Attendance Tracker

[Galaxy Defender]

I think they're running out of tricks to keep DHS going. I bet the Star Wars Experience/ Fireworks stuff slows down until they get TSL open.

The tricks and gimmicks are failing at all their parks. Toy Story land might help with overcrowding but it does not sound like much of a reason to go to the park.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

The attendance gain at Universal while Disney declines may be the push needed to get the groundbreaking at the new plot faster so yay. I'm happy about this news.

There is that matter of timing. Nintendo should open in 2020, right around the time Star Wars land opens. The new park will hopefully open the next year. That will be two game changing additions with big attendance boosts in consecutive years. You definitely don't want those two opening the same year.

 

[Mad Dog]

The tricks and gimmicks are failing at all their parks. Toy Story land might help with overcrowding but it does not sound like much of a reason to go to the park.

Definitely TSL (Kiddieland now with the downthemed Slinky) will not spike attendance. But Disney marketing will play it up big time and trick people into visiting the park to a degree. I can't see DHS doing much of anything until SWL opens in 2020, or whenever. TSL is a real waste of 11 acres in a park that was tiny even when everything was open, and cries out for meaningful expansion. It's crazy, that with all the acreage in WDW that they boxed that park in with major roads so close. Really bad foresight.

 

[quinnmac000]

There is that matter of timing. Nintendo should open in 2020, right around the time Star Wars land opens. The new park will hopefully open the next year. That will be two game changing additions with big attendance boosts in consecutive years. You definitely don't want those two opening the same year.

I think it depends on the attraction line up for the new park and Nintendoland to determine if you want both to open at the same time. Also two game changing additions could cancel the most gains at Disney as people may just go for a day at DHS and MK and spend the rest of the time at Universal which would be continuing adding attractions. I mean I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendoland opened with another big level attraction at IOA to help balance the parks.

 

[WAJAS]

I think 2017 will be the year Universal goes head to head with the Mouse for Christmas Season. New Parades, HP themed events & night shows, new Studio's Lagoon Night Show etc. No reason for Universal to continue letting Disney dominate Christmas Season. They can put the same power performance together that they used to create their Sept./Oct. success.....One step at a time.

I would argue SeaWorld has the best Christmas stuff. But we digress

 

[Mad Dog]

I would argue SeaWorld has the best Christmas stuff. But we digress

It may well. But, I was mostly referring to the Disney attendance domination of the Christmas Season. Yea, they don't really have much in the offering when you consider it's spread out over 4 parks. And no SOA this year. Big time minus there.

 

[quinnmac000]

I would argue SeaWorld has the best Christmas stuff. But we digress

Universal owns the IPs SeaWorld uses for Christmas minus Polar Express now. And ironically just found out all the Rankin Bass rights anyway expired last year. So now Universal can use Rudolph, Frosty, and friends. And Disney no longer has the Osbourne lights. So Universal is the place for Xmas with Macy's Holiday Parade, Grinchmas, Frosty and Friends, and potentially other things they may acquire theme park use of.

Edited: Just got corrected. SeaWorld has rights to Rudolph but not exclusive so Universal still can use as well as the others.

 

[Mad Dog]

Universal owns the IPs SeaWorld uses for Christmas minus Polar Express now. And ironically just found out all the Rankin Bass rights anyway expired last year. So now Universal can use Rudolph, Frosty, and friends. And Disney no longer has the Osbourne lights. So Universal is the place for Xmas with Macy's Holiday Parade, Grinchmas, Frosty and Friends, and potentially other things they may acquire theme park use of.

Plus special Potter shows/packages/projection shows. Now that'll bring in the crowds for a hard ticket event. My bet is they do something along those lines for 2017.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

If Universal wants to increase holiday attendance they definitely need to up their game at USF. The parade is weak. They need a much better parade and to get rid of all the Macy's inflatables. They are in poor shape. They need holiday walk around characters and a good show or two running multiple times a day.

 

[Mad Dog]

If Universal wants to increase holiday attendance they definitely need to up their game at USF. The parade is weak. They need a much better parade and to get rid of all the Macy's inflatables. They are in poor shape. They need holiday walk around characters and a good show or two running multiple times a day.

It'll be interesting to see if they get rid of the tired Macy's Parade for Christmas 2017. They've surveyed people about it's merits. Will that be the tipping point on whether it stays or disappears? I guess we'll find out within the next year.

 

[quinnmac000]

If Universal wants to increase holiday attendance they definitely need to up their game at USF. The parade is weak. They need a much better parade and to get rid of all the Macy's inflatables. They are in poor shape. They need holiday walk around characters and a good show or two running multiple times a day.

Ironically Universal owns Holiday Inn rights which later was remade as White Christmas which they could do in the park....

 

[Mad Dog]

Ironically Universal owns Holiday Inn rights which later was remade as White Christmas which they could do in the park....

And that movie had scenes and songs for almost every holiday of the year. A natural for constant holiday marketing.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

They have barely scratched the potential for Christmas at USF. Universal Creative needs to get creative.

 

[Nick]

I hope that Universal really hits WDW where it'll hurt and announces a brand new nighttime parade for next year. It would make Universal the only place in Florida with an Electrical parade in their park, which would entice people to stay later and would almost force WDW to push plans for a new electrical parade to be fast-tracked.

Very few things are able to get Disney to do anything, but Universal seems to be the one remaining hope of a better WDW (ironically enough). Competition is a great thing.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

I hope that Universal really hits WDW where it'll hurt and announces a brand new nighttime parade for next year. It would make Universal the only place in Florida with an Electrical parade in their park, which would entice people to stay later and would almost force WDW to push plans for a new electrical parade to be fast-tracked.

Very few things are able to get Disney to do anything, but Universal seems to be the one remaining hope of a better WDW (ironically enough). Competition is a great thing.

Disney has set the standard for night parades. Any parade Universal might do will be compared to WDW parades. Universal should not try it unless they are going to do it right.

 

[GAcoaster]

Ironically Universal owns Holiday Inn rights which later was remade as White Christmas which they could do in the park....

Owning the movie rights and the SONG rights are two separate things though.

Having to pay to use a song can be the make or break for any entertainment offering. Disney stopped doing Country Bears Christmas because of music rights/royalties. They even dropped the song "Hoop Dee Do" from the Hoop Dee Do Review because the rights to perform it were too expensive (after using it for nearly 40 years).

 

[quinnmac000]

Owning the movie rights and the SONG rights are two separate things though.

Having to pay to use a song can be the make or break for any entertainment offering. Disney stopped doing Country Bears Christmas because of music rights/royalties. They even dropped the song "Hoop Dee Do" from the Hoop Dee Do Review because the rights to perform it were too expensive (after using it for nearly 40 years).

They own the movie and all ancillary and miscellaneous rights including song rights which is why they are producing it for Broadway.

 

[Teebin]

They have barely scratched the potential for Christmas at USF. Universal Creative needs to get creative.

It was my understanding that they have been working on scratching this for the past 3 years. I am not sure what has happened as the itch was supposed to be taken care of this fall.

Aren't we stalwart fans to wait so long for these projects...

 

[Mad Dog]

It was my understanding that they have been working on scratching this for the past 3 years. I am not sure what has happened as the itch was supposed to be taken care of this fall.

Aren't we stalwart fans to wait so long for these projects...

I think they just have so much on their plate that some stuff gets pushed back.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

WDW has three more weeks left in its current Q4 fiscal quarter. They are up against a 7% increase in attendance. The attendance decline they post for this quarter could be brutal. It will certainly be the third quarter in a row of decline. The number will be mixed in with DL, but they will likely say something again about their better attendance. We can then do the math to calculate the WDW decline.

The recent shooting of a Turkish tourist is yet another in a string of bad news for Orlando. The WDW attendance decline started before all of this, but it has the potential to add to the problem. Police presence in the area has been stepped up in response.

I believe the light crowds at WDW make the decline look worse than it is. The profits are still good, so they kept the big spenders. Theses are the guests that stay on property and stay longer. They spend less time in the park each day since they have plenty of time on their vacation and can easily go back to their hotels. They also use the table service dining much more, so they spend more time on their meals.