Attendance Tracker

[bob albert]

Walt Disney World Resort

Apparently they are offering some discount tickets to try and boost attendance back up. I did the math and a room at all stars for a family of four from the quoted $1,768 minus ticket costs would be $172 per night. That doesn't sound like a deal at all. It doesn't look like these have much in the way of upgradeability. I'm not sure how much of a boost this would be to Disney. Meh.

 

[Mad Dog]

This new ticket offer of four parks in four days at WDW looks like they're trying to get people to go to the other three parks besides MK. You can only do one park a day, and each park once. Kind of hints at them having attendance issues at DHS, Epcot & AK. Of course, MK always does well.

 

[Mad Dog]

Previously we discussed that Touring Plans indicated they will be making "significant" changes to their 2017 crowd calendar due to much longer stand by wait times, longer than the historical record, at WDW. Yesterday, Touring Plans made significant changes to their WDW crowd calendar. They only made minor tweaks to Disneyland and no changes to Universal since there were no issues with stand by wait times. This exchange between a Touring Plans customer, Melinda, and Len Testa, Touring Plans owner, sums up the situation of declining WDW attendance, but longer stand by lines due to staffing cuts and inadequate capacity....Melinda: "Park attendance is down. Disney is cutting jobs because of decreased park attendance. How in the world are wait times increasing with fewer people in the parks? I guess Disney decreases staff & subsequently ride capacities so they can "justify" their ever increasing prices. Heh, wait times are so high, they need to add more attractions to better distribute crowds. And they should be able to do that at the same rate as Universal and not take so many years to add two rides"........Len Testa (Owner: Touring Plans, Unofficial Disney & Universal guides): "I think you've nailed it Melinda. We think a large part of it (long stand by lines) is staffing and capacity changes. We think something similar is happening with hotels. Regular hotel rooms are being diverted to DVC. Combine that with the regular closure of large blocks of hotel rooms for refurbishments, and you've shrunk supply. "

 

[JoeCamel]

Previously we discussed that Touring Plans indicated they will be making "significant" changes to their 2017 crowd calendar due to much longer stand by wait times, longer than the historical record, at WDW. Yesterday, Touring Plans made significant changes to their WDW crowd calendar. They only made minor tweaks to Disneyland and no changes to Universal since there were no issues with stand by wait times. This exchange between a Touring Plans customer, Melinda, and Len Testa, Touring Plans owner, sums up the situation of declining WDW attendance, but longer stand by lines due to staffing cuts and inadequate capacity....Melinda: "Park attendance is down. Disney is cutting jobs because of decreased park attendance. How in the world are wait times increasing with fewer people in the parks? I guess Disney decreases staff & subsequently ride capacities so they can "justify" their ever increasing prices. Heh, wait times are so high, they need to add more attractions to better distribute crowds. And they should be able to do that at the same rate as Universal and not take so many years to add two rides"........Len Testa (Owner: Touring Pkans, Unofficial Disney & Universal guides): "I think you've nailed it Melinda. We think a large part of it (long stand by lines) is staffing and capacity changes. We think something similar is happening with hotels. Regular hotel rooms are being diverted to DVC. Combine that with the regular closure of large blocks of hotel rooms for refurbishments, and you've shrunk supply. "

And yet they are building more hotel rooms........ What a weird world they operate in

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Previously we discussed that Touring Plans indicated they will be making "significant" changes to their 2017 crowd calendar due to much longer stand by wait times, longer than the historical record, at WDW. Yesterday, Touring Plans made significant changes to their WDW crowd calendar. They only made minor tweaks to Disneyland and no changes to Universal since there were no issues with stand by wait times. This exchange between a Touring Plans customer, Melinda, and Len Testa, Touring Plans owner, sums up the situation of declining WDW attendance, but longer stand by lines due to staffing cuts and inadequate capacity....Melinda: "Park attendance is down. Disney is cutting jobs because of decreased park attendance. How in the world are wait times increasing with fewer people in the parks? I guess Disney decreases staff & subsequently ride capacities so they can "justify" their ever increasing prices. Heh, wait times are so high, they need to add more attractions to better distribute crowds. And they should be able to do that at the same rate as Universal and not take so many years to add two rides"........Len Testa (Owner: Touring Pkans, Unofficial Disney & Universal guides): "I think you've nailed it Melinda. We think a large part of it (long stand by lines) is staffing and capacity changes. We think something similar is happening with hotels. Regular hotel rooms are being diverted to DVC. Combine that with the regular closure of large blocks of hotel rooms for refurbishments, and you've shrunk supply. "

Bingo. What I've been saying for years.

 

[epcyclopedia]

I don't think attendance is changing the way everyone thinks. I think moreso guests are spread out over the previously slow periods. So fewer guests on peak days, more guests on slow days, pretty much a wash overall

 

[shiekra38]

I don't think attendance is changing the way everyone thinks. I think moreso guests are spread out over the previously slow periods. So fewer guests on peak days, more guests on slow days, pretty much a wash overall

I don't think Disney's attendance is in dire-straights, but there is significant evidence of them Blackstoning themselves to the point where it is starting to negatively impact the guest experience

 

[Mad Dog]

I don't think Disney's attendance is in dire-straights, but there is significant evidence of them Blackstoning themselves to the point where it is starting to negatively impact the guest experience

Good way to state what seems to be happening. :thumbsup:

 

[epcyclopedia]

You know how we talk about how out of touch Disney is? With what guests really want and such?

Well, we talk about the obvious solution being to go into the parks and experience it and make improvements and yadda yadda.. Yeah, that's never going to happen. People who very well may never have or never will set foot in a theme park make a lot of the decisions. How? They're fed data. We all generally agree - and even within the company apparently - that they've been off the mark for a while. That means new ways of collecting, looking at, and interpreting data.

Which is what we're seeing come into play recently. Experiments to see what variables need tweaking and how far they can be tweaked.

Problem is, it's not holistic reporting and there are some big gaps. Parade Audience Control at the Magic Kingdom is being cut to nothing and the responsibilities given to other areas. On paper it looks good, but functionally it's likely (i say likely because there's no proof - yet) that it will result in pretty piss poor operation and guest experience as these other areas don't dedicate time and energy on the process the way PAC as an operational unit did.

But PAC - on paper - doesn't drive attendance or make money or increase guest enjoyment. It's not that it doesnt in reality, we all knows a hot mess of a parade route can ruin your day, but rather there's no way to measure it and record it and it generally falls into the aforementioned gap. Unseen by the powers-that-be and thus quickly scrapped from the budget.

 

[Mad Dog]

You know how we talk about how out of touch Disney is? With what guests really want and such?

Well, we talk about the obvious solution being to go into the parks and experience it and make improvements and yadda yadda.. Yeah, that's never going to happen. People who very well may never have or never will set foot in a theme park make a lot of the decisions. How? They're fed data. We all generally agree - and even within the company apparently - that they've been off the mark for a while. That means new ways of collecting, looking at, and interpreting data.

Which is what we're seeing come into play recently. Experiments to see what variables need tweaking and how far they can be tweaked.

Problem is, it's not holistic reporting and there are some big gaps. Parade Audience Control at the Magic Kingdom is being cut to nothing and the responsibilities given to other areas. On paper it looks good, but functionally it's likely (i say likely because there's no proof - yet) that it will result in pretty piss poor operation and guest experience as these other areas don't dedicate time and energy on the process the way PAC as an operational unit did.

But PAC - on paper - doesn't drive attendance or make money or increase guest enjoyment. It's not that it doesnt in reality, we all knows a hot mess of a parade route can ruin your day, but rather there's no way to measure it and record it and it generally falls into the aforementioned gap. Unseen by the powers-that-be and thus quickly scrapped from the budget.

Yes, when a company morphs into an entity where it's decision makers don't know or experience the product, then there are problems on the horizon. (Example: The bean counters in control of GM ruined GM in the 70's and 80's, and allowed the Asian penetration into the market place). The scene of throngs of people saving a space and sitting for an hour or two to watch a parade, Electrical Parade, that no longer exists at the MK, is quite telling. They don't know & nobody from Disney is telling them. Sad, very sad.

 

[WAJAS]

Isn't it odd that the highest attended park worldwide and the arguably flagship Disney park doesn't have a nighttime parade?

 

[epcyclopedia]

Isn't it odd that the highest attended park worldwide and the arguably flagship Disney park doesn't have a nighttime parade?

Not if no one notices it's gone. Or rather, not if anyone who cares it's gone says nothing and also doesn't stop to take guest surveys.

 

[Mad Dog]

Isn't it odd that the highest attended park worldwide and the arguably flagship Disney park doesn't have a nighttime parade?

And the daytime parades at AK & DHS disappeared a few years ago also. Big time shades of cost cutting. ....Just a couple of years ago we could spend the entire morning on MK Main St. watching all the music shows and the Citizens of Main St. skits. Now there's only a couple left. Entertainment seems to be the area where WDW has cut back at all four of their parks. That used to be the Disney difference. Now, if you want to watch street shows, Universal Studios is the place to be. There's shows everywhere, all day long.

 

[fryoj]

Isn't it odd that the highest attended park worldwide and the arguably flagship Disney park doesn't have a nighttime parade?

There wasn't one at Disneyland during the Holidays either. They ran Paint the Night on weekends, but didn't run it during the week even though they were open till midnight.

 

[Mad Dog]

There wasn't one at Disneyland during the Holidays either. They ran Paint the Night on weekends, but didn't run it during the week even though they were open till midnight.

Electrical Parade night just started at Disneyland last week. It's WDW's floats exported to the West Coast. Disneyland will use it until they refurb Paint the Night. Paint the Night costumes & scenes deteriorate quickly for some reason or other.

 

[JoeCamel]

Electrical Parade night just started at Disneyland last week. It's WDW's floats exported to the West Coast. Disneyland will use it until they refurb Paint the Night. Paint the Night costumes & scenes deteriorate quickly for some reason or other.

Just a point of history. It is Disneyland's floats that WDW "borrowed" for 6 years that DL reclaimed and are now using again.

 

[fryoj]

Electrical Parade night just started at Disneyland last week. It's WDW's floats exported to the West Coast. Disneyland will use it until they refurb Paint the Night. Paint the Night costumes & scenes deteriorate quickly for some reason or other.

They need to refurb them quick and make a copy to ship to WDW. That show is probably the best thing they are doing right now.

 

[Mad Dog]

Just a point of history. It is Disneyland's floats that WDW "borrowed" for 6 years that DL reclaimed and are now using again.

:thumbsup:...That sure speaks volumes.

 

[GAcoaster]

The number of Brazilian groups seem to be on the upswing again. All the parks have had multiple tour groups. Also a lot of Japanese tourists seem to be coming to Disney lately.

 

[SeventyOne]

Isn't it odd that the highest attended park worldwide and the arguably flagship Disney park doesn't have a nighttime parade?

I think it's half cost-cutting, half doing whatever they can to stop overwhelming MK without actually doing anything to make the other 3 parks (or DS) more desirable.