Magic Kingdom set to break attendance records next week? 7am to 3am operating hours!

[wdwmagic]

http://www.wdwmagic.com/Attractions...set-to-break-attendance-records-next-week.htm

The Magic Kingdom may be about to break it's attendance record next week as guests head to the resort for the Easter break. The Magic Kingdom is scheduled to be operating it's maximum opening hours.

Beginning on Sunday (and for the remainder of the week), the park will be opening at 7am for resort guests and closing at 1am, with 5 days of the Easter period having a resort guest closing time of 3am.

For regular guests, there are 7 days of 1am closings, and 11 days of 8am openings.

The upshot of all of this is that on some days, the park will be operating from 7am until 3am, and opening back the next morning at 7am. By the time you factor in late leavers and early arrivals, the hours begin to look more like 6am to 4am, with just a 2 hour downtime in between days.

 

[EpcotServo]

Yeesh...

:dazzle:

 

[bgraham34]

That is one long day. But how crowded is it at 1am?

 

[jt04]

OK, well the numbers speak for themselves. Hi doom and gloomers :zipit:



But can Disney seriously tell us that they can't green light some major stuff for the WDW parks after restructuring their payroll and record crowds? :brick:

 

[mousefan1972]

Wow, those park hours rival that of Christmas - New Years week. :dazzle:

All set with that....:hammer:

 

[MousDad]

OK, well the numbers speak for themselves. Hi doom and gloomers :zipit:

So are the hundreds of people who just got laid off from WDW figments of the gloom and doomers imagination?

 

[wdwmagic]

But can Disney seriously tell us that they can't green light some major stuff for the WDW parks after restructuring their payroll and record crowds? :brick:

Attendance is high, but at the cost of Disney footing the bill for the free night offer and the reduced guest spend on merchandise and food.

 

[NemoRocks78]

:dazzle: :dazzle: :dazzle:

 

[pacochran]

As much as it would be neat to be at the parks that late, I wouldn't want to deal with the crowds.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

Attendance is high, but at the cost of Disney footing the bill for the free night offer and the reduced guest spend on merchandise and food.

That was exactly what I was going to say. Attendance is high because people are being given half price vacations. Revenues and profit margins are still way down even with the higher attendance. All the extra people probably still don't give Disney the usual average spending on food and merchandise that they usually see per guest. Then they are giving away hotel nights, days in the parks, and soon the food.

While things may sound great on the outside, there is a reason for everything. I could easily sell something that costs 10 dollars for 4 dollars...and I could definitely sell 2 of them. I have still lost money if I have done this and this is what is happening. Disney cut back on management because they still needed to offset costs, and staffing in the parks is being cut back as well. Parks are needing to add extra hours to prevent guest relations nightmares when people complain they have only gotten to ride 5 or 6 things in their 10+ hour day at the park. So don't take attendance numbers in this case as a sign of good things. The economy is still awful and people would not be flocking to WDW if it weren't for Disney basically handing them vacations.

 

[disneychic71]

I think I fall somewhere in the middle on this. I try not to sink into a "doom and gloom" mindset, but two of my three brothers-in-law have been laid off in recent months and are still looking for jobs. My husband took a pay cut that has caused us to pass up the discouted vacations, at least so far. Add that to the layoffs at WDW, and the picture is hardly rosy.

On the other hand, I'm glad that so many people were able to take advantage of the deep discounts. Even with the discounts, I don't think the vacation is quite half-price, and even with food/souvenier spending down, people will still buy something. It seems like a good sign, and a good payoff for the marketing people at Disney who are managing to keep the parks full.

 

[MousDad]

That whole "guest spending" moniker is fishy with me to begin with, because it's based on guest spending per room. (If I understand the term correctly.)

So it seems to me that "guest spending" can only really be down if attendance stays flat. If attendance is up, or drastically up, "guest spending" (in total) should actually be higher even though "guest spending" (per room) is down.

:brick:

 

[slappy magoo]

That whole "guest spending" moniker is fishy with me to begin with, because it's based on guest spending per room. (If I understand the term correctly.)

So it seems to me that "guest spending" can only really be down if attendance stays flat. If attendance is up, or drastically up, "guest spending" (in total) should actually be higher even though "guest spending" (per room) is down.

:brick:

Not if people are eating cheaper OOP meals & buying fewer (and/or cheaper) souveneirs

 

[WDWFigment]

I am surprised that Disney didn't anticipate people spending less on souvenirs and dining (or perhaps they did), and instead offer free dining and maybe some gift cards with a full price hotel stay. Basically, keep the overall discount roughly the same, but shift the discount to items people otherwise wouldn't be buying (or spending as much on) given the economy. Maybe they did consider this plan, but calculated that it wouldn't bring in as high of attendance numbers. I wonder about that, though, because it seems people see "discount" and are likely to spend regardless of how that discount really benefits them. Any thoughts on this?

Oh, and NemoRocks, nice avatar. My fiancee and I are huge Big Love fans!

 

[CaptainMichael]

Hours like that really put a toll on attractions and transportation. I can remember when I worked on New Years Eve, the boats only went to drydock to refuel. Not good for already lacking maintenance practices.

 

[fosse76]

That whole "guest spending" moniker is fishy with me to begin with, because it's based on guest spending per room. (If I understand the term correctly.)

So it seems to me that "guest spending" can only really be down if attendance stays flat. If attendance is up, or drastically up, "guest spending" (in total) should actually be higher even though "guest spending" (per room) is down.

:brick:

True...but is Disney operating all of its rooms? According to the 2008 Annual Report, I believe the average was $225 (or thereabout) per room. That included park admission, price of hotel room and hotel spending (restaurants, activities). Assuming they are operating the same number of rooms...then there needs to be at minimum a 43% increase in attendance for them to break even.

Also, keep in mind, that amusement and theme parks base the capacity of the parks on the number of employees available. Theoretically, when a major attraction closes, it decreases the capacity the park can accomodate. If you have a number of shops and restaurants closed or on reduced hours, it decreases the capacity. Extending hours may be a way to offset it. But as I have repeatedly said in other threads, you can't base financial success on park attendance. Parks don't make their money on admission...it's the in-park spending that supports the park.

 

[MousDad]

True...but is Disney operating all of its rooms? According to the 2008 Annual Report, I believe the average was $225 (or thereabout) per room. That included park admission, price of hotel room and hotel spending (restaurants, activities). Assuming they are operating the same number of rooms...then there needs to be at minimum a 43% increase in attendance for them to break even.

A minimum 43% increase to offset what? Do you know the current per room $ numbers? I'm not disputing, I just can't follow the math.

 

[krankenstein]

And that's why I'm not celebrating my birthday at WDW this year. :lol:

 

[MousDad]

I just found out something interesting. Spring Breaks in Florida are staggered among districts over the course of 4 weeks. This began 3/23 and runs through 4/17.

This may be common knowledge, but I was unaware of it. I wonder if they do this because of the heavy tourism numbers in Florida, that they don't want all their kids out the same week to strain the system.

So anyway, I'm sure the locals are contributing heavily to these crowds.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

That whole "guest spending" moniker is fishy with me to begin with, because it's based on guest spending per room. (If I understand the term correctly.)

So it seems to me that "guest spending" can only really be down if attendance stays flat. If attendance is up, or drastically up, "guest spending" (in total) should actually be higher even though "guest spending" (per room) is down.

:brick:

Not true at all. If people can just afford the vacation packages, they are going to spend less on food and merchandise. They are going to eat more counter serve meals (or bring there own food altogether) and greatly reduce the number of souvenirs they buy. Even if Disney is filling more rooms with the discounts, they are still losing out on a ton of revenue. The margins on merch and food is much more than a hotel night or park ticket. But with budget conscious families, they are no longer going to spend say 500 on souvenirs (arbitrary number); they are going to spend only 200 now (again arbitrary).

If I fill 3 rooms with the old spending and without the discounts I am turning a much higher profit that I am with 5 rooms at the new spending and current discounts. We know that even with the parks packed, people are watching every cent that comes out of their wallets now. So I think while numbers might be through the roof, they are just superficial because per person spending is way down.

I am surprised that Disney didn't anticipate people spending less on souvenirs and dining (or perhaps they did), and instead offer free dining and maybe some gift cards with a full price hotel stay. Basically, keep the overall discount roughly the same, but shift the discount to items people otherwise wouldn't be buying (or spending as much on) given the economy. Maybe they did consider this plan, but calculated that it wouldn't bring in as high of attendance numbers. I wonder about that, though, because it seems people see "discount" and are likely to spend regardless of how that discount really benefits them. Any thoughts on this?

Oh, and NemoRocks, nice avatar. My fiancee and I are huge Big Love fans!

I think they did anticipate this because of how much they rely on the very profitable food and merchandise business. Profit margins, as I said, are very high in these areas. This is why you see things like Free Dining, and gift cards that were offered with the 4/3 stay. The only problem with doing more gift cards, is that they can also be used for things that don't turn as high a margin (spa services, golfing, watercraft, tours, etc). If Disney created a specific merchandise only gift card, then it would probably be more worthwhile for them to give them away. However, this would probably lead to a ton of problems because a lot of the shops are now contracted out (which is why you don't see things like this).