Attendance Tracker

[bob albert]

I really want them to have just admission to Star Wars area ticket events. I would be happy to pay a premium to avoid the mass of daily guests, and the horror of trying to get a fast pass.

You should never advocate for a company (which did not build enough attractions to fill demand while raising prices) to screw their customers even harder. Disney has cut magic hours and driven up-charge events and dining reservations to fix a problem they created. We need to stop rewarding them for it.

 

[Nick]

You should never advocate for a company (which did not build enough attractions to fill demand while raising prices) to screw their customers even harder. Disney has cut magic hours and driven up-charge events and dining reservations to fix a problem they created. We need to stop rewarding them for it.

Yeah, most EMH are in the morning now and when they do have nighttime EMH, it's only 2 hours now instead of the former 3.

Also of note, MK has had it's hours for day guests cut short to the point when a 10 PM close has become the norm. 10 PM used to be an early close for MK. But the park isn't really closing at that point a lot of times. On July 4th week, they are closing the park early so they can keep the park open late for paid EMH on multiple dates.

 

[bob albert]

Yeah, I went into it not knowing anything about it except it has a large fan-base and is thought of as a classic. I came out of it sooooooooo confused. Definitely not something I wanted a repeat viewing of.

Book of Mormon, The Lion King, Wicked are among all time top grossing shows that are just such a level above cats.

 

[Nick]

Book of Mormon, The Lion King, Wicked are among all time top grossing shows that are just such a level above cats.

Oh I’m familiar with theater. I’ve actually seen BoM on Broadway. I knew there had to be a reason why I knew nothing about Cats

 

[sparky]

You should never advocate for a company (which did not build enough attractions to fill demand while raising prices) to screw their customers even harder. Disney has cut magic hours and driven up-charge events and dining reservations to fix a problem they created. We need to stop rewarding them for it.

Do you feel the same way about paying a premium to skip the lines at Universal? I pay more to stay onsite for that express pass.
If I stay on site at Disneyworld and pay a higher hotel price I get the extra magic hours and 60 day fast pass. If I don't pay for that overpriced on site hotel room I don't get those extra magic hours or much chance of getting decent fast passes.
By your rule we should all stay offsite to avoid rewarding them for overcharging for their hotel rooms.

 

[GadgetGuru]

Speaking for Universal at least:

I’ve seen all sorts of advertising for Toy Story Land. TV commercials, banner ads, news articles, social media sponsored posts.

I don’t remember seeing a single mention for F&F. A couple press pieces online during the grand opening. That’s about it. Certainly not any paid advertisements.

Maybe I just have a bad memory on these things, but I haven’t seen Universal do a strong media push in a long time. I would think that this would be a stronger attendance year for Disney since they’re pushing their new land hard.

 

[Nick]

Speaking for Universal at least:

I’ve seen all sorts of advertising for Toy Story Land. TV commercials, banner ads, news articles, social media sponsored posts.

I don’t remember seeing a single mention for F&F. A couple press pieces online during the grand opening. That’s about it. Certainly not any paid advertisements.

Maybe I just have a bad memory on these things, but I haven’t seen Universal do a strong media push in a long time. I would think that this would be a stronger attendance year for Disney since they’re pushing their new land hard.

They're pushing TSL harder than they pushed Pandora. And next year the hype train is gonna be even bigger for SW:GE.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

To Draw in Millennials, Theme Parks Rely on Nostalgia and Tech

• Millennial parents (78%) and non-parents (75%) are more likely than all parents (59%) to say they’re interested in visiting a theme park in the next year.
  
  
• They’re also more likely to rationalize the cost: 62% of millennial parents and 65% of childless millennials say a theme park is a good value for the price, compared to 50% of all parents.
  

 

[Mad Dog]

To Draw in Millennials, Theme Parks Rely on Nostalgia and Tech

• Millennial parents (78%) and non-parents (75%) are more likely than all parents (59%) to say they’re interested in visiting a theme park in the next year.
  
  
• They’re also more likely to rationalize the cost: 62% of millennial parents and 65% of childless millennials say a theme park is a good value for the price, compared to 50% of all parents.

Really good interesting article....Just one small nitpick. It sounds like the writer has never been in, or understands, the layout of the Universal Parks, namely his constant reference to The Harry Potter Theme Park and the future Nintendo Theme Park. He made it sound like they were stand alone parks (similar to the first misleading Universal Potter advertisements)That really would misinform a reader that wasn't familiar with Universal parks.

 

[bob albert]

Do you feel the same way about paying a premium to skip the lines at Universal? I pay more to stay onsite for that express pass.
If I stay on site at Disneyworld and pay a higher hotel price I get the extra magic hours and 60 day fast pass. If I don't pay for that overpriced on site hotel room I don't get those extra magic hours or much chance of getting decent fast passes.
By your rule we should all stay offsite to avoid rewarding them for overcharging for their hotel rooms.

Universal limits express much more than fast pass, has been building high capacity rides, and has been better with maintaining staffing and single Rider lines. I hate express but at least it is an upcharge that I can choose to not buy and still have a good experience.

 

[Mad Dog]

Universal limits express much more than fast pass, has been building high capacity rides, and has been better with maintaining staffing and single Rider lines. I hate express but at least it is an upcharge that I can choose to not buy and still have a good experience.

All good, and true, points.

 

[JungleSkip]

I don’t remember seeing a single mention for F&F. A couple press pieces online during the grand opening. That’s about it. Certainly not any paid advertisements.

Maybe I just have a bad memory on these things, but I haven’t seen Universal do a strong media push in a long time. I would think that this would be a stronger attendance year for Disney since they’re pushing their new land hard.

You clearly don't watch any Comcast-owned channels. F&F and UOR commercials are all over the place.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

You clearly don't watch any Comcast-owned channels. F&F and UOR commercials are all over the place.

Yep. They are still promoting it in radio and at Publix. It's everywhere lol

 

[Yabbadabba Doh]

So.... WDW has just advertised a $89 add-on to Silver and select passholders to remove all blackout dates this summer at all parks except DHS.
I'm thinking they are getting really worried about attendance this summer.
First they did the "bring a friend" AP promotion leading up to TSL opening and now this....

 

[jtsalien]

So.... WDW has just advertised a $89 add-on to Silver and select passholders to remove all blackout dates this summer at all parks except DHS.
I'm thinking they are getting really worried about attendance this summer.
First they did the "bring a friend" AP promotion leading up to TSL opening and now this....

Having been at the parks this week.... This seems wildly unnecessary Seemed like a very typical 4th week at both resorts.

But. It's been a soft year leading up to now. So there may be too much ground to make up.

 

[Teebin]

Sorry, I haven’t been following along. Is it believed that UOR is suffering attendance issues too?

 

[jtsalien]

Sorry, I haven’t been following along. Is it believed that UOR is suffering attendance issues too?

Suffering is too strong a word. Numbers are still solid. But not meeting projections for the first time in a while.

 

[Mad Dog]

Saturday July 7th at Noon, Sunny 84 degrees....DHS, Epcot, MK stand by lines are at low levels....AK lines are long

 

[GadgetGuru]

It’s amazing what Pandora has done for AK. It seems like it’s the largest sustained attendance boost since Potter (although not as big)

After this summer, I imagine the large travel agencies + associations will be announcing how big USA summer travel was. That would be a good way to tell if this was a theme-park attendance issue or just part of a larger trend.

 

[Skold]

It’s amazing what Pandora has done for AK.

This goes to show how big word of mouth is. It is now well known how great of a ride FoP is, and social media allows that word to hit people faster than ever before. Those 5-day trips to WDW that never included DAK now do, and now as a focal point.

The same can be said for F&F. Lines are down, and I think that is mostly due to word of mouth.

It will be interesting to watch TSL and, more importantly to me, IOA once the HP coaster opens.