bcoachable
Well-Known Member
I suggested this way back at the start of g+ and was shouted down… didn’t let it change my mind.
Btw- anyone care to share how much they paid (or Diz was charging) for G+ over this “slower than expected”
Holiday weekend?
-
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Is attendance really down at WDW this or…
- Thread starter coachb
- Start date
Btw- anyone care to share how much they paid (or Diz was charging) for G+ over this “slower than expected”
Holiday weekend?
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Nobody ever wants to believe the funny money is - in fact - funny…
But the cycle has to put pause on these things or the whole house of cards collapses
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
It was $25 the last three days…$16 for the individuals
Don’t think they got much play except for perhaps the 2 virtual only rides
EricsBiscuit
Well-Known Member
Incredibly light crowds at MK today. The parking lot filled the first section, both heroes and villains, and then only the second section of the villains was used. Epcot was markedly busier.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
I will blame chapek for this
They should have resumed pass sales in late 2021- at the latest - and figured it out
If it was staffing…that was on him too. They laid off like 30,000 in 2020 and dumped them into the awful excuse for a social system known as Florida.
You just can’t do that. Never “break that glass”…and it would have taken a 5 minute call to 1600 to get those wages paid for anyway.
Was a tremendous miscalculation that they’ll feel for years…whichever Bob is to blame
esskay
Well-Known Member
Back on the original question, if attendance is down they're doing an extremely good job of hiding it.
I've typically visited WDW every year in May and September for over 25 years with the exception of 20/21/22 due to covid.
Having just come back last week the parks really did at times feel incredibly busy. A lot of this I can put down to the school groups. I've no idea whats changed but I've never seen as many school groups as I did this time. The coach parking lot by Epcot was almost full, and there were hoards of kids and teachers everywhere. To be clear this wasn't the cheerleader crowd, altho we did see those a fair bit in our first week (We were there from 6th - 27th).
One thing that was welcomed though was the 30 min early entry. Those were far quieter than the old single park EMH system, although a cranky jetlagged me got very close to biting off a cast members head when they told us Adventureland / Frontierland didn't open till park opening (a still frankly insulting and taking move that extends back to EMH, especially as even now its still not well advertised at all).
As was the norm, late morning - early evening was the busiest period but we tend to get in and out of the parks by 11am and dont come back till 5-6pm, those mid-day hours just arent worth it once you know the place like the back of your hand.
One thing that was noticable, was that despite pretty much all resorts supposedly being at capacity (something the GM of Caribbean Beach told us - thats a whole other big screwup story) the resorts all felt pretty dead. We tend to visit every resort hotel whilst we're there. AKL was probably the busiest but even then nowhere near as busy as it's been when I've stayed in the past. Caribbean Beach felt dead at times, Riviera was often a ghost town and Pop & AoA never felt anywhere close to capacity.
So I do wonder if its just a case of artificial inflation. We all know the wait times are now at their worst levels of inflation to push people to certain places, but that combined with more people presumably staying off site is the only thing that I can think of that's causing it to feel busy.
Oh also, yeah you dont need Genie+, not at all. Despite spending about half the amount of time as I normally would at the parks we had no problem getting on everything we wanted. The longest queue I waited in was 20 mins for Rise, the secon time we went on that it was a walk on. Getting into virtual queue for GoG was also easy, all four times we got into a group < 10. Don't pay for Genie+ unless you're a first timer or on a very tight schedule.
I've typically visited WDW every year in May and September for over 25 years with the exception of 20/21/22 due to covid.
Having just come back last week the parks really did at times feel incredibly busy. A lot of this I can put down to the school groups. I've no idea whats changed but I've never seen as many school groups as I did this time. The coach parking lot by Epcot was almost full, and there were hoards of kids and teachers everywhere. To be clear this wasn't the cheerleader crowd, altho we did see those a fair bit in our first week (We were there from 6th - 27th).
One thing that was welcomed though was the 30 min early entry. Those were far quieter than the old single park EMH system, although a cranky jetlagged me got very close to biting off a cast members head when they told us Adventureland / Frontierland didn't open till park opening (a still frankly insulting and taking move that extends back to EMH, especially as even now its still not well advertised at all).
As was the norm, late morning - early evening was the busiest period but we tend to get in and out of the parks by 11am and dont come back till 5-6pm, those mid-day hours just arent worth it once you know the place like the back of your hand.
One thing that was noticable, was that despite pretty much all resorts supposedly being at capacity (something the GM of Caribbean Beach told us - thats a whole other big screwup story) the resorts all felt pretty dead. We tend to visit every resort hotel whilst we're there. AKL was probably the busiest but even then nowhere near as busy as it's been when I've stayed in the past. Caribbean Beach felt dead at times, Riviera was often a ghost town and Pop & AoA never felt anywhere close to capacity.
So I do wonder if its just a case of artificial inflation. We all know the wait times are now at their worst levels of inflation to push people to certain places, but that combined with more people presumably staying off site is the only thing that I can think of that's causing it to feel busy.
Oh also, yeah you dont need Genie+, not at all. Despite spending about half the amount of time as I normally would at the parks we had no problem getting on everything we wanted. The longest queue I waited in was 20 mins for Rise, the secon time we went on that it was a walk on. Getting into virtual queue for GoG was also easy, all four times we got into a group < 10. Don't pay for Genie+ unless you're a first timer or on a very tight schedule.
GhostHost1000
Premium Member
$25pp
Ayla
Well-Known Member
I don't know that someone who has an excessively long 3 week vacation is the best arbiter of not needing Genie+.
I completely understand why people who are there for less than a week buy it.
Patcheslee
Well-Known Member
School trip costs have increased? DC trip cost $300 more than the previous years trip. The choir WDW/Uni trip cost $500 more for those kids so expecting to see a significant increase when DD14 goes in 2025. Each future school trip means planning on less spending now as a cushion.
esskay
Well-Known Member
Yes fair argument, for what it's worth we did most of the rides in the first week, only going back to re-do some the second and third week. You absolutely can do it without Genie+ but as I said, if you're there for a short trip or a first timer I can see the benefit.
CntrlFlPete
Well-Known Member
The weather is actually beautiful
Crowds are a little thicker across the board today…but nothing crazy
We went in early to “disarm” the genie and did all the stuff we’d normally due…I’ll be at the pool bar at DAKL if anyone wants to stop by…bottoms up
you really lucked out on the weather! Friday had heavy rains forecasted that never materialized. I should have said 'too cold for the locals' for SAT morning. These past few days have had cool mornings which have been absent here since around early JAN
matt9112
Well-Known Member
Yeah the layoffs we’re a bad move. At least on the scale. Sure use it an excuse to let go if the weakest performers but to dump everyone like that? Terrible move.
matt9112
Well-Known Member
That’s I think the major disconnect. If your there for a couple weeks of course you don’t need it. If your on a 4 day vacation….ehh
The haves and have nots from a time and ultimately a financial point of view. Irony is the shorter trips are likely to be people with less disposable income (if we’re talking family vacation here) vs your “average” European on there 21 day holiday. The genie plus is arguably much more affordable for the later yet not necessary. The former would get the most use but are the most price sensitive.
matt9112
Well-Known Member
Also wanted to add they still got my money for a 3 day Florida resident ticket few months ago. Was a great trip but in no way did we do everything. But we didn’t try to. Skipped MK all together. So maybe that’s it’s than 3 day discounted ticket trips every few years. Man they really showed those former pass holders who’s boss. The nerve I had to go as often as I did before for basically nothing.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
…sometimes you get the bear…and sometimes the bear gets you
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
42.3 Million Americans Expected to Travel for Memorial Day Weekend
WASHINGTON, DC (May 15, 2023) AAA projects 42.3 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home this Memorial Day weekend*, a 7% increase over
newsroom.aaa.com
"This is expected to be the third busiest Memorial Day weekend since 2000, when AAA started tracking holiday travel,” said Paula Twidale, Senior Vice President of AAA Travel. “More Americans are planning trips and booking them earlier, despite inflation. This summer travel season could be one for the record books, especially at airports.”
Another interesting article. AAA travel is projecting busy summer travel and Disney is projecting a slow summer.
Andrew25
Well-Known Member
Looking at wait-times for both Disney/Universal, they were actually pretty low for the holiday weekend. Even SeaWorld with their new coaster wasn't too chaotic.
This past week, Na'vi River was posted 55... walked right on. Someone needs to do something about this obvious gross practice.
This past week, Na'vi River was posted 55... walked right on. Someone needs to do something about this obvious gross practice.
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
This has to be very worrying. Hotel discounts, pass discounts, passholder incentives, all of it geared towards boosting shortfalls in attendance. Anecdotal stories of softened demand from numerous travel agents and posters’ personal experiences in the parks over the last few days confirming this.42.3 Million Americans Expected to Travel for Memorial Day Weekend
WASHINGTON, DC (May 15, 2023) AAA projects 42.3 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home this Memorial Day weekend*, a 7% increase over
"This is expected to be the third busiest Memorial Day weekend since 2000, when AAA started tracking holiday travel,” said Paula Twidale, Senior Vice President of AAA Travel. “More Americans are planning trips and booking them earlier, despite inflation. This summer travel season could be one for the record books, especially at airports.”
Another interesting article. AAA travel is projecting busy summer travel and Disney is projecting a slow summer.
What’s the next lever they’ll pull @Sirwalterraleigh ?
Hopefully the lever that jettisons Iger.
Smiley/OCD
Well-Known Member
Not until the board is relatively sure they have a well respected, competent and intelligent person ready to go…don’t go by Bob…VET THEM