Disney World Hasn’t Felt This Empty in Years

[YuzuYou]

That is not the reason has declined at Disney. It's more likely this:

"In September, Disney enthusiasts said they were skipping trips to visit the theme parks due to rising prices and cash grabs."

Iger Says Disney Parks Are Too Expensive
Iger admitted that the price increases at Disney Parks have been too aggressive. The CEO stated he felt that accessibility was important in the parks, and while he understands the importance of profitability, he believes Disney can be smarter about balancing these two things.

This is interesting because it mirrors my own experience. My sister and I are probably the target audience for a Disney trip (families with young kids), and we thought we were going to do a post-COVID WDW one in 2021. However, when we saw the prices and the legwork involved to get the best bang for our buck, we decided to book a cruise instead. We ended up spending the same or less and the all-inclusive nature meant fewer things we had to meticulously plan. I'm not really a cruise person but I'm at that "in the trenches" stage of life where if I'm going to drop a chunk of change, I prefer not to have to devote extra bandwidth when I'm supposed to be "on vacation". Although, a vacation with young kids is not really a vacation, but a chance for the cousins to get together for an extended playdate lol.

 

[rickandcindy23]

This is interesting because it mirrors my own experience. My sister and I are probably the target audience for a Disney trip (families with young kids), and we thought we were going to do a post-COVID WDW one in 2021. However, when we saw the prices and the legwork involved to get the best bang for our buck, we decided to book a cruise instead. We ended up spending the same or less and the all-inclusive nature meant fewer things we had to meticulously plan. I'm not really a cruise person but I'm at that "in the trenches" stage of life where if I'm going to drop a chunk of change, I prefer not to have to devote extra bandwidth when I'm supposed to be "on vacation". Although, a vacation with young kids is not really a vacation, but a chance for the cousins to get together for an extended playdate lol.

Great first post. I agree with you on Disney being a little too expensive for families and the tech required with the Genie + is ridiculous. I talked to people who felt their entire time with their eyes on their cell phones.

Welcome to TUG.

 

[sox21]

Great first post. I agree with you on Disney being a little too expensive for families and the tech required with the Genie + is ridiculous. I talked to people who felt their entire time with their eyes on their cell phones.

Welcome to TUG.

The Genie+ app made me despise my last Disney trip. Like you state, I was constantly walking around with my head buried in my phone. Horrible experience. What's funny is that when I returned home I saw a florida tourism commercial that stated come to Fkorida to detach from your phone. While that was being said, they showed a family walking through the magic Kingdom, to which I laughed.

 

[frank808]

The current consensus seems to be that it’s probably not going to be.

Straight from the DVC Association meeting yesterday. The new building at Polynesian resort and villas will be part of the existing Poly association and NOT a new one.

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[frank808]

My belief is that the new VGF Resort Studios were a quick flip (they didn’t do much more than a soft-goods refurb) that helped Disney with two problems:

1) The GF Resort couldn’t fill all its rooms with cash guests. DVD took the BPK building out of that resort’s operations and maintenance budget and put the costs of operations and maintenance of that building into the hands of the VGF owners.

2) DVD had expected to be selling Reflections during this time period. Canceling that project left a gap in their sales plans, which the addition to VGF filled very neatly.

The new building at Poly, OTOH, is a whole ‘nuther thing. Much more expensive to build than the BPK at GF was to flip, and DVD needs to sell points there to pay for construction. Plus, when a new DVC resort is in active sales, DVD declares just enough of the villas/points to be available for the new owners to book at 11 months, plus a few extra for owners at other resorts to book at 7 months, and the remaining villas can be rented by Disney for cash. As sales progress, they gradually declare more villas into the association, until they sell out.

At VGF, they declared all of the villas at BPK into the VGF condominium association almost immediately, which allowed all the pre-existing VGF owners to book there at 11 months. If they add the new Poly tower to the existing PVB condominium association, how many of those new villas would they have to declare into the association right away, in order to give literally thousands of existing PVB owners immediate 11-month booking privileges there?

I’ll admit there are many reasonable arguments on the other side (adding the new tower to the existing PVB), so until DVD says something, it’s fun to speculate. Something else that’s intriguing is the possibility that new Poly would be a new condominium association but end on the same date that PVB does, instead of having a span of 50 years. Having both condo associations end at the same time would allow DVD to put all the buildings/villas into the same new association and sell those new points.

Will be same association.

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[frank808]

We had just as much (but different) fun so we are definitely keeping our points and there is a good chance I'll buy into the new Poly if it is part of the existing Poly system.

You can buy now if you want. New Poly tower will be integrated with the existing Poly association.

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[Cyberc]

Straight from the DVC Association meeting yesterday. The new building at Polynesian resort and villas will be part of the existing Poly association and NOT a new one.

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Will be same association.

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I think that DVD was pretty vague in how they phrased that. I don’t believe it until I see or hear something official from Disney.

You can buy now if you want. New Poly tower will be integrated with the existing Poly association.

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I definitely wouldn’t buy now. As long nothing official has come out you risk a drop in poly resale pricing IF poly2 is not part of the same association

 

[Sandy VDH]

I resurrected and got loaded into My Disney Experience tickets I purchased with a travel agent discount back in 2003. These tickets were the NO expiration 7 day hopper with 4 plus or "fun" offering, I think they are calling them now. I have two passes with 8 days of park and 8 days of fun options remaining.

I finally did the Star Wars area, which I had been putting off for years. Even with no ticket costs, I still paid the Genie + rate, and then even paid to be in an individual lightening line for Guardians of the Galaxy at EPCOT and Rise of the Resistence at Hollywood Studios. I still spend over $60 for Lighing lines and Genie + passes, which I would have never done if I also had to pay for park admission. It did make riding more rides easier, and time is money. But I can't image for a family of 4 what that would do to our pocket book.

I can't complain because my park admission ticket paid for 20 years ago was only $164 TOTAL, for a 7 day pass.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Straight from the DVC Association meeting yesterday. The new building at Polynesian resort and villas will be part of the existing Poly association and NOT a new one.

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Yeah, saw that, great news for resale owners!

 

[TheHolleys87]

Will be same association.

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I agree with @Cyberc and wouldn’t rush out to buy PVB resale points unless I wanted them no matter what.

At the reception after the meeting, someone asked Yvonne Chang to confirm, and she said it was their plan/desire but was not set yet and could change. And the guides were instructed yesterday not to confirm it.

To top all that off, someone found the articles of incorporation establishing the Palmetto Trust Association, with the same directors/officers as DVC. That ties into the discussion of timeshare trusts that arose after some members received a survey asking whether they’d buy points that didn’t have a home resort. Palmetto is a name DVC has used before, such as for Palmetto Financial, the DVC loan entity.

SO, I’m very glad we’re old, have no desire to add to any of our TS ownerships, and can sit back and watch what happens. It’s obvious that the DVC times, they are a’changin’!

PS so I may be back asking questions about how the Marriott and Wyndham TS trusts work. Some people on other sites are having a hard time understanding how a single resort could have deeded owners as well as be partially owned by the trust and still maintain those deeded owners’ booking rights.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I resurrected and got loaded into My Disney Experience tickets I purchased with a travel agent discount back in 2003. These tickets were the NO expiration 7 day hopper with 4 plus or "fun" offering, I think they are calling them now. I have two passes with 8 days of park and 8 days of fun options remaining.

I finally did the Star Wars area, which I had been putting off for years. Even with no ticket costs, I still paid the Genie + rate, and then even paid to be in an individual lightening line for Guardians of the Galaxy at EPCOT and Rise of the Resistence at Hollywood Studios. I still spend over $60 for Lighing lines and Genie + passes, which I would have never done if I also had to pay for park admission. It did make riding more rides easier, and time is money. But I can't image for a family of 4 what that would do to our pocket book.

I can't complain because my park admission ticket paid for 20 years ago was only $164 TOTAL, for a 7 day pass.

I used to be able to get those very tickets through RCI Points. I remember when my RCI points were 5 cents each, and I was paying around $300 per ticket for those park hopper plus option, and I think mine were 10 days. This is another way that RCI changed from my favorite exchange company.

I remember Brucecz (gone from us now) touting his Dells UDI contract and how he paid about $100 for the tickets I was paying $300 to buy. He was selling the UDI at the time. I chose not to buy it, but I seriously thought about buying it.

RCI used to also have cruises for points, 100% paid for with RCI Points, also rental cars. I made out like a bandit with my low maintenance fees at Presidential Villas at Plantation Resort (renamed to Grand Palms by Wyndham).

My numbers may be way out of whack, but believe me, it was a huge savings.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I have been here since the 20th, just got done with Epcot today (Christmas Day). This is the least-crowded Christmas I have ever experienced at Disney, by a lot. I’ve just never seen anything like this. Today and yesterday just felt like average fall days in the parks. Genie+ is not selling out at it’s new insane price point either.

 

[got4boys]

The weather was iffy in the morning on Christmas Day. Once the weather cleared up, there were crowds.

 

[pedro47]

Disney parks looked busy on Christmas Day on lived television yesterday. LOL.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

The weather was iffy in the morning on Christmas Day. Once the weather cleared up, there were crowds.

I waited till the weather cleared up and then went to Epcot. I’m telling you, while there were “crowds” there were not “CROWDS.” This was Christmas Day. I’ve gone this time of year for many years, I’ve never experienced it this empty on Christmas Day.

 

[simpsontruckdriver]

I have been here since the 20th, just got done with Epcot today (Christmas Day). This is the least-crowded Christmas I have ever experienced at Disney, by a lot. I’ve just never seen anything like this. Today and yesterday just felt like average fall days in the parks. Genie+ is not selling out at it’s new insane price point either.

As I have posted elsewhere, I am training to drive a Walt Disney World bus. Last week, Magic Kingdom's traffic into the "toll booth" was over a mile long! Yesterday at EPCOT (where I was training), it was not super-busy, but we had a lot of guests. This was the exact bus I was driving yesterday (thanks to Google Images), only once we were full.

 

[Huskerpaul]

As I have posted elsewhere, I am training to drive a Walt Disney World bus. Last week, Magic Kingdom's traffic into the "toll booth" was over a mile long! Yesterday at EPCOT (where I was training), it was not super-busy, but we had a lot of guests. This was the exact bus I was driving yesterday (thanks to Google Images), only once we were full.

We were at WDW 12/9 -12/19 and crowds we not bad at the start and got progessively worse. We did Magic Kingdom on a Christmas party day to avoid crowds and it worked great. Got there at 11:00 and did plenty before the 6:00 pm close.

And congrats on the new job driving Dumbo around WDW. If only the bus could fly like Dumbo.....

 

[simpsontruckdriver]

Update on crowds: yesterday (27th), I was training at Disney Springs. It was SUPER crowded! The Surface Parking as well as 2 of the parking garages were full, and the other one was 75% full by 6:30pm. Our final run of the night was to Polynesian and Grand Floridian, two buses were full going to the DVC resorts, and the both of us filled up returning to DS!

So, I have a feeling we can end all this "WDW hasn't felt this empty..." this month! As always, January - March are slow months, so if you want to plan a semi-crowded time to come down, those are the months to come.

TS

 

[rickandcindy23]

Epcot was crazy yesterday. The park was packed, two-hour waits for everything. I was not a happy person to be there, especially when I saw our little six-year-old granddaughter so overwhelmed with everything, and then she went to bed and fell asleep right away at 5 PM yesterday. Poor little thing. This is a day of rest for sure.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Epcot was crazy yesterday. The park was packed, two-hour waits for everything. I was not a happy person to be there, especially when I saw our little six-year-old granddaughter so overwhelmed with everything, and then she went to bed and fell asleep right away at 5 PM yesterday. Poor little thing. This is a day of rest for sure.

I was there yesterday too. It definitely has gotten busier as the week has gone on. Still not quite as crowded as some previous Christmas week’s though IMO.

 

[TheHolleys87]

I was there yesterday too. It definitely has gotten busier as the week has gone on. Still not quite as crowded as some previous Christmas week’s though IMO.

So maybe Disney’s caps on park reservations are working? Although both DHS and AK sold out of Genie+ today, and the standby line for FoP this morning was 5 hours at one point….

 

[breadcrumbslife]

Lord knows I love planning for a vacation. But it boggles my mind all the time and energy parents put into creating a spreadsheet for their Disney World vacation

I do agree with this.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

So maybe Disney’s caps on park reservations are working? Although both DHS and AK sold out of Genie+ today, and the standby line for FoP this morning was 5 hours at one point….

I don’t think it’s this. I went to WDW Christmas - New Years in ‘21, ‘22 & ‘23, and several times pre-covid. All 3 years had caps on park reservations. ‘23, while still very crowded as it got closer to New Years, certainly felt a lot less crowded than ‘22, and the pre-covid years, and maybe on par with, or slightly less crowded than ‘21. ‘21 was a weird one because it was right when Omicron was surging which I think impacted crowd levels.

 

[simpsontruckdriver]

Not to mention, between January and late March is Disney (and Orlando in general) low-demand times. If you can make a vacation these months, come on down! Florida residents get great discounts, and people in general get lower theme park tickets compared with Summer and Christmas.

TS

 

[dioxide45]

Not to mention, between January and late March is Disney (and Orlando in general) low-demand times. If you can make a vacation these months, come on down! Florida residents get great discounts, and people in general get lower theme park tickets compared with Summer and Christmas.

TS

Isn’t much of March considered Spring Break in many areas up and down the east coast. Spring Break is prime time. Prime spring weeks will depend on when Easter falls.