Theme park attendance down

[YensidCamper]

I heard on Bloomberg today that although Disney reported a $0.43 per share dividend this quarter which beat projected $0.40 the theme parks report attendance down by 50% from this quarter last year. Why aren't we seeing more incentives to come to the parks? The Fort certainly seems left out of most incentives anyway.

 

[BradyBz12]

They did extend 4/3 twice - now all the way into August - and free dining is being offered for a longer period of time than usual. Lots of other, smaller-market incentives being offered too - FL tix specials, AP referral discounts...

And yeah, the Fort always gets left out. Probably because the darned place is almost never even close to empty.

Will be interesting to see what occupancy rates are at FW once all the renovations are done and 100% of the loops are open again. Although I still doubt we'll see any FW incentives.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Well ofcourse the fort isn't going to be empty- besides the other reasons to stay there I'm sure SOME people are staying there to save money since it generally costs less (for partials/etc. or even for premiums like us for a family of 5 or more it comes out way cheaper than 2 rooms at value or one room at deluxe)

It stinks we don't get specials too- but atleast we have a pool with a slide now!

 

[becky1960]

I think they said they had gave a lot of promotions and that the attendence was good but profits from sales were down 50%. There has been reported parks closing due to capacity that has never been seen before for different time periods compared to last year. Reservations are still hard to get..

 

[John VN]

The Fort seems left out of most incentives anyway.

Where else on Disney property can one sleep in one's own bed, use one's own bathroom, kitchen, living room, have the family pet(s) be present during the vacation, etc., etc., etc.?

If the occupancy for sites at FW Campground is at a level deemed acceptable, why should additional incentives be introduced?

 

[BradyBz12]

I think they said they had gave a lot of promotions and that the attendence was good but profits from sales were down 50%.

And because of all the promotions, people are paying much less to stay/eat. So the bodies are there, but the $ to body ratio is way down.

 

[stacktester]

I think you're always going to see animosity with campsite fees and offerings at the fort. Disney gives what it takes to turn a buck. If you have a whole family on a campsite for under a $100 a night that may not buy any food and only takes advantage of the parks and transportation you're not going to give much up. Like many have said before, you're beating a dead horse. I recently looked at a KOA CG on Sugarloaf Key and the price for a pop up in June is $80a night. That's the off season for the Keys if I'm not mistaken. They offer quite a few nice ammenities but there's no theme parks with free transportation next door. I don't like paying a ton for camp fees butit's what we do so it's time to get over it.

 

[VAN]

Doing a quick read-through of the earnings report, it sounded like a lot of the loss came from the movie divisions ... Confessions of a Shopaholic did not do well.

Also, the amount of money that visitors to the theme parks were spending was down. I think it said "attendance" at WDW was only down 1%, while DL was up.

Our kids are older, so there are just the two of us visit WDW. It is more economical for us to fly and stay at one of the Values, taking advantage of the promotions being offered, than it is to drive/tow/stay at the Fort. We absolutely prefer the Fort, but the economics of our situation make it less expensive to do the Value/Promotion/Fly option.

Agree that the Fort is getting very expensive, but it is truly a lovely place, like no other campground in the world!

 

[YensidCamper]

I think you're always going to see animosity with campsite fees and offerings at the fort. Disney gives what it takes to turn a buck. If you have a whole family on a campsite for under a $100 a night that may not buy any food and only takes advantage of the parks and transportation you're not going to give much up. Like many have said before, you're beating a dead horse. I recently looked at a KOA CG on Sugarloaf Key and the price for a pop up in June is $80a night. That's the off season for the Keys if I'm not mistaken. They offer quite a few nice ammenities but there's no theme parks with free transportation next door. I don't like paying a ton for camp fees butit's what we do so it's time to get over it.

I agree with what you are saying and I really don't have any animosity about the Fort being treated below standards or anything like that. I am disappointed that Pop Ups and tenters have fewer lower end spots to choose from now. Disney is going to make a dollar and do it however they can. As someone pointed out they don't need to work hard to keep high occupancy at the Fort.. so no incentives. I was just wishfully thinking it would be nice to have the best of both worlds. The TV report I saw made it sound like Disney had a better quarter than expected, but they were surpised it was done with Theme Park attendance at 50% of last year. BrdyBz did a good job of pointing out they are trying to lure people to the park by extended incentives so there must be some truth in the attendance numbers being down.

 

[Shan-man]

I'm not quite sure to make of this. I bought DIS stock in early March and it is up 66% when every thing else I have is down 30-40%. As a stockholder, I'm delighted with the performance. I also can't make sense of the attendance down reports when the Podcast crew have been roiling over how crowded the parks have been. Does not compute.

 

[ntsammy5]

theme park attendance was down only 1% - theme park & resort operating income was down 50%......

 

[YensidCamper]

ntsammy5 that makes more sense to me, but this Bloomberg reporter was commenting how he had been at the parks and noticed how short the lines were. Shan the 66% upswing is great to hear, but it sounds like people are still going to the parks but maybe staying off property or not buying as many of the stuffed Mickey Mouse with the Kung Fu grip. A little Eddie Murphy humor-- from the movie Trading Places-- it might actually apply to Disney in this situation.

 

[bama_ed]

I'm not quite sure to make of this. I bought DIS stock in early March and it is up 66% when every thing else I have is down 30-40%. As a stockholder, I'm delighted with the performance. I also can't make sense of the attendance down reports when the Podcast crew have been roiling over how crowded the parks have been. Does not compute.

I think it's that people are keeping their ressies and still coming to Orlando and eating the free {absolutely terrible} dining/food. They're just not buying as much "stuff".

That's like our Alabama Gulf Coast Visitor's Bureau said; condo occupancy is still high or nearly as high as it was last year but many of the local restaurants are going out of business (people buying groceries and eating in the condo's).

People are still taking the trips but economizing where they can along the way.

Bama ED

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I think you're always going to see animosity with campsite fees and offerings at the fort. Disney gives what it takes to turn a buck. If you have a whole family on a campsite for under a $100 a night that may not buy any food and only takes advantage of the parks and transportation you're not going to give much up. Like many have said before, you're beating a dead horse. I recently looked at a KOA CG on Sugarloaf Key and the price for a pop up in June is $80a night. That's the off season for the Keys if I'm not mistaken. They offer quite a few nice ammenities but there's no theme parks with free transportation next door. I don't like paying a ton for camp fees butit's what we do so it's time to get over it.

well see the thing is- we could stay in a value resort- pay around $100 a night and eat on free dining and STILL only take advantage of the parks and transportation. (if we were a family of 4) I realize we're a family of 5 so we'd have to have 2 rooms or stay in a moderate atleast or deluxe- but families of 4 or less stay at FW too... and they could spend the same $100 at the value resorts and get free dining/pay nothing else like your description.
I think it has more to do with how full the resort is. If FW is rarely having issues filling up the sites- then they have no motivation to give some sort of deal to get you there. I think that will only change when ever they might have problems filling the sites- which I don't foresee happening. LOL

I'm not quite sure to make of this. I bought DIS stock in early March and it is up 66% when every thing else I have is down 30-40%. As a stockholder, I'm delighted with the performance. I also can't make sense of the attendance down reports when the Podcast crew have been roiling over how crowded the parks have been. Does not compute.

Shan-man- you're a smart man.
I'm not a smart woman.
I caught wind of how low DIS stock had gone way down, back when it was just coming up from it's lowest and like a big dummy!!!!?!@#$% I waited and waited- too long IMO. I ended up buying recently and although it's still on the rise when I think of how much it's gone up since I first started watching it- it makes me sick. That's what i get for sitting on the pot too long. LOL
(ps. I'm not sure about attendance down either- with all the reports and pictures of super big crowds. I would assume they are looking at one thing and not the other- looking at profit and assuming attendance is down. That may not be the case- they probably have more in attendance due to the specials they've offered recently but that doesn't mean people are spending money on everything else while there! It seems everyone is going- but doing it in a budget way..... just my opinion!

 

[ynottony99]

In my recent trips to the parks, I would say attendance is not down, at least not much. A while back they did have all toys on sale for 35% off. I have never seen that before. So I would say they are seeing a decrease in sales.

 

[Mmketeer]

I went to MK for my birthday 4/30 and walked right on everything. The park wasn't very crowded at all to my surpise. Matter of fact, I was given a special "Fastpass" for one attraction and DH and I didn't even use it...we didn't need too. Needless to say, it made my theme park day much better since the park wasn't overly crowded!

 

[ynottony99]

We arrive Thursday for a long weekend. Hope this trend holds for our trip.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I went to MK for my birthday 4/30 and walked right on everything. The park wasn't very crowded at all to my surpise. Matter of fact, I was given a special "Fastpass" for one attraction and DH and I didn't even use it...we didn't need too. Needless to say, it made my theme park day much better since the park wasn't overly crowded!

Well I know I really can't hope for this same experience towards end of May- but maybe a tiny bit of hope that it's like that for us too. LOL Glad you had such a great time!

 

[des1954]

Just from my observation as a regular park attendee... if the attendance is down, it's not by much. The "free" dining plans (which nothing is really free) and the 4/3 offers have done a lot to keep things going. On the down side, the "free" dining has forced Disney to cheapen the quality of their food and driven the walk up prices too high IMHO. Yesterday at Epcot we went to the walk-up dining at Mexico & each had a burrito and a regular beverage & it was $23.00. The burrito used to come with a side of refried beans & some chopped tomatoes & shredded lettuce. Now, it's served wrapped in aluminum foil like a baked potato & no side stuff. The price went up (IIRC) $1.50 since the beginning of April. Because we live so close, we will not be eating at the parks any longer. We'll stop at a restaurant outside & eat before we go in.

I also saw lots of people carrying their resort mugs around Epcot & they were filling them at the Electric Umbrella and at Coke's Club Cool. At Club Cool, a CM was actually helping a guest fill their mug. Now, I like free drinks, but I did not think the resort mugs could be used at the theme parks.

The quality of food at Disney has gone way down since they started these dining plans. It's a good deal for the people staying at the resorts, but it makes for lousy eats for the rest of us. DH & I used to go to Epcot just to eat dinner or lunch - but no more. (Okay....well....we may still go to the buffet at Germany.)

 

[stacktester]

I agree with you Debbie. You could go to Publix and get good lean ground beef and all the fixins to make enough burritos to feed a lot of folks for what you paid. It's gotten to where we don't want to eat at the parks anymore. Most of the restaurants have a similar menu (especially the buffets) and the food is just a production line of crap. Another reason to stay at the fort with your own kitchen. Now you made me hungry and I'm going to get stuff for tacos tonight.