Summer Guest Attendance Down? CM Hours Cut

[SaintsManiac]

This. Our visits are not about getting on every single ride. Running from ride to ride just to get on it would not be fun for us. We never have a touring plan. We do our FP in advance and have a few ADRs but its all about the total experience for us. The sights, sounds, smells. At rope drop, we take a leisurely walk down Main Street instead of rushing to a ride. We stop and smell the roses on our trips and have found that without setting an expectation that we must do any particular ride or experience that we have never had a disappointing day there in the 30+ years that we have gone.

We recently decided to throw out the detailed itinerary for our Thanksgiving trip this year. We have ADRs and will make FP, but we don't plan on doing RD every day or even being in the parks all day, every day. I'm ridiculously excited about it. This will be our first vacation in almost 2 years. We are ready to relax!! I just want to inhale the smell of Main St and eat snacks and watch shows and ENJOY IT! Hope the weather permits some time at the pool, too

 

[sbbobe]

My wife and I were at WDW July 13-18. There were second FP points at 7DMT, Big Thunder and Space Mountain in the MK. At HS there were 2 FP points at Rock & Roll and Tower. Did not see any at EPCOT or AK. As for low crowds you could have fooled us. All four parks were packed.

 

[cindyfan]

My wife and I were at WDW July 13-18. There were second FP points at 7DMT, Big Thunder and Space Mountain in the MK. At HS there were 2 FP points at Rock & Roll and Tower. Did not see any at EPCOT or AK. As for low crowds you could have fooled us. All four parks were packed.

Sorry, but not sure what you mean by "second FP points"?? 2 tap points? or 2 FP lines?

 

[AngiTN]

Sorry, but not sure what you mean by "second FP points"?? 2 tap points? or 2 FP lines?

2nd FP touch point. Tap once to enter the line and again inside to board the ride

 

[sbbobe]

AngiTN is correct. 2nd FP touch point NOT 2nd FP points. Sorry for any confusion.

 

[SimonSez]

I am hopeful that NOBODY ELSE is going next week and we will have the parks all to ourselves

As long as we aren't shoulder to shoulder (cuz, ewwww...August/humid/stranger sweat...), it's all good!

Sorry, we will be there at the end of next week so you'll at least have us to contend with

 

[Sparkie]

Seems like the current economic climate is to let folks go then work the remaining crew to death.

Last month our department had 22 people, 3 resigned and their positions were not filled, another 2 were laid off, leaving 17 of us. Corporate told us it was due to "lack of work". As a result, I've had exactly 3 days off since June 4. I MAY get this weekend off if all goes well. My last 2 pays have had nearly 80 hours of overtime on them. It's crazy. On top of that, we have been told to get everything in by July 31 as an additional client comes aboard Aug 1 and we need to focus there for 2 weeks or so.

Sounds like Disney is doing the same. July and August seems to be "slow" er seasons now. To meet budget goals, any cuts will come now. Parks will jam up again with free dining, Food and Wine, Halloween, fall break, jersey week, and the holidays all on the horizon.

My job is the same. We havent laid people off- we just dont work the people we have. Happens every year at this time. The close of the fiscal year they want to come in under budget so upper management can get their bonuses ( although it is denied) So workload goes up for the ones that are working. Employees begin to feel the stress, people call out sick, making the shortage worse. Then October 1 the budget staffing springs back like a rubber band and then we overhire, people cant get hours so they quit and we are back at the second staffing shortage. I surely dont have a business degree and dont understand the numbers part of it but I have been in my line of work for 28 years and its always the same.

 

[patrickpiteo]

I always thought summer was a great time to visit WDW crowd wise. If you can stand the heat, the wait times for rides are low.

That isn't really true I can tell you that from just being there in July..

 

[lentesta]

For what it's worth, Disney has value and moderate resort rooms available on Priceline Express, including POFQ in mid-August for $97/night.

I think having POFQ available on Priceline is a sign that demand is lower than Disney would like. I know many travel agencies (and many of y'all) are warning against staying at Caribbean Beach. I think that should increase occupancy at the other moderates. POFQ is the smallest moderate, so if normal POFQ demand plus Caribbean Beach spillover isn't already hitting Disney's occupancy goals for POFQ, it's unusual.

Also, I hear a smaller set of hourly cutbacks is happening this week, primarily in retail.

I could be wrong about all of this.

 

[TriSeb°o°]

Thank you @lentesta, I appreciate your input given that this thread was based on reading your post (and the many years I have followed your advice on the podcast.... which BTW, is not the same without you).

Since I started this thread, I have read much more of the DIS community regarding perceived summer time lows, and wait time data posted by EZ Josh on his site. So it would seem that this trend of lower attendance (which BTW, is still a *big crowd*, never implied that there would be attraction walk ons) is more factual than over thinking the information (isn't that what these boards are about? see all other threads for examples, any thread could be responded to, "you are over thinking it" .

At any rate, I will be at WDW next week and I will provide an update with my experience, so there is one more voice in the mix. If staff cuts cause more delays and I can circumvent them, no worries. If having to go back to my resort nightly at 10 PM and I miss out on additional touring, so be it. But I appreciate everyone's input so I can continue to tweak my plan to avoid these shortcomings and allow for more spontaneity. Thanks, All!

 

[Tomh]

As far as the hours being cut, many of us will notice it. Last August, MK closed mainly at midnight every night even 1:00 AM on a couple of nights. This year, the posted August hours are 10:00 PM daily, and even 9:00 PM on a couple of nights. I hit the parks late, particularly in the summer when it is hot. The early closings at MK are a joke!

I don't know about the entirety of August, but I can tell you that in 2016, from August 20th through August 29th, MK closed at 10:00 PM every night (EMH until 12:00 on the 24th) and then on the 30th and 31st closing was at 9:00 PM with EMH until 11:00 PM on the 31st. Very similar to the hours we have this year.

2015 however was MUCH different, with closing times from August 12th through the 24th routinely at 12:00, and EMH going until 2:00 AM

 

[bryanb]

Crowds will never "feel" low. That's because with all the information they have through MM+, Disney stays one step ahead of it. If crowds are expected to be low, they staff down further and it "feels" the same to the average park goer. It essentially cashes out the benefit of lower crowds for the company's benefit instead of the guest.

I'm sure Disney wishes it could perfectly match staffing with attendance. Of course, it's easier with labor-intensive locations like Jungle Cruise. They run fewer boats, and then the line just crawls more slowly. They can load from only one side on Big Thunder Mountain, and drop down to just three trains. (And conversely, they can max out the boats and trains to increase capacity when they schedule more CMs). But other attractions are not adjustable. You can't really reduce the throughput of an omnimover or a flume ride. In heavy crowds, those extra resources mostly go to additional staff to manage the queue and greeter positions. For parades and fireworks, your biggest labor cost is guest control CMs to handle crowds. Fewer crowds means fewer GC CMs.

All in all, I'd still say that going during low attendance periods will objectively provide shorter wait times. Just don't expect 50% fewer guests to equal 50% shorter waits. I'd still rather go when I'm not standing shoulder to shoulder, cheek to cheek.

 

[wdwlver]

I don't know about the entirety of August, but I can tell you that in 2016, from August 20th through August 29th, MK closed at 10:00 PM every night (EMH until 12:00 on the 24th) and then on the 30th and 31st closing was at 9:00 PM with EMH until 11:00 PM on the 31st. Very similar to the hours we have this year.

2015 however was MUCH different, with closing times from August 12th through the 24th routinely at 12:00, and EMH going until 2:00 AM

MK was open till midnight on 8/20. I know that for sure, was there, have video of arriving back to BC at 12:40

 

[TriSeb°o°]

I overlooked that EZ Josh's recent post about AK/Pandora had a closing remark of, "wait times are up across the board here in late July compared to earlier in the month and the entirety of June."

Could be attendance is picking back up or a byproduct of cutting park or CM hours which is resulting in the rise in wait time. I will know first hand soon enough

 

[malarky]

The words used to explain it to me were "Thanks, ESPN."

Yeah I am cancelling my cable too. Sorry espn

 

[MaryKatesMom]

If you are a first timer or an infrequent guest it is highly unlikely that you will notice a thing at all, so no worries.

However, if in the past you enjoyed MK after 10 PM and now you feel squeezed onto two attractions in Pandora you will indeed feel it. You can't wander around there like you can on Main St. AK has always felt more crowded than any other park so after 10PM there wasn't much for my family to do. Universal's FOTL pass has always made it feel less crowded so there was no need to for the park to be open past 10PM especially with Citywalk being within an easy walking distance to the resorts and parks. Without a nighttime parade to absorb some of the capacity it definitely feels more crowded than in the past. The resort buses after the fireworks were awful. Yes I DID notice it took 3 buses in a row to empty All Stars bus que there were so many people waiting there.

I absolutely noticed being one of the first guests through the tap stiles at EPCOT but not being one of the first to ride Soarin" (while just about the entire park went to FEA) because they weren't running all of the theater's. I absolutely noticed BTMRR wasn't running both sides.

They cut hours over Easter too so we did not go last year. We did in 2016 and it did feel more crowded then in previous years.

Like a PP mentioned it is a self fulfilling prophecy. Keep squeezing the guests and more importantly, let them FEEL like they are being squeezed and attendance will keep dropping. I never remember a ton of complaint threads until a few years ago to the point where Pete had to drop the "Most Popular Threads of the Month" because they changed from friendly discussion over your favorite resort or counter service to threads like these with posts like mine.

WDW has always been crowded and with the MK hours cut and other cuts (like the entertainment at Epcot) it has become less manageable.

 

[Tomh]

MK was open till midnight on 8/20. I know that for sure, was there, have video of arriving back to BC at 12:40

That had to have been a last minute change then, not something that was announced weeks ahead of time. When we left home on the 18th of August, my updated park hours chart showed 10 PM closing for the 20th.

 

[wdwlver]

That had to have been a last minute change then, not something that was announced weeks ahead of time. When we left home on the 18th of August, my updated park hours chart showed 10 PM closing for the 20th.

It wasn't. It was announced July 15. That's when August hours were updated. We were there 13-21. Other nights MK open till 12 too.

 

[wilkeliza]

Didn't read everything but just wanted to say nothing about this cut is new. September is the last quarter in Disney's fiscal year so theynhave always cut hours from mid August to September. It also happens to be when kids go back to school so numbers in general are lower. I think people just see it more thanks to places like this and social media.

 

[Veronique]

https://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/hours/august16.cfm