Attendance Tracker

[epcyclopedia]

Interesting. I did notice that Fastpasses are usually available day of for the night time show, which wasn't the case in April & May. So if the novelty wears off, I wonder how soon after summer season they'll cut the night hours.

I think we'll know very soon if attendance doesn't pick up from APs and CMs who now aren't blocked out.

CMs were only blocked from AK so we shall see... but AP should be spread around a little, with a slight proportional tendency to show up at Epcot.

 

[Scott W.]

Where would you have stuck a European Park? I'm just curious. Hindsight Spain?

We have a 8 days planned for Paris and France for our month long European trip in 2019. Disneyland Paris isn't one of them but
Puy du Fou is. Truth be told, I rather take a trip in Winter with snow on the ground for a Paris Disneyland visit. There's just not enough unique to make us go when there's Efteling, Phantasialand, Europa Park, ect.. We don't get to Europe often.

I would have went for Spain, some where near PortAventura. It's a huge tourist spot, has good weather and enough to do in the area to make it a worthwhile trip even if you're only going to Disney for a day.

 

[epcyclopedia]

I'd have honestly gone for the U.K. because it's a much smaller cultural divide to conquer.

A big issue with DLP is that it's run and staffed by French people with no baseline for Disney standards. I still remember getting a croque monsieur at the little quick service place in Studios there. It was awful - and it's a food no self-respecting frenchman should screw up - and served to me by a girl with her hair dyed chunky blond highlights, obvious roots, winged eyeliner, and a little diamond stud in her nose.

 

[Donald Razorduck]

I think the fact that there's a lot more foot traffic in Animal Kingdom, visiting Pandora at night, watching Rivers of Light, and spending more money in the restaurants and shops at all times of day now means Pandora and the other additions to make DAK closer to a full day park are a success.

In all honesty, after our morning at Discovery Cove thus coming March the day before we leave for the cruise, we are going to Animal Kingdom. We do want to see the area after dark, Everest at night and the new nighttime safari and possibly Rivers of Light. We are not touching DHS with a ten foot stick
I'm inclined to hit up Star Wars in LA as a before or after to Hawaii (the son and I are eying that new Scoot route from Honolulu to Osaka for Nintendo. He's telling everybody he's going. I feel obligated at this point.

 

[Nick]

The blackouts were preparing for IF Pandora were crazy popular. Rolling back is easier than crazy crowd control. Pandora, being a total unknown, was difficult to prepare for. Most signs were pointing towards what has come to pass. But APs and Lifestylers/Social Media folks skew the first 6 months of an expansion.

D23 actually hurt Pandora in that the Lifesylers/Social Media folks are now wanking over Tron, GotG, and ohhh, ugh, unnggghhh, awwwwwwww, SW: Galaxy 7S Edge.

Fortunately, moisture proof.

But until any of that opens, which is 2 years at the earliest, Pandora is going to fill that gap of lifestyles needing a place to hangout.

 

[Disneyhead]

But until any of that opens, which is 2 years at the earliest, Pandora is going to fill that gap of lifestyles needing a place to hangout.

Lifestylers have the attention span of an ADHD 5 year old on Red Bull. Pandora will be sooooo yesterday's news when The Edison opens.

 

[Nick]

Lifestylers have the attention span of an ADHD 5 year old on Red Bull. Pandora will be sooooo yesterday's news when The Edison opens.

True.

That plus Club 33, too.

 

[epcyclopedia]

True.

That plus Club 33, too.

My understanding of the job requirements of the recruiter/sales for the new Club 33's is to make sure they don't get in.

 

[Nick]

My understanding of the job requirements of the recruiter/sales for the new Club 33's is to make sure they don't get in.

They can buy their way in though. I'll be surprised if the big Disney blogs like Inside The Magic, Attractions and WDWNT aren't able to afford it.

 

[epcyclopedia]

They can buy their way in though. I'll be surprised if the big Disney blogs like Inside The Magic, Attractions and WDWNT aren't able to afford it.

99% sure WDWNT can't afford it. Fairly high certainty for the rest.

A few unexpected ones will have family connections who buy in. But the primary owners and personalities of those sites do not make much.

 

[Nick]

99% sure WDWNT can't afford it. Fairly high certainty for the rest.

A few unexpected ones will have family connections who buy in. But the primary owners and personalities of those sites do not make much.

It depends how much Tommy wants in. There's always a way to make it happen, you just have to be willing to go into debt.

 

[SeventyOne]

I think a news article said they were only down by 0.5 or 0.05 though at WDW. It's Paris that took a 14% dive that's hurting.

That just doesn't jibe with 10 pm MK closings and a third of an empty Hook lot much of this Summer. Ditto 30% AP discounts at restaurants (40% for CMs). Sure some of the latter is no doubt Disney Springs but I don't buy even with last year.

 

[tankart150]

I think the bigger issue they have right now is that the fireworks show is the only nighttime event now that the parade is gone.

I went to DHS in the afternoon/early evening in order to stick around for the Galactic fireworks show, but it was sooo underwhelming (and I am a BIG SW fan) that we actually left before it was over. The projections on GMR were OK, but the show dragged way too much.

Illuminations is still, to this day, one of my favorite nighttime shows and one which I will catch on my August trip (we have a dessert party scheduled with our tour group). We also have a patio dinner show scheduled for Fantasmic and that is really the only way I would go and see this show. I think it could use some updates, and maybe if they get a positive reaction from the upgrades at DL, they could add them to DHS at some point.

I think the Galactic Spectacular is a temporary attempt to cash out on Star Wars.

 

[Mad Dog]

I think the Galactic Spectacular is a temporary attempt to cash out on Star Wars.

As was the entire Star Wars Experience, shows, strut parades etc. But their popularity seems to have waned. DHS will be dead until Toy Story Land opens next summer. TSL will help a bit. When GE opens up in late 2019 DHS attendance will recuperate, but DHS will still have capacity issues since the total attraction count will still be around what it was in 2014/2015.

 

[UNIrd]

The popularity may have waned but I'm sure it's still the reason A LOT of guests are visiting DHS.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Lifestylers have the attention span of an ADHD 5 year old on Red Bull. Pandora will be sooooo yesterday's news when The Edison opens.

It already is.

That just doesn't jibe with 10 pm MK closings and a third of an empty Hook lot much of this Summer. Ditto 30% AP discounts at restaurants (40% for CMs). Sure some of the latter is no doubt Disney Springs but I don't buy even with last year.

For about four years now we've seen warning indicators that show issues with attendance yet TEA and Disney say everything is fine. I don't think Disney is a special case, I just think they use creative accounting.

99% sure WDWNT can't afford it. Fairly high certainty for the rest.

A few unexpected ones will have family connections who buy in. But the primary owners and personalities of those sites do not make much.

Nearly everyone comes from a well to do family who supports them, or in the case of one, a shady ass charity that pays the family very well for few hours a year.

 

[GadgetGuru]

This is a small side question possibly.

Disney seems to have a huge lifestyler community. Seriously, if the Disflix fiasco taught me anything, it's how large and loud the Disney fan community is. Universal has their fans, but I don't think the community is as big/obsessed/rich on average/etc as the lifestyle community. There's a ton of Disneybounding / retail / events and the like that seems precision-focused towards the lifestyle community. Disney seems to do a lot to cater to this community, especially with Club 33 coming up.

So, why doesn't Universal have a lifestyle community or is just that Universal doesn't cater to them as much?

 

[Mad Dog]

This is a small side question possibly.

Disney seems to have a huge lifestyler community. Seriously, if the Disflix fiasco taught me anything, it's how large and loud the Disney fan community is. Universal has their fans, but I don't think the community is as big/obsessed/rich on average/etc as the lifestyle community. There's a ton of Disneybounding / retail / events and the like that seems precision-focused towards the lifestyle community. Disney seems to do a lot to cater to this community, especially with Club 33 coming up.

So, why doesn't Universal have a lifestyle community or is just that Universal doesn't cater to them as much?

Well, there's only 2 significant internet sites that prioritize Universal, that aren't owned by Universal. And, one of those doesn't get invitations to any Universal press events. And neither site is anywhere near the viewership of the large Disney oriented sites. Not much out there at this point in time....Most of the Universal event invites go out to the news media community.

 

[Nick]

Well, there's only 2 significant internet sites that prioritize Universal, that aren't owned by Universal. And, one of those doesn't get invitations to any Universal press events. And neither site is anywhere near the viewership of the large Disney oriented sites. Not much out there at this point in time....Most of the Universal invites go out to the news media community.

There's actually more sites that started out as Disney sites that get invited to Universal events than Universal focused sites, ironically.

 

[Mad Dog]

There's actually more sites that started out as Disney sites that get invited to Universal events than Universal focused sites, ironically.

You're right. I was going to say that also, but I didn't want to muddy the waters. It's a real shame some primarily Disney oriented sites gets invited to press events but IU doesn't.