We now consider DL our "home resort". But I'm not depressed or upset about it... DL has EARNED our business. They continue to. Don't let it bother you if you end up feeling the same way. WDW may rebound... But in the meantime, there's a FANTASTIC resort in SoCal calling your name.
As a native West Coaster who then spent a few decades of my adult life living up and down the East Coast (where my Disney fandom blossomed at WDW in the 1980's and early 90's), I can understand that.
When I moved back to SoCal in the late 90's, I was right there criticizing Disneyland of the Pressler era (1997-03) and the tacky cheapness of DCA 1.0 in the early 00's. Disneyland earned me back 110% in the last five years with all that they have done there since the 50th in '05, and all that WDW has
not done (or done half-heartedly) in the same amount of time.
Back to WDW vs. DL, one of the HUGE differences between the two resorts is the hotel stock. At WDW they've got 30,000 Disney owned hotel rooms on property, and at DL they've got 2,500 hotel rooms on property. The result is that Disneyland relies heavily on the "Anaheim Resort District", the roughly 20 square blocks mainly to the east and south of Disneyland to make up the rest of their hotel room stock. And in that "Resort District" there are approximately 25,000 hotel rooms from ancient 50 room circa 1963 motor inns to 1,000+ room full-service luxury Hyatts and Hiltons and Marriotts.
And yes, 25,000+ hotel rooms within a strolling mile of Disneyland's entry turnstiles doesn't make
ANY SENSE if you subscribe to the
Well-Known Internetz Fact that
"Disneyland is only for locals".
The interesting thing is how quickly
Cars Land has made an impact on the Anaheim hotel business. The OC Register has reported that the numbers just from June (July & August not in yet) show a very sharp rise in both occupancy and rates for the Anaheim hotel market, sending the key profitability index hotels use up 13% compared to June, 2011. And the hoteliers are giddy as they tell the press it's all due to Cars Land and the revamped DCA 2.0.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/percent-368780-hotel-california.html
What might that mean for WDW, where insiders report hotel occupancy and spending is down this summer? It would seem there is
a lot of slack in the system in and around WDW to pick up hotel occupancy. Would a grand-slam homerun hit like Cars Land in a WDW park help pull the entire 30,000 room system up?
I'm not sure FLE is going to do much for WDW hotel occupancy. FLE seems like they're finally getting a man on second, compared to the Cars Land grand-slam homerun.
After all, the Mermaid ride already debuted in Anaheim back in May, 2011 at DCA and the hotel occupancy stayed flat with 2010. About the only thing you can really market with FLE is the Mermaid ride, and it didn't do much for DCA attendance-wise (although it's a perfectly pleasant 6 minute princess sing-a-long ride).
I'll be interested to see how they market FLE and what the response is in 2013 with WDW hotel occupancy and park attendance!
