TEA Global Attendance Index is out

[Stripes]

That’s the complete opposite of what we encountered in November 2024!

There was at least one attendant in each one of the larger bathrooms and often one in the smaller ones too. They were cleaning constantly.

Trash in the gutters on Main Street? That’s incredible.

Absolutely. I swear, there was an attendant in every restroom I went in that was actively cleaning up and addressing the restroom’s needs. And Main Street gutters “filled” with trash? Utter nonsense.

 

[LittleBuford]

The story is Disney thought the crowd levels where to high leading to lower guest satisfaction pre covid.

That means that Disney has an idea what crowd levels lead to improved satisfaction.

Why not just lower the capacity to the level that leads to improved satisfaction and raise the prices to whatever they need to be to maintain their revenue goals.

Currently you can pay an ever increasing ticket price and still end up in an overcrowded park if you pick an unlucky day.

I wouldn’t mind paying more if it came with a guarantee ( capacity limits ) that prevented the park from being overcrowded and miserable.

I can’t tell how serious you’re being, but there’s obviously a balance to be struck between limiting crowds and not making the parks prohibitively expensive. Frankly, I’d take crowds over “exclusivity” any day. Part of the joy of Disney is that it brings together a lot of people from different walks of life; for me, at least, the experience would be less enjoyable if they priced out all but the wealthiest.

 

[Jrb1979]

These benefits are still offered for a price. Is it a reduction in value due to the new charges? Sure. But, I don’t view the fact that you have to pay for these as “damaging the experience.”

Umm…what? What resort in 2019 has no theme in 2025?

Well, I think most people visiting WDW find their experience is worse when they are battling crowds.

I think you’ve made clear in your posting history that your family values thrills above anything else. Nothing wrong with that, but I’m not sure it makes sense for a family with those preferences to vacation at WDW. You’ve said before that Disney shouldn’t have built Cosmic Rewind unless they put it at the same thrill level as Velocicoaster. With that perspective, I absolutely think a park like Cedar Point is a better value for your family.

Yes we prefer thrills but we did enjoy the Disney parks for their immersive dark rides. We don't go to Disney for the thrills. When we do an Orlando trip we add SeaWorld to fill the thrills void.

With the removal of perks and the increased cost, it's not worth it anymore. Being I have 5 weeks PTO a year, it's either take 1 week for a Disney trip and the other 4 weeks doing a staycation. Or take 5 weeks visiting Dollywood, Cedar Point and a week vacation in January or February to a warm climate.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Disneyland was immaculate on our June 2024 trip. I was actually surprised by the bathrooms. Did not expect them to smell so nice and be so clean

 

[James Alucobond]

To add to the anecdotal accounts, my pre-COVID 2020 experience was definitely the absolute worst from the perspective of how enjoyable the parks were. My party got shoved around by a horde of people at DAK opening, and FoP wait times were immediately hours long by the time we reached the land. At HS, Rise was at the height of the awful lottery system, and Runaway Railway had just opened to very long lines. EPCOT was wall city. FastPass was no help whatsoever on anything that actually mattered aside from maybe Frozen. We basically skipped everything that had newly opened since our last visit because it was too much of a hassle. We still had a great time at our resort and riding older attractions, but the situation felt seriously untenable.

In my two visits since, there's not been a single new ride I've had to skip, and I've not even needed Multi Pass for any of it. On a couple of occasions, I bought an ILL, but only if I wanted to get a very specific time for something like FoP or TRON as a scheduling convenience (e.g. going to a park late to accommodate breakfast).

As far as maintenance goes, I've not experienced many issues, but I also tend to not use the in-park restrooms. The worst I saw was neglected maintenance one evening at the outdoor tables on the west side of Pecos Bill.

 

[Stripes]

Or take 5 weeks visiting Dollywood, Cedar Point and a week vacation in January or February to a warm climate.

Nearly 5 weeks at Cedar Point? I’d rather die. LOL!

But seriously, different strokes for different folks. With you and your family’s preferences, I can quite easily understand why you would prefer to attend amusement parks that offer things you enjoy at a much lower cost and stretch the length of your vacation.

But, I think there’s also a reason why Disney parks received 145 million visitors in 2024, and Six Flags operated parks received 50 million. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

2019 was busier, but operations were much more efficient than they are now (and even then, they were way less efficient than the were 5 years prior to that).

The guest experience has gone down drastically enough that I don’t miss going to the resort. It’s not just the closed attractions; the parks are dirtier, the service is worse, there are more CMs with “attitudes” than ever before, maintenance is the worst it’s ever been save for the Paul Pressler era (mostly before my time), and the parks are understaffed that waits for everything are much longer than before. And yes, we are paying more for all of this.

I can’t imagine how anyone would rate their satisfaction highly unless they’ve never been before and have nothing to compare it to.

I’m sorry but much of this post is just wrong. I have been going to WDW weekly more or less since I was a baby. Maintenance right now is actually on the up. Immediately after Covid it took a big hit but they are catching up. CMs right now are more or less in line with where they have been the last 15 years. I’m not a fan of many of their moves on closings but at the very least they’re doing something. Everything is not doom and gloom at WDW. Prices are up because costs have gone up. As a business owner, I can’t imagine having nearly 80,000 employees on your payroll at a minimum of near $20/hour. That would be a stressful nightmare! Everything else has gone up in price too: electric, food, beverages, insurance, etc. Am I happy when I have to pay more? No, ofc not, but I understand why they have to do it.

 

[Alice a]

Absolutely. I swear, there was an attendant in every restroom I went in that was actively cleaning up and addressing the restroom’s needs. And Main Street gutters “filled” with trash? Utter nonsense.

So the difference here might be men’s restrooms vs. women’s. I’ve noticed the past few years that the busier, more centrally-placed, women's restrooms are generally getting worse, trip to trip: Toilet paper on the floor, wet seats/floors around the toilet, unflushed/clogged toilets, messy sinks, etc. Pretty much on par with the larger truck stop gas stations.

Not all of them, but it’s definitely become more prevalent.

I think women’s restrooms may get hit harder than men’s. There’s frequently a line, occasionally out the door, especially for the more central ladies’ rooms.

When I travel with men and we both take a break at the same time, and I mention an unpleasant restroom experience, they’ve expressed surprise. So if the men’s restroom is less busy, men might be surprised what is ladies are getting.

Or it might be worse at certain times of year. I’ve noticed they seem cleaner when I’ve visited in colder times of the year, as opposed to warmer.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

The downturn in wait-times at WDW are a result of the stricter DAS updates.

Be careful, a brigade of angry former DAS users with “irritable bowel syndrome” are going to call for your head.

 

[Chi84]

So the difference here might be men’s restrooms vs. women’s. I’ve noticed the past few years that the busier, more centrally-placed, women's restrooms are generally getting worse, trip to trip: Toilet paper on the floor, wet seats/floors around the toilet, unflushed/clogged toilets, messy sinks, etc. Pretty much on par with the larger truck stop gas stations.

Not all of them, but it’s definitely become more prevalent.

I think women’s restrooms may get hit harder than men’s. There’s frequently a line, occasionally out the door, especially for the more central ladies’ rooms.

When I travel with men and we both take a break at the same time, and I mention an unpleasant restroom experience, they’ve expressed surprise. So if the men’s restroom is less busy, men might be surprised what is ladies are getting.

Or it might be worse at certain times of year. I’ve noticed they seem cleaner when I’ve visited in colder times of the year, as opposed to warmer.

Women’s restrooms are busier but truck stop is an exaggeration from what I’ve seen. As I mentioned on our last trip there was someone stationed in every one of the larger restrooms and they were cleaning constantly. Of course they can’t be in every stall as soon as someone leaves. We usually visit in May and November.

Maybe you visit really nice truck stop restrooms?

 

[Alice a]

Women’s restrooms are busier but truck stop is an exaggeration from what I’ve seen. As I mentioned on our last trip there was someone stationed in every one of the larger restrooms and they were cleaning constantly. Of course they can’t be in every stall as soon as someone leaves. We usually visit in May and November.

Maybe you visit really nice truck stop restrooms?

I visit a fair amount, and they’re not bad. Truck stop restrooms are usually much cleaner than regular gas station restrooms.

The busier WDW restrooms in more high traffic areas, and I visited quite a few because I have a problematic kidney, required me to try multiple stalls before I could find one that didn’t have wet toilet paper on the floor, full toilets, or very wet seats.

It wasn’t terrible- just required hitting a few stalls- but noticeable. Sometimes they did have attendants, and it wasn’t too difficult to find less-busy restrooms, but when I have to go, I have to go. It happened enough, and in every park, that we both noticed it.

I’ve never visited in May before, let alone during record heat. We usually go in late Fall or Winter. Please note- we did not visit Magic Kingdom. So I can’t compare those, just the other 3. This could obviously skew my take.

 

[Figments Friend]

All this talk about restrooms at Disney Theme Parks makes me think of how they once all used to use that ‘powered soap’ you had to get out of a wall mounted ‘plunger unit’ on the wall.
Ah, those were the days!
It had the appearance, consistency, and smell of Borax.
Maybe, in hindsight, it …was…?

( Drifts off into nostalgia tinged memories…)

The only other sudden memory jog regarding Disney Theme Park Restrooms was that time I accidentally walked into the men’s room in Morocco at Epcot.
Yes, I was sober.
No, no one was thankfully in there.

-

 

[JD80]

The story is Disney thought the crowd levels where to high leading to lower guest satisfaction pre covid.

That means that Disney has an idea what crowd levels lead to improved satisfaction.

Why not just lower the capacity to the level that leads to improved satisfaction and raise the prices to whatever they need to be to maintain their revenue goals.

Currently you can pay an ever increasing ticket price and still end up in an overcrowded park if you pick an unlucky day.

I wouldn’t mind paying more if it came with a guarantee ( capacity limits ) that prevented the park from being overcrowded and miserable.

Operationally, if you want to severely limit park attendance to a specific amount then you're going to have to put reservations back and make them even worse than they were before.

 

[el_super]

I wouldn’t mind paying more if it came with a guarantee ( capacity limits ) that prevented the park from being overcrowded and miserable.

Have you tried the after-hours parties?

 

[Ayla]

Women’s restrooms are busier but truck stop is an exaggeration from what I’ve seen. As I mentioned on our last trip there was someone stationed in every one of the larger restrooms and they were cleaning constantly. Of course they can’t be in every stall as soon as someone leaves. We usually visit in May and November.

Maybe you visit really nice truck stop restrooms?

My bar for gas station bathrooms is Kwik Trip. So, based on that, 99% of bathrooms fail, regardless of where they are.