A friend was there for SWL opening day and told me crowds were great. I’ve heard that from others, too. I leave for the park in about 20 mins. Hopefully that continues today
. A few people have asked me to grab new park maps that include SWL. I aim to grab a few.
I’m not sure what you mean. Were crowds or something not up to expectations or something? It seems to me like they had things planned and everything went perfectly. I wonder if they consider these first few weeks “beta testing.” Once SWL opens to the public, that’s when I suspect things will get a little... rambunctious ;-).
I can’t imagine management is happy running the park at max capacity hours and full(ish- real fireworks aren’t back until Fri I think?) entertainment with all their crowd control projects completed only to get lower crowds than have been seen in a couple years. Disney hotels are reported to have rooms available across the board for the next couple weeks (I played around with dates and even the standard rooms at Paradise Pier are still available for what random days I plugged in). If I were in charge of bringing in profits for Disneyland I would be in a panic worrying I had 3 more weeks of this ahead of me. There are 2 reports today that local hotels have dropped prices for the next couple weeks where the people rebooked and saved over 20%. I have no doubt Disney and the local hotels anticipated much higher turnout this weekend.
SWGE is his baby, he’s a self-confessed SW geek & this is pretty much his Parks legacy. I wouldn’t want to tell the big boss his baby led to the lowest park attendance & hotel capacity rates DLR has seen since X date but we hope it will get better soon! Unless it is just the parks running more efficiently than ever in which case there is nothing to worry about- but the hotel capacity is what is convincing me it is not.
I actually agree with you. Ghost town conditions are great for the guests, but not so much the shareholders. I suspect Disney is pleased with the reviews SWGE is getting this weekend, and extremely disappointed (panicked?) in the overall park attendance numbers.I can’t imagine management is happy running the park at max capacity hours and full(ish- real fireworks aren’t back until Fri I think?) entertainment with all their crowd control projects completed only to get lower crowds than have been seen in a couple years. Disney hotels are reported to have rooms available across the board for the next couple weeks (I played around with dates and even the standard rooms at Paradise Pier are still available for what random days I plugged in). If I were in charge of bringing in profits for Disneyland I would be in a panic worrying I had 3 more weeks of this ahead of me. There are 2 reports today that local hotels have dropped prices for the next couple weeks where the people rebooked and saved over 20%. I have no doubt Disney and the local hotels anticipated much higher turnout this weekend.
As for my quip about Iger- I couldn’t resist
Obviously you are correct the rubber meets the road when the Reservation system goes offline in a few weeks. I look forward to your reports this summer as all this shakes out!!
I doubt anyone is panicked about lack of crowds. There is value in things going well. What’s the number one complaint about Disneyland? Crowds. I bet everyone here knows at least one person who has said “I don’t want to go” or “I don’t like it because it’s too crowded”. Assuming the reservation period continues to be a smooth experience, it’s something that people will remember for years. For years to come you’ll have thousands of people spreading the word about how “the GE opening was actually really great and easy - Disney knows what they are doing”. That is good will that has real value that’ll last a long time.
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