Attendance: Cast vs Tourists

[PhotoDave219]

Okay.... We're opening up a can of worms here, but this weekend's blackout of Cast at Studios for Star Wars Weekends has me thinking: how much of the attendance of the parks is made up of cast/main gates against regular guests.

I ask for a few reasons....

First, SWW were expecting capacity crowds for Mark Hamill, so they blocked out cast. They got a decent, average and very comfortable crowd for an average day instead. I really enjoyed it.

Contrast that with the Friday the 13th Villains party train wreck that was inundated with off duty cast members & CPs.

Contrast that with the first 24 hour day when you had a park full of cast at 3am.

With the recent TEA reports, how much of the audience and admissions are made up by cast & main gates?

 

[Nemo14]

Interesting observation. My son was there this weekend and was also there last September for the Villains Party. We had warned him that it was going to be super crazy with crowds, but he said the same thing. There were crowds, but nothing insane at all.

 

[Nubs70]

Okay.... We're opening up a can of worms here, but this weekend's blackout of Cast at Studios for Star Wars Weekends has me thinking: how much of the attendance of the parks is made up of cast/main gates against regular guests.

I ask for a few reasons....

First, SWW were expecting capacity crowds for Mark Hamill, so they blocked out cast. They got a decent, average and very comfortable crowd for an average day instead. I really enjoyed it.

Contrast that with the Friday the 13th Villains party train wreck that was inundated with off duty cast members & CPs.

Contrast that with the first 24 hour day when you had a park full of cast at 3am.

With the recent TEA reports, how much of the audience and turn style clicks are made up by cast & main gates?

This could also explain the hotel resort centric philosophy. Why focus on parks when a significant portion of attendance is less than full fare?

 

[John]

IMO this is the next shoe to drop.....Disney cutting back more and more on main gate passes and CM discounts. NO it wont be all at once. It will be another case of "declining by degrees"

 

[Tom Morrow]

It's not that high. A lot more cast members than normal show up for special events like the villains party, which is why they block those days out.

 

[flynnibus]

also explains why the parks can be packed, but hotels less than so. Much like the AP problem out west, I'm sure the idea of a 'special event' magnifies the problem and the normal ratios get all out of whack.

I'd still prefer Disney treat cast with special attention rather than block them out of everything. Maybe do things like lotteries or something to manage maximum impact on paying guests.

 

[natatomic]

Okay.... We're opening up a can of worms here, but this weekend's blackout of Cast at Studios for Star Wars Weekends has me thinking: how much of the attendance of the parks is made up of cast/main gates against regular guests.

I ask for a few reasons....

First, SWW were expecting capacity crowds for Mark Hamill, so they blocked out cast. They got a decent, average and very comfortable crowd for an average day instead. I really enjoyed it.

Contrast that with the Friday the 13th Villains party train wreck that was inundated with off duty cast members & CPs.

Contrast that with the first 24 hour day when you had a park full of cast at 3am.

With the recent TEA reports, how much of the audience and turn style clicks are made up by cast & main gates?

Eh, comparing all those special events to this week's SWW is apples to oranges, IMHO. First of all, both the 24 hour day and the Villains party were each only one day. Mark Hamill was there over the course of three days, plus all of SWW was still spread out over 6 weekends this year. I'm sure the numbers were affected to some extent by blocking out CMs, but I'd imagine that difference from that was a drop in the bucket compared to the effect of SWW being a multi-day event.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Eh, comparing all those special events to this week's SWW is apples to oranges, IMHO. First of all, both the 24 hour day and the Villains party were each only one day. Mark Hamill was there over the course of three days, plus all of SWW was still spread out over 6 weekends this year. I'm sure the numbers were affected to some extent by blocking out CMs, but I'd imagine that difference from that was a drop in the bucket compared to the effect of SWW being a multi-day event.

Okay, fine. Apples to oranges. Whatever.

I wanna know how many cast members make up daily attendance.

 

[Bolt]

Okay, fine. Apples to oranges. Whatever.

I wanna know how many cast members make up daily attendance.

I've seen the figures - it's single digits.

 

[StageFrenzy]

I've seen the figures - it's single digits.

So nine castmembers a day or percentage?

 

[DManRightHere]

I would agree that special events draw many more cast members than a non event day.

If I took a wild guess. Maybe 5-8% on a typical day. Maybe 12-15% on an event.

 

[71jason]

Eh, comparing all those special events to this week's SWW is apples to oranges, IMHO. First of all, both the 24 hour day and the Villains party were each only one day. Mark Hamill was there over the course of three days, plus all of SWW was still spread out over 6 weekends this year. I'm sure the numbers were affected to some extent by blocking out CMs, but I'd imagine that difference from that was a drop in the bucket compared to the effect of SWW being a multi-day event.

There is an apparent assumption there that CMs would only go to one day of Mark Hamil, or even one day of SWW. I think David is suggesting with his initial question that that is not the case. My own anecdotal evidence--worth not much--is that the first SWW was much busier; that makes little sense. Also, perhaps tellingly, I hear bar sales were way down this weekend.

 

[71jason]

I've seen the figures - it's single digits.

First, high single digits or low single digits? Honestly, even 7% - 8% would be "a lot" relatively.

Second, is that exclusively CMs, or does it include "family APs" (I don't know the official term, but don't most CMs get 3?) and Maingates?

Also, how does this break down by time of year/park? Do the 70k at MK Christmas week make up for the September weekdays where F&W is largely CMs? What's the breakdown, for say, Osborne Light days?

I think this is an interesting, legitimate area of discussion, and while I don't want you to jeopardize your job, if you've seen hard numbers, that would add far more to the discussion.

 

[cheezbat]

I'd say quite a few cast members account for daily turn style clicks. Every visit I hear so many off duty cast members hanging with friends or other cast members talking about having to work FANT or DEP or getting capped or being 'friends' with some character. Being a former Cast Member, I know the jargon pretty well...and while I would occasionally hang at a park on my time off, many of the younger crowd do it daily. Heck, one of my best friends is in entertainment, and nearly every day he is off he spends at one of the parks.

 

[Tom Morrow]

^ Yeah, it's more than you might think, but I'd wager not enough to make any significant impact on things, for a regular operating day, anyway.

 

[John]

Single digits? seems low to me. If I am not mistaken I think I have read that on an average day there are 100,000 visiting the parks each day. If it is say 5%, that's a mere 5,000 Cm's and or their guest in the park. If the average CM brings in 1 guest the number of actual CM would be cut in half. 2,500 CM's in the park at any given time? That seems really low.

 

[Bolt]

Might seem low but honestly 10% of the entire company is not playing in the park EVERYday. As pointed out, special events draw more out.

 

[TubaGeek]

Some things to consider:
1) A healthy majority of frontline CMs are there on the College Program, and they will milk their park passes for all they are worth. On my CP, I probably spent about 1/3 of my days off in the parks.
2) A lot of CMs in the park probably came in through the cast entrance which, unless you're just hanging out before or after your shift, you're really not supposed to do. So these folks do add the the crowd, but do not add to the turnstile count.

 

[Figment2005]

Some things to consider:
1) A healthy majority of frontline CMs are there on the College Program, and they will milk their park passes for all they are worth. On my CP, I probably spent about 1/3 of my days off in the parks.
2) A lot of CMs in the park probably came in through the cast entrance which, unless you're just hanging out before or after your shift, you're really not supposed to do. So these folks do add the the crowd, but do not add to the turnstile count.

Very correct. The CP cast do spend a lot of time at the parks as they really don't have much else to do. The regular cast probably average 1 or 2 days a month, while some never visit because they couldn't care less.

 

[Bolt]

Some things to consider:
1) A healthy majority of frontline CMs are there on the College Program, and they will milk their park passes for all they are worth. On my CP, I probably spent about 1/3 of my days off in the parks.
2) A lot of CMs in the park probably came in through the cast entrance which, unless you're just hanging out before or after your shift, you're really not supposed to do. So these folks do add the the crowd, but do not add to the turnstile count.

Again - not enough to throw the 18 million MK count.