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NEW WDW 2006 Attendance Figures!
- Thread starter DisneyYorkian74
- Start date
Those numbers suck. MK is way over estimated. Epcot is sotra under estimated, and DAK really does out-draw MGM. Anyone who spends time in both of those parks regularly can see that easily.
The real thing that disqualifies these numbers is that Universal actually releases their attendance figures every year. According to their own records they had a drop in attendance. These numbers show an increase.
Nice try though.
The real thing that disqualifies these numbers is that Universal actually releases their attendance figures every year. According to their own records they had a drop in attendance. These numbers show an increase.
Nice try though.
CTXRover
Well-Known Member
We know they are estimates, but I think they are pretty good this year. Universal's official release stated UO drew 11.2 million visitors total last year, which is, as you said, DOWN 2.5%. These number indicate UO drew 11.3 million visitors total. While off by 0.1, it indicates these numbers are not "way" overestimated or underestimated and surely doesn't disqualify anything. IOA saw another significant decrease according to these numbers while USF either remained flat or saw a small increase, either way both officially and unoffically, UO saw a decrease.
Being off by .1 or .2 million either way could put AK above MGM, but I feel these numbers are probably pretty accurate.
WDWFigment
Well-Known Member
Negative drop? Wouldn't that be a gain? Anyway, I know it may be a sin to bring up the topic, so I won't touch it directly, but I wonder if WDC will do any promotions during the off-peak seasons to draw more guests in and keep these numbers on the ups (not that they wouldn't continue to go up anyway)?
Slowjack
Well-Known Member
Actually I'm pretty sure that's exactly how Universal considers IoA. When you are offering a 7-day pass to both parks for $86, which is what Universal is, that's a pretty clear indication that attendance is way below expectations.
Also consider that IoA is next to Universal Florida, with its 6 million attendance, and DCA is next to Disneyland, with almost 15 million. That's a big spillover effect. If 1/4 of Disneyland guests bought 2-day tickets and decided to spend the second morning in DCA, that's a lot of extra bodies.
Really I guess to me, I find DCA doing better than IoA to be sad. If you look at IoA, although it's a little too focused on thrill rides for my taste, it attempts to be a Disney-quality theme park. I mean, no one can accuse IoA of skimping on anything--they put the money in. DCA, on the other hand, while it's getting some attention now from the higher-ups, never looked Disney-quality to me, and instead looked like Disney was trying to get away with building a park on the cheap. If DCA does better than IoA, it doesn't bode well for us who want to see more top-drawer theming and park design in the future.
WDW Monorail
Well-Known Member
The top 8 spots of worldwide theme park attendance are held by Disney Parks.
Christi22222
Active Member
Wow, Slowjack! I'd be very curious to hear what criteria you are using to judge IOA and DCA for their "quality." I skipped DCA the first year it opened because I had heard all the bad press. When I went the following year, I was VERY bummed I'd waited so long. While the place was short on e-ticket attractions, I thought the art and the theming were fabulous. My son (then toddler/now 8) loves that park. Always has. So maybe it's an age appropriate thing? I don't know, but I love just being in that park. Conversely, we visited IOA last year for the first time and were really unimpressed. So many rides were closed (it was January) and the place just felt very 6 flags. In a few isolated areas there was some great theming, but then we'd have some other problem: on the pteradactyl ride (which looked and felt very cool) we had to wait FOREVER and the line was really quite short. It was just a bad attraction for moving folks which was frustrating. Then on One Fish, Two Fish the ride was broken in every way except going in circles!! Water just sprayed non-stop and your up down controller didn't respond. I honestly don't know how you can run a park with a majority of the attractions broken or closed! It just made everything feel dark and drab and yucky (technical term there, mind you!). Done well, I could maybe see the appeal for an older age group, but it just wasn't done well that I saw. Maybe this "seasonal" approach is what hurts their numbers? But I just can't see either way how DCA bodes poorly for the future of theme parks. I've missed all the debates, though, so I understand I may be in the minority. 
utrythinkinof1
Member
Epcot= 5.5% increase:sohappy:
WDWFigment
Well-Known Member
Debate about the quality of IoA and DCA aside, any disney park will have reasonably high attendance because the Disney name is attached to it. The brand name has built itself on the hallmark of quality, and people will buy into whatever they have in large part because of the name. Add to that the tying of ticket packages with Disneyland, and it isn't hard to see why attendance is high.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Nah, that's not true. Genuinely crappy parks don't do well (Walt Disney Studios Paris).
That's not true at all. The disney brand doesn't just draw people to the parks. If that were the case then building DCA, WDS, HKDL, and to some extent AK on the cheap wouldn't have aversely affected the attendance of those parks. For years they struggled to meet expectations, in fact most of them still do. If the Disney brand name drew people in no matter what, then those parks wouldn't have any problem meeting their expected attendance levels.
jmvd20
Well-Known Member
The Disney name does indeed draw people into their parks. Look at the worst performing Disney parks worldwide which are the ones you mentioned and they are still on the worldwide top 25 list. If it was Paramounts California Adventure, or Sea World's Hong Kong SeaLand do you think they still be that high?
I'm not saying that just the name can make the park a great success on it's own - but it sure as heck can't hurt. Some Disney parks may not have met expectations but to have a brand new park break into the top 10 in it's first years - that is the result of name recognition.
I'd say that's certainly true when it comes to the Disney water parks.
I was pleasantly shocked when I saw that Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach held the top spots in water park attendance and were well ahead of all the other water parks.
Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon don't offer that many attractions compared to the others and they're not that big; so it would appear that it's the fact that the "Disney" name is attached to it that make them so successful.
DizFanatic
Member
Let me compare 3 recent experiences:
CA may not be loaded with as many rides as any other disney park, but Cali-Screanin, ToT, Soarin and Grizzley River are some great rides. The rest of the pier is fun old fashioned rides that you can do anywhere. Bugs land is real cute and we all enjoyed it (not just the little guys). The Aladin show is worth admission alone. Park was absolutely clean and CMs had the expected Disney courtisey. Things were well organized and run like clockwork.
Six Flags Great Adventure - #18 on the list in NA has some of the greatest coasters around, but the park (in my opinion) sucks big time! My reason; rides break down frequently, very frequently (which makes me wonder about safety) the loading & unloading of guests makes absolutely no sense. Most use the same platform to load/unload passengers. I like Disney's assembly line approach. Take RnR (i know it's not in CA, but to make a point) 1 train is unloading at the "concert" while another is being loaded in the garage while another is already loaded waiting for launch while another is "doing" the ride. Many more people flow through the ride this way. As Stacy would say "Wham, wham, wham" (sorry for going off on a tangent) Anyway SFGA was filthy, the workers were rude (not just 1 of them, most of them) and we waited on a line for counter service food for over an hour.
Hershey park, #17 on the list. Another great coaster park. The park was clean, rides seemed to be more organized in the way of loading, people were polite.
So my point is that I would return to Hershey and Disney CA without a doubt. But I will never step foot in SFGA again. So that will effect attendance with my family of 5. Yes, I am partial to Disney (duh) but I don't dislike things because they are not Disney (or do I?:lookaroun )
And what's the dral with the Six Flags "fast lane" fast pass rip off that you have to pay for? In my opinion, that's f'ed up that you pay a higher price and you can cut the line. At least the real fastpass is available to anybody and you are limited to how often you can get them.
OK, I'll get off the ol' soap box for now, and sorry if I offended any SFGA fans out there... just my unsolicited opinion. Have a great day:wave:
CA may not be loaded with as many rides as any other disney park, but Cali-Screanin, ToT, Soarin and Grizzley River are some great rides. The rest of the pier is fun old fashioned rides that you can do anywhere. Bugs land is real cute and we all enjoyed it (not just the little guys). The Aladin show is worth admission alone. Park was absolutely clean and CMs had the expected Disney courtisey. Things were well organized and run like clockwork.
Six Flags Great Adventure - #18 on the list in NA has some of the greatest coasters around, but the park (in my opinion) sucks big time! My reason; rides break down frequently, very frequently (which makes me wonder about safety) the loading & unloading of guests makes absolutely no sense. Most use the same platform to load/unload passengers. I like Disney's assembly line approach. Take RnR (i know it's not in CA, but to make a point) 1 train is unloading at the "concert" while another is being loaded in the garage while another is already loaded waiting for launch while another is "doing" the ride. Many more people flow through the ride this way. As Stacy would say "Wham, wham, wham" (sorry for going off on a tangent) Anyway SFGA was filthy, the workers were rude (not just 1 of them, most of them) and we waited on a line for counter service food for over an hour.
Hershey park, #17 on the list. Another great coaster park. The park was clean, rides seemed to be more organized in the way of loading, people were polite.
So my point is that I would return to Hershey and Disney CA without a doubt. But I will never step foot in SFGA again. So that will effect attendance with my family of 5. Yes, I am partial to Disney (duh) but I don't dislike things because they are not Disney (or do I?:lookaroun )
And what's the dral with the Six Flags "fast lane" fast pass rip off that you have to pay for? In my opinion, that's f'ed up that you pay a higher price and you can cut the line. At least the real fastpass is available to anybody and you are limited to how often you can get them.
OK, I'll get off the ol' soap box for now, and sorry if I offended any SFGA fans out there... just my unsolicited opinion. Have a great day:wave: