Friday, June 4, 2010

Could Disney "benefit" from the oil spill?

No doubt, you're aware of the gigantic oil spill currently running rampant in the Gulf of Mexico. As I write this post, oil is washing ashore along the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coasts. The oil is expected to make it to the western beaches of Florida any day now. There already are some reports of oil washing ashore along the Florida panhandle beaches.

As I was reading some news coverage about the oil spill, I happened to read one quote from a vacationer who said he was leaving Pensacola Beach and heading for Orlando.

This led me to wonder if this was going to become a common occurrence; people originally planning to go to the beach instead head for the Orlando parks (including Walt Disney World) because they don't want to deal with the oil on the shore and in the water.

I think it's a distinct possibility, especially as the summer progresses and as more reports come in of oil washing onto Florida beaches. Further, if some long-range projections end up coming true, the east coast beaches also could be affected, possibly driving even more vacationers inland to Florida's theme park capital.

If this holds true, Disney and other Orlando-area theme parks could see an extra bump in summer attendance thanks to the oil spill.

What does this mean for Disney fans already planning to experience Summer Nightastic and, maybe, take a trip to Hogwarts as well?

Be ready for even larger crowds.

What do you think? Will the oil spill's impact on Florida beaches mean more business for Disney?

6 comments:

kleb111 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
kleb111 said...

The oil spill may bump attendance, but will it have a negative affect on Disney cruise line bookings? This would be a horrible timing with the Dream set to sail next year.

DisneyDaddy said...

A good point -- the DCL may be impacted negatively -- especially the Caribbean cruises...

Disneyphemera said...

We are heading to WDW in a couple weeks. I was asking my wife this very thing. I have a feeling the park #s will be up. It makes perfect sense. Of course, the other option for travellers might be to visit areas closer to home. Will be interesting.

Anonymous said...

My wife son and I are cancelling our Disney trip in August. Yes, the beaches will be destroyed, but the fumes from this disaster will be in the air for a long time. The spill may go on for a year and we had read online that people are getting sick from breathing the air. In one article we read, one of the fisherman living in Louisiana went to a doctor after being ill and was told that his lungs looked like lungs of a person who had smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day for 40 years, funny thing was, he had never smoked a day in his life. Canada, her we come. Please be careful everyone.

JoyFilled said...

Oooh golly. It had occured to me as well that the crowds might be bigger because of the oil spill (do you think they will be a lot bigger in the winter, too? That's when we're going), but this is the first I've heard about the air quality. Great. We've been planning this trip for 2 years. Now I'm going to have to look into how damaging a week down there could potentially be.

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