Is attendance really down at WDW this or…

[Disstevefan1]

I found today a bit interesting. Went to Epcot around 11:30ish. I thought it was going to be empty for the parking lot was. We were like 4 rows back in Dory, crush was empty.

The park had a decent crowd, not overly busy nor slow by any means. What I found interesting was most folks most have come by some sort of transportation other than driving themselves.

If Disney resorts are down, maybe a big DVC week or something.

Just thought it was interesting how few cars seemed to park at Epcot.

In my opinion, the reason you felt it was crowded was because of the FAILED Genie+ system.

Folks just walking around, not going on attractions making it feel crowded.

 

[HauntedPirate]

In my opinion, the reason you felt it was crowded was because of the FAILED Genie+ system.

Folks just walking around, not going on attractions making it feel crowded.

 

[CAV]

Now a day in a Disney park is like walking through the streets of Bangkok.

The booths in World Showcase drive me nuts. Stop with them already. That just look cheap and clutter everything up.

 

[CntrlFlPete]

In my opinion, the reason you felt it was crowded was because of the FAILED Genie+ system.

Folks just walking around, not going on attractions making it feel crowded.

maybe, I do not know. The festival booths were not bad at all (well there is this booth w/ a beyond offering that was busier, I mean the last two times I walked by there was no one in line, today there were two folks there when I walked by).

But yeah, there is always folks just walking around the world (or drinking around), for me for lunch today, there were just fewer locals spending at the food booths which helped the place not be mobbed, but somewhat enjoyable w/ the nice weather.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I found today a bit interesting. Went to Epcot around 11:30ish. I thought it was going to be empty for the parking lot was. We were like 4 rows back in Dory, crush was empty.

The park had a decent crowd, not overly busy nor slow by any means. What I found interesting was most folks most have come by some sort of transportation other than driving themselves.

If Disney resorts are down, maybe a big DVC week or something.

Just thought it was interesting how few cars seemed to park at Epcot.

The entire northeastern seaboard is off this week…

That equals a “busy dvc week”

But no parks should be as slow as you describe this week.

For fun…go on the wdw website and see if rooms are available?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The booths in World Showcase drive me nuts. Stop with them already. That just look cheap and clutter everything up.

You didn’t notice that like 18 years ago?

 

[pigglewiggle]

Do you suppose discounts are done for the year? Haven't heard of anything else coming up.

 

[CntrlFlPete]

The entire northeastern seaboard is off this week…

That equals a “busy dvc week”

But no parks should be as slow as you describe this week.

For fun…go on the wdw website and see if rooms are available?

lots of one night stays, but once I tried for two nights, I was not offered anything on site.

I just thought a lot of folks have been staying off site -- heck, last week I could not get 2 miles to get out of my neighborhood let alone the 15 to wdw which I figured must be all the davenport/kissimmee AirBnB investments everybody owns.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Not sure where we’re allowed to link on this site, but when I Google “Disney resort bookings up or down,” the first result is a blog post about them being sold out for 2024 dates. It is from January though. This person’s interpretation is that bookings are down from the post Covid frenzy but up since 2019. Again, from January so it might be dated, but it would explain why there aren’t any amazing deals to be had (outside of some summer dates, which seems to be the new slow season).

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Not sure where we’re allowed to link on this site, but when I Google “Disney resort bookings up or down,” the first result is a blog post about them being sold out for 2024 dates. It is from January though. This person’s interpretation is that bookings are down from the post Covid frenzy but up since 2019. Again, from January so it might be dated, but it would explain why there aren’t any amazing deals to be had (outside of some summer dates, which seems to be the new slow season).

Not true at all

Look around…plug in dates…there are tons of rooms available as there has been for most of the last 2 years

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

There are 16 different properties available for a week stay starting Sunday

Bread and circuses for everyone!!

 

[DisneyHead123]

There are 16 different properties available for a week stay starting Sunday

Bread and circuses for everyone!!

Lol, as someone who still leans towards the pixie duster side, I’m mostly good with the bread and circuses on offer (assuming they fix Genie+, which is a hot mess,) it’s just the price that’s an issue. My feeling is that Disney went from a 10 in customer service to a 7 or 8, but: 1. Most places are a 4 or 5, so they’re still relatively better and 2. What they lost in “Disney difference” they mostly made up for in “Disney size”, as they now offer much more in terms of restaurants, cruises, festivals and so on. But the prices! Oy. Those are getting more unmanageable during this time of inflation. It’s not just the Disney prices, it’s the Disney prices on top of what everything else costs these days.

I keep seeing that while consumer spending has not slowed much, credit card debt is at an all time high. That kinda makes sense to me because I keep looking around at vacation prices and wondering how on earth people are affording all this! Who is snapping up these $900 a night hotel rooms? Maybe the party continues for awhile or maybe it’s starting to slow down, hard to tell just yet. I will be curious how crowds look in the fall and holiday season of this year.

 

[Lilofan]

The booths in World Showcase drive me nuts. Stop with them already. That just look cheap and clutter everything up.

Add more garbage cans at Food and Wine. They make portable tabletops to hold my food and drink.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

I will be curious how crowds look in the fall and holiday season of this year.

As of today? An abysmal trendline.

 

[LSLS]

As of today? An abysmal trendline.

We are going to be there the week of the 4th again for something at the Swan/Dolphin. It remains the most dead experience I've EVER had at the parks (specifically the 4th at DHS). I'll be fascinated what it's like this year. For what it's worth, we saw less discounts on property this year than we did last year (not saying that means it's more busy, just crazy to me they double down on prices even with the crowds down).

 

[CntrlFlPete]

There are 16 different properties available for a week stay starting Sunday

Bread and circuses for everyone!!

I was more looking at this week, I could stay tonight, but it seems things are full (I assume WED - SAT). Part of the reason we stopped by Epcot yesterday was that the two lowest FL AP's are blocked out this week. It is still 'Spring Break' season but Easter was early this year.

My comments on crowds tend to be based on the feeling of my comfort level of not feeling like cattle. When it comes to Epcot, I will ride stuff like the ride in Mexico, LWTL, or Spaceship Earth if there is not much of a queue. If the family wants to ride TT, we would tend to use single rider, I personally am not a fan of Soaring and the Gradians makes me ill.

So I do not pay much attention to ride times. I did notice a decent number of people waiting for SE and it was posted at 50 minutes at around noon, but I've always known to ride SE on the way out and not on the way into the park. I do sometimes hear comments from other guest -- yesterday I heard 'Frozen is already at 100 minutes' yet we entered the park near noon and I do not know what time it was when I heard that.

Yesterday I was most surprised by the lack of cars parking as I have not seen the lot so empty when the park had been opened for 1.5 hours.

The busiest times this year at Epcot so far have been days around Race Disney events based on my opinion of crowd levels.

 

[DisneyRoy]

Lol, as someone who still leans towards the pixie duster side, I’m mostly good with the bread and circuses on offer (assuming they fix Genie+, which is a hot mess,) it’s just the price that’s an issue. My feeling is that Disney went from a 10 in customer service to a 7 or 8, but: 1. Most places are a 4 or 5, so they’re still relatively better and 2. What they lost in “Disney difference” they mostly made up for in “Disney size”, as they now offer much more in terms of restaurants, cruises, festivals and so on. But the prices! Oy. Those are getting more unmanageable during this time of inflation. It’s not just the Disney prices, it’s the Disney prices on top of what everything else costs these days.

I keep seeing that while consumer spending has not slowed much, credit card debt is at an all time high. That kinda makes sense to me because I keep looking around at vacation prices and wondering how on earth people are affording all this! Who is snapping up these $900 a night hotel rooms? Maybe the party continues for awhile or maybe it’s starting to slow down, hard to tell just yet. I will be curious how crowds look in the fall and holiday season of this year.

People that are fiscally irresponsible. I could definitely afford it if I wanted to, but the value proposition is not there and not worth it to me.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I was more looking at this week, I could stay tonight, but it seems things are full (I assume WED - SAT). Part of the reason we stopped by Epcot yesterday was that the two lowest FL AP's are blocked out this week. It is still 'Spring Break' season but Easter was early this year.

My comments on crowds tend to be based on the feeling of my comfort level of not feeling like cattle. When it comes to Epcot, I will ride stuff like the ride in Mexico, LWTL, or Spaceship Earth if there is not much of a queue. If the family wants to ride TT, we would tend to use single rider, I personally am not a fan of Soaring and the Gradians makes me ill.

So I do not pay much attention to ride times. I did notice a decent number of people waiting for SE and it was posted at 50 minutes at around noon, but I've always known to ride SE on the way out and not on the way into the park. I do sometimes hear comments from other guest -- yesterday I heard 'Frozen is already at 100 minutes' yet we entered the park near noon and I do not know what time it was when I heard that.

Yesterday I was most surprised by the lack of cars parking as I have not seen the lot so empty when the park had been opened for 1.5 hours.

The busiest times this year at Epcot so far have been days around Race Disney events based on my opinion of crowd levels.

About 1/3 of the US is out of school
This week…

 

[Lilofan]

Lol, as someone who still leans towards the pixie duster side, I’m mostly good with the bread and circuses on offer (assuming they fix Genie+, which is a hot mess,) it’s just the price that’s an issue. My feeling is that Disney went from a 10 in customer service to a 7 or 8, but: 1. Most places are a 4 or 5, so they’re still relatively better and 2. What they lost in “Disney difference” they mostly made up for in “Disney size”, as they now offer much more in terms of restaurants, cruises, festivals and so on. But the prices! Oy. Those are getting more unmanageable during this time of inflation. It’s not just the Disney prices, it’s the Disney prices on top of what everything else costs these days.

I keep seeing that while consumer spending has not slowed much, credit card debt is at an all time high. That kinda makes sense to me because I keep looking around at vacation prices and wondering how on earth people are affording all this! Who is snapping up these $900 a night hotel rooms? Maybe the party continues for awhile or maybe it’s starting to slow down, hard to tell just yet. I will be curious how crowds look in the fall and holiday season of this year.

$900 can get one a one bedroom suite at JW/Marriott /Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes Orlando. Its a beautiful resort complex down the street from Sea World , that we stayed at. Just take an Uber to WDW back and forth.

 

[arich35]

I found today a bit interesting. Went to Epcot around 11:30ish. I thought it was going to be empty for the parking lot was. We were like 4 rows back in Dory, crush was empty.

The park had a decent crowd, not overly busy nor slow by any means. What I found interesting was most folks most have come by some sort of transportation other than driving themselves.

If Disney resorts are down, maybe a big DVC week or something.

Just thought it was interesting how few cars seemed to park at Epcot.

We are going next Monday-Thursday and all but 3 or 4 DVC resorts have 1 or 2 bedrooms available. Studios are all booked up except Old Key West