Crowds - economy struggles

[Lily]

Hello! How have the crowds been this year with the struggling economy? I have a trip scheduled for November 9th-15th and obviously I would love short lines. :mickey:

[vicster]

I thought the crowds would be lower when we went Sept. 12th - Sept. 19th but it seemed busier than last September. I was shocked! Maybe the free dining is really catching on. You'd never know there's a problem with the economy with the crowds at WDW.

[Marci]

I second the PP. It was far busier than any September I have gone. Good Luck.

[thumperbug]

I think perhaps a lot of folks had their trips booked and paid for awhile ago before things got really bad.

I am thinking that there are probably less people making new plans.

I'll be honest, if it weren't for the fact that we are DVC members and had free airline tickets we probably would not be going on our next trip.

I also purchased our park tickets over the summer before prices went up so those as paid for as well.

I've been squirreling away a little bit of cash here and there to put aside for the trip so our bank account won't take a large hit at trip time.

I also plan to get some disney stuff at the dollar store and put those away and give them to my son while we are on the trip. I ususally suprise him with gifts while we are there. He doesnt have to know I didn't buy them at WDW.

[Demyx]

Thirded. This September was much busier than the previous September IMO.

[KylesMom]

We vacationed in July/August and didn't notice a slow down in crowds. Many more folks from abroad were there than we've ever seen before.

[Jasper]

Don't forget that with the dollar being weak against so many foreign currencies that it is very cheap for them to come here. Plus, even when the dollar is strong WDW is still a hot spot for foreign visitors.

[Mammabruski]

My DM returned from her free dining trip Monday and she said there were hardly any lines and it was way less croweded than when we went last September. Hmmm. . . I guess I'll see for myself when my family goes in November (43 days left)!

[DizneyRox]

Considering that none of the parks his closure on the 4th of July (historically one of the busiest days of the year) I suspect that attendence is way down over previous years. I also suspect it will continue to dwindle since folks have had plenty of time to cancel without significant penalties.

The US stock market is hitting the world economy, I'm not so sure Disney is immune to this downturn. They fared well after 9/11 because I think more "locals" were willing to vacation domestically. In other recessions, foreigners were able to keep things afloat. Now, everyone is feeling the pinch which is how I"m basing my predictions.

[DisneyDadfromPittsburgh]

Well if this is any indication about crowds.......I wanted to book some reservations for a breakfast at Crystal Palace and they are all booked up for Nov 1, 2 and 3rd. That took me by surprise.

[DizneyRox]

TS food locations in MK are very limited, and breakfast even more so. Add to that, for some reason everyone seems to like Pooh.

I wouldn't take ADRs as any indication of crowd levels.

[big blue and hairy]

I know it's just a week in advance, but I just tried to book Pop, and I was told there were no rooms in any value or moderate! I don't know if all the surrounding hotels are full, but the Disney hotels seem to be doing pretty well.

:sulley:

[big blue and hairy]

for some reason everyone seems to like Pooh.You dissin' the Pooh?
;)

:sulley:

[DizneyRox]

I know it's just a week in advance, but I just tried to book Pop, and I was told there were no rooms in any value or moderate! I don't know if all the surrounding hotels are full, but the Disney hotels seem to be doing pretty well.

:sulley:
There is a difference between occupancy and capacity with regards to hotels. Their capacity may be like 60% of their rooms, occupancy may be 100% however. Meaning there ARE rooms without people in them, but they don't have any to sell.

Capacity as with the parks is determined by the staff on hand to service room, etc. It isn't possible to run increase capacity when someone shows up at the door, they may not have housekeeping to clean the room, or whatever.

For me, the real indicator of crowd levels is crowds and wait times. Even wait times can be misleading. Mission: Space has 4 centrifuges. If they are running only one, then the lines could be just at long during value season as they are in peak season when they are running all 4.

[MickeyMousse]

Friends of ours always go the last week in September and they said there was an obvious decrease in crowd size this trip compared to last. Little to no wait for rides, same for CS and TS restaurants. They did notice some attractions were closing earlier than others.We're going in February so I'm wondering what it's going to be like...

[Ropachs]

We leave in 18 days, yippee!!! We made our plans last April. Honestly, if we had known then how rocky the economy was going to get there is a strong possibility we wouldn't be going. I think there are a lot of folks like us so crowds will be about the same for a while yet, and then perhaps dwindle a bit as there may be people now not willing to book for, say, spring 2009.

[SurferStitch]

I know it's just a week in advance, but I just tried to book Pop, and I was told there were no rooms in any value or moderate! I don't know if all the surrounding hotels are full, but the Disney hotels seem to be doing pretty well.

:sulley:

I just checked out the same thing last night on the WDW website. No values, but CSR had availability.

We are arriving a day early for our trip (10/11), so we are staying in the DTD area. Had no problem getting a room at Country Inn & Suites.

[mudpuppysmom]

We're going in December with my sister and her family. Originally I booked us into club level so we could go onthe Sunrise Safari (we're staying at AKL on a PIN code now) -- we had a discount on the club room too (I think it was AAA -- Melissa at MJ booked it for us). ANyway, because my sister could not afford to upgrade to the club room, we have had to downgrade to just a standard room (which is what she could afford).

Now, when I go onto the Disney ressie site there is nothing available for the week we are there -- nothing that I can find!! I'm just looking to see if when we check in if WE (my family) can upgrade if I can afford it at the time, or whether we still all have to be on the same package like we are now.....

Bottom line is that I'm finding no availability at all anywhere (which I know there has to be someplace that has rooms:secret:).

Again, as another posted said -- capacity is not what occupancy is.....they open up rooms as they need them.

[sndral]

Just thought I'd reply to Disneyrox' reference to Disney doing well after 911. Attendance dropped 6% (foreign attendance down 30%,) so local visitors probably held that up a bit, but revenue dropped 17%.
Some of the things Disney did to cut costs:
Stopped construction on Pop and closed Dixie landing.
Shut down the DTD boats (I remember because I changed my resort choice as a result of that, that fall.)
Cancelled early entry and cut down on live shows and shut down some restaurants.
Cut cast members hours.
So far I've not heard of any of this happening.
I watch what discounts are being offered for a clue as to how things are shaping up.

[Lily]

Thanks for the replies. Great information!

[DizneyRox]

Just thought I'd reply to Disneyrox' reference to Disney doing well after 911. Attendance dropped 6% (foreign attendance down 30%,) so local visitors probably held that up a bit, but revenue dropped 17%.
Some of the things Disney did to cut costs:
Stopped construction on Pop and closed Dixie landing.
Shut down the DTD boats (I remember because I changed my resort choice as a result of that, that fall.)
Cancelled early entry and cut down on live shows and shut down some restaurants.
Cut cast members hours.
So far I've not heard of any of this happening.
I watch what discounts are being offered for a clue as to how things are shaping up.
DIsney weathered 9/11 better than most, I didn't say they weren't impacted. Disney is usually in a pretty good position with regards to fluctuations in the economy.

Here's a post (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=1752527&postcount=3) mentioning what's happening so far in this economy. THis is just the tip of the iceberg I feel.

[sndral]

Thx for the link DizneyRox. So they are starting to cut cast member hours.

[DizneyRox]

Over the past say 8 years, Disney has taken staggering cost cutting measures I believe to increase profitability. Not that this is a bad thing, but it's already gotten to the point where it's impacting guest perception. I know several poeple who have recently come back (and they aren't frequent visitors) and saw a huge difference in the Disney experience. All of them felt that Walt has his hand in their pocket digging for money the whole time.

Some of the things I have pointed out over the years, gabage collection during the day. Landscaping done during peak hours, AND done less frequently. The reduction in menu selections and the cheapening of the ingredients. Park hours have still not returned to "normal" type hours. Lately we're seeing things like CMs being replaced with automated spiels, etc. Ticket prices has increased at a remarkable rate starting with the MYW price increase and lately with the highest percentage of increase ever (I believe).

As the economy worsens, the cuts will need to be mind bottling...

There are many signs... Someone just pointed out a huge increase in DVC resales hitting the market. While it's just a guess, but maybe those people are sick of the cutbacks and felt like now is as good a time as any to get out. Attendence is down, don't let the "no rooms available" fool you. With staff cuts, they can't sell as many rooms as they used to, so while "full" they certainly are not packed. It's strange that the deluxes have availability and the values don't. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney is trying to divert vacationers towards the more expensive resorts. Mousekeeping doens't get paid more for a deluxe than they do for a value I'm sure (although tips might be better). As mentioned, while park hours may have not been cut yet, attractions are being phased in and out in effect dictating guest flow throughout the park. Doing so, you can do more with less staff.

It's an interesting time though... Personally I'm taking a wait and see approach to my next vacation. If I don't see value returing to the parks, it's going to be a good time to go someplace where patronage is appreciated.

[sndral]

Interesting that Marrott just reported a third quarter 28% profit decline & that timeshare sales had 'dried up.' I expect that as other companies in travel/hospitality industries report 3rd quarter results we'll see this trend continue.
How Disney chooses to compete for the shrinking pool of discretionary consummer dollars will be interesting to watch. Further cost cutting seems inevitable, that and attempts to dig deeper into the pockets of those who can still afford to visit.

[Hair_Razor]

If this week has been any indication there was hardly no one in the parks. I do know that this is a slow time, however we were at MK on Tuesday and we walked on almost every ride we were passing people left and right with "dream fast passes", completely useless that day! It seemed all the parks felt like this. The longest waits were for the Toy Story Mania ride which fluctuated from anywhere from 60- 20 minutes that we saw.

[mdhiggin]

We were there Sept 19-28, and the crowds were very light. It may have been due to the craziness with gas prices and shortages in Georgia. We had a great time, though, and the Disney gas stations had better prices on gas than any we saw on the whole trip down. We walked right on POTC every time we went by. It was crazy wonderful.

[5kidsmom]

We just made our resi's today for Oct of 09, I am hoping for extar discount and alot less crowds:mickey:

[Tinkerbella16]

We'll be there the same dates as you!! Staying at POFQ! I wouldn't worry about crowds...I go the same week every year in november, and it is never crowded...and most of the rides have very short wait times. The weather is also gorgeous at that time of year, another reason why we love it in Nov.

People are saying sept was crowded this year, I guess so with free dining...a lot of people take advantage of free dining, so it will be more crowded.

See ya there! :mickey:

[Lily]

Thank you, Tinkerbella16! The kids and I can't wait!! I'm glad to hear we picked a good week. Only 5 more weeks to wait. :thumbsup:

[hardingella]

Don't forget that with the dollar being weak against so many foreign currencies that it is very cheap for them to come here. Plus, even when the dollar is strong WDW is still a hot spot for foreign visitors.

I can confirm that. We stayed at POP for 17 nights in Feb because it was nearly $2 to the £1:D.Not looking that good now though, think next year will be totally different :(