Disney Officially Confirms Star Wars Galaxy's Edge Underperformed

[britain]

I fear you are right. As you note, the economy is booming and everyone has a job and discretionary income is high. The steps TDA took this summer to prevent AP's from getting into the park were legendary. In about two weeks the blockouts will lift and it will be interesting to see what happens to the wait times for Millennium Falcon.

I still think the Star Wars Land they debuted on May 31st feels surprisingly flat and lifeless, but heck I jumped in an Uber in late June and checked it out myself only because I could. Once all the other AP's are unblocked, everyone will want to see what all the talk is about for themselves.

Then in 2020 when the Resistance ride finally opens, they'll do it all over again. I only hope that they use the Resistance ride opening as a way to re-launch the new land with all the interactive entertainment and characters they used to say it would have to begin with. But that's another story that I'm not convinced Mr. Chapek knows is a problem, or even knows he should care about.

It is interesting how a few operational choices unleashed the Internet’s fury on the creative choices made in the new land.

You may love the creative choices or you may hate them, but the absence of crowds was SUCH a bizarre anomaly, it has to be mainly attributed to the operational choices.

To exaggerate slightly, they could have built the most compelling and flawless expansion imaginable, but if they have a big sign outside saying “VIPs and UltraRich for the next 3 months ONLY!” then you will see a decline in attendance. This is no mystery.

 

[truecoat]

When I was in line for MF:SR last week, the guy behind me told his kids people had to buy reservations to get in until a couple weeks ago. I think the whole reservation thing really confused some visitors.

 

[mandelbrot]

Where are all the people who were claiming Disney somehow wanted lower crowds now? You know, like they were trying to increase guest satisfaction by limiting entry, blocking APs, raising ticket prices etc. Yeah, right!

I think it's quite clear that Disney used the reservation system to reduce crowding in the land for the first month. After that they wanted the place at capacity at all times which didn't happen. I think in a month that will change.

 

[LanceQ]

When I was in line for MF:SR last week, the guy behind me told his kids people had to buy reservations to get in until a couple weeks ago. I think the whole reservation thing really confused some visitors.

Very true. I have a couple friends who are not regular park visitors, but they seemed to have enormous amounts of misinformation about GE.

I said told a couple people I was going and they said, "Oh, man, I heard it was sooo expensive!" Um, well, yeah, the park ticket has gone up and certainly isn't cheap, but that's not specific to GE.

Or

"Whooa, how did you ever get in? Heard it was impossible!"

Well, no, they had a reservation-only system in place, but that was just the first month. And then after that, the whole "virtual queue" 4-hour block was only implemented once.

To the layperson, all of the hype, the reservations only, the "time slot" conversation definitely had a chilling effect on most people who just heard these things discussed in vague terms without doing deep-dive research to learn the truth.

 

[Rich T]

See Disney. See Disney goof. Goof, Disney, goof!

See Disney learn. Maybe.

 

[Mickeyboof]

It is interesting how a few operational choices unleashed the Internet’s fury on the creative choices made in the new land.

You may love the creative choices or you may hate them, but the absence of crowds was SUCH a bizarre anomaly, it has to be mainly attributed to the operational choices.

To exaggerate slightly, they could have built the most compelling and flawless expansion imaginable, but if they have a big sign outside saying “VIPs and UltraRich for the next 3 months ONLY!” then you will see a decline in attendance. This is no mystery.

Does anyone have Universal’s data?

Did Universal have an increase in attendance from day-ticket visitors? Did the regular people go, or was it just the ultra rich?

I’m guessing they didn’t have as many annuals blocked, but in still curious about their attendance ratio on the opening weeks.

 

[BubbaQuest]

Does anyone have Universal’s data?

Did Universal have an increase in attendance from day-ticket visitors? Did the regular people go, or was it just the ultra rich?

I’m guessing they didn’t have as many annuals blocked, but in still curious about their attendance ratio on the opening weeks.

I don't have the numbers handy, but I think USH (not Orlando) did have problems overpricing and over-blocking their APs in the lead up to Wizarding World. Similar to DLR, only the newest highest priced AP allowed entry during the Wizarding World opening. They eventually did change their AP pricing. However, I think their day tickets sales went up significantly -- off the top of my head, I think it was around 15% for that quarter and most of that was based on increased attendance not increased prices.

Scratch that -- according to Uni, they saw a 60%(!) jump in attendance after opening USH Wizarding World. Note however, I think that was a year-over-year jump for all parks, but still very significant.

"...A great example is the success of Harry Potter in Hollywood, where we saw a 60 percent increase in attendance this quarter."

 

[LanceQ]

Well, the one difference is that Universal was a complete garbage park before Harry Potter and now it's just mostly a garbage park. Before HP, that park practically begged people to come.

 

[Disorbust]

I wonder after the last huge AP increase how that effected their AP sales. Maybe there aren't as many AP holders left.

 

[mickEblu]

In the call iger was clear that he wasn't concerned. The bottom line, which, let's face it, is all they really care about, is that the parks performed well financially this quarter even with the downturn in traffic. Wait and see how the next quarter goes after the APs are unleashed. I'm predicting attendance will bounce back to normal.

Wow a few posts this week. Welcome back!

I agree that the crowds will go back to normal but just like most of us who saw SWL this summer I think they ll be lukewarm towards it and be over it rather quickly. The only difference is there will be more people (APs) being Lukewarm about it. So in short i think Disneyland will obviously continue to be very popular just not how sure popular SWL will be without some changes. They also really need to blow people away with ROTR.

Personally I think Im one Falcon ride away from writing off SWL until ROTR opens or they introduce a new mission. Unless I’m really craving a Ronto wrap. There’s just really nothing there for anyone in my family.

 

[BubbaQuest]

Well, the one difference is that Universal DCA was a complete garbage park before Harry Potter Cars Land and now it's just mostly a garbage park. Before HP 2012, that park practically begged people to come.

There I fixed that for you.

I always love the narrative that USH was somehow a theme park that was built to compete with Disney. Universal Studios opened to studio tours in 1915. The tram didn't open until 1965, and it was exactly that. A tram that drove through a working moving studio, not a theme park.

After IOA, is USH trying to become a theme park? Yep. Is it succeeding? Yep.

Is it Disney? Nope, never tried to be.

 

[BubbaQuest]

Does anyone have Universal’s data?

Did Universal have an increase in attendance from day-ticket visitors? Did the regular people go, or was it just the ultra rich?

I’m guessing they didn’t have as many annuals blocked, but in still curious about their attendance ratio on the opening weeks.

P.S. For 2019 Q2 results, Uni theme parks only announced a "single digit" increase in attendance. They usually announce a number so I'm assuming this is closer to 1% than 10%. The drop in global tourism is definitely hitting the theme park industry. I don't think we can really understand the popularity of GE until September when the AP block-outs end.

 

[Mickeyboof]

P.S. For 2019 Q2 results, Uni theme parks only announced a "single digit" increase in attendance. They usually announce a number so I'm assuming this is closer to 1% than 10%. The drop in global tourism is definitely hitting the theme park industry. I don't think we can really understand the popularity of GE until September when the AP block-outs end.

Agreed!

 

[LanceQ]

There I fixed that for you.

I always love the narrative that USH was somehow a theme park that was built to compete with Disney. Universal Studios opened to studio tours in 1915. The tram didn't open until 1965, and it was exactly that. A tram that drove through a working moving studio, not a theme park.

After IOA, is USH trying to become a theme park? Yep. Is it succeeding? Yep.

Is it Disney? Nope, never tried to be.

Um...is anyone arguing that DCA wasn't awful when it first opened? Nope. That has nothing to do with my point.

Is anyone arguing that the Universal Studios park has had a wildly different history than Disneyland? No.

But USH has been a dedicated theme park for decades. And it remains a lousy one.

 

[socalifornian]

According to a friend that worked behind the scenes at USH, Disney has come up fairly often as a competitor. It’s comical. Even if they tripled their ride count it’d still have 10 less rides than Disneyland Park. Between Pets/Mariokart and RotR/Mickey the ratio will be staying the same for a while

TEA 2018 Attendance
DL: 18,666,000
DCA: 9,861,000
USH: 9,147,000

 

[eddie104]

According to a friend that worked behind the scenes at USH, Disney has come up fairly often as a competitor. It’s comical. Even if they tripled their ride count it’d still have 10 less rides than Disneyland Park. Between Pets/Mariokart and RotR/Mickey the ratio will be staying the same for a while

TEA 2018 Attendance
DL: 18,666,000
DCA: 9,861,000
USH: 9,147,000

The funny thing is that USH is close to DCA attendance yet you guys are writing it off.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Well, Universal Hollywood obviously isn't the kind of draw that Disneyland itself is. Universal Japan has great numbers, however.

 

[Disney Analyst]

The funny things is USH is close to DCA attendance yet you guys are writing it off.

I’m sure DCA technically sees way more people in a day, week, and year then USH, but with the one click method of tallying attendance...

 

[flynnibus]

While this isn't the outcome they wanted the fact that spending increased despite a 3% decline in attendance proves that the P&R business can thrive financially in this economy with fewer people

You might want more context..
"Attendance at our domestic parks was down 3% in the third quarter but per capita spending was up a healthy 10% on higher admissions, food and beverage and merchandise spending"

but as a whole...
"Despite domestic parks achieving record revenue in the third quarter, operating income was down slightly due to the decline in attendance and higher costs."

They are squeezing every dollar out of guests... but not getting better margins. Margins, not 'increased spending' are the signs of health and sustainability.

Revenue alone isn't the interesting part.. especially as Disney manufacturers most of it y2y with huge price increases.

 

[WDW Pro]

You might want more context..
"Attendance at our domestic parks was down 3% in the third quarter but per capita spending was up a healthy 10% on higher admissions, food and beverage and merchandise spending"

but as a whole...
"Despite domestic parks achieving record revenue in the third quarter, operating income was down slightly due to the decline in attendance and higher costs."

They are squeezing every dollar out of guests... but not getting better margins. Margins, not 'increased spending' are the signs of health and sustainability.

Revenue alone isn't the interesting part.. especially as Disney manufacturers most of it y2y with huge price increases.

Nailed it.