Not Most Crowded Place on Earth

Despite heavy Christmas promotions, attendance at Disneyland during the final three months of 1999 was lower than during the same period the previous year.

In making the disclosure in an earnings statement, Walt Disney Co. executives said they were not surprised by the decline. Chief Financial Officer Thomas O. Staggs said they are “feeling good about the results.�

Though acknowledging the slowdown in 1999’s final three months, the company didn’t release attendance figures. The trade publication Amusement Business, which publishes widely accepted figures, said the theme park’s attendance fell 5% overall last year to 13.5 million patrons.

In its earnings statement, the company said the park’s attendance fell because of a weakness in international visits, held down by Y2K concerns, and the impact of construction projects that made it tough to get around Anaheim.

On the bright side, the average amount of money spent by park-goers rose during the fourth quarter, the company said.

The park attributed the higher spending in part to its FastPass program, a free service that provides an alternative to waiting in line for four popular rides. Patrons using FastPass receive a ticket designating a specific time period during which they may return and enter directly.

Staggs suggested that customers who use FastPass are spending the extra time they gain buying food and merchandise.

“As you know, one of the ancillary benefits we are looking for from that [FastPass program] is to give guests the opportunity to do more things inside the park,� he said.