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News Walt Disney World Adds Water Park Perk for 2025 Resort Guests
- Thread starter DCBaker
- Start date
MaximumEd
Well-Known Member
I think this is going to be one answer of many to come if they want to turn the tide. This perk doesn’t do anything for us since we don’t care to visit their water parks, but hopefully it’s a step in the right direction.
PREMiERdrum
Well-Known Member
There is plenty more, and I do think they have enough coming to minimize the impact. It's just frustrating to see what they're doing compared to what they're capable of.
surfsupdon
Well-Known Member
A nice perk if you arrive in the morning.
But meaningless if you:
hate waterparks
arrive later in the afternoon or evening
weather closure too cold
weather closure stormy
I love the Disney waterparks- they are fun, not crowded, and easy to plan for without the use of a phone. And remember how convoluted it is to take a Disney Bus to the waterparks, which require a transfer and thus double waiting each way.
But meaningless if you:
hate waterparks
arrive later in the afternoon or evening
weather closure too cold
weather closure stormy
I love the Disney waterparks- they are fun, not crowded, and easy to plan for without the use of a phone. And remember how convoluted it is to take a Disney Bus to the waterparks, which require a transfer and thus double waiting each way.
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
For the hardcore Disney fans that makes sense. I can't see it doing much for the average guest.
I can't picture people after seeing the Nintendo stuff and other new attractions deciding to go back to Disney cause of Magical Express.
This is why I have never understood Disney people. Perks are more of a draw then new attractions at Universal
Indy_UK
Well-Known Member
I assume because Disney and the ‘bubble’ is a real safe zone for people and Magical express is a big part of that. Then they can just Uber over to Universal for a day or 2
Not wanting to bury the lede … which DAS changes would those be?
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
For me, sunscreen is the bigger issue since the amount we need can’t go through the TSA screening. Not a huge deal but it will require a bit of planning.
There were/are significant changes planned for DAS with regard to reducing demand on Lighting Lane capacity.
Any shareable hints on what those changes could be?
lentesta
Premium Member
Two things:
(1) Disney say that rooms undergoing maintenance are still counted as part of inventory. From the 2022 Annual Report, page 45, footnote 5:
Available hotel room nights are defined as the total number of room nights that are available at our hotels and at DVCproperties located at our theme parks and resorts that are not utilized by DVC members. Available hotel room nights include rooms temporarily taken out of service.
Is that still true?
(2) I ask because I was corresponding with someone last week who was trying to reverse-engineer the number of WDW hotel rooms by looking at "occupancy percentage" and "occupied room nights" from a recent 10-K filing.
The issue was that using those 10-K numbers indicated 1,200 more hotel rooms than any other source we could find. A hundred rooms I could understand. But we're talking about two decent-size deluxe resorts' worth of rooms.
My comment was that if the math isn't mathing, it's time to verify the definitions.
lentesta
Premium Member
I mean, if we're keeping track, wasn't bringing back the 32-year-old Voyage of the Little Mermaid an explict part of Disney's strategy? (And in this case, I'm being serious.)
Gringrinngghost
Well-Known Member
There are people here that will claim that this is because of Universal's Epic Universe, and I have to kindly disagree.
This "free" hotel perk is to help balance out the crowds that they already have and to disperse them back to the waterparks. Attendance has essentially returned back to pre-pandemic levels at Disney except for the waterparks. They have actually had the worse recovery on Disney's Property. For 2022, Aquatica and Volcano Bay were posting above their respective 2019 numbers in the TEA Report. Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon were combined 16% above the 2019 attendance for Blizzard Beach and were 10% below Typhoon Lagoon's numbers. If we were to average them, the attendance was still about 5% below the 2019 waterparks average but are still 48% of the Pre-pandemic level overall.
Even when you look at the numbers this way, Disney knows that they need to draw crowds away from the parks and into these waterparks and its quite frankly why Blizzard Beach has been mothballed so much. since the demand to put it frankly isn't there.
Now specifically, why is it check-in day? Well that is simple. The workforce really isn't there. If you noticed in the past, they have only been back to full housekeeping for the last year this month. Now given the hostile political environment, socioeconomic factors, among others. It appears that they are anticipating a large departure of the house keeping staff and are preparing for the enviable, and there is only so much DCP can aid in this. Universal is in the same boat with their ride technicians and they are flipping out about that. From what I've been hearing internally they aren't getting the caliber of talent that they are looking for and don't know what is going to happen. It's worth nothing that a good chunk of the techs at Universal will be eligible or are very close for retirement right around the time of Epic opening. These companies quite frankly can't get the people they want, partly due to the dubbed Great Resignation and the fact that people care more about what they are worth.
...So as usual there is more than meets the eye other then Epic Universe...
This "free" hotel perk is to help balance out the crowds that they already have and to disperse them back to the waterparks. Attendance has essentially returned back to pre-pandemic levels at Disney except for the waterparks. They have actually had the worse recovery on Disney's Property. For 2022, Aquatica and Volcano Bay were posting above their respective 2019 numbers in the TEA Report. Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon were combined 16% above the 2019 attendance for Blizzard Beach and were 10% below Typhoon Lagoon's numbers. If we were to average them, the attendance was still about 5% below the 2019 waterparks average but are still 48% of the Pre-pandemic level overall.
Even when you look at the numbers this way, Disney knows that they need to draw crowds away from the parks and into these waterparks and its quite frankly why Blizzard Beach has been mothballed so much. since the demand to put it frankly isn't there.
Now specifically, why is it check-in day? Well that is simple. The workforce really isn't there. If you noticed in the past, they have only been back to full housekeeping for the last year this month. Now given the hostile political environment, socioeconomic factors, among others. It appears that they are anticipating a large departure of the house keeping staff and are preparing for the enviable, and there is only so much DCP can aid in this. Universal is in the same boat with their ride technicians and they are flipping out about that. From what I've been hearing internally they aren't getting the caliber of talent that they are looking for and don't know what is going to happen. It's worth nothing that a good chunk of the techs at Universal will be eligible or are very close for retirement right around the time of Epic opening. These companies quite frankly can't get the people they want, partly due to the dubbed Great Resignation and the fact that people care more about what they are worth.
...So as usual there is more than meets the eye other then Epic Universe...
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Smiley/OCD
Well-Known Member
So you put it in BEFORE you go thru TSA…we’ve done that too…
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Yes, as others have said, there is a pretty stable CM requirement to open a water park whether it’s busy or not. They can’t have half as many lifeguards at an empty wave pool. So if they can fill the water parks better AND raise hotel bookings, this is a big win for them.
They need to allow Genie+ prebooking yesterday. Inability to pre-book is why I don’t get Genie.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
What? It’s greater than 3 oz. Has to go in the checked bag. It’s a bit inconvenient to dig through the checked bag at check in to move it over. Doable? Sure. But it requires planning. Not everyone is that organized.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Hopefully eliminating every scumbag exploiting it…
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
I’m about due for a midlife crisis and suffer constantly from imposter syndrome so this sounds like a great opportunity for me.
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
Seems to match the same definition (and footnote) in the 2023 Annual Report (p. 47)