Very interesting post and I have to agree, the pricing structure is stupid, why would you want to pay more to go on busy days, that's just stupid in my eyes. We visit all the parks on a regular basis but not in the summer due to the very hot and humid weather and likely long queues. We are planning to visit again in early November which is a lovely time of year in Orlando with low humidity and fairly low crowds until thanks giving.

Thanks for the info!

The problem with this article is the person writing it is stating opinion as fact. What they don’t understand is disney is no longer looking at year over year attendee figures. What they have moved to is dollars. You might say hey! More people visiting means juggernaut profits. Not so. What we’ve learned and it was confirmed in the last financial reports is that with a rise in ticket prices disney has seen a decrease in traffic but an increase in customer satisfaction AND profits. Essentially the game has changed. Charge few people more and you can still make more money. It’s working. The people who visit the parks are happy cause they are not as crowded and they are the type of guests who spend more on food, drinks and merchandise.

How about international visitors (except South and Latin America)? Honestly, I am not going back to the US under the Trump presidency, and I know a lot of people who won't either. Any statistics on visitors from Europe?

I agree with all of the above, and have one to add. PLEASE understand I don't want to get into a debate about your president (I am Canadian), but with the political climate in the US right now, and the two very vocal and sometimes violent opposing views of the Republican followers and the Democrat followers, those of us that are living outside and looking in, it's a little alarming, and I haven't decided when or if I will be returning to Disneyworld. I have grandchildren that I would love to take, but I am really concerned that it isn't nearly as safe as I've always felt in the past (I was there January 2017). And now with North Korea testing rocket missiles, and obviously angry with the US, is there anyplace in the US that is safe at the moment? I hope that I am terribly misguided, and desperately hope that I am wrong, and want to go back to Disneyworld, it is my home away from home, but as of now, it makes me too nervous.

Our family is planning to go this January. But were just going to Hollywood Studios. Weird, right? Well we have an 11yo boy who loves Star Wars and wants to do the Jedi experience again before he's too old. Also our youngest will be old enough. We may hit up Magic Kingdom for 1 day. Already have plans for Star Wars Land opening and then the 50 year anniversary!

How is attendance at other Orlando parks? Births in the US took huge dips from 2008-2013....

Disney has opened several parks as Shangai, Paris, Tokyo, Hawaii. Tourists from all these destinations were WDW clients they lost. Then you add the high prices for the tickets... Certainly they will have poor attendance compared to the last five years. I am going in October and will have to wait for to five years to come back "home". Sad but true. Economy is changing.

I have been trying for 2 months to get a room only reservation in sept or oct and it keeps telling me that there is nothing available. they can't be that busy

Being from Southern California, we will be getting our own Star Wars land soon so I don't need to hold off on a Florida trip to see it. I would definitely take advantage of deep discounts to fly out to WDW; although, it would be hard to beat the buy 4 days, get 3 resort deal I got last time.

I sure don't see any downturn in attendance. There are no value resort hotel rooms available when I want to go in late October/ Early November, and there are no reservations available for my favorite restaurants like Be Our Guest then either.

The result of price gouging, additional black out dates and season ticketing at higher prices are all a result of lower attendance. Sure their profits seem to remain near unchanged but because less people are paying the higher prices so it offsets the less attendance. Plus the big push to see Disney has flown by. Folks who did Disney in the past decade are saying been there, done that and at a lower price- “let’s do something else with more for the price”. I am a Disney fanatic but my 3- trips a year went to one or none a year.

We were always planning a 2019 trip to coincide with our 25th anniversary. We have delayed our 2019 travel plans to late in the year instead of our actual anniversary month due to all the new additions.

We will be there in September for our first empty nester trip!

We will be back over Christmas, when the child comes home for the winter break!