Great Movie Ride closes for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway

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Umm.... Pardon me, but why exactly would attendance being down in the parks be a bad thing? Disney has raised ticket prices recently, and has been increasing revenue from having more and more additional ticketed events such as firework dessert parties and other activities (tours, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, etc.)

I'm currently at Disney World and I have never seen the parks this crowded before. If you look at past statistics, Magic Kingdom in 2016 had an average daily attendance of approximately 56,000 visitors and in 2011 had approximately 47,000. I know that those are not precise numbers and it varies, but there are no longer any quiet times of year.

Unless attendance suddenly drops to post-9/11 levels, I don't think the Mouse has anything to worry about.
MK is of course routinely crowded. Disney should be (and kind of is) focusing on speeding out the crowds more. Make the other three parks more of a draw.
 
I just used Magic Kingdom as an example because the attendance statistics were easy to google. From my experience,all of the parks are super crowded now. You won't have attendance in Magic Kingdom rise by 9,000 a day in 5 years without increasing attendance in the other parks as well.
 


FWIW, I doubt anyone expected Pandora to yield a net increase this year. When AK opened, total attendance bumped just a bit and it took almost a decade for the other three parks to hit their pre-AK levels--altho a couple of recessions and 9/11 got in the way... A chart I did five or 6 years ago begins the year before AK opened and goes through 2010. The red line is total attendance and the blue line HS, MK and Epcot attendance.

https://**************.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Animal-Kingdom-Cannibalization.jpg
 
I'd want to see revenue numbers over attendance numbers before making any claim like that.

Seriously. I agree to a point that Pandora isn't going to be a huge draw, not in the way Potter was for Uni or Star Wars will be for WDW anyway. But it probably achieved something else: spreading out crowds and increasing attendance and spend in Animal Kingdom. I think people really have no idea what is in store once Galaxy's Edge is open.
 


Pandora can't be held responsible for failing to overcome resort wide patterns. It did it's job and has been extremely well received. If people are interested in going to WDW, Pandora itself wouldn't convince them otherwise. Few people plan a vacation as expensive as a Disney one around a single land
 
Which=nothing for WDW on the whole. MK down, too.

well, that is deifnitely not nothing as spreading the crowds out among the 4 parks is something they have really been pushing - and getting AK to be a full day park is important to them (and I am sure revenue is up from all the adult beverages they have in that park now as well)

Now, is it everything they hoped for? no, of course not - and if Star Wars Galaxy's Edge only does the same they will be very, very disappointed, but to say it did "nothing" is a bit strong in my opinion
 
Pandora can't be held responsible for failing to overcome resort wide patterns. It did it's job and has been extremely well received. If people are interested in going to WDW, Pandora itself wouldn't convince them otherwise. Few people plan a vacation as expensive as a Disney one around a single land

Though I think Galaxy's Edge might be the exception as I know some big Star Wars fans that would plan a vacation around that land without much interest in the rest of WDW
 
I’m still somewhat surprised how successful Pandora was. I always thought that avatar was remembered but for the spectacle and not the movie itself. I know I was one of several who groaned when they first announced it, and there was a lot of skepticism in the general public leading up to the opening. So seeing how successful it is and how hard it still is to get fast passes even in the off season I guess is a testament to Disney’s workmanship. I’m looking forward to seeing it in person!!

Back to Mickey, have they successfully convinced imagineering the new designs suck?
 
well, that is deifnitely not nothing as spreading the crowds out among the 4 parks is something they have really been pushing - and getting AK to be a full day park is important to them (and I am sure revenue is up from all the adult beverages they have in that park now as well)

Now, is it everything they hoped for? no, of course not - and if Star Wars Galaxy's Edge only does the same they will be very, very disappointed, but to say it did "nothing" is a bit strong in my opinion

Max...that's an excellent rebuttal to my assertion that Pandora has done zero for WDW attendance.
 
Though I think Galaxy's Edge might be the exception as I know some big Star Wars fans that would plan a vacation around that land without much interest in the rest of WDW
Definitely. I know people already planning to go to WDW once Star Wars opens.
 
well, that is deifnitely not nothing as spreading the crowds out among the 4 parks is something they have really been pushing - and getting AK to be a full day park is important to them (and I am sure revenue is up from all the adult beverages they have in that park now as well)

Now, is it everything they hoped for? no, of course not - and if Star Wars Galaxy's Edge only does the same they will be very, very disappointed, but to say it did "nothing" is a bit strong in my opinion


I agree with your sentiments in regards to Pandora. I think its absolutely amazing, however its essentially two rides and a QS, so it is not especially substantial.

The Star Wars and Toy Story areas appear to be somewhat more substantial and I think those two lands will provide a strong boost to attendance. Also, these announcements are coupled with a lot of other additions.

I am hoping (I know there is virtually no chance of this); that for my August 2018 trip, crowds will be way down, as people hold off for these additions in 2019.

Especially as these are franchises with massive fan bases, as opposed to Pandora.
 
I agree with your sentiments in regards to Pandora. I think its absolutely amazing, however its essentially two rides and a QS, so it is not especially substantial.

The Star Wars and Toy Story areas appear to be somewhat more substantial and I think those two lands will provide a strong boost to attendance. Also, these announcements are coupled with a lot of other additions.

I am hoping (I know there is virtually no chance of this); that for my August 2018 trip, crowds will be way down, as people hold off for these additions in 2019.

Especially as these are franchises with massive fan bases, as opposed to Pandora.

I also see Pandora as just a part of what enabled them to have AK open more hours - that along with the Tree of Life Awakenings, Sunset Safaris, Rivers of Light, etc. so that all combined gave WDW something more than it had before

I do think Toy Story Land will be open by next summer so that will be open for your August trip ... but I think that through first part of 2019 is the last chance for any sort of slower period because then you have Star Wars and then Tron and Guardians and then right into the 50th ... so no calming down until 2022 at the earliest
 
I agree with your sentiments in regards to Pandora. I think its absolutely amazing, however its essentially two rides and a QS, so it is not especially substantial.

The Star Wars and Toy Story areas appear to be somewhat more substantial and I think those two lands will provide a strong boost to attendance. Also, these announcements are coupled with a lot of other additions.

I am hoping (I know there is virtually no chance of this); that for my August 2018 trip, crowds will be way down, as people hold off for these additions in 2019.

Especially as these are franchises with massive fan bases, as opposed to Pandora.

The upside for you is that August has become one of the slowest times of year for WDW.
 
The upside for you is that August has become one of the slowest times of year for WDW.

especially if you can go the last week of August, when many schools are back in session - that has always worked for us as our schools don't go back until after Labor Day. Only down side is the heat - so you have to take mid-day breaks
 
I would guess, that the current DHS rehab with Toy Story and Star Wars attractions coming online next year, may have affected near term attendance. Pandora may have mitigated that a bit. However, I think Star Wars is highly anticipated enough that it isn't unreasonable to think some families have postponed vacations to a time after star wars opens.....having TSL also open in the same park by that time make is a bit of slam dunk.
For me I'm looking at it the opposite way, I think I want to visit before all of that opens up and the business levels sky rocket. I half think the skyliner project was put in place to help give overcrowded guests in DHS another park (Epcot)to escape to easily. I really think there will be a capacity issue at DHS.
 
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