Bean Counters and shortsightedness

[PolymerSkywalker]

Yeah, I don't have the French-speaking grandparent, but I have observed the same--even making a very poor effort at French immediately places you in the "Not An Ugly American" category.

You got it......exactly! They are pleased you made an effort, and after that I found my dealings with the French was very pleasant.

Unfortunately, you will see plenty of the "Ugly American's" and I am always thinking .........crap, these people are gonna think we all act like that! When I lived in Asia, people used to tell me all the time I didn't act like an American???

 

[Moliphino]

Yeah, I don't have the French-speaking grandparent, but I have observed the same--even making a very poor effort at French immediately places you in the "Not An Ugly American" category.

More outside of Paris you sometimes get the people who are excited to try out their English on you (the people in Paris probably encounter enough English speakers that it's no longer exciting). I had one shopkeeper in Metz tell me to practice my French and he'd practice his English.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Very relevant to this conversation - saw this article posted on another forum

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/03/international-travel-surges-domestic-airfares-hotel-rates-lag.html

 

[wabbott]

Very relevant to this conversation - saw this article posted on another forum

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/03/international-travel-surges-domestic-airfares-hotel-rates-lag.html

Americans are going abroad in droves — at the expense of domestic travel​

Published Thu, Aug 3 20237:48 AM EDT
Leslie Josephs@lesliejosephs

Key Points

• Travelers are increasingly opting for destinations abroad at the expense of dometic trips.
• That’s driving up international airfares and room rates, while domestic growth lags.
• The shift is good news for passengers who want to stay closer to home — but bad news for airlines that have U.S.-heavy schedules.

 

[wabbott]

We were in Venice, Italy for 3 days in mid-July. It was crowded as could be.

 

[glocon]

Vidanta's Grand Mayan NV

Omg- I googled this since I never heard of it…
SO BEAUTIFUL!

 

[Brian Noble]

Yeah, it was great, and there are nicer resorts in the Vidanta NV complex. We also did a whale watching trip while we were there, and that was AMAZING. "Hellloooooo whaaaaaaaallllle!" (Bonus dolphin in the background.)

 

[jkh36619]

Not saying it needs to be exactly these rides but IMO the parks need long, high capacity people eater rides like Ellen's Energy Adventure and Great Movie Ride. Rides like Smuggler's Run and Rise don't really help with crowds because their capacity is so low.

Exactly right. I don't understand the need for everything to be an E ticket.

 

[mercuryvenus]

Current generations are building more nostalgia for Nintendo than Disney. Yes I think it’s going to be a problem.

What do you define as current generations? Disney has had multiple films in past 10 years that have grossed $1 billion. Not sure where the issue is in terms of popularity among young people.

 

[ForWhomTheMouseTolls]

I am shopping for passes now and saw on Undercover Tourist that a promotional 5-Day Park to Park pass at Universal Studios is $285. A 5-Day PH at WDW is $588, over twice as much as Universal. I was shocked.

I’d rather kill myself than spend five days in universal parks. They suck. They’re dirty, full of Trumpsters, and epic long lines unless I want to spend 200 dollars per day for express crap.

The roller coasters aren’t great. I’d rather spend a day in Cedar Point than any days at Universal. You all are crazy.

 

[ForWhomTheMouseTolls]

Oh and if you want to talk about dumb IP usage, why is Betty Boop coming up to me in Islands of Adventure. Does anyone under the age of 35 even know who she is?

 

[ForWhomTheMouseTolls]

Oh and what about the decrepit kids area with Popeye? I was there with five kids who had no idea who any of the characters were. It’s clearly been there since islands of adventure opened. You all are insane.

 

[ForWhomTheMouseTolls]

Do you all really think two mario rides, some monsters and a Harry potter land about some books most Harry potter fans haven’t read? You all crazy.

Universal is the Michigan State of Orlando and you all are their nutty fans.

 

[DisFanDad]

If Disney prices people out why is it still packed?

It's not - the crowds are well below pre-covid peaks. Down like 20%. But Disney is cutting services - running rides at lower capacity, offering fewer total park hours, cutting attractions / performances entirely, keeping things closed or reducing hours. Disney itself has said the parks are less busy, not more busy than pre-covid.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

It's not - the crowds are well below pre-covid peaks. Down like 20%. But Disney is cutting services - running rides at lower capacity, offering fewer total park hours, cutting attractions / performances entirely, keeping things closed or reducing hours. Disney itself has said the parks are less busy, not more busy than pre-covid.

I agree that crowds are down, but where are you getting 20% from? Nothing i can find mentions it being down that far, and hotel occupancy would say otherwise. I also haven't seen anything confirming rides are running at lower capacities, i know it was talked about that they were when Disney was ramping back up, but nothing confirmed on that from what i can see.

 

[DisFanDad]

I agree that crowds are down, but where are you getting 20% from? Nothing i can find mentions it being down that far, and hotel occupancy would say otherwise. I also haven't seen anything confirming rides are running at lower capacities, i know it was talked about that they were when Disney was ramping back up, but nothing confirmed on that from what i can see.

TEA / AECOM - who tracks this - had Magic Kingdom at 21 Million pre covid, and then at 17.1 Million in 2022. Roughly a 20% reduction.

Oh the rides are running at lower capacities - all you have to do is go to the parks and you can see it if you look for it, on what should be lower crowd days. We were just there for the last two weeks (just got back). Running Safari with only one truck at a time, running Big Thunder with only one side running, running the speedway with only one side open, some roller coasters with fewer vehicles, loading only one car at a time on Space Mountain, as just a few examples, in all of these cases there is also a clear decrease in the number of CM's working at the attractions, you can also see this in the stores/restaurants with registers not open, fewer CMs working, some stores/food outlets simply closed or with reduced hours. They may also have delayed openings for some attractions (this can sometimes be due to malfunctions). Easywdw (unfortunately gone now) had been tracking this behavior since before covid, this was part of the use of prebooking things with FP+, it allowed disney to reduce staffing. Disney have also talked about doing this openly in their investor calls.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

TEA / AECOM - who tracks this - had Magic Kingdom at 21 Million pre covid, and then at 17.1 Million in 2022. Roughly a 20% reduction.

Oh the rides are running at lower capacities - all you have to do is go to the parks and you can see it if you look for it, on what should be lower crowd days. We were just there for the last two weeks (just got back). Running Safari with only one truck at a time, running Big Thunder with only one side running, running the speedway with only one side open, some roller coasters with fewer vehicles, loading only one car at a time on Space Mountain, as just a few examples, in all of these cases there is also a clear decrease in the number of CM's working at the attractions, you can also see this in the stores/restaurants with registers not open, fewer CMs working, some stores/food outlets simply closed or with reduced hours. They may also have delayed openings for some attractions (this can sometimes be due to malfunctions). Easywdw (unfortunately gone now) had been tracking this behavior since before covid, this was part of the use of prebooking things with FP+, it allowed disney to reduce staffing. Disney have also talked about doing this openly in their investor calls.

Reducing staffing during slower times makes sense, you aren't going to run attractions at 100% capacity if you don't have wall to wall crowds, Disney has been doing that forever. So when rides are at 15min waits there's no need to run at 100% capacity. That just doesn't seem relevant for the argument, if they a running low when crowds are through the roof i think your point would be more understandable.

Disney flat out said they were limiting capacity last year primarily because they were still ramping up hiring since they were in a pretty large hole from covid. We do not know what this years numbers look like yet so it's impossible to say crowds are currently down 20%.

I still think Disney is crawling out of the Covid hole in employment to a certain degree, but that seems to be affecting primarily hours of operation at this time, not so much rides IMO, I personally think it's come a long way since Covid and has been getting better.

 

[mom2rtk]

Reducing staffing during slower times makes sense, you aren't going to run attractions at 100% capacity if you don't have wall to wall crowds, Disney has been doing that forever. So when rides are at 15min waits there's no need to run at 100% capacity. That just doesn't seem relevant for the argument, if they a running low when crowds are through the roof i think your point would be more understandable.

Disney flat out said they were limiting capacity last year primarily because they were still ramping up hiring since they were in a pretty large hole from covid. We do not know what this years numbers look like yet so it's impossible to say crowds are currently down 20%.

I still think Disney is crawling out of the Covid hole in employment to a certain degree, but that seems to be affecting primarily hours of operation at this time, not so much rides IMO, I personally think it's come a long way since Covid and has been getting better.

Right? Why offer a 15 minute wait when you can offer a 30 minute wait!

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

Right? Why offer a 15 minute wait when you can offer a 30 minute wait!

from the consumers point no wait would be best, but there is a business component that can't be ignored

 

[mom2rtk]

from the consumers point no wait would be best, but there is a business component that can't be ignored

This is absolutely true when you no longer strive to be the best.