Crowd Outlook

[RivShore]

that could be, i am still in the very small camp of they said they would bring it back so i took them at their word, and now it's back, but i can see your logic

Like you, I think they always intended to bring it back, with the biggest delay being staffing. They must feel they will be in a good place with staffing by then.

 

[Jrb1979]

Like you, I think they always intended to bring it back, with the biggest delay being staffing. They must feel they will be in a good place with staffing by then.

Like I said earlier I didn't doubt they would bring it back. I don't think it has anything to do with staffing. The timing tells me the forecast for bookings is looking soft for the new year as well.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Odd, we are in Epcot at least a few times a month and have never seen the countries not busy (this year). I do agree that the booths don't seem as busy for this festival but maybe F&G just doesn't have as good a selection as some of the other festivals. But La Cava, no line? Never ever saw that. When?? How did I miss this? Next time put out a red alert!! LOL

I go to Epcot more than any of the other parks and definitely noticed that it was quieter than usual. The area between the International Gateway and the UK pavilion is usually wall to wall people on weekend afternoons but this time that area seemed dead. This is just my opinion but Flower and Garden has the worst tasting food. Germany's booth this year was so bad that I was kind of taken aback by it.

Same here. That usually gets a line that almost goes out of the pyramid but when I walked by it looked to be a 5 min or less wait.

 

[DCLMP]

Based on what exactly?

What do you base it on not getting worse?

 

[DCLMP]

Hard to say this far out, anecdotally i have been helping people plan trips for 24' specifically because of the dining plan. There is potential for it to sway in either direction and there are so many factors that we haven't even brought up that could be affecting this years dip, I'm not saying that you're wrong i just think it's too early

I'm not seeing improvement economically. What's gone on over the last two years was not normal or sustainable. The first thing people cut back on is vacations. You still need to eat. I just got back from grocery shopping and filling my tank and that's a whole other issue.
I expect to see the 35% discounts become the norm again like they were prior to 2022. If I remember correctly it's been a long time since we saw Fall discounts. It seems like that was always the one quarter of the year when discounts were scarce. I'm actually kind of shocked at how good they are and how early they announced them. I think we'll definitely go back in 2024 if this trend continues.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

I'm not seeing improvement economically. What's gone on over the last two years was not normal or sustainable. The first thing people cut back on is vacations. You still need to eat. I just got back from grocery shopping and filling my tank and that's a whole other issue.
I expect to see the 35% discounts become the norm again like they were prior to 2022. If I remember correctly it's been a long time since we saw Fall discounts. It seems like that was always the one quarter of the year when discounts were scarce. I'm actually kind of shocked at how good they are and how early they announced them. I think we'll definitely go back in 2024 if this trend continues.

yeah, again it's so hard to say. this type of economy has never happened before so it's anyone's guess to what comes next

 

[Jrb1979]

yeah, again it's so hard to say. this type of economy has never happened before so it's anyone's guess to what comes next

It is hard to say. Like the PP said it is concerning when they are offering discounts for the fall and the holidays.

 

[DCLMP]

I always thought Disney benefited from the difficulty of international travel. It's the only reason we went to WDW in 21 and 22. Now that you can jump on a plane again and the only documentation you need is a passport are people going to places outside the US? In May we spent 17 days (12 of those on a ship) in Europe and it was no more expensive than a Disney trip.

 

[DCLMP]

It is hard to say. Like the PP said it is concerning when they are offering discounts for the fall and the holidays.

Are Disney+sales that bad that they had to bribe people with WDW discounts? If I had plans to go in the Fall I'd sign up for the discount and then cancel my subscription.

 

[fatmanatee]

Are Disney+sales that bad that they had to bribe people with WDW discounts? If I had plans to go in the Fall I'd sign up for the discount and then cancel my subscription.

They've been doing this for awhile. It's a way to juice subscriptions because the stock price has been more closely tied to the streaming business.

 

[fatmanatee]

It is hard to say. Like the PP said it is concerning when they are offering discounts for the fall and the holidays.

They were doing it in 2019.

 

[Moliphino]

They were doing it in 2019.

We did free dining trips in early/mid December for years.

 

[RivShore]

What do you base it on not getting worse?

I didn't say that...I was just wondering what your crystal ball was saying. LOL

No doubt travel goes back to pre-pandemic levels, if that's all you were saying, I agree. It just seemed you were calling for something much worse.

 

[RivShore]

They were doing it in 2019.

Interesting! So there is nothing unusual about the discounts being offered, compared to the pre-pandemic world, anyway.

 

[fatmanatee]

Interesting! So there is nothing unusual about the discounts being offered, compared to the pre-pandemic world, anyway.

A few sites have documented the history of WDW discounts over the years, it seems like they consistently offered something until 2020, when, well... you know. As mentioned before, that sometimes included free meal plans of some sort. They're not doing that now, they're instead offering bigger discounts on the rooms themselves, but I would guess that you're still spending significantly more on your hotel stay after the discount now than you were pre-COVID. In my view they overdid it with the price increases and they have two choices for a course correction: reducing the base prices or discounts. And you can see which direction they chose.

 

[Brian Noble]

it is concerning when they are offering discounts for the fall and the holidays.

"Concerning" here being another word for "entirely normal."

(To be fair, the rate of discount is unusual, but the presence of discounting for those dates is not. It will also be interesting to see how much inventory is discounted---and we won't know that for a bit, until more people try to book it.)

 

[Upatnoon]

As a Florida resident, I can't remember Disney not having some kind of discount or offer. The big difference has been expanding the deals in the summer and reducing them in the winter/spring. Hot=cheaper, cool = more expensive.

And, of course, the floor on these deals are way up. 35% off is great on a deluxe, but when the room has a rack rate of $700-$800 it's still a hefty price tag.

At Epcot, which was "full" with no park reservations available, the lines to the individual food booth didn't look oppressive, however, there are just more places to eat at Epcot now. Connections Cafe is huge and was packed when I went in there. Space 220 was packed as well.

It appeared to me that everything was open, dispersing the crowds more perhaps.

 

[DCLMP]

They were doing it in 2019.

Not 35% in the Fall. It’s what they offered during Covid and during the last recession. I remember them going as high as 40-45% the last recession. Maybe will see that again. The problem is that he cost of eating at WDW is so high and that’s not getting discounted. The scaled down dining plan they are offering is ridiculously expensive.

 

[BrianL]

Not 35% in the Fall. It’s what they offered during Covid and during the last recession. I remember them going as high as 40-45% the last recession. Maybe will see that again. The problem is that he cost of eating at WDW is so high and that’s not getting discounted. The scaled down dining plan they are offering is ridiculously expensive.

Yeah, but remember that if they have the plan they can use Free Dining as the carrot to drive resort bookings.

 

[DCLMP]

Yeah, but remember that if they have the plan they can use Free Dining as the carrot to drive resort bookings.

Then you pay rack rate. It’s always been one or the other.

Fall discounts in 2019 were 10-20%. That’s is far back as mouse-savers goes.