Is attendance really down at WDW this or…

[James Alucobond]

The reality is G+ and ILL is a necessity now. Have a great trip!

Didn’t buy Genie+ on any day of my trip this year and had a great time. Got to ride everything I wanted, including everything new since my last visit.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Didn’t buy Genie+ on any day of my trip this year and had a great time. Got to ride everything I wanted, including everything new since my last visit.

WoW! Impressive! What's your tips and tricks?

 

[James Alucobond]

I mean, early entry does a ton of the lifting. Each time, it allowed us to get to ~2 popular things before many were in the park, and for anything that’s not the Magic Kingdom, that often covers most of the actually prohibitively popular things.

 

[tallica]

The economy has slowed quite a bit and folks are cutting back on discretionary spending. Vacations are the first thing to go. Next, streaming services and movie theatre outings.

Not a good time for companies like Disney.

“More Americans are planning trips and booking them earlier, despite inflation,” said Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel, in a statement. “This summer travel season could be one for the record books, especially at airports.” More people are traveling this summer but less are choosing to spend it at Disney.

 

[Jrb1979]

“More Americans are planning trips and booking them earlier, despite inflation,” said Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel, in a statement. “This summer travel season could be one for the record books, especially at airports.” More people are traveling this summer but less are choosing to spend it at Disney

I thought Disney was invincible @Disstevefan1.

It would be curious to see where Americans are spending their summer vacations. I wonder what bookings are like for beach towns and national parks.

 

[Tha Realest]

“More Americans are planning trips and booking them earlier, despite inflation,” said Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel, in a statement. “This summer travel season could be one for the record books, especially at airports.” More people are traveling this summer but less are choosing to spend it at Disney.

“Earlier bookings” is especially foreboding when you consider all the discounts they’re pushing for the summer given presumed softened demand

 

[Tha Realest]

“More Americans are planning trips and booking them earlier, despite inflation,” said Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel, in a statement. “This summer travel season could be one for the record books, especially at airports.” More people are traveling this summer but less are choosing to spend it at Disney.

Florida is also having record attendance so far. It seems like people aren’t eschewing Florida so much as they are it’s theme parks.

 

[ParentsOf4]

My question is, how does it feel in the parks right now with "attendance down"?

Does it now feel just MOBBED and not SUPER MOBBED?

For some perspective, here's my favorite crowd shot from September 2019:

Here's what it was like in July 2020, about a week after reopening:

Here's December 2020 (keep in mind the days are a lot shorter, so it gets dark earlier):

May 2021:

March 2022:

May 2022:

And finally, May 2023:

 

[Disstevefan1]

For some perspective, here's my favorite crowd shot from September 2019:

View attachment 718398

Here's what it was like in July 2020, about a week after reopening:

View attachment 718399

Here's December 2020 (keep in mind the days are a lot shorter, so it gets dark earlier):

View attachment 718400

May 2022:

View attachment 718401

And finally, May 2023:

View attachment 718402

Excellent! Keep doing this!
2019 looks a lot like 2023
It's so great you were there in July 2020!! That was an extra special time that will (hopefully) never happen again, because why it happened. I am talking to YOU China!

 

[mightynine]

You are at Kohls

Hey, I just got a great deal on a new polo shirt!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I may be hot, but not Chapek hot.

…that think does shine up nice, doesn’t it?

 

[SamusAranX]

I thought Disney was invincible @Disstevefan1.

It would be curious to see where Americans are spending their summer vacations. I wonder what bookings are like for beach towns and national parks.

Europe

 

[Tha Realest]

I thought for every one person not going to WDW there were three taking their place.

Do all those people already have other plans?

 

[Fordlover]

I thought for every one person not going to WDW there were three taking their place.

Do all those people already have other plans?

I just took a peek, and my dance card is full. Sorry WDW.

 

[DznyRktekt]

Kohl's Cash = Disney Dollars. Maybe they are following the same playbook.

 

[MrPromey]

....
Also, doesn't surprise me UO would feel the spillover from WDW. IMO, it's still dependent on getting people visiting both while in Orlando, not planning an Orlando trip exclusively for UO.

Although they're working like crazy to mitigate their dependence on that for the future.

I don't expect it to become a non-issue anytime soon (including the rest of this decade) but if they keep going like they have been, it will continue to become less and less of a concern for them.

 

[monothingie]

For some perspective, here's my favorite crowd shot from September 2019:

View attachment 718398

Here's what it was like in July 2020, about a week after reopening:

View attachment 718399

Here's December 2020 (keep in mind the days are a lot shorter, so it gets dark earlier):

View attachment 718400

May 2021:

View attachment 718418

March 2022:

View attachment 718419

May 2022:

View attachment 718401

And finally, May 2023:

View attachment 718402

They really need to spend more trimming the bushes.

 

[MrPromey]

I mean, Universal is opening a park for young families near Dallas. Not only does it address the affordablity issue but Dallas' population is more than 3x that of Orlando's.

Wonder if that could be a blueprint for a fourth* park here some day or if there are any plans to incorporate more things without height restrictions to the existing parks, also possibly cribbed from that.

I'm guessing the new Minions thing will be any height and they're obviously redoing that area over by ET (and it's been suggested some of that might also be what's appearing in TX) but there needs to be more spread through the parks - not just in small concentrated spaces. We didn't go to Universal for basically eight years because we had a child we felt most attractions would be too intense for.

That seems to be their one major blind spot.



*I know, I know, Universal call's Volcano bay their third park which by that logic would make Epic their fourth and yada, yada, yada - already been dragged down that line.

 

[DisneyHead123]

There's definitely something to be said for the last part that when the experience is excellent you make more of an effort to make it work. When we went last summer, my husband was like are we really going to go again with a 1 year old, and on the trip he goes okay you're right this is amazing all of our girls 18, 4, and 1 at the time were having a blast. So it didn't take much convincing to get him to okay going this summer. But our trip was amazing partly due to the hours of time I spent planning it, which is fun for me. The cost is ridiculous, but we are pretty frugal and careful in other areas of our budget.

I had the inverse experience… my last trip was rough but because my toddler spent half the time screaming I largely chalked it up to that and my attention was mostly on him. If things were amiss in the parks I probably missed it. Then all of the sudden his language improved and he’s able to express himself better, and we can go do fun things without all the meltdowns. He actually got excited about seeing Disney ads on YouTube and pretended to pack a suitcase and get on a plane to Disney, saying he was going to hug Mickey Mouse… it just melted my heart. But I think either way kids can be a key factor! If your child is excited about something suddenly it’s a whole different ballgame. We will do Day Out With Thomas soon and while it’s obviously not something I’d enjoy at all solo, the thought of taking him definitely feels “magical”.

 

[DisneyHead123]

I bet the removal of Magical Express as one of the perks had a psychological effect on top of that...it gave the impression that from start to finish your vacation would be super convenient.

Yeah I think Disney definitely misread the room on that one. I just said above I was probably a bit oblivious to many things on my last trip but that change I definitely noticed. ME really made the trips seem special.