Is attendance really down at WDW this or…

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
Maybe not in park attendance but the competitive landscape was a lot different in prior booms. The studio is a different story. Before Beauty and the Beast in 1991 the studio hadn't been doing great for a while.
Travel is always tied to overall economic confidence/spending

Studios are tied to “overall crap level” of production
 

Laketravis

Well-Known Member
It's mentioned often on various sites that people only use Universal as a one or 2 days trip. I think that is wrong, or maybe we are the only ones who are going for 5 1/2 days this fall? We always find something to do, not just running from ride to ride. I used to think that way too, until I took the time to actually do more than rides. The last time we were at Universal last year, we only stayed 3 1/2 days which was not enough to see and do all we wanted.
I don't believe that we are the only ones who consider it a vacation destination of more than 2 days.
Years ago I thought the same thing and we only went to Universal for 1 or 2 days during our 10 days WDW trips.
However, that has changed, as WDW has changed. We are now Universal only people.
I'm not picking on you, but just addressing the comments about Universal visits that most people online say stating Universal is only a 1 or 2 day theme park. I don't think that is true now. Now, when Epic Universe opens, that's a whole new ball game:)

Yup. Last August my son and I went for a week. There was no WDW visit involved. This coming November, I'll be staying there for another 5 nights in between a set of weeknights at WDW.
 

JusticeDisney

Well-Known Member
I showed you the “respective wait times” over the course of the day. There’s no small window or time today where WDW was performing better relatively speaking than Universal.
At the time I made my post, the wait times at WDW were, on the whole, slightly higher than they were at Uni. And that doesn’t even take into account that WDW guests were spread out over more parks than Uni. You don’t have to like what I just said, but it is a fact.

Listen, there’s no doubt at all that the attendance at WDW is down. That is also a fact. But to claim that WDW was “quiet”whereas Uni was “very busy” - as the poster to whom I was responding claimed - was simply a dishonest post.

If your post proved anything at all it’s that even when WDW attendance is way below its typical numbers, it is still roughly equivalent to Uni.
 

Tha Realest

Well-Known Member
At the time I made my post, the wait times at WDW were, on the whole, slightly higher than they were at Uni.

Wrong. At the time you made your post - 5:36pm - the average wait time at Universal was 35 mins. At WDW, about 23-24 mins. Go look back at the charts I posted.
If your post proved anything at all it’s that even when WDW attendance is way below its typical numbers, it is still roughly equivalent to Uni.
The inference from the wait times is that WDW is unusually quieter and has less attendance than normal, whereas Universal’s is generally tracking with what is expected. This thread is trying to answer whether attendance is down, and it undoubtedly is. Weather or time of year is often used as a recent excuse for a downturn in WDW attendance, but that would seem to equally affect Universal (which it doesn’t appear to have done, at least going off of posted wait times today).
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
Attraction wait times at wdw don’t correlate as much to crowds as the apologist narrative suggests

First…they are not tracking with those that verify them…and the amount of breakdowns plaguing the place can drive them up significantly

But more than that…
Disney parks are not “ride” parks. They were neither designed nor constructed that way. A huge part of the design was crowd distribution…and by that…that means putting people in the shows, shops and dining venues…beyond just the rides.

And why? Because they spend more! That’s where the real profit is made.

A 60 minute wait on Peter Pan and a 75% empty crystal palace is the LAST thing they want. There is no profit in it.

You can do two things here:
1. Believe that attendance is suffering beyond superficial excuses and know that’s is huge problem for them and by extension us
2. Be incorrect

Rather binary
 

Tha Realest

Well-Known Member
Crystal Palace today at 8:45 am:

View attachment 797405
Len, evidence like this, and all the indicia of distressingly low current and projected attendance keeps mounting.

We’re heading into D23, where presumably plans for parks expansions are being finalized. Given the headwinds in the current environment, how likely is it that certain projects are getting X’ed out or tabled for now?

Put another way, do these current challenges give the board pause, or does it induce them to lean further in to investment and expansion?
 

Jrb1979

Well-Known Member
Look, the idea that WDW was quiet and Uni was “very busy” simply is not true, and that’s all I was pointing out. I agree that numbers were way down at WDW, but that doesn’t change the fact that the poster to whom I was responding was making a dishonest post. It is what it is.
Sorry but when Jungle Cruise has a 30 minute wait and Peter Pan is at 45 minutes at 2pm that says quiet to me.

While over at Islands of Adventure at 2pm
Hagrids is 75 minutes
Spider-Man is 50 minutes same as Velocicoaster
Dudley Do Right is at 120 minutes.

That to me says one is busy while the other is quiet.
 

GhostHost1000

Premium Member
Disney has a major problem here. Even if they announce additions to WDW, we likely won’t see anything opened for another 3-5 years and that’s after they begin which they haven’t yet so assume 2028 to 2030.

They may add some entertainment (night parade, etc) and are redoing test track, but what is going to be the draw the next couple of years and with Epic open down the road?

Are they going to be stagnant AND raise prices when they need more guests in the parks? That is a recipe for even more problems. That is my concern.
 

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