Lack of crowds and Disney's response

[gottalovepluto]

by then they might have to roll out Paint the Night......

Not when they’re in cost cutting mode

 

[mamapenguin]

There’s not a chance in the world I’d pay $450 for Paradise Pier! $250 I’d think about it. The pricing for DL hotels are crazy. I’ve stayed at Grand Floridian in WDW on a good discount for $250!
At DL I just stay offsite in a walkable hotel closer to the parks than Paradise.


Our offsite hotel a block from the gates has had 2 price drops already for our Aug dates! Yay!

Disney doesn’t care for AP holders. For years we had WDW APs. We live in the Pacific NW and went 2x a year for 10-14 days per trip. It used to be that a 10 day stay + good AP room discount paid for an AP. Now with massive ticket increases, and room rates going skyhigh while AP discounts lower, we stopped getting AP, and cut our trips to once a year. Now with ticket and room increases, no WDW trips this year.
Went to Universal instead, stayed Deluxe for the price of a WDW moderate and got AP. Going back in Sept. To get our Disney fix going to DL in August staying offsite.

20% sheesh. $700 a night is crazy. And they think 20% is a great discount worth emailing about It’s a nice hotel, reminds me of WDW Wilderness Lodge. But there’s no way it’s a $700+/night hotel. For that price ( with Universal AP Discount) you can get a 1 bdrm Villa Suite at Universals Portofino Bay, their flagship deluxe hotel.

I agree. We prefer Hard Rock. We are letting our WDW platinum passes expire in August. It doesn’t help that air fare from Portland is a lot more expensive than last year.

Staying off site at DL pays for my AP.

 

[billyjobobb]

I got round trip from Portland to LAX for under $250 for 2 of us. Both were nonstops, but I got an email telling me that southwest had changed our return trip to add a stop in Oakland.

 

[Sue M]

I got round trip from Portland to LAX for under $250 for 2 of us. Both were nonstops, but I got an email telling me that southwest had changed our return trip to add a stop in Oakland.

Wow that’s a great deal. We mostly fly Alaska.

 

[bryanb]

and as much as I dont like it, the same assumptions are over here in Europe. So many of the general public, people who dont follow Disney social media or bloggers or YouTubers or who dont hang out on Disney websites always assume I am going to Florida when I talk about visiting Disneyland. A huge amount of people over here dont realise Disneyland exists or that it was the first park. There is a huge amount of promo for the Florida parks but I never see any for California.

Another factor is that the Florida parks are closer to Europe. But a higher percentage of the California park's visitors are coming from Asia. Aside from that, WDW has to cast a wider net in marketing because the local population isn't enough to support it. That said, even though they run WDW ads in L.A., I've even heard people in L.A. (who don't know better) say that they want to go to "the Disneyland in Florida."

Not when they’re in cost cutting mode

(regarding Paint the Night) - Except hopefully they can successfully use it (or other event-level entertainment) as a marketing tool. If people value the parade enough, bringing it back will drive ticket sales. I'm sure they don't put on performances requiring a huge amount of evening staff and nightly maintenance just for fun or to be nice. I'd say if they do it, it will be because it's financially justified.

 

[slpeters]

Hi, everyone. To clarify, I didn't say that I think the WDW one is the "real"one, but that many people do. Many people take the generic term "Disney" (as in "I'm going to Disney") to always mean WDW. Granted I'm closer to the East Coast, but more people go to WDW than DLR in general, so it is the perception.

I'm in Chicago. My manager just left for WDW and I am planning a trip to DLR later in the year. Something came up about the two trips and I basically said "No, I'm going to Disneyland." Someone asked what the difference was and I said "Disneyland is in California." Several people responded with some variation on "There's one in California?!"

 

[bwvBound]

I'm in Chicago. My manager just left for WDW and I am planning a trip to DLR later in the year. Something came up about the two trips and I basically said "No, I'm going to Disneyland." Someone asked what the difference was and I said "Disneyland is in California." Several people responded with some variation on "There's one in California?!"

I am soooo OK with that ... soooo OK. Let it be. I'm OK.

 

[MausFan]

I have to admit that our family's first instinct upon hearing about SWGE is that we'd skip Disneyland for a year...and we are a 7ish hour drive away. Makes me wonder, but the summer is more or less planned, and we'll be in WDW for a work thing later. Somehow I think the kids may react poorly if we go in the Fall when they are back in college.

 

[bwvBound]

I have to admit that our family's first instinct upon hearing about SWGE is that we'd skip Disneyland for a year...and we are a 7ish hour drive away. Makes me wonder, but the summer is more or less planned, and we'll be in WDW for a work thing later. Somehow I think the kids may react poorly if we go in the Fall when they are back in college.

There you go then. Make the drive; wedge it in as a "family thing." Do it for the kids. Yes.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I'm in Chicago. My manager just left for WDW and I am planning a trip to DLR later in the year. Something came up about the two trips and I basically said "No, I'm going to Disneyland." Someone asked what the difference was and I said "Disneyland is in California." Several people responded with some variation on "There's one in California?!"

Shhhhh!!! It’s a secret!! The correct response in these situations is “oh sorry I meant Legoland and yeah they have one in CA”.

 

[midnight star]

Random thought: exactly how crowded do Disney execs want the parks to be? I just returned from the parks about an hour ago. Although it was very manageable, crowds have picked up. It’s for sure not a ghost town, but it isn’t bad at all.

 

[iMadHatter]

I just came across an article on yahoo finance titled, "Theme Parks are having a Challenging Summer." The article mentions the slow crowds at Disney, but apparently Universal and Seaworld are seeing their share of emptiness, too

 

[EmJ]

Random thought: exactly how crowded do Disney execs want

I just came across an article on yahoo finance titled, "Theme Parks are having a Challenging Summer." The article mentions the slow crowds at Disney, but apparently Universal and Seaworld are seeing their share of emptiness, too

I just looked it up. That’s an interesting read. Maybe theme parks in general have just become too expensive to support many repeat visits by non-locals. I mean, I live out in the big square states. We are not local to California or Florida; not even close. When I was a kid, going to Disney was a major rite of passage that happened for most kids once. Maaaaybe twice. Sometimes never. We went to Disney when I was 13 and my brother was 10. We never went again, not because we didn’t love it, but because that was the (then) $5,000 trip of a lifetime. It seems like in the 25 years hence, going to Disney (and to a lesser extent, the other major theme parks) has become not a once or twice in a childhood event, but annual or even more frequent one for many families, even out here in the flyover states. Something must have happened to allow middle class families to afford that (higher incomes? lower cost park tickets, flights, and hotels?), but at this point, I’m planning a five day trip to Disneyland for three people, staying off-site, and barely budgeting below $4,500. So I can understand why, if this is the way costs are going, the big three have to rely increasingly on local pass holders and may not be seeing the same tourists crowds as they used to get.

Wow. That was a mouthful!

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Random thought: exactly how crowded do Disney execs want the parks to be? I just returned from the parks about an hour ago. Although it was very manageable, crowds have picked up. It’s for sure not a ghost town, but it isn’t bad at all.

Well, they certainly want and expected more than were there today. A few points:

Like every other day after June 24, SWGE never used the "boarding pass" system that Disney thought would be necessary and invested in. The wait time for MF:SR is often shorter than RSR (all that talk of "bathroom passes" turns out to be unnecessary). So, SWGE is flat out not pulling in the number of people they anticipated.

This morning, at rope drop, we walked straight onto Alice. We then rode the teacups as the only teacup with people in it. We then walked onto Dumbo. We then rode Mr. Toad's with about a 45-second wait behind maybe three other parties. We then rode Storybook Land with a boat to ourselves. We hit the Matterhorn with hardly any wait. We walked onto Star Tours and then used our Hyperspace Mountain FPs, which we needn't have bothered with since the standby line didn't exist at 9am. Yes, the early morning hours are often "golden," but this is so far beyond that. And sure, it's because the majority of the rope-drop crowd went straight to SWGE, but again, they're not even hitting capacity there. So....

And as I start writing this, it's 9:05pm, and Disneyland still has FPs available for ALL rides. In fact, several rides have 9:05 FPs available, and two more have 9:20... this would have been UNHEARD of for most of the year.

Crowds have picked up from the total emptiness, but it's just not what it normally is, at all, even a little.

 

[midnight star]

Well, they certainly want and expected more than were there today. A few points:

Like every other day after June 24, SWGE never used the "boarding pass" system that Disney thought would be necessary and invested in. The wait time for MF:SR is often shorter than RSR (all that talk of "bathroom passes" turns out to be unnecessary). So, SWGE is flat out not pulling in the number of people they anticipated.

This morning, at rope drop, we walked straight onto Alice. We then rode the teacups as the only teacup with people in it. We then walked onto Dumbo. We then rode Mr. Toad's with about a 45-second wait behind maybe three other parties. We then rode Storybook Land with a boat to ourselves. We hit the Matterhorn with hardly any wait. We walked onto Star Tours and then used our Hyperspace Mountain FPs, which we needn't have bothered with since the standby line didn't exist at 9am. Yes, the early morning hours are often "golden," but this is so far beyond that. And sure, it's because the majority of the rope-drop crowd went straight to SWGE, but again, they're not even hitting capacity there. So....

And as I start writing this, it's 9:05pm, and Disneyland still has FPs available for ALL rides. In fact, several rides have 9:05 FPs available, and two more have 9:20... this would have been UNHEARD of for most of the year.

Crowds have picked up from the total emptiness, but it's just not what it normally is, at all, even a little.

True. I am just wondering what crowd levels they are comfortable with vs crowd levels that cause them to go into cost-cutting mode. This is such an interesting summer. Guests are enjoying the crowd levels while disney is in panic mode lol.

 

[coreyfdizz]

Well, they certainly want and expected more than were there today. A few points:

Like every other day after June 24, SWGE never used the "boarding pass" system that Disney thought would be necessary and invested in. The wait time for MF:SR is often shorter than RSR (all that talk of "bathroom passes" turns out to be unnecessary). So, SWGE is flat out not pulling in the number of people they anticipated.

This morning, at rope drop, we walked straight onto Alice. We then rode the teacups as the only teacup with people in it. We then walked onto Dumbo. We then rode Mr. Toad's with about a 45-second wait behind maybe three other parties. We then rode Storybook Land with a boat to ourselves. We hit the Matterhorn with hardly any wait. We walked onto Star Tours and then used our Hyperspace Mountain FPs, which we needn't have bothered with since the standby line didn't exist at 9am. Yes, the early morning hours are often "golden," but this is so far beyond that. And sure, it's because the majority of the rope-drop crowd went straight to SWGE, but again, they're not even hitting capacity there. So....

And as I start writing this, it's 9:05pm, and Disneyland still has FPs available for ALL rides. In fact, several rides have 9:05 FPs available, and two more have 9:20... this would have been UNHEARD of for most of the year.

Crowds have picked up from the total emptiness, but it's just not what it normally is, at all, even a little.

I was at rope drop this morning as well and a huge crowd went to the Frontierland side (Galaxy’s Edge) and very light crowds at
Tomorrowland and Fantasyland side. First time I saw such a light rope drop crowd for Tomorrowland or Fantasyland. I think the fear of crowds, which I still think was good thing. Could you imagine the howling and complaining if was like Carsland’s debut. Other factor is probably change in Deluxe AP (DCA only), high prices at Disneyland hotels and finally some price resistance to park tickets.
Similar to OP, I was able to do PP, Alice, Mr. Toad, Matterhorn, Splash, Big Thunder and HyperSpace. Had breakfast at Carnation and then to Indy. It was about 11:30 and I hopped over DCA.
On a different topic, noticed the had water and soda stands in the line queue for Smuggler’s Run. It was conveniently located in an open area exposed to “bright suns”. Keeping with retail mentality of continuous hourly revenue viewing land in theme park as retail space in a store.

 

[AussieNSW]

They must be concerned about crowds. I saw a commercial for SWGE. Which you probably think isn’t strange but it was in Australia. We get commercials for Disneyland maybe once a year. It is very unusual. I was sitting down watching tv and it came on. It took me a while to work out what it was as it only advertised SWGE no other part of the park.
It didn’t convince me to come visit and I am a reasonably regular visitor. It was bland and colourless. I know the colours of star wars are browns ect but there is no way that add would convince me to spend a fortune and fly 14hours.

 

[halo19]

They must be concerned about crowds. I saw a commercial for SWGE. Which you probably think isn’t strange but it was in Australia. We get commercials for Disneyland maybe once a year. It is very unusual. I was sitting down watching tv and it came on. It took me a while to work out what it was as it only advertised SWGE no other part of the park.
It didn’t convince me to come visit and I am a reasonably regular visitor. It was bland and colourless. I know the colours of star wars are browns ect but there is no way that add would convince me to spend a fortune and fly 14hours.

We’re in California and recently started seeing a fairly “basic” commercial for SWGE as well (by basic I mean it follows the template of other kid-perspective commercials they’ve run but doesn’t offer anything memorable). However, we’ve only seen it run on Disney’s own channels (Disney Channel, Disney XD or Disney Jr).

 

[MillauFr]

Something must have happened to allow middle class families to afford that (higher incomes? lower cost park tickets, flights, and hotels?)

Agreed. Biggest factor is cheap airline flights. Even not adjusting for inflation flights are far cheaper than they were 40 years ago.

 

[FrazierFamily]

I am curious if Disney is able/have altered things on a short notice to adjust for the crowds. Or is the thought that this will last until all the APs are open and all the people waiting for the other ride to open planned their trips. I planned my solo trip very last minute with the assumption it would be insane, but going solo I wasn't too worried about it. But I wont lie, to have a calm park would feel like winning the lottery. I did just reserve a dessert party for WOC which seemed crazy I got one being that is only a month away and it was down for so long. Maybe its a good sign.

Being that my trip is only 4 weeks away could they make changes that quick that might affect my chances?