There is no attendance problem at WDW

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ptaylor

Premium Member
Original Poster
I'm a local at WDW, and something that I have been waiting for since Jan 2 2009 is the supposed attendance decline. It hasn't happened. I obviously don't have the official attendance figures, but from my observations it's busier this January than last January. I have found myself even leaving the parks because they are just that crowded.

I have noticed less plastic bags with souvenirs, but attendance is very strong right now, and has been all January.
 
Since1976

Since1976

Well-Known Member
I think WDW is one of the "easier" vacations one can do. For one, if you're an East Coaster you can drive there in less than a day, saving on airfare. Two, ticket prices are a relatively small chunk of the cost of one's Disney vacation -- the lure of souvenirs and food usually results in a bigger bite to one's wallet. So, many people are going to WDW with the intent of not spending too much on unnecessary things. (Whether that actually happens is another matter :) ) Finally, the costs of hotel rooms has been advertised as being very low , so I'm sure that has been a lure.

You can also factor in the fact that many people plan their vacations up to a year in advance, and things were bad but not *that* bad back in January 08. I think the more noticeable decline in attendance will happen in the Spring and Summer.
 
NMBC1993

NMBC1993

Well-Known Member
I was at MK yesterday and everything was a 5 minute walk on all day. The Poly was seemed less crowded and I actually had a seat on the monorail at 9:00 am....but who knows, maybe everyone was just at American Idol:shrug:

I will say the one thing that hasn't dropped is the price for a nights stay at the resorts. Last I checked it was $119 for a night at Pop Century....in February? I got a room for $40 in Sept for the last night of PI.
 
MissM

MissM

Well-Known Member
Saturday was busier than I expected it to be at MK. AK wasn't bad but MK was pretty full. 40 minute PotC and HM waits for example. :(

Lots of tour groups too which take up space and make getting around a pain.
 
DisneyYorkian74

DisneyYorkian74

Active Member
NMBC1993 said:
I was at MK yesterday and everything was a 5 minute walk on all day. The Poly was seemed less crowded and I actually had a seat on the monorail at 9:00 am....
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Well I assume you went on a Monday in January which will change the attendance levels a bit.

I just went to MK this past weekend and the park was surprisingly really crowded.
 
M

Monkeymama

New Member
NMBC1993 said:
I was at MK yesterday and everything was a 5 minute walk on all day. The Poly was seemed less crowded and I actually had a seat on the monorail at 9:00 am....but who knows, maybe everyone was just at American Idol:shrug:

I will say the one thing that hasn't dropped is the price for a nights stay at the resorts. Last I checked it was $119 for a night at Pop Century....in February? I got a room for $40 in Sept for the last night of PI.
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Not exactly what the Disney execs want to hear, but this is EXACTLY what I want to hear! We planned our trip for this month loooong before the buy 4/get 3 deal, mostly bc of low attendance at this time of year.
 
Fade_to_Blah

Fade_to_Blah

Member
Most likely the success of the 4/3 deal. Its a good thing....but as another poster said I feel for some of you that expect light crowds this month
 
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pheneix

Well-Known Member
Figure in all the capacity reductions Disney has made and its no wonder the parks feel busy at times.

Just one simple example: Fantasmic only runs two nights per week. On five nights there is easily 5-8k worth of guests that have been displaced from MGM that are now hanging out at MK and Epcot. To further the example look at a Friday night with EMH at Epcot. The place has a healthy crowd. The day before? Not so much...
 
F

fosse76

Well-Known Member
WDWPassHolder said:
I'm gonna take the OP's side here. I've gone about 10 times this month, and I've found the crowds to be much more than I had expected.
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As others have said, it can be mostly attributed to the special deals that Disney has been offering. So while Disney is seeing larger increases in attendance than they normally would in January, the financial impact remains unclear. The deals are doing what they hoped would happen and nothing more. What I find a little alarming is that people are sort of brushing aside the financial disaster we currently have. Even in the Great Depression there were people who weren't affected, so to act as if people are overreacting is very unrealistic. Disney is affected. They just released the right promotion at the right time.
 
T

TURKEY

New Member
How many of you saying the crowds are large for January have been on weekends?

Every weekend until this past weekend (Jan 24 - 25) have been special weekends. First the holidays wrapping up, then the marathon, then MLK.


Everything I've heard and seen are that weekdays (especially morning to mid afternoon) are really quiet with a 20-30 minute wait. Numbers I saw on the 24th had a max. of 30 minutes for MK.
 
Chezman1399

Chezman1399

Active Member
I am seasonal at the TTC, and while I haven't been there, everyone I know there has said that attendance figures have been much higher. The've beaten the projected attendence numbers at least at MK almost everyday so far this year. So, things have been doing much better than expected to this point.
 
wdwmemories

wdwmemories

New Member
From my visits recently I have seen good-sized crowds too. Let's all hope this is true since it would be good news - more people = more money for mickey = more investment in then future :)
 
hokielutz

hokielutz

Well-Known Member
MissM said:
Saturday was busier than I expected it to be at MK. AK wasn't bad but MK was pretty full. 40 minute PotC and HM waits for example. :(

Lots of tour groups too which take up space and make getting around a pain.
Click to expand...


Ahh-Haa!!

You experienced what we did last weekend. The MK got pretty busy, more than one would think it would be in January. And yes... it was chock full of tour groups and most were from Brazil.
 
baby1disney

baby1disney

New Member
Well, I'm hoping that when we go, it won't be so bad!!!! We.re going the week of March 7th-15th!!! 39 days to go!!!! WOOHOO!!!!:D:lol::D:lol::sohappy::sohappy::sohappy:
 
MissM

MissM

Well-Known Member
Seemed like almost EVERYONE had "I'm Celebrating!" buttons on. Most were generic and didn't say what the celebration was but some people had things written on them. This was in addition to the specialty birthday buttons.
 

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