Attendance Tracker

[graspthesun]

My wife and I are comfortable financially, have no kids, I always research thoroughly for the cheapest flights & hotels etc, but there comes a point where although you can afford it, what is seen as a 'considered outgoing' in your life crosses over into the 'luxury' point.
Disneyland Paris is extremely pricey for us Brit travellers even when currency is at a decent level, but it's going to be very painful at this level just to even feed ourselves for 5 days there. Florida is not as severe, but for a 2 week stay it is still going to cost us hundreds more dollars than it would have just a month ago. It's hard for that not to leave a bit of a bitter taste in your mouth.

It kind of blows my mind that flying overseas to the US is a cheaper trip than going to Disneyland Paris for someone who lives in Europe.

 

[Mad Dog]

From what I read here and elsewhere it sounds like US was down a bit in attendance, with the possibility of a rebound after July 4th. Sea World is down a good bit, with Mako not helping much. WDW and DL are down quite a bit with maybe a slight bump after the 4th. Disney is padding it's numbers a bit by giving cast members more access than usual this time of year.

Feel free to pick this apart. We won't have any solid numbers until the quarterly reports come out very soon.

That's kind of sounding right from all the reports. It will be interesting to see the Disney & Comcast quarterly reports next month to get a better picture. To me, the most telling report, is that both WDW & Disneyland are down for the past few months, with WDW actually down since the start of the year. That kind of discounts any significant fallout from Pulse or the gator attack, or it being a new summer touring thing.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

That's kind of sounding right from all the reports. It will be interesting to see the Disney & Comcast quarterly reports next month to get a better picture. To me, the most telling report, is that both WDW & Disneyland are down for the past few months, with WDW actually down since the start of the year. That kind of discounts any significant fallout from Pulse or the gator attack, or it being a new summer touring thing.

By Disney's own account WDW was down 2% in spring. That perfect storm accelerated the decline. DL was up in the spring but has declined in the summer.

 

[Mad Dog]

By Disney's own account WDW was down 2% in spring. That perfect storm accelerated the decline. DL was up in the spring but has declined in the summer.

Yeah. But those reports were first quarter (Jan. -March), not really much of spring except a week or two, so we really won't know what happened in the spring until the second quarter report comes out. And that report won't have July and August, the meat of the summer on it, so it won't tell us much about the summer, until the quarterly report after that. And, as you mentioned, Disney is padding their attendance by eliminating CM blackouts, which they also did in March, when their numbers were looking bad. ....One interesting tidbit that I forgot to mention in my earlier post is that Universal Hollywood has reportedly been very busy for the past month. So that kind of tells us that substantial expansions are still bringing the crowds in.....

 

[Galaxy Defender]

....One interesting tidbit that I forgot to mention in my earlier post is that Universal Hollywood has reportedly been very busy for the past month. So that kind of tells us that substantial expansions are still bringing the crowds in.....

Good points on the reports timing.

The big story in Hollywood will likely be that DL is down while USH is up.

 

[speckles]

My wife and I are comfortable financially, have no kids, I always research thoroughly for the cheapest flights & hotels etc, but there comes a point where although you can afford it, what is seen as a 'considered outgoing' in your life crosses over into the 'luxury' point.
Disneyland Paris is extremely pricey for us Brit travellers even when currency is at a decent level, but it's going to be very painful at this level just to even feed ourselves for 5 days there. Florida is not as severe, but for a 2 week stay it is still going to cost us hundreds more dollars than it would have just a month ago. It's hard for that not to leave a bit of a bitter taste in your mouth.

Thanks for your thoughts, I do know what you mean, we have been going great guns on trips fully costed and you do have to consider the financial tradeoff even if you can find the money for them today. As a result, we have made an active choice to reduce three trips a year to two for the next twelve months. With the plan to get down to one per year. I know with our friends we are not alone and if it is a wider trend this will overall have an impact...

As an aside Universal Hollywood was so busy during April compared D Land when we visited...the contrast was striking. I think it was smart Universal Orlando has DA and different attraction than the west coast, provides a point of difference. Going to Orlando in September...

 

[Scott W.]

My wife and I are comfortable financially, have no kids, I always research thoroughly for the cheapest flights & hotels etc, but there comes a point where although you can afford it, what is seen as a 'considered outgoing' in your life crosses over into the 'luxury' point.
Disneyland Paris is extremely pricey for us Brit travellers even when currency is at a decent level, but it's going to be very painful at this level just to even feed ourselves for 5 days there. Florida is not as severe, but for a 2 week stay it is still going to cost us hundreds more dollars than it would have just a month ago. It's hard for that not to leave a bit of a bitter taste in your mouth.

This sounds exactly the same as my wife and I. I feel like I'm being a bit tight as the extra cost isn't that much over the 2 weeks for the poor exchange rate, especially when you take into account that it's only adding a small percentage to the overall cost but knowing that the difference of a few weeks or months is costing an additional £300 or so is a hard pill to swallow.

It kind of blows my mind that flying overseas to the US is a cheaper trip than going to Disneyland Paris for someone who lives in Europe.

Disneyland Paris is drastically cheaper than going to Orlando but you get so much more value going to Orlando as you have 2 extra Disney parks, Unviersal and SeaWorld plus the weather is better.

 

[Mr. EPCOT]

This afternoon at Disneyland:

It's peak summer, 84 degrees and sunny...

Nice try, but LOL at all of the 50th Anniversary references, and the idea that the parks would only be open until 8 and 6 on a Friday in summertime.

 

[SeventyOne]

From what I read here and elsewhere it sounds like US was down a bit in attendance, with the possibility of a rebound after July 4th. Sea World is down a good bit, with Mako not helping much. WDW and DL are down quite a bit with maybe a slight bump after the 4th. Disney is padding it's numbers a bit by giving cast members more access than usual this time of year.

Feel free to pick this apart. We won't have any solid numbers until the quarterly reports come out very soon.

This feels basically correct. Fourth of July week was freakishly slow, last week felt a bit busier based on traffic and such, but still nowhere near Spring Break/Christmas.

Sea World has fallen back to handing out free beer, yet Mako didn't seem to go over 20 this weekend (and largely stayed at 10, i.e. walk-on). Didn't even need side overflow lots yesterday. I still say this perfect storm hits them hardest.

Last night MK closed at 10 pm. Sunday/Monday busiest days at MK, it's the middle of July when literally everyone is out of school--and MK was closed an hour before DAK. With the back parking lots used for tram parking--they knew they wouldn't be needed yesterday. We'll see how the Mouse spins this, but every CM I talk to uses the same word: "dead."

 

[Galaxy Defender]

Last night MK closed at 10 pm. Sunday/Monday busiest days at MK, it's the middle of July when literally everyone is out of school--and MK was closed an hour before DAK. With the back parking lots used for tram parking--they knew they wouldn't be needed yesterday. We'll see how the Mouse spins this, but every CM I talk to uses the same word: "dead."

That just about sums up the attendance problems at WDW.

 

[SeventyOne]

That just about sums up the attendance problems at WDW.

And let's be honest, if they could go back to 6 pm DAK closes without egg on their face, they would've by now.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

And let's be honest, if they could go back to 6 pm DAK closes without egg on their face, they would've by now.

How has attendance been for that? Has it hurt evening attendance at the other WDW parks? Not having Rivers of Light has to hurt. Still, I have heard RoL only had a capacity of 5,000. Not nearly enough even with two shows to let all DAK guests see it at night.

 

[SeventyOne]

How has attendance been for that? Has it hurt evening attendance at the other WDW parks? Not having Rivers of Light has to hurt. Still, I have heard RoL only had a capacity of 5,000. Not nearly enough even with two shows to let all DAK guests see it at night.

Went a couple weeks ago, end of June, safari went off with under 12 guests each time I rode. Most previous WDW bartenders and a lot of servers (3 from ESPN alone) have bailed on Tiffins/Nomad and begged to go back to their old jobs. (Not exclusively a nighttime thing but clearly that was intended to be a classy, evening kind of place, and it's been dead). Even the bloggers have written Jungle Book off.

You can't will something into being a nighttime park when conventional wisdom says it isn't. Not completely a knock on Disney, Universal going to learn this the hard way with Volcano Bay in 2017. That said, I'm sure shrinking guest numbers haven't helped.

 

[Mad Dog]

Disney's recent marketing ads for August -Dec. have touted AK being open in the evening, so it seems like they've cornered themselves into staying open at nights, even though, by accounts on many sites, the park is very slow.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

Disney's recent marketing ads for August -Dec. have touted AK being open in the evening, so it seems like they've cornered themselves into staying open at nights, even though, by accounts on many sites, the park is very slow.

Without Avatar there is still not enough to keep people busy through the evening. Why stay? Rivers of Light might change that when/if it ever opens. Otherwise many are holding off on DAK until Pandora opens.

 

[Andy]

If Universal is flat for the year it's going to be huge for them, it's a tough year for the parks.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

If Universal is flat for the year it's going to be huge for them, it's a tough year for the parks.

That will likely put them far ahead of the other parks.

 

[Teebin]

If Universal is flat for the year it's going to be huge for them, it's a tough year for the parks.

It's going to be huge for who? I am not following your train of thought.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

It's going to be huge for who? I am not following your train of thought.

I believe he meant that if US was flat on attendance while everyone else was way down it would be a big deal. All that work would have made their parks darn near downturn proof.

 

[Mad Dog]

Interesting to see if ticket prices will rise next year.