The Spirited 8th Wonder (WDW's Future & You!)

[cw1982]

What are you talking about?

I've asked the same thing on two different occasions and never gotten a reply. Good luck with that.

If the parks are for vacationers, why do so many locals have AP's? Why would so many Florida residents participate in dvc if the parks are not for locals too? Sorry... that makes no sense. I understand that Disney wants to trap people on property, but to say the parks are for vacationers only is illogical.

 

[pixargal]

Does anyone know the occupancy rates for DVC? I think it was mentioned before but I can't find it.

Just tried to rent point for one weekend in October and was told every single DVC studio and 1 bedroom is booked solid.
Even OKW and SSR... I was a little shocked.

October is a very popular month for DVC because of the low number of points needed to book rooms and because of Food and Wine Festival and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

 

[Nemo14]

I've asked the same thing on two different occasions and never got a reply. Good luck with that.

If the parks are for vacationers, why do so many locals have AP's? Why would so many Florida residents participate in dvc if the parks are not for locals too? Sorry... that makes no sense. I understand that Disney wants to trap people on property, but to say the parks are for vacationers only is illogical.

and you expected logic?

 

[cw1982]

and you expected logic?

True. My mistake.

 

[seascape]

Does anyone know the occupancy rates for DVC? I think it was mentioned before but I can't find it.

Just tried to rent point for one weekend in October and was told every single DVC studio and 1 bedroom is booked solid.
Even OKW and SSR... I was a little shocked.

DVC occupancy rate is approximately 95%

 

[Jeffxz]

Does anyone know the occupancy rates for DVC? I think it was mentioned before but I can't find it.

Just tried to rent point for one weekend in October and was told every single DVC studio and 1 bedroom is booked solid.
Even OKW and SSR... I was a little shocked.

I believe @ParentsOf4 has said it is as high as 98%.

I find that it is getting harder and harder to book a room on short notice (and by short I mean 2-3 months) for DVC. I suspect that since there is no penalty for canceling, a lot of rooms get reserved "just in case" and then are canceled around the 30 day mark. I have no hard evidence of this, it just seems like I have much more luck finding a room available within 30 days than I do at a few months out.

 

[Bolna]

Does anyone know the occupancy rates for DVC? I think it was mentioned before but I can't find it.

Just tried to rent point for one weekend in October and was told every single DVC studio and 1 bedroom is booked solid.
Even OKW and SSR... I was a little shocked.

DVC occupancy is generally around 97 or 98 %. This is because if you as an owner don't use your points, you are loosing money (you pay annual dues). It is also a system that requires early planning to increase your chances for getting what you want. Therefore DVC works good for people who like to or hav to plan their vacations a long time out (and by that I mean 11 months or at least 7 months out).

Besides that October and December are the most popular months for DVC members: points are low and with F&W and Christmas there is something special to see and do.

 

[seascape]

What are you talking about?

Universal wants to have 15,000 hotel rooms in 10 years. They are continuing to build deluxe units. The next hotel 700 to 1000 rooms will be a deluxe and have express pass. There is no way a person can sit back and look at their plans and not realize they are doing exact what Disney has done. They want people to stay in their hotels. They have said that. They offer extend hours to all hotel guests and express pass to those in the deluxe hotels. For anyone to not see what is going to happen with 15,000, hotel rooms with 80% occupancy and 2 people per room which is 24,000, people a day or 8,760,00 per year is blind. In fact everyone here know the average vacationer puts more than 2 people in a room. Then there are partner hotels and timeshares to be added. The 15,000 hotel rooms when finished is an increase of 12,000 rooms from 2013 or 80% of the 8,760,000 or 7,008,000 people. Do you still not get it. In the next 10 years there will be not only Universals new hotel rooms but others and lots of them and new time shares ect. It is very like that the area will increase from the 140,000 hotel rooms to close to 200,000 by the early 2020's. That's 60,000 hotel rooms at 75% occupancy or 45,000 occupied hotel rooms a night or 16,425,000 nights and with just 2 people per room 32,850,000 more tourist days. And that does not count timeshares. Where are these people going to go without replacing the locals? Disney and Universal know the answer cut down the number of locals and lock in their guests. They are both doing it and have both said it's their plan. Only the blind can't see this.

 

[NJBrandon]

The next hotel will NOT be deluxe and will not have express pass. Since you clearly have problems with basic facts, the rest of your post will not even be acknowledged.

 

[Sneezy62]

Is there a way to just get a rundown of the news from @WDW1974 without scrolling through 1700 replies? Why don't we make a locked thread only for him to post then another thread to discuss and to ask questions? @wdwmagic

Bookmark his profile and click on the postings tab. Easy Peasy

 

[danpam1024]

The next hotel will NOT be deluxe and will not have express pass. Since you clearly have problems with basic facts, the rest of your post will not even be acknowledged.

Didn't Universal make it clear that the first 3 hotels would be the ONLY deluxe resorts and the only ones to offer EP? They stated they will build mod/values right???

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

DVC occupancy is generally around 97 or 98 %. This is because if you as an owner don't use your points, you are loosing money (you pay annual dues). It is also a system that requires early planning to increase your chances for getting what you want. Therefore DVC works good for people who like to or hav to plan their vacations a long time out (and by that I mean 11 months or at least 7 months out).

Besides that October and December are the most popular months for DVC members: points are low and with F&W and Christmas there is something special to see and do.

Oh ok, we normally go in September and never had an issue trying to get OKW or SSR last minute. Oh well, guess October crowds are going to give me a rude awakening.

 

[NJBrandon]

Didn't Universal make it clear that the first 3 hotels would be the ONLY deluxe resorts and the only ones to offer EP? They stated they will build mod/values right???

The price point for the next hotel will be in between Royal Pacific and Cabana Bay, so probably in the moderate category. What is interesting though is that the documents state that the waterway will be extended to Hotel #5. Hotel #6 will be either an expansion of Cabana Bay(two more towers) or a separate hotel depending on the success of Cabana.

Yes, I believe that only the three original hotels(RPR, HRH, and PB) will ever have express pass.

 

[EpcoTim]

They want people to stay in their hotels. They have said that.

They're just building them for fun.

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

Universal wants to have 15,000 hotel rooms in 10 years. They are continuing to build deluxe units. The next hotel 700 to 1000 rooms will be a deluxe and have express pass. There is no way a person can sit back and look at their plans and not realize they are doing exact what Disney has done. They want people to stay in their hotels. They have said that. They offer extend hours to all hotel guests and express pass to those in the deluxe hotels. For anyone to not see what is going to happen with 15,000, hotel rooms with 80% occupancy and 2 people per room which is 24,000, people a day or 8,760,00 per year is blind. In fact everyone here know the average vacationer puts more than 2 people in a room. Then there are partner hotels and timeshares to be added. The 15,000 hotel rooms when finished is an increase of 12,000 rooms from 2013 or 80% of the 8,760,000 or 7,008,000 people. Do you still not get it. In the next 10 years there will be not only Universals new hotel rooms but others and lots of them and new time shares ect. It is very like that the area will increase from the 140,000 hotel rooms to close to 200,000 by the early 2020's. That's 60,000 hotel rooms at 75% occupancy or 45,000 occupied hotel rooms a night or 16,425,000 nights and with just 2 people per room 32,850,000 more tourist days. And that does not count timeshares. Where are these people going to go without replacing the locals? Disney and Universal know the answer cut down the number of locals and lock in their guests. They are both doing it and have both said it's their plan. Only the blind can't see this.

Again... what are you talking about?

The next hotel is not going to be a deluxe.

 

[Mike S]

Guys, remember what '74 said. Report trolling. Don't let him derail the thread.

Seems the crazies have invaded. Just a matter of time. My advice isn't ignore. My advice is simply report the post to the mods as off-topic or trolling. This thread would be just fine with a few pages of posts disappearing.

We have plenty of threads discussing the amazing new mall Disney is building out of their existing mall. Unless someone can find a legit way of connecting it to the topics here, we might want it gone.

Trolls are wonderful fun, right? Who didn't enjoy Jimmy Thick's schtick here for seven or eight years, right? Added tremendous joy to serious intellectual topics, right? Geez.

 

[asianway]

I'd say the second half of 1994 was the start from guest perspective. At least the point in which the downward spiral had gotten to a point where it was becoming apparent enough that the regular park-going guest could begin noticing the tide was turning (assuming you had visited previously and weren't a newcomer as most WDW goers are nowadays). Imagination 2.0 was far from the first sign, that was 1998 when they ruined that ride (though it may have been a good indication of how bad new projects were going to be moving forward).

It had probably been occurring a bit before even 94 from the internal perspective of the old guard executives (the good type of execs that Eisner fired and replaced with the kinds of jackasses who run the company today), but 94 was when I personally first started seeing things turning really sour on an almost constant basis. As in an almost exclusive string of bad decisions with far too little positive things to speak of. Animal Kingdom is the only arguable exception of positives occurring since 1994, though even that was and still is riddled with an absurd amount of problems of its own (from the original crippling budget cuts that Eisner helped to impose during its creation and construction along with far too little expansion over the years). Kilimanjaro Safari is probably the ONLY ride i'd say lives up to established oldschool Disney standards of excellence built between 1994 and the present time (a true quality E ticket that I feel pretty much fully lives up to its potential, and one I only rode for the first time in 2010 with no nostalgic connections whatsoever). The park itself was and still is a gorgeous place, masterfully designed from an aesthetic point of view (despite every effort from bean counters to ruin various visual aspects of it). The rides apart from the Safari however are all very flawed in their own ways to varying extents, none come anywhere close to the potential they had or should have attained. Compare Kali with the Tiger River concept or Dinosaur where the ride was supposed to be several times the length of the final prior to budget mutilation. Not to mention the hideous mess of a mistake that is Dinorama (no problems with Dinoland or some kind of prehistoric land at all, just the egregious and horrendous roadside carnival that desperately needs to be killed with fire).

I've often wondered if Frank Wells' death had anything to do with the problems that started appearing. I'll also mention that I was only a relatively young kid of 5-6 years at the time who had only begun visiting in '91 to start (though I visited too many times to recall during those years so I had a lot of experience at the time). Even at that age it was quite apparent that bad things were beginning.

There were still some good projects left over happening in 1994. Such as Tower of Terror and the excellent Jeremy Irons version of SSE (and my personal favorite version of the ride by far). Bit 1994 was the year in which 20k Leagues Under the Sea closed, later stated here and elsewhere to be because the company didn't want to pay to properly maintain it anymore. The early signs of their stingy budget cuts regarding maintenance of rides. Horizons I believe was also shut down in 1994 for some time after losing its sponsor the previous year. It did continue to operate seasonally until 1999 while World of Motion was being transformed (i prefer mutilated and ruined) into Test Track, but Disney's attempts to throw Horizons under the bus was a clear sign that WDW was on the downward path, even if it did manage to hobble along for a few more years.

And Communicore #neverforget

 

[Kamikaze]

I have an interesting question that I would love @WDW1974 to answer.

Disneyland Resort started its turn around from the same kind of situation (though maybe not as far) as WDW in order to prepare for its 50th Anniversary back in 2005.
Do you think that WDW can or will do the same?

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I'm not '74, but I wanted to add my own statement and comments to that query. There were a great many factors that caused Disneyland's cleanup, and I really doubt the anniversary played a huge role in that change (it just gave them a central point to work around and make it seem more official). At the time, Disneyland was suffering from a massive PR scandal due to the deaths caused by improper attraction maintenance. The fanbase was rallying against the management and even the mainstream media was involved. They were basically forced to do something due to all the negativity and scandal surrounding the park. There was also the benefit of having a CEO that actually did seem to enjoy and care about the parks when he was paying proper attention to the way his company was working, and Eisner appointed someone who knew how to handle park management to a position of power at Disneyland (until he was fired under Iger's new reign). In the end, there were a lot of important elements that led to Disneyland's cleanup. Things that aren't in play regarding Disney World and the current state of the company.

WDW has literally none of those factors at play to provide the company with any incentive for a cleanup of the way things are maintained. There have been close shaves of falling rockwork and props in several places (Splash Mountain and Tree of Life for example), but so far no one has died as a result. Unlike Disneyland, there's really not a diehard dedicated and organized movement in the fanbase to try to save the parks (nor a vocal and well respected Al Lutz like figure to rally support). And the mainstream media as a whole isn't spreading much negative news about the resort, they have in fact largely been shilling for Iger and the way Disney World is run. 74 has stated that Iger (along with his fellow high-level executives such as Rasulo) has absolutely no interest in the parks and in fact holds contempt for the parks and the guests who visit them. He in fact considered selling the parks within the past few years and shopped around for potential offers.

Unless leadership changes (and with Rasulo supposedly the front runner as Iger's replacement, things may end up far worse than they already are), it's going to be even harder for change to occur at WDW than it did for Disneyland. It may happen, but it'll probably take a long time and require a fundamental change in the way the company works.

 

[tissandtully]

My news in this thread is all on the first two pages. Everything else is conversation/discussion spurred on by the above.

Yeah, it gets a bit dicey the more updates you provide. I wasn't suggesting you post twice, but no one ever seems to stay on topic, just separate threads for the discussion, maybe the mods can do the legwork for you on that front.