Attendance Tracker

[Scott W.]

I can’t help but wonder if Disney cares about a potential attendance decrease.

It seems like Disney is slowly trying to shift their core clientele. Instead of going after middle class families, they’re going after upper-middle-class families with more disposable income.

That group of people is smaller, but they’ll pay more. Attendance will go down, revenue will go up. Since there’s less people in the park, the parks can be staffed less which means less expenses.

If that’s true, I don’t know what that would mean for Disney long term.

I think this is exactly what they’re trying to do and they’ve been doing it at DL for a few years. I think this saying is overdone but relevant here: Walt would be rolling in his grave.

 

[NuteGunrayWasFramed]

I can’t help but wonder if Disney cares about a potential attendance decrease.

It seems like Disney is slowly trying to shift their core clientele. Instead of going after middle class families, they’re going after upper-middle-class families with more disposable income.

That group of people is smaller, but they’ll pay more. Attendance will go down, revenue will go up. Since there’s less people in the park, the parks can be staffed less which means less expenses.

If that’s true, I don’t know what that would mean for Disney long term.

I can vouch for some of this. I grew up in an upper-class Disney family. Every trip was a deluxe resort (usually the GF), deluxe dining plan, and whatever we wanted for souvenirs. We were definitely privileged in that regard. We spent WAY more money on our vacations than any other families that I knew and have come to known. I think we can see them making this shift with hotels, as well. They aren't building value resorts anymore. They're building DVC, expanding what is becoming THE convention hotel (Coronado), and renovating deluxe resort rooms to the new "tone down the theme" motif. I say this, and it is controversial, but Disney has become the premium theme park experience...people are going to have to pay premium prices. Disney doesn't mind blocking out a portion of the population if that means the people with more money, feel like they're getting more of their money's worth.

 

[SailwiththeTide]

Well you cannot buy your way into the front of the line like you can at Universal.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Well you cannot buy your way into the front of the line like you can at Universal.

In a way people kinda do... Fastpasses for the more popular attractions have become a "buy a hotel room and you won't have to wait an hour" type situation.

 

[Scott W.]

Well you cannot buy your way into the front of the line like you can at Universal.

Yup, you can. Look up the VIP tour.

 

[NuteGunrayWasFramed]

Yup, you can. Look up the VIP tour.

Also, club level allows the extra fee option for 3 extra fastpasses 90 days out.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

There’s no real pre SWGE slump of people postponing trips to rude. If anything that’ll be in 2019 not now from my random anecdotal evidence. Also LOL pre Pandora slump.

 

[twebber55]

There’s no real pre SWGE slump of people postponing trips to rude. If anything that’ll be in 2019 not now from my random anecdotal evidence. Also LOL pre Pandora slump.

nobody said WDW had a pre pandora slump LOL at least not me
you re crazy if you think some people arent holding off on a disney trip
may not be the only reason but a reason none the less
same thing happened to Universal pre 2010

 

[Disneyhead]

nobody said WDW had a pre pandora slump LOL at least not me
you re crazy if you think some people arent holding off on a disney trip
may not be the only reason but a reason none the less
same thing happened to Universal pre 2010

What I'm hearing a lot of is "since Disney has become soooo expensive, we are holding off until SW:GE opens." So I do think we are in the pre-Big Thing slump.

 

[Mad Dog]

What I'm hearing a lot of is "since Disney has become soooo expensive, we are holding off until SW:GE opens." So I do think we are in the pre-Big Thing slump.

or....heard at random....."since Disney has become sooooo expensive, we are holding off until hell freezes over"...................................................................................................I made that up.

 

[Suprachica79]

or....heard at random....."since Disney has become sooooo expensive, we are holding off until hell freezes over"...................................................................................................I made that up.

...are you listening in on my conversations now?? #bigbrother #terrified

 

[GadgetGuru]

There’s no real pre SWGE slump of people postponing trips to rude. If anything that’ll be in 2019 not now from my random anecdotal evidence. Also LOL pre Pandora slump.

What do you think will happen when SW:GE opens? Do you think they’ll be a bump or that Disney will view it as a success?

 

[bob albert]

I did enjoy staying at Disney, it's a far better experience than staying off site, the buses are usually far quicker than driving and being able to drink in the parks is a nice bonus. The FP and ADR is a nice bonus too and I fear that it's now essential when visiting WDW to stay on site because of that but my biggest gripe besides the crazy pricing is just the size of WDW. It's great having all that space but it's overkill. That's why I started to feel trapped within Disney even though I could easily leave.

The best example I can think of is if you're in the MK and you leave at the end of the night and you're hungry. You don't have a lot of cheap options for food nor do you have the ability to get good food because the places within MK are all fully booked. So you go Disney Springs on a bus which can take 30mins or an hour depending on how busy it is and then you have the same issues all over again plus you have get a bus back to hotel.

Compare this to Universal where you leave the park and you're straight into CityWalk with a great selection of dining at reasonable prices plus all the quick service places on top of it. DL has the same set up and might actually be better because in 5mins you're out the bubble completely.

I used to be a big proponent on staying on site at disney, but what used to be a secret to get ahead has become a loophole be it checking later for fast passes or reservations. I would only stay on site for the extra magic hours but they have been largely cut over the last few years and I may as well stay offsite and pay for up charge parties with the difference.

 

[SailwiththeTide]

Yup, you can. Look up the VIP tour.

I Meant without a baby sitter. Folp would be a game changer

 

[bob albert]

What do you think will happen when SW:GE opens? Do you think they’ll be a bump or that Disney will view it as a success?

What is most likely to happen is a combination of hype, extremely delayed guest spending, and lack of otherwise investments will lead to possibly the the greatest Disney bump ever. I think this is unlike the potter bump in that the spending was already high at Disney and after the initial Disney extraction things will normalize a bit, but initial spending is going to be nuts.

 

[Scott W.]

What I'm hearing a lot of is "since Disney has become soooo expensive, we are holding off until SW:GE opens." So I do think we are in the pre-Big Thing slump.

I've only heard this directly from one person which is a shame because they saved up for two years to head back to Orlando next summer to go to Star Wars just after it's opened....

 

[JungleSkip]

What is most likely to happen is a combination of hype, extremely delayed guest spending, and lack of otherwise investments will lead to possibly the the greatest Disney bump ever. I think this is unlike the potter bump in that the spending was already high at Disney and after the initial Disney extraction things will normalize a bit, but initial spending is going to be nuts.

Until I see some merch, I have serious doubts that SWGE will increase spending like WWOHP did. HP had stuff you could never get before. SW merch is so pervasive that I’m not sold that the same kind of bump is possible.

 

[Scott W.]

Until I see some merch, I have serious doubts that SWGE will increase spending like WWOHP did. HP had stuff you could never get before. SW merch is so pervasive that I’m not sold that the same kind of bump is possible.

That's a good point. HP merchandise was relatively rare in general before it showed up in Universal compared to Star Wars which is every where and already in DHS.

I think the better merchandise sales comparison would be between SWGE and after Diagon opened.

 

[UAN17]

That's a good point. HP merchandise was relatively rare in general before it showed up in Universal compared to Star Wars which is every where and already in DHS.

I think the better merchandise sales comparison would be between SWGE and after Diagon opened.

I think after Pandora and the Banshee puppets which they couldn’t keep stocked fast enough, there’s no way they’re not going to have a few new high priced must have items.

It’s a tricky one though. They could upgrade the lightsabers but I see that being a massive logical, customer relations type nightmare. They’ve called it the most interactive land created, and there’s going to be things you need to buy to trigger this imo...which everyone will want. Might even incorporate it into the next film on purpose.

 

[NuteGunrayWasFramed]

I think after Pandora and the Banshee puppets which they couldn’t keep stocked fat enough, there’s no way they’re not going to have a few new high priced must have items.

It’s a tricky one though, they could upgrade the lightsabers but I see that being a massive logical, customer relations type nightmare. They’ve called it the most interactive land created, and there’s going to be things you need to buy to trigger this imo...which everyone will want. Might even incorporate it into the next film on purpose.

Didn't Disney file a patent for lightsabers that could react to laser blasts? I'm pretty sure we'll see something that will be a direct competitor to the wand... both in functionality and experience.