With Attendance Off, Disney (& others) Dealing

[The Interpreter]

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/trave...ml?ref=business

[Avatar]

For a destination tourist spot only being down 5% is not that bad. What does this mean for us, I'll tell yeah; some great deals and when things pick back up we most likely will not see these type of deals again. Also keep in mind if you are watching the stage show in front of Magic Kingdom and there is normally 100 people in front of you, there will only be 95 people in front of you now.

Many families on the boards and in there reports are saying they have noticed little attendance drop but Disney has ways of tightening things up to make it appear busier that it is.

Also in the article it mentions Mousesavers dot com and if you are going anywhere in Orlando I would make sure you maximize your savings by checking here web site often. That is where most Disney holic's get a lot of their money saving tips.

[RexandtheBeast.com]

I think these numbers will get worse before they get better, and I would expect at least the first half of 2009 to be terrible for Disney and Universal. I know that Universal is responding to the economic issue in part by expanding seasonal closings and other cost-cutting measures. However, from our perspective as fans/visitors, I agree with Avatar that if you are heading to one of the parks this year, you need to check out the options for deals, because they are certainly out there right now (but you should also check on closings to make sure the ride(s) or restaurant(s) you wanted to go to are going to be open).