Current Crowd Levels & Visitor Origins

[Raineman]

I want to preface this by saying that I am not coming as this from a political angle, and if this thread gets political, mods, please lock it, but, for anyone who has visited WDW recently: have you seen a decrease in crowd levels and/or have you seen/heard a change in the amount of non-American guests? Given the, um, "events" that have been happening in the US the last few months, and the growing trend of people from foreign countries abstaining from visiting the US, at some point there will have to be a fairly significant drop in crowd levels/resort bookings. Has that already started to hit? I am from Canada (Ontario) and I have always seen a good number of Ontario license plates in parking lots at WDW-has this changed? I'm very curious about all of this, and I would imagine that Disney management is anticipating that possible decrease in visitors and strategizing how to compensate for that loss of revenue. **Again, please try to keep comments non-political. I don't want this to turn into a political mudslinging echo-chamber.

 

[danlb_2000]

US faces $6 Billion loss as Canadian tourism nosedives

Some Canadians are boycotting the US as a trade war between the countries continues.

www.newsweek.com

According to data from Statistics Canada, there was a 32 percent drop in the number of Canadians who took road trips into the U.S in March 2025 compared to March 2024.

The data said there was also a 13.5 percent decline in air travelers from Canada in a year.

 

[danlb_2000]

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/23/international-tourists-domestic-american-travel-abroad.html#:~:text=Foreign%20visitors%20to%20the%20United,part%20of%20the%20Commerce%20Department.

Foreign visitors to the United States by air fell nearly 10% in March from the same month a year earlier and nearly 13% from before the pandemic to 4.54 million people, according to data from the International Trade Administration, part of the Commerce Department.

 

[Raineman]

So, it would probably be safe to assume that a portion of the decreases you mentioned were visitors who might have had WDW as their destination previously.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

IMO, all these "trends" always end up being relatively temporary. The resolve goes away after a short bit. So sure, it may impact for brief period, then it will come back. Probably stronger than before.

 

[Jrb1979]

IMO, all these "trends" always end up being relatively temporary. The resolve goes away after a short bit. So sure, it may impact for brief period, then it will come back. Probably stronger than before.

Cause that's why they are offering a free dining plans for kids for all of 2026.

 

[Lilofan]

I want to preface this by saying that I am not coming as this from a political angle, and if this thread gets political, mods, please lock it, but, for anyone who has visited WDW recently: have you seen a decrease in crowd levels and/or have you seen/heard a change in the amount of non-American guests? Given the, um, "events" that have been happening in the US the last few months, and the growing trend of people from foreign countries abstaining from visiting the US, at some point there will have to be a fairly significant drop in crowd levels/resort bookings. Has that already started to hit? I am from Canada (Ontario) and I have always seen a good number of Ontario license plates in parking lots at WDW-has this changed? I'm very curious about all of this, and I would imagine that Disney management is anticipating that possible decrease in visitors and strategizing how to compensate for that loss of revenue. **Again, please try to keep comments non-political. I don't want this to turn into a political mudslinging echo-chamber.

Mayor Buddy Dyer of Orlando already expressed concern on less guests from Canada visiting Central Florida.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Cause that's why they are offering a free dining plans for kids for all of 2026.

Nothing is ever “Free”. How much you think a 7 year old is gonna put away on a daily basis while they are capped by the child’s menu?

And to qualify for that you need to stay on property and purchase a certain type of package and the entire party also needs to purchase a dining plan at whatever rate/promotion qualifies.

Hard pass for me. But to the uninitiated - might seem like a good deal.

 

[Jrb1979]

Nothing is ever “Free”. How much you think a 7 year old is gonna put away on a daily basis while they are capped by the child’s menu?

And to qualify for that you need to stay on property and purchase a certain type of package and the entire party also needs to purchase a dining plan at whatever rate/promotion qualifies.

Hard pass for me. But to the uninitiated - might seem like a good deal.

You're right it's not free. My point was in regards to your post about it coming back stronger than ever. Attendance is down due to more than the political climate.

 

[Ztonyg]

Cause that's why they are offering a free dining plans for kids for all of 2026.

There were growing concerns that Disney was getting too expensive.

The dining plan change was probably in the works before all of the more recent events.

 

[Ztonyg]

I want to preface this by saying that I am not coming as this from a political angle, and if this thread gets political, mods, please lock it, but, for anyone who has visited WDW recently: have you seen a decrease in crowd levels and/or have you seen/heard a change in the amount of non-American guests? Given the, um, "events" that have been happening in the US the last few months, and the growing trend of people from foreign countries abstaining from visiting the US, at some point there will have to be a fairly significant drop in crowd levels/resort bookings. Has that already started to hit? I am from Canada (Ontario) and I have always seen a good number of Ontario license plates in parking lots at WDW-has this changed? I'm very curious about all of this, and I would imagine that Disney management is anticipating that possible decrease in visitors and strategizing how to compensate for that loss of revenue. **Again, please try to keep comments non-political. I don't want this to turn into a political mudslinging echo-chamber.

I will try to keep this as non-political as possible.

I was at the parks last week and I noticed a wide variety of visitors. Most of the foreign tourists appeared to be from Central and South America but there were sizeable numbers of Europeans (Brits, Swiss, Germans) as well as a sizeable amount of Australians.

What normally happens in these types of situations is that there is a loud and forceful boycott at first that quickly diminishes.

Disney will probably do what anyone would do in this situation and that would be to offer bigger discounts / travel packages to those in the areas where it is noticing a steep drop in travelers in order to stimulate demand.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Prior to all of this political noise there were growing concerns that Disney was getting too expensive.

The dining plan change was probably in the works before all of the more recent events.

I think this hits the nail on the head, we’ve been speculating about WDWs attendance issues for well over a year now, they were already offering incentives galore, the last thing they needed was a 10% international drop on top of existing struggles.

I also agree with Magnifico about these trends being temporary, most the people who skip their trip will likely rebook it for 6 months from now or next year after the “issues” are resolved.

Disney is fortunate that unlike beer or stores that are easy to boycott (because its easy to switch to a similar competitor) there really isn’t a true alternative to the Disney parks. They may actually see a bump in Paris and Asia as Europeans skip the US parks.

 

[Jrb1979]

I think this hits the nail on the head, we’ve been speculating about WDWs attendance issues for well over a year now, they were already offering incentives galore, the last thing they needed was a 10% international drop on top of existing struggles.

I also agree with Magnifico about these trends being temporary, most the people who skip their trip will likely rebook it for 6 months from now or next year after the “issues” are resolved.

Disney is fortunate that unlike beer or stores that are easy to boycott (because its easy to switch to a similar competitor) there really isn’t a true alternative to the Disney parks. They may actually see a bump in Paris and Asia as Europeans skip the US parks.

Prior to 2019 I would agree. Since then IMO things are a lot different. The biggest one being there is alternatives. While those parks don't have the Disney IP attached to them, there is a reason parks like Dollywood are ranked up there with Disney.

Kids today aren't enamored with Disney IP like most of us were growing up. Disney isn't going bankrupt or out of business but there dominance over everything is much smaller than it ever was in the past.

 

[Lilofan]

You're right it's not free. My point was in regards to your post about it coming back stronger than ever. Attendance is down due to more than the political climate.

Not all true. It’s one of the reasons why there is a drop off in Canadian tourism to Central Florida. Mayor Buddy Dyer of Orlando pointed out it’s a concern of drop off Canadian guests in the areas.

 

[Lilofan]

I think this hits the nail on the head, we’ve been speculating about WDWs attendance issues for well over a year now, they were already offering incentives galore, the last thing they needed was a 10% international drop on top of existing struggles.

I also agree with Magnifico about these trends being temporary, most the people who skip their trip will likely rebook it for 6 months from now or next year after the “issues” are resolved.

Disney is fortunate that unlike beer or stores that are easy to boycott (because its easy to switch to a similar competitor) there really isn’t a true alternative to the Disney parks. They may actually see a bump in Paris and Asia as Europeans skip the US parks.

The issues need to be resolved period. FL major revenue stream is travel and tourism. A number of areas in the USA depend of tourism to support their local economies including thousands of jobs directly and indirectly tied to travel and tourism.

 

[Jrb1979]

Not all true. It’s one of the reasons why there is a drop off in Canadian tourism to Central Florida. Mayor Buddy Dyer of Orlando pointed out it’s a concern of drop of Canadian guests in the areas.

I didn't say it wasn't a reason. I said it wasn't the only reason attendance is down.

 

[Lilofan]

I didn't say it wasn't a reason. I said it wasn't the only reason attendance is down.

Don’t know about Canadians but in 23’ 61% of Americans are invested in some way in the stock market. That is a key driver to forecast behavior. A market not doing well currently makes one take a good look at what to stop/control spending on.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Disney is fortunate that unlike beer or stores that are easy to boycott (because its easy to switch to a similar competitor) there really isn’t a true alternative to the Disney parks. They may actually see a bump in Paris and Asia as Europeans skip the US parks.

This assumes people won't ultimately substitute Disney for something else, even if they'd like to go.

Most people booking trips to WDW aren't "Disney adults" who are less likely to consider vacation alternatives.

 

[Lilofan]

I think this hits the nail on the head, we’ve been speculating about WDWs attendance issues for well over a year now, they were already offering incentives galore, the last thing they needed was a 10% international drop on top of existing struggles.

I also agree with Magnifico about these trends being temporary, most the people who skip their trip will likely rebook it for 6 months from now or next year after the “issues” are resolved.

Disney is fortunate that unlike beer or stores that are easy to boycott (because it’s easy to switch to a similar competitor) there really isn’t a true alternative to the Disney parks. They may actually see a bump in Paris and Asia as Europeans skip the US parks.

One of the best promotions Disney ever had to promote specifically Brazilian tourism was when at the last minute the White House called WDW saying Obama wanted to speak in front of the Castle. Many went through hoops to make it happen and MK was closed all morning to all guests one day in 2012 for this momentous event for invited guests , cast and the media . Even Iger and Staggs flew from CA to be in the audience.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Don’t know about Canadians but in 23’ 61% of Americans are invested in some way in the stock market. That is a key driver to forecast behavior. A market not doing well currently makes one take a good look at what to stop/control spending on.

Markets do weird things in the short term and generally take time to evaluate policy decisions. They also drop 10-20% rather frequently, sometimes without warning. It's not like markets didn't know about tariffs in February, but hit all time highs.

Bringing it back to Disney, we have a lot of data to indicate the problems at Disney are far deeper than any macro factor. Disney can't effectively run their business because they have the wrong managers and have consistently made stupid decisions for probably 10 years.

Anyone invested in Disney has been disappointed and watched market returns demolish the fools running Disney.