Disneyland’s Attendance Issues Summer 2019

[Ryan]

The thing is we will see Disneyland packed again when all the passholders will be coming back. All the Disney apologist will point out it all was a success. But it isn't. The Disney company wanted to add tourist to their parks with an IP that should get Star Wars fans to the park and that didn't help.

Uh, WDW's is not open yet so I don't see how that's a fully fair assessment to make?

The idea that Disneyland is not a tourist park is not a new one. Everybody knows about this.

 

[fryoj]

Yeah, I think the fact that they are opening the identical thing in Orlando as being a reason people didn't flock to DL is highly underrated.

 

[tielo]

Uh, WDW's is not open yet so I don't see how that's a fully fair assessment to make?

The idea that Disneyland is not a tourist park is not a new one. Everybody knows about this.

I don't make the assessment for WDW, I make it on the failed success for DL. Disney would never build a million dollar land in DL to appease to their AP holders, they wanted day-guests/Star Wars fan but they didn't come.

 

[Freak]

I don't make the assessment for WDW, I make it on the failed success for DL. Disney would never build a million dollar land in DL to appease to their AP holders, they wanted day-guests/Star Wars fan but they didn't come.

Disney went with the hope that the SW fans coming in would be like the loyal Disney APers: pay anything to get in and buy everything that appeases them.

The issue with their logic is that 1) a lot of loyal Star Wars fans are pretty jaded with where Disney has taken the franchise. Now the attendance issues aren’t mainly because of this, but I think the lack of merchandise sales could play a factor in this. It probably doesn’t help that the new land is trying to cram the sequel trilogy down everyone’s throats and not feed everyone the familiarity of the OT. 2) Disney was way too excited about their prices. Like, I don’t care how nice that lightsaber looks. I’m not paying $200 for that. If fans are already paying top dollar just to park their car and get in, I don’t think they’re going to be really excited to buy more stuff when they go inside. I said this before, but I know many people that were excited to check out Galaxy’s Edge, only to lose interest when I told them it would be the sequel trilogy only.

We now know the land has failed to attract the tourists and hardcore SW fans Disney was wanting. The real test is going to come with the pass holders. It will be interesting to see if they buy up all of the merch. That’s assuming those who bought their SoCal Selects before the increase and expired over the Sumner choose to renew. If a lot of people chose not to renew after the increase, they may have to take note from USH and add some benefits to their passes since lowering prices will be the last thing a Disney would even think of doing.

One thing is for sure: USH and Disney have both tried to solely reach out to tourists and have failed...the latter especially so. Whether they like it or not, DL’s primary demographic is locals.

 

[Red Carpet]

If people were just apathetic to Galaxy's Edge, crowds would just be the same as any other summer. The reason their is a drop in attendance rather than no change is because anticipation for Rise of the Resistance is high and people would rather wait for that to open then go now to an unfinished land. Once the second ride opens people will flock to the park. I expect Disneyland to have record attendance in 2020. 2019 is the calm before the storm.

 

[JoeCamel]

If people were just apathetic to Galaxy's Edge, crowds would just be the same as any other summer. The reason their is a drop in attendance rather than no change is because anticipation for Rise of the Resistance is high and people would rather wait for that to open then go now to an unfinished land. Once the second ride opens people will flock to the park. I expect Disneyland to have record attendance in 2020. 2019 is the calm before the storm.

I don't agree with your logic. I think the crowds stayed away for fear of crowds and the pricing. Blackouts didn't help either. Maybe it returns to normal in a year or two but it may be TDA has done serious damage to their customer base which will take years to recover from.

 

[shiekra38]

If people were just apathetic to Galaxy's Edge, crowds would just be the same as any other summer. The reason their is a drop in attendance rather than no change is because anticipation for Rise of the Resistance is high and people would rather wait for that to open then go now to an unfinished land. Once the second ride opens people will flock to the park. I expect Disneyland to have record attendance in 2020. 2019 is the calm before the storm.

Do normal people know about Rise of the Resistance? That's the question

 

[tielo]

Do normal people know about Rise of the Resistance? That's the question

They know about Rise of the Prices and the new street-mosphere Family Feud/ Street Fighter.

 

[frank_1991_]

Do normal people know about Rise of the Resistance? That's the question

I don’t think anyone besides those who follow theme park fan sites has any idea about RotR or even galaxy's edge. I haven't seen much advertisement even here in south Florida considering the land opens next month in Orlando. They failed to generate much excitement in the general public and just assumed people would show up for Star Wars.

 

[shiekra38]

I don’t think anyone besides those who follow theme park fan sites has any idea about RotR or even galaxy's edge. I haven't seen much advertisement even here in south Florida considering the land opens next month in Orlando. They failed to generate much excitement in the general public and just assumed people would show up for Star Wars.

I think they know Disney is building a Star Wars land of some kind. But every comment on social media is "No way, too hot, too expensive, too crowded" so we'll see haha. Who knows what they think about there already being a Star Wars simulator and experience in the same freaking park.

 

[Jamesh22]

I agree with those who say the GP doesn't know anything about ROTR.

There are comments all over Galaxys edge YouTube videos about it just being a Star Wars mall with one ride.

I'm prefixing the below with the fact I haven't yet been but...
Disney seem to have shot themselves in the foot with one of their best ideas - they created a huge new land to explore but then 'forgot' to put enough in it for people to do. ROTR should fix that but it might be too late for damage control as many will have already madeup their mind on the land.

 

[mrpeng1]

There's also the fact that a lot of the GP is holding out for Star Wars land as they thought it was going to be extremely crowded, but even after the parks are empty and Disney trying to make that point no one is still coming. They don't even know the rides there, they just know to avoid it for years.

 

[Mad Dog]

Disney just doesn't get it on these new lands. Pandora, TSL, GESWL, though beautiful lands, don't have the small things (entertainment, the IP's classic music, comfortable areas, affordable shops, compact ease of touring, truly interesting food and beverage , real non smartphone interactivity, and classic IP storyline, that have made the Universal Potter lands so special and immersive. Disney will overspend on more rockwork than needed but neglect the importance of keeping peoples attention outside of the rides themselves. If you want to beat the Potter lands you need to keep focus on those little things that add up to a 'big' experience, instead of continually cutting them out of the equation. Not to make this a Disney/Universal thing, but that seems to be the difference in people spending lot of quality, and repeat, time in the lands.

 

[Scott W.]

This thread is like 'An Inspector Calls' of figuring out what is to blame.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

This thread is like 'An Inspector Calls' of figuring out what is to blame.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that. Disney scared away guests who'd vacation there, locked out the locals who'd go every week or so, nearly locked out all CMs who'd go, then got arrogant thinking people would pay one day ticket prices to visit. That's what I'm leaning into, plenty of other lands have opened partially complete (Pixar Pier) and other lands with less popular IP have opened to more guests (Pandora).

 

[Scott W.]

A little bit of this and a little bit of that. Disney scared away guests who'd vacation there, locked out the locals who'd go every week or so, nearly locked out all CMs who'd go, then got arrogant thinking people would pay one day ticket prices to visit. That's what I'm leaning into, plenty of other lands have opened partially complete (Pixar Pier) and other lands with less popular IP have opened to more guests (Pandora).

We could always make a poll with a few options to see what people think the main reason is.

You could also revert this and see what we think the solution could be:

• Lift the blackout dates
• Reduce ticket prices
• Open ROTR(obviously this is impossible but if it was possible)

 

[frank_1991_]

There's also the fact that a lot of the GP is holding out for Star Wars land as they thought it was going to be extremely crowded, but even after the parks are empty and Disney trying to make that point no one is still coming. They don't even know the rides there, they just know to avoid it for years.

If the general public is so well informed about the land that they are holding out because of the apocalyptic crowds that never materialized then they would be flocking to it now since the park is empty.

The reality is that Disney expected out of state tourists to flock to Disneyland so they intentionally raised prices and blocked locals out of the park. That’s why Disneyland is slow. Once the black out dates are lifted then park will start to fill full again. Problem is by what I’m seeing there isn’t a surge in demand from Regular tourist flocking to the parks to experience Star Wars.

In my opinion outside of theme park fans and Star Wars fan the general public doesn’t care about Galaxy’s Edge as much as we and Disney expected them too. None of my friends, coworkers, or family has asked me about Galaxy's edge. They might know about it since it was on the news when it opened and think it’s cool but it’s not something they are willing to drop everything and travel too. Nor is it something special enough to them to shell out thousands of dollars on a vacation. There might be an uptake in attendance after the next film release but I feel the reason this is under performing has more to do with general stat wars fatigue than pass holders being blocked out or RotR not opening with the land. There isn’t much excitement around this lands opening anymore.

 

[Mad Dog]

We could always make a poll with a few options to see what people think the main reason is.

You could also revert this and see what we think the solution could be:

• Lift the blackout dates
• Reduce ticket prices
• Open ROTR(obviously this is impossible but if it was possible)

Theme Park Insider has been running a poll, with their very huge internet base, for the past few days. Comment wise, most everyone, and they're primarily Disney oriented fans, have been making the same points we have on this thread.

 

[OrlLover]

I don’t think anyone besides those who follow theme park fan sites has any idea about RotR or even galaxy's edge. I haven't seen much advertisement even here in south Florida considering the land opens next month in Orlando. They failed to generate much excitement in the general public and just assumed people would show up for Star Wars.

To be fair to Disney a little I’ve seen tons of commercials for GE in my area(Central Florida) for awhile now.

 

[Scott W.]

Theme Park Insider has been running a poll, with their very huge internet base, for the past few days. Comment wise, most everyone, and they're primarily Disney oriented fans, have been making the same points we have on this thread.

Have you got a link?