Epcot, AK and DHS have been slow all summer?

[Bothepro24]

Here's one thing that is overlooked, at IOA you are captive, no choice but to eat at the parks. At Disney a higher percentage returns to their resorts for lunch, plus Disney has about 3 times the offerings for food from reserved to QS. You can't compare the two.

 

[mvk]

How many posts(let's just use disboards posters as a guide for now) have there been on these boards where guests are reporting riding Expedition Everest three or four times in a row? The same thing for the Safaris. You would have to look long and hard for those same accounts with The Forbidden Journey.

There are pics and posts on twitter today (from yesterday visit) that IOA is completely empty, showing coasters that hold 32 people with only 8 riders on it, and HP land just about empty.

Animal Kingdom might empty out a bit in the evening, but the other parks are usually pretty crowded.

Alicia Fine ‏@aliciaisfine 59m
@easywdw my friend and I were the only people in our transformers vehicle today. praise the offseason.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

There are pics and posts on twitter today (from yesterday visit) that IOA is completely empty, showing coasters that hold 32 people with only 8 riders on it, and HP land just about empty.

Animal Kingdom might empty out a bit in the evening, but the other parks are usually pretty crowded.

Alicia Fine ‏@aliciaisfine 59m
@easywdw my friend and I were the only people in our transformers vehicle today. praise the offseason.

Thank you MVK for that bit of current info. Very interesting! Have you also been to WDW in the last few days? Is that why you made the comment about how empty AK is near closing time?

 

[mvk]

Thank you MVK for that bit of current info. Very interesting! Have you also been to WDW in the last few days? Is that why you made the comment about how empty AK is near closing time?

I have not been, but from reading various blogs and boards, from what I can tell, AK is normally pretty empty near closing time. You can pretty much walk onto Expedition Everest multiple times from what I read.

I don't think I've ever seen a ride at Disney World look like a picture of what I believe was the Hulk Coaster looked like the other day. Literally 8 seats of a 32 seat coaster were occupied. Transformers, which was a huge deal a few months ago, when people were using it as an example of why Disney MUST BUILD NEW RIDES!!!, was a walkon with less than capacity vehicles. WWoHP was nearly empty.

I understand it is offseason and a slow time, but with the Universal Parks just about empty leads me to believe that they are in no way shape or form making a dent in Disney World, or even in danger of pulling enough people away that Disney would feel it.

 

[Planogirl]

Here's one thing that is overlooked, at IOA you are captive, no choice but to eat at the parks. At Disney a higher percentage returns to their resorts for lunch, plus Disney has about 3 times the offerings for food from reserved to QS. You can't compare the two.

We often eat at the Universal resorts or in Citywalk or even the Studios when we go to IOA. You don't have to eat in the parks even though it's true that there are fewer options.

 

[Planogirl]

All of this "I saw a long line" or "I saw an almost empty coaster" is fine but really doesn't mean much in the overall picture. Attendance is incredibly hard to measure just by a single day or a few hours. It's just too small a sample IMO.

I personally believe that MK has increased attendance and so have the Universal parks while the other Disney parks have stayed pretty steady. I have no proof of that but it's just my unscientific opinion.

 

[Minniesgal]

Here's one thing that is overlooked, at IOA you are captive, no choice but to eat at the parks. At Disney a higher percentage returns to their resorts for lunch, plus Disney has about 3 times the offerings for food from reserved to QS. You can't compare the two.

We never ever eat on the Universal parks. There are heaps of places on city walk and at salt lake or the Millenia mall. You are in more captive than WDW

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

We never ever eat on the Universal parks. There are heaps of places on city walk and at salt lake or the Millenia mall. You are in more captive than WDW

I agree...I don't really *get* what he was talking about being "captive" at IOA in comparison to the Disney Parks. He alluded to many having lunch at the Disney Resorts...uhhhh...that's still revenue for WDW. Now...if he had said that many leave the WDW property for lunch...THAT would be significant.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

I have not been, but from reading various blogs and boards, from what I can tell, AK is normally pretty empty near closing time. You can pretty much walk onto Expedition Everest multiple times from what I read.

I don't think I've ever seen a ride at Disney World look like a picture of what I believe was the Hulk Coaster looked like the other day. Literally 8 seats of a 32 seat coaster were occupied. Transformers, which was a huge deal a few months ago, when people were using it as an example of why Disney MUST BUILD NEW RIDES!!!, was a walkon with less than capacity vehicles. WWoHP was nearly empty.

I understand it is offseason and a slow time, but with the Universal Parks just about empty leads me to believe that they are in no way shape or form making a dent in Disney World, or even in danger of pulling enough people away that Disney would feel it.

Wow...we ALWAYS hear about how Epcot and Hollywood Studios are so empty soooo much of the time.

It's wild to actually see someone post that the World Of Harry Potter isn't really crowded on a certain day. Have to mark this post for posterity!

 

[Planogirl]

I agree...I don't really *get* what he was talking about being "captive" at IOA in comparison to the Disney Parks. He alluded to many having lunch at the Disney Resorts...uhhhh...that's still revenue for WDW. Now...if he had said that many leave the WDW property for lunch...THAT would be significant.

I'm having trouble finding that many resort restaurants that open for lunch. It seems that many of them open only for breakfast and dinner or just dinner.

 

[Andrew015]

I just returned from a brief trip September 26 - 30th, opening weekend of Food and Wine. I had ADR's for all four nights, but really wouldn't have needed them. First night, we ate at The Wave @ 5:00 pm. We literally (no exaggeration) were one of only five tables throughout THE ENTIRE RESTAURANT upon walking in! Guests were outnumbered by servers at least 5:1, half of them standarding around with nothing to do. By the time we left around 6:15, things started to get a little busier, but you still would have had no problem walking up to get a table.

Second night Friday, 9/27, we ate at Chefs de France in EPCOT, opening night of F&W. We had another 5:00 pm ADR, which is the only time I was actually glad that we had an ADR. We waited about 10 minutes before being seated. World Showcase in general was pretty crowded this evening (much of which I attribute to local Orlando residents). This was the busiest night of the trip, but still a far cry from what I have seen at other times of the year.

Third night, Saturday 9/28, was a split day between AK and MK. While Everest was not a "walk on", the Standby wait was only 20 minutes. We grabbed a FP, decided to go on via Standby, and by the time we got off the first time, we jumped right on with our FP. By this time, the standby line was only 10 minutes. If we were willing to do Single Rider, we could have simply kept riding over and over. MK was open until Midnight, and as a result, was rather crowded.

Last night, Sunday 9/29, was a 3 park day (crazy, I know). We snuck into MK around noon just to get some last minute Photopass pictures on Mainstreet. I have never seen Mainstreet so empty! We have pictures of the castle with only a handful of people in the background. We then jumped over to EPCOT via monorail (almost an empty train - maybe 15-20 people tops waiting in line at TTC). We found many walk-on's throughout Future World, and finally sat down for our 5:00 pm ADR at San Angel Inn - Mexico. Essentially, we had a pick of almost any seat we wanted throughout the restaurant. I asked our server if they were expecting to be so slow. He claimed that they were shocked by the low turnout, and were anticipating a much larger crowd for opening weekend of F&W. After Illuminations, we finished the night at HS, as they had exteneded hours until 11:00 pm. We walked right onto RR, and could have continued to do so the remainder of the night. But we wanted to scope out a few other things before the night ended.

Monday, 9/30 was our travel day home, but we had a few hours to kill at DTD before catching our M.E. bus back to MCO. I have a picture that I will have to upload of the main strip of West Side Disney - The street was virtually EMPTY (I have never seen this before).

In summary, I know that September is usually a slow time at WDW, which is why we chose to travel at this time. But being the first weekend of F&W and with MNSSHP's in full swing, I couldn't believe that we didn't run into more crowds!

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

Thank you andrew015!

Wow...that made for a great time at WDW for *you*. For *Disney*, that is not good news at all! Opening weekend of F&W and San Angel Inn(a supposedly "popular" restaurant) is deserted. Even your server was shocked at the low turnout. Yet another reason to suspect this hasn't been a good year for the three non-MK parks.

 

[mvk]

Here is a pic of WWoHP the other day that I was referencing.

 

[mcd2745]

I just returned from a brief trip September 26 - 30th, opening weekend of Food and Wine. I had ADR's for all four nights, but really wouldn't have needed them. First night, we ate at The Wave @ 5:00 pm. We literally (no exaggeration) were one of only five tables throughout THE ENTIRE RESTAURANT upon walking in! Guests were outnumbered by servers at least 5:1, half of them standarding around with nothing to do. By the time we left around 6:15, things started to get a little busier, but you still would have had no problem walking up to get a table.

Second night Friday, 9/27, we ate at Chefs de France in EPCOT, opening night of F&W. We had another 5:00 pm ADR, which is the only time I was actually glad that we had an ADR. We waited about 10 minutes before being seated. World Showcase in general was pretty crowded this evening (much of which I attribute to local Orlando residents). This was the busiest night of the trip, but still a far cry from what I have seen at other times of the year.

Third night, Saturday 9/28, was a split day between AK and MK. While Everest was not a "walk on", the Standby wait was only 20 minutes. We grabbed a FP, decided to go on via Standby, and by the time we got off the first time, we jumped right on with our FP. By this time, the standby line was only 10 minutes. If we were willing to do Single Rider, we could have simply kept riding over and over. MK was open until Midnight, and as a result, was rather crowded.

Last night, Sunday 9/29, was a 3 park day (crazy, I know). We snuck into MK around noon just to get some last minute Photopass pictures on Mainstreet. I have never seen Mainstreet so empty! We have pictures of the castle with only a handful of people in the background. We then jumped over to EPCOT via monorail (almost an empty train - maybe 15-20 people tops waiting in line at TTC). We found many walk-on's throughout Future World, and finally sat down for our 5:00 pm ADR at San Angel Inn - Mexico. Essentially, we had a pick of almost any seat we wanted throughout the restaurant. I asked our server if they were expecting to be so slow. He claimed that they were shocked by the low turnout, and were anticipating a much larger crowd for opening weekend of F&W. After Illuminations, we finished the night at HS, as they had exteneded hours until 11:00 pm. We walked right onto RR, and could have continued to do so the remainder of the night. But we wanted to scope out a few other things before the night ended.

Monday, 9/30 was our travel day home, but we had a few hours to kill at DTD before catching our M.E. bus back to MCO. I have a picture that I will have to upload of the main strip of West Side Disney - The street was virtually EMPTY (I have never seen this before).

In summary, I know that September is usually a slow time at WDW, which is why we chose to travel at this time. But being the first weekend of F&W and with MNSSHP's in full swing, I couldn't believe that we didn't run into more crowds!

While Food & wine brings in a lot of extra people during what would typically be a very slow time. However, I assume that there would not be a proportionate increase in demand for ADRs during that time. I figure most of the extra people that are there for F&W do not want to sit down for a TS meal, preferring to just "graze" around World Showcase all day.

 

[Andrew015]

And here is the picture I was referring to of the nearly deserted DTD West Side:

 

[Andrew015]

While Food & wine brings in a lot of extra people during what would typically be a very slow time. However, I assume that there would not be a proportionate increase in demand for ADRs during that time. I figure most of the extra people that are there for F&W do not want to sit down for a TS meal, preferring to just "graze" around World Showcase all day.

Totally agreed. But I was expecting EPCOT in general to be a zoo (especially on the first official day of F&W), when in fact, the crowds were very managable.

 

[Andrew015]

And here is MK, near the castle, broad daylight around noon or 1:00 pm this past Sunday. Looked light a ghost town!

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

While it's true that a lot of people may eschew TB in exchange for just grazing around World Showcase, we have to remember how shocked Andrew's server was at the San Angel Inn. Evidently, the restaurant must have been a lot busier during previous F&W festivals.

 

[whositsandwhatsits]

We prefer MK because there are many more rides for our little guys (3.5 and 1.5) to ride.

Saying that, we do like Toy Story Mania and the Disney Junior Dance party is fun at HS, and the boys love Nemo and the aquarium at EP, but we feel like we get more bang for our buck at MK.

The cost of tickets is a bit tricky. We are looking to go down for a few days in Dec for MVMCP. But now that we pay for the 3.5 yo, financially there is an impact.

If wishes came true, mine would be to reduce the ticket price for the littles, or to have the significant price breaks for multiple days show up sooner than at the 4 day mark.

 

[Andrew015]

While it's true that a lot of people may eschew TB in exchange for just grazing around World Showcase, we have to remember how shocked Andrew's server was at the San Angel Inn. Evidently, the restaurant must have been a lot busier during previous F&W festivals.

Exactly! Our server indicated that they brought "all hands on deck" in anticipation of a large turnout. While I agree that many "graze" during F&W, I still think that the Mexican pavillion is one of the more popular stops, even for those stopping into the bar for a signature margaritta. Even that wasn't the usual, "stand and wait" to get in. I should also mention that weather was beautiful for almost our entire stay (perhaps 20 minutes of rain total throughout the 5-day period).