Matthew said:I'm still confused. You point out some people don't go eat at those places because there's a show, and I get that. But Restaurante Della Piazza does have two dining decks outside the show venue, so that wouldn't be much of an excuse for people who want to eat there. Coming from a person who has watched shows at each venue countless times I'm 99% certain that shows do make a difference in attendance.
I get to most shows very early, and at both the Festhaus and Il Teatro, it's pretty quiet until slowly people start coming with their food from the lines and start eating until, eventually it is multiple times as crowded as it was before. Most of the time when I went by Il Teatro during HOS and the beginning of the season this year I could count the number of groups eating there on my two hands. Every show-time I'm very observant of attendance, and it is usually packed at both the Festhaus and Il Teatro, and once the show is over people filter out until the process repeats itself. This is from many observations and I think you'll find many other show-goers in here will agree they see the same scenario.
So, if your observations are representative of what actually happens daily at the park, there is evidence that it is likely that people who like shows also like to eat and watch a performance.
What we cannot determine from the data we have is what percentage of the total number of people in the park go to shows. Just because the Festhaus is crowded at lunch, does not mean that a majority of park guests are there for the shows.