Disneyland’s Attendance Issues Summer 2019

[Scott W.]

Kind of depends on whether MF is your type of ride, with the gaming type interactivity. If not, from everything we're seeing, it seems you should wait until RotR opens. Perhaps, with all of these circumstances, Disney will open it sooner than later.

My problem with these kind of rides is that they should appeal to people who like computer games but they have to be simplified so much to make them accessible to everybody that they feel a little dull. It’s like the Speedway should be fun for people who like cars but it’s not.

Ive seen very little about MF to keep it as fresh as possible, is the scoring competitive like MIB and Midway Mania or is it just a bit pointless?

 

[Mad Dog]

My problem with these kind of rides is that they should appeal to people who like computer games but they have to be simplified so much to make them accessible to everybody that they feel a little dull. It’s like the Speedway should be fun for people who like cars but it’s not.

Ive seen very little about MF to keep it as fresh as possible, is the scoring competitive like MIB and Midway Mania or is it just a bit pointless?

Haven't heard much about the scoring from reviews, so IDK. Myself, not being a fan of the interactive team MF, if I was going to Disneyland for a vacation, I'd wait for RotR to open. ....As it is, I'm going to WDW in mid November. I'm not really going on vacation predominately for GESWL, but I'll certainly stop a couple of days, especially nights, at DHS to experience GESWL, so it really doesn't matter much to me if RotR is open or not. . I'm primarily on vacation to do the sum total of the newer stuff at WDW, their Christmas activities, and then onto Universal for Hagrids and Universal's Christmas activities.

 

[Scott W.]

Haven't heard much about the scoring from reviews, so IDK. Myself, not being a fan of the interactive team MF, if I was going to Disneyland for a vacation, I'd wait for RotR to open. ....As it is, I'm going to WDW in mid November. I'm not really going on vacation predominately for GESWL, but I'll certainly stop a couple of days, especially nights, at DHS to experience GESWL, so it really doesn't matter much to me if RotR is open or not. . I'm primarily on vacation to do the sum total of the newer stuff at WDW, their Christmas activities, and then onto Universal for Hagrids and Universal's Christmas activities.

It’s a tough one. If it stays this quiet and there’s a deal to be had, it could be a great time to go. My wife doesn’t care for Star Wars and I think she’d call that a win.

I wonder what the plan for RotR is. Do they just open it one day with little announcement or do they say it’s opening next month?

If they announce when it’s opening, that could lead to even smaller crowds like WDW could be experiencing this summer except they don’t have the luxury of having as many tourists who have booked a year in advance.

 

[Nick]

There was a drop during the reservation period (I refuse to call it soft open after Disneyland calls it “now open”).

For all intents and purposes though, it was "reserved softs". It wasn't like you could just walk up during the reservation window and get into the land. The fact that things are like this now when anyone can get in is where it gets extremely troubling.

Did Disney mess up in saying that they were Grand opened while the reservation period was still on-going? Yeah, probably.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

For all intents and purposes though, it was "reserved softs". It wasn't like you could just walk up during the reservation window and get into the land. The fact that things are like this now when anyone can get in is where it gets extremely troubling.

Did Disney mess up in saying that they were Grand opened while the reservation period was still on-going? Yeah, probably.

Words have meaning Nick! When you say NOW OPEN and have a Grand Opening you don't get to backpedal and go "oh we really mean..." lol

 

[Nick]

Words have meaning Nick! When you say NOW OPEN and have a Grand Opening you don't get to backpedal and go "oh we really mean..." lol

Exactly. I'm not disagreeing with you on that premise. My point is if you didn't already have a reservation, then it was essentially a controlled soft open (despite Disney saying NOW OPEN) and all you could experience during that time was the same 'ol Disneyland.

To take it back to my second paragraph in my post you quoted - Disney basically just goofed. They should've waited to call June 23rd the Grand Opening. I'm not sure what they're thinking was on that, especially since the reservation spots filled up so quickly.

 

[Scott W.]

Exactly. I'm not disagreeing with you on that premise. My point is if you didn't already have a reservation, then it was essentially a controlled soft open (despite Disney saying NOW OPEN) and all you could experience during that time was the same 'ol Disneyland.

To take it back to my second paragraph in my post you quoted - Disney basically just goofed. They should've waited to call June 23rd the Grand Opening. I'm not sure what they're thinking was on that, especially since the reservation spots filled up so quickly.

Im guessing they thought it would allow for a smoother opening while getting some great PR.

 

[Nick]

Im guessing they thought it would allow for a smoother opening while getting some great PR.

I'm guessing they'd take that crazy-pants opening over what's going on now. Things are going a little too smoothly right now.

 

[Scott W.]

I'm guessing they'd take that crazy-pants opening over what's going on now. Things are going a little too smoothly right now.

The crazy thing is that we're seeing the two complete opposite ends of the spectrum right now between GE and Hagrid's. Minus RotR not opening, GE has been silky smooth with lower than expected crowds. Hagrids has had a rough opening with ridiculous crowds.

In the middle, you have JW at USH who are doing plenty of testing and softs have been talked about for what feels like weeks now and they're still doing test and adjust with no opening date in sight.

This summer will be studied by Disney and Universal for decades.

I still think that once RotR opens, it will be back to business as normal. How they go about opening it is what I'm most curious about right now.

 

[Nick]

The crazy thing is that we're seeing the two complete opposite ends of the spectrum right now between GE and Hagrid's. Minus RotR not opening, GE has been silky smooth with lower than expected crowds. Hagrids has had a rough opening with ridiculous crowds.

In the middle, you have JW at USH who are doing plenty of testing and softs have been talked about for what feels like weeks now and they're still doing test and adjust with no opening date in sight.

This summer will be studied by Disney and Universal for decades.

I still think that once RotR opens, it will be back to business as normal. How they go about opening it is what I'm most curious about right now.

I think what it goes to show more than anything is what has been talked about most - Disneyland, for all of it's pageantry and the pedestal that it sits on - is STILL a regional park. The Resort is still heavily supported by locals and as much as Disney wants it too, it probably will never change.

Orlando is the tourist stop, which is why WDW and UOR see such high crowd levels almost no matter what they do. DL and USH are just different.

 

[Scott W.]

I think what it goes to show more than anything is what has been talked about most - Disneyland, for all of it's pageantry and the pedestal that it sits on - is STILL a regional park. The Resort is still heavily supported by locals and as much as Disney wants it too, it probably will never change.

Orlando is the tourist stop, which is why WDW and UOR see such high crowd levels almost no matter what they do. DL and USH are just different.

I think this could be the last major investment in DL for a long time while WDW could be the proving ground for any future investment outside of Marvel obviously.

 

[Nick]

I think this could be the last major investment in DL for a long time while WDW could be the proving ground for any future investment outside of Marvel obviously.

Well, there's Runaway Railway, which isn't cheap, but you could be right. Tomorrowland does need help though.

 

[upsidown]

Maybe some better ticket prices for non locals in the summer??? I used to go to DL every year but haven’t gone since 2015. When I can get 3 days at Tokyo Disney for the cost of a 1 day ticket to DL, I would rather save up and take vacations like that.

 

[UNIrd]

Wow. That video posted was shocking. I've never seen DL with waits like that, but I've only ever traveled there in April, August, October, and most of my visits have been in early to mid-December.

With these low, low crowds, at least Disneyland guest satisfaction is through the roof right now.. right?

 

[shiekra38]

Wow. That video posted was shocking. I've never seen DL with waits like that, but I've only ever traveled there in April, August, October, and most of my visits have been in early to mid-December.

With these low, low crowds, at least Disneyland guest satisfaction is through the roof right now.. right?

Who would they survey? Kylo Ren?

 

[UNIrd]

Who would they survey? Kylo Ren?

Lmao.. And we thought this promo pic would never be possible.

 

[Freak]

For what it’s worth, when I went in July 1st, there seemed to be healthy crowds. It felt like a normal Disney-level attendance day with how many bodies were there, but with really short wait times. It was very bizarre. They seem to be doing better as of yesterday, but don’t know how it was today or how it is by the time this post is read. It wasn’t crazy busy, but it was t light either.

There’s a part of me that is rubbing my hands while making an evil chuckle that Disney’s exorbitant greed has (apparently), at long last, blown up in their face. It was only matter of time. Like Ryan said earlier, $150 is ridiculous for a single theme park. Even for arguably the best regional theme park in the country opening a major land. I know they wanted to work their way into marking park-specific passes and only have the entire resort included in Deluxe, but can they really get away with that now? Even when Marvel is fully unveiled, I don’t know if people are going to be willing to buy a $400 just for DCA.

The other side of me is concerned that Chapek will act like the spokesperson at Blizzcon when Diablo Immortal was announced and be like, “what’s the matter, you guys don’t have money?” and halt future additions for the parks. They got way too eager about their prices (I mean, $200 for a broken light saber?! WTH), reached their breaking point, and I’m afraid they will be too stubborn to admit that. If they’re not going to learn like Universal did with their Potter situation, they least they can do is quit raising the prices and understand that this is as high as we can go....at least for a while. The supply and demand is clearly not there with the pricing.

I will say I think the first day the SoCal Select pass is back on, crowd levels will be fairly crazy. I think they’ll bail Disney out of this mess, especially if Rise is open. Disney is *hopefully* learning the hard way how reliant they are on their local base and maybe ease off the prices increases. GE has added crazy capacity to the park.

 

[Ryan]

For what it’s worth, when I went in July 1st, there seemed to be healthy crowds. It felt like a normal Disney-level attendance day with how many bodies were there, but with really short wait times. It was very bizarre. They seem to be doing better as of yesterday, but don’t know how it was today or how it is by the time this post is read. It wasn’t crazy busy, but it was t light either.

Part of me does really think that a small portion of this really is Disney's additional capacity claim. I know lots of you will probably guffaw at that and mumble about corporate PR, but it is an actual factor to consider. This land is absolutely massive and is indeed sucking people up. (no I am not going to think about cherry picked photos of a random corner and a point where Droid Depot was empty for five minutes)

It's definitely not the reason why crowds are so low, but it could be not quite as bad/apocalyptic as people are making it out to be.

 

[Stryker]

Just got back from another marathon day at DLR on July 2nd with just my 5- and 7-year olds this time. Crowds levels were still quite low. Very easy to navigate the parks and never had to rub shoulders with anyone, even on Main Street when we left at 10 pm, which is usually when there's a mad rush to leave right after the fireworks show has ended.

Did DCA in the morning til just after noon. The longest we waited was 30 minutes for the new Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind ride and I only did it cuz it was new and the kids wanted to ride it. Otherwise, I'd never agree to wait 30 minutes for a spinner. Cute retheme BTW. Very bright, glossy colors. Lamplight Lounge was dead at noon. Even Incredicoaster was low (maybe 15 minutes).

Over at DL, other than the popular classics, most other rides had no more than 30 minutes waits. Of the few handfuls of guests I spoke to, all were out of state on vacation. None were locals. Small sample size, so take that FWIW.

Also, received this in my inbox a few days ago so there's that deal floating around. Saves $88 on a 2-day 1-Park ticket if you use it during peak season.

Disneyland California: 2-Day Admission | Travelzoo

It doesn't look like their Bring a Friend for $99 park-hopper promo is having any immediate impacts. I don't think crowd levels will get back to normal until the 2nd half of August for Deluxe or until after Labor Day for So Cal Select.

Well, after a long day, I'm throwing in the towel. 99, y'all! Who's old enough to remember pager codes? Haha.

 

[tielo]

I believe Disney wanted a pleasant and easy access to SWGE and the new merch and good there, but not at the cost of historically low attendance.

I think Disney banked on Star Wars fans who aren't into Disney flocking in and making it their place of pilgrimage (Bob Iger on twitter and during the first quarter earnings of the fiscal year for The Walt Disney Company: “Maybe I should just tweet – ‘It’s open!’ and that will be enough.” - “We’re going to end up with incredibly popular and in-demand products with these two new lands. They’re large. They’re beautiful, and they’re extremely innovative. And they obviously leverage the popularity of the Star Wars brand.” - “We’re going to have absolutely no problem getting attention… It’s not going to take much marketing to do that.”).
But Disney banked on the new trilogy and miscalculated it's popularity.
The Dis, who sells Disney vacation packages, sees no improvement in poor sales of hotel rooms and even expect the Disney dining plan to return for autumn.