Cheaper tickets COMING SOON

[GhostHost1000]

I was there first weekend in June and it was not quiet at all...huge throngs of people...Long waits for attractions... maybe there are some quieter days? not sure...but everytime they say the place is dead, I go and find it very crowded....

I was there during memorial day weekend and the first week of June and it was the lowest I have seen crowds that time of year in a very long time

 

[GhostHost1000]

Go figure - some complain about low crowds predicting Disney to fail, then when the parks are crowded , complain it is too crowded.

I think you're missing something.... Disney can have higher crowds but it not be or feel over-crowded... ya know how?

expansion and increasing capacity.... something they have failed at continuing to do

 

[JD80]

They can try to manipulate the crowd levels but it can't change school times. Their primary target is children that attend school most of the year so school breaks and summer will always be parents choice times to travel. If they can't pull those kids in summer that direct family spending they are down a hole that needs filling.
Its the price

I have 3 kids in 1st grade and 6th. From my little corner of the world, after COVID, parents are incredibly more inclined to take their kids out of school than before.

It's never one thing in an ecosystem like tourism and travel.

1. It's more expensive.
2. People are more inclined to take kids out of school
3. The summer heat does influence family choices. I know it does for us and others in our circle of friends.
4. Someone mention WDW vacation cooldowns. That's an apt observation.

Plenty of more to list, but it's always a collection of things.

 

[Lilofan]

I think you're missing something.... Disney can have higher crowds but it not be or feel over-crowded... ya know how?

expansion and increasing capacity.... something they have failed at continuing to do

That includes huge investments and spending , the meeting of the minds is stopping this from happening for now.

 

[el_super]

Does anyone really think they have created a higher guest satisfaction and desire to return rating post covid?

Rising prices are a sign of strong satisfaction numbers. They know what they are doing.

 

[GhostHost1000]

That includes huge investments and spending , the meeting of the minds is stopping this from happening for now.

something they would easily be able to do if they didn't have to use the parks revenue to pay for all their other disney company mis-management elsewhere

 

[Jrb1979]

I was there first weekend in June and it was not quiet at all...huge throngs of people...Long waits for attractions... maybe there are some quieter days? not sure...but everytime they say the place is dead, I go and find it very crowded....

Good for that. Watching wait times being this low for a holiday week is not good.

Go figure - some complain about low crowds predicting Disney to fail, then when the parks are crowded , complain it is too crowded.

Again for the guests lower crowds are great. For Disney it's not. Parks are built for large crowds. It's how they make their money.

 

[Lilofan]

something they would easily be able to do if they didn't have to use the parks revenue to pay for all their other disney company mis-management elsewhere

Disney is not the only company to move the money around to help other parts of the company that need assistance.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Rising prices are a sign of strong satisfaction numbers. They know what they are doing.

so strong people are returning in large numbers

5min wait at Soarin right now by the way, 1 day before the 4th of July holiday

 

[GhostHost1000]

Disney is not the only company to move the money around to help other parts of the company that need assistance.

I don't care what other companies do right or wrong... we are talking about Disney, and their mismanagement of things leading to what we are seeing now

 

[el_super]

I think you're missing something.... Disney can have higher crowds but it not be or feel over-crowded... ya know how?

expansion and increasing capacity.... something they have failed at continuing to do

Did you stop to think that maybe the park feels less crowded to you now, because fewer people are using Genie+ and actually utilizing a lot of queue space?

 

[el_super]

so strong people are returning in large numbers

5min wait at Soarin right now by the way, 1 day before the 4th of July holiday

Sounds great. I'm not a fan of the Around the World version tho.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Did you stop to think that maybe the park feels less crowded to you now, because fewer people are using Genie+ and actually utilizing a lot of queue space?

Did you stop the think maybe the park feels less crowded because people aren't staying in their resorts and visiting the parks

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

No offense intended, but I believe that literally everything you said in that paragraph is demonstrably false.

Are you sure?

It’s an opinion for sure…but a lot of these details have hit the main stream.

People are choosing more outdoor things

And necessity costs have cut into discretionary funds for a huge chunk of Disneys target audience.

And word is out the value proposition is in decline

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

so strong people are returning in large numbers

5min wait at Soarin right now by the way, 1 day before the 4th of July holiday

They can’t even get vacation club there.

I don’t think the full message that sends is being given enough weight

 

[el_super]

I don't care what other companies do right or wrong... we are talking about Disney, and their mismanagement of things leading to what we are seeing now

No one in the real world seriously believes the parks are being mismanaged.

Did you stop the think maybe the park feels less crowded because people aren't staying in their resorts and visiting the parks

Maybe! But maybe it's just the heat.

 

[JD80]

I was there during memorial day weekend and the first week of June and it was the lowest I have seen crowds that time of year in a very long time

How are you measuring that? Vibes? Looking at thrilldata crowd Calendars, the week before and after memorial day are incredibly consistent going back to 2019 with only a few points swing in either direction.

The patterns are very consistent.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

View attachment 796384
Day before 4th of July currently 84 and sunny, wow!

The hate network that is not watching bad Star Wars is single handedly destroying Epcot this week too

 

[Dranth]

That “they want less” is a throwaway line from 2015 when their attendance dipped and he didn’t have an excuse. The praetorians won’t let it go…even as Rome decays in front of them

I think you mean 2016 as attendance increased in 2015 (up 2.5 mil). While if did decrease in 2016 it was a small dip (down 300k) and then went up again in 2017 (up 2.1 mil), 2018 (up 2.4 mil).

2019 is when I believe they hit their ceiling and people were finally fed up as attendance went flat again (up 400k).

Obviously Covid reset things but you really need to go back to 2008ish to get any real noticeable drop.

This doesn’t bode well for the few that say that it’s the economy / inflation etc. The cruise line industry is booming.

I think this is more a value proposition. I enjoy Disney but can go on at LEAST a couple different week long cruises for the same cost as one week at WDW. A lot of families are choosing to spend less money on vacations, not stop them altogether.

something they would easily be able to do if they didn't have to use the parks revenue to pay for all their other disney company mis-management elsewhere

Every single company on the face of the planet does this. It is how you generate new revenue streams. We may not like it as park fans but that is the reality of running a business. Also, in the case of Disney it should no longer be an issue as the parks are not supporting anything this year and for the most part, shouldn't going forward.

 

[Dranth]

No one in the real world seriously believes the parks are being mismanaged.

That statement simply isn't true.

• Quality of food is down.
• Quality and variety of merch is down.
• They can NOT support 2018/19 levels of crowds because they did not expand capacity so have limited their upside.
• Maintenance is a bigger issue due to not only decreased spending but also lack of time to perform needed upkeep.
• Hours have been reduced significantly.
• Some questionable choices for projects have come along with mixed results.

All while prices have been going up. Being able to get away with something for a while is not the same as good management.

I happen to believe they needed to reduce attendance as it was getting ridiculous, but they were in that position because they did not expand the parks. There is certainly a limit to how much they can expand before it becomes irresponsible, but we aren't there yet.

The quality issues are 100% management's fault and should have never happened.