How does Disney know how much each attraction "makes"?

[Berret]

I was just watching one of Martin's videos about Star Tours and its ballooning costs during construction. It made me wonder how Disney accounts for attractions and how they determine what each one brings in. Everything depreciates over time, but does Disney think, "Well this ride will be good for 10 years," and go from there, or do they revise the numbers every year that a ride goes past its "expected" lifetime? Also, I'm guessing that the number of attendees per day, week, or year factor into it. Just wondering. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[larryz]

Well, they could do it by counting the guest flow thru each attraction, dividing construction costs by that number, then factoring that into total operating costs over time.

Or, they could just say "we've already got their money; build a coaster/spinner/screen ride and let's get them out of line and into the shops and restaurants."

 

[JIMINYCR]

We know that Disney keeps track of number of guests that flow through any attraction/ hour and CM's have to keep things moving along efficiently to maintain number levels. When Disney sees a trend that any attraction is showing a drastic drop in riders they can start thinking about its lack of popularity and decide whether its time has come to change out. Another factor might be climbing maintennance costs if a ride fails to perform and its too costly to run.
Some attractions have instant fans and arent hard to attract guests, will be popular for many years like Star Tours. Others are built on ideas hoping to maintain enough thrill to keep it going over time. I think its the numbers that decide the fate.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Disney has a very good idea of how many people experience each attraction. The old turnstiles at the end of queues have since been replaced by an array of sensors, in the ceiling for newer equipment, that are tracking the number of people riding, length of the queue and it’s movement. Essentially each rider is assumed to be paying a certain amount that would come from their admission. This is compared to the per capita cost to operate and maintain the attraction.

 

[Master Yoda]

Disney has a very good idea of how many people experience each attraction. The old turnstiles at the end of queues have since been replaced by an array of sensors, in the ceiling for newer equipment, that are tracking the number of people riding, length of the queue and it’s movement. Essentially each rider is assumed to be paying a certain amount that would come from their admission. This is compared to the per capita cost to operate and maintain the attraction.

This is my understanding as well. This is a drastically over simplistic explanation, but every guest on an attraction has a certain dollar value. Add up the guests at the end of the day and that is the attractions income. Subtract that from the operating costs and you have the attractions profit or loss. There are about a bazillion other litte factors that go into it, but that is the gist.

This formula is why seemingly expensive attractions like HM are the theme park version of a cash cow while simple attractions like meet n greets are money black holes.

 

[MisterPenguin]

This formula is why seemingly expensive attractions like HM are the theme park version of a cash cow while simple attractions like meet n greets are money black holes.

Yeah, but it doesn't cost as much to fix if a princess breaks down.

 

[Master Yoda]

Yeah, but it doesn't cost as much to fix if a princess breaks down.

Quite true. The thing that is a killer with them is the man hours to guest ratio and the day to day cost that brings.

 

[larryz]

Yeah, but it doesn't cost as much to fix if a princess breaks down.

Quite true. The thing that is a killer with them is the man hours to guest ratio and the day to day cost that brings.

So, if Anna and Elsa break down and slap an "over-friendly guest"...

Would it cost less than fixing Betty?

 

[DisneyJoe]

Disney has a very good idea of how many people experience each attraction. The old turnstiles at the end of queues have since been replaced by an array of sensors, in the ceiling for newer equipment, that are tracking the number of people riding, length of the queue and it’s movement.

I believe that for those wearing Magic Bands, since they have long range transmitters, they give Disney an extremely accurate picture of guest flow thru each attraction etc.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I believe that for those wearing Magic Bands, since they have long range transmitters, they give Disney an extremely accurate picture of guest flow thru each attraction etc.

It’s actually not the MagicBand trackers that are important to the queue metrics. There is other equipment that sees even those who are not wearing a MagicBand.