Los Angeles CNN –
Long lines and crowds often go hand-in-hand at Central Florida’s world-famous theme parks during the summer months, but parkgoers at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando can catch a breath of fresh air this season.
Wait times for rides and attractions have reduced at both resorts, according to analysts who monitor theme park attendance. Videos on social media also show parkgoers making comments to smaller crowds.
The reasons for the slowdown are difficult to pinpoint, but travel experts cite extreme weather and heat in Florida, a slowing post-pandemic travel boom, and a tense political climate in Florida that has prompted travel warnings for some groups.
Disney CEO Bob Iger attributed the recent drop in wait times at Disney World to a general slump in central Florida tourism.
“Florida opened up early during the Corona crisis and generated enormous demand. There was no competition because there were a number of other places and states that weren’t open yet,” he said in an interview with CNBC on Thursday.
“If you look at the numbers in Florida in 2023…compared to 2022 where there wasn’t as much open and Florida was the only game in town, there’s a lot more competition today,” he added.
Iger told CNBC he has no “long-term concerns” about Disney’s theme parks. Disney declined to comment to CNN about the park visit.
Although there is some debate as to the causes, the results are more open reservations for park entry, higher discounts and faster queues for visitors compared to last year.
Disney parks in Florida have seen reduced average wait times for rides and attractions since February compared to last year, according to Thrill Data, a website that collects information on theme park wait times. According to the website, average wait times have been decreasing every month since March at Universal’s Florida parks. Experts say longer wait times are generally associated with larger crowds at theme parks.
So far this month, Thrill Data has reported that the average wait time at Disney World is 33 minutes — one of the shortest in any month since January 2022 and during the parks’ typical peak season. Last year, the average wait time at Disney parks in Florida in July was 41 minutes.
Don Munsil, president of MouseSavers, a guide to discounts and deals at Disney and Universal parks, said that while he’s noticed a slowdown at the parks, the drop from July has been “notable.”
Data from Touring Plans, a company that helps plan trips to Disney and Universal Parks, supports Munsil’s observation. It was found that ride wait times were shorter on July 4th at all Disney parks in Florida compared to 2022 and 2019. For example, the average wait time for Disney’s Animal Kingdom was 37 minutes in 2019 and 34 minutes in 2022. The average dropped to 25 minutes, Touring Plans called.
Wait times at Universal Studios Florida and Island of Adventure, two of Universal’s parks, are also down from last year, Touring Plans said. Wait times at Island of Adventure dropped to 25 minutes on July 4, compared to 30 minutes last year and 28 minutes in 2019.
The DIS
Universal Studios, Florida, on June 17 afternoon.
A slowdown is “unusual” for a public holiday, especially in the summer when children are off school, Munsil said. “I think the 4th of July weekend was a really heavy hit. A lot of people were surprised.”
Some Disney parks were hit particularly hard: July 4th was the third slowest day in the last 12 months at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida, according to Touring Plans.
Kayla Pareti, a content creator who focuses on Disney content and is a travel agent for Mickey Travels, visited Disney’s Hollywood Studios the first weekend in July and was shocked by how few people saw her at the park. (Mickey Travels is not affiliated with The Walt Disney Company.)
“It was a Saturday before July 4th, an important holiday. You expect a lot of crowds and it was just crazy that nobody was there,” she told CNN.
“Usually when you enter the park you come across Hollywood Boulevard, which is like the main thoroughfare and is usually full of people,” she said. “Sometime around noon I turned around and nobody was on the street. It was just an odd sight,” she said.
Iger cited the heat as the reason for the softening over the July 4 holiday.
Pareti said she spends between four and six days a week at Disney’s parks and also visits Universal Parks. She said she’s noticed a drop in attendance this summer.
“A year and a half post Covid, any time has been a busy time,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, people are still coming, but it’s nowhere near what it was.”
Also, recent discounts from Walt Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando Resort far exceed those of last year. Munsil said the rebates may reflect a return to pre-pandemic demand levels. For example, in a recent special offer list, Disney lists savings of up to 25% on rooms at some Disney hotels this summer.
“There are essentially the same rebates as in 2019. In 2022, they were stingy with the rebates,” he said.
Disney and Universal’s Florida parks have all been closed for several months during the pandemic. Since reopening in mid-2020, Universal, which is owned by Disney and Comcast, has seen sales increase from its park and resort stores, while demand to visit — and spend — has surged.
This year, the parks face tough comparisons as demand slacks. UBS’s Evidence Lab found that the decline in foot traffic at Disney’s U.S. parks is accelerating, falling 23% in Disney’s fiscal third quarter (ended June 24), a sharp decline compared to the 5% decline in Q2 .
The DIS
The Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida in the early afternoon of June 12.
Universal didn’t respond to a request for comment, but in Comcast’s first-quarter results, the company reported record profits for its parking division. However, Comcast noted that international parks accounted for most of the quarter’s growth.
In February, during Disney’s first-quarter earnings conference call, Iger said that the company deliberately reduced capacity during the December holiday season, which “improves the guest experience and we’re able to maintain profitability — not just profitability, but.” a very, very successful or solid end result.”
Since reopening its parks in 2020, Disney has implemented a park reservation system to manage daily attendance. But efforts to curb crowds in the parks do not reflect the recent decline in foot traffic. As of press time, Disney World’s reservations website showed that all four of Disney’s Florida theme parks never reached their maximum capacity for the rest of the year. That is a sharp contrast to the previous two years, when hopeful park-goers often had to book weeks in advance to secure a park reservation.
Munsil pointed out that the extreme heat this year could discourage some locals from attending the event, which could lead to a drop in attendance. In late June, Florida, like much of the South, was hit by a multi-day heatwave that resulted in high temperatures to over 100 degrees. This week, the state is grappling with another brutal, record-breaking heatwave.
The decline in park visitor numbers is also due to the tense political climate in the state. Many feared that this would harm tourism. Disney and Republican governor and state presidential candidate Ron DeSantis are locked in a high-profile feud.
In recent months, some groups concerned about DeSantis’ conservative politics have warned against traveling to Florida at all. Groups such as the NAACP, the Human Rights Campaign, and the League of United Latin American Citizens have issued “travel warnings,” citing DeSantis’ political agenda.
However, Munsil said potential park visitors would purposefully avoid Disney as a result of friction within the company At DeSantis, it would show up in the data.
“I don’t think there’s any evidence of that because that would mean Universal would see big numbers and Disney less. I don’t think we see that,” he said.
Iger said Thursday the company sees “no signs” of slowing down due to the dispute with DeSantis.
Overall, however, signs point to a slowdown in central Florida tourism. Orange County, which includes Orlando, earned 6.7% less from its tourism development tax this May than it did in May 2022, according to the Office of the Orange County Comptroller. Florida’s tourism development tax is levied on income from short-term rentals, including hotels.
Pete Werner, owner of The DIS, a Disney fan website and travel guide, and co-owner of travel agency Dreams Unlimited Travel, said he sees people shifting their money away from theme parks and towards cruises.
During Disney’s second-quarter earnings announcement in May Christine McCarthy, then CFO, specifically highlighted the strength of the company’s cruise business, saying that while it was the last company to reopen after being shut down by the pandemic, “the last year — or last fiscal year — the business has been incredibly strong came back”.
Werner said he believed The cruise business is now the cheaper business for many Disney fans.
“The heyday of Walt Disney World is in full swing, even for hardcore fans. It’s just too expensive,” said Werner. “Disney Cruise is owned by the same company and they make gangbusters.”