Why do you think Disney won't release attendance numbers?

[mill4023]

I'm in the process of picking dates to go next year so I've been looking at the TouringPlans.com best days, reading people's personal opinions, and looking at other sites advice on crowd levels. I'm just wondering why Disney won't release detailed attendance records. Why is it such a big secret? Is there some good reason they don't want the public or their competitors to know how many visitors they have on each day?
I'm sure they have their reasons, I'm just wondering what they are.

It sure would be nice if they would publish historic daily or weekly attendance figures. Then again, I guess it could be bad if it meant that the uncrowded times became more crowded.

Anyone know what the reasoning is in keeping these figures so secret?

 

[Goofy4]

From a business perspective, I don't imagine Disney would care for everyone to know how effective its promotions are. If something "works", they would like to keep it a secret as long as possible. Likewise, Isner has enough problems without answering to every little ripple in attendance drops.

Also, I think most major park operators only announce aggregate figures. The Indianapolis 500 never releases figures for any of its races.

 

[GoofyDad869]

All that being said, it sure would be nice to have "Billions & billions served"-type of generic attendance, like another US company I can think of... Maybe something on the quarterly timeframe.

 

[mill4023]

I can see why they wouldn't want their competition to know exactly how they are doing all the time. But I wonder more about historic attendance numbers from past years. If they can release numbers about past annual attendance, why not detailed monthly numbers?

 

[kima86]

In the book The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2005, the author shows a chart that gives a monthly breakdown (with special holidays included as well) of the Magic Kingdom's annual attendance patterns. He also gives readers an "unofficial guide crowd-level calendar" that can be used to see when the parks are the most busy.

My DH & I go the Monday after Thanksgiving and the crowds are basically non-existent and can pretty much go on any ride without much of a wait.

 

[sugermouse]

Read many of the postings on this site and you will understand why Disney doesn't publish attendance firgures. How many people do you read are "freaking out" because guests report that it is crowded? Could you imagine if they actually published the numbers.........

 

[peter11435]

There are four main reasons why Disney not release attendance information. The first is to keep the information from the competition as stated in this thread, the second is for security reasons, third is that like sugarmouse says if they released the actual numbers people would freak out about crowds for everyday of the year, and lastly because there is really absolutely no valid reason why the public needs the information.

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

Back in my youthful days I often wished that they would have some sort of sign in the front of the parks to tell how many people were in there so I could choose the least crowded one each day. Then I got more mature and wise and considered that IF they did so many people would go to the least crowded park and it would BECOME the most crowded park and so on. I am guessing the same of publishing the exact crowd levels for each day. Even though a certain day in the previous year was crowded or low it would not necessarily be so for the current or later years because there are so many variables, weather, promotions, economy etc.

Slightly Goofy

 

[CinderellaPug]

There are four main reasons why Disney not release attendance information. The first is to keep the information from the competition as stated in this thread, the second is for security reasons, third is that like sugarmouse says if they released the actual numbers people would freak out about crowds for everyday of the year, and lastly because there is really absolutely no valid reason why the public needs the information.

My understanding is the numbers are not released because of security reasons.

 

[peter11435]

My understanding is the numbers are not released because of security reasons.

You are absolutly right, security is the primary reason they so not release those numbers.

 

[mill4023]

You are absolutly right, security is the primary reason they so not release those numbers.

How is it a security issue?

 

[*Fantasia*]

How is it a security issue?

I guess if they want to do a terrorist attack, they would rather do that when there's 200,000 in the park rather than attack when it's slow season with let's say 1,500 in the park. But I suppose if they want to attack they can do that anytime and anywhere, but why attack when there's less people to attack? But then I suppose they can just attack the attractions.

 

[MattIL]

Knowing that they don't release the information, you might as well look for the best sources that will give you a general idea of what the crowds were like.

Last December my family went the week before Christmas (18-23), leading up to this trip the message boards were talking about how crowded things were getting as we moved closer to those dates. However when we got there we felt the crowds were not bad at all and the hours that the parks were staying open were pretty late. (MK to 11:00 and 12:00).

This really seemed to fit the information that the Unofficial Guide listed for those days. We typically went in the Summer (Early August) and were very happy with the crowds and obviously the Holiday Decorations. Maybe others on the board can let you know if they have similar experiences with guide books and the accuracy of their attendance estimates.