Is Attendance Down at Disney Parks? Here’s What We Know
Photo Credit: A view of Disney World, Orlando Florida. Source: Unsplash. Unsplash / Brian McGowan
Skift Take
The idea that a giant tourist attraction like Disney could fall victim to price sensitivity, especially under the current macro economic conditions, is telling. It further underscores that if theme parks are going to charge an arm and a leg, they need to deliver an experience worth the price tag, to remain competitive.
Are wait times shrinking at Disney Parks? Is that a sign of weak demand? That was the claim in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, a claim CEO Bob Iger pushed back on in a CNBC interview this week.
Traditionally, waiting in line is part of the theme park experience in Orlando or Shanghai, and data from Tour Plans marked the past 4th of July weekend as one of the slowest in years for attendance.
Roger Niles of ThemeParkInsider.com, a newsletter focused on Disney, said wait times are a flawed indicator of theme park attendance, especially for a 4th of July that falls on a Tuesday.
“To say that Disney World's attendance is tanking or that the parks are empty is a wild exaggeration at this point,” said Niles.
Niles, who said he has previously worked at Disney World on multiple 4th of July stints, believes the holiday's dynamics, block-out ticket promotions on the date that cannot be booked by Disney pass holders only regular visitors, weather warnings and competition for other Florida experiences like Universal Orlando or SeaWorld are all factors that could cause the wait-times signals to be misinterpreted.
