Top Secret Info? ODD!

[tennantsrwe]

Hey!
Well I called WDW this morning to find out some info for my neighbor on typical crowd levels for a specific week in Dec (18-23) We're going the 9-14 and our neighbor was curious as to how much more crowded their week would be over ours. So, I get on the phone with a CM and ask if they could give me info regarding average attenedance for those weeks and they said "No that is considered highly top secret information that is not made avaliable to the public." WHAT? Like it's a military operation or government secret. So I proceded to ask if they could give me ANY information concerning attendance, hotel sell outs, etc or even just an honest opinion....and the answer was NO. The CM made it out like I was being nosey and couldn't understand why I would want to know such a thing. She then refered me on the another department who told me they could not comment either due to the highly "private matter of the information, and also that since the YOMD celebration is on going that their numbers would be way off from last year." Maybe I'm crazy but don't they advertise WONDERFUL WEEKS OF DISNEY where there are smaller crowds? So how come they can't be specific as far as week to week information? I just found the whole thing strange and honestly pretty silly. SO with all that in mind, has anyone gone the dates of 18-23? We don't typically go that late so I can't help my neighbor out. THANKS for your help, and don't worry the secret is safe with me!

[SBETigg]

I don't find it odd at all. Most businesses guard that kind of information. Sorry for the frustration, but with a little research you will find opinions on general crowd levels at any given week of the year on websites or in guidebooks. I'm sure you'll get a lot of responses on it here. INTERCOTees have no problem sharing information. I've never been then, so I am no help. Best wishes!

[SurferStitch]

We went last December (7-18). Weekday crowds were very small. Weekends were pretty busy (especially the weekend of the 16th), but not too bad. As it got closer to the 18th, the crowds REALLY picked up (basically because that was a weekend).

We loved that time of year so much, we are heading back down 12/6-12/17 this year.

The dates that your neighbors will be there will have large crowds. That week leading up to Christmas is very busy, so they should be prepared to use FP all the time, and make sure they have all of their desired TS meals booked. There will be very slim to NO walk-ups available.

[Itchy]

I understand where disney is coming from.

As a possible issue for homeland security.

If bad guys could get actual numbers for attendance they could really make an impact that I personnally dont care to think about.

In reality they do not know who you are over the phone and such information could compromise security of the happiest place on earth.

There are alot of vaction publications that have historical information as to which are the crowded and least crowded times.

I hope this helps...

[FriendsofMickey]

The unnofical guide offers crowd indicator numbers for the time frames, if you purchase the book you can go to the website and review them. For that time frame, it looks like the weekends are 6s and 7s and the weekdays are mostly 4s and 5s with on 6 in there. (Those are out of a possible 10).

For your time frame it seems just about the same - 9 through 18th.

So, it seems that for the most part, the crowds will be close to the same.

Obviously, this is dependend on what park you go to. The Unofficial guide also offers you the 'best' and 'worst' parks to visit for each day.
HTH
Lori Ann

[Cinderelley]

I understand where disney is coming from.

As a possible issue for homeland security.

If bad guys could get actual numbers for attendance they could really make an impact that I personnally dont care to think about.

In reality they do not know who you are over the phone and such information could compromise security of the happiest place on earth.

There are alot of vaction publications that have historical information as to which are the crowded and least crowded times.

I hope this helps...

Wouldn't getting the info out of the publications do the same thing for terrorists?

[FriendsofMickey]

I wanted to add, I would think that there reasoning for not giving you crowd levels would be more to prevent any 'upset costumers'. Say, they said "oh, the levels will be moderate". THen you go, and they are very high?
The levels are guesses. Also, it probably would depend on what park you are going to. For example, Dec 1 (from what I have heard) is the Christmas Parade at MK, so the crowds will most likely be very heavy; however, one would think that the other parks might not be heavy at all? You just never know.
I would not think it was a security 'thing' at all, anyone can use historical data to get an idea of the crowd levels... or just buy the unofficial guide (or others I am sure). Also, it is pretty much common knowledge that the most crowded time is Christmas eve through New Years day.... there is no hiding it from anyone.

[Itchy]

Its close but not the same. Just like when they have special sporting events. They never talk about how many thousands will be attending on a given date.

You can not completely crawl into as shell and never tell anyone anything. We just need to be watchful of our surroundings at all times. Which is unfortunate.

Whether its the world series or super bowl security is always there and historical numbers will always be with us.

[PirateLover]

We went the 17th-22nd of Dec in 2005. Crowds were heavy but lines were very manageable if that makes sense. For instance, Main Street in MK or Sunset Blvd in MGM were terribly difficult to navigate sometimes, but once you reached the rides, waits generally weren't more than 20 mins.

[bobpfef]

Businesses won't give out that type of information. I'm sure Universal would like to get the annual attendence numbers from Disney. The guidebooks give you a good guess but only Disney knows the actual numbers.

[Aggie97]

We were there December 16-26, 2006. The crowds started out pretty low and steadily built up over the course of the trip. Things really started to pick up around the 21st-22nd, which made sense b/c many schools let out for the holidays right around that time.

I would recommend that your neighbors "front-load" their attraction time, if that makes any sense -- spend as much time as possible on major attractions during their first few days, and maybe leave TS dining, shopping and less popular attractions for the last few days. This is what we did last year, and it really did work for us.

[MsMin]

We were there from about the 16th - 22nd the last 2 years. I imagine that the weekends will be heavier but not unbearable and they drop off on Monday and build back getting real heavy before Christmas. Some things were walk ons and it depends on how you manage the parks on the more crowded days, time of day you attend and whether it has EMH etc. We had a wonderful time. Last year the 22nd was a Friday so it was just getting heavy when we left- really depends on when those kids all start getting out of school!

[pink]

That is wierd but at the same time it makes sense buisness wise. However, I can tell you that in the Birnbaum books they usually tell you the most crowded to the least crowded times to visit. I'm not exactly sure what they are right now but its always good to go when schools in session!

[Tink#64]

It's so very sad, but my first thought after reading this thread was about 9-11. I'm sure Disney has several reasons for not giving out this info. Besides the fact that past numbers would only be a predictor for this year. I'm sure it was frustrating for you, so I understand your questions.

It's funny though, because I've said before the WDW is like the military, the info given seems to be, at times, on a need to know basis. It seems that you have to know the exact way to phrase a question to get the info you're looking for. But, I'm sure WDW gets a million questions each day, so if they went into a spiel with each Q., they'd never be available to help anyone else. But I definitely understand where you're coming from!

[Polynesian Dweller]

It has nothing to do with 9-11 or homeland security. This is corporate business information that you don't make available to your competitors. Competitors use any info they can get to try to lure your customers away. Businesses guard all kinds of information to preserve their competitive edge.

When I was in the hotel business we never released our room occupancy rate data and we were always trying to find out our competitors. You use info like that to plan advertising targeted at the competitor's customers and luring them away.

[DisneyDudet]

We were there December 16-26, 2006. The crowds started out pretty low and steadily built up over the course of the trip. Things really started to pick up around the 21st-22nd, which made sense b/c many schools let out for the holidays right around that time.

I would recommend that your neighbors "front-load" their attraction time, if that makes any sense -- spend as much time as possible on major attractions during their first few days, and maybe leave TS dining, shopping and less popular attractions for the last few days. This is what we did last year, and it really did work for us.

You said exactly what I was about to say!! You will notice the crowds getting larger each day. We went this exact time 2 years and it was nice. We could catch a MVMCP ( DO IT) and then the rest of the time was filled with fun.

The thing about Christmas time, is there's so many things to draw people from the rides (special shows, parades, decorations) and it can make lines shorter and crowds heavier. We had no problem getting on all our favorite rides with little waits, especially with FP.

As for the crowd levels, I would think it would be to save their money. One thing I think of is if they say they are heavily booked, some may choose not to come, which means, they lose money they would have gotten. Others have had good points as well.

[brownie]

I don't believe Disney has ever released this information. In the theme park business, I don't think you really want your competitors to know what you're actual attendance levels are.

As it gets closer to Christmas, the parks will get busier. The on-site hotel rates are a good indication of the relative "busyness" of a particular time of year; the higher the rate the busier it's likely to be.

[A Big Kid]

Its about supply and demand. For example:

If the supply of hotel rooms of up, then the prices go down.

If the off-site hotels know the supply of hotel rooms is up in Disney, they can use that information in their marketing strategy to set their prices more attractivly that Disneys.

The same would be true with regards to any number of Disney offerings like theme park tickets, dining, water parks, clubs, etc.

In my estimation, it would have nothing to do with 9-11.

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

Actually, most theme parks report their annual attendence to industry groups such as IAAPA, who then compile it into one large source that includes just abnout every type of record (total, average, peaks, highest, lowest, finances), including Universal, Disney, Busch Entertainment, Paramount, and Cedar Point.

Also, most publicly traded companies provide their annual reports to the public which will include all of their accounting records for the year so that current as well as future investors can look into them.

The reason they couldn't release any information, I think is that the final numbers can continually fluctuate, as well as security issues and crowd control. Like others have suggested, there are plenty of sources you can use to find out the estimated flows for the parks.

We typically visit the first week of December and find very good crowds, usually not too busy with an average time of about 10-15 minutes for most rides.

[Mickey 101]

We were there last year 12/20-30 and found the parks to be surprisingly manageable from 12/20-25. On the 26th, the crowds really hit. Of course, you still had to have a strategy like always when its more busy like hitting the parks and big rides early in the day, using fps and taking advantage of EMH. Even the latter part of our visit, we were able to get on several attractions......just needed a little more patience.