The Rumor Tracking Thread

[The Pho]

What I don’t really understand is if Rat is going to be done this year and Epcot needs attendance why would you open that attraction to drive people to that park? I

I have heard good occupancy numbers for this weekend. Other than that year not so great.

Most parks around the country are struggling for attendance, and many have held off opening this year’s new attraction. I think it’s more to do with writing this year off entirely, and using new attractions to help boost a recovery when they aren’t so restricted. People looking for something new already have Rise and Mickey drawing them to property.

From what I’ve been hearing Epcot is doing well enough on weekends, I heard about 12,000 guests on Saturday, which was up from about 1,500 a few weeks ago.

I’m pretty skeptical of pheneix right now though.

 

[rteetz]

Most parks around the country are struggling for attendance, and many have held off opening this year’s new attraction. I think it’s more to do with writing this year off entirely, and using new attractions to help boost a recovery when they aren’t so restricted. People looking for something new already have Rise and Mickey drawing them to property.

From what I’ve been hearing Epcot is doing well enough on weekends, I heard about 12,000 guests on Saturday, which was up from about 1,500 a few weeks ago.

I’m pretty skeptical of pheneix right now though.

Yeah I have heard that as well.

 

[OKW Lover]

Most parks around the country are struggling for attendance, and many have held off opening this year’s new attraction. I think it’s more to do with writing this year off entirely, and using new attractions to help boost a recovery when they aren’t so restricted.

Wouldn't opening a new attraction now help those parks bring in more people sooner?

 

[rteetz]

Wouldn't opening a new attraction now help those parks bring in more people sooner?

Of course but at the same time I don’t think anyone expects to bounce back much before years end. They can save the labor costs and work on the rebound next year. I do remain skeptical that Rat would be delayed that long and just sit but Disney does crazy things sometimes.

 

[Gusey]

Also bad PR if they don't handle opening day crowds well. Considering how big crows have been for MMRR, Toy Story Land and SWGE, they don't want to be seen as cramming guests, especially as the new area of France seems quite small.

 

[The Pho]

Wouldn't opening a new attraction now help those parks bring in more people sooner?

It could, but even the parks that have opened their new attractions aren’t seeing much of an attendance advantage over the ones that held off. People just aren’t going to parks this year. I’ve been to a few dozen this summer, only one had actual crowds, most were ghost towns.

So pretty much they have to decide between a small boost now or a larger boost later. And they’re already getting the new ride benefit at Studios. Mid next year seems like a long time to sit on it though.

 

[Runnsally]

Wouldn't opening a new attraction now help those parks bring in more people sooner?

The people they want/need to bring back - northeastern and international guests - aren’t coming now no matter what they do. Not surprised they’d wait until Spring 21 to open anything new.

 

[YesterDark]

I'm very skeptical of pheneix.

 

[YesterDark]

The people they want/need to bring back - northeastern and international guests - aren’t coming now no matter what they do. Not surprised they’d wait until Spring 21 to open anything new.

I'm from the northeast and they just sent me a 30% off code for room only on a bunch of resorts from now until Christmas. There is some pretty good availability if I wanted to do that. I won't. The only thing they can do to get me to even consider going to the plague state is if they offered me a really good deal on a package of room and tickets.

 

[Brianstl]

Yeah I have heard that as well.

I heard a few weeks ago that they could have had Rat ready to open by the middle of this month if they wanted to without trying to rush to finish it. That is how close they were then to having the attraction operational. They just believe that it is best for them to hold off on opening it. I understand that thinking, but I think they are missing an opportunity to increase attendance at Epcot while, also, relieving some pressure on DHS with being the only park with new rides.

 

[Brianstl]

The people they want/need to bring back - northeastern and international guests - aren’t coming now no matter what they do. Not surprised they’d wait until Spring 21 to open anything new.

There have been multiple posters from the northeast that have said the only thing holding them back at this point was the multiple quarantines they were facing. The one imposed by Florida is already gone and the ones imposed by northeastern states on their return will all be gone by the end of the month.

 

[rteetz]

I heard a few weeks ago that they could have had Rat ready to open by the middle of this month if they wanted to without trying to rush to finish it. That is how close they were then to having the attraction operational. They just believe that it is best for them to hold off on opening it. I understand that thinking, but I think they are missing an opportunity to increase attendance at Epcot while, also, relieving some pressure on DHS with being the only park with new rides.

I had always heard October but yeah. I think maybe using it as a holiday opening might work I just can’t buy them waiting until mid-2021 with it being so close to ready.

 

[Brianstl]

I had always heard October but yeah. I think maybe using it as a holiday opening might work I just can’t buy them waiting until mid-2021 with it being so close to ready.

I think the beginning of October was what the plan was to open it. What I heard was that it wouldn't have been a facility construction or ride mechanical operation problem preventing them from opening two earlier if they had wanted to. Can't speak on the cast training part of it.

That cast training part might be part of the equation that could be leading to hold off on opening it if the rumor is correct. I have no idea what it cost to operate an attraction like Rat. The number crunchers may have determined any bump in overall revenue increase from added attendance at Epcot wouldn't equal the operating cost of the ride and the revenue that would be lost at other parks with people who have already purchased tickets being redirected to Epcot from other parks. Maybe they will hold off on opening the ride until they consistently have multiple parks hitting their imposed capacity limits and it's opening wouldn't be viewed as cannibalizing attendance that would have gone to other WDW parks anyway.

 

[Runnsally]

There have been multiple posters from the northeast that have said the only thing holding them back at this point was the multiple quarantines they were facing. The one imposed by Florida is already gone and the ones imposed by northeastern states on their return will all be gone by the end of the month.

I don’t think multiple posters is much of an attendance bump

 

[1lilspark]

I can see them just softly opening Ducktales with it just popping up in Disney Play one day

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I had always heard October but yeah. I think maybe using it as a holiday opening might work I just can’t buy them waiting until mid-2021 with it being so close to ready.

October is the start of Disney's fiscal year right? so maybe once they get into that they can start trying to do the best they can for more crowds (and thus $) - so that could Rat that could be more for the holidays, etc.

Rumor

More rumors from pheneix on WDWMagic, Martin has confirmed some of it, his responses at the bottom.

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Makes sense about that multilevel area in Future World - seemed the main thing would be fore dessert parties and private events on the top with Firework views

Even as things go back to "normalish" I think it is going to be a long time before many companies are at the point of "yeah let's get a ton of empplyees to traevl to FL and pay a lot of $ for a private event" - even companies doing "ok" are either taking some covid-related hit or don't want the optics

 

[Spaceguy55]

I had always heard October but yeah. I think maybe using it as a holiday opening might work I just can’t buy them waiting until mid-2021 with it being so close to ready.

Is Halloween a holiday ?
That's when I plan on going again ...

 

[rteetz]

Is Halloween a holiday ?
That's when I plan on going again ...

It is but I’m thinking more December.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

That cast training part might be part of the equation that could be leading to hold off on opening it if the rumor is correct. I have no idea what it cost to operate an attraction like Rat.

I heard up to 70 cast members a day would be needed to operate it fully. I assume that’s based on a 12+ hour day though, not on currently reduced hours.

 

[j2thomason]

Maybe they will do virtual queue or boarding groups for Rat to keep numbers in that area of France low.