Attendance at theme parks continues to skyrocket

[DisneyYorkian74]

oh lord WDWmagic regulars probably accounted for at least a million of those #'s, then.

That was supposed to be a joke right...

 

[Disney05]

Reality, and the world in general right now, is a scary place. There is nothing positive coming out of the news right now. War, terrorism, recession, no wonder people are flocking to these parks to escape it all. When I'm at the World, I leave everything behind. I don't watch tv other than for the weather, no news or traffic. I completely get lost in the fantasy world of Disney. I only wish I could spend more time there, get those park numbers up even higher!

 

[Michael72688]

I really think the next few years should be interesting here in Orlando while Disney has nothing really in the pipe for now I'm sure they will. Universal's got the Simpsons, Project Rumble, and Harry Potter, Sea World is opening a new coaster and eventually some hotels. I really think that even with the economy people will still flock to Orlando.

 

[sknydave]

What's project rumble?

 

[sknydave]

That was supposed to be a joke right...

No, it was an exact figure I extracted from my scientific calculator

 

[sanctumsolitude]

What's project rumble?

Universal's rumored roller coaster they are putting in USF. Definitely going to add some competition.

 

[bork]

Interesting that Sea World attendance grows every year, but Universal seems to be treading water at best. USF drew 8.9 million people in the two years prior to IOA opening. And 14.1 million combined in 2000. Now 2 parks only draws 11.63? Universal needs the new additions just to get back to where they were a decade ago. Magical Express and Magic Your Way tickets seems to have really hurt Universal the most.

 

[Michael72688]

Like I said the momentum is there right now and should be for the next few years to come, I have a feeling that within the next two years IOA will probably attendance like its never seen before and USF may finally start getting back to where it was in its better days.

 

[MIDisneyFamily]

I'd suspect the number's based on each time that turnstile clicks forward, not unique individual visitors. I'd also suspect people who park hop add one number to each park each day. SO the 17 million might also include, for example, people going into the MK JUST for morning or evening EMH, then spending the rest of the day in another park, or people who spent the day in a different park, have dinner ressies in a monorail resort, and decide to pop in and try to get one or two more rides under their belt (something we do quite a bit).


Actually, Its none of the above. All of the attendance numbers the organization uses, are based on outside souces, independant of the actuall Theme parks. No theme parks publicly repoert thier actuall atendance numbers to this organization or the public, They rely on travel agents, inside, non official sources, interenet sales data,and a host of othere sources.. Thier report says that these numbers are estimates, and here is no varifiable source for these figures. They are accepted in the industry however, as the most accurate picture of annual attendance. They do estimate Individual ticket sales for a daily admission to each park. Its a very involved formula, and takes a few months to come out with this report. Only the Busch Garden owners dispute the numbers as being really off, all others pretty much give the nod to the report.

 

[mrerk]

I'd suspect the number's based on each time that turnstile clicks forward, not unique individual visitors. I'd also suspect people who park hop add one number to each park each day. SO the 17 million might also include, for example, people going into the MK JUST for morning or evening EMH, then spending the rest of the day in another park, or people who spent the day in a different park, have dinner ressies in a monorail resort, and decide to pop in and try to get one or two more rides under their belt (something we do quite a bit).

I read somewhere (miceage, I think) that in the case of parkhopper tickets whereever the ticket is used first on any given day is where the attendance is credited to. Of course this only applies to the official numbers which only Disney and Al Lutz seem to have access to.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I'd suspect the number's based on each time that turnstile clicks forward, not unique individual visitors. I'd also suspect people who park hop add one number to each park each day. SO the 17 million might also include, for example, people going into the MK JUST for morning or evening EMH, then spending the rest of the day in another park, or people who spent the day in a different park, have dinner ressies in a monorail resort, and decide to pop in and try to get one or two more rides under their belt (something we do quite a bit).

Actually, you're 100% wrong.

Disney counts day guests as visiting the park they first visit as that park for the day.

So when you go to MK at 9AM, you are an MK day guest. MK gets your park admission money and you're an MK guest for that day, no matter what other park you visit. When you park hop, look back at the turnstyle readout. It says [Already Used], thereby not counting you towards that day for that park.

They keep track of Unique visitors.

So 46,000 people a day on Average. Thats a lot of $.

 

[brisem]

For real...And the other thing is the damn gas prices, I wonder how many families will be canceling their trips due to the high prices. I know I am effected by the high prices and I drive a brand new 4 cylinder car that's good on gas.

We're going down in June and since we haven't purchased our plane tixs yet, we'll actually drive down now. By driving it'll save us about $1000. (based on gas prices of $4/gallon and not including the surcharge the airlines just added on). The only negative is 19hr straight drive, but still get my Disney fix in.

 

[MIDisneyFamily]

For real...And the other thing is the damn gas prices, I wonder how many families will be canceling their trips due to the high prices. I know I am effected by the high prices and I drive a brand new 4 cylinder car that's good on gas.

Were still going....In our Minivan its only going to be about $80 more each way than if gas was at $2.50 / gal, based on it being $3.50. Were not cancelling our trip over $160. Thats 1800 miles each way about.

 

[Austin1]

wow! now I know why...

As someone else stated earlier, this definitely explains why our Magic Kingdom hasn't gotten the TLC that Disneyland has. I'm sure the people crunching the numbers in the financial department see absolutely no need to change anything. I can't imagine what the numbers at MK would be like if we actually got a new Space Mountain, E-ticket replacement for 20k, and a revamp of tomorrowland. Attendance would probably be pushing 20 million.

Only a slightly different note, I worked at the front part of the park all summer, and you could definitely tell that more guests than normal were visiting. You wouldn't believe the number of people we had in July even for the extra-magic hours. It was unbelievable. I hope the Disney company keeps a close eye on this park because it's one of it's most valuable assets. Of course they will, because we all know how magical money is.

 

[sknydave]

Maybe by crunching the numbers they figured out it's not worth it to improve too much at a time because the increase in visitors won't reflect the amount of improvements made.

 

[Montyboy]

Definition of Recession: Two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth

Number of quarters of negative growth since the last recession (2000/2001 ish): ZERO...

We are not in a recession!! Don't believe everything you see on TV!

The definition is correct, but economic forecasting is done as a study of second derivatives. We are currently in a downturn... and the first quarter of this year is negative.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

The definition is correct, but economic forecasting is done as a study of second derivatives. We are currently in a downturn... and the first quarter of this year is negative.

And the media will waste no time in turning a drama into a crisis.

 

[Michael72688]

As someone else stated earlier, this definitely explains why our Magic Kingdom hasn't gotten the TLC that Disneyland has. I'm sure the people crunching the numbers in the financial department see absolutely no need to change anything. I can't imagine what the numbers at MK would be like if we actually got a new Space Mountain, E-ticket replacement for 20k, and a revamp of tomorrowland. Attendance would probably be pushing 20 million.

Only a slightly different note, I worked at the front part of the park all summer, and you could definitely tell that more guests than normal were visiting. You wouldn't believe the number of people we had in July even for the extra-magic hours. It was unbelievable. I hope the Disney company keeps a close eye on this park because it's one of it's most valuable assets. Of course they will, because we all know how magical money is.

IOA had the same thing happen this past July it was crazy seeing the number of people in that park on a daily basis, they were very consistently going very far ahead of attendance projections.

 

[brisem]

The definition is correct, but economic forecasting is done as a study of second derivatives. We are currently in a downturn... and the first quarter of this year is negative.

Great point Monty. You also have to remeber that the housing market in 2005 and 2006 support the economy. If you took those numbers out, the economy was going downward. Also looking at the indicators in the last couple of months, we are heading for a recession. The employment hrates are growthing, the consumer spending numbers are flat to down, housing market is in a free fall. The next couple of years could be tough.

 

[sknydave]

lies spread by liberal media! liiiiies!