Wdw is a one person managed company when it comes to decisions... Has been for 20 years. That's bob Iger. Thanks, Eisner.
Bob Iger can buy any island in the pacific he wants when he retires around age 60 and ride off...that is a short/medium term proposition right now. He's supposed to retire in "3 years"...it will be shorter if the stock slides...longer if they continue to gain wealth and gravitas.
Where ima goin?
The price Increases - some shielded by "plans" like
ddp, others just straight increases - since 2005 have been unprecedented. Prices have Always gone up...but not in a "set in stone" plan for this length of time. They raised prices during the greatest economic disaster
Since the Great Depression...you'd have to go back to the collapse of the colonial Spanish empire before that to find something close.
That is almost impossible to understand...unless the psychology is this:
Somewhere very quickly after Iger took the pictures of Jane Eisner and Barry Diller down from his office wall...a meeting was had... Went like this:
Disneyland would be retrofitted/revamped to correct California adventure... Analysis said there was no other way. Disney "good will" would be rewarded tenfold and new profit would flow domestically...
Check - missions accomplished
Wdw - which had seen 10x the attention/investment over 30 year than any other Disney park EVER will...was still a largely accessible site for the vast majority of the most densely populated area on earth WITH MONEY - the eastern us seaboard, Midwest, and eastern Canada...but was not fully maximized for profit...
1. Secure longterm guaranteed revenue: four seasons, golden oak, flamingo crossing, massive DVC, Disney springs,
dcl expansion...
Check...mission accomplished. Not without bumps... But getting there.
2. Price everything upwards to see how far the market will hold it...
Now this is where it gets interesting... Because it should have snapped already... And I bet CMB and the board are laughing/smoking stogies watching.
I don't honestly believe they ever thought that the paying public would swallow the increase relative to the investment even to now... Let alone continue as it looks to me the case. I'm sure there has been a new investment/construction plan in place for when the backlash set in...it just hasn't been needed.
People are talking on these boards as we speak about how to get a reservation for a panera issue breakfast for $20 a piece...mind boggling. They're waiting 2 hours for a really expensive junior coaster and 90 minutes for two 8-10 year old simulator/shooter rides.
This tiering is just uping the ante on the price profit/strategy that has been around for a decade...their boldest move yet...if it happens.