More results from Zagat’s Survey of Disney fanatics
We have even more information this morning about the new Zagat Survey of Walt Disney World we talked about yesterday. This was a survey of thousands of Disney fanatics, and the results seem to indicate even those who go often may not fall into the “purist” category. Check out this press release that includes some more interesting and fun to talk about lists.
Zagat seems to have broken down some of their results into categories, such as adults and children. Let’s look first at the five most popular attractions among adults…
Adult favorites
1. Expedition Everest
2. Soarin’
3. Cirque du Soleil
4. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
5. Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
At the risk of repeating myself, I am stunned that not one traditional dark ride made this list, not a single one. For everyone who waxes poetic about the glory days of Pirates and Happy Haunts, the appeal may not be as strong as we once thought. I can hear the purists fumbling for reasons already.
Similar results came from kids…
Children favorites
1. Wishes Spectacular
2. Turtle Talk with Crush
3. Buzz Lightyear’s Spin
4. Playhouse Disney
5. SpectroMagic Parade
This tells me two things. First, no matter how good or bad we may think an attraction is, Pixar has appeal. Second and most important, not a single dark ride is on this list either. In fact, not a single ride from Fantasyland. There’s no Dumbo, Peter Pan, or It’s a Small World. Now I don’t think we can conclude kids don’t like the classics, but this list tells me they want to see things they are more familiar with.
Now, let’s take a look at the ten most popular restaurants…
1. California Grill
2. Le Cellier Steak
3. 50’s Prime Time
4. Boma
5. Jiko
6. Hollywood Brown Derby
7. Victoria & Albert’s
8. Flying Fish Café
9. Chefs de France
10. ‘Ohana
The top two are very predictable, and I think anyone guessing would have both of them very high. Considering the price, I am a bit surprised the California Grill is at the top, but not overly so. However, the rest of the list has some shocking results, as far as I am concerned. I simply can’t believe the 50’s Prime Time is the third most popular place to eat. The shtick annoys me to no end, and I honestly thought more people felt the same way. Also, it absolutely stuns me that both restaurants at the Animal Kingdom Lodge would make the top five, but ‘Ohana would be all the way down at number ten.
Finally, let’s talk about the resorts. Here is the list of the “best rooms” offered at the Walt Disney World resort.
1. Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa
2. Boardwalk Inn
3. Old Key West
4. Yacht Club
5. Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
Remember, this is just the best rooms. The best service is offered on a different list. It would appear the Disney Vacation Club corners the market on offering great rooms. All but the Yacht Club has a connection to the DVC.
So what do you think? What would your list be? I wonder if the thousands polled by Zagat really do represent the Disney World addicted.
Gordon said,
April 26, 2007 @ 3:34 pm
I have to say that I’m surprised at Jiko’s placing, especially when it comes below the 50’s Prime Time restaurant. Jiko is my favorite restaurant and I think it could give any of the four and five star restaurants in my foodie town a run for their money. I would imagine that Jiko’s price point and it’s remote location works against it or I guess people prefer getting insulted over having a great dining experience.
David said,
April 26, 2007 @ 3:55 pm
That’s hilarious!!
Chris said,
April 26, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
I think this study is really interesting and shows why Disney is constantly changing things up and making them new, ie spaceship earth, horizons, Tom Sawyer Island(maybe on this one). Also I know my kids are not familiar with the same cartoon characters that I was as a kid. For me I loved seeing Mickey and Donald but for my kids they would much rather see the pixar characters. And no I’m not going to cut them off from current movies and them watch old Mickey cartoons
Matt said,
April 26, 2007 @ 8:17 pm
Although this survey plays to my ego by making everything at the Studios fantastic, I have to say I don’t think this survey is represenative of the general WDW crowds. They only surveyed 4,841 people; that’s not even a days worth of crowds at any park! So the small sample size I feel is why we’re seeing such unusual answers.
MJMcBride said,
April 26, 2007 @ 8:49 pm
didn’t they just poll disney fanatics?
David said,
April 27, 2007 @ 12:03 pm
Matt, I understand your point, but 4100 people is a MASSIVE number when it comes to selecting a polling sample. Most polls have far fewer respondents than this one. I am quite impressed they have as many as they do.
A different Matt said,
April 27, 2007 @ 6:55 pm
It could be a reasonable sample size if it was scientifically selected, but it wasn’t. Zagat isn’t even claiming that it was. They intentionally took a specific demographic because they believe that group would be the best to offer recommendations. Nothing wrong with that reasoning. It just means you can’t apply the data to the average WDW visitor. It wasn’t designed for that.
David said,
April 27, 2007 @ 7:35 pm
Well that depends on how determine the average WDW visitor. But the other Matt is correct…not Matt…but the different Matt. I guess they’re both correct to a certain degree. Matt said the sample was small, and as per polling standards that is not correct. It’s a huge polling sample. But if we are to define the people polled as something other than the “average WDW visitor” that may be the case. But these are the “big fans”, the people who come all the time. And these results are not what I think any of us would have expected from those people.
And thanks for posting “different Matt”. It’s good to have your side here.
Raidermatt said,
April 27, 2007 @ 9:57 pm
Thanks for having me…
I’m honestly not sure what to make of the results. A part of me is a little surprised, like you, but at the same time, many of the frequent visitors aren’t “purists” as much as they are just Disney fans. In other words, I’m not sure purists are much more likely to be in the frequent visitor category than anybody else. Perhaps a bit, but some of the purists actually go less these days.
Another way to look at is who is most likely to be a frequent visitor to WDW today (not wdwtoday)? Wouldn’t it be the person who is most enthralled with what Disney has been doing the last 5-10 years? And most, if not all, of the major attractions built over that time are thrill rides, not dark rides.
A couple of other things that make me hesitant to read too much into it is that Cirque was the #3 attraction among adults, and 3 of the top 5 resort rooms were DVC units. With Cirque, that’s a big sign this isn’t a representative sample because I’m sure the % of guests who actually see the show is very small. And clearly there were a lot of DVC owners in the survey, and they still make up a relatively small percentage of guests overall.
Mike said,
April 29, 2007 @ 5:57 pm
the Cirque thing I believe just proves the point of it being big Disney guests. The show often are booked well in advance and its usually the die-hards or at least those who know how to handle a Disney vaca would get in.
I agree with hotel rooms. That is not the Top 5 rooms in WDW. they just simply are not.