Interesting article about Tokyo Disneyland's 20th

[d-r]

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030412/leisure_japan_disneyland_1.html

For a decade, the grim reality of Japan's economy stopped at the gates of Tokyo Disneyland, but it may finally be creeping in as per-customer sales fall and attendance figures fall short of target.

 

[KNWVIKING]

I had read this article before this thread was post and I started laughing to myself. Then this thread basically validated what I was laughing about. This thread was dropping to the bottom of the page without a single comment. Now,had this article been talking about WDW there would be at least three pages of flames against ME about him making excuses.

 

[Bstanley]

That was sarcasm, right?

With the total number of visitors to theme parks in Japan in a nose dive (down about 50% comparing 1997 to 2001) they booked a record 24.8 million people (40% of ALL theme park visitors) and almost as many as WDW and DL combined!

They plan to spend 15 Billion Yen (~$150 Million) a year for new attractions.

$2 Billion for Disney Seas vs $700 million for DCA.

I ... -WISH- ... that Disney USA had the intestinal fortitude to have done what Oriental Land did.

IMHO people would be FLOCKING to a park like Disney Seas if it had been built in Anaheim.

 

[KNWVIKING]

I'm not overly impressed with DLT's 24 million guests. Japan is a little smaller then Ca. Lets move Ca a couple hundred miles off the coast of North America, then pack 127 million people onto it. Wonder what DL and even DCA would draw then. Then throw in Hong Kong and Tiawan and all the rest on the massive Asian population just for good measure.

PS: BStanley. Great quote at the bottom of your posts.

 

[mickeyminnie]

with the sars outbreak happening. I bet the tokyo park is empty, or close to it.

How sad

 

[KNWVIKING]

I think the article was saying just the opposite about SARS in that the people of Japan will stay in Japan, causing attendance to climb at DLT.

 

[Bstanley]

Gents, you need to look again.

Their attendance numbers should impress anyone:

By comparison, Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California lured a combined 26.3 million visitors last year.

To be in the same ballpark attendance-wise WDW(+DL!) would have had to have drawn TWICE as many visitors (with our larger population).

Ande the article doesn't say that attendance is down:

A record 24.8 million people, almost one-fifth of Japan's population, each shelled out almost $45 to visit Tokyo Disneyland and the adjacent Tokyo DisneySea last year

The question raised by the article is - Can they keep it up? IMHO I think they can - people will always pay for quality, and in fact just like with the Auto industry it looks like the Japanese are leading the way here again...

You know - with the growing dissatisfaction with the way the Disney parks in the US are being run into the ground by corporate overlords bent on using the cash raked off from the parks to fund their grandiose schemes it wouldn't surprise me that people from the West coast (especially) will start traveling to Tokyo to 'do Disney' rather than DL...hey the passes are cheaper...

 

[KNWVIKING]

"Oriental Land Co Ltd down 5.29 percent at a two-year low of 5,730 yen, after the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said on Saturday that attendance at the Tokyo Disney resort it operates was set to fall 12 percent year-on-year in the year ending March.

The total of 24.8 million visitors would be below the company's target, announced last May, of 25.5 million people."

I also read an article- trying to find it again- that did not treat the 24 million as a record attendance and that attendance indeed was off in DLT.

Of course I wish our Disney would invest tons more money, but I think it unfair to compare the two attendance figures. Japan has a vast population per square mile advantage over the USA. And while I don't have actual figures to back this up, I imagine that an Asia land mass the size of USA probably has about 1.5 billion potential customers.

I don't disagree at all that DLT is doing a lot of the right things, but I think their location has a lot to do with their success.

 

[raidermatt]

Something else to remember.... WDW has 4 parks, Tokyo DL has 2.

That aside, we all know Japan's economy has been struggling for a long time...10 years according to the article. Yet only now are serious questions being asked about a POSSIBLE decrease in attendance.

For a decade, the grim reality of Japan's economy stopped at the gates of Tokyo Disneyland...

How long was WDW able to hold off the grim reality of America's economy, which started faltering in 2000? A couple of hours?

I agree with Scoop that there is no simple solution. Certainly outside economic factors have a big impact on businesses like WDW. Nobody expects WDW to escape completely unscathed.

But the complaints about how they are running the parks can be traced back to long before the most recent economic troubles. The change in focus merely accelerated when the economy started faltering, and Disney's other businesses deteriorated.

 

[raidermatt]

This thread was dropping to the bottom of the page without a single comment.

Vike, before you get too far ahead of yourself....

I can only speak for myself, but I honestly hadn't opened this thread because I didn't have time to read every thread, and based on the title, I chose to pass on it. I assumed it was probably a post about TDL doing more for its 20th anniversary than than DL was planning for its 50th.

I only opened it when I saw the number of replies today.

Had nothing to do with what you were laughing about.

 

[Bob O]

I think the 1.5 billion pssoible customers has little relation to reality as the average person living on the asian mainland other than the japanese doesnt have the freedon nor the money to visit TDL.

 

[KNWVIKING]

I realize most of that population are not viable customers. A large portion of our own population probably can't afford a WDW or DL trip.


Whats the population of Hong Kong and Tiawan ? 30-40 million ?
Basically a population the size of CA ?

 

[Another Voice]

The popluation of Japan is about 127 million people in an area slightly smaller than the state of Califorina. The current population of the United States is 291 million people. Although Japan is much smaller, it's island nature and the expense of transportation vs. the cheapness and ease of American travel somewhat offset each other.

Location helps certainly, and so to does the differing business plans. Japan goes more for the local visitor and those going to Tokyo in hopes of getting a day or two visit. WDW's marketing is aimed at capturing and keeping the wallets for a whole week. Therefore an average guest's trip to Florida is significantly more expensive than an average trip to TDL. Higher expense always equals lower attendance.

As for those 1.5 billion customer - the Chinese government is a far bigger problem in getting all those happy wallets to Tokyo Disneyland than air travel.