Glad we sold our Disney stock About This Page:

[mommadjones]

After yesterdays report I am glad my DH sold our Disney Stock just before 4pm yesterday! DH told me park attendance was down 9% and park merchandise was down 19%. He also told me they missed the projected earnings by as he put it a large amount. We will buy it back soon as it has already gone down over $1 since he sold it. I am not at all surprised by the merchandise angle. When we go in a few days we will only have around $300 for pirate league, snacks and maybe a little something from the gift shops. Thats way less than our norm of $450 just for merchandise(not including mickey bars and water) But I honestly didn't think park attendance would be down by 9%. I figured it would be down a little 3% or so. Does anyone think this will affect package/ticket prices for next year? Sorry if this was already posted elsewhere

[Caldercup]

Actually, I'm thinking "down by 9%" is pretty great -- other parks are (and have been) losing attendance by double-digits.
Eileen

[creativemom]

Does that mean they will lower the price to try to draw more people in or raise the price to get more out of each person?

[mommadjones]

Originally Posted by Caldercup

Actually, I'm thinking "down by 9%" is pretty great -- other parks are (and have been) losing attendance by double-digits.
Eileen

Oh no I'm not saying 9% is bad I just thought it would be less with all the incentives to travel to WDW. I know that all the parks are hurting. In our area Six Flags is escaping bankruptcy by the skin of there teeth if they haven't already filed for chapter 11.

[Luvsun]

I don't think down 9% is bad either, given the economic situation so many people are in. I think Disney should be grateful for those figures!

[HiddenMickey]

It still surprises me somewhat. I've been in the parks three times this year and have found the crowds higher than I expected each trip, given that they keep talking about attendance being lower.

[jimmymac]

Total park revenue was down 9%. Operating profit was down 19%. Per capita spending fell a further 6%. People are taking avantage of the 4/3 deals and free dining, but not spending as much as in previous years

[Caldercup]

I wonder if the higher-than-expected crowds many of us have perceived are that, for those of us who go during the lower-crowd seasons, we're seeing bigger crowds at those times because there are more promotions or deeper discounts then... People are thinking "heck, if I have to take Johnny out of school to save $400, it's worth it!" However, during the historically more-crowded times, they are seeing more of a drop because the discounts aren't as great then...

The 9% is spread across the whole year -- and since few of us are lucky enough to be there the whole year , we're only seeing samplings.
Eileen

[Griffin]

Originally Posted by creativemom

Does that mean they will lower the price to try to draw more people in or raise the price to get more out of each person?

I believe they raise prices each year, and are about to in August this year. So it doesn't seem to matter to them. I have to assume some day the $$ will be so high they won't raise it again, who knows when/where that ceiling is though.

[Lorraine515]

Originally Posted by HiddenMickey

It still surprises me somewhat. I've been in the parks three times this year and have found the crowds higher than I expected each trip, given that they keep talking about attendance being lower.

I'm with you on this one! I've also noticed it to be extremely crowded even during the slow time.

[RoonieRooToo]

I wonder what Universal and Sea World's drop has been.

[jimmymac]

People are staying for 7 day nights, paying for 4, getting free dining and not buying as much merchandise. It would have been a lot sorse with the 4/3 deals and free dining but the numbers are still not good

[mommadjones]

Originally Posted by jimmymac

People are staying for 7 day nights, paying for 4, getting free dining and not buying as much merchandise. It would have been a lot sorse with the 4/3 deals and free dining but the numbers are still not good

Just as a personal example I posted above how we will bring FAR less money for extras and most of the money we do bring will be for snacks. We will also spend less on dinning. We have ordered from Garden Grocer so breakfast will be in the room and we will have sandwiches for lunch. We also ordered most of our drinks for the stay as it is so expensive to buy in the parks. Normally we do a TS each night for dinner. This time we will do 6 TS and 2 CS meals. This is a huge savings for us and a loss in revenue for Disney.

[Beautiful Mother]

I'd like to say I will not be spending as much $$ as last, but it will be more. Since we're celebrating 30 years of marriage, I'll bite the bullet before and after, but baby, I'm CELEBRATING!

[chezp]

I'm not surprised by the 9% loss at all - the extension of free dining and all the other offers they've been doing this year shows the parks have been struggling...