The numbers are in ...

[whiporee]

Themed Entertainment Association gave its 2014 numbers Wednesday. While Disney does not report their official attendance numbers, TEA's report is one the industry uses as a guide. Make of that what you will.

The report said that 19,332,000 people went through the Magic Kingdom's gates last year, up 744,000 from last year, a 4 percent increase. That means an average of nearly 53,000 people every day went into the park, up 2,000 from 2013. And that was after an increase of 1,050,000 from 2012 to 2013.

In other words, on average 5,000 more people a day went through the park than they did two years ago, 6,500 more than in 2010 -- a 14 percent increase in four years.

What's it mean? I think it's hard to blame park problems on anything other than increasing numbers of people attending. And assuming the trend continues, more than 20 million people will go to the Magic Kingdom this year. The days of the park being anything other than crowded are over, any time of the year.

Also, while there's a lot of bluster about the benefits of Universal Studios (it saw a giant increase of nearly 17 percent from 2013 to 2014) even with Harry Potter and Gringotts, it deals with smaller attendance numbers than any WDW park, including the maligned DHS. Its daily attendance is 43 percent of the MK. So there are a lot of things you can do -- like Express Passes -- with an average attendance of 23,000 that you couldn't do at 53,000.

Again, Disney doesn't report these numbers, but they also don't dispute them.

 

[Tomh]

Big big difference there between 23k guests per day, and 53k, kind of puts into perspective how big a job Disney has cut out for them of handing and satisfying all those guests!

 

[mom2rtk]

Themed Entertainment Association gave its 2014 numbers Wednesday. While Disney does not report their official attendance numbers, TEA's report is one the industry uses as a guide. Make of that what you will.

The report said that 19,332,000 people went through the Magic Kingdom's gates last year, up 744,000 from last year, a 4 percent increase. That means an average of nearly 53,000 people every day went into the park, up 2,000 from 2013. And that was after an increase of 1,050,000 from 2012 to 2013.

In other words, on average 5,000 more people a day went through the park than they did two years ago, 6,500 more than in 2010 -- a 14 percent increase in four years.

What's it mean? I think it's hard to blame park problems on anything other than increasing numbers of people attending. And assuming the trend continues, more than 20 million people will go to the Magic Kingdom this year. The days of the park being anything other than crowded are over, any time of the year.

Also, while there's a lot of bluster about the benefits of Universal Studios (it saw a giant increase of nearly 17 percent from 2013 to 2014) even with Harry Potter and Gringotts, it deals with smaller attendance numbers than any WDW park, including the maligned DHS. Its daily attendance is 43 percent of the MK. So there are a lot of things you can do -- like Express Passes -- with an average attendance of 23,000 that you couldn't do at 53,000.

Again, Disney doesn't report these numbers, but they also don't dispute them.

Increases in crowds didn't just "happen" to Disney and now they here they are on the back end cleaning up the repercussions and responding to the impact on the parks.

Increases in crowds are something Disney has invested massive sums of money into making happen. They have entire departments dedicated to making that happen. Many make big bonuses for making that happen.

Yet they chose a ride rationing system over adding additional capacity to give those extra people something to do.

 

[Tomh]

No additional capacity?

Fantasy Land . . . gave us two new rides, two new restaurants

AK . . . . they just opened an entire new section of quick service food. On the horizon, Avatar Land, plus extended park hours and evening entertainment.
Adding park hours for certain adds capacity

DTD . . . 75 new shops and restaurants, two new parking garages. That pretty well doubles the size of DTD, seems like a significant increase in capacity

DHS . . . While there have been no official announcements, it seems pretty obvious with the closures that have taken place there recently, they are getting ready to make a big move.
They have also announced the addition of a new track set to TSMM adding capacity there

Epcot . . . This is the park with the least going on at the moment, however it is also the park that does the best job of gobbling people up. There has been an announcement of a third theater being added to Soarin, which indeed will add capacity.

Have they moved as fast as they could, probably not, but to say that they've chosen not to do anything to increase park capacity, I think that is just not a fair statement.

 

[mom2rtk]

No additional capacity?

Fantasy Land . . . gave us two new rides, two new restaurants

AK . . . . they just opened an entire new section of quick service food. On the horizon, Avatar Land, plus extended park hours and evening entertainment.
Adding park hours for certain adds capacity

DTD . . . 75 new shops and restaurants, two new parking garages. That pretty well doubles the size of DTD, seems like a significant increase in capacity

DHS . . . While there have been no official announcements, it seems pretty obvious with the closures that have taken place there recently, they are getting ready to make a big move.
They have also announced the addition of a new track set to TSMM adding capacity there

Epcot . . . This is the park with the least going on at the moment, however it is also the park that does the best job of gobbling people up. There has been an announcement of a third theater being added to Soarin, which indeed will add capacity.

Have they moved as fast as they could, probably not, but to say that they've chosen not to do anything to increase park capacity, I think that is just not a fair statement.

I didn't say "no" additional capacity. I said they chose the ride rationing system over "additional" capacity.

And I'm not talking about shops and dining. I'm talking about attraction capacity in the parks.

Yes, there are 2 new rides in NFL, but they also closed one in the process as well. Net additional capacity, but not in huge numbers.

How long has Avatarland been in production? And how long will it take them to have new capacity online in the other parks? Yet that marketing department is working overtime to pack more and more people into the parks NOW.

I'm not saying Disney should not try to increase attendance. It's why they are in business. I just wish they had the same urgency about adding attraction capacity as they do for getting bodies through the turnstiles.

 

[WillAustin]

And they move at a glacial pace. It could be done far more quickly, especially adding attractions in Epcot and DHS.

 

[5DisneyNuts]

I love WDW as much as everyone here. The biggest problem I see is the level of service. WDW, as most companies did, cut staff during the economic slowdowns. Now that things are picking up, TPTB get used to the extra cash in their pockets and don't realize they have to increase the staff otherwise the burden on the employees is too great.

Where's the article that says how many new employees are being adding? Oh that's right, all the news is about the folks that were laid off thanks to outsourcing and had to train their replacements:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/u...t-disney-train-foreign-replacements.html?_r=0

http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/sites/default/files/reports/q2-fy15-earnings.pdf

Quarter Ended
March 28, 2015| March 29, 2014 | Change

Net income $ 2,108 | $ 1,917 | 10 %

Free cash flow $ 2,011 | $ 1,826 | 10 %

 

[kiapepito]

Makes sense! The economy is doing better, unemployment is the lowest it has been in years. Therefore, people can save money to travel to places such as the parks or be able to extend their vacation stay.

 

[cakebaker]

What's it mean? I think ite's hard to blame park problems on anything other than increasing numbers of people attending. And assuming the trend continues, more than 20 million people will go to the Magic Kingdom this year. The days of the park being anything other than crowded are over, any time of the year.

I wouldn't limit the issues to only the increased traffic- but I think it plays a very significant part. I for one am glad they invested in a system that helps manage huge numbers like this.

With any huge new investment in rides, will come even more people and I don't think adding more attractions people will clamor to experience will solve crowd issues. Get the groundwork in place to handle the crowds, then build the mega expansions like Star Wars. It's a smart move as far as I'm concerned. It may be frustrating to wait, but I think it will pay off in the end.

 

[eeyore45]

Now they spent all the money on these MB and MDE (and with the article about outsourcing, it makes sense that they can't handle the traffic on the aps and MDE making our own dining and FP) they are collecting data, but will they use that data to hire more people...

time will tell

I read so many complaints here on the disboards, some threads go 4pages + with people adding their comments, but I doubt if the majority of posters actually fire off an email to tell of their displeasure of things like lack of things to do in DHS, or the tiering in Epcot - With all the added SWW things, there were little things like, lack of a/c, or an overhead fan that wasn't working... Imagine, something as simple as a fan - if they get 100's or 1,000's emails, maybe they'd notice?

or maybe like you said they are more attentive to their shareholders than the park goers

 

[ArwenMarie]

I don't think that gap between MK and the other three Disney parks is a good thing.

Roughly 20 million for MK and 10 million for the other three? That tells you the other three parks are broken right now.

 

[WillAustin]

Roughly 20 million for MK and 10 million for the other three? That tells you the other three parks are broken right now.

Yes, it does.

 

[OKW Lover]

I understand that this report is based on estimates. In the case of multi-park locations, they credit only the first park of the day. So, if somebody were to go to WDW and visit the MK in the morning and then go to DHS in the afternoon, it would only count as an MK visit.

 

[cakebaker]

I understand that this report is based on estimates. In the case of multi-park locations, they credit only the first park of the day. So, if somebody were to go to WDW and visit the MK in the morning and then go to DHS in the afternoon, it would only count as an MK visit.

That certainly explains a lot. Thanks!

 

[NavyDad]

Inconceivable!

I don't understand how this is possible - I've read for years now on the DIS Boards (mostly the Theme Parks board) that people were quitting WDW in droves. The experiences expressed on a fan site message board is obviously representative as a whole of the general guest population. My anecdotal sensibilities just don't jive with things like numbers even if they are respected and accepted by industry experts...

 

[ArwenMarie]

I understand that this report is based on estimates. In the case of multi-park locations, they credit only the first park of the day. So, if somebody were to go to WDW and visit the MK in the morning and then go to DHS in the afternoon, it would only count as an MK visit.

That makes sense. But I would think MK would get more second-park-of-the-day visits than the others due to the hours? So really the MK number could be low versus the other three parks.

 

[pktbMouse]

Inconceivable!

I don't understand how this is possible - I've read for years now on the DIS Boards (mostly the Theme Parks board) that people were quitting WDW in droves. The experiences expressed on an fan site message board is obviously representative as a whole of the general guest population. My anecdotal sensibilities just don't jive with things like numbers even if they respected and accepted by industry experts...

agree.

 

[dbramer]

Inconceivable!

I don't understand how this is possible - I've read for years now on the DIS Boards (mostly the Theme Parks board) that people were quitting WDW in droves. The experiences expressed on a fan site message board is obviously representative as a whole of the general guest population. My anecdotal sensibilities just don't jive with things like numbers even if they are respected and accepted by industry experts...

That is a gross misrepresentation. The boards are by no means representative of the general population. This is a closed society that lives, eats, breathes and sleeps Disney. The average park goer is not represented here. In fact, anecdotal reports on these boards invariably report how often they overhear comments from the "average" guest and their ignorance of Disney in general, much less specific items like ADR's and FP+. In fact, I would wager that, liberally speaking, even 10% of those who said they were quitting Disney actually do. There is no arguing that theme park attendance is up. The parks are more crowded than ever even at historically low periods. Look at the message boards here of long time park-goers saying they have never seen more people at the parks. It is not inconceivable at all. The economy is better and people are spending again.

 

[PetePanMan]

Inconceivable!

I don't understand how this is possible - I've read for years now on the DIS Boards (mostly the Theme Parks board) that people were quitting WDW in droves. The experiences expressed on a fan site message board is obviously representative as a whole of the general guest population. My anecdotal sensibilities just don't jive with things like numbers even if they are respected and accepted by industry experts...

As stated in PP, the disboards largely represent Disney "Super Users" who tend to have stronger views than the average park goer (and dare I say at times at least tend to overreact to changes or lack of changes). For example, I am quitting Disney because they are getting rid of hot cheese. Enough is enough!

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Inconceivable!

I don't understand how this is possible - I've read for years now on the DIS Boards (mostly the Theme Parks board) that people were quitting WDW in droves. The experiences expressed on a fan site message board is obviously representative as a whole of the general guest population. My anecdotal sensibilities just don't jive with things like numbers even if they are respected and accepted by industry experts...

FASTPASS PLUS RUINED MY VACATION...