Do Full Hotels = Busy Parks?

[DrKnow]

Hello all,

We scheduled a trip to WDW the week after Thanksgiving, which is typically a slow period at the parks (according to all my reading materials). However, I noticed that many of the WDW hotels were booked up this week. Do fully booked hotels translate to high park attendance? Or are WDW hotel guests just a small percentage of visitors to the parks?



Thanks!
DrKnow

 

[aubreysmom09]

We are booked this week also. We have friends that booked 2 days ago for the same week, but just couldn't get FD due to those rooms being sold out. I'm kind of curious myself.

 

[Tltorrez]

It depends. Sometimes there are specific groups or events that affect resorts but not parks. Though they're usually specific resorts and not across the board. Gartner affects the Boardwalk area in October and POP Warner hits valus/mods in early Dec. Neither affects the parks much.

 

[Masonmj84]

One thing to keep in mind is that Disney strives to keep resort occupancy relatively constant, regardless of how busy the parks are.

Assuming the are relatively successful at accomplishing this (and it's my understanding that they generally are), this would logically mean that during, less busy, off-season periods, a higher percentage of park visitors are resort guests (and vice-versa during peak, busy seasons).

This makes sense given that it's relatively a much better deal to stay on-site (versus off-site) during less busy, off-season periods than it is during peak periods.

An interesting experiment would be to determine, after Wishes, the relative number of people leaving the MK that go to the ferry/Monorail and the number that go to the resort busses (granted, some of the ferry/Monorail passangers are staying at Monorail resorts, but they represent a very small percentage of that total) during: (A) a peak season (such as week after Easter or between Christmas and New Year); and (B) a relatively slow, off-season period (such as mid-September or late January).

My guess is that there would be a very substantial relative crowd difference on the ferry/Monorail between the peak and slow season but only a very minor relative crowd difference on the busses.

 

[hgeisler]

They have a lot of business conventions as well. My hubby gets ads for anesthesia stuff going on there all the time.

 

[ctl]

Yes, if FD is added for that time period, it usually fiulls up the resorts where it is offered. The week after Thanksgiving has been getting busier and busier over the past 10 years. We alwasy used to visit that week or the following week and we have found that it is almost as busy these days as Thanksgiving week.

 

[RMulieri]

Full resorts do NOT always mean packed parks.It simply might mean that due to promotions more people chose to stay onsite rather than off.HOWEVER ...The week following Thanksgiving is now more average crowds than super low/empty.It used to be the slowest time of year, but Disney has definitely marketed this time quite well

 

[spritna]

well unless everybody stays in there rooms.....it might be a little busier

 

[Planogirl]

well unless everybody stays in there rooms.....it might be a little busier

It depends on what people plan to do. We usually stay offsite but are onsite this year due to a good pin. We still plan to visit attractions elsewhere though so park-wise we haven't really changed. I don't know if a lot of people are like us or not.

 

[shocker]

I've been on the monorail when they announced ALL resort rooms were booked for that night!! I didn't notice a change in park activity as compared to the rest of our stay. One thing to remember is there are a lot of things they can do behind the scenes to move crowds through the line queues quicker, or add show times, open up "seasonal" restaurant options and such that can ease overcrowded times. So your overall experience won't likely change much. Resort capacity does not equal Park capacity.


The good news about FD rooms being at capacity is that these folks will find themselves spending more time experiencing the dining than other attractions. If you are not on FD and still want to sit down to dine, then make sure to make your ADR's WAY ahead of schedule. If not, then plan on only quick dining options and focus on the attractions leaving the others to crowd the restaurants.


Have a great trip.

 

[softballmom3]

I've been on the monorail when they announced ALL resort rooms were booked for that night!! I didn't notice a change in park activity as compared to the rest of our stay. One thing to remember is there are a lot of things they can do behind the scenes to move crowds through the line queues quicker, or add show times, open up "seasonal" restaurant options and such that can ease overcrowded times. So your overall experience won't likely change much. Resort capacity does not equal Park capacity.


The good news about FD rooms being at capacity is that these folks will find themselves spending more time experiencing the dining than other attractions. If you are not on FD and still want to sit down to dine, then make sure to make your ADR's WAY ahead of schedule. If not, then plan on only quick dining options and focus on the attractions leaving the others to crowd the restaurants.


Have a great trip.

So, so true! We had free dining last Thanksgiving week (checked in Saturday before) and I felt like all we did was eat or get ready to eat! We did have a great time but this time it will be QS dining or just out of pocket! Too much wasted time for us .