I tell you what, if this deal sparks the interest that I think it is going to spark this summer....can you imagine the huge crowds of people.
I made the mistake of going to Disney in mid-August ONE TIME!!!! Never again! There were people on top of people.
I really can't wait to go this year. The crowds should be nice and manageable May 2-9.
We will see.
--Buzz
It's been said before, but it bears repeating...
The occupancy level of Disney's hotels and resorts makes very little impact on the overall crowds in the parks. Disney's hotels are at a (relatively) high occupancy rate year-round. Because of that, the Guests staying in the Disney hotels can be thought of as a "base-line" of Guests in the parks. The thing that makes the parks busy is how full the OFF-property hotels are. On any given day a large majority of Guests are staying in off-site accommodations. (There are a LOT more hotel rooms in the area surrounding WDW than within Disney) This promotion does nothing to boost the occupancy of off-property hotels, timeshares and vacation home rentals.
In the middle of summer, or during the spring and Christmas vacations, the parks are packed, Disney's rooms are full and you have a hard time finding an available hotel room anywhere near WDW. But if you go mid-September, early December, late-January, the parks aren't as busy, Disney's hotel rooms are still pretty full, but you could easily walk into any off-site hotel and get a room for the night.
All that Disney is trying to do with these promotions is to make sure that either a) people who weren't coming to WDW this year make the decision to go, or b) people who WERE coming but were planning on staying off-site will now decide to stay with Disney, or c) people who are going decide to extend their vacations, thereby spending more money in the parks. All Disney is worried about is how full their own hotel rooms are. Empty hotel rooms waste money, while full hotel rooms bring in more money in the form of hotel, food and souvenier purchases.
-Rob