Originally Posted By dennis-in-ct The latest Al Lutz article talked about DL getting new e-tickets (plural) in newly expanded areas in the coming years. All because of the turnstile click to attendance ratio. I am wondering how that ratio is for WDW?
Originally Posted By MPierce What the heck is the turnstile click to attendance ratio. I have to much to read here before I go read Al's column.
Originally Posted By sjhym33 I went back to reread Al's article. Here is my understanding from what he writes and what I know about the parks. Disney has always run under a model that basically says a guest should be able to do X number of rides in an 8 hour day. Al says that number is 10 at Disneyland. It is different for each park. But that X is the magical number. So if the parks attendance goes up, the operating hours need to be extended so that a guest can hit that X number. On days when attendance is slow you can run a shorter day and that guest can still hit that X number. Al is saying that the folks at Disneyland realise that on busy days the avg guest is not hitting that X number. In fact on real busy days they may be falling 2-4 attractions short of that. So the thought is to add attractions to up the capacity within the park to hit that X number. It also means that you can increase your top in-park number because there are more places for guests to be. I think this is more a problem at Disneyland because of the number of locals plus tourists on some weekends and during holiday periods, though many DL annual passes are blocked out during the busy holiday season. At WDW it really isnt an issue except during Christmas and Easter weeks and July 4th. And the MK and EPCOT have very high in-park capacities, so it isnt as important at WDW.
Originally Posted By mousermerf What I don't get is that Epcot's X is like 8.. and if using that for growth, it's going to be stuck there forever.
Originally Posted By cheesybaby <<Disney has always run under a model that basically says a guest should be able to do X number of rides in an 8 hour day.>> To be clear, X is not decided on arbitrarily by management. My understanding is it is based (at least partially) on guest surveys and complaints. If people complain "the place is too crowded! I was only able to go on Y rides!" then they know that X has to be greater than Y. Basically they are trying to build enough attractions so that people don't complain or express that the park was not a value for the money. This is what determines the actually number value of X, and X may change over time. For example, APers probably have a lower requirement for X, where tourists would demand more. As this guest ratio changes, so would X.
Originally Posted By MPierce Didn't they stop taking those guest surveys at WDW. I could swear I read that somewhere.
Originally Posted By -em I was part of a zip code survey today... Don't usually get asked anything more than that but the survey takers are out in full force
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Didn't they stop taking those guest surveys at WDW. I could swear I read that somewhere.>> About 3/4ers of the department were let go in early 2009. But the surveys were largely a waste of time and the company's money. They were absurdly skewed to justify decisions management had already made. When even with all the payoffs they made to guests for the boutique animal park STILL resulted in hugely negative results, I knew it was only a matter of time before they pulled the plug.
