Visitor Numbers at Disney EPCOT - Essay Example

The data was considered normal due to the skewness and kurtosis values falling within the range of –2.81 - +2.81 (Howell, 1997), in this case, the values were 0.089 and 1.407 respectively. After screening the data for normality and outliers, further analysis was confidently undertaken. The mean (and standard deviation) could be found because the dependent variable “Visitor Numbers” was continuous/interval data. Normally distributed data suggests that results can be confidently generalized to a wider population, in this case, visitors to Disney EPCOT.
As illustrated in Table 1, Sunday was the day most visitors frequented Disney EPCOT overall. Fridays were the most frequent weekday that visitors were at the theme park.

Due to the continuous nature of the DV (Visitor Numbers), and that there were more than two independent groups, a one-way ANOVA was used to compare the means of visitor numbers. The result was not significant as the F value did not exceed the critical value for a .05 alpha level (i.e., F = 4), F (6, 15) = 3.95, p = 0.14. The homogeneity of variance had been checked (Levene’s value = .532) and found not significant. Thus, each group was considered to have a similar variance, and so deemed comparable. It can be assumed that no real difference in visitor numbers exists across the days of the week.

On average, EPCOT had the most visitors during the first week, as can be seen in Table 2. A one-way ANOVA was undertaken using each week as the independent variable. Levene’s value was not violated (.307), and so homogeneity of variance was assumed. There was no significant difference between the mean visitor numbers for each week, F (2, 15) = 1.034, p = .383.

Important market segments were identified using frequency data and finding the mode, as the level of measurement was nominal. Percentages are based on the mean number of visitors across the study period (M = 30 817.2), as displayed in Figure 1. Unfortunately, analyses were unable to include the comparison categories for each market segment, due to the data would have allowed cross-tabulations and a chi-square test for the significance of associations between market segments.
Figure 1. A Horizontal Bar Chart showing the Percentages of Visitor Numbers for Selected Market Segments. Overall, 98% of visitors indicated that visited each park only once during their visit to Disney EPCOT. Of groups, honeymoon couples made up the majority at 32%.

The results indicate that over the three weeks of this study visitor numbers varied, though not significantly so. However, on average most visitor numbers at Disney EPCOT occurred on a Sunday, whilst during the week it was a Friday. This is understandable, as many western societies consider Sunday to be a weekend; too many, it is also a day to spend with loved ones. Fridays are the last day of the week so it is not surprising that visitor numbers were high at this time. For international visitors crossing the dateline, Europe’s “Friday” may be their “Saturday” and so add to the explanation for high numbers on this day.

As week one was identified as being the week with the most average visitor numbers, it would be of interest to investigate what events were occurring during that time, in Europe and globally. Public holidays, the weather, war, and natural disasters are just some of the factors that can influence visitor numbers to theme parks. Pertinent events and issues occurring during the three weeks of this study could have confounded the results, for example, that the data was collected during the off-peak visitor season. Read More