The contention here was that DAK was a ghost town.
That was already retracted. It was hyperbole.
AK was successful in increasing operating income pre-9/11. Had AK fallen short of attendance expectations, this would not have been possible.
That's just not true.
A park, or any other business venture, can fall short of expectations and still make a profit. It just doesn't make the profit that was expected. (Unless costs are cut more than planned...)
First, for locals/regular weekenders/Florida residents it is not uncommon for them to own both Universal and Disney annual/seasonal passes. Combine that with the very inexpensive SeaWorld local/Florida resident deals and it all comes down to choice...do we use our pass to go to IOA today or DAK today...it does not cost them anything extra.
Sorry, Scoop. Must have missed the reports that told of the throngs who have annual passes to both Universal and WDW. Please re-post.
As for the more traditional vacationeer, the average WDW vacation I'm told is now between 5 and 6 days. Guests often buy 5 day park hoppers (very popular with 3d party package deals)...that means that they are choosing on their own to spend those extra hundred bucks anyways. They are just choosing to do it at a Disney park rather than a Univeral or Busch park.
???
IF your numbers are correct, this is exactly what the Head was saying. You take a 5 or 6 day vacation, you naturally buy a ticket package encompassing your stay.
Certainly much more simple than buying a shorter hopper (at a higher price per day), then looking for individual tickets for Universal.
These guests could easily downgrade to a 4 day or even 3 day park hopper (yes, not available at the gate or on the website but still available). If they downgraded to the 4 day park hopper, they'd come close to saving enough to do a day at Universal or a Busch park at break even.
Close, but still at an extra cost. And that's not including the time and effort to make the off-properaty trip, never mind the cost of transporatation.
Listen folks, I agree that DCA is getting lousy attendance, but DAK's attendance is strong and WDW is plenty pleased with it.
If they are, they are delusional.
They maybe pleased based on lowered expecatations after the first few years of disappointment, but that's hardly anything to brag about.
DAK was never expected to compete with the Magic Kingdom in terms of attendance.
That's a more strategic problem.
Again, that doesn't mean its a sterling hit, but its nothing more than speculation to suggest that its high attendance figures are the result of being at Disney.
Its also nothing more than speculation to suggest that its "high" attendance figures are not the result of being at Disney.
ANY reason for its attendance, whether you call it high or disappointing, is speculation.
There's just quite a bit of compelling evidence to suggest it gets a significant bump.
No, the reality is that pretty soon DAK is likely to become the second most profitable at WDW from what I hear.
Intresting speculation...
if it was really as much of a leech as some speculate...you'd expect that four or fifth day of the park hopper to be spent at one of the three other parks or at a competitor park with a downgraded park hopper.
Yes you would, for the three other parks. And the attendance figures support that happening at the other three parks.
We've already been through why that is too simplistic an assumption for the "competitor" parks.
