Is attendance really down at WDW this or…

[el_super]

We all know about the revenge travelling profits after the pandemic ended. That's all come to a crashing halt.

2023 parks revenue peaked at $32.5B even while people here kept insisting the attendance being low was somehow a bad thing. 2024 has been trending even higher than 2023. Sure it may soon be reaching it's end, but there hasn't been any alarm bells ringing just yet.

 

[el_super]

You really need to take off the goofy glasses and see the reality and trends of things at the parks.

We all want the best, but what they do isn’t always the best whether you want to pretend it is or not.

What do you think will happen once Josh is named CEO?

 

[GhostHost1000]

What do you think will happen once Josh is named CEO?

Josh and his tight pants won’t be named CEO

 

[GhostHost1000]

2023 parks revenue peaked at $32.5B even while people here kept insisting the attendance being low was somehow a bad thing. 2024 has been trending even higher than 2023. Sure it may soon be reaching its end, but there hasn't been any alarm bells ringing just yet.

Trust me. There are alarm bells going off with the forecasted trends

 

[el_super]

Josh and his tight pants won’t be named CEO

It could happen. He's seriously in contention. The CEO race is definitely one of those park trends you need to stay mindful of.

Trust me. There are alarm bells going off with the forecasted trends

Maybe... but only if it's like a soft chime. Maybe like when you leave your car door open.

I'm sure they are far more worried about shifts in the US economy and the strength of the dollar abroad and the continuing weather situation than they are on how many Encanto characters they have in the parks.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I'm sure they are far more worried about shifts in the US economy and the strength of the dollar abroad and the continuing weather situation than they are on how many Encanto characters they have in the parks.

¡Celebración Encanto! Stage Show Debuts at EPCOT

¡Celebración Encanto! Stage Show Debuts at EPCOT

www.wdwmagic.com

 

[HauntedPirate]

Everybody knows a successful business is offering multiple discounts for extended periods of time when things are going great! Ignore the statements during the past few quarterly meetings that attendance in Florida is down. Ignore the basic math that if you charge more at the gate but attract fewer people, revenue will drop. Obviously WDW is doing gangbuster business right now and we're all just too blind to know it and only one poster knows the real story.

 

[Splash4eva]

They definitely caused it, it wasn't on purpose however.

Sure they can raise prices to keep some from coming, but you don't also reduce maintenance, offerings, quality, and service too. That is what makes those people that can pay the extra prices to come take vacations elsewhere now

Exactly altho i dont agree with their logic because all they needed to do was expand and charge more and everyone would stillkeep coming and paying as they has one of the biggest brand loyalties around now not so much. The people who did come were people who didnt kind paying but now we are seeing some of them jumping ship elsewhere due to the lack of care and cutting every possible corner

 

[Lilofan]

Dumber all the way to the bank I guess. Just for context:

MK attendance in 2019 (max ever recorded: 20,963,000
Parks revenue for 2019: $26.2B
MK attendance in 2022: 17,133,000
Parks revenue for 2022: $28.2B

Either they have figured out how to get more from less, or WDW just isn't all that important to their numbers anymore.

Lower attendance in 22' but higher revenue clearly states that even with lower attendance guests will continue to spend even with higher pricing.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Lower attendance in 22' but higher revenue clearly states that even with lower attendance guests will continue to spend even with higher pricing.

post Covid surge is over

 

[el_super]

Everybody knows a successful business is offering multiple discounts for extended periods of time when things are going great!

Name a year they didn't offer discounts.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Name a year they didn't offer discounts.

Name a year that offered this many with as many rooms allocated for the discount even while some wings are closed

 

[el_super]

post Covid surge is over

And? The first two quarters of FY24 were trending higher than FY23. Even if it starts to taper off in Q3 and Q4, it's most likely going to be comparable year over year, and a huge win for Josh.

 

[GhostHost1000]

And? The first two quarters of FY24 were trending higher than FY23. Even if it starts to taper off in Q3 and Q4, it's most likely going to be comparable year over year, and a huge win for Josh.

Josh? What has he done

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Lower attendance in 22' but higher revenue clearly states that even with lower attendance guests will continue to spend even with higher pricing.

In the short term.

That strategy worked well coming out of a pandemic, people had been stuck in their homes for a year and were willing to overpay for a vacation… that was 3 years ago though, most people have taken their “revenge” trip and reality is setting back in, what worked post pandemic isn’t likely to continue to work long term.

 

[LSLS]

It's been working so far. This thread has been yammering on about low attendance since 2023, but last year was one of the most profitable the parks have ever seen in their history. If there comes a point where it stops working, you would expect to see action from Disney and yet ... so far....

Did we ever get those lower priced tickets that we were promised?

That is NOT the case at WDW. You are using the attendance at WDW, and then using the entire division to show the profits. How many more cruisers were there? How many more attended the other parks? Apples to apples is that attendance is DOWN at WDW, and revenue is DOWN at WDW. We don't know how much because they would never show that, but they straight said that was the case in their quarterly reports.

 

[el_super]

Josh? What has he done

Literally... record breaking profits. This has been the problem with this thread since the beginning. Some want the lower attendance to be a referendum on the subjective quality of the experience, but it isn't. So they have to ignore the objectively good financial results the division has been posting.

That strategy worked well coming out of a pandemic, people had been stuck in their homes for a year and were willing to overpay for a vacation… that was 3 years ago though, most people have taken their “revenge” trip and reality is setting back in, what worked post pandemic isn’t likely to continue to work long term.

In the past, they used discounts and annual passes to smooth out the extremes in attendance shifting, but without those discounts in place, you're going to see a general return back to the cyclical nature of the resort. Instead of going once or twice a year, maybe they extend that out to one trip every three or four years. That's definitely in the math for lowering the attendance overall.

People can really only stay away for so long.

 

[el_super]

That is NOT the case at WDW. You are using the attendance at WDW, and then using the entire division to show the profits. How many more cruisers were there? How many more attended the other parks? Apples to apples is that attendance is DOWN at WDW, and revenue is DOWN at WDW. We don't know how much because they would never show that, but they straight said that was the case in their quarterly reports.

Actually that was part of my point: either they have figured out how to get more from less, or WDW just isn't all that important to their numbers anymore.

 

[JD80]

WDW is the one park dragging down the division so it's not great. We'll have to see how things shake out over the next year.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Literally... record breaking profits. This has been the problem with this thread since the beginning. Some want the lower attendance to be a referendum on the subjective quality of the experience, but it isn't. So they have to ignore the objectively good financial results the division has been posting.



In the past, they used discounts and annual passes to smooth out the extremes in attendance shifting, but without those discounts in place, you're going to see a general return back to the cyclical nature of the resort. Instead of going once or twice a year, maybe they extend that out to one trip every three or four years. That's definitely in the math for lowering the attendance overall.

People can really only stay away for so long.

Josh didn’t create Covid and post Covid surge travel and inflation