Is attendance really down at WDW this or…

[networkpro]

That’s interesting, especially the way Disney shows their love for AP holders and DVC members at times. Maybe they are getting desperate seeing some of the long range trends.

I guess the billboard doesn’t mention AP’s still have to get park reservations though unless it’s designate it as a good-to-go day or unless it’s after 2pm?

Might it be symptomatic of the park industry in Orlando overall ? Universal Orlando said yesterday "Switching gears to Orlando, we started to feel some pressure on attendance levels late in the first quarter, which tends to occur in tandem with the ebbs and flows of new attractions in the market"

 

[lentesta]

For what it's worth, Standby vs LL usage at DHS this morning from 9 to 9:30 am:

• Tower of Terror had 695 guests enter standby and 223 (or 24% of all guests) enter the Lightning Lane
• Runaway Railway: 1,065 standby and 158 (13%) Lightning Lane
• Smugglers Run: 648 standby and 123 (16%) Lightning Lane

Tower seemed to start the morning running at around 1,000 guests/hour, or roughly 2/3rds of the max capacity we've ever observed (1,470/hour).

Railway seemed to run at 1,100/hour and we've seen hourly exit counts at 1,640, so also ~2/3rds of max capacity.

Smugglers Run seemed to be at ~900 guests/hour and the most we've counted is 1,459 exits/hour, so around 2/3rds of capacity.

Smugs went through a 15-minute period right at Early Entry opening where a total of 75 people entered the attraction. So the wait at the end of that 15-minute period should've been pretty close to zero.

ETA: Both Slink and ROTR had issues this morning. ROTR was offline briefly at rope drop, and Slink has had some weird hour-long slowdown/outage mid-morning twice this week. And I don't think it showed up as offline in MDE.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

So, I live in Tampa, and we would occasionally (mainly before the pandemic, but sparsely now) get billboard advertisements around here for the parks, generally for EPCOT festivals. This evening I saw a billboard advertising Disney AP's for the first time I can remember in quite a while. I couldn't help but wonder if there's a little more desperation to get some AP traffic to bolster attendance and spending. (It's not as though Disney's been careful about how they treat AP's lately, after all.)

If that's even the case, I wonder how much of a dip had to happen to get it.

They aren’t selling well…gee I wonder why?

Might it be symptomatic of the park industry in Orlando overall ? Universal Orlando said yesterday "Switching gears to Orlando, we started to feel some pressure on attendance levels late in the first quarter, which tends to occur in tandem with the ebbs and flows of new attractions in the market"

They seem to be having issues in Orlando…gee I wonder why?

 

[V_L_Raptor]

That’s interesting, especially the way Disney shows their love for AP holders and DVC members at times. Maybe they are getting desperate seeing some of the long range trends.

I guess the billboard doesn’t mention AP’s still have to get park reservations though unless it’s designate it as a good-to-go day or unless it’s after 2pm?

Oh, of course not! No, it's just a couple lines of "Live your Disney story" in the lower right quadrant on an AP yellow background, with a generic picture of a couple in front of Cindy's castle. Very deeply planned, I'm sure.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Oh, of course not! No, it's just a couple lines of "Live your Disney story" in the lower right quadrant on an AP yellow background, with a generic picture of a couple in front of Cindy's castle. Very deeply planned, I'm sure.

I bet they look so happy and without a phone in their hand on the Disney app all day too?

 

[V_L_Raptor]

I bet they look so happy and without a phone in their hand on the Disney app all day too?

It's more of a "gleeful and unbothered Disney Adult" kind of vibe. They may have stowed their phones for their private PhotoPass shoot... or something. Much more giddy than most guests I've seen over the past five years or so!

 

[fgmnt]

They aren’t selling well…gee I wonder why?

are they even selling the cheaper passes at the moment?

 

[JD80]

For what it's worth, Standby vs LL usage at DHS this morning from 9 to 9:30 am:

• Tower of Terror had 695 guests enter standby and 223 (or 24% of all guests) enter the Lightning Lane
• Runaway Railway: 1,065 standby and 158 (13%) Lightning Lane
• Smugglers Run: 648 standby and 123 (16%) Lightning Lane

Tower seemed to start the morning running at around 1,000 guests/hour, or roughly 2/3rds of the max capacity we've ever observed (1,470/hour).

Railway seemed to run at 1,100/hour and we've seen hourly exit counts at 1,640, so also ~2/3rds of max capacity.

Smugglers Run seemed to be at ~900 guests/hour and the most we've counted is 1,459 exits/hour, so around 2/3rds of capacity.

Smugs went through a 15-minute period right at Early Entry opening where a total of 75 people entered the attraction. So the wait at the end of that 15-minute period should've been pretty close to zero.

ETA: Both Slink and ROTR had issues this morning. ROTR was offline briefly at rope drop, and Slink has had some weird hour-long slowdown/outage mid-morning twice this week. And I don't think it showed up as offline in MDE.

Love the data, thanks.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

Bounceback offers are now extending into "select dates through 2025."

Take that as you will.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

are they even selling the cheaper passes at the moment?

After a ridiculous, unacceptable 3 year pause… all are available.

Let’s recall: last year at this very time they announce the sale and kept stressing “limited availability”…so first thing in the morning there was a wait on the phone…by 11 am there was no wait…and then crickets ever since.

Wonder why that could be?

 

[Tha Realest]

For what it's worth, Standby vs LL usage at DHS this morning from 9 to 9:30 am:

• Tower of Terror had 695 guests enter standby and 223 (or 24% of all guests) enter the Lightning Lane
• Runaway Railway: 1,065 standby and 158 (13%) Lightning Lane
• Smugglers Run: 648 standby and 123 (16%) Lightning Lane

Tower seemed to start the morning running at around 1,000 guests/hour, or roughly 2/3rds of the max capacity we've ever observed (1,470/hour).

Railway seemed to run at 1,100/hour and we've seen hourly exit counts at 1,640, so also ~2/3rds of max capacity.

Smugglers Run seemed to be at ~900 guests/hour and the most we've counted is 1,459 exits/hour, so around 2/3rds of capacity.

Smugs went through a 15-minute period right at Early Entry opening where a total of 75 people entered the attraction. So the wait at the end of that 15-minute period should've been pretty close to zero.

ETA: Both Slink and ROTR had issues this morning. ROTR was offline briefly at rope drop, and Slink has had some weird hour-long slowdown/outage mid-morning twice this week. And I don't think it showed up as offline in MDE.

This seems indicative of a very slow day

 

[Disstevefan1]

For what it's worth, Standby vs LL usage at DHS this morning from 9 to 9:30 am:

• Tower of Terror had 695 guests enter standby and 223 (or 24% of all guests) enter the Lightning Lane
• Runaway Railway: 1,065 standby and 158 (13%) Lightning Lane
• Smugglers Run: 648 standby and 123 (16%) Lightning Lane

Boy, its a good thing they are going to fix the abuse of too many DAS using the lightning lane...

 

[AEfx]

They aren’t selling well…gee I wonder why?

They seem to be having issues in Orlando…gee I wonder why?

Totally anecdotal, but I have a snow bird neighbor who just returned from wintering in FL. I've known her family for years, but not her very well - had a convo with her the other day, and in small talk Florida came up and I told her how often I used to go to WDW, etc., and she's like "yeah, when any of us in the (retirement) community take our grandkids anywhere, it's Sea World or Legoland."

They are only 2-3 hours away from WDW, and used to be able to reasonably spend a weekend or a few weeknights there with their grandkids, but stopped that a number of years ago. Or a group of them would go up without kids. They would get an AP and go 3 or 4 times a year for a few days at a time. When the price of the AP's skyrockted, and resort prices went through the roof, now spending a couple of nights there is as expensive as spending a week elsewhere within driving distance, they just stopped going. Not a single person in her condo complex has one anymore.

 

[Disstevefan1]

So, I live in Tampa, and we would occasionally (mainly before the pandemic, but sparsely now) get billboard advertisements around here for the parks, generally for EPCOT festivals. This evening I saw a billboard advertising Disney AP's for the first time I can remember in quite a while. I couldn't help but wonder if there's a little more desperation to get some AP traffic to bolster attendance and spending. (It's not as though Disney's been careful about how they treat AP's lately, after all.)

If that's even the case, I wonder how much of a dip had to happen to get it.

For the longest time I thought WDW did not want APs or hated APs, but I think they really like TODAYS APs with blackout dates and PPRs.

They WANT folks to purchase todays devalued Annual Passes.

"Please purchase our APs but please don't use it to enter the parks. Please stay home or go to Disney Springs and purchase some food or merch"

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

For the longest time I thought WDW did not want APs or hated APs, but I think the really like TODAYS APs with blackout dates and PPRs.

They WANT folks to purchase todays devalued Annual Passes.

"Please purchase our APs but please don't use it to enter the parks. Please stay home or go to Disney Springs and purchase some food or merch"

Of course they do…and want you to pay a high value for each day used upfront and go only when there’s less “whales” in the sea to harvest

It’s categorically stupid.

 

[lentesta]

Boy, its a good thing they are going to fix the abuse of too many DAS using the lightning lane...

I think we’re seeing some of that already.

 

[Kman]

Bounceback offers are now extending into "select dates through 2025."

Take that as you will.

True...we got an email with offers

 

[JD80]

Bounceback offers are now extending into "select dates through 2025."

Take that as you will.

That's a bit far out.

 

[HauntedPirate]

That's a bit far out.

It is. But that also makes one wonder if the soft 2024 bookings are rolling into at least early 2025, or if this is something else.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

That's a bit far out.

9 months?

The majority of people in Disney parks don’t decide to go 6 weeks out like a fool such as me does…

And it’s proven when Disney looks at longterm forecasts and does things such as this.

I’ll give you other examples:
When they started selling “limited” annual passes in April 2023…it just so happened the exact time their attendance hit the wall. They shoulda done it months before…but the bobs decided to suck up every last drop of that sweet Covid cash first.

Or when they dropped the dumb reservations (mostly) this year…it’s because they couldn’t even con themselves into thinking they could sell that as the drought will continue into at least next year.

But I bet people will return in 2025…gonna be a quiet year in Orlando