney’s most outspoken fans, Chapek is the worst Disney villain yet.

The stories vary within the parks as well. Disney’s attendance and guest spending would not continue to grow as they are if a Disneyland or Walt Disney World visit felt like the hellscape that some critical fans describe. Many fans are enjoying being back. Disney’s theme park attractions remain industry-leading classics.

Even at $15-$20 a day, the Disney Genie Plus upgrade to use most Lightning Lanes is less than what other theme parks charge for their line-skipping plans. But even Chapek has acknowledged that Disney has had trouble staffing its kitchens, creating long waits for food that frustrate everyone.

Talking with cast members, most expressed thanks to be back at work. A handful of selfish guests make things difficult, but that’s a long-established part of working in any customer service job. Everyone is struggling with life outside the parks, however, as corporate profit-taking drives inflation and hedge funds try to corner the real estate market, pricing working people out of mortgages and even rents.

Big investors are thrilled, as are some customers with the cash to buy a better experience inside the parks. Other fans feel frustrated with changes to a system that they had mastered before. Workers are enjoying being back in demand but continue to struggle in an everchanging economy.

As I said, everyone has a different story. What is happening now at Disneyland and Walt Disney World just illustrates America’s uneven “Rashomon recovery” from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Robert Niles covers theme parks worldwide as the editor of Themeparkinsider.com.

JEFF GRITCHEN — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Disney Co. CEO Bob Chapek, shown in June, has overseen a rebound from the pandemic in which the company recorded one of its best quarters last year.