A Spirited 15 Rounds ...

[ParentsOf4]

200+ million? Not even close.
http://www./wp-content/uploads/2017/06/top-25-worldwide.png

Rounding up most of the 2016 attendance numbers = approx 82 million guests at the US Disney Parks. And many of those are park hoppers.

Just keep in mind those are gate clicks.

The typical vacationer visits a WDW theme park multiple times each trip. For example, someone entering a theme park 7 times over the course of a one week vacation counts as 7 visits. But it's still only 1 person.

Then there are the local AP holders who repeatedly visit WDW throughout the year.

The actual number of distinct individuals visiting a WDW theme park in any given year is a fraction of the number reported by TEA.

With approximately 20% of WDW's attendance coming from outside the United States and Canada, and with the U.S. population at over 320 million, it really is just a small percentage of Americans who visit WDW in any given year.

 

[Kman101]

Since TSL is a clone of what was done overseas the rides will also be the off the shelf ride mechanisms

But i guess bolting a fibreglas shell on to the first and last car and a disney paint job makes it a custom ride system

 

[lazyboy97o]

Since TSL is a clone of what was done overseas the rides will also be the off the shelf ride mechanisms

But i guess bolting a fibreglas shell on to the first and last car and a disney paint job makes it a custom ride system

The rides are not the same. So you either don’t know what you are talking about or are lying. Custom coaster layouts are not considered off the shelf, nor are exclusive flatrides for which the operator holds a patent and designed.

 

[GoofGoof]

Here's my take on this. It's not only the upper class that visit WDW. Not everyone who visits is a return customer who comes back every year or spends that much annually on a vacation. Many families save up for a special trip to WDW. The trip may cost 2 or 3 times or more what they normally spend on an annual vacation. Unfortunately, some people don't actually save up for the trip but just put it on a credit card and carry the debt for years. Just because people are spending a considerable amount on a vacation doesn't mean they are actually upper class. This is nothing new either. I grew up in a middle class family and I went to WDW once as a kid in the 80s. My parents saved for a number of years to come up with the money to pay for it. We went for a week and stayed at CR which is by far the nicest place I ever stayed as a kid. Our more frequent vacation was at a motel at the Jersey shore which probably cost about 1/4 the price of CR.

 

[jakeman]

So you either don’t know what you are talking about or are lying.

I thought that was a given at this point?

 

[MaximumEd]

I find it hard to believe that DVC rooms with broken appliances is "the norm".

 

[Bocabear]

More often than you would think... and not juist appliances...Curtains torn out of the wall and hanging, issues with other things. It has become fairly routine when we check in for our once a year stay at BLT, we immediately start a maintenance ticket...lol
I don't know why people have to be so hard on stuff...Like tearing the curtain rods out of the wall, broken furniture, missing room stuff like pots and pand and silverware... We are all buying into this thing, it would make more sense for us all to take better care of it...
but such is the nature of people I guess....

 

[jakeman]

I find it hard to believe that DVC rooms with broken appliances is "the norm".

It's not. @ford91exploder had a broken fridge once almost 3 years ago and it's traumatized him severely.

 

[Bocabear]

Maybe people are just harder on the BLT Grand Villas, but like I said, we have to call maintenance in almost every visit... that is about 4 of the last 6 years...

 

[jakeman]

Maybe people are just harder on the BLT Grand Villas, but like I said, we have to call maintenance in almost every visit... that is about 4 of the last 6 years...

Yeah, I'm going to agree with you there. We've stayed their twice and I'm not sure if it's the style of the room or the quality of the fixtures, but the rooms show wear and tear very easy.

 

[spacemt354]

Just keep in mind those are gate clicks.

The typical vacationer visits a WDW theme park multiple times each trip. For example, someone entering a theme park 7 times over the course of a one week vacation counts as 7 visits. But it's still only 1 person.

Then there are the local AP holders who repeatedly visit WDW throughout the year.

The actual number of distinct individuals visiting a WDW theme park in any given year is a fraction of the number reported by TEA.

With approximately 20% of WDW's attendance coming from outside the United States and Canada, and with the U.S. population at over 320 million, it really is just a small percentage of Americans who visit WDW in any given year.

Exactly. That's why I said above that many of those are park hoppers, meaning the same person counting as a gate click multiple times. The number is much smaller than what TEA represents, but the member I was responding to made an error so it's all fine.

 

[Fizban257]

Maybe people are just harder on the BLT Grand Villas, but like I said, we have to call maintenance in almost every visit... that is about 4 of the last 6 years...

From what I have read anecdotally, the higher-end DVC rooms seem to be the ones that suffer from this issue, while the more run-of-the-mill DVC rooms do not.

 

[wannabeBelle]

Did we lose Spirit?? @WDW1974 ? Marie

 

[lazyboy97o]

I thought that was a given at this point?

You mean he isn’t also an expert in ride system engineering?

 

[GoofGoof]

More often than you would think... and not juist appliances...Curtains torn out of the wall and hanging, issues with other things. It has become fairly routine when we check in for our once a year stay at BLT, we immediately start a maintenance ticket...lol
I don't know why people have to be so hard on stuff...Like tearing the curtain rods out of the wall, broken furniture, missing room stuff like pots and pand and silverware... We are all buying into this thing, it would make more sense for us all to take better care of it...
but such is the nature of people I guess....

You must be visiting with @ford91exploder

Come to think of it you guys seem to have a lot in common. Long lost cousins?

 

[matt9112]

Crowds seemed healthy enough last week for the few days I was there but it does sound like overall attendance was down. I know pictures don't always capture everything but having looked at a lot of different photo updates from the parks this summer it does seem Epcot was fairly empty at times. Curious to hear from those in the know.

been there a few times since silver block outs lifted...yeah not a madhouse. normal hourf waits for TT and soaring but easy to move around no big clumps of crowds.

 

[matt9112]

Are the Minnie Vans even fully rolled out yet? When we were there we were told that they're only serving the Yacht / Beach / Boardwalk resort guests at the moment. We definitely would have used them to get from Old Key West to dinner at Ohana but we weren't eligible. I think the price was pretty decent, too. It's built right on top of the Lyft infrastructure so I'm not sure how it even could die unless people were ready to proclaim that Lyft / Uber are dead at WDW too.

uber is cheaper. it was 17 bucks for roughly 10 miles of travel for me few months ago.

 

[matt9112]

Every Minnie Van I've seen on property, which have been a lot, seems to be filled up. Obviously I'm not poking my head inside, but they are out and about more than I expected

can you attempt to poke your head inside them? we all will get a kick out of that story here !

 

[matt9112]

Yes...yes we are

my goal is to be one someday.

 

[durangojim]

When Disney started making cabana's and ****...they made it pretty clear their new target audience is the upper class. A trip to WDW shouldn't be as expensive as a trip to Europe.

I personally miss the cabanas at the Poly, although the pseudo one at the Oasis pool is pretty great. I wish they would make some at the Yacht and Beach. If you're talking about the ones in Tomorrowland, now that was just stupid.