Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

[GoofGoof]

Right, but a good percentage of that fan-base that are actual paying customers who make repeat visits are Californians, just the same as those WDW's fan base and repeat paying customers are mostly east coast residence. There's only three states on the west coast and CA fills most of it, so I can't make the same analogy since most of the west coast is CA.

It's not about the state the guests come from but rather the economics behind the park. DLR is still for the most part a day trip. If your customer base is planning a day trip they can pick Disney or any number of other places to go. You need to keep things fresh since you depend on a lot of frequent, repeat customers. Direct investment in the parks leads to more visitors which leads to more profits. It's a simplified model.

WDW is a whole different animal. A material portion of visitors aren't even coming from the US let alone Florida. It's more of a resort and real estate driven business model. Success is measured in days spent in hotel rooms on property and spending per guest (with a large portion coming from rooms, meals and other non-park admission revenue streams). A substantial portion of the guest base isn't even visiting once a year let alone multiple times a year. It's really an apples and oranges comparison. Universal in FL up until recently has been more on the day trip model too. They seem to be targeting a switch over to the resort based model with the announced new hotel rooms. It should be interesting to see how that plays out.

 

[Californian Elitist]

What about Mexico?

One day maybe we can same the same about WDW for Cuba... There's potential there, if the Castro dynasty ever falls from power...

Yes, Mexicans as well, but mainly Australians.

 

[Californian Elitist]

By the same token WDW gets a lot more visitors than the East coast states as Peter claims.

Exactly.

 

[Darth Sidious]

WDW is seeing a large influx of Brazilian and Argentinian tourists. It is the only thing keeping Disney from having to admit the parks are stale because I would bet domestic tourism to WDW is either flat or down.

 

[PhotoDave219]

WDW is seeing a large influx of Brazilian and Argentinian tourists. It is the only thing keeping Disney from having to admit the parks are stale because I would bet domestic tourism to WDW is either flat or down.

Thats been my observation as well.

Free Dining seemed to have an impact from the "children too young for school" demo but thats about it.

Any slow period after labor day did not last beyond a few days.

 

[flynnibus]

Can't believe you all are getting sucked down these rabbit holes of obvious ignorance again... save yourselves.. we have the technology

 

[Goofyernmost]

Yes, Mexicans as well, but mainly Australians.

I don't have a globe right in front of me and to be honest there is nothing important enough about this particular topic to bother trying to find one, but, wouldn't the distance from Australia to California (West Coast) or Florida (East Coast) be somewhat the same depending on the direction that one circumvents the globe?

 

[Californian Elitist]

I don't have a globe right in front of me and to be honest there is nothing important enough about this particular topic to bother trying to find one, but, wouldn't the distance from Australia to California (West Coast) or Florida (East Coast) be somewhat the same depending on the direction that one circumvents the globe?

Given that California and Australia are part of the Pacific Rim, I'm guessing California is closer for Australians. Must be because they're always visiting Disneyland and California in general. Lots of Asian tourists, too, especially at Universal Studios Hollywood (you've got a lot of Asian countries on the Pacific Rim as well).

 

[CDavid]

I don't have a globe right in front of me and to be honest there is nothing important enough about this particular topic to bother trying to find one, but, wouldn't the distance from Australia to California (West Coast) or Florida (East Coast) be somewhat the same depending on the direction that one circumvents the globe?

Apparently I'm bored, because I bothered; Around 7,500 miles Sydney Australia to Los Angeles, and 9,370 Sydney to Orlando. A difference of 1,870 miles. However, when you are already coming at least 7,500 miles anyway the extra distance may not make much of a difference depending on the price of air fare and flight schedules. Florida or California could either one be significantly more convenient or much less expensive.

I didn't bother to check that, however.

 

[Mr Bill]

Some interesting numbers in this article:
http://skift.com/2013/09/27/35-perc...-in-the-u-s-head-straight-to-orlando-florida/

About 35% of all Brazilians coming to the US are headed to Orlando. 20% of tourists coming to Orlando are Brazilian.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Apparently I'm bored, because I bothered; Around 7,500 miles Sydney Australia to Los Angeles, and 9,370 Sydney to Orlando. A difference of 1,870 miles. However, when you are already coming at least 7,500 miles anyway the extra distance may not make much of a difference depending on the price of air fare and flight schedules. Florida or California could either one be significantly more convenient or much less expensive.

I didn't bother to check that, however.

Thanks for doing the leg work for me. I always told people that my particular strength was delegation.

 

[Clever Name]

Apparently I'm bored, because I bothered; Around 7,500 miles Sydney Australia to Los Angeles, and 9,370 Sydney to Orlando. A difference of 1,870 miles. However, when you are already coming at least 7,500 miles anyway the extra distance may not make much of a difference depending on the price of air fare and flight schedules. Florida or California could either one be significantly more convenient or much less expensive.

I didn't bother to check that, however.

Going to California is more fun because you get to see all the goofy west coast inhabitants.

 

[Longhairbear]

I've made some interesting observations on other websites' DVC forums. Lately there are more than a few new threads started by DVC members asking where members use their points outside of WDW. The latest started today states, "Not going this year, or next." In all of these threads many DVC members mention where they use points outside of WDW. No one has actually mentioned the reasons for this, other than, we wanted to go someplace else, time to change things up, etc. No one is saying anything negative about WDW, they just are not going anymore. I think we're seeing an interesting new trend becoming more visible. I for one have not used our points at WDW in 3 years.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I've made some interesting observations on other websites' DVC forums. Lately there are more than a few new threads started by DVC members asking where members use their points outside of WDW. The latest started today states, "Not going this year, or next." In all of these threads many DVC members mention where they use points outside of WDW. No one has actually mentioned the reasons for this, other than, we wanted to go someplace else, time to change things up, etc. No one is saying anything negative about WDW, they just are not going anymore. I think we're seeing an interesting new trend becoming more visible. I for one have not used our points at WDW in 3 years.

Don't know, for sure, cause I'm not a DVC member, but, based on your post I'd have to say that it isn't exactly a new trend. You, yourself said you haven't used any WDW points in 3 years. I doubt you are alone in that. If stuff like that isn't bothering Disney, then either they are not paying attention or they are picking up the slack from someplace else. If they were noticing then we would have to ask about the increased building of DVC units.

It could be of course that they just don't care if you show up or not as long you buy your shares.

 

[marni1971]

WDW is seeing a large influx of Brazilian and Argentinian tourists. It is the only thing keeping Disney from having to admit the parks are stale because I would bet domestic tourism to WDW is either flat or down.

As is Universal. South America is becoming a targeted demographic.

 

[ParentsOf4]

As is Universal. South America is becoming a targeted demographic.

For Orlando in general, South America represents a large untapped market. Brazil in particular has a newly expanding middle class since about 2005 with the credit to afford vacations at WDW and Uni. Unlike the U.S. in recent years, most of the personal income gains have been in the lower and middle classes in Brazil.

Although a couple of years old and its projections for 2012 and beyond are out-of-date, the following GDP chart is revealing:

However, Orlando tourism is running the risk of a precipitous decline. In recent year's, Brazil's growth has ground to a halt. Growth was an impressive 7.5% in 2010 but only 0.9% in 2012. From a tourism in Orlando perspective, Brazil's main saving grace in the last couple of years has been relatively high inflation, making vacations to Orlando (where inflation is in check everywhere but WDW ) more appealing.

WDW is playing passive, banking on those Brazilian tourist dollars remaining. Uni is more aggressively planning for the future, planning continued hotel and theme park expansions to capture a larger percentage of Orlando tourism no matter which way the economy heads in South America.

Universal is investing in the future, WDW is cashing in on the past.

 

[ford91exploder]

Although, it certainly is a possibility that Offsiters might be excluded I think it would be one godawful mistake to do so. Places like Disney are word of mouth type businesses. They are still running on the good feelings that people put out to anyone that will listen. Excluding a group as large as offsite visitors would be beyond foolish. Just a quick check on one website, shows that they represent 493 hotels in the WDW area and that's just those that work with Expedia. They are there for the whole area but 0 existed previous to WDW. You cannot ignore a group that big and expect good things to happen. I don't know exactly how they plan to include those of us that don't pay the massive price to stay on sight, but if they don't there will be a whole lot of unhappy people going home and telling everyone they know how much they are trying to force onsite stays. Even Universal has a system that allows others to get at least a little of the benefit. I wouldn't be surprised to see a version of the same thing at WDW. It will still cause me to not return, but it will at least not unconditionally excluded.

But TDO stupidity and greed seem to know no bounds so, it would NOT surprise me if offsite indeed got no access to headliners at which point the lifestylers will become TDO's greatest nightmare ever. When hundreds of blogs all excoriate Disney for its greed and shortsightedness. The PR disaster will be EPIC.

 

[Darth Sidious]

I finally got to watch The Muppets yesterday and I must say it was excellent. I know many have debated in this very thread The Muppets acquisition but I couldn't disagree more with the idea that they don't fit. Honestly they fit more now than the sterilized stories currently produced. Mickey Mouse for example was at his height of popularity, mischievous and fun. The Muppets today, thanks in large to people like Jason Segal, are back to their original more mature ways.

I think they are a great brand for Disney and have huge potential for them. The Muppets deserve an update to their DHS attraction and perhaps some more moderate theming outside.

 

[Wikkler]

I thank God that there's no more Muppet Babies!

 

[stevehousse]

I thank God that there's no more Muppet Babies!

Shame on you! Muppet Babies was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid!