News Park attendance showing significant softness heading into the Fall 2018

[MisterPenguin]

Ticketing web pages down for the update...

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Except... the new way to buy tickets starts tomorrow, the 16th.

...indeed. Interesting

 

[Nubs70]

"New Enhancement" : when your proctologist opens a box of sandpaper exam gloves.

 

[wannabeBelle]

...”you were saying?”

About softness this fall/next year?

This is an unprecedented move out of desperation....it’s honestly never been seen.

Lowering annual pass prices? That combined with nickel and diming recently announced creates an interesting picture.

Lowering AP pricing?? I saw increases almost across the board on all of the reporting I have seen on it so far, except for one type of water park pass. Did I miss something? Marie

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Nope. You didn't miss anything, @wannabeBelle...


https://www.wdwmagic.com/other/magi...nual-pass-price-increases-effective-today.htm

Along with the introduction of date-based tickets and pricing, Walt Disney World annual passes have been updated.

• The Disney Platinum Plus Pass is now $994, up from $949. (Before any discounts for Florida Residents)
• The Disney Platinum Pass is now $894 up from $849. (Before any discounts for Florida Residents)
• The Gold Pass is now $609, up from $589.
• The Silver Pass is now $479, up from $439.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

What is the over/under on ticket price increases tomorrow?

I've read elsewhere that depending when you're going, prices are either slightly up, roughly level, or even down a bit -- imagine that. I haven't verified that myself at all -- just reading around this morning.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Lowering AP pricing?? I saw increases almost across the board on all of the reporting I have seen on it so far, except for one type of water park pass. Did I miss something? Marie

Nope. You didn't miss anything, @wannabeBelle...

https://www.wdwmagic.com/other/magi...nual-pass-price-increases-effective-today.htm

Along with the introduction of date-based tickets and pricing, Walt Disney World annual passes have been updated.

• The Disney Platinum Plus Pass is now $994, up from $949. (Before any discounts for Florida Residents)
• The Disney Platinum Pass is now $894 up from $849. (Before any discounts for Florida Residents)
• The Gold Pass is now $609, up from $589.
• The Silver Pass is now $479, up from $439.

Well...I totally misread that article

...I guess we’re back to business as usual...because today is a day that ends in “y”

I do think I’m done with annual passes...been 15 years or so off and on...
It’s the mentality of everything that’s getting to me...

 

[wannabeBelle]

Thanks all, I thought it was just early and I had misread something. From what I saw reading around pricing on AP's except for the regular Water Park pass have all gone up $20-$50 per year, depending on the type of pass. Considering that these just went up in February, that is quite a hike in a single year. Marie

 

[MisterPenguin]

The new prices are being discussed here...

Disney introduces new Florida Resident Theme Park Select Pass and add-ons for other passes

Disney to launch new Vacation Planning site to help guests with date-based tickets

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The new prices are being discussed here...

Disney introduces new Florida Resident Theme Park Select Pass and add-ons for other passes

Disney to launch new Vacation Planning site to help guests with date-based tickets

On advice of my doctor...I should avoid the “discussion”, huh??

 

[wannabeBelle]

On advice of my doctor...I should avoid the “discussion”, huh??

Probably not a bad idea. Marie

 

[Princess Leia]

Epcot has felt dead all day. We arrived after 11, longest wait was for Frozen around 40 minutes (Test Track has a longer posted wait but we just used single rider)

 

[HauntedPirate]

Epcot has felt dead all day. We arrived after 11, longest wait was for Frozen around 40 minutes (Test Track has a longer posted wait but we just used single rider)

I haven't heard from my boys how Epcot is now, they spent the first part of the day at MK. I'll see what they say after their Garden Grill dinner.

 

[marni1971]

So I’m at AK right now, and I want to say that the wait times for Flight of Passage have been inflated all day.

How many theatres are running? FOP is a notoriously unreliable crowd barometer.

If it’s quieter they’ll employee less cast. Which closes theatres. Which extends the lines. Which makes it seem busier. But it’s quieter.

 

[marni1971]

Unsure if this has been said but, Magic kingdom was gonna close most of Jan-March around 6pm without happily ever after, The time has been changed to 8pm closing with happily ever after at 8pm

That could have been a preliminary calendar...magic closed at six like...never. Especially not March.

They are probably working on their upsell menu - to be honest.

There was a whole raft of other early closings in all parks that are currently on hold. Kind of a wait and see mentality.

 

[MisterPenguin]

How many theatres are running? FOP is a notoriously unreliable crowd barometer.

If it’s quieter they’ll employee less cast. Which closes theatres. Which extends the lines. Which makes it seem busier. But it’s quieter.

I think @Princess Leia is saying that the wait in line was much shorter than the reported queue time as seen on MDE or the sign at stand-by. Lots of reports how that reported wait time is inflated for most of the big attractions. In fact, here and on /reddit people have been reporting that their FoP has been much shorter than the reported stand-by time.

 

[marni1971]

I think @Princess Leia is saying that the wait in line was much shorter than the reported queue time as seen on MDE or the sign at stand-by. Lots of reports how that reported wait time is inflated for most of the big attractions. In fact, here and on /reddit people have been reporting that their FoP has been much shorter than the reported stand-by time.

The in-laws did standby last month. Both times it was surprisingly accurate.

 

[Princess Leia]

How many theatres are running? FOP is a notoriously unreliable crowd barometer.

If it’s quieter they’ll employee less cast. Which closes theatres. Which extends the lines. Which makes it seem busier. But it’s quieter.

Sorry Martin, I’m not sure. It seemed like it was staffed well though. Around 11 on Monday it was still set at 165, and no one was queuing outside (we walked right through what is normally the outside queue to get from NRJ to Satu’li, and all three of us expressed some shock that they hadn’t lowered the wait time).

Everything (minus Test Track and Frozen) was a walk on by yesterday evening. TT was technically a walk on if you did what my friends and I did, which was employ the single rider option. Lines for the F&W kiosks were minimal.

It’s a little weird for me that yesterday was my last day at a WDW for a few years. Today we’re doing Universal, and then tomorrow I leave when everyone else is doing DHS. For me, cost is definitely a factor, as is knowing that if I wait, I can experience SWGE, Ratatouille, Tron, GotG, the new Epcot show (RoE looked stunning last night), whatever new show goes into DHS, Brazil (I hope?), and the new HP coaster at IoA. I waited 9 years before, I can go for 4 (plus, I think I’m probably going to go to Disneyland at some point too).

 

[marni1971]

Sorry Martin, I’m not sure. It seemed like it was staffed well though. Around 11 on Monday it was still set at 165, and no one was queuing outside (we walked right through what is normally the outside queue to get from NRJ to Satu’li, and all three of us expressed some shock that they hadn’t lowered the wait time)..

Thank you. Yes, the display was too high. If it were 165 the line would be down the hill outside. Oopsie.

 

[George]

The in-laws did standby last month. Both times it was surprisingly accurate.

Sorry Martin, I’m not sure. It seemed like it was staffed well though. Around 11 on Monday it was still set at 165, and no one was queuing outside (we walked right through what is normally the outside queue to get from NRJ to Satu’li, and all three of us expressed some shock that they hadn’t lowered the wait time).

Everything (minus Test Track and Frozen) was a walk on by yesterday evening. TT was technically a walk on if you did what my friends and I did, which was employ the single rider option. Lines for the F&W kiosks were minimal.

It’s a little weird for me that yesterday was my last day at a WDW for a few years. Today we’re doing Universal, and then tomorrow I leave when everyone else is doing DHS. For me, cost is definitely a factor, as is knowing that if I wait, I can experience SWGE, Ratatouille, Tron, GotG, the new Epcot show (RoE looked stunning last night), whatever new show goes into DHS, Brazil (I hope?), and the new HP coaster at IoA. I waited 9 years before, I can go for 4 (plus, I think I’m probably going to go to Disneyland at some point too).

I know that most think of me as incredibly cool and hip, but in reality I’m very nerdy. Since the age of five (I should note this is no exaggeration) I have estimated things like crowd sizes (not just in stadiums but in big park areas like Magic Kingdom) wait times, distances, etc. In elementary school I once used a AAA trip tick to demonstrate to a room full of adults how everyone over estimates the population of their hometown, city, state, province, country, county, etc. Anyway, I have timed thousands of wait times at Disney World over the years and compared it to the posted wait. Over the last three or four years Disney’s accuracy has declined and the vector is as @Princess Leia describes it. However, as Martin notes, they are still very accurate quite often. I’d say the posted wait is correct about 75 to 80% of the time right now. At least based on my most recent trips. There are many other factors that could cause my data to be an outlier…… there are certainly factors that make my family different from the norm (as there are with all of our families). I know that @lentesta has the most data on this.