No, DeSantis isn't "winning" against Walt Disney World

Based on the discounts I am seeing at Six Flags, Seaworld, Legoland, and Hershey, plus the recent reductions of operating days at Palace parks, it leads you to believe this isn't about politics or weather.

I suspect the rise in international travel is an unrelated data point; the rise has more to do with an aging population and older Americans who are not typically planning family vacations with kids.

The White Hutchison eNewsletter this month has an interesting take on changes in the industry. The highlight to me was the fact there are far more entertainment/cultural venue/experiences chasing after our limited leisure time and discretionary spending. Take a look at Taylor Swift ticket prices and the cost of the entire “experience” (food, drinks, merchandise, parking, VIP options, etc.) and one could easily spend well over a thousand dollars for just two people, like a mom and daughter. There are a multitude of tours this year alone, plus other experiences to be had. I dare say riding Space Mountain or Millennium Force for the hundredth time may just not be a priority.

I'll posit that European travel is up because pandemic restrictions are gone.

Fun:

...the rise has more to do with an aging population and older Americans who are not typically planning family vacations with kids.

In one year?

I'm sticking with the ephemeral revenge travel theory.

Brian Noble:

Yeah, a one hour line returning through DTW sold me on it.

My first time using Global Entry was a bit anticlimactic (at DTW) a few weeks ago. Arrived in from AMS and the Global Entry line was longer than the standard one.

In total, it was less than 10 minutes (but standard was 0 minutes). We just had good timing I guess with the timing of various flights. Same experience last time as well through EWR from FRA which again, was 0 wait without global entry which was not expected after all the horror stories. Maybe third times a charm and I will see more benefit this fall to/from Munich (through BOS coming home this time)... At this point, it's like having fastlane but all the rides are walkon... haha.

But TSA precheck on the other hand, huge benefit! Saved a bunch of time and hassle with that at various airports. Well worth getting, even if you don't have a credit card that won't cover it. I'm sure Global Entry has huge perks at the right time/airports, though.

I'm such a snob I've added CLEAR, but only because my credit card covers it. I would not buy it if I had to pay for it. I would 100% buy Global Entry if my card did not cover it. CLEAR is almost pointless at DTW, because the precheck ID line is never more than about 2-5 minutes. It sure does come in handy in SEA or MCO though, and at SFO it is huge.

I haven’t seen the number (x amount more international travelers) but I guess what I am saying is that I don’t think the people who previously patronized Six Flags are suddenly going to Europe this summer.

The key ingredient here are low to medium income families. The ones who are desperately trying to afford their grocery bills, and have record high consumer credit card debt, I suspect, aren’t going to Disney or Flags, let alone abroad.

Nobody wants to go to Disney World anymore. There’s just too many people there.

“Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” -Yogi Berra

Andy, that’s kind of like deja vu all over again.

For me CLEAR has been pretty pointless. Granted my experience has been limited since my first use this past fall, but If I didn't get it for "free" with my credit card, I wouldn't bother. I've used it at CVG, IAD, DEN, and MCO. CVG it makes no difference, IAD and DEN the CLEAR line was longer than the standard precheck (IAD it was longer than precheck and standard), and at MCO it might have saved us 10 minutes the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Global Entry however has been very helpful, going through IAD and ATL.

At the end of the day I truly think the light crowds this past July 4th came down to two things:

• More Annual Pass levels than the old days that had 4th of July/the holiday weekend as a blockout date
• Orlando sees hottest Fourth of July in 25 years

Looking at Queue Times history from the weekend after the 4th and the start of this week, it looks like things are back to a summertime normal. As a local, I can only hope this pattern of crowds leveling out after the last two years extends into this coming winter when the weather gets nice.

My wife checks hotel prices weekly and will rebook if prices have come down. She's saved us hundreds two separate times for our upcoming early HHN stay at Sapphire Falls. That could simply mean that they don't have any large meetings booked or that HHN bookings are lower than expected.

Here’s an anecdote. Here in Columbus our 4th fireworks is a huge event which is actually held on the 3rd in order to promote interest and free up everyone’s community celebrations. We have friends who live along the riverfront in a dee-luxe apartment in the sky (because that’s how we roll) with perfect unobstructed views of the show. From up there we noticed the crowd below seemed not quite sparse, but not up to what it usually is numbers-wise. The closed-off streets weren’t jammed with festival goers and the large swaths of green space were maybe half filled with chairs and blankets. In years past those areas started to fill up early morning if not the night before.
To be fair there was rain earlier that day but the evening turned out to be perfect. But many of us commented on what seemed like the lack of attendance, it just didn’t seem right, and I wondered if it was part of a trend.
My Boomer self thinks everywhere is too busy and crowded to go, so what do I know?

I am involved in special events all the time. Without trying to be political, I think the mass shootings are starting to take a toll and people are making determinations to stay away from crowded events, particular those that are "soft target" events. I doubt that is impacting theme park attendance specifically.

I suspect that communities in your area are understandably more sensitive to that. Getting back to theme parks, I hadn't even considered the day of the week for the 4th. I assume it will be on a Wednesday next year, so we'll have to see how that affects things.

It was crazy hot, but if you're already there in vacation, what do you even do about that? (Corey Glover of Living Colour was not wearing weather appropriate stuff for their shows, commented on the heat many times.) I may have answered my own question though, when I commented on the very busy pool at Coronado.

Jeff:

I assume it will be on a Wednesday next year,

Its on Thursday. How could you forget about leap year?

Does the day that the 4th falls on impact Disney attendance? I would think that the bulk of the crowd comes from people who are there for a whole week rather than just the day trippers.

I imagine there's at least some impact. I read an HR article somewhere that said people rarely take off entire weeks and instead tend to cluster days before and after a holiday weekend. I don't know who these people are, but they apparently exist.

Disney, lets just say I was shocked at just how much more expensive they got in the last 5 years.

Got some friends going to be at the mouse towards the end of the year, so I figured I'll tag along since they wanted to hit USO and BGT. Even said I might join them for a day at Epcot cause holiday fest, food etc. I looked up tickets, roughly $300 for one day for the other half and I. Then I figured I haven't been to Monsieur Paul in forever, so let me check them out. they are now a $200/head dinner plus tip....That's approaching what I paid for V&A in 2019.

Yeah, no Disney for me, I'll give the dollars to BGT and Uni instead. Granted I'm sure that Disney does not want day visitors, but gate tickets are like 40ish percent more, and dinner basically doubled in the past few years.

This has to have some effect on attendance, but it probably doesn't matter because I'll bet those parks are just as packed if not worse than the last time I was there.