I will say the hotel seems pretty busy. We are at Beach Club Villas and the main hotel has been pretty full of people, the pool seems fairly busy. So maybe people are here but not going to the parks as much?
I don't think price has a lot to do with it. It might be a deciding factor, but I think there are a lot of other reasons. Crowds were lower in the few Summers leading up to Covid, and they were getting higher in the Fall, which years ago was the perfect low crowd time to go. There has not been a slow season at all since September 2021. Pent up or delayed Covid vacations, families splurging. I know several families who had not been to Disney in 10+ years or who had never been at all who visited in the last year. Maybe they're waiting until next year for dining plans or Tianas ride or for Epcot to be finished. There were busy and slower seasons pre-Covid. Maybe we are getting back to that kind of normal, even if the slow vs busy seasons have changed.
May of this year was absolutely dead and it stayed that way until about the few first days of June. One night we were at Baseline and saw Rise was posted 5 minutes, we finished our drinks and literally walked right into the first preshow. It was like 6 or 7pm. And we weren't even there in the slowest point of May. Crowds did start to spike a little the last two days we were there (6/6 -6/7) but standby waits anywhere but the usual suspects at Epcot were trivial unless something broke down to affect capacity.
I honestly think it’s mostly a factor of a few things. First I think some of that pent up covid demand has gone away. Secondly I think the prices have maybe had the effect they wanted, maximizing revenue and keeping the park experience decent (full capacity at the park is not ideal for customer experience). Third I’m sure the culture war with DeSantis plays a part, there will be a sub set of people on a side of the political spectrum that won’t go to Disney anymore because they were told it’s too “woke” or they actually disagree with some of Disney’s stances in movies etc.
Some AP’s were blocked out, plus the 4 day promo ticket was blacked out over July 4.
They definitely realized a few years ago there are only so many people you can squeeze into the parks without tanking customer satisfaction, so maximizing attendance isn't the answer, especially now when it's hard to fully staff the parks. That's when they shifted to maximizing revenue per guest. Which was started by Iger, but taken to way too far by Chapek, leading to many of the policies most guests hate. Park Res, no hopping til 2, no APs, Genie+, No dining plan, no MDE or luggage service, Parking fees at resorts, Date specific pricing, etc etc.
I went a few weeks ago and it was the deadest I’ve seen it since September of 2018.
They didn’t want this. There’s a reason they’re discounting like crazy.
