Disneylands MidLife Crisis (miceage.com)

[Nemo88]

TP2000]Has Six Flags or Universal cut back it's operating hours for the rest of the summer? And did they pull that maneuver about a week after
their big summer promotion kicked off on July 1st?

Universal and Six Flags attendance isnt a whole lot better then DCAs,DCA is usually neck and neck with USH in terms of attendance numbers...in fact I think the 2002 numbers put DCA in 10th and USH in like 9th.....Magic Mnt was further down the list.......Disney cuts DCA hours for a few reasons,first of all Disney has way higher operating costs then Six Flags or Universal,remember DIsney does huge fireworks every night,maintence costs are higher etc...secondly Disney expects its parks to perform at a certain level,Universals numbers are not TOO far from DCA's,but USH isnt cuttin back hours,why is that? well for starters they dont have million dollar fireworks every night,and secondly they expect 5 million a year and are ok with it...Disney isnt.....DCA is number 10 on the countrys most visited parks,its far from strugglin,its not doing what DISNEY WANTS but its not a failure...


Those types of actions by TDA in regards to DCA's operation show me that there is something more going on with DCA's lackluster attendance than just the usual excuses of economy/terrorism/weather.]

I think the main reason DCA isnt performing as well as Disney wants is because the public went into DCA expecting DL part 2,it didnt get that,so everyone went back saying it sucked and it ruined the parks rep....DCA is a fun place if you give it a shot with a open mind and dont expect DL part 2......its meant to be its own park,not DLs clone.....there are aspects of DCA I dont care for,but overall its a good park and im happy we have it...Disney obviously knows DCA needs more themey E tickets.thats why we are getting TOT and probably RNRC,give the place time,it will get alot better....

[Nemo88]

Well, DCA was a lot busier yesterday than it was the last Saturday. It appears the marketing campaigns are starting to increase attendance.

I think we can put X Games success somewhere in between what Disney wanted it to do,and what AL Lutz says its doing...its not a booming success but its not a total failure either...I think its inbetween

[Nemo88]

Look, everyone, Walt said it best himself when he said that you try spectacular things, sometimes you get spectacular failures (paraphrasing). I think that applies to DCA as well as X-games.

I do think that Lutz had a point way back when he commented that Disney really limited their scope of ideas by using California only. My only thought as to why they did DCA and not, say, Disney's America is that if, by some stretch of the imagination, DCA was a rip roaring success, they could turn around and make a Disney's Florida Adventure, Disney's Tokyo Adventure, Disney's French Adventure, etc. Of course, if they went ahead and did Disney's America, they could branch out and build Disney's Europe, Disney's Asia, etc. Just a thought.

Other than that, Al Lutz eats worms.

I dont think the Calfiornia theme is limited in scope,you can do everything from the beach,the mountains,hollywood,the bay area,chinatown,I mean california is soooo diverse in lifestyle and culture and even climate that the possiblites are pretty endless.....

[Sydney]

I think michael's comment might refer to the (basically sound) view that marketing campains take time to build public awareness of a prodduct (several weeks), and since I believe the xgames advertizing only started a week before july.... an increase in attendance now could be easily linked to the xgames advertizing campain that started three weeks ago.

and to the question of whether or not the xgames stars are "athletes" or not.... You try getting on a skateboard. just cause some of them look different than the stereotype you hold of an "athlete" doesn't make it okay to judge.

[Nemo88]

[QUOTE=TP2000]Has Six Flags or Universal cut back it's operating hours for the rest of the summer?

no but both places are giving away huge discounts....USH was bascially handing out Annual Passes just a few months ago to anyone who walked in thier gates...now both USH and Six Flags are offering buy one get one free tickets...does that sound like 2 parks that are doing spectular? the whole industry is struggling,not just DCA.

[Instidude]

There is another thread on this board that syas that both Six Flags and Cedar Fair have reported a drop in attendance this year (I think Cedar Point has been down about 4% this summer).

[tinkerbelle923]

My 2 cents...

If Al hates Disney so much why does he spend so much time and effort on it both in the parks (yeah, you must really hate it to go all the time) and all the time and energy spent writing his articals?

It just doesn't make sense to me...
(granted I do NOT know the whole story...I can only assume... His name is very familiar but I can not remember why...so there must be some bad blood between him and the Disney company...any one know I'm courious. )
from what I have gotten from his artical ...
he can not stand anything Disney...Why waste his time bashing it...?
he is very biased against Disney,

well I for one thought attendance at both parks was pretty good (July 10-14) not so crowded that you can't do anything but by no means deserted.

The Alladin show was full...they were seating people in all 3 levels when we went. (Great show by the way I was extreamly impressed)

No the Xgames were not the reason we went but my family did watch some of them (DH and DD watched the motocross I think while me and my son went to playhouse Disney) they both really enjoyed it.

And as far as the music playing all through the park (I believe it was Al who commented on it Metalica, AC/DC etc.) Yes it was a bit loud in a few spots but it (for the most part) added to the atmosphere. (in fact they had a really good funk band I wish I caught the name...anyone know?)


just my opinion

[Santa Monica]

(in fact they had a really good funk band I wish I caught the name...anyone know?)

Was it the Suburban Legends? They are quite funky.

[jonvn]

If something takes strength, endurance, skill, and talent to a degree that is not commonly found in the population, then I'd have to say someone like that was an athelete. I couldn't do the sorts of things these guys do.

[Smooth]

If something takes strength, endurance, skill, and talent to a degree that is not commonly found in the population, then I'd have to say someone like that was an athelete. I couldn't do the sorts of things these guys do.

Hmmmmm..... I wonder if Chess Masters would be considered athletes. It does take mental strength, endurance, skill, and talent. But most of us would not call these chess gurus athletes. But these Xgames guys are athletes by any definition.

I want to see Al do some of the things these guys are doing. Now that would draw a crowd!