Congrats to Magic Kingdom!!

[momof2n2]

Some people are complete roller coaster fanatics and they travel the country to ride them. I would imagine that parks like Cedar Point would rate far higher to them then what they might see as kiddie parks. It's all a matter of perspective and taste.

People are rating the parks individually or at least should be. They should not be rating the overall resort because that isn't what is being asked.

The Magic Kingdom is an amusement park and I bet that most travelers see it as that. It's not an insult but simply a fact. It's not that complicated.

I agree completely.
And - by the same token - they are all theme parks - with the theme for me being: Having fun with my family with rides and shows.

At the risk of having tons of people disagree with me - I think whatever "theme" they are trying to pack into Epcot and DHS is a little shaky these days. What is Epcot's theme? Future World isn't very futuristic anymore. And if other countries get taken over like Norway did, WS will not be very clear either. Sure - someone will pop right on and point out that the theme of HS is movies and television. But since that park opened I've found the "lands" hard to hold to hard and fast rules. And if you've been to BGT and BGW or Dollywood, or other parks, you know that they label different sections with different titles and do some theming within. It's no different, IMO. Sure - the Disney IP items are more specific and well-known. But we are splitting hairs if we are saying WDW parks are theme parks and most others are "just" amusement parks.

ETA - if Avatarland come to AK, will the theme then be first and foremost "conservation"? Because that's not how it will play in our home. It will be - the animal park with the blue people section. Not that that will be bad... it just emphasizes my point that "theme" is kind of nebulous.

 

[DoingDisney]

2005 Universal had 6.1 million.

Good for them for their jump:
http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200512/2/

Where has in the 1990s Magic Had 19 million ... and in 2014 had 19 million ...

Universal is doing well, investing Smartly.

Now, I think WDW can KILL them, much bigger, much more money to throw around, many more properties to incorporate into the parks .... the question is ... will they do it ?

 

[DoingDisney]

I lived in Indiana until recent move.We had a great park called Holiday World at Santa Claus,IN.Gave free drinks and sunscreen to all, soft drinks. Had some great wooden coasters and a few good live shows.If you are ever up that way give them a try.I think $52.00 ticket is worth it,sorry I can't remember childs ticket cost.They are closed in winter,cold weather.Do open front area around Christmas for meet with Santa pictures no rides open.Has great decorations and no charge to see Santa and he gives out free candy to children.

I think there are a lot of little gems around the country that people forget about, Darien Lake in NY is one of my favs. Its no WDW, but for a couple hundred dollars myself and 7 friends can camp for a weekend and ride awesome stuff til we are blue in the face. Its a great time.

And I mean a couple hundred dollars total ... not each

 

[momof2n2]

I think Busch Gardens Tampa is more fun than than all the WDW parks. I just can't make a vacation out of it.

WDW benefits from all the pieces working together. If you split those parks up and put them in different geographical areas I am not sure how I would feel about them. I definitely wouldn't pay a $100.00 cover charge to get into the food and wine festival. Actually, I still can't explain why I do that???

I'm not sure I would even go to Dhs except maybe during Star Wars weekends. I love DAK, I would travel to go there.

But put them all together and bam!

We made a vacation out of SW/BGT/Aquatica last year and we did not find ourselves missing WDW. Granted, we got a bit of a princess fix on DCL. But no one was lamenting the lack of Splash when we had Journey to Atlantis, or Barnstormer when we had and entire Elmo land with a TON of rides, etc. It really made for a great trip.

 

[BigAlsGal]

Anyone think maybe a part of that might be the fact that Disney even draws people who don't like theme parks at all? Most parent feel obligated to take their children to Disney. Even if they typically avoid theme parks like the plague. I'm sure lots of people feeling obligated to let their children see Disney would loath the crowds, heat, work, and overwhelmingness of it all.

 

[momof2n2]

I think there are a lot of little gems around the country that people forget about, Darien Lake in NY is one of my favs. Its no WDW, but for a couple hundred dollars myself and 7 friends can camp for a weekend and ride awesome stuff til we are blue in the face. Its a great time.

My amazing, wonderful, utterly fantastic day at Darien Lake last month provided me with such a tremendous return on our investment that I have wondered aloud on other message boards if WDW can even come close to the dollars-per-hour fun we had there. Glad you got to experience it.

 

[DoingDisney]

Anyone think maybe a part of that might be the fact that Disney even draws people who don't like theme parks at all? Most parent feel obligated to take their children to Disney. Even if they typically avoid theme parks like the plague. I'm sure lots of people feeling obligated to let their children see Disney would loath the crowds, heat, work, and overwhelmingness of it all.

This might also be a comment as to whether what disney is offering is actually as popular and well liked as some here like to assert.

I have seen a lot of this in the comments sections of articles referring to WDW. There are a LOT of people that chime in with how their trip was a "rip off" or that the "only did it once for their kids and are never going back to that *insert unflattering description*" ...

I actually think this is a very interesting point, especially in conjunction with what used to be thrown at a lot of people with complaints "Disney doesn't need you. lots of people waiting to replace you anyway" type stuff ...

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Where has in the 1990s Magic Had 19 million ... and in 2014 had 19 million ...

Universal is doing well, investing Smartly.

Now, I think WDW can KILL them, much bigger, much more money to throw around, many more properties to incorporate into the parks .... the question is ... will they do it ?

With a 9/11 and a recession in between.

The answer is--they already are in process The opinions of those who dislike it or say it isn't enough notewithstanding.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Anyone think maybe a part of that might be the fact that Disney even draws people who don't like theme parks at all? Most parent feel obligated to take their children to Disney. Even if they typically avoid theme parks like the plague. I'm sure lots of people feeling obligated to let their children see Disney would loath the crowds, heat, work, and overwhelmingness of it all.

Odd to lament that Disney attracts even folks who may not like theme parks as though it were a bad thing.

 

[DoingDisney]

With a 9/11 and a recession in between.

The answer is--they already are in process The opinions of those who dislike it or say it isn't enough notewithstanding.

9/11 and a recession really isn't an excuse, well no no it is an excuse, but its not a valid reason. Other businesses, theme parks, vacation spots (Universal for example, but MANY others) have seen growth over that period, considerable growth in fact. Magic Kingdom hasn't ... No company, none, would say "Its great that we have the same level of business we did 25 years ago, thats a good sign" ... its not.

I agree they are doing stuff though, and I think there is more that none of us know about, but a LOT of what they have done lately has been about squeezing more money out of guests as opposed to offering guests more for their money. I hope that changes, I think it will ... but I have been wrong before.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I think there are a lot of little gems around the country that people forget about, Darien Lake in NY is one of my favs. Its no WDW, but for a couple hundred dollars myself and 7 friends can camp for a weekend and ride awesome stuff til we are blue in the face. Its a great time.

And I mean a couple hundred dollars total ... not each

There are lots of gems.

Here is what I noted. We went to Hershey Park last year with a group sales ticket (saved a lot of money). The park was great. We had a wonderful time. I could not get over how EMPTY the park was. They had a parking lot tram cars only partially filled the lot to the first stop rendering the tram barely necessary. We were there on a weekday, so maybe that played into it. But it was just before a major holiday and I wondered where all the people were.

The park was even selling their FOTL pass things for a pretty penny. But they were totally unnecessary. I would have been livid if we had spent the money.

I see these gems as more so weekend hops for folks in close proximity. Rarely do you hear of folks flying or otherwise driving long distances to attend them.

You hear that about Disney and USO and DL to a lesser extent since folks often expand that as a Southern California trip. But who else where the prime purpose of the trip is to go to that theme/amusement park?

Hershey had only 3.2 million visitors.

 

[BigAlsGal]

Odd to lament that Disney attracts even folks who may not like theme parks as though it were a bad thing.

Well it's a bad thing if you want to get good ratings because I think people who don't like theme parks will give all theme parks bad reviews.

I know people who are like this. Hate theme parks but "had to let the kids see disney once!" Had very little good to say. Hot, crowded, noisy. Might go on trip
Advisor and spout off about it. Places like Dollywood and universal probably get less people like this.

Again just a though. It's just trip advisor.

 

[DOOM1001]

You can't pay attention to this list,if you were going to put a Universal park at #1 it would have to be the main Universal park and not IOA which aside from Potter hasn't had a true major addition since it opened.Discovery Cove is too much of a specialty park to have it even ranked and how in the world is DHS that high,too many ancient attractions and closed attractions,,it doesn't deserve to be ranked.Epcot,Sea World Orlando,Cedar Point and Busch Gardens Tampa are all way too low in the mid teens,those four should be near the top 10 clearly ahead of Beto Carrero and Port Aventura,slightly ahead of Europa park which I've heard many good things about and Tivoli Gardens which is a classic and how they don't mention Tokyo Disneysea is the biggest reason you just can't pay attention to this list.In my list I left off Discovery Cove,too specialized of a park even though it is a great experience,Beto Carrero,don't know much about it,all I know is that it's in Brazil.Disney Studios in France is not a good park,possibly the worst park out of all the Disney parks worldwide,Gardarland and a lot of similar European parks have mediocre theming and mediocre coasters and DHS in the state it's in does not belong in the top 25.MK is a classic and you just have to have it number one,I'm Florida biased so I put USF and Epcot #2 and #3 otherwise Disneyland might go number #2 or #1 for some.

Here's my top 25:

1.MK
2.Universal Studios Orlando
3.Epcot
4.Disneyland park
5.Tokyo Disneysea
6.Cedar Point
7.Tokyo Disneyland
8.Islands of Adventure
9.Universal Studios Hollywood
10.Sea World Orlando
11.Busch Gardens Williamsburg
12.Busch Gardens Tampa
13.California Adventure
14.Europa Park
15.Universal Studios Singapore
16.Dollywood
17.Port Aventura
18.Disneyland Paris
19.Six Flags Magic Mountain
20.Tivoli Gardens
21.Universal Japan
22.Six Flags Great Adventure
23.Silver Dollar City
24.Ocean park
25.Animal Kingdom

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

9/11 and a recession really isn't an excuse, well no no it is an excuse, but its not a valid reason. Other businesses, theme parks, vacation spots (Universal for example, but MANY others) have seen growth over that period, considerable growth in fact. Magic Kingdom hasn't ... No company, none, would say "Its great that we have the same level of business we did 25 years ago, thats a good sign" ... its not.

I agree they are doing stuff though, and I think there is more that none of us know about, but a LOT of what they have done lately has been about squeezing more money out of guests as opposed to offering guests more for their money. I hope that changes, I think it will ... but I have been wrong before.

Many businesses closed post 9/11 and during the recessions. Those who survived saw dips
Why do you think Disney had all those fantastic deals?

So it is quite the valid reason of you look at a start and end number and fail to note what occurred in between those two numbers.

USO's considerable growth occurred in the last part of that window.

1998-2001 USO declining since 1997
http://www.solarius.com/dvp/wdw/attendance_figures.htm

2005 now with USO and IOA
Decline from 2004 11.86 million guests

2006, they declined thanks to IOA. (MK has over 16 million guests)
http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200704/320/

2011 has 30% at IOA (but much less for USO)surge because Harry potter opened. http://thedisneyblog.com/2011/06/16/tea-theme-park-attendance-report-released/


Just over 11.8 million (11.88 to be exact and just a tiny smidge over 2005 attendance. With a brand spanking new everyone wants to go Harry Potter section. Weird For a huge surge. Disney has a small dip.)

2012
Disney going up and USO only a little ahead for USO but over 5% for IOA. HP newness wore off.

http://www.aecom.com/deployedfiles/Internet/Capabilities/Economics/_documents/2012 Theme Index Combined_1-1_online.pdf

And then we have 2014. Yes IOA surged. But USO barely moved. What happened? New Harry Potter stuff again. But it didn't generate the surge that 2011 did. IOA was flat and MK was up. It is doubtful that USO/IOA will repeat that surge next year. There is no historical basis to have a big jump 2 years in a row.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Well it's a bad thing if you want to get good ratings because I think people who don't like theme parks will give all theme parks bad reviews.

I know people who are like this. Hate theme parks but "had to let the kids see disney once!" Had very little good to say. Hot, crowded, noisy. Might go on trip
Advisor and spout off about it. Places like Dollywood and universal probably get less people like this.

Again just a though. It's just trip advisor.

People like to hate on Disney. You see it often in any story where "Disney" is part of the headline. But yet they still maintain a good rating on TA.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Chiming in late, I think the difference between Disney/Uni and other amusement parks are the big interior dark rides and the use of heavy theming. Other major theme/amusement parks usually have some combo of steel coasters, kiddie carnival-type rides and some shows/animals to balance things out. Theming might be there but lighter. I think of these as regional destinations, it would be somewhere I would drive to for a long weekend, but I wouldn't buy airfare for them.

BGT and BGW would fall into this category for me, Hershey, even SeaWorld to an extent.

 

[LOL!]

Anyone think maybe a part of that might be the fact that Disney even draws people who don't like theme parks at all? Most parent feel obligated to take their children to Disney. Even if they typically avoid theme parks like the plague. I'm sure lots of people feeling obligated to let their children see Disney would loath the crowds, heat, work, and overwhelmingness of it all.

Odd to lament that Disney attracts even folks who may not like theme parks as though it were a bad thing.

I don't think it's odd at all. In fact, I think it is a very astute observation. Just the other evening I saw a commercial on TV where Disney was advertising to grandparents and lamenting on how they should take their grandchildren to Disney World. In fact, they should take their entire family! I'm not making that up, it's exactly what the ad said and who it targeted! Obviously they've identified grandparents as an especially loyal group who might even be able to afford or influence a trip for the whole family. They don't necessarily do it because they enjoy theme or amusement parks, they do it because they enjoy providing experiences for their family.

Here's a link to just one of them: A "GRAND" Adventure

 

[LOL!]

Chiming in late, I think the difference between Disney/Uni and other amusement parks are the big interior dark rides and the use of heavy theming. Other major theme/amusement parks usually have some combo of steel coasters, kiddie carnival-type rides and some shows/animals to balance things out. Theming might be there but lighter. I think of these as regional destinations, it would be somewhere I would drive to for a long weekend, but I wouldn't buy airfare for them.

BGT and BGW would fall into this category for me, Hershey, even SeaWorld to an extent.

When I read that I couldn't help but think of Space Mountain and Dinoland.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I don't think it's odd at all. In fact, I think it is a very astute observation. Just the other evening I saw a commercial on TV where Disney was advertising to grandparents and lamenting on how they should take their grandchildren to Disney World. In fact, they should take their entire family! I'm not making that up, it's exactly what the ad said and who it targeted! Obviously they've identified grandparents as an especially loyal group who might even be able to afford or influence a trip for the whole family. They don't necessarily do it because they enjoy theme or amusement parks, they do it because they enjoy providing experiences for their family.

Here's a link to just one of them: A "GRAND" Adventure

Odd to discredit attendance because people get their arm twisted to go "at least once out of a sense of obligation".

Of that were the case, it would less to MORE negative feedback making it LESS likely for someone to make the decision to go at all.

Yes, Disney has an excellent marketing department to cater to that emotion, but they don't have the means to compel attendance.

People aren't going to spend all that money because they hate something.

 

[LOL!]

Odd to discredit attendance because people get their arm twisted to go "at least once out of a sense of obligation".

Of that were the case, it would less to MORE negative feedback making it LESS likely for someone to make the decision to go at all.

Yes, Disney has an excellent marketing department to cater to that emotion, but they don't have the means to compel attendance.

People aren't going to spend all that money because they hate something.

I think that's exactly what an excellent marketing department is expected to do.