Originally Posted By HokieSkipper For as long as I've been posting on forums (which is longer than I care to admit at this point), I've heard the excuse bandied about that Disneyland can run their parks their way (also known as the right way) because they have a 70-75% local visitor population. As Coach Corso would say, "Not so fast, my friend!" New numbers indicate that the split is closer to 60-40 or 55-45. And while that is still a majority of locals, it's no where near the disparity always bandied about. And Disney runs the risk of "ruining" all those precious tourists' vacations. So I have to ask...what's the new excuse going to be for WDW lagging in show quality and maintenance?
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer New excuse? Why would there be a new excuse? The same paltry "additions" and treatment of the park will continue to earn them money and keep WDW at No. 1 in the world for revenue. That's all the excuse they need to keep WDW down and unrefined.
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub I guess I have "reached" that moment finally of being tired of hearing the same DL/WDW retoric on LP. I just left a vacation at DL at found myself missing WDW. If you are fortunate enough to really get to visit both resort destinations more than once a year you will see they both offer an abundance of fun but also an abundance of problems;some unique and some similar. Dl is wonderful because of the original charm. WDW is wonderful because of the wide open expanse and the feeling of the fresh air, as you walk and explore WDW becomes the allure for guests.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I'm not sure that's ever really been the excuse, but I guess it could be. In the late 90's/early 00's, it certainly wasn't the reasoning, because DL survived almost solely on that market, yet was horribly maintained. I know that Al's column yesterday claimed that the numbers are shifting, but I really have to question where he got those numbers (along with some of the more questionable, yet specific, information in the column). From personal experience, it seems like they're making money on more locals than ever. Just spend a full day in the parks on any Friday and watch how busy they suddenly get around 6pm, and you'll see for yourself. Maybe there are still a lot of out-of-towners too, but the locals are still a large majority of DLR's guests. Maybe they'll finally be honest and just tell the public that they're trying to be cheap.
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub It seems like Thursday has become the new Friday for a lot of locals due to blackouts on their local passes according to some of the cast comments I got on vacation at DL a few weeks ago. I just figure it is going to be crowded no matter what!
Originally Posted By ChiMike I am still trying to make sense of Al's column yesterday - And I like Al. There is a reason why real updates on DL were relegated to the bottom 2 paragraphs of the update. I highly suspect any information that says DL's attendance is derived from 45% tourist. Although, I will say that even the DL tourist is far more discriminating than the standard WDW counterpart.
Originally Posted By TP2000 Friday night is popular for AP's, and Sunday afternoons too. But have you ever been to Disneyland on a Wednesday morning at rope drop?!? It's nothing but TOURISTS, and Harbor Blvd. at 8AM looks like the Las Vegas strip with a gazillion people pushing strollers moving en masse from their hotels towards the park entrance. Same with summer and spring break and the Christmas weeks. When all the AP's and CM passes are blocked out, Disneyland is swarming with tourists. It was for this reason that I had suspected the 70/30 info people liked to throw around was very old, very outdated, and no longer accurate. What's odd is that if demographics are the excuse people give for WDW not maintaining their parks, or that prevents them from getting a new Magic Kingdom parade once per decade, then it would seem to be the exact opposite. Tourists spend more money, locals loaf along for a few hours in the park and don't spend nearly as much per capita as tourists do. Knowing that, Disneyland should be stagnant and cheap and WDW should be rolling in rehabs and fresh experiences to give the big spending tourists the better experience. But it's the opposite of that, and the more Disneyland's demographics trend towards a higher tourist base in recent years, the better the Anaheim parks look and the more investment they've received. I think it's time to face the reality that the Orlando management is just cheap and lacking the showmanship gene. I think it's all that rain and humdity out there; it's sapped their ability to remember why Walt put them there in the swamp to begin with.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip A guest who maybe visits WDW once every five years isn't nearly as concerned about a new attraction being available every year or two as a local who visits DL a half-dozen times a year. Besides, with 4 parks at WDW there is almost ALWAYS something new within the past couple of years at one of the parks and the WDW guest tends to lump them all together... as long as there is something new SOMEWHERE. Now that does not excuse poor maintenance, but after hitting a low point early this century, I think WDW maintenance has improved to the point where it is now on a par with Disneyland.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: I believe that last comment was enough to bring TDLFAN back here for a response--even if he was DEAD!!
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Ummm... unlike the majority of WDW visitors, for many years TDLFAN (as with the three of you) was a LOCAL. Judging the experience of someone who visits WDW once every five years is totally outside of your experience. While I respect what he has to say about the parks, his point of view is decidedly different than the majority of WDW visitors who visit at most once a year or so and have never seen the Tokyo Parks.
Originally Posted By Manfried Thank goodness for tourists. I found Al's column a little confusing too. At least they're spending money on the park that can increase revenues.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "I think it's time to face the reality that the Orlando management is just cheap and lacking the showmanship gene. I think it's all that rain and humdity out there; it's sapped their ability to remember why Walt put them there in the swamp to begin with." Always on point TP. I couldn't agree more.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Well, I hope you are right roadtrip. I will just not forget that a few years ago we visited WDW (with a 6 year gap between trips to WDW), DLP a couple of times (used to be a twice a year occurence) and a DL trip (with 6 years between visits). Of them all WDW was in a worse state maintenance wise than some of our local parks and it was the worst of the 3 resorts. DL on the other hand was the creme de la creme. So your statement is very bold ,and with reviews I have read about cop for instance, sounds like you have been lucky (just as others have told me we were unlucky)
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Overall park maintenance is MUCH improved from the last time you were there. COP does not get the attention it deserves, and probably never will. But at least when we visited last January it was in better shape than I had seen it for quite a while. Still not what it should be, but improved. Overall I don't know if it is that much worse than any other attraction using AA's... just in CoP there are so few of them that you really notice when one isn't working as it should. In POTC or Small World a dead bot here or there goes pretty much unnoticed.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper RT, I dunno what parks you're going to. When I was there this summer, Pirates, Splash, Big Thunder, Jungle Cruise, etc all look like they were ready to fall apart.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Didn't ride Splash or Big Thunder last January, the others looked good. Maybe the attractions are better maintained during the off-season when the park is open fewer hours... more time to do maintenance and keep things working. For better or worse, WDW seems totally opposed to closing anything during the summer.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Something else to keep in mind is the demographic of the 'tourist' crowd at each resort. While they both come from out of town and stay in hotels, the WDW guests are far more likely to be the once-in-a-lifetime trips, while DL guests tend to be once-every-couple-years trips. I don't know how that plays into this conversation, but the defition of 'tourist' is pretty different between the two resorts. Of course, DL still gets plenty once-in-a-lifetime trips, and WDW gets it's share of once-every-couple-years vacationers, but they're hardly splits.
Originally Posted By danyoung >When I was there this summer, Pirates, Splash, Big Thunder, Jungle Cruise, etc all look like they were ready to fall apart.< I was last there at the end of September '11, and Pirates, Big Thunder and the JC all looked terrific. There were some problems with Splash, though, that I thought shouldn't have been there - AA's not working or working feebly, water fountains not working, etc. But even with all of that, if I were a newbie I wouldn't have known the diff. And that's why WDW can get away with what they do.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>I think it's time to face the reality that the Orlando management is just cheap and lacking the showmanship gene. I think it's all that rain and humdity out there; it's sapped their ability to remember why Walt put them there in the swamp to begin with.<<< No, it's the fact that they are greedy and complacent that with whatever they do, it earns them money.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>past couple of years at one of the parks and the WDW guest tends to lump them all together... as long as there is something new SOMEWHERE<<< In the past two years, has anything new been built? And is any of that substance? Not talking refurbs here, that's supposed to happen.
