Originally posted by pheneix
But once again, not to the extent Epcot has. The only other two parks that had such a drop last year were Disneyland and Universal Studios, and even at those parks that could be attributed to cannibalization.
>>>I’ve noticed the articles that they’ve said that in have been suspiciously short on numbers backing those claims up<<<
Neither Disney nor Universal releases hard attendance numbers. I think it is a poor policy because it helps shield losses during hard times like September 11th, but that is the way they do business.
>>>Animal Kingdom, Disney’s lowest performing Florida park did more business in its first year of operation (almost 4 months shy of a whole year, too) than somebody elses newest park has done to date.<<<
USJ and DisneySea have done much better, and Epcot did much better in it's first year than Animal Kingdom. Unless of course you have been refering to non-Disney parks, in which case that's a moot point.
>>>I honestly can’t help but wonder if a rain check for after 4 admission the next day will count as two admissions to a Universal park or one for their annual totals and when somebody uses (not sure if this promotion is still in effect) their discover card and gets the second day for free, does that count as additional admission?<<<
I would imagine that a rain check would be counted as a park hopper (like the first park that someone visits gets the true admission total, but if they go to another park the turnstiles just get a click to acknowledge that someone visited, though the number does not count towards that park's final admission tally). As far as the Discover card thing goes, I'm not sure, but if a guest goes to your park and spends money one day, and then comes back the next day and spends money again, then they're probably counted as two seperate admissions. Basically how a comp ticket counts towards the final tally even though no one paid a dime for it.
But once you remove the 5% boost that Epcot had over the 1999/2000 season, those numbers start to fall back in line.
Disney has not released hard attendance figures in numbers of guests but the have all along given approximations in percentages. While the head of UO, has said we’ve been doing well or holding strong. Disney has said we are looking at about %15 less than last year in attendance property wide (in November)… And early this year they said it was about 10% less from the previous year and so on. Universal just says “we’re in great shape” or “we’re doing well” or “attendance has been higher than expected”… These are all beat around the bush statements….
I was referring to the fact that Animal Kingdom did more business in the fist 8 or so months than IOA has done any single year since opening.
But the second day free thing is not an accurate account… Sea world and Bush gardens for two years now have offered a deal where if you go ONE time and pay for a single park admission early on in they year, it’s good for a pass that is valid through the rest of the year – essentially giving you an annual pass for the price of a single day’s admission. While people may spend money in the park while they are there, they would have to spend quite a lot to make them anywhere near as profitable as a person who paid to get in each and every time they go and as a result of having all these people getting in for free more general staff is needed to control these people and to perform matenance and custodial duties. Yes, it brings more guests in but at greater costs and with fewer profits (and I can tell you firsthand that with McDonnald’s and a few other choices right across the street – walking distance from the entrance to Bush Gardens) they aren’t making a ton of money on those repeat visitors on their high priced fast service food. While Universal’s situation is nowhere near as extreme, essentially the people there for the second day would have to spend at least the cost of admission in the park per person to even come close to the level of profitability as a person who paid to and that doesn’t even take into account the wholesale costs of merchandise or food. I suppose that they are hoping the people that will be there for a second day are staying on property and that it will boost hotel attendance in that manner but it still seem like an artificial boost to the numbers to me… I guess it doesn’t really matter that much though. I mean, we battle over park attendance figures and I’m sure that the big boys up in their offices look at them and go YES we killed Sea World this year or whatever but for the most part, their deal is all profits, right? That’s why everyone is in town, isn’t it? I mean, if they make more by charging you $250 a night to stay in a resort so you can get into a park for a second day for free, then who cares, right? I suppose it goes along the same lines as my theory on Disney not really caring which park of theirs you go to as long as it is one of theirs. Ok, I think I’ve discussed this whole thing with myself to the point of having nothing more for me to really say on it (Write this one down in the history book, guys!
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Anyway, on the subject of Mission Space and the weightless thing, how would they maintain this feeling for any reasonable length of time…? I mean, in reality that 0-G feeing only lasts till you hit the restraint and then it starts applying Gs in the other direction and if they keep reducing and increasing speeds, wouldn’t that just shove you back and forth in your seat?
P.S.
People, can we refrain from calling each other names? Fanboy?
I realize that we aren’t all adults here but can those of us who aren’t at least pretend to be for the purposes of productive conversation? Personal attacks in place of compelling discussion is like being right because you were able to beat up the other guy – not by actually proving you were right.
should have given it away.
