To play fanboys advocate here
lookaroun) - How many people are going to decide to book a trip to WDW because Disney built a new hotel?
People come to Disney to go to the parks and experience new attractions, not lounge in a hotel. Not saying that Disney shouldn't build more hotels, but first, bring us some new attractions (which will help ensure that people continue to come to the resort), then you can go ahead and build a few more rooms to house them.
You missed my point. I wasn't saying new hotels draw more people in. Look around Orlando (heck look right outside the WDW) there are tons of hotels. Those are people that could be staying in WDW. I'm just saying I believe it is smarter to spend money sometimes on new hotels then rides.
Again I say I would love new attractions but look at the business end. Magic Kingdom really hasn't gotten anything brand new on a large, large scale in YEARS. Yet it hits capacity during busy times and still draws the people in. Now lets look at numbers... lets say capacity attendance at Magic Kingdom is 65,000 (though some people claim its higher, for this sake well just pretend its 65k). There is 22,000ish hotel rooms at WDW. That means if everyone out of the 65,000 are staying on property thats nearly 3 people per room. Don't forget there are thousands and thousands of people at the other parks. Why do they all stay? Elsewhere.
Yes, Magic Kingdom only hits capacity a few times a year. So lets look at a "normal" day.
- Magic Kingdom averages around 45,000 people a day (it draws just over 17 million, divide that by 365).
- Epcot: 29,000
- Hollywood Studios: 26,000
- Animal Kingdom: 25,000
(these are averages based on total attendance for the year 2007).
That means on average 125,000 people a day (on average) visit WDW. We'll throw 25,000 out as park hoopers. So 100,000. That would mean if everyone in that 100k were to stay at a Disney hotel then there would have to be 4.5 people per room. That doesn't work since we know many (most) rooms only hold up to 4 people (don't forget all the rooms with only a king bed). My point... on an average day, if the parks had average attendance, the WDW resorts would not be able to accommodate everyone. (Don't forget about the convention guests who don't go to the parks, or guests who just don't go to the parks one day). I just really don't think Disney has hit the point of having too-many hotel rooms just yet.
Sure new attractions look great and bring people back. But many guests (I would venture to say mostly non-AP holders/out-of-state folks) come to Disney for Disney not because of a new ride or such. A relative of mine recently told me they are going to Disney... why? "We haven't been there in a few years and now the girls are big enough to enjoy it." Another family I heard similar tales "We haven't been to Disney World in years, we thought it would be time to come back." All these people live hundreds and hundreds of miles from Orlando. I never heard someone when I used to live in Michigan say "we are going to Disney World because of the refurb of Pirates or Everest!" WDW's marketing folks think the same way. In Florida you see the commercials for what's new and all. Elsewhere in the country you see the normal "Come to Disney World" commercials with the castle and characters in them. I really wonder how many people know about Toy Story Mania before they book their trip (well at-least until they pick up the guidebooks or surf the internet but if they are buying guidebooks and surfing the internet then they probably were thinking of going to WDW)
Heck I find myself thinking the same way about when I go to Disneyland. I don't go because they opened a new attraction. I go because I want my fill of the magic. I remember one of my last years in college my buddy and I were looking at spring break options. He suggested WDW because "I haven't been there in YEARS." I of course knew about Everest and when I told him he went "wow that sounds cool, but really I just haven't been to Disney is a long time and want to go back."
Disney has created such a product with the Orlando resort that people (outside of AP-holders, fanboys, locals) know that if they go it will be a good time. When was the last time you heard the average guest on Main Street go "man my vacation sucks, nothing has been added here in years." Instead you hear "man it is still as magically as last time."
Going back to hotels though... you build an attraction at the Magic Kingdom. Is it really going to increase attendance? Yes but enough to pay off the HUGE price tags that come with attractions. People were going to go to the Magic Kingdom anyways. Hotels generate revenue. A person stays in a room and the company makes money. Someone goes on Toy Story Mania it is hard to tell if the company makes money since that person very well could have paid to go into Hollywood Studios if TSM wasn't there.
Sorry for the ramble... I like all of you would love new attractions every year (its hard sometimes living in Florida when your old "home" park generally builds a monster of a ride every 2 years) but the business is different in Florida.
