2017 Theme Park Attendance Data

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The Festival of the Arts started in 2016 but was a very late addition and I could not make plans quick enough to attend. There are thousands like my wife and I who loved it and went for the fa

China is going to get a second gate in Shanghai but also a second resort in a different city.

Festival of the arts started 2017

And china has a second gate/city...it opened In 2005. Will there be more expansions after Shanghai...probably. But does that affect the western market or even the company bottomline? Not as much as they probably thought...just a hunch.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I went far more than 3 times. 18 times in 2017 to be exact. Sure, it can be difficult to fill an entire day unless you feel like doing every attraction and show, but there is more than enough to occupy a few hours.

Well...you’re local and a “Disney geek”...so I’m not sure if that’s completely corollary...??

 

[disneygeek90]

Well...you’re local and a “Disney geek”...so I’m not sure if that’s completely corollary...??

Obviously I am a "local" outlier. But I have to think that someone with multiple day parkhoppers would stop by for at least one day, even if not the full day. Similarly to how AK was viewed only a few years ago.

 

[seascape]

Festival of the arts started 2017

And china has a second gate/city...it opened In 2005. Will there be more expansions after Shanghai...probably. But does that affect the western market or even the company bottomline? Not as much as they probably thought...just a hunch.

You are right, I keep thinking on Hong Kong as a British City and not China. So make it a third city in China. And you are also right it was this past January I went. I guess that means a major increase in WDW attendance in 2018 will be reported next year and then blown records away in 2019 and 2020. 2020 will probably be around 70 million at WDW.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Obviously I am a "local" outlier. But I have to think that someone with multiple day parkhoppers would stop by for at least one day, even if not the full day. Similarly to how AK was viewed only a few years ago.

I agree...i’m Just messing with you.

I think the traditional 1-2-1-2 pattern is still fairly accurate...

It may be 3 (MK) - 1 (Epcot) - 1 (studios) - 2 (dak) temporarily...but nobody “skips” mgm to a statistically valid level of on a long trip.

 

[Disone]

I mean, before it opened, sure. It was an unknown. And IMO the property (Avatar) is still weak - but the land itself can't be called anything other than a success.

Amazingly enough, in the time since Pandora has opened, there have been those who have made the claim that Disney did not get the Boost in attendance that they were looking for. That Pandora fell flat or that Animal Kingdom only saw a very modest increase in attendance. Those same people are probably wishing they had waited for this report before blurting that opinion.

 

[donsullivan]

Amazingly enough, in the time since Pandora has opened, there have been those who have made the claim that Disney did not get the Boost in attendance that they were looking for. That Pandora fell flat or that Animal Kingdom only saw a very modest increase in attendance. Those same people are probably wishing they had waited for this report before blurting that opinion.

And keep in mind,that Pandora was only open for 7 months of 2017. If they sustain those numbers (and there is no reason to believe they will not) the impact on 2018 will be much more significant. It would likely have been another 400-500K in 2017 had Pandora been open the whole year.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Another view of the data:

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You are right, I keep thinking on Hong Kong as a British City and not China. So make it a third city in China. And you are also right it was this past January I went. I guess that means a major increase in WDW attendance in 2018 will be reported next year and then blown records away in 2019 and 2020. 2020 will probably be around 70 million at WDW.

OCPD better have the tear gas ready...

70 million in 2 years would cause the compound to self destruct. Realize I have (long ago) operations experience...so i can read these things fairly easily.

I think the goal is most definitely 75 mil - complete and utter BS aside - but not at that rate of climb. They’d have to put chuck Yeager in charge.

The festivals only stabilize/cause moderate gain to Epcot. Important, but not nearly that kind of a draw.

Are you saying arts generates 2 million more this year? That’s probably the net gain after 25 years of F&W.

Disney world is damn expensive...people are going, or they’re not. Disney fights for margins now...they can’t pump in 2, 5, 10 million on a whim. The DAK bump - with mgm in mothballs - is the best you’re gonna do realistically.

 

[disneyflush]

Strange to see some people congratulating Disney on record theme park attendance. Are you really genuinely happy the parks have so many people in them? Has it positively impacted your recent vacations to WDW? I feel like it says so much more about Disney's failed attempts at keeping crowd numbers down, as publicly stated, with the price increases. People will pay whatever it takes to go to WDW it seems. Knowing that, maybe the next attempt to limit the crowds will be anything other than raising prices.

 

[seascape]

OCPD better have the tear gas ready...

70 million in 2 years would cause the compound to self destruct. Realize I have (long ago) operations experience...so i can read these things fairly easily.

I think the goal is most definitely 75 mil - complete and utter BS aside - but not at that rate of climb. They’d have to put chuck Yeager in charge.

The festivals only stabilize/cause moderate gain to Epcot. Important, but not nearly that kind of a draw.

Are you saying arts generates 2 million more this year? That’s probably the net gain after 25 years of F&W.

Disney world is damn expensive...people are going, or they’re not. Disney fights for margins now...they can’t pump in 2, 5, 10 million on a whim. The DAK bump - with mgm in mothballs - is the best you’re gonna do realistically.

I am saying that adults my age, and income have the money to travel to Disney 4 or 5 times a year and because of all the festivals do. It is not just the Arts but the enlarged F&W, F&G and Holidays. The new one and 3 improved ones do add to attendance.

As for 75 million, I can see it being that high in 2020. That is why they are going to be building the Epcot hotel and River Country resort. Them there are the hotels in Flamingo Grossing and the additional tower at the Swalphin.

 

[Disone]

Strange to see some people congratulating Disney on record theme park attendance. Are you really genuinely happy the parks have so many people in them? Has it positively impacted your recent vacations to WDW? I feel like it says so much more about Disney's failed attempts at keeping crowd numbers down, as publicly stated, with the price increases. People will pay whatever it takes to go to WDW it seems. Knowing that, maybe the next attempt to limit the crowds will be anything other than raising prices.

Sigh.... I just can't......

I'm sure that if attendance had dropped you would celebrate Disney's amazing crowd control efforts and how much better there parks have been. There wouldn't be a word from you at all about, I told you so! I told you Disney was going to fail to Universal. No no one would say that at all.

 

[Thebolt]

I suspect that Volcano bay has met expectations. The numbers are a little above Wet & Wild, but it didn't open until May. It should be able to keep those numbers with the hotel expansions in progress around it, maybe even catch up with Disney (?) in a few years. It looks like a solid investment.

 

[21stamps]

You don't understand. It's not physically possible. I would need to see Disney's internal, unedited attendance numbers for DHS to believe otherwise.

If the daily average is 29,375 guests, that means that there were days with lower numbers and days with higher numbers, as it's obviously not the same number of guests all 365 days. 28,000 was DCA's pre-Cars Land capacity LIMIT, and we're to believe DHS averaged 29,375 guests a day with literally half the park closed?

Did DHS close due to capacity every in 2017? It would have needed to do so regularly to make the numbers TEA estimate here. SDL closed for capacity several times in 2017 and is a much larger park with a much higher capacity limit.

Every year something doesn't add up with the WDW numbers, which TEA/AECOM estimates since Disney doesn't release them.

Probably because DHS wasn’t actually a “half closed” park. People here like to complain about it.. the rest of the Disney-visiting world still enjoys it.
DHS is a must do for my family.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Probably because DHS wasn’t actually a “half closed” park. People here like to complain about it.. the rest of the Disney-visiting world still enjoys it.
DHS is a must do for my family.

You never noticed the construction walls where things used to be, huh?

...your defending something that really isn’t a
Point of contention...

Want to debate how the college programmers are vastly overpaid at muppet vision next?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I am saying that adults my age, and income have the money to travel to Disney 4 or 5 times a year and because of all the festivals do. It is not just the Arts but the enlarged F&W, F&G and Holidays. The new one and 3 improved ones do add to attendance.

As for 75 million, I can see it being that high in 2020. That is why they are going to be building the Epcot hotel and River Country resort. Them there are the hotels in Flamingo Grossing and the additional tower at the Swalphin.

Adults with money don’t typically travel 4-5 times per year to Disney...they go other places too. Fanatics do but there aren’t nearly as many as you seem to think. To each their own...but the raw number isn’t there.

And you’re suggesting a 36% increase in attendance...with a couple of smallish hotels...in 2 years when it took 20 years since DAK to get around a 28% increase overall is feasible?

Is this thing on??

 

[HauntedPirate]

Where are they going to get an additional 15 million visitors in/by 2020? That's a near-30% increase in attendance in 24 months. I don't see that happening. More importantly, though, is the question - Could the parks handle 30% more guests? Epcot, sure, it has the space. The rest? I don't see it. I can't even imagine the lines...

 

[21stamps]

You never noticed the construction walls where things used to be, huh?

...your defending something that really isn’t a
Point of contention...

Want to debate how the college programmers are vastly overpaid at muppet vision next?

They didn’t bother me in the slightest, in fact, they make good photo backdrops. The Star Wars additions made the park better than what it was before, in my opinion.. and the opinion of many others who also went to the past in the past 2 years.
There’s no way that HS lost half of it’s capacity due to construction.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Probably because DHS wasn’t actually a “half closed” park. People here like to complain about it.. the rest of the Disney-visiting world still enjoys it.
DHS is a must do for my family.

I'm glad you enjoy it. That doesn't change the fact that in 2017, half of the park's physical footprint was inaccessible due to construction, a.k.a. closed. It's not an insult to the park or a comment on its quality - the park is literally smaller than it was previously while SWGE and TSL are under construction.

 

[danlb_2000]

...ehhh, those are minor things in the end.

It seems that WDW is not being driven by rides...it doesn’t justify the uptick...

It’s more of a “sure, why not? Let’s go!” Phenomenon at work on the surface...mass effect

The wait times and difficulty getting fastpasses would say otherwise for Frozen Ever After.