Attendence falls at WDW per lastest earnings release...

[Jimmy Thick]

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but if you really believe this, you haven't been to Disney (or stayed at one of the WDW resorts) lately.

Hmmm, I was just there a few weeks ago, the Contemporary to be exact, and needless to say, it was beautiful, clean and believe it or not, it smelled nice. I even had a concierge get me ADR's to LeCellier and O'Hana while I was there, even when the ADR website said they were booked solid.

I also had a chance to make my way through all 4 parks, and I didn't see anyone smoking their last cigarette before getting shot. Maybe they were in the designated areas.

All I remember, vividly mind you, was a great time with my family, and the parks and my resort being just like I remembered, the demise of Disney World is fictional.


Jimmy Thick- I'll be going in 2 weeks again, I hope its still there...

 

[captainkidd]

Hmmm, I was just there a few weeks ago, the Contemporary to be exact, and needless to say, it was beautiful, clean and believe it or not, it smelled nice. I even had a concierge get me ADR's to LeCellier and O'Hana while I was there, even when the ADR website said they were booked solid.

I also had a chance to make my way through all 4 parks, and I didn't see anyone smoking their last cigarette before getting shot. Maybe they were in the designated areas.

All I remember, vividly mind you, was a great time with my family, and the parks and my resort being just like I remembered, the demise of Disney World is fictional.


Jimmy Thick- I'll be going in 2 weeks again, I hope its still there...

No one said there is a "demise of WDW", but tough times may be ahead if they don't get their heads out of their butts. Glad you had a good experience. I did as well on my recent trip (well, up and down), but there have been many complaints about poor housekeeping, bus service, and condition of rooms at several resorts.

 

[captainkidd]

Now why is WDW the only Park showing marked deceases??? The answer is there if you've spent any quality time at WDW over the past 10 years or so. The quality of WDW has diminished greatly and the offerings have become slimmer and slimmer. I'll take lights of Winter at Epcot as a good example and that's merely one of a hundred other items I could mention. The list of venues that WDW management has eliminated is overwhelming but that needs its own thread.

I firmly believe that repeat visitors just don't see the value at WDW that they once did. Most other posters here have already pointed that fact out.

Having gone at least 2 times per year for the past 7-8 years, I agree with you. That's not to say I don't still love it. But indeed, to claim there are no changes for the worse at the resort is denial.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

No one said there is a "demise of WDW", but tough times may be ahead if they don't get their heads out of their butts. Glad you had a good experience. I did as well on my recent trip (well, up and down), but there have been many complaints about poor housekeeping, bus service, and condition of rooms at several resorts.

The tough times are due, I believe to the economy as people do not have extra income for vacations. Or people fear for losing their jobs, which is completely understandable. I can't blame Disney for that.

The bus service sucks, it always has, that won't ever change.

House keeping and room conditions should never be at an unacceptable level, if they are, you call the front desk, it gets taken care of, or you get a different room. I leave that one on the guests, as I feel some people settle just being at Disney World than realizing they paid for a Disney World experience and should one. I just don't feel this should be an issue.


Jimmy Thick- I always get what I pay for.

 

[lebeau]

As everyone else has said, no surprise at all. They're releasing fewer and fewer discounts, combined with the fact that when they do release discounts, it's at the last minute.

Is this true?

I've gotten more and better discount offers from Disney than ever before. My brother tells me he's had the same experience. And every discount I get, a duplicate gets sent to my wife. We've been positively drowning in pin codes this year.

 

[rpk4444]

So, the big question should be, Is Disney going to do anything?. I don't think that they are going to rest on their laurels but, I do beleive that they feel that Disneyland and DCA are a bigger priority for them and always has been. Maybe some of the big wigs should spend some time in Florida rather that the fly in for a day and leave.
I smell a great "Undercover Boss" episode.

 

[captainkidd]

Is this true?

I've gotten more and better discount offers from Disney than ever before. My brother tells me he's had the same experience. And every discount I get, a duplicate gets sent to my wife. We've been positively drowning in pin codes this year.

They claim they're offering less discounts. As of right now, there is no room discount on a Bounceback offer. It has been a couple years since that has been the case. Last year we saved 40% off our room. This year, we did get a discount for Wilderness Lodge, but it was only 30%.

 

[TarzanRocked99-]

I think the most telling part of this is that while Disney acknowledges the decline in attendance at WDW they won't go into just how much of a decrease there was. Meanwhile though Unversals attendance rose 36% in the same quarter. Obviously there were travelers in Orlando, because the hotels around I-drive also posted the highest earnings in the last 3 years.

 

[lebeau]

They claim they're offering less discounts. As of right now, there is no room discount on a Bounceback offer. It has been a couple years since that has been the case. Last year we saved 40% off our room. This year, we did get a discount for Wilderness Lodge, but it was only 30%.

They say they are offering less, but I'm not sure I buy it. There hasn't been a single time I looked when I didn't have a choice between free dining (which is now being offered through most of 2011!) or the "save at least 25% offer. We saved 35% on POR in the spring. And we were offered a bounceback.

(Although my wife never, ever wants to go back to POR due to some of the things you and other have complained about in this thread.) I've also seen $500 gift cards offered this year and huge discounts on various villas.

I've got no hard facts one way or another. But anectdotally, I've never seen so many WDW discounts in my life. And good ones, too.

And that's just to stay on-site. We had two families from my daughter's soccer team stay at the Hilton a few weeks ago because they had some crazy cheap offer there.

I know Disney's made a few comments about backing away from discounts this year. But from where I'm standing, it doesn't feel like that's been the case. I don't think a drop in attendance can be blamed on a lack of discounts.

If anything, I think the fact that discounts have been abundant for so long may be part of the problem. A lot of people squeezed in their once-in-a-lifetime trip and don't have any intention of going back. Or if they do, it won't be for a long, long time.

 

[RSoxNo1]

It has very little to do with Harry Potter. As others have said, if anything, Harry Potter is a boost to Disney as well. Not many people fly to Florida just to do Universal, and skip Disney.

But then you have the families that were going to go to Disney for 7 days and instead are going 5 to Disney and 2 to Potter. You also have a decrease in the usage of Magical Express meaning more people are looking to get off property.

Harry Potter has finally helped Universal make a dent in Disney's bottom line. It's not the only reason, but the timing couldn't have been better.

Consider that Disney had been offering discounts that would lure the once a lifers or once every 5 year families down to Central Florida in the 2007-2009 range. Those people already have the Disney vacation in recent memory so they're not returning. And they're not getting new blood because the discounts are becoming less frequent while the regular prices are increasing.

This wouldn't be a problem if Disney had a new large scale addition that just opened, but it seems they'll have to wait until 2012 for that to happen.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was announced on May 31st, 2007 and it opened 3 years later. People on here have mentioned that the Fantasyland Expansion was in the works for at least that long.

Why didn't the accelerate Fantasyland or another project? It’s because they were resting on their laurels. By the time they announced the Fantasyland Expansion, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince helped propel that movie Franchise to over $5 billion in earnings. Universal is final reaping the benefits.

Having said all that, Disney only has themselves to blame for the drop in attendance. Yes, Universal built the PotterVerse, but Disney has the capacity to match or exceed that from an entertainment standpoint, they just chose not to.

 

[HM Spectre]

Basic business... if you spend money, make improvements and better yourself to take care of your customers who are your #1 priority, they'll reward your bottom line. If you, instead, try to take care of your bottom line as the #1 priority at the expense of your customers, your bottom line will be hurt by those customers.

I understand it's not easy to throw money at improvements in a weak economy. It seems to fly in the face of logic to spend when gate receipts should theoretically decrease but hunkering down and making budget cuts to the point where it hurts the product... instead relying on discounts to get people into the same, old, stale parks doesn't work. Unfortunately, TDO doesn't seem to have the stomach for pushing themselves to maintain a standard of excellence in tough times and this is the result.

Can't say I'm really surprised by this...

 

[Disney05]

Guess that answers the question why DME rider numbers are down from last year.

 

[Atomicmickey]

This seems inevitable to me. They throttled back the discounts, and the economy continues to tank. I just think that people are going to be doing less travel in general, and less expensive travel like WDW as well. Until the economy picks up, there may be nothing they can do.

What makes me sad is, there goes any additional attractions for a while.

 

[lebeau]

This seems inevitable to me.

Depends. Given that they decided to remain stagnant for the last few years while raising prices and driving up attendance artificially with discounts, yes it was inevitable.

Make different decisions and it was easily avoidable.

 

[ImaYoyo]

If you read about this elsewhere it is stated that there was one less week this quarter compared to last year's quarter. That happens quite a bit in business and companies expect lower numbers due to this. Disney stated that taking the extra week into consideration they would have been up 1% in attendance.

Bingo.

 

[captainkidd]

Bingo.

Then how do you explain both Disneyland and Universal's rise in numbers?

I know some people don't want to admit it, but WDW is not immune to this economy.

 

[T-1MILLION]

For those who say Potter has NOTHING to do with such a steep difference they are in some serious denial. WDW earnings are down, Universal's attendance is up..and not just up. 36 percent up with both attendance and merch spending is at an all time high.

 

[janoimagine]

Having said all that, Disney only has themselves to blame for the drop in attendance. Yes, Universal built the PotterVerse, but Disney has the capacity to match or exceed that from an entertainment standpoint, they just chose not to.

The bottom line is Disney got lazy, and should take a good look in the mirror as to why their park attendance has dropped. They set the bar, then came up horribly short in recent years on there Florida property.

 

[janoimagine]

Bingo.

One week will not make 60 million dollars, which is what they are down this Q4 as compared to last years Q4 earnings.

 

[BrerFrog]

That is good new to me. I hope DL sees a major increase in attendence after DCA is finished, and WDW's numbers keep dropping so that someone in the East finally realizes money has to be spent even though WDW's audience isn't half as demanding as the fans they need to satisfy on the other coast.