Is attendance really down at WDW this or…

[Sirwalterraleigh]

My guess is that lots of places, that saw spikes in visitors during and just post pandemic, have seen a significant drop in attendance due to US travelers now able to fly and visit other countries more easily again. Those Caribbean vacations, trips to Italy, etc are all back on table after years of uncertainty (what will the restrictions be, will the resort be shut down).
For awhile Disney, and other domestic resorts, as well as national parks had a bit of a monopoly on the American tourist. And that's over.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/08/travel/europe-summer-2024-travel-crowds/index.html

Travel has been up across the board each year…setting records

Almost everywhere EXCEPT the big park complexes in Orlando

Bob Iger thanks you for buying his excuses though

They simply have outpriced themselves. A million excuses can’t get around that

 

[nestface84]

I just spent £10k english to travel from uk,
flights for 5
3 Adults 2 kids
14 days tickets (this is roughly £2.8k)
1k dollars of food credits
transfer to and from airport
disney music hotel
$200 gift card

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Travel has been up across the board each year…setting records

Almost everywhere EXCEPT the big park complexes in Orlando

Bob Iger thanks you for buying his excuses though

They simply have outpriced themselves. A million excuses can’t get around that

I am not making an excuse for anyone, I am simply stating that there is more competition than ever for tourist dollars and Disney no longer has those tourists all to themselves as they might have 2 years ago.

 

[LSLS]

My guess is that lots of places, that saw spikes in visitors during and just post pandemic, have seen a significant drop in attendance due to US travelers now able to fly and visit other countries more easily again. Those Caribbean vacations, trips to Italy, etc are all back on table after years of uncertainty (what will the restrictions be, will the resort be shut down).
For awhile Disney, and other domestic resorts, as well as national parks had a bit of a monopoly on the American tourist. And that's over.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/08/travel/europe-summer-2024-travel-crowds/index.html

And trips to, *checks notes*, Florida, who had record crowds last year, and broke their quarterly record to start 2024.

 

[LSLS]

It's like a thousand degrees today, I wouldn't want to be there either!

And of course thank God work, airlines, and Disney are so flexible that I can call up 3 days before my trip, take my vacation time back, cancel my flights at no cost, and get all my money back on my tickets and hotel rooms.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Nobody knows that when they booked…

…they just never bothered to want to book

Or they cancelled after they put Taylor Swift on D+.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Still much easier to travel with no school

I do agree, and. At least in my state, absenteeism rates during school are through the roof. There are state wide initiatives to address it because it's such a big issue across the state. There's at least some hypothesizing that post-Covid, adults aren't as married to waiting for school breaks to travel as they might have been pre-Covid. There's other reasons than vacation also, but vacations are a part of it.

 

[Angel Ariel]

They simply have outpriced themselves. A million excuses can’t get around that

Definitely not disagreeing with that

 

[bwr827]

Also, I have been learning about VIP tours, and many people in the groups suggest letting your tour guide optimize your day for you because they are the experts and have phones with access to all sorts of info. Really, I think it's another case of coordinating with other VIP groups (50-100 on any given day, 150 on busy days). It seems they almost all want to do the headliners in each park. However, it wouldn't feel like much of a VIP experience if you were in a 30+ minute LL line with 20 other VIP groups. Yes, it's optimized, but not necessarily just in the interest of your personal desires. Really, I go with a touringplan and rope drop on a low to moderate day, and I can do WAY MORE rides than 17 in 7 hours, which is what I am seeing most frequently. I've seen people say they are doing a crazy number of steps too, even though they get driven around backstage in a van. I'd be interested to see what an optimized 4 park headliner itinerary would actually look like, and it wouldn't surprise me if it could be quite close in terms of steps and waiting if you took Minivans between parks and did G+ and ILL as well as rope dropping early entry.

Do VIP tour guests only go in LL queues? I assumed they would get escorted to the front.

All of the silly YouTube videos that are done with various scenarios… I’d be very curious to see “create your own VIP” vs an actual VIP, along the lines of your suggestion to pay for all the advantages (which add up to way less than a VIP package).

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I do agree, and. At least in my state, absenteeism rates during school are through the roof. There are state wide initiatives to address it because it's such a big issue across the state. There's at least some hypothesizing that post-Covid, adults aren't as married to waiting for school breaks to travel as they might have been pre-Covid. There's other reasons than vacation also, but vacations are a part of it.

We got that here as well.

They tried to hammer through a policy change this year: 10 absences are a fail…excuses or not.

That didn’t go well.

But the amount of optional school attendance has really gone up. Disney is partially to blame

 

[bwr827]

Nobody knows that when they booked…

…they just never bothered to want to book

You were just saying they need all the locals. Locals can see the weather before they decide to show up.

As someone traveling from Canada, I wouldn’t book in June because I expect ridiculous heat.

 

[SamusAranX]

And trips to, *checks notes*, Florida, who had record crowds last year, and broke their quarterly record to start 2024.

Yep.

And being in Florida, I can tell you they’re not flying here to hang out indoors at our local Walmart

 

[Smooth]

After today the temperatures are looking pretty good for the next several days.

 

[CntrlFlPete]

I assume this is typically a slow time since they are offering passholders extra dinning discounts. Yet, it does surprise me that I seem to be able to find dinning rather easily over the past week.

Maybe this scares people away?

 

[Andrew25]

Historically we should see crowds tick up as we get into July... but I really do believe summer has started to become a new slow season. No major special events, outside the 4th, and unbearable weather. January-March this year was very busy and I only think it's driven from guests moving trips over to cooler months.

I assume this is typically a slow time since they are offering passholders extra dinning discounts. Yet, it does surprise me that I seem to be able to find dinning rather easily over the past week.

Maybe this scares people away?

View attachment 790564

100%

I love my theme parks, but even I can't justify $149+ for 1-day of admission.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You were just saying they need all the locals. Locals can see the weather before they decide to show up.

As someone traveling from Canada, I wouldn’t book in June because I expect ridiculous heat.

They need locals…but they aren’t a huge part of the pie

They need a lot of different types

What they mostly need is the American middle class…who is exactly what they built the parks for.
Two problems:
That demo is under huge strain. They have the least amount of discretionary spending power since its creation. That’s who travels in the summer.
2. This idiot management has assaulted that demo and is killing it on multiple fronts. They took bad advice from analysts and convinced themselves they are a tech/stock company…which they are not

They are an entertainment company that sells long term emotional attachment. They’ve just become terrible at it

 

[Angel Ariel]

We got that here as well.

They tried to hammer through a policy change this year: 10 absences are a fail…excuses or not.

That didn’t go well.

But the amount of optional school attendance has really gone up. Disney is partially to blame

Yeah, our state doesn't care if it's excused or unexcused - an absence is an absence when it comes to tallying chronic absenteeism.

one of the pieces I read yesterday that was talking about summer slowness before the pandemic was also talking about there being a greater shift to year-round schooling, so that may play a part also. We don't have year round schooling here, but my district does have a tendency to create 3 day school weeks that aren't attached to holidays..a lot of people travel during those weeks.

 

[CntrlFlPete]

After today the temperatures are looking pretty good for the next several days.

just do not forget which areas flood and make sure to bring ones rain boots

 

[RoadiJeff]

I think they should move the parks to Alaska.

And then in the winter they could convert Tiana's Bayou Adventure into a bobsled run.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Yeah, our state doesn't care if it's excused or unexcused - an absence is an absence when it comes to tallying chronic absenteeism.

one of the pieces I read yesterday that was talking about summer slowness before the pandemic was also talking about there being a greater shift to year-round schooling, so that may play a part also. We don't have year round schooling here, but my district does have a tendency to create 3 day school weeks that aren't attached to holidays..a lot of people travel during those weeks.

It’s time to dump the 9/10 month calendar

I mean…it was designed for farming

It would help Disney…if they don’t continue to try and bankrupt themselves