Though the year is only a little more than halfway over, 2019 has been a little bit of a weird one for Disney parks in the US. Though early guest level forecasts seemed to indicate that this year would see massive attendance growth, so far, that hasn’t really happened. In fact, things have been a lot slower than usual, both at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World, where crowds have been very light during the traditionally busy summer season. Even the 4th of July holiday, which normally sees the Magic Kingdom (and sometimes Epcot) shut down due to capacity, was very quiet this year, with no closures or even long attraction wait times.
Though there is of course, no single reason why guests are staying away from Disney parks this summer, we have some theories about what is quickly becoming one of the slowest summers at US Disney parks in over a decade.
1. Price hikes are finally having an effect on guest levels
For years Disney has been on something of a price hike binge, raising prices on hotel rooms, tickets, annual passes, food, and souvenirs. However, while guests have been continuing to pay the ever-increasing costs associated with visiting a Disney park, it looks like there may be an upper ceiling to how much Disney can continue to raise prices, and we may be seeing the effects of too many price hikes in action right now.
Of course, this is a fairly easy thing for Disney to course correct on, and in many ways they already have, offering some massive discounts for this summer and beyond. However, it remains to be seen if Disney will start slowing down with thier regular price hikes in response to these decreasing guest levels, or if they will continue to hike prices in the hopes that higher costs will offset the lost revnue from the lower guest levels.
And while the question of price hikes may be something for Disney’s accountants to figure out, there’s something else at work here that could be a little less simple for Disney to fix in the short term…
2. Guests don’t want to visit an unfinished Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
Image: Disney
Though the first few weeks of operation for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland were specifically designed to be low key (reservations were required and guests had strict time limits inside the land), now that this land is open for all guests to enjoy for as long as they want, we all expected wait times to balloon as guests filled this new land.
However, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge hasn’t exactly been the instant smash hit that many were predicting, with lone ride Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, typically holding at between a 30-60 minute wait and shops like the Toydarian stall and Droid Depot essentially standing empty as guests pass by this new land on their way to something else.
Though there’s no way to know for sure, many feel that the initial unpopularity of this land may be due to the fact thatl Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, the amazing-sounding E-ticket attraction for this land, is still under construction, and could potentially be delayed until next year, if the latest rumors are to be believed. And while Disney may have initially been hoping to capitalize on the nearly ubiquitous popularity of Star Wars to get guests in the land despite its unfinished state, those who want to check out the completed version of this land may simply be biding their time until the release date for the second phase of this new land is announced, which is why this land isn’t filling the way many thought it would during its opening weeks.
Image: Disney
And while we can’t predict if this same phenomenon is going to happen next month at Walt Disney World, given the fact that hotel room reservations at almost every single major on-property resort are still available for the opening few weeks of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we’d guess we might see another disappointing return at Walt Disney World for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, potentially for the same reason as stated previously.
