Is attendance really down at WDW this or…

TheMaxRebo

TheMaxRebo

Well-Known Member
SeaWorld Earnings came out today:

- Attendance was 6.1M, down approx. 125,000 guests
- Company says attendance decline mostly due to adverse weather across most markets
- Total revenue was $496M, a decrease of $8.8M
- Net income was $87.1M, a decrease of $29.6M

SeaWorld Entertainment on Tuesday reported a slight dip in attendance at its theme parks in the second quarter — citing “adverse weather” as the main reason for the drop.

In an earnings report, the Orlando, Fla.-based park operator said it had 6.1 million visitors at its parks, a decline of about 125,000 visitors compared to 2022.

“Some combination of unusually hot and cold weather, rain and/or the fallout from Canadian wildfires impacted most of our markets during the quarter,” SeaWorld Chief Executive Officer Marc Swanson said in a news release.
 
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Splash4eva

Well-Known Member
TheMaxRebo said:
SeaWorld Earnings came out today:

- Attendance was 6.1M, down approx. 125,000 guests
- Company says attendance decline mostly due to adverse weather across most markets
- Total revenue was $496M, a decrease of $8.8M
- Net income was $87.1M, a decrease of $29.6M

SeaWorld Entertainment on Tuesday reported a slight dip in attendance at its theme parks in the second quarter — citing “adverse weather” as the main reason for the drop.

In an earnings report, the Orlando, Fla.-based park operator said it had 6.1 million visitors at its parks, a decline of about 125,000 visitors compared to 2022.

“Some combination of unusually hot and cold weather, rain and/or the fallout from Canadian wildfires impacted most of our markets during the quarter,” SeaWorld Chief Executive Officer Marc Swanson said in a news release.
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Did all of the Orlando theme parks get together to use weather as an official excuse…
 
HauntedPirate

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
MisterPenguin said:
If inflation figures are government manipulated, then what exactly is going on when the government said it had been going up the past year?
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The government has changed how inflation is calculated (and reported) to show inflation to be lower than it actually was/is. By the pre-1990 method of measuring inflation, it was close to 15% last year and still around 8-9% today. If you go back to the way it was calculated prior to 1980, it was closer to 18% last year. What sounds better: "Inflation was 8.1% last month" or "Inflation was 15.7% last month"?
 
Willmark

Willmark

Well-Known Member
PREMiERdrum said:
Their refusal to adjust in line with the market will make the "break glass" moment much more obvious to the average guest, and possibly troubling to operations.

While they did release discounts that have broader parameters - like resort availability and date ranges - than most for similar historic periods, these were more so aimed at getting people to consider booking a package than actually realizing savings from the promotions.

My wife and I - much to the chagrin of our children - are going for a long weekend the 2nd week of November. We're staying on agency owner points at Riverside, but I've been watching and shopping for an upgraded room opportunity to swap over to. We're planning a Saturday at Food & Wine and would love to be able to walk.

Rack rates for this weekend on Crescent Lake start well over $700 nightly for Yacht / Beach Club and $950+ nightly at Boardwalk, while Sawn/Dolphin/Reserve are around $400. Even with the promotional rates factored in - which our 2 night stay wouldn't qualify for - the actual realized savings would amount to less than $20 nightly.

They're going to end up halving resort capacity - either by temporarily mothballing resorts and transferring guests or by shuttering sections and buildings of certain resorts... at this point it's all but too late to discount their way out of it.

I met with our Disney BDM a few weeks ago, and the figures he shared for 12mo outlook bookings were astounding.

In the meantime, watch for specific listings on Hotwire... there are clues (distance from pin, star rating, amenities, etc) that will absolutely be making some magical rates come true for some people. It's one of the only cards left they have to play.
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By astounding, I take it to mean bad? As in cratering?

Assuming such, it’s certainly pointing to what a bunch of us have been saying: Disney’s park attendance can’t be solely explain by “it was hot this summer.”

It’s always hot in summer in Florida.

Likely it’s a bunch of issues all creating a perfect storm. Throw in inflation on top of it.

Also interesting that you note there is not too much they can do in terms of “levers to pull/cards to play.”

And thanks for the insight BTW.
 
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Willmark

Willmark

Well-Known Member
John park hopper said:
Don't know where you live butbut here (USA) inflation is still going up and with the increase in gas prices products will cost more to ship, grow, process and package. Example I bought a gallon of lacquer thinner was $10 2 years ago now same brand 21.99 yesterday.
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I built a fence in 2019. 8x4 sections of fence cost $27. Now? Same ones are $44.
 
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seascape

Well-Known Member
wannabeBelle said:
Price of a gallon of gas in Northwestern NJ on Saturday was 3.75 a gallon for regular. This is going to cause the pricing of a lot of other items to go up. This will cause most people to have less extra money at the end of the month. Marie
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I buy gas usine a combination of Walmart+ and my AAA credit card. I save 10 cents a gallon at Mobil and Exxon Stations and another 5% using my credit card. I hate how high gas prices are but saving just over 28 cents a gallon when the price is $3.75 helps.
 
Willmark

Willmark

Well-Known Member
AEfx said:
Exactly.

They have basically done what many of us around here predicted would eventually happen (though, I don't know how many of us really thought it would happen this soon).

As you point out, Disney has never been "cheap" - but it did offer a quality experience and was at a price point that even those with lower incomes could save up for a few years and be able to have a great vacation. That is no longer in the cards when, at minimum, even staying at the Disney motels, a week's vacation costs as much as a used car.

I helped over 100 families plan WDW vacations back in the day, and by far the most common question/comment was: "okay, so the admission price is huge - what more am I going to have to lay out once we are inside"? And you used to be able to say, "everything is included, except what you eat and what you buy for souvenirs".

So, unless you were among the .01% super-wealthy visitors and paid for private tours, it didn't matter if you were that family who saved up for years for your big trip, or someone who went four times a year - when everyone arrived, they had the same in-park experience and access to rides and attractions as everyone else. I think people way under-estimate that as a selling point, just because "all the other parks charge more for line access".

In any case, those people who had to save were priced out years ago now. Then Disney relied on the pixie dusters (who turned into the social media hounds) who just couldn't get enough and were back every year, if not multiple times a year. Once they started to fall off, due to the decline of the experience, and burnout, was just in time for the pandemic, and then the post-pandemic travel boom which has reached its conclusion.

This has been a long time coming. I've said it before - but the Galactic Starcruiser was not an anomaly, it was the canary in the coal mine. It was the perfect microcosm of the current Disney experience - massively overpriced, for an experience that was pared down to the bare minimum, and was so lopsided in value that even the natural highly valued good-will the Star Wars brand brings couldn't save it.
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Impossible to like this enough. 100% spot on.

The biggest issue I have isn’t the cost (which is indeed steep) it’s the value. For what you are paying, is it a premium experience? No, it’s the same experience for everyone and a expensive one at that.

Then there is the idea of “in app” purchases which is what LL, etc is. More $ for less value. Cedar Point is the standard here: a couple of tiers for “line skipping” and one fixed cost for far better rides rather than per ride. ETA: $115 for Cedar Point’s Fast Lane Plus per ticket. Ride any number of rides throughout the day, no rationing and all rides included on Plus. Sign me up.

Disney won’t ever do that do that: cost and freezing some customers out. All the while inflation and cost hikes for a sub par experience have already done that.
 
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Drdcm

Drdcm

Well-Known Member
ok, what’s with this? I wanted to potentially book a trip for two adults 11/9-13. I had three resort choices, all over $700 a night. Is it really that sold out those days?
 
HauntedPirate

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
seascape said:
I buy gas usine a combination of Walmart+ and my AAA credit card. I save 10 cents a gallon at Mobil and Exxon Stations and another 5% using my credit card. I hate how high gas prices are but saving just over 28 cents a gallon when the price is $3.75 helps.
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It adds up when you save $2-4 per tank.
 

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