Crowds REALLY small

[Neeter]

I'm no where near as Disney savvy as you guys but wanted to throw my 2 cents in...

Disney is going to have to bite the bullet and pour some $ into the parks and give people something to get excited about again! I'm sorry Alladdin's Carpet ride ain't what I'm talkin about here! LOL!

They have to give people a reason to want to scrimp & save in this economy to afford a Disney trip. You give people something new & exciting and they will show up. Disney hasn't gave it's customers that in a long time. Sure what of Animal Kingdom that they finished was great, but imagine if they had done what they had originally envisioned?

Disney doesn't have the WOW factor anymore and I believe that; not this crappy economy, is the major part of their woes.

Like I said you guys are the experts on all things Disney business... just thought I'd throw in a "regular Joe's" point of view!

 

[CWIPPERMAN]

I'm going to weigh in on this real quick. I don't have kids, but I do have two little sisters. And one started school last Wednescay (August 14th), and the other started yesterday (August 19th). I remember when I was in school, we always started "The first Monday after Labor Day". But being from the midwest, we often had lots of snow days that had to be made up at the end of the year... and it put us going past Memorial Day. I can speak for my area (Kansas City, MO), and say that many of the districts in this area are already back or are going back before Labor Day.

So, in the end.... it really may be a matter of "the kids are back in school".

 

[Uncleromulus]

All the talk about "locals" scares me!! No offense to "locals" (heck-I'm a local here in Glen Rock) but my sense is all that locals want is a cheap way to spend a day at an AMUSEMENT park. If that is a trend, then WDW will end up like any old Six Flags or Kings Dominion or Hershey Park--- and Walt's dream will be effectively over.

BTW--we went to I/A in May--virtually empty. Out by 2:30 and saw virtually everything. So seems Universal ain't exactly brimming over with tourists either.

 

[Galahad]

gcurling,

We stayed at BWV. We were at Typhoon Lagoon on Saturday and kept to MGM and Epcot resorts that evening. On Sunday we had a great and full day at Epcot. Again, I'll stand by the assesment. Crowds were very sparse everywhere. But, the magic was still there. We had a great weekend. We just didn't share that weekend with as many people.

Also, school systems stagger their start dates. I know of quite a few that started this week and others that start next week. DS started this week. There was a time when the week before school starts was a very popular WDW time, so that the last 1/2 of August was pretty crowded.

I think WDWhound is right. If Disney is down proportionally more than other travel and certainly other theme parks then you can begin attributing the decline to content. There is a point of saturation. The rapid growth of the parks we enjoyed in the 90's can't be sustained forever (though continual change still has to take place).


I understand the concern with locals.....but for now....they'll need the locals to generate the $$ you want to be poured into the parks.

 

[BRERALEX]

ok this is gonna sound weird but i used to say i like when there are lots of people it feels better. but that was pre 6pm closing. saw a tape yesterday og good ol 99 it was 8-24 and ten pm ahh thegood ol days

 

[dBugged]

Maybe the new space ride will boost attendance next year?

 

[nats]

The reason people are staying away is two-fold. The economy is down and because of that unemployment is skyrocketing. Disney in order to attract more people is to go out of their way to make sure they get the most bang for their buck. Increase the park hours, cut prices about ten percent on everything on the property.

Every company has sales to attract their customers. Disney must do the same thing.

 

[Buschfan]

Disney needs to discount to get a boost. They refuse to discount 1-day admissions even at AAA. Why pay $50 a day at Disney when Universal was offering season passes with free parking and food and merchandise discounts for the price of 2 days at Disney. Sea World offers the second day free along with a discounted 1 day price. It would even help if Disney allowed people to pay monthly for season passes like the Busch parks. It is tough to come up with around $1200 for a family of 4 to buy Disney's annual passes.
People spend money once they are in the parks. Universal announced this year that this was the first year they were really going after the 'local' market. They understand that people are just not travelling the distances they used to. Locals may spend less per visit, but they are more likely to make repeated visits. It just takes more time to get the money out of their pockets.

 

[raidermatt]

There are very valid reasons not to discount, especially for Disney. One of which is that when outside factors do turn positive, they will view Universal as having raised prices when they stop discounting. Not saying that's the "correct" interpretation, just that its reality.

Disney's problem is more that they are decreasing the value of what they are offering, and that also has negative long-term implications.

 

[Joneser]

I also visited WDW this weekend and was struck at the low attendance. We visited the Studios on Friday, and we walked onto most rides, the only exception being RNRC. It wasn't difficult to find a front row spot for the parade either. Epcot on Saturday was a breeze, too. Attendance didn't pick up until the afternoon, and we walked onto most rides again. Sunday was MK, and crowds picked up soon, but MK always has a pretty decent crowd. However, they closed at 8:30 and had fireworks at 8:45. The only reason I can figure for this is that they want to funnel everyone to the front of the park with nothing to do but shop on Main Street until the fireworks.

 

[PKS44]

Disney provided an expensive service at a high price...what they have done recently is keep the price high and cut the service...this has led to competition from others wanting similar profit margins, coming in with lower prices and lower service...Disney could try to compete on price, but to do so means cutting cost (service level) down...like, oh having little carnival rides instead of a theme park...the problem is that there are too many similar products...if the price is high for a similar product the consumer will choose the less expensive product...to win in the market one must distinguish oneself from the competition...Distinguishing by price is dangerous...it works in an area where the service is pretty much equal so efficiencies rule (like Southwest Airlines beating the other airlines...the bad parts of air travel are pretty equal whether you fly a discount or on coach on a regular airline-thus Southwest wins by being more efficient...-that is a different discussion) Disney is in the entertainment business--the best show wins, not the most efficient show nor the lowest priced item ...To win Disney needs to go back to where they started-Charge more but deliver more, more than the competition-not the same as the competition...Walt knew it and he did it and the rest is history..l hope that the days of great Disney service are not.

 

[manning]

I know someone in the travel business. He tried to go the discount route and cheaper offerings. Got creamed. He got advise to go to a more upscale product, specialize and charge a fair price (not discount). He's now making more money than he knows what to do with it!