Marcie's Corner: Marcie Sets the Record Straight

[briangrapes]

DCA's Golden State Amphitheater

Marcie Sets the Record Straight

Marcie sets the record straight in her latest article about the summer concert series that is in the works for Disney's California Adventure. She clears up some things that may have been inaccurately reported, such as the reasons why the series is moving forward. Read more in the June 12th Marcie's Corner.

[Gracy_hm]

I want to see Randy Newman there I LOVE Randys music he ROCKS!

[Ohana Dude]

Nice to read both sides of the story to achieve a middle ground that I find myself.

But anyway, about Luminaria 2.0. Is there anything you can tell us?

Is it a 2.0 version because it is changing pretty drastically?

Will there be new music? Will it be longer?

Is there anything you can say?

Thanks Marcie.

[Tom Sawyer]

Thanks, Marcie - the idea of having concerts with Paradise Pier in the background is such a great fit for DCA. I thought Al was being a bit, um, obvious when he was trying to show that this was a bad thing to do - it is such a great idea that I'm surprised it wasn't planned from day one.

[woody]

Nice update!!! I enjoyed it a lot.

6. I loved Al’s part about this project being “hobbled” together to counter DCA lagging attendance. Interesting to note that if DCA was in such a poor attendance slump, then why did Disney announce about two weeks ago that there would be no local discounts to the park for the summer?

Isn't it true that discounts stopped working which is why it they aren't being offered in the summer. So now they need another draw to get people into the park.

If Marcie's story is correct, the concert series sounds more like a freebie for the APs than a real draw for new customers. I don't think Disney does these expensive things just for APs.

[Clint]

Thank you very much, Marcie. Your column was extremely refreshing. I cannot stand Al and he makes me want to vomit.

[Darkbeer]

AP's, the magic cure for attendance figures....

From the Second Quarter earnings report of the Walt Disney Company...

http://www.laughingplace.com/News-ID.../2002&Section=

At the Disneyland Resort, increased attendance was driven by the addition of Disney's California Adventure and Disney's Grand Californian Hotel during the middle of the second quarter of the prior year, as well as strong local attendance reflecting primarily the success of the Annual Passport program.

And from today's David Koenig article at MousePlanet.com

http://www.mouseplanet.com/david/passholders.htm

APs are now seen as crucial to guaranteeing a base number of guests throughout the resort, throughout the year. First, management would have to change its own attitude toward APs. Several months ago, the resort created a new position, Manager of Annual Passholder Programs. His job is to coordinate various perks and bonuses for the AP demographic, and spearhead new AP initiatives.

So here is Disney, in their own words saying that the current attendance numbers are at the levels they are due to the increased numbers of AP's (I saw somewhere the number of AP's was close to 500,000), gee, so that is why they basically converted the old Disneyland only AP's into two-park passes for basically the same price as the old one-park passes, to make the turnstyle counts look good....

So, I wonder if you looked at Tickets (and revenue) sold, how are those numbers being compared to last years??????

So Woody, Disney might just be doing this for AP holders, to try and lure them back to the park....

[Marcie]

Originally posted by woody


Isn't it true that discounts stopped working which is why it they aren't being offered in the summer. So now they need another draw to get people into the park.

If Marcie's story is correct, the concert series sounds more like a freebie for the APs than a real draw for new customers. I don't think Disney does these expensive things just for APs.

Who said anything about Disney doing the concert series for the AP's? It is true that AP's will be able to enjoy the music as well, but this is first and foremost being done to further market the park with something to attract more guests during the summer months.

As for the discounts, no Woody, that isn't even close to the reason why they are not offering discounts this summer. The general feeling among TDA folks from evaluating how the new park is doing in actual guest counts is that the attendance has stabilized and rebounded enough at DCA that a discount during the summer for the local audience wasn't needed.

No hidden meanings, secrets or motives here with the decision not to offer summer discounts to locals at DCA. The park is actually doing well enough not to warrant a summer offer.

Pretty straightforward and simple.

Ohana Dude, nothing is concrete enough yet to share about LuminAria 2.0. That will come soon, but most of what is being done right now is research and testing of new effects. One of which I heard sounds very promising and could be a great addition if the designers can make it work in the show.

So, be patient, but when there is some good solid information, I'll share it.

Tom Swayer, while this summer concert series is being rushed through the design and installation stages, this discussion about doing such a promotion has been tossed around since last year. In fact, there were many conversations last year about the idea of doing such a concert series after the Beach Boys played at DCA's opening night party in Paradise Pier, as well as when the Spring Break concert series that was taped for the Disney Channel took place last year in the Golden State Amphitheater. Both setups sparked the idea of doing such a concert series in DCA in or around the Paradise Pier area. Sometimes it just takes ideas months to obtain approval and often times usually at the 11th hour when the designers must push themselves to create and build the infastructure. So, the idea to do a summer concert series at DCA just didn't come up out of nowhere yesterday, but the approval to move forward did.

And I don't mean literally yesterday (just for some of you who like to take all of my words as being literal).

[Marcie]

Originally posted by Darkbeer



So here is Disney, in their own words saying that the current attendance numbers are at the levels they are due to the increased numbers of AP's (I saw somewhere the number of AP's was close to 500,000), gee, so that is why they basically converted the old Disneyland only AP's into two-park passes for basically the same price as the old one-park passes, to make the turnstyle counts look good....

So, I wonder if you looked at Tickets (and revenue) sold, how are those numbers being compared to last years??????

So Woody, Disney might just be doing this for AP holders, to try and lure them back to the park....

Darkbeer, somehow you seem to suggest that AP's should not be part of DCA's attendance figures. As if somehow AP's do not count or shouldn't be apart of the attendance count. First off, AP's have been around since the early-to-mid 1980's from amusement parks all across the country. Disney jumped onboard somewhat late in the game in offering Annual Passes.

Since then AP's have always driven about 5 to 10% of Disneyland's annual attendance count. WDW's percentages from AP's is much less as their local market is virtually non-existent (about half of Orlando works at WDW, the other half works at Universal and Sea World and a small amount work at non-theme park related companies).

DCA opened and since then the AP's have certainly contributed to the attendance count at the new park. Regardless, every person who enters any park anywhere with any type of ticket media (free, discounted or at full price) is counted in the overall attendance numbers. When any of the Universal's parks look at their overall attendance, it includes a huge percentage of clicks from Annual Passholders. Same for Six Flags parks, Cedar Fair parks, etc.

So, your connection to DCA's attendance increase to AP's is not entirely incorrect, but it isn't unlike any other park (including Disneyland and WDW's parks). All of them count AP guests in with the total daily count and the more a park has of AP's, the more they stand to benefit from the count during economic downtimes and/or national tragedies like 9/11.

And yes, when you look at the overall AP count at Disneyland, the company wisely decided to open up the 2-Park offer to everyone at a reduced price. Last spring, only 40,000 to 50,000 AP's held a 2-Park pass versus some estimated 320,000 1-Park passholders. By the way, since Disneyland Resort ended the 1-Park Pass, the number of AP's at the resort increased by nearly 80,000.

I would say that was a smart business decision. Wouldn't you? Especially since many travelers are still slow to return to long distance traveling for vacation.

[tangaroa]

Originally posted by MarcieMI

As for the discounts, no Woody, that isn't even close to the reason why they are not offering discounts this summer.

These are some quotes from an Reuters article that seem to back up woody's position:

Attendance at Disney's parks, which accounted for 40 percent of the company's operating income in its most recent reporting quarter, has improved steadily in the United States in recent months, said spokeswoman Leslie Goodman.

"Business has continued to improve, even though we're not back to same business levels as last year overall," she said. "We've seen many optimistic signs including strong bookings at the resort hotels in southern California and Florida."

While the signs appear positive, the lack of discounts may reflect Disney's attitude that such promotions might not work now, said analyst Dennis McAlpine of McAlpine Associates.

"The main weakness is foreign, and doing promotions isn't going to bring them in," McAlpine said. "I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that things are wonderful."

The general feeling among TDA folks from evaluating how the new park is doing in actual guest counts is that the attendance has stabilized and rebounded enough at DCA that a discount during the summer for the local audience wasn't needed.

That seems kind of silly actually. Attendance is higher because of discounts - so they're going to get rid of them? What happens if attendance drops again after June 19?

It definately sounds like they just think the discounts aren't working anymore. If the discounts WERE working - why get rid of them now. And if they weren't working - why still have them?