Why is there no one at the resort?

WOW!! At the end of June. I am truly surprised. I wish we were in the position to just take off and go.
Maybe they finally got the crowd control they wanted by making prices so high.

 

I think no one went worried about crowds. I expect that to last through the end of the year.

 

Does that mean that in February when crowds should be light that everyone will suddenly show up?!?!?!

 

I think there was a bit of overcompensating about crowds for SW:GE, and people put off their trips until later. Or maybe they are waiting for the other ride to open before going?

 

I think all those previously mentioned reasons would be contributing factors, but I think the Occam's razor (simplest explanation) reason would be that they blocked out all but the highest AP's till late August. That's many, many thousands of people who were crowding the parks, even without GE, as recently as this Spring, who are currently blocked out. Come late August I would expect the crowds to be back.

It sounds like they may have "over-corrected" by blocking out more than usual for this period - probably hoping day trippers and multi-day ticket buyers from out of town would flock to the parks for GE. They may in fact be getting more of those folks; there are still tens of thousands of people attending, and there aren't THAT many premium/signature AP holders. So their revenues may be doing all right, as non-APers pay more per visit.

But since they're now offering a deal to lower tier APers to come (for a supplemental fee) and even bring a friend for the same fee, it seems they over-corrected.

Enjoy it while it lasts! Come August, the crowds should return with a vengeance, I'm guessing.

 

Don't look a gift equine in the masticatory orifice.

With my luck, the very day the barely-announced MSEP encore begins, every evening that I'm not at the Bowl for a concert will have full-lockdown crowds at DL.

 

@hbquikcomjamesl Your elocution is simply divine and appreciated!!

 

Actually, I have Alan Dean Foster to thank for part of it. It seems that in Star Trek Log Nine (his novelization of the animated episode, "Bem"), he has a Pandronian, referring to a native Pandronian riding beast, uttering the line, "Not to look gift zintar in the masticatory orifice." And in his original novel, Orphan Star (part of his own Humanx Commonwealth milieu), he has a Thranx uttering the line, "Moping and moaning about your own mistakes isn't going to help us or them. You've put your truleg in your masticatory orifice. You can pull it out or suffocate on it, but you can't ignore it."

 

I'm coming for the HM 50th event, 2nd week in August. I really hope Disney doesn't panic and start lifting blockouts during my trip, and I can partake in the unusual slowness.

I'd like to believe there was some bigger narrative about reaching a threshold in terms of quality/pricing, but I also think it's just the blockouts of most APs, combined with out-of-towners waiting for both attractions to be open/crowds to pass (and probably be smack dab in the middle of them, lol).

 

D23 Expo is in August as well, right? I was asking a friend last night if she thinks they will have RotR up and running by then, and she doesn't think so.

 

Westsider, a CM with pretty good info (usually, if not 100% of the time), and who used to be an LP regular but who now posts on Micechat (where I lurk) says that it's his understanding that they haven't passed the "72 hour test" on ROTR yet, which is when they can get the attraction running for 72 hours straight without a stoppage. At THAT point, they can start training CM's to operate it, and it's a quite complex attraction with many positions to train, so Westsider thinks that will take many weeks in itself. Plus, there's the state safety inspections. He's saying an October opening at the earliest at this point.

Strangely enough, since Florida has laxer safety regulations, it's theoretically possible that ROTR could open there before Anaheim. Rumor is they want to open them at the same time, though.

 

What is the WDW date for SW:GE opening? It's coming up pretty quick, isn't it? I haven't heard of any reservations like they did at DLR...

 

Rats. I'll be in L.A. at the very end of August and I was talking myself into a quick visit to DL. I think I'll hold off now.

 

D23 expo is the 23rd of August. You might luck out if you miss a weekend, but are there during the week.

 

Disney itself has announced the dates: Thursday December 5th at DHS, and Friday January 17th at Disneyland. The fact that they gave hard dates says to me they're confident they can meet them, perhaps with soft openings beforehand. But I would guess no soft openings at DL during the busy Christmas season, unless they find an unexpectedly uncrowded park again (and they ARE blocking out most AP's again then).

The official explanation for DHS opening sooner was that the imagineers would get it up and running in Florida and then "come back to California." I'm pretty sure that's not the case; I think it's the stricter CA safety regulations. But of course they couldn't say that, because then Florida tourists might think "wait... Florida's regulations are more lax? How lax are we talking here??" LOL.

 

It would be interesting if the theme park boom of the last decade or so were ebbing a bit. I sure wouldn't say no to it. I wonder if the costs are finally getting to people. I recently took my family of 7(!) on a trip to the East Coast for a week and it cost half as much as our four-day trip to Disneyland 18 months ago. Most of our time was spent in Washington, DC, where monuments and most museums are free or low cost, but even with airfare, housing, a trip to the theater, and food, it was a bargain compared to DL.

 

Attendance at Knotts is way up this summer. This could be in part because of Ghost Town Live and the Summer Nights concert series they are having right now. Jurassic World at Universal just opened with live dinosaurs M&G. It's funny these two parks are delivering on Disney's promise of live interactivity that Disney failed to deliver with GE.

 

Disneyland is running a 10-15% off hotel rates at the Disneyland Hotel and Grand Californian until the end of September. That should pay for your taxes/fees and some of the parking.