Do you think Walt Disney World will see a low rise in park attendance due to Epic Universe now that Epic Universe is open?

[mlayton14]

With park capacity at epic severely limited intentionally by Universal Mgmt, shouldn’t they have sold out ALL tickets weeks in advance? Can’t help but to think Epic isn’t going to challenge Disney like the hype machine predicted

 

[meremac]

With park capacity at epic severely limited intentionally by Universal Mgmt, shouldn’t they have sold out ALL tickets weeks in advance? Can’t help but to think Epic isn’t going to challenge Disney like the hype machine predicted

It was just severely limited in the first couple of weeks. They've increased daily capacity.

 

[Minnie1222]

Epic is going to challenge the other two Universal parks, not Disney.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

i don't think people understand that Disney is a class of it's own, nothing will compete on their level. There is too much broad appeal not to mention a stream of constantly evolving IP. Universal has always been and always will be a hodge podge that runs with what's hot today (nothing wrong with that), Disney has built a legacy and there's a significant difference

 

[DodgerGirl]

I think when Epic Universe was in development they had dreamed of competing with Walt Disney World because next to Disney Parks and Cedar Fair Universal Studios theme parks had always been third. And with Epic Universe I think they want to attract a more older kid/teenager/young adult audience and while Walt Disney World and the other Disney theme parks attract everyone from infants to senior citizens I think Epic Universe has given Walt Disney World a run for their money. And once 4th Of July comes we will see 4th Of July deals for Epic Universe debut in the next two weeks. Because I think we will Epic Universe's attendance rise while Walt Disney World will get second place for park attendance in the summer during 4th Of July

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

I think when Epic Universe was in development they had dreamed of competing with Walt Disney World because next to Disney Parks and Cedar Fair Universal Studios theme parks had always been third. And with Epic Universe I think they want to attract a more older kid/teenager/young adult audience and while Walt Disney World and the other Disney theme parks attract everyone from infants to senior citizens I think Epic Universe has given Walt Disney World a run for their money. And once 4th Of July comes we will see 4th Of July deals for Epic Universe debut in the next two weeks. Because I think we will Epic Universe's attendance rise while Walt Disney World will get second place for park attendance in the summer during 4th Of July

Where UNI is limiting capacity and only offering 1 day visits i would doubt that (although time will tell). I think if you're UNI you are trying to create your own cohort of dedicated cliental. Trying to steal DIS visitors is futile and has proven to be time and again. IMO it's either grow tourism in the region on your own or bust, just don't think DIS will be threatened by this addition. I think that both parks will benefit from EU, i just don't see DIS ever taking an L with this

 

[Joanna71985]

I think when Epic Universe was in development they had dreamed of competing with Walt Disney World because next to Disney Parks and Cedar Fair Universal Studios theme parks had always been third. And with Epic Universe I think they want to attract a more older kid/teenager/young adult audience and while Walt Disney World and the other Disney theme parks attract everyone from infants to senior citizens I think Epic Universe has given Walt Disney World a run for their money. And once 4th Of July comes we will see 4th Of July deals for Epic Universe debut in the next two weeks. Because I think we will Epic Universe's attendance rise while Walt Disney World will get second place for park attendance in the summer during 4th Of July

there aren't going to be ticket deals for the 4th of July

 

[Lumpy1106]

I cheated and answered YES and NO, because you asked a different question in the poll than you did in the subject line. Is it taking away Disney's glory, no. Will it/is it affecting Disney park attendance - yes. It has to. If you are a frequent traveler to Orlando and you want to check out Epic where you would have otherwise spent all your time at WDW then OF COURSE it is going to eat into Disney attendance. How else would you spend any amount of time anywhere else if not for spending less time at Disney? I think Disney knows this and has planned ALL the construction you currently see around this opening date. Oh, you weren't as impressed as you thought you would be? OK, check out all the cool things we're building. Come back in a few years and re-experience WDW in ALL it's glory! Meanwhile Universal is already planning the next phase. Good for us.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

I cheated and answered YES and NO, because you asked a different question in the poll than you did in the subject line. Is it taking away Disney's glory, no. Will it/is it affecting Disney park attendance - yes. It has to. If you are a frequent traveler to Orlando and you want to check out Epic where you would have otherwise spent all your time at WDW then OF COURSE it is going to eat into Disney attendance. How else would you spend any amount of time anywhere else if not for spending less time at Disney? I think Disney knows this and has planned ALL the construction you currently see around this opening date. Oh, you weren't as impressed as you thought you would be? OK, check out all the cool things we're building. Come back in a few years and re-experience WDW in ALL it's glory! Meanwhile Universal is already planning the next phase. Good for us.

Where it is good for everyone, uni has never been able to maintain. After HP opened initially at Uni there was a bump, but dis has continued growth year over year, so the evidence doesn’t point to being able to steal guests

 

[zackiedawg]

Based on my visit to Disney 2 weeks ago, and comparing crowds to all my other June trips, crowds felt about the same - too many people. I fondly remember 15 years ago and more when Disney actually had 'slow' seasons - times when you could go to the parks and have handfuls of people in any section, rides with 5 minute or less wait times, no ADRs needed for almost any restaurant. I loved those times. Funny, the DVC point charts still hint at when those times used to be, because they're still the 'value' points seasons - originally to encourage more people to go to the parks when they were more dead.

The Disney parks and Universal parks feel full and crowded pretty much year-round now - no dead or slow seasons - just busy or stupid busy. so overall, I don't think Epic will have any notable effect on Disney attendance - there are seemingly 5 times the number of people milling around the Orlando area than it takes to fill every theme park there. Maybe a Universal park gets the #1 in attendance for the year, but would anyone notice if 19 million people went to Epic, but only 18 million went to MK? I think MK still feels overcrowded at 18M vs their top attendance year ever, which was a hair below 21M.

I don't wish for Disney or Universal to suffer or fail, but I definitely wouldn't mind if a day in a Disney park felt more like it did in early February in the late 90s!

 

[HokieRaven5]

Maybe a Universal park gets the #1 in attendance for the year, but would anyone notice if 19 million people went to Epic, but only 18 million went to MK? I think MK still feels overcrowded at 18M vs their top attendance year ever, which was a hair below 21M.

19 million visiting Epic would be rather impressive in a calendar year. The park’s maximum capacity is somewhere in the 50,000 to 60,000 guests per day which puts a year somewhere in the maximum attendance of 18.3 to 21.5M guests.

Epic would have to operate at 100% capacity for the majority of the year to come anywhere close to 19M guests.

Magic Kingdom hit around 60% of its total annual capacity in its best year in 2019

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

This may be a hot take for both parks, but from what i've been looking at it looks as though the whole area was trending in an upward direction the first 3 months of the year, and since then there looks to be a decently significant drop in overall traffic to the parks. Am i missing something?

 

[HokieRaven5]

This may be a hot take for both parks, but from what i've been looking at it looks as though the whole area was trending in an upward direction the first 3 months of the year, and since then there looks to be a decently significant drop in overall traffic to the parks. Am i missing something?

Summer has become a shoulder and quieter period in the Orlando parks. That trend was growing before the closures but seems to have accelerated after the reopening.

Epic doesn’t seem to have provided any large boosts to the summer crowds.

Travel through MCO for the month of May was down 2.5% and for the calendar year is down about the same:

https://assets.ctfassets.net/qiecpo...5f6b6fa4294cea45cea186a12322b4/trfc202505.pdf

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

Summer has become a shoulder and quieter period in the Orlando parks. That trend was growing before the closures but seems to have accelerated after the reopening.

Epic doesn’t seem to have provided any large boosts to the summer crowds.

Travel through MCO for the month of May was down 2.5% and for the calendar year is down about the same:

https://assets.ctfassets.net/qiecpo...5f6b6fa4294cea45cea186a12322b4/trfc202505.pdf

I've been looking at touring plans and it just seems down month over month

 

[SL6827]

This may be a hot take for both parks, but from what i've been looking at it looks as though the whole area was trending in an upward direction the first 3 months of the year, and since then there looks to be a decently significant drop in overall traffic to the parks. Am i missing something?

This. The heat is playing a role is lower attendance. Bob was not wrong on mentioning this. Going to fork over thousands to go to the parks under the fire of a blow torch? No thank you.

 

[fatmanatee]

I had been looking into visiting Epic but I just couldn't pull the trigger with the weather. On top of the heat it seems hit-or-miss if you get a downpour and obviously there are still some ride reliability concerns.

 

[Nayan]

People really do underestimate how hot and humid it gets here, and a place like Disney with a bunch of concrete and hardly any shade makes it even worse. Even as a Floridian I will never venture to any park during the Summer as it's too unbearable.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

It’s not so much the summer as it has been most of the year. There was a bump where April vacation hit the norm, otherwise it’s shown as down. At least to touring plans levels