News 2023 TEA/AECOM Global Attendance Report, EPCOT Sees Significant Growth

[GhostHost1000]

This thread should be complied into a book already…it’s already one for the ages

 

[hopemax]

I would like to take this time to plug the classic 5-day park hopper. Once Disney started charging extra to hop, guests started eliminating it as a way to save on tickets, then the stupid 2PM restriction lasted far longer than it should have. If Disney is really worried that guests are eliminating parks from their itinerary, completely, bringing back park hopping might be an answer. Even if they limit hopping to AK, DHS and Epcot.

ETA: In the Carsland thread, I asked if Pandora, the Land, not just FoP was a "success," I'm going with a resounding "no" on that.

 

[MisterPenguin]

And this data is from when the walls were up, right?

What will the numbers be now that the hugely successful EPCOT renovation is now complete and the walls are down?

So is all the “lower attendance” talk fake news?

It's significantly lower than pre-pandemic, and that's probably what people are comparing it to. So, yes, it is significantly less than 2019.

Problem is then equating that with "the parks are failing!!!"

Disney still makes billions in profits from domestic parks.

Less people, but spending per capita has gone up, leading me to my next response...

 

[MisterPenguin]

I think pandemic related operations and capacity reductions made the parks feel busier than they really were. There is a lot of stuff that was slow to reopen.

WDW is still down precipitously from 2019.

And WDW is OK with that.

Leading up to the pandemic they were trying to reduce attendance because of overcrowding and no significant growth in capacity. They were trying to curtail overcrowding with price hikes. And yet more and more showed up each year.

Then the pandemic changed everything. They had to put in reservations to meet the distancing standards. That gave them the leverage to put lower caps on parks (mainly MK). So they kept reservations for as long as they could until developing other leverages of crowd control (e.g., the dated day tickets).

And they kept raising prices.

Disney has pretty much found the price point to prevent the type of overcrowding that happened leading up the pandemic. MK's capacity hasn't significantly changed. Trying to get attendance back up to 2019 levels is... problematic.

 

[gorillaball]

And WDW is OK with that.

Leading up to the pandemic they were trying to reduce attendance because of overcrowding and no significant growth in capacity. They were trying to curtail overcrowding with price hikes. And yet more and more showed up each year.

Then the pandemic changed everything. They had to put in reservations to meet the distancing standards. That gave them the leverage to put lower caps on parks (mainly MK). So they kept reservations for as long as they could until developing other leverages of crowd control (e.g., the dated day tickets).

And they kept raising prices.

Disney has pretty much found the price point to prevent the type of overcrowding that happened leading up the pandemic. MK's capacity hasn't significantly changed. Trying to get attendance back up to 2019 levels is... problematic.

Ding ding ding

 

[DarkMetroid567]

Horrific numbers for Universal.

Adding a few cheap coasters with a lick of paint was never going to be a game changer. People want lands, immersive places to visit.

Clearly shows without regular investment in their parks Universal will struggle in my opinion.

Hollywood studios numbers also a bit of a shock, Star Wars hasn't been the game changer we thought it might be.

Neither Hagrids or Veloci are cheap coasters and are incredibly highly received, BUT you’re right that they’re not enough to bring in the bulk of Florida tourists. They appeal to too specific of an audience.

I’m more worried that Universal doesn’t know how to make a good non-coaster anymore. Villain-Con is bad and Mario Kart is not great, but the Beijing Jurassic World ride looks good. Epic will be a true test.

 

[doctornick]

Neither Hagrids or Veloci are cheap coasters and are incredibly highly received, BUT you’re right that they’re not enough to bring in the bulk of Florida tourists. They appeal to too specific of an audience.

I’m more worried that Universal doesn’t know how to make a good non-coaster anymore. Villain-Con is bad and Mario Kart is not great, but the Beijing Jurassic World ride looks good. Epic will be a true test.

Hmmm. That's an interesting point. What was the last really good non-coaster by Uni, at least in the US? I would argue Forbidden Journey and even that has been a bit.

 

[Andrew25]

I've been saying for years now, Universal has a solid coaster line up and have maximized the "younder adult/thrill seeker" demographic... it's time to go after the family-friendly category of attractions. Epic is a decent start, but the current parks need more substantial dark rides and family experiences.

 

[Jrb1979]

I've been saying for years now, Universal has a solid coaster line up and have maximized the "younder adult/thrill seeker" demographic... it's time to go after the family-friendly category of attractions. Epic is a decent start, but the current parks need more substantial dark rides and family experiences.

I agree. I think that's where that kid park comes in. If it does well I can see them adding more family/ kids things in the other parks.

 

[Andrew25]

I agree. I think that's where that kid park comes in. If it does well I can see them adding more family/ kids things in the other parks.

Biggest issue with Universal is that they did a very good job in the 90's creating attractions that were thrilling in story, but family-friendly in motion (Jaws/Earthquake/Kongfrontation) and those have all been by roller coasters, motion simulator or both in Jaws' case.

Universal needs to give thrill-rides a break and develop family experiences. Epic Universe will be a great first step in that direction, but they need to tackle the existing parks immediately after that.

 

[DonniePeverley]

Neither Hagrids or Veloci are cheap coasters and are incredibly highly received

Coasters like Veloci might get fan boys online excited. But no one is going to travel around the world to ride an off the shelf coaster like Veloci with a glossy queue.

Furthermore it's not a family attraction, there will only be a certain smaller demographic that will ride a thrill coaster.

 

[Jrb1979]

Coasters like Veloci might get fan boys online excited. But no one is going to travel around the world to ride an off the shelf coaster like Veloci with a glossy queue.

Furthermore it's not a family attraction, there will only be a certain smaller demographic that will ride a thrill coaster.

You would be surprised at how many travel to parks for coasters. Velocicoaster is not an off the shelf coaster. It's created specifically for Universal.

If coasters weren't popular, than how did SeaWorld draw over 3 million visitors last year

 

[DarkMetroid567]

Coasters like Veloci might get fan boys online excited. But no one is going to travel around the world to ride an off the shelf coaster like Veloci with a glossy queue.

Furthermore it's not a family attraction, there will only be a certain smaller demographic that will ride a thrill coaster.

I’m a big coaster enthusiast (nearing about 600 rides now) so I’ll defend Velocicoaster to its death but I generally agree that the visitor impact is likely overstated by these forums. My Florida friends all love it, but the rest of my friends across the country, even if they’ve heard of it, do not really care to ride it like they would something like Forbidden Journey.

But a lot of those friends also still think Wizarding World is Disney, lol.

 

[LSLS]

You would be surprised at how many travel to parks for coasters. Velocicoaster is not an off the shelf coaster. It's created specifically for Universal.

If coasters weren't popular, than how did SeaWorld draw over 3 million visitors last year

Yeah, I actually know multiple families up North who went to Universal with the reason being Velocicaoster.

 

[DonniePeverley]

You would be surprised at how many travel to parks for coasters. Velocicoaster is not an off the shelf coaster. It's created specifically for Universal.

If coasters weren't popular, than how did SeaWorld draw over 3 million visitors last year

Sea World's 3 million visitors is pitiful. Universal are looking to pull up to Disney figures. Had they remained on trajectory they could have been up there.

 

[DonniePeverley]

Yeah, I actually know multiple families up North who went to Universal with the reason being Velocicaoster.

LSLS knows people who drove north to ride a generic Six Flags coaster (albeit with a very shiny queue) so that means everyone else must be too. >rolls eyes<

The attendance drop at Universal theme parks says otherwise.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I've been saying for years now, Universal has a solid coaster line up and have maximized the "younder adult/thrill seeker" demographic... it's time to go after the family-friendly category of attractions. Epic is a decent start, but the current parks need more substantial dark rides and family experiences.

Big thrill coasters do indeed attract guests, especially younger adults.

But, I'm not sure of this..., but isn't it the case that big coaster parks like Six Flags parks have to constantly install newer and more thrilling and more unique coasters to keep their attendance up?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

My biggest shocker is how close Disneyland is to edging out MK. Disneyland may soon be not only the crown jewel of domestic Disney parks, but the number 1 in the world.

Disneyland is an incredible park - Tomorrowland is in sad shape but I’m glad they are ignoring it vs. messing it up. I’m hopeful new leadership at Disney will fix Tomorrowland the right way - by restoring much of its past in a retro and fun way.

As for Epcot - on my last visit earlier this year - I both a 2 day park ticket and used it for Epcot only. I thought about adding a park hopper so I could ride tron for the first time and say goodbye to the bears - but it didn’t seem worth it.

Epcot was for the Arts Festival - I planned to be there for specific Broadway performances.

 

[Jrb1979]

Big thrill coasters do indeed attract guests, especially younger adults.

But, I'm not sure of this..., but isn't it the case that big coaster parks like Six Flags parks have to constantly install newer and more thrilling and more unique coasters to keep their attendance up?

They used to and still do but not as much as they used to. A lot of them are adding more family level coasters a long with the big ones.

Families want the thrills for all ages. It's no surprise Disney is adding more thrills and coasters

 

[LSLS]

LSLS knows people who drove north to ride a generic Six Flags coaster (albeit with a very shiny queue) so that means everyone else must be too. >rolls eyes<

The attendance drop at Universal theme parks says otherwise.

Jrb said you would be surprised how many travel for that coaster. I mentioned I know a few who actually did travel for that. Did I ever come close to saying that everyone travels for that? Did I say it was last year they did that travel? Did I say they went back? Did I say they TRAVELED north? I was simply providing my ancectdotal evidence that some people did travel for that specific one based on how well it was recieved. Not sure why you are snapping at me on that.