Why EPCOT Attendance Is Soaring
I presume you’ve heard the news by now.
Theme parks across North America struggled in 2023. Generally, theme park attendance declined, but Florida felt the most impact.
Image Credit: Universal Orlando
Universal Studios Florida and Universal’s Islands of Adventure both lost nearly ten percent of customers last year.
At Walt Disney World, Disney’s Hollywood Studios fell 5.5 percent, while Disney’s Animal Kingdom dropped 2.8 percent.
Photo: Universal
Magic Kingdom grew a modest 3.4 percent, which means overall attendance sounds like it declined in Orlando last year.
But that’s not true. Well, it’s not accurate about one specific theme park.
EPCOT experienced attendance growth of just under 20 percent in 2023.
So, why is EPCOT attendance soaring when everything else is struggling?
EPCOT’s Final Form
(Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP) (Photo credit should read TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images)
In video games, there’s a long-running joke about bosses attaining their final forms.
You don’t need to be a gamer to understand the idea. Developers wanted their boss fights to be outrageously challenging.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Otherwise, gamers would quickly grow bored and play something else. So, they developed multi-stage boss fights.
The popular conceit, best demonstrated by Final Fantasy VII’s Sephiroth, is that bosses ultimately take on their final form.
Photo: mentalfloss.com
Only when they’ve reached that stage can gamers defeat them, but it’s challenging because that’s when the bosses are strongest.
In pop culture, you’ll hear the term associated with either someone becoming super-scary or becoming the best version of themselves.
In 2023 and 2024, EPCOT has achieved its final form, the vision Walt Disney held for the place in the 1960s.
No, EPCOT isn’t a capitalist utopia or the like, but Walt Disney was a social man who loved international travel.
Photo: Disney
During the 1964 New York World’s Fair, Disney discovered that an American identity had unearthed the perfect method to cover both bases.
At this World’s Fair, guests could experience international cuisine and experiences without leaving America.
Photo: boweryboyshistory.com
Even better, they could hang out with their friends, and family or converse with a stranger. This World’s Fair was a gathering.
Walt Disney always planned EPCOT to include such areas. That’s why blueprints included forgotten elements like ice skating rinks.
Photo: Disney
The new EPCOT consists of several elements like these, hangout spots where you can sit down, charge your phone, and just chat.
Historically, park officials discouraged such behavior, as they wanted guests to remain constantly on the go.
However, that’s not what EPCOT guests have desired, and we’ve voted with our wallets.
Disney finally listened to us, and the best examples are the festivals.
ALL the Figment
EPCOT festivals aren’t a new thing. In case you didn’t know, they’ve been around since 1994. Yes, they’re 30 years old now.
The “newest” event is the EPCOT International Festival of the Arts, which debuted in 2017.
So, when I discuss the changes at EPCOT festivals, I’m not referencing anything original about the experiences.
Yes, Disney adds a few wrinkles each year, but the premise has remained the same for many years.
What has changed is Disney’s approach. During the pandemic, park officials couldn’t host the festivals the same way.
The social aspects vanished due to health risks, but the added time and customer complaints regarding the situation.
Croissant a la Truffle Noir d’Hiver
Obviously, this matter was entirely beyond Disney’s control, yet the feedback helped in that loyal fans crystallized their focus.
They expressed the things about EPCOT festivals that they loved, and Disney listened.
Specifically, people wanted merchandise that embodied EPCOT itself.
Not coincidentally, Disney has since gone all-in on Figment, which led to this delightful bit of chaos in January.
EPCOT’s 2023 festivals restored the old ways after two years of social distancing requirements.
At most parks, the benefits of revenge travel had worn off by 2023. At EPCOT, this final form came with tangible benefits.
Disney highlighted its exclusive merchandise, foods, beverages, and experiences to a degree EPCOT had never seen before.
Even now, with the 2024 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival starting, we’re still reaping these benefits.
Disney delayed Food & Wine to give the other new additions time to breathe more.
Yes, after years of relatively stagnant attendance, EPCOT proved so popular that park officials worried an entire summer of Food & Wine would be too much.
The start of festivals has created such opening day rushes that EPCOT grows too crowded!
It’s the Experiences, Dummy
Spaceship Earth
A political strategist once summarized politics by saying, “It’s the economy, dummy!”
That’s an Occam’s Razor evaluation that applies to Disney theme parks as well.
All of CEO Bob Iger’s decisions ultimately reduce down to what makes the most money. And better attractions and experiences check that box.
A few years ago, park strategists accurately identified the weaknesses of EPCOT and deployed improvements.
Future site of CommiCore Plaza & Hall
This precision attack on infrastructural flaws is the underlying reason why EPCOT has achieved its final form.
Disney ended the Future World structure, thereby signaling the end of the infotainment era.
(Disney)
Now, we have new attractions based on popular Disney brands like Guardians of the Galaxy and Ratatouille.
Let me be clear that I’m a superfan of Ratatouille, yet even I acknowledge that it’s Guardians of the Galaxy that matters most.
Inside Cosmic Rewind
Disney reinvented the former Energy pavilion featuring Ellen’s Energy Adventure with an outer space Marvel roller coaster.
You don’t need to know anything about marketing to understand which of those concepts sells more admission tickets.
EPCOT attendance hovered around 7.75 million in 2021, although the pandemic unquestionably deflated those tourism numbers.
Still, since the introduction of Ratatouille and (especially) the Wonders of Xandar pavilion, EPCOT attendance has soared to 12 million.
Animal Kingdom
For comparison, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom claimed 10.3 and 8.8 million guests, respectively.
As a reminder, a single Park Hopper ticket provides guests with access to each of them. More tourists choose EPCOT now.
Some vacationers have decided that they’d rather eat, drink, and shop during their trip.
EPCOT is the perfect park for that, especially now that it has all these new hangout spaces like CommuniCore Hall & Plaza and World Celebration Gardens.
These new experiences make EPCOT feel more welcoming and inclusive.
Final Thoughts
I’ve admittedly blurred the timelines a bit here such as when I mention CommuniCore Hall & Plaza.
The opening of this space had no impact on 2023 attendance, yet its presence speaks to the underlying point.
Disney officials made the bold, incredibly risky decision to take a wrecking ball to EPCOT, not just physically but also metaphorically.
The original version of the park had to die so that a modern experience could rise from the ashes.
That’s precisely what has happened, as Disney has struck a chord with a new generation of tourists, ones who just want to have fun.
None of them was against the previous iteration of EPCOT per se, but this new version feels more…them.
Disney has successfully targeted its target audience by offering the kinds of experiences that EPCOT had always promised but not quite delivered.
Now, we have a thriving World Showcase, a near-daily set of seasonal festivals, and the kind of attractions that are fun rather than preachy.
Walt the Dreamer statue
As a fan of classic EPCOT, it pains me to say all this, but I cannot argue with the results.
EPCOT attendance is soaring because Disney has given its fans what we want: Figment merchandise and plenty of it.
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