Attendance Tracker

[Parkscope Joe]

Are you saying New Fantasyland did not increase park capacity? I thought I remembered quotes from Disney saying they built it not to compete with HP but rather to expand park capacity since so many more people went to that park than the other WDW parks.

Avatar is taking over Camp Minnie Mickey. With the relocation of Festival of the Lion King that also looks like an increase in capacity. The night offerings allow more people to ride and see attractions

It's taking over lost capacity from 20k, skyway, Snow White, reduced capacity with Monsters Inc, etc.

I am quite sure that Everest increased capacity... I will agree with you that they haven't done much since until starting very recently. I just wish WDI wouldn't waste so much money doing it. Is there even a VP of WDI???

Uhhhh I thought Dinorama was after Everest. Oops brain fart.

 

[MillenniumDragons]

Pretty sure Animal Kingdom was the city zoo until April 2006.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

It's taking over lost capacity from 20k, skyway, Snow White, reduced capacity with Monsters Inc, etc.

Most of those have been gone for a while so I did not think about them. Looking at it over time they were just replacing lost capacity.

 

[SeventyOne]

I will say the expansion parking lots (over Richard Petty track) seem a waste--didn't come close to using them Sunday or Tuesday.

 

[epcyclopedia]

Eh, the weekend of the 4th isnt all that busy typically.

It's viewed as more of a "let's go to the family picnic" holiday - like how Thanksgiving is a "let's eat turkey with the family" holiday.

It's summer so it is busy, but it's not a direct "omFg it's New Year's Eve let's go to F'ing EPCOT!" type allure.

Also, redistribution of crowds to slower periods had played a part in generally quieter times over the whole summer. So instead of it being dead-dead for other parts of the year (early January being the lone holdout left) the crowds don't fluctuate much outside of these major OMuhGAWD! holidays.

 

[Disneyhead]

Eh, the weekend of the 4th isnt all that busy typically.

It's viewed as more of a "let's go to the family picnic" holiday - like how Thanksgiving is a "let's eat turkey with the family" holiday.

It's summer so it is busy, but it's not a direct "omFg it's New Year's Eve let's go to F'ing EPCOT!" type allure.

Also, redistribution of crowds to slower periods had played a part in generally quieter times over the whole summer. So instead of it being dead-dead for other parts of the year (early January being the lone holdout left) the crowds don't fluctuate much outside of these major OMuhGAWD! holidays.

I don't know what you're talking about, this year was the first time in 15 years that none of the WDW parks had phased closings on the 4th. Usually, the 4th is one of the single busiest days of the year.

Not this year. Instead of phased closings they had a 30 min. wait for Space Mtn. right before the fireworks started.

This is unprecedented in WDW's history.

 

[epcyclopedia]

When large swaths of the park are closed, yes, it will redirect guests to the other parks when the parking lot is only 3/4 full

 

[Mad Dog]

I was reading Disneyhead's posts on Magic concerning the declining attendance. The thread's only a few days old & it's up to apx. 25 pages already. Anyway, Disneyhead said the WDW attendance since April has declined, get this, at the astounding rate of 30%, and that didn't include the poor July 4 holiday period drop. He said Team Disney Orlando is panicking. Universal's 2% drop is just a trickle compared to that.

 

[epcyclopedia]

30% would trigger massive layoffs.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

I was reading Disneyhead's posts on Magic concerning the declining attendance. The thread's only a few days old & it's up to apx. 25 pages already. Anyway, Disneyhead said the WDW attendance since April has declined, get this, at the astounding rate of 30%, and that didn't include the poor July 4 holiday period drop. He said Team Disney Orlando is panicking. Universal's 2% drop is just a trickle compared to that.

That is extraordinary. If it is mainly due to the Orlando tragedies then it should rebound. If not, then they have a huge problem. My first inclination other than on site resort deals is them throwing more Frozen at the problem. Not sure how much more Frozen they can do.

Hotel deals have always worked in the past. The worse the problem the bigger the deal. Disney has always been willing to sacrifice resort profit for attendance numbers. What they have almost never been willing to do was discount tickets for non-Florida residents. For those who do live in the state some good deals are likely to pop up.

 

[epcyclopedia]

If it was due to the "Orlando tradgedies" it would effect Universal. It hasn't.

 

[Mad Dog]

That is extraordinary. If it is mainly due to the Orlando tragedies then it should rebound. If not, then they have a huge problem. My first inclination other than on site resort deals is them throwing more Frozen at the problem. Not sure how much more Frozen they can do.

Hotel deals have always worked in the past. The worse the problem the bigger the deal. Disney has always been willing to sacrifice resort profit for attendance numbers. What they have almost never been willing to do was discount tickets for non-Florida residents. For those who do live in the state some good deals are likely to pop up.

The steep decline started in April according to Dave (Disneyhead), plus they were down during the first quarter of 2016 (per Disney). Methinks they have a problem.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

If it was due to the "Orlando tradgedies" it would effect Universal. It hasn't.

Since one of the tragedies was on Disney properties I would assume it is hitting them a lot harder. Disney continues to get bad press on this. Fences go up, signs go up, gator references removed, Jungle Cruise changed, two gators involved, and on and on in headlines I have seen almost every day and I don't live in Florida.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

The steep decline started in April according to Dave (Disneyhead), plus they were down during the first quarter of 2016 (per Disney). Methinks they have a problem.

Part of it could be so many projects that will not be done for one or more years are inspiring people to skip WDW until they finish rebuilding it.

In the end it sounds like a host of problems, many of their own making, are forming a perfect storm at the House of Mouse.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

Anyone know if attendance is down at Disney among locals?

 

[Galaxy Defender]

I was doing some reading on tourism. Over one third of Brazilians travelling to the US go to Orlando. Going to WDW is a dream of most Brazilian children. Wald Disney himself made a trade trip down there to drum up interest. The economy down there is in really bad shape. The Olympics doesn't help. WDW really counts on those Brazilian tour groups.

UK visitors were the biggest foreign visitors to WDW until Brazil overtook them a little over a decade ago. The Brexit decision badly hurt the British pound, but that impact has not been felt much yet in Orlando. There are numerous businesses in the Kissimmee/Orlando area that specifically cater to British tourists.

 

[Mad Dog]

I was doing some reading on tourism. Over one third of Brazilians travelling to the US go to Orlando. Going to WDW is a dream of most Brazilian children. Wald Disney himself made a trade trip down there to drum up interest. The economy down there is in really bad shape. The Olympics doesn't help. WDW really counts on those Brazilian tour groups.

UK visitors were the biggest foreign visitors to WDW until Brazil overtook them a little over a decade ago. The Brexit decision badly hurt the British pound, but that impact has not been felt much yet in Orlando. There are numerous businesses in the Kissimmee/Orlando area that specifically cater to British tourists.

It'll take a while for the Brexit effects to take effect. The Brits generally get vacation packages long in advance. Brazil & most of South America is in one of their most typical down economies. Those years of good economies in Brazil were an aberration( this is bad for Sea World also, since, by their own reports, 33% of their attendance is foreign visitors). They're (Brazil) back to normal (poor economic performances) now. But as both of us and others have stated the last few days, it's probably the "perfect storm" of all the bad stuff catching up with Disney, ie. price gouging, deterioration of the theme park experience, little new attraction investment, My Magic, too much planning required for vacations, variable pricing, staff cuts, upcharge fees for just about everything, entertainment cuts and the like. Even if the attendance shortfall was only half of what Disneyhead is saying, it would still be a disaster. I just hope the Disney Execs don't do their typical knee jerk reaction and cut staffing more and cost engineer the Star Wars & Toy Story expansions.....I think this summer will be the pits for Disney. They'll probably level off a bit in the fall since their festivals & MK events bring a lot of locals to the parks. Next winter 2017 & spring 2017 will be interesting to watch to see Disney's reaction & possible rebound or not. Avatar will help next summer, but the problems are pretty deep, so it might just be a band aid.

 

[Disneyhead]

Part of it could be so many projects that will not be done for one or more years are inspiring people to skip WDW until they finish rebuilding it.

In the end it sounds like a host of problems, many of their own making, are forming a perfect storm at the House of Mouse.

This^^^^

And Fall's prebookings are stronger than this Summer's because of the new AP Summer blackout dates, MNSSHP, F&W, and MVMCP. But they have dropped off the map in Jan.'17 and beyond.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

This^^^^

And Fall's prebookings are stronger than this Summer's because of the new AP Summer blackout dates, MNSSHP, F&W, and MVMCP. But they have dropped off the map in Jan.'17 and beyond.

Fall's prebookings are stronger than Summer's???

Still, it could be that the real pain is yet to come

 

[epcyclopedia]

I still havent seen any proof that this is actually the case.