Originally Posted By RoadTrip Yes, I was very surprised to read what a huge percentage of WDW visitors are international... between 18 and 22 percent. I had no idea the total was that high.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>Yes, I was very surprised to read what a huge percentage of WDW visitors are international... between 18 and 22 percent. I had no idea the total was that high.<<< In recent years the USA became very popular among European tourists. One reason for that was the Euro - Dollar exchange rate. When I lived in the US, I got 1.5 Dollars for 1 Euro. That made traveling very inexpensive. In January 2008 we stayed for 12 days at WDW and paid the same amount of money as for staying for six days at DLP.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros WDW also gets huge numbers of Brazilian tour groups (especially in the off-season, since it's their summer vacation time), which I'm sure has led to a nice growth of international tourists
Originally Posted By wachawacha What you all seem to forget is the large amount of parties the Magic Kingdom does. More so then any other park. If you visit for a Pirate and Princess party on any other event those guests count a a different click. Normally guests will visit the park during the day then purchase a separate ticket for the private party. WDW consistently has shorter hours at the Magic Kingdom then other Magic Kingdom type parks around the world. This then encourages people do buy the private event tickets. For all intents and purposes this adds entire operating days to the calendar year that they do not have at other resorts. Disneyland is just starting to get into this business model. Expect more Halloween Parties and so to come Christmas parties in California.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>It's seemed for years (about a decade or so) that WDW has been doing some creative accounting to get MK's numbers to the top so they can proclaim that they have the most popular theme park in the world. << Hmmm ... Disney doesn't release official numbers. Perhaps they do leak numbers to TEA, but since they are not official, I don't see how accounting (creative or not) is even necessary. Disney could just pull them out of a hat (or any bodily orifice you prefer) and give them to TEA
Originally Posted By TDLFAN The only thing pumping the numbers at the MK is the park hoppers it seems. Every time a person park hops in a single day, that is counted as single admissions to each park. But whatever. I can see the HUGE amount of people in a park that is capable of handling more guests per day than the MK, and that hardly has any food or store venue closed due to the massive crowds. Unlike the MK, there are lines for everything at TDL. Huge lines that I don't ever see at the MK. Even stand by waits are usually over 2 hours for most popular attractions on any given day. Don't pull one over my head and tell me that the MK gets more guests than TDL. I trust my personal experience with this. MK today was relatively busy but not crowded. I will be in TDL this coming week, and I will be able to once again see the HUGE difference in attendance with my very own eyes.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt I just realized that Knott's has fallen out of the top 10 domestic parks. Is this the first year that's happened?
Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 Are you at the parks every day TDLFAN? Do you have some method of counting people at both parks every day? Sorry, but you personally feeling one park is busier than the other when you visit them is hardly reliable data.
Originally Posted By 9oldmen >>I just realized that Knott's has fallen out of the top 10 domestic parks. Is this the first year that's happened?<< For 2012, Knott's was number 14, and for 2011 they were number 13. I can't ever remember seeing them in the top ten. Usually, the top ten U.S. parks include the 4 Disney parks in Florida, the two in California, The two Universal parks in Florida, and the other two in the 10 being either Universal Studios Hollywood, and/or the Sea World parks in San Diego and Orlando. And for the last decade or so, USH has pretty regularly been in that top 10 list.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***Technically, Disney doesn't own TDL, so they wouldn't really be the winner.*** That's a stretch. I'd venture to guess that VERY few people outside of chat boards such as this one know that. Heck, very few people even know there's a Disneyland in Tokyo at all, and they surely wouldn't be asking if it's owned by an outside company even if they heard it. I have to say, having spent an enormous time in TDL over the years and a fair amount of time in the Magic Kingdom as well, it's a rare day when the Magic Kingdom seems even remotely as busy. Maybe it's the way that people hop in and out that makes a difference, but we're talking HUGE differences here. And, along those lines, I've spent a fair amount of time in DisneySea and I don't believe THAT park is nearly as busy as they claim, either. Frankly, I think they skew the numbers in DisneySea's favor in order to make the place look more balanced, and in reality I think there are millions more customers traipsing around TDL than any reports claim. That's my unscientific take on it, but I'm sure Disney has their reasons and it does make sense that they would want Florida, the flagship, to be "the most popular park on Earth" even though it isn't.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***What you all seem to forget is the large amount of parties the Magic Kingdom does.*** Interesting.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip In a way... it is kind of like guys comparing penis size. No one's going to believe what the other guy says anyway, and even if they do, what difference does it really make? ;-) Okey Dokey then... time to go to bed.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>That's a stretch. I'd venture to guess that VERY few people outside of chat boards such as this one know that. Heck, very few people even know there's a Disneyland in Tokyo at all...<< I kind of doubt that there are too many people outside of the message boards who are actually reading the annual theme park attendance report either ; ) Of those that do, I would assume that most know that TDR exists, and a decent portion of those people probably realize that it isn't owned by Disney. I didn't know about OLC during my first TDR visit, but I learned about it not too long after
