Is attendance really down at WDW this or…

GhostHost1000

Premium Member
Sea World was a disgrace..the park was totally empty yet the wait times were longer than I've ever seen in my life...they were purposefully taking 10/15 minutes to load carts just to raise up wait times to get people to purchase QuickQueue. I thought the park was closed when I got there as I never saw a rollercoaster going round for 10 minutes. I'll never go there again after that stunt.
this is exactly how I felt in June. It took FOREVER to load and unload. Extremely inefficient and because of that I have zero desire to ever go back now
 

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
It would be just as weird as someone who always suggests everything is doing amazing when things are actually falling apart.
IgerHead.jpg
 

el_super

Well-Known Member
the parks are less crowded, hotel bookings are way down, dvc resale postings are higher than ever, some Disney CMs aren’t getting the hours they once did, promotions upon more promotions, etc etc etc etc do you really think this is a good trend and Bobby is celebrating this success

Post the numbers. What are the attendance numbers between today and 2019? What is the percentage increase in DVC postings? How many fewer hours are being scheduled? Surely this all must be posted somewhere that can be independently verified right, since it's the truth?

And then translate those numbers into actual results that can be measured and recorded in their quarterly reports: how much did the lower bookings and hotel sales impact the revenue? How much have they lost out in operating income?

Where are the numbers?
 

Splash4eva

Well-Known Member
Altho i do think wait times are “inflated” etc but to me in this day in age if this was something that was done blatantly ie purposely loading slow.. wouldnt that mean. Its a directive from above bc workers will see no benefit from any money made and in this day in age with social media and everyone wanting their 5 minutes of fame some disgruntled worker would have “exposed” this already
 

Thepuma

Well-Known Member
Altho i do think wait times are “inflated” etc but to me in this day in age if this was something that was done blatantly ie purposely loading slow.. wouldnt that mean. Its a directive from above bc workers will see no benefit from any money made and in this day in age with social media and everyone wanting their 5 minutes of fame some disgruntled worker would have “exposed” this already
With Disney the posted wait times are clearly over inflated. With Sea World they go about it a different way- They scale down the staff to minimal levels and also take a long as they can to get the carts going to 'actually' inflate times....this clearly is done to sell Quick Queue just like Disney double the posted wait times to sell G+.

When we walked in Sea World yesterday it was dead..hardly a person walking round- was fully expecting mega low wait times, but Mako was 80 minutes, The Ball Busting Surf coaster was 70 minutes, Manta 60 minutes etc etc.

We just walked round the park and left...25 minutes and we were gone back to the hotel, a wasted evening. We were planning to go twice more and do Howl o scream, but we've scrapped all those plans and will never go again.

The owners of these parks must think we are stupid. But it is them who look stupid as their underhand tactics have caused many to snap plans to go again.

Sea World of all the parks cannot afford to shut themselves in the foot
 
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Trauma

Well-Known Member
Post the numbers. What are the attendance numbers between today and 2019? What is the percentage increase in DVC postings? How many fewer hours are being scheduled? Surely this all must be posted somewhere that can be independently verified right, since it's the truth?

And then translate those numbers into actual results that can be measured and recorded in their quarterly reports: how much did the lower bookings and hotel sales impact the revenue? How much have they lost out in operating income?

Where are the numbers?
Post the numbers. What are the attendance numbers between today and 2019? What is the percentage increase in DVC postings? How many fewer hours are being scheduled? Surely this all must be posted somewhere that can be independently verified right, since it's the truth?

And then translate those numbers into actual results that can be measured and recorded in their quarterly reports: how much did the lower bookings and hotel sales impact the revenue? How much have they lost out in operating income?

Where are the numbers?
Here is a number for you.

Hint - this is not a chart of a company doing better than ever.
 

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jpeden

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
This isn't about the company as a whole, it's about the parks and attendance. The parks are doing really well.
But WDW is not. The other parks are holding their own including big numbers from Paris and California. Iger himself has admitted that visits and spending are down on the Florida property. They just released a promo giving up to $1000 for a five night stay in free dining along with up to 35% on other types or stays earlier this year for a period that should have sold out months ago (thanksgiving and Christmas).

The Florida parks are not doing well at this time period. I don’t understand why you keep saying they are when Iger is on record saying they’ve had a decline in Florida. You keep asking for proof and the earnings call clearly showed that.
 

Vegas Disney Fan

Well-Known Member
The owners of these parks must think we are stupid. But it is them who look stupid as their underhand tactics have caused many to snap plans to go again.

I hate to admit it but we are starting to feel this way about Disney also.

The nickel and diming has really started to sour us, the hotels are more expensive but with fewer perks, the food is more expensive but the quality is less consistant, the parks are more expensive and you are constantly pushed to spend more for everything (lines, parties, priority seating, etc)… I dont mind the prices going up, I expect that, but I also expect the same quality we got a few years ago and I don’t feel we get that anymore.
 

el_super

Well-Known Member
The Florida parks are not doing well at this time period. I don’t understand why you keep saying they are when Iger is on record saying they’ve had a decline in Florida. You keep asking for proof and the earnings call clearly showed that.

The parks division as a whole is doing really well. Whatever loss in attendance has occured at WDW seems to have been more than made up for. Their revenues are the highest they have ever been.

Decreases in attendance are always the envitable outcome to price increases. I think, for this group specifically, the question is really tied to whether the attendance decreases were part of their business plan versus signs of mismanagement. It's hard to prove mismanagement when they are raking in the money.

There are all sorts of other questions around what is going on in Florida specifically, and/or whether other parks in Florida are seeing the same declines that also factor in. Not much Disney can do about the weather.
 

Eric Graham

Well-Known Member
Well it’s interesting that the estimated price for the wish was about the same as dream/fantasy…

That isn’t definitive. But if it’s true…it means a roughly 10% larger ship cost the same a full 10-15 years later to build?

That wouldn’t be good. I doubt they got “efficient” all of the sudden?
I would love to be on any kind of ship anywhere right now :)
 

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
Yep. A scaled-down "Free Dining" promo for the holidays - with only a brief blackout in early December and the week between Christmas and New Years - is an incredible concession.

Things are not good. Despite Iger's hollow reassurances.

No, no, you have it all wrong. Haven't you read El Super's posts? Everything is fine. Bob is great. Never a better time in Disney's history. The parks are producing revenue, there are no problems.
 

Thepuma

Well-Known Member
I hate to admit it but we are starting to feel this way about Disney also.

The nickel and diming has really started to sour us, the hotels are more expensive but with fewer perks, the food is more expensive but the quality is less consistant, the parks are more expensive and you are constantly pushed to spend more for everything (lines, parties, priority seating, etc)… I dont mind the prices going up, I expect that, but I also expect the same quality we got a few years ago and I don’t feel we get that anymore.
I'm with you 100% on this. To be fair, I've only been coming to Orlando and hitting the parks hard for the last 6 years. But even in that short time we have noticed a massive reduction in 'magic', huge increase in costs and the whole Disney thing being much much more hassle.

We sorely miss the days of FP+.

The last couple of years has seen Disney become a worse and worse bang for buck, while other parks were pretty stable. Unfortunately, we've also seen the same Nickle & Diming from Sea World and Universal, so it just appears now that these parks are abandoning any form of customer experience in favour of simply trying to rip as much money out of people while giving a much much worse experience.

Sea World with an empty park showing 80 minutes for Mako and Universal selling 3 times too many tickets for HHN meaning NOBODY, not even those who were suckered to pay the extra $140 for Express pass, had a good night during to crazy crazy crazy queue times.

This 3 week trip for us is our last to Orlando - We just can't justify paying double for the vacation while receiving half the fun and twice the hassle.

It's been a blast and we've had some memorable moments...but enough is enough. I'm sure 2 people not going isn't going to bother Disney, Universal or Sea World, but they have pushed me to seek alternatives for our vacations from now on.

Japan, Canada and Australia here we come.
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
Yep. A scaled-down "Free Dining" promo for the holidays - with only a brief blackout in early December and the week between Christmas and New Years - is an incredible concession.

Things are not good. Despite Iger's hollow reassurances.
No way to spin these promos…after 5+ years of chest pumping and talking trash straight out of the horses business end by management….as “good”

But the last to realize what is happening now still will try…
Let them come 🍿
 

jpeden

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Yep. A scaled-down "Free Dining" promo for the holidays - with only a brief blackout in early December and the week between Christmas and New Years - is an incredible concession.

Things are not good. Despite Iger's hollow reassurances.

Yep. We went from 5 nights at AKL to 5 nights at SSR in the same category room for the same price. Difference was we just got $1,000 of dining on Disney. Some might view it as a resort downgrade but I view it as maximizing the promotions to our benefit since we don’t care what resort we are in as long as we have the space we need.
 

Miss Bella

Well-Known Member
Yep. We went from 5 nights at AKL to 5 nights at SSR in the same category room for the same price. Difference was we just got $1,000 of dining on Disney. Some might view it as a resort downgrade but I view it as maximizing the promotions to our benefit since we don’t care what resort we are in as long as we have the space we need.
Don't you have to pay full price for your room to get the gift card?
 

PREMiERdrum

Well-Known Member
No way to spin these promos…after 5+ years of chest pumping and talking trash straight out of the horses business end by management….as “good”

But the last to realize what is happening now still will try…
Let them come 🍿
The datapoints can be threaded together to form many narratives, and plenty here are comfortable taking things exactly as spun by the company.

Attendance is down, per-guest spending is down, and per-guest spending in high-margin segments is down more.

Onsite hotel bookings are hovering around post-9/11 levels.

Think of the margins on each $18-20 cocktail or $15 beer from the pool bar. Think of the margins on a $234/night "value" resort room whose construction has long since been amortized. Think of the margins on food / beverage when you have a family of 5 captive onsite for a week.

Now cut that volume by 20% or more.
 

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