Domestic park attendance down 4% in Q3

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/ocdisney/status/763121459535286273

Attendance woes continue.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Not at all surprising...not one bit

 

[beer dave]

Not at all surprising...not one bit

It's about time, too.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

It's about time, too.

Amen, my hops lovin' brotha...

 

[jade1]

Yep the wallet voting came....for some.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Yep the wallet voting came....for some.

It's Just the beginning...

Remember...the economy is "good"

Get
Your popcorn

 

[jade1]

It's Just the beginning...

Remember...the economy is "good"

Get
Your popcorn

Umm, kinda meant you.

Anyhow, expect expansion cuts I would assume, unless dollars and/or hotel bookings are up. Lighter crowds will be nice though.

 

[Iowamomof4]

Interesting that they blamed the decrease on the fact that Easter was in Q2 this year, yet wouldn't that have led to a rise in attendance for Q2 year-over-year? Yet there was a decrease (3%? Can't recall the percent) in Q2 and now another decrease in Q3.

EDIT: Okay, went back to check. Q2 domestic park attendance was relatively flat. WDW saw a "modest decrease" while DL saw an increase in attendance.

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

On the other hand, Theme park revenue increased 6 percent to $4.4 billion. (theme park) Operating income rose 8 percent to $994 million. I suspect that this news won't affect Disney's plan much.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-disney-attendance-earnings-20160809-story.html

Edit: the article doesn't mention, but I believe its Year-over-year revenue.

 

[rteetz]

Umm, kinda meant you.

Anyhow, expect expansion cuts I would assume, unless dollars and/or hotel bookings are up. Lighter crowds will be nice though.

Hotel bookings were up 3% domestically.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

On the other hand, Theme park revenue increased 6 percent to $4.4 billion. (theme park) Operating income rose 8 percent to $994 million. I suspect that this news won't affect Disney's plan much.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-disney-attendance-earnings-20160809-story.html

Edit: the article doesn't mention, but I believe its Year-over-year revenue.

Less people, spending more for the same due to price increases across the board.

It's nothing we all around here haven't recognized/predicted/stuck our heads in the sand and denied the existence of over the last couple years.

It's all according to plan.

The question is: is it sustainable or will the dominos start to fall?

That the kicker.

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

Hotel bookings were up 3% domestically.

Kind of strange. Why would hotel bookings go up and theme park attendance go down? I would think only a very small percentage of people would actually stay in a Disney hotel and not go into the park unless it's DVC owners. I doubt hordes of people are going to WDW just to hang out at Disney Springs, but maybe I'm wrong (if that's the case, then that's great news for Disney actually).

I suppose there's some weird way you could explain it, depending on how they define "theme park attendance", but it's not an obvious one.

Less people, spending more for the same due to price increases across the board.

It's nothing we all around here haven't recognized/predicted/stuck our heads in the sand and denied the existence of over the last couple years.

It's all according to plan.

The question is: is it sustainable or will the dominos start to fall?

That the kicker.

Yeah, I'm sure this result is not surprising to the Disney brass. Obviously, they would have preferred to increase prices AND maintain attendance, but I think that's not something that's reasonable to expect to happen forever.

I think if Star Wars Land / Pandora / Toy Story Land / whatever Marvel stuff is planned are successful, then it won't be a problem. People will gripe about the prices, but they will show up. If they end up being California Adventure circa 2001, you may see the dominos fall as you say.

 

[rteetz]

Kind of strange. Why would hotel bookings go up and theme park attendance go down? I would think only a very small percentage of people would actually stay in a Disney hotel and not go into the park unless it's DVC owners. I doubt hordes of people are going to WDW just to hang out at Disney Springs, but maybe I'm wrong (if that's the case, then that's great news for Disney actually).

I suppose there's some weird way you could explain it, depending on how they define "theme park attendance", but it's not an obvious one.



Yeah, I'm sure this result is not surprising to the Disney brass. Obviously, they would have preferred to increase prices AND maintain attendance, but I think that's not something that's reasonable to expect to happen forever.

I think if Star Wars Land / Pandora / Toy Story Land / whatever Marvel stuff is planned are successful, then it won't be a problem. People will gripe about the prices, but they will show up. If they end up being California Adventure circa 2001, you may see the dominos fall as you say.

Its a domestic number so occupancy could've been up at Disneyland but down at WDW. It's also possible that the offsite guests aren't coming to the parks like they used to. Not all tour groups stay on property and with the South American economy down that could affect attendance but not occupancy.

 

[luisov]

Kind of strange. Why would hotel bookings go up and theme park attendance go down? I would think only a very small percentage of people would actually stay in a Disney hotel and not go into the park unless it's DVC owners. I doubt hordes of people are going to WDW just to hang out at Disney Springs, but maybe I'm wrong (if that's the case, then that's great news for Disney actually).

I suppose there's some weird way you could explain it, depending on how they define "theme park attendance", but it's not an obvious one.

Could it be related to an increasing number of guests spending more time at Universal instead of the WDW parks but still staying on-site?

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Kind of strange. Why would hotel bookings go up and theme park attendance go down? I would think only a very small percentage of people would actually stay in a Disney hotel and not go into the park unless it's DVC owners. I doubt hordes of people are going to WDW just to hang out at Disney Springs, but maybe I'm wrong (if that's the case, then that's great news for Disney actually).

I suppose there's some weird way you could explain it, depending on how they define "theme park attendance", but it's not an obvious one.



Yeah, I'm sure this result is not surprising to the Disney brass. Obviously, they would have preferred to increase prices AND maintain attendance, but I think that's not something that's reasonable to expect to happen forever.

I think if Star Wars Land / Pandora / Toy Story Land / whatever Marvel stuff is planned are successful, then it won't be a problem. People will gripe about the prices, but they will show up. If they end up being California Adventure circa 2001, you may see the dominos fall as you say.

Could be a higher percentage of park guests staying in on-site hotels ... So fewer staying at off site hotels and/or less attendance from locals

And obviously they'd like both but if they had to choose I think they'd rather have increased $/person as that lets you reduce expenses (less staff for less guests)

 

[luisov]

So anyway, would you say this was Disney's plan all along? They keep saying the reason behind the price increases is to reduce the crowds at the parks, which it isn't. But still, would you say Disney actually wanted or expected to see reduced crowds (Which affect significantly customer satisfaction) but still report record profits?

 

[rteetz]

So anyway, would you say this was Disney's plan all along? They keep saying the reason behind the price increases is to reduce the crowds at the parks, which it isn't. But still, would you say Disney actually wanted or expected to see reduced crowds (Which affect significantly customer satisfaction) but still report record profits?

Maybe but what if they continue to raise prices and cut costs but then revenue starts dropping. There is no reasons with record profits and revenue that we should then see them cost cut in the parks, lay off employees, and cut major night time entertainment.

 

[jknc]

Room discounts looked pretty good at WDW the past few months.

 

[luisov]

Maybe but what if they continue to raise prices and cut costs but then revenue starts dropping. There is no reasons with record profits and revenue that we should then see them cost cut in the parks, lay off employees, and cut major night time entertainment.

Either the company isn't doing that well financially, or they are trying to pay for Shanghai and all the future expansions by looking desperately cheap.

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

So anyway, would you say this was Disney's plan all along? They keep saying the reason behind the price increases is to reduce the crowds at the parks, which it isn't. But still, would you say Disney actually wanted or expected to see reduced crowds (Which affect significantly customer satisfaction) but still report record profits?

Yes, I would say so. Disney has a supply problem when it comes the parks. They couldn't increase their profits simply by increasing volume of visitors, there's just not enough space. Higher crowds would just mean more complaints. They needed to either cut costs or increase profit per visitor, or both . When they increased their prices over the years, attendance continued to increase. So they jacked up the prices even faster, and cut costs as well.