Record crowds this month?

[WDW1974]

Disney, of course, doesn't release that info. They just leak it when convenient.

But I just got back from almost a week in O-Town (was at all four Disney parks as well as UNI) and the crowds shocked me. We are still in a global recession/depression after all.

What surprised me the most was EPCOT's crowds, especially on Saturday. I have visited this month annually (except for 2009) for as far back as I can recall. I have NEVER seen EPCOT that busy during Food and Wine Fest. It was more of a July 4th or Christmas week crowd than a second week in October deal.

I would be very surprised if Disney didn't set some sort of October record (or records). Just the fact they are extending EPCOT's hours on Saturdays (why they moved EMH's away from Fridays doesn't make sense, but that is another subject).

It was so packed that after one snack (a very tasty sausage from Portugal, only twice the price it should have been -- yet another DDP result!), I gave up on snacking around the world and took off for the House of Blues at DD.

Booths had waits of up to 20 minutes to just get a 'sample' ... I've never seen anything like that. And I'd love to know where those folks (many were locals to those who think that WDW is just tourists) are getting their money. I saw one dude walk into a shop in France and put $400 on four gift cards to dine/drink around the world with.

Anyway, just getting into the park's turnstiles had VERY long lines.

And it wasn't simply EPCOT on the weekend. MK was packed as well. They were exiting people backstage (terrible show) after Wishes. DAK on Friday was pretty damn busy as well (that was before the Price Waterhouse Cooper group came in for a private party in Dinoland). And it wasn't just Disney. Universal was very crowded for HHN's Sunday.

~GFC~

 

[Expo_Seeker40]

Remember Spirit, people like to forget their troubles atWDW. In 2011 drinking those problems away would fit with F&W fest.

 

[Duckberg]

The MOUSE loves crowds ($$$)! :sohappy:

 

[WDWFigment]

I doubt there would still be much residue from the 40th last week. My money is on "free" dining. To my knowledge, Disney has offered free dining more aggressively for this period than it has in the past (those who are experts in this area feel free to contradict/supplement, but this is what I've seen) as they offered it as a bounceback offer last year, then started offering it at the beginning of the year, then offered it as a PIN code, and recently started offering it again. My guess is that the locals are always there this time of year, but the real increase is caused by DDP. This is also a very popular time of year among the annually-increasing DVC crowd (it's a low point season and a time of year they're more likely to come, anyway), so the annual increase in DVC'rs could explain some of this increase.

I quoted myself in the Fantasmic thread, but now this seems more relevant here, so I'm moving it:

To your F&WF 2011 prices, I commented on something similar in my trip report. Since I'm sure you'd never bother reading something as silly as a trip report, I'll copy and paste the pertinent portion here:

When I first gazed at the menu, I have to admit that I had some sticker shock. We did Food & Wine Festival in 2009, and the prices were similarly expensive then, but I was still a bit taken aback by some of the high prices. Overall, for the size of the portions, I think most snack prices are high relative to Counter Service meals (if you apportioned appropriately). I think Disney has an expectation that many people visiting during Food & Wine Festival are using the Disney Dining Plan (for “free”), which incentivizes Disney to raise prices to create a greater impression of value for these Guests. After all, if 75% (made up number, I have no idea what it really is–probably not that high) of Food & Wine Festival Guests are on the Dining Plan, the prices of snacks are illusory to 75% of Guests, anyway. These Guests are likely to respond favorably to higher prices for Food & Wine Festival snacks, as that increases their perceived “value” of the DDP. In fact, the more expensive dining options are, the more likely they are to be satisfied with the Dining Plan, as they didn’t pay for the Dining Plan (which, if you follow my ramblings, you know is not the case, since there is the opportunity-cost of forgoing another discount for free dining) or if they did pay for the Dining Plan, aren’t paying for the snacks directly.

There’s a decent chance that another 5-10% of Food & Wine Festival Guests are there specifically for the Food & Wine Festival events, and either have disposable incomes to visit specifically during that time, or will pay a premium to sample the snacks. That leaves a negligible number of Guests who will actually make purchases based upon prices, making it in Disney’s best interests to price items artificially (or unreasonably) high.

In any case, my point is that I think Disney realizes it can get away with charging a premium for many things at Food & Wine Festival because of the type of Guests to whom it is catering with the event...

 

[PhilharMagician]

I doubt there would still be much residue from the 40th last week. My money is on "free" dining. To my knowledge, Disney has offered free dining more aggressively for this period than it has in the past (those who are experts in this area feel free to contradict/supplement, but this is what I've seen) as they offered it as a bounceback offer last year, then started offering it at the beginning of the year, then offered it as a PIN code, and recently started offering it again. My guess is that the locals are always there this time of year, but the real increase is caused by DDP. This is also a very popular time of year among the annually-increasing DVC crowd (it's a low point season and a time of year they're more likely to come, anyway), so the annual increase in DVC'rs could explain some of this increase.

I quoted myself in the Fantasmic thread, but now this seems more relevant here, so I'm moving it:

To your F&WF 2011 prices, I commented on something similar in my trip report. Since I'm sure you'd never bother reading something as silly as a trip report, I'll copy and paste the pertinent portion here:

As fa as I know this week there was no free dining offered.

I can say it was extremely busy at Epcot on Saturday. I have been there on many Saturdays during F&W and have never seen what I saw last weekend. I will also add that it has been the same way throughout all the parks this week so far. Since there is no fre dining this week would tell me there was some sort of high point in the reservation calendar.

 

[wm49rs]

I was at the F&W last weekend as well. And the vast majority of the people I saw, spoke with, or sat next to in some of the seminars and the Party for the Senses were locals. You couldn't swing the proverbial dead cat without hitting someone in a UCF, USF, UF, Miami or FSU shirt that day it seemed.....

 

[Disaddict]

For those that say that the high crowds are due to the F&W festival and the Free Dining, how do you explain last year, the year before that, and the year before that? They had Free Dining and were never as busy as people are saying it is this year.

 

[rsoxguy]

My theory on this is more sociological. The unemployment scene has been dismal, the economy has shown itself to be sluggish, and people who do have jobs have been hesitant to spend money. Between fear and boredom, something has got to give amongst those who maintain a steady income. We are a recreation minded society, and I think that part of the "give" is WDW.

 

[Hakunamatata]

This is excellent news. After all, larger crowds means more revenue. More revenue means more capital to invest in the future in addition to the standard distribution of returns to stock holders.

 

[WDWFigment]

As fa as I know this week there was no free dining offered.

I can say it was extremely busy at Epcot on Saturday. I have been there on many Saturdays during F&W and have never seen what I saw last weekend. I will also add that it has been the same way throughout all the parks this week so far. Since there is no fre dining this week would tell me there was some sort of high point in the reservation calendar.

I was assuming he was there over the weekend of October 8th (when free dining was offered) I guess that may not be the case, and if it was busy last Saturday, you're right, that wouldn't be primarily because of free dining (unless the bounce-back was originally offered for that weekend, but that can't account for all of the people).

Disaddict - despite what Disney claims about slowing down discounts, as best I can tell, free dining has been offered more aggressively this year than in past years. Now, if it was this busy last weekend, free dining certainly wouldn't explain the crowds.

 

[drew81]

I was at Epcot this past Saturday and I have to agree. It was mobbed in World Showcase. I was ready to get out of there.

Crowds were definitely busier from what I remember. MNSSHP was very busy as well. I do wonder if MK seems more busy because of Toon Town being closed???

 

[Master Yoda]

I was assuming he was there over the weekend of October 8th (when free dining was offered) I guess that may not be the case, and if it was busy last Saturday, you're right, that wouldn't be primarily because of free dining (unless the bounce-back was originally offered for that weekend, but that can't account for all of the people).

Disaddict - despite what Disney claims about slowing down discounts, as best I can tell, free dining has been offered more aggressively this year than in past years. Now, if it was this busy last weekend, free dining certainly wouldn't explain the crowds.

Yes and no. The span of dates is about the same as we have seen in the last couple of years but there are more black out dates. Those that can move their travel dates or do split stays can still take advantage but those that are locked in were out of luck.

 

[PhilharMagician]

I was at the F&W last weekend as well. And the vast majority of the people I saw, spoke with, or sat next to in some of the seminars and the Party for the Senses were locals. You couldn't swing the proverbial dead cat without hitting someone in a UCF, USF, UF, Miami or FSU shirt that day it seemed.....

That is a good point. I would say a majority were locals or college students. We could have used FP's for the beer kiosks and the line out of the Rose & Crown was crazy long and people were just drinking out in front of it. A lot of people having fun, but at times it was a little over the top for families with children.

I was assuming he was there over the weekend of October 8th (when free dining was offered) I guess that may not be the case, and if it was busy last Saturday, you're right, that wouldn't be primarily because of free dining (unless the bounce-back was originally offered for that weekend, but that can't account for all of the people).

Disaddict - despite what Disney claims about slowing down discounts, as best I can tell, free dining has been offered more aggressively this year than in past years. Now, if it was this busy last weekend, free dining certainly wouldn't explain the crowds.

I have this past week in my head, but your right that was the end of a free dining period.

 

[echovictor]

You couldn't swing the proverbial dead cat without hitting someone in a UCF, USF, UF, Miami or FSU shirt that day it seemed.....

USF, UF, Miami and FSU all had away (or bye) games over the last couple of Saturdays. Maybe it's the tailgating crowds looking for a party.

 

[The Mom]

I wonder if the FL colleges had a long weekend? I know my son had Friday off (in another state), and I was at a sporting event Saturday where many college students were home from school and competing in HS Alumni events. :shrug:

 

[Alektronic]

The PGA Tour for the Children's Miracle Network Classic is at Disney this weekend

 

[wm49rs]

USF, UF, Miami and FSU all had away (or bye) games over the last couple of Saturdays. Maybe it's the tailgating crowds looking for a party.

I wonder if the FL colleges had a long weekend? I know my son had Friday off (in another state), and I was at a sporting event Saturday where many college students were home from school and competing in HS Alumni events. :shrug:

It's possible; I know UF played Auburn last weekend, but that's only because my wife is an Auburn alum. But we sat next to an entire family of UF fans from San Juan, PR that morning, and walking around the WS later there was nothing but collegiate attire to be seen, most of it from the Florida schools.....:shrug:

 

[Brian Noble]

I wonder if the FL colleges had a long weekend?

If you have a Fall Break, we're getting close to the time it would happen at most schools. Michigan's was this past Monday/Tuesday.

 

[ChrisM]

Yep, it's definitely been a Fall Break period.

 

[happykid25]

We were at Epcot on Saturday as well. The World Showcase was crazy. The line for the Norway beer kiosk and the Scandinavia F&W Kiosk were massive, my husband walked into Kringla Bakery and had no line to pick up a Carlsburg. So outside of the walkways, the countries themselves were okay.

We were there on free dining, so there were some people still there on that promotion (you had to check-in on certain days, the promotion carried over your whole trip.)

My theory on the craziness of last Saturday (the 15th); the previous Saturday (the 8th) was a complete and total washout. We were at Epcot that day as well and I will say it was the worse weather I've been at Disney in. If locals came that day, they would have been crazy. I saw very few people at the kiosks that day, it would have been too hard to eat or drink in that type of rain. I know we didn't visit the booths on either day, one because of the rain and the other because of the crowds.

On the busy day, there were definately lots of sports fans and lots of younger groups drinking around the world (with shirts claiming so).