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[Kristof]

A "blue bird on my shoulder" whispered that coming weekend will be a very busy one, all DLRP hotels are full!

[Dlrpfan]

lol lets hope that blue bird is corrrect and dlrp gets quite alot of money to spend!

[Kristof]

My blue bird is always correct...

[Anthony]

My blue bird is always correct...

Haha!  

This is really good news - ALL hotels full?! WOW.  Maybe the "Believe in your dreams" campaign is pretty good afterall?

I think it might have more to do with the Extra Night & Day offer though, which DLRP have extended to almost any/every date this summer...

[experiment627]

A "blue bird on my shoulder" whispered that coming weekend will be a very busy one, all DLRP hotels are full!

Mhm... shouldn't it be that way? I mean, considering the season...

But I wonder: how has attendance been recently?

[Kristof]

The same bird told me that April was one of the Aprils ever.  But summer bookings are slow.

[Anthony]

Am I right in thinking that, in terms of hotel bookings, Summer is officially considered as one of the slower seasons now?  Over the years, with the various Halloween, Christmas and now Carnival entertainment, DLRP has changed from a summer holiday destination to a short break Winter destination.  I suppose flights are cheaper now and people have more money, so they can afford to go further afield in the summer, leaving them to add on DLRP as a "secondary" holiday in the Winter.  That's the way I see it, anyway.  WDW, on the other hand, could be the "further afield" place that people go to in the summer once a year.  In DLRP's favour, its image as a short break destination and the various different seasonal entertainment means I'm hearing more and more of people going there more than once in a year.

I can remember the Summer that Fantillusion started (2003), everyone was getting worried because reports were saying that it was the slowest Summer ever.  I think now we really need to worry more about Christmas and Halloween - and, whilst they're opening new attractions, the April season.

DLRP more than succeeded in spreading out visitors across the year with their various seasons, and now they're just having trouble getting people during the Summer.  Hence the reason to start branding it as "Summer Magic" I guess.

Wow, what a long-winded way to explain my view on how DLRP's seasons have changed, hope that wasn't too much.  :lol:

[experiment627]

Am I right in thinking that, in terms of hotel bookings, Summer is officially considered as one of the slower seasons now?

Pretty much, yeah. Last summer was really quiet.

But one has to ask: what is "Summer Magic" all about? What's so special about going in the summer?

Does anyone remember when they had some real summer entertainment going on like special movie themed parades, die California Dream festival, Toon Circus etc.?

[Kris]

Summer Magic is just one of the rare times Fantillusion is played and the only time Wishes is shown. Not sure if I'd like any extra event as if fireworks and a light parade are not enough, some daytime festival is not likely to do much either.

I would like the odd hint of summer around the park if at all if possible (although all the plants and flowers do this I suppose). The only visual difference in the summer season is the Wishes sign (or monstrasity depending on which side you view it from). It would be nice to mark the season specifically perhaps, but I don't think DLRP could do anything f the likes of Toon Circus again. Please, anything but Toon Circus!

[experiment627]

Summer Magic is just one of the rare times Fantillusion is played and the only time Wishes is shown.

But, well, don't people just expect something like that when the park is open longer? To me, it's nothing "special" anymore... (Now take a look at Tokyo with their summer events like this year's Stitch-thing or Donald's Wacky Kingdom a couple of seasons back)

Please, anything but Ton Circus!

To this date, I have no clue why this event got such a bad reputation: the music was fun, the characters were fun, the whole thing was fun - and they had a very cool hippo. A hippo!
Honestly, I loved the Circus. I'd wish they would do something like this again... (not to mention that this was DLP's best year *Ever* ...)

[Kristof]

To this date, I have no clue why this event got such a bad reputation: the music was fun, the characters were fun, the whole thing was fun - and they had a very cool hippo. A hippo!
Honestly, I loved the Circus. I'd wish they would do something like this again... (not to mention that this was DLP's best year *Ever* ...)

Well we knew the director of that show, he said the show always had enormous problems to run, so it got scrapped after a few months.

And the best DLRP year ever was 2002, when WDS openend.  (At least according to a certain bird's office lol  :wink: )

[Anthony]

I feel there might have been some bias in experiment's view there... maybe due to the 2001 cast members?  :wink:

I thought the Wishes logo on Central Plaza was a nice thing to signify Summer Magic last year, but I also think experiment627 is right that people expect fireworks and a parade when the park opens late.  With Extra Magic Hours in April it felt really odd with nothing to close the day, and with the late openings in May they added in some extra fireworks because they knew that's what guests expect of Disney.

I think Summer Magic should just be a massive celebration of everything Disneyland.  Everything up and running, flowers and special floral displays (something like the old Festival of Flowers?), more characters out and about than ever before, more shows, streetmosphere across the parks (in every land).  They should really just pull out all the stops to make it the "ultimate" Disney theme park experience.  Of course, yes, it should be like that everyday, but try and understand me here...  :wink:

Something I find interesting, though, is that the UK DLRP office sent out a new Summer Magic logo that removes the word "Magic".  The only reason I can think of that they'd do that is perhaps people really did expect something more from the season due to the full "Summer Magic" branding?  Leaving it as just "Summer" doesn't really imply any extra special events or decorations.

I found last year's Summer Magic to be quite odd actually.  They'd used the logo and the Dumbo graphic quite a lot before the season, yet when I arrived in DLRP I didn't see the words "Summer Magic" mentioned *anywhere* for the whole 5 days...

[experiment627]

And the best DLRP year ever was 2002, when WDS openend.  (At least according to a certain bird's office lol  :wink: )

Well, considering that the annual attendance in 2002 only increased to 14 million with two theme parks, while DLP's attendance in 2001 with just one theme park reached 13 million... I stand by what I said: 2001 was DLP's best year.
(And let's not start talking financial numbers... ergo: never believe what an office tells you...)

[experiment627]

I feel there might have been some bias in experiment's view there... maybe due to the 2001 cast members?  :wink:

Considering that I saw Toon Circus months before I moved to France, I don't appreciate being accused of any bias... I just enjoyed the show very much. Period.

(And I'm not a fan of "streetaculars" in general... I am actuallly *very* critical of Fantillusion in more than one way...)

[Anthony]

Considering that I saw Toon Circus months before I moved to France, I don't appreciate being accused of any bias... I just enjoyed the show very much. Period.

Sorry, my mistake!  I've just never come across anyone who enjoyed Toon Circus so much. :wink: