News on Annual Passes

[RivShore]

Attendance may be up but appears it’s down compared to Universal. Would be interesting to be a fly on the wall to see if Disney execs care about that or not

Where you you seen details on Universal being busier than WDW? Anecdotally, from friends in the local area, we hear the opposite, that UO has been unusually quiet on some days.

 

[CeeCee101]

I have a fear the park reservation system will cause us issues this Dec. We have park passes made, but what if DH isn't have a good day, maybe just hit a park for a few hours. If we can walk/scooter to Epcot for a few hours, vs waiting for transportation coming and going, I'd say skip AK and just do Epcot. I understand the system, but why can' t one just go to any park after 2pm without worrying about tapping in at first park.

I posted somewhere else on this same issue. Like what if your original reservation was at AK and something causes a problem in the morning but by evening you’re ok (could be health, etc.) that means you would have to go all the way out to AK, tap in, turn around and come all the way back in order to hop. Seems like a major flaw in the system especially for those of us that are a bit older And can have unexpected aches and pains.

 

[cakebaker]

I have a fear the park reservation system will cause us issues this Dec. We have park passes made, but what if DH isn't have a good day, maybe just hit a park for a few hours. If we can walk/scooter to Epcot for a few hours, vs waiting for transportation coming and going, I'd say skip AK and just do Epcot. I understand the system, but why can' t one just go to any park after 2pm without worrying about tapping in at first park.

I've never understood why we need to tap into our reserved park before hopping after 2. But that's the way it works so if I thought there was a good chance there might be a problem, I'd book the hardest to get parks, then when I'm there, just switch to the park I actually wanted to go to. The MK and HS sell out frequently, but it's not often you'll see Epcot and AK sell out. It's not a perfect solution, but it's something at least. I know when we originally make our park reservations, if we haven't gotten everything settled as to which park for each day, we book either the MK or HS as a default, then change what we want over to AK and Epcot once we've decided.

 

[BaybeeYoda]

I have a trip coming up in a few months. Been holding out buying tickets hoping on an AP. If I buy my tickets and APs come out, will they credit the amount I have spent on tickets to the APs?

Yup!! But don’t hold out for hope bc the chatter is no AP’s until next year at earliest ;(

 

[cakebaker]

Yup!! But don’t hold out for hope bc the chatter is no AP’s until next year at earliest ;(

With the new lawsuit filed by a couple of local Passholders, we many not see AP's again for much longer than that. Regardless, I have no doubt that when and if they do resume them, they will be nothing like they use to be.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Where you you seen details on Universal being busier than WDW? Anecdotally, from friends in the local area, we hear the opposite, that UO has been unusually quiet on some days.

It's been in the headlines of various FL Theme Park news reports in the past 2 weeks, after the latest attendance est came out.

https://**************.net/2022/10/...j0o4zjtWH_RDad00r7wtg1Ceo6tiQ4-WJ6wqbStdMMeAI

https://wdwnt.com/2022/10/disney-un...2jWVnZoIXBgwkB-jH0UVpIAo3WrR9fh12OqMyITFi6h8Q

https://www.wdwmagic.com/other/walt...2jWVnZoIXBgwkB-jH0UVpIAo3WrR9fh12OqMyITFi6h8Q

 

[mamapenguin]

Where you you seen details on Universal being busier than WDW? Anecdotally, from friends in the local area, we hear the opposite, that UO has been unusually quiet on some days.

You heard wrong. Universal is the park that treats its guests the best and isn’t overly greedy. We have NE tickets to WDW collecting dust in a safe deposit box until Disney can figure out how to reimagine the guest experience back into what it should be. Universal is just as accessible now as it was prepandemic, what’s Disney’s excuse?

 

[jkh36619]

You heard wrong. Universal is the park that treats its guests the best and isn’t overly greedy. We have NE tickets to WDW collecting dust in a safe deposit box until Disney can figure out how to reimagine the guest experience back into what it should be. Universal is just as accessible now as it was prepandemic, what’s Disney’s excuse?

What does that have to do with crowds and the person you quoted?

 

[mamapenguin]

What does that have to do with crowds and the person you quoted?

Sorry I went off on a tangent. I have observed consistently busy Universal Orlando parks on all of my visits since summer of 21. ( last visit was September) I did hear that 2020 was light attendance. I have family who have lived 4 miles from WDW since 1997. We’ve been passholders of both brands off and on since. Family still follows local forums regarding WDW and the complaints are endless.

 

[AvidDisReader]

It's been in the headlines of various FL Theme Park news reports in the past 2 weeks, after the latest attendance est came out.

https://**************.net/2022/10/...j0o4zjtWH_RDad00r7wtg1Ceo6tiQ4-WJ6wqbStdMMeAI

https://wdwnt.com/2022/10/disney-un...2jWVnZoIXBgwkB-jH0UVpIAo3WrR9fh12OqMyITFi6h8Q

https://www.wdwmagic.com/other/walt...2jWVnZoIXBgwkB-jH0UVpIAo3WrR9fh12OqMyITFi6h8Q

Yes, these are attendance numbers for 2021, is there anything that points to Univeral outperforming WDW this year? Not trying to be a contrarian, just wondering.

 

[RivShore]

It's been in the headlines of various FL Theme Park news reports in the past 2 weeks, after the latest attendance est came out.

https://**************.net/2022/10/...j0o4zjtWH_RDad00r7wtg1Ceo6tiQ4-WJ6wqbStdMMeAI

https://wdwnt.com/2022/10/disney-un...2jWVnZoIXBgwkB-jH0UVpIAo3WrR9fh12OqMyITFi6h8Q

https://www.wdwmagic.com/other/walt...2jWVnZoIXBgwkB-jH0UVpIAo3WrR9fh12OqMyITFi6h8Q

So that's just referring to 2021, 2021 was an odd year and Disney still had hard attendance caps for some of it.
And in total attendance, UO is nearly half of WDW's total so those headlines are very misleading.
I was more referring to now, the parks have been packed every time we have gone from mid Sept thru now. Disney springs has been at capacity on weekends, our local neighborhood FB groups have constant comments about how busy the parks are, never see the same comments about UO.

 

[RivShore]

Sorry I went off on a tangent. I have observed consistently busy Universal Orlando parks on all of my visits since summer of 21. ( last visit was September) I did hear that 2020 was light attendance. I have family who have lived 4 miles from WDW since 1997. We’ve been passholders of both brands off and on since. Family still follows local forums regarding WDW and the complaints are endless.

Yes, the complaints are endless but so are the crowds...maybe the internet just likes to complain...

 

[BrianL]

Yes, the complaints are endless but so are the crowds...maybe the internet just likes to complain...

Whaaat? Come on...how could that possibly be true?

 

[disney-inspired]

You heard wrong. Universal is the park that treats its guests the best and isn’t overly greedy. We have NE tickets to WDW collecting dust in a safe deposit box until Disney can figure out how to reimagine the guest experience back into what it should be. Universal is just as accessible now as it was prepandemic, what’s Disney’s excuse?

While I really enjoyed my resort stay at Sapphire Falls, I found the guest service lacking in the parks. That being said, I still want my family to experience it once so we we'll likely do a split stay between Disney and USO. I agree that Disney has taken advantage of the pandemic to increase cost and decrease benefits and it sucks.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

So that's just referring to 2021, 2021 was an odd year and Disney still had hard attendance caps for some of it.
And in total attendance, UO is nearly half of WDW's total so those headlines are very misleading.
I was more referring to now, the parks have been packed every time we have gone from mid Sept thru now. Disney springs has been at capacity on weekends, our local neighborhood FB groups have constant comments about how busy the parks are, never see the same comments about UO.

if you think universal is going down while Disney of going up I’ve got ocean front property here in TN up for sale. Lol

 

[RivShore]

if you think universal is going down while Disney of going up I’ve got ocean front property here in TN up for sale. Lol

Not at all, I think they are both increasing attendance, probably equally.

I was just responding to this:

Attendance may be up but appears it’s down compared to Universal

That statement may apply to 2021 numbers but I don't think it applies to current (2022) "post Covid" numbers. That is all I was saying.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Not at all, I think they are both increasing attendance, probably equally.

I was just responding to this:

That statement may apply to 2021 numbers but I don't think it applies to current (2022) "post Covid" numbers. That is all I was saying.

And as an AP holder who goes to both parks often, I think it does

 

[Sandisw]

So that's just referring to 2021, 2021 was an odd year and Disney still had hard attendance caps for some of it.
And in total attendance, UO is nearly half of WDW's total so those headlines are very misleading.
I was more referring to now, the parks have been packed every time we have gone from mid Sept thru now. Disney springs has been at capacity on weekends, our local neighborhood FB groups have constant comments about how busy the parks are, never see the same comments about UO.

Not to mention that those visiting Disney are going to 4 parks and not two, if You combine each, Disney is still getting more visitors at their parks than Universal.

Even if you take just the two top Disney parks, MK and HS, it exceeds them.

As you say, both parks have seen an upswing.

 

[RivShore]

And as an AP holder who goes to both parks often, I think it does

One thing to remember, which I kind of forgot (I know, how could I!), Disney is still constraining attendance with their pricing, lack of AP's, and park reservations so I'm sure Disney Corp doesn't care, they only care about spend per guest, not necessarily the total number of guests.

That being said, I recently heard a WDW park employee describe the October crowds as Christmas level crowds. That is certainly unusual for this time of year. Have you been to either recently? What did you think of the crowd level?

 

[aka Charles]

I can assure you driving to Disney from Vegas is definitely longer than 4 hours, especially when you consider our horrendous traffic.
Sometimes it takes me one hour to drive 10 miles!

Outside of the of some of the more local Orange County cities in Cali, it takes at the very least 1 1/2 hours to get to Disney and that’s during non traffic times, which seem to be between the hours of NEVER.

I live what should be a 30-45 minutes drive to Disney, it takes me at least 90 minutes on any given day at any given hour.

You completely missed the point.

Yes, I know the traffic can suck at both DL and WDW and drive times may vary, but that was not my point.
I was stating comparative differences between the "Local" areas surrounding DL and WDW.

FYI, the drive times that I used are from Google Maps and iMaps, which I have found to be very accurate, and they do take all known traffic delays into account.