Disneyland California, as opposed to the other Disneylands that exist. I know it gets under the skin of the Disneyland crowds, but lets face it, it's not the only Disneyland there is, so I use it as a distinction.
I named CA and AZ because I named two states for WDW. Obviously both resorts pull from far more than two states each.
Obviously it does. It pulled me in from GA. But, it hardly maintains the status that WDW does in terms of a vacation destination. Far more fly from the mountains and west to see WDW than fly from the east to see DLC.
There are no nighttime experiences for adults left at WDW, except upcharge events during Food and Wine. The place dies at 9pm most of the year.
Um...that's just false. Though, I'll happily admit it's not what it was when Pleasure Island had a thriving nightlife.
That being said, DLC also dies early. With the exception of a few venues, it closes down and gets very quiet. That's part of what I liked, frankly.
Also, the idea that DLR is a locals park is thoroughly false.
No, it's not. You can't have it one way and another. It's a largely locals park, designed for and targeted to locals.
While it attracts far more locals than WDW (as WDW has next to no locals to draw from), it is also an international tourist destination, and is one piece of a tourist Mecca known as Los Angeles.
Right. My point. It's not seen as a destination, rather a side note of a larger destination. That's not a bad thing, it's just a vast contrast to WDW where it IS the destination.
I can't find comparable numbers for LA (other than 42.2 million tourists overall in 2013) but out of over 57 million visitors to Orlando in 2012, only 4.1 million were from outside the US. That's about 7%. The international component of Disney theme park visitation in the US is overblown significantly. NYC, in contrast, had over a third of its visitors last year from overseas. THAT'S an international destination. WDW and by extension, DLR, pale in comparison
So, 7% of the visitors were foreign coming for one reason for the most part, and that is to see Disney. And that assumes we use your numbers.
NYC's numbers, likewise, are inaccurate for this discussion, as it's not simply a theme park resort destination. Neither is the greater LA area, which, as I noted, skewed your observation.
People also overestimate WDW's multi day appeal at this point. Most fans think of it as something everyone must do for more than one day - judging by the attendance estimates, this is false.
Can you elaborate? TAFI numbers don't follow this...
A huge group of WDW's visitors buy one day one park tickets to the MK, and never hit the other parks.
Again expound...
To fans this is sacrilege, but to most people, MK = WDW. The rest is filler, some don't even know Disney owns it.
I have a lot of trouble believing this conclusion. But, it's up to you to prove it, as it's your assertion.
WDW doesn't want couples, and they have made that abundantly clear.
How have they done so?
DLR still does, local or not, and they get them.
And that's what Goofierthanmost was saying.
WDW used to have a lot more couples without children, back when they had something to offer them. I'd wager you still see a lot of couples at WDW during Food and Wine. But the rest of the year? Why bother? I know we don't. Most signature dining is anything but anymore, and there's no nightlife.
So, Jikos isn't "anything but anything"? Bah, that's just nonsense you spouted. The dining at WDW vastly surpasses what is available at DLC. Hands down they own that.
Unless there's evening EMH or its a peak period with late MK hours, it's an early night each night. Because kids. This is a relatively new development in WDW's history.
This I agree, they used to stay open far later on a normal basis. That being said, they do spectacular shows (fantasmic, fireworks, parades) every day. DLC does not. There are whole seasons where you won't see fireworks outside of a few nights a week, at best...
I'm not trying to be combative, but the original point that DLR is aimed at adults who want to be children is baseless, and smacks of someone who's never been (hopefully that's not true). DLR does a decent job of catering to multiple demographics, and WDW would be wise to do so as well. It's money on the table that TDO just leaves there.
I don't see it as combative. We are just talking Disney...
