Is attendance really down at WDW this or…

Dranth

Dranth

Well-Known Member
Jrb1979 said:
Sure for the guest it's great. Looking at it from the business side, lower attendance means cut backs to meaningful additions. Which means more overlays and more blue sky ideas
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I don't think it is that cut and dry.

Obviously, it will depend on just how far attendance sinks but if their data suggests they can correct it with discounts and investments in the park, that is what they will do. On the other hand it says nothing they can do will change people’s mind then that will be the plan.
 
JD80

JD80

Well-Known Member
Grimley1968 said:
TBH the ticket discounts, even if it's only for 3-9 YO's, are something new to me. In all the years between about 2000-2020 that we regularly went with our kids, we almost always had some kind of discount, but I don't remember one that had a discount on the tickets themselves, only on the rooms or dining. This is separate from the usual room discount offers. I think in those 20 years Disney knew they had somewhat captive guests, and knew they didn't need to discount the tickets to keep the parks crowded. There's no way such a discount would be offered if they believed there were enough park visitors to keep up with past crowds, and/or there was a robust forecast in this regard. I'm curious to see if the ticket discounts will be expanded if the forecasts get even gloomier.
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This is similar to a free dining offer but the money is discounted in different places.

2019:
  1. Rack Rate
  2. Forced Hopper Upgrade
  3. Free Dining + DDP upgrade
2024
  1. Rack Rate
  2. Discounted kid tickets
  3. Forced DDP purchase (1/2 price kids is only like $15 a day)
If you do the math, the cost of the vacation is pretty damn close with the exception in 2019 you had an extra snack and hopper tickets.

In the end, Free Dining or this new offer, you're in a Disney Hotel, with a ticket package and the Disney Dining Plan. What they call it or what portion of the package they discount is window dressing.
 
Disstevefan1

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
eliza61nyc said:
It was for my trip @Disstevefan1. lol not sure if you were serious or not but I'm not going to lie, we loved having an almost empty park. we were there 9/6-9/16 and only did the genie plus thing one time at Magic Kingdom. now personally I've never ran into all these disgruntled cm's that folks here have. every single cm was polite cheerful and helpful. If you go over to my trip report I posted pictures of every single rest room I went into, I wanted to see all these "dirty" bathrooms. lol let me tell you, ladies look at you weird when you take pictures of the bathroom. anyway, they were all clean and full stocked.

only two rides had long wait times while we were there. slinky dog dash and 7 dwarf train ride. we never hit the 60 minute mark on any thing else.

the only drawback had nothing to do with Disney, it was "hell-hot" all week. real feel temps around 105
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YES, I stated reading your report yesterday! Very much liked you restroom reports, seriously, its very important and helpful. Yes, I was serious, I am happy for you that you did have a better guest experience due to the lower crowds.

Attendance is down at WDW for reasons. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts because it wont last in my opinion.
 
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M

Marionnette

Well-Known Member
JD80 said:
This is similar to a free dining offer but the money is discounted in different places.

2019:
  1. Rack Rate
  2. Forced Hopper Upgrade
  3. Free Dining + DDP upgrade
2024
  1. Rack Rate
  2. Discounted kid tickets
  3. Forced DDP purchase (1/2 price kids is only like $15 a day)
If you do the math, the cost of the vacation is pretty damn close with the exception in 2019 you had an extra snack and hopper tickets.

In the end, Free Dining or this new offer, you're in a Disney Hotel, with a ticket package and the Disney Dining Plan. What they call it or what portion of the package they discount is window dressing.
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One more difference: The 2024 offer only works for families with children under the age of 10. In the past, *free* dining was a decent deal for families with teens and tweens or Disney adults.

The vibe that I'm getting from this new offer is that Disney is trying to coax families with young kids to visit. Maybe they are not getting enough visitors from that demographic group. Those are the potential DVC buyers, and possible life-long Disney fans.
 
JD80

JD80

Well-Known Member
Marionnette said:
One more difference: The 2024 offer only works for families with children under the age of 10. In the past, *free* dining was a decent deal for families with teens and tweens or Disney adults.

The vibe that I'm getting from this new offer is that Disney is trying to coax families with young kids to visit. Maybe they are not getting enough visitors from that demographic group. Those are the potential DVC buyers, and possible life-long Disney fans.
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Well yes that is the obvious difference, didn't think I'd have to write that.

I disagree with your sentiment though. I doubt the demographic mix of their guests is not that much more different that any other time, just that the overall numbers are down across the board.

My inclination is that this discount is them just dipping their toes into the water instead of offering full blown Free Dining.
 
crispy

crispy

Well-Known Member
We just spent a few days at Universal (park days were Monday - Wednesday). We have never been in October, but the crowds were really low in the parks compared to the other times we have visited. The only long waits we had were Hagrid's and Velocicoaster, but those were still under an hour during the busiest times of the day. We visited Studios on Wednesday and had ridden every ride in the park at least once by 11am (and had repeated several including Mummy).

We did notice a big uptick in the crowds at City Walk during HHN. We didn't attend the event, but there was wall to wall people and a huge traffic jam to self-parking. We were really thankful to be on the resort bus.

Of course, my experience is purely anecdotal, and as I mentioned, we have never been during this time before so I am not sure how it compares.
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
Ok, how about some real data. Make of it what you will.

www.wftv.com

See what has caused Orange County hotel tax revenue to drop again

Overseas travel and cruises are taking a bite out of Orlando hotels’ business, driving down Orange County’s tourist tax revenue yet again.
www.wftv.com www.wftv.com

This data is not Disney exclusive. It includes Universal and Orange County Convention Center, which has seen some cancelations.
 
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JoeCamel

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
ditzee said:
Sorry, I'm not reading 294 pages. Are crowds lower? We're going the week before Thanksgiving and would just like an idea. Thanks!!
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They are if you want them to be cuz you are the magick and Leota's crystal ball is out getting polished in anticipation of the HBG arrival
 
Tha Realest

Tha Realest

Well-Known Member
JD80 said:
This is similar to a free dining offer but the money is discounted in different places.

2019:
  1. Rack Rate
  2. Forced Hopper Upgrade
  3. Free Dining + DDP upgrade
2024
  1. Rack Rate
  2. Discounted kid tickets
  3. Forced DDP purchase (1/2 price kids is only like $15 a day)
If you do the math, the cost of the vacation is pretty damn close with the exception in 2019 you had an extra snack and hopper tickets.

In the end, Free Dining or this new offer, you're in a Disney Hotel, with a ticket package and the Disney Dining Plan. What they call it or what portion of the package they discount is window dressing.
Click to expand...
This doesn’t take into account 2019 offered FP, whereas to have a comparable experience you need to pony up $35-$40 extra per person per day (daily cost of G+ plus one ILL)
 
JD80

JD80

Well-Known Member
EPCOT-O.G. said:
This doesn’t take into account 2019 offered FP, whereas to have a comparable experience you need to pony up $35-$40 extra per person per day (daily cost of G+ plus one ILL)
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There is a lot not taken in to account because I'm just comparing discounts.
 
TheMaxRebo

TheMaxRebo

Well-Known Member
ditzee said:
Sorry, I'm not reading 294 pages. Are crowds lower? We're going the week before Thanksgiving and would just like an idea. Thanks!!
Click to expand...

Likely a bit less crowded than compared to, say, 2019, but far from "empty"

Also, hotels and restaurants likely less crowded than the parks will feel
 
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