WEATHER AND EFFECT ON A

Originally Posted By nats 31

All over the country heavy snow and cold temperatures prevailed. How did it affect WDW during the holidays?

 

Originally Posted By Wingman1969

I went about two weeks ago and it looked like the MK attendance was down (meaning I would walk from point A to B fairly quickly) ride time tended to be fairly short as well.

 

Originally Posted By Roger55

^^Two weeks ago, there were not the weather issues the OP is talking about.

 

Originally Posted By MPierce

All of the reports I read about attendance seem to agree it was at normal for the Christmas season. If it was down it was only slightly.

 

Originally Posted By Spirit of 74

As near as I can tell, WDW (this week) has been on par with normal attendance ... but it is by no means a 'great' holiday.

On the other hand, it certainly is encouraging to see that most people didn't cancel their vacations. But no one expected this month to be a disaster either.

And look at the unprecedented merchandise sales in the parks/resorts for a little tell-tale that all isn't well.

Oh ... and just for comparison sake I heard Sea World had its best day in history today!

 

Originally Posted By CarolinaDisneyDad

>>>>>>>and just for comparison sake I heard Sea World had its best day in history today <<<<<<<<<<< .............................................................................and how is Sea World immune from the current crisis. Are the other parks not suffering also? I've been so concerned with Disney I haven't thought to look at the other Orlando attractions.

 

Originally Posted By SuperDry

Sea World is not on trial here!

 

Originally Posted By CarolinaDisneyDad

>>>>Sea World is not on trial here!<<<<< .......................................................................................No, but comparison of their attendance and sales numbers would paint a clearer picture of how Disney should be faring.

 

Originally Posted By bayrr326

<<And look at the unprecedented merchandise sales in the parks/resorts for a little tell-tale that all isn't well.>>

I can tell you that I haven't seen the shops packed, all day, the way they have been since that sale started. I don't think I ever thought I would see the day that things like shirts, hats, ornaments would be discounted 40-50% off in the parks. Heck, even the Character Premiere stores have shirts for 40 % off. Picked up a really cool retro Monorail shirt.

 

Originally Posted By Spirit of 74

>>>>Sea World is not on trial here!<<<<< .......................................................................................<<No, but comparison of their attendance and sales numbers would paint a clearer picture of how Disney should be faring.>>

Well, Sea World not only had the best day in their history today, but they did so by a LARGE margin.

I am waiting to hear for sure, but their number may be larger than ANY ever at DAK and possibly The Park Formerly Known as the Disney-MGM Studios.

I only say this because as far as I know the only Disney park that reached a Phase 2 close on Christmas was MK (no surprise at all) and while crowds are 'healthy' it's not like Disney is setting any records.

I don't know what (if anything) can be culled from this info ... just thought it was interesting.

I do know that SW is very concerned about 2009 as is Universal as well as Disney.

The difference is that both of the former companies are investing large sums of cash into improving their Orlando parks, while Disney is largely relying on the same tired offerings as well as a new show that has a either love it or hate it fanbase before it ever opens and a refurbished HoP ... oh, and yet another inane marketing campaign.

In other words, Busch and Universal (which aren't cutting corners, as of yet anyway, that affect guests) are investing in their parks to give new reasons to visit while Disney is doing what it does most of the time (no matter whether the Dow is at 14,000 or foreclosures are at an all-time high) -- resting on its laurels.

You decide what's really the smart strategy.

 

Originally Posted By Spirit of 74

<<I can tell you that I haven't seen the shops packed, all day, the way they have been since that sale started. I don't think I ever thought I would see the day that things like shirts, hats, ornaments would be discounted 40-50% off in the parks.>>

I'm not shocked by that ... I am shocked that they started discounting like that a week or two before Christmas. That's a panic move because it isn't like they don't have outlet stores and even Character Connection for CMs to dump the stuff after the holidays.

It just seemed very ... desperate on Disney's part.

<<Heck, even the Character Premiere stores have shirts for 40 % off. Picked up a really cool retro Monorail shirt. >>

Yeah. Saw that down here in SoFla ... $23.95 originally, marked down to $11.99 and take 40% off that. Almost bought one, but the sizes were off.

BTW, tonight was at a local mall and walked in The Disney Store branch and other than it being a mess with mostly plush, costumes and plenty of Wall*e and Cars merchandise (where's the Bolt stuff?) and lots of snowglobes ... but I couldn't help but notice that other than one small shelf of Mickey stockings and a few HSM ornaments the store was totally devoid of Christmas stuff. I'd guess they were likely selling their stuff at 40-80% off in the weeks before X-mas and there was no mad rush this morning that cleared them out.

anyway ...

 

Originally Posted By fkurucz

<I'm not shocked by that ... I am shocked that they started discounting like that a week or two before Christmas. That's a panic move because it isn't like they don't have outlet stores and even Character Connection for CMs to dump the stuff after the holidays.

It just seemed very ... desperate on Disney's part.>>

They must have a ton of inventory. Probably decided to clear it out. It will be interesting to see what they replace it with.

 

Originally Posted By vbdad55

any chance theday at Sea World was driven by a football crowd ? I have been following my alum as they get ready to play Monday night in San Antonio. Both teams attended Sea World there and it was part of the travel package. So you have 25-30K people traveling with our team ( the other team is Mizzou - don't know how well they travel) and many followed their team to the park. Lots of shots from the news today and people out the wazzoo dressed in purple.


this would surely cause a spike in attendance

 

Originally Posted By bobbelee9

Is Sea World still basically a 1 day park? Would you go on vacation JUST to go to SW? I haven't been to SW in ages, so I'm just asking.

 

Originally Posted By Spirit of 74

<<They must have a ton of inventory. Probably decided to clear it out. It will be interesting to see what they replace it with.>>

The thing is, though, Disney usually saves/stockpiles plenty ... I am sure you can find warehouses with Pocahontas and Hercules merchandise if you wandered around WDW (and elsewhere).

Makes you wonder what else is at play!

 

Originally Posted By Spirit of 74

<<any chance theday at Sea World was driven by a football crowd ? I have been following my alum as they get ready to play Monday night in San Antonio. Both teams attended Sea World there and it was part of the travel package. So you have 25-30K people traveling with our team ( the other team is Mizzou - don't know how well they travel) and many followed their team to the park. Lots of shots from the news today and people out the wazzoo dressed in purple.


this would surely cause a spike in attendance>>

True ... but WDW (DL too, although usually less so with only one game and USC almost always playing in it) always sees spikes in attendance itself due to bowl games between the teams, fans, boosters etc ... so I doubt SW had its best day due to that.

 

Originally Posted By Spirit of 74

<<Is Sea World still basically a 1 day park? Would you go on vacation JUST to go to SW? I haven't been to SW in ages, so I'm just asking.>>

If someone has never been and wanted to see every show and every exhibit, I could see two days at SW. If you added a day at Aquatica and a day at Discovery Cove you could easily do a four day SWO trip.

I have to be honest, I don't see why anyone would need more than a day (except perhaps in the busiest times of year) to see the MK. And I am not just basing it on my viewpoint because frankly I get bored after 3-5 hours there.

But the only park that truly is multi-day at WDW, under normal (i.e. not crazy busy) conditions would be EPCOT.

When I hear about people spending 10-14 days at WDW and all of those days are spent in the parks, I just don't get what it is people are seeing and doing. Even if you stop to smell the roses, so to speak, there just isn't that much if you don't do water parks, resorts, golf, tennis, spas, off site etc ... how many times can you ride Space Mountain?

 

Originally Posted By bobbelee9

I've never ridden SM. But I spend 1 day at MGM, then boat to WS for supper, and then go back for Fantasmic. Then either 1-2 nights for Illuminations. But the rest of the evenings are usually at MK. I guess that goes back to our first few trips when there was only MK, we'd sleep late, swim, late lunch, then head to MK around 5ish. Close the park. But I can ride many of the MK rides everyday, hopefully I'll never get tired of the HM. Now realize we only go every 2-3 years, not every couple weeks or months. If we went that often, certainly we wouldn't stay for 10-14 nights.

 

Originally Posted By MPierce

I never spend more than a half day at any park. Every night is spent at Epcot. I usualy go to MK 2 or 3 times, AK 2 or 3 times, and DHS 1 or 2 times, always in the mornings. I could easily do that for 2 or 3 weeks straight, and never get bored with it.

 

Originally Posted By bobbelee9

Good grief, I didn't make that very clear in #18, we spend our days at other parks then head for MK around 8-9. Please don't think I hang out in my room all day.