any announcements in california this weekend???

[nursegan]

Has anyone heard of any announcements made over this past weekends celebration??

 

[krhardy]

bumping up cuz I'm wondering too...hadn't heard anything

 

[churchlady]

Hey Kelly, I'm in Lawrenceville, too. When is your upcoming cruise?

Leigh

 

[tvguy]

Just a big party for Disneyland.

Frankly, I don't think Disney is going to add a ship anytime soon. They have the perfect balance between supply and demand, demand outstrips supply so they can charge premium prices.

As for "Special Cruises" in 2007, your guess is as good as mine. But I suspect they may bring the Wonder out to California to do 3 and 4 day cruises .
The Magic's visit out west has been a huge success, sold out, at HIGHER than Caribbean cruise fares, and it has exposed the ship to a whole new market. I suspect Disney is considering bringing one of the ships out every year. Wonder one year, Magic the next.
And back back in Orlando, not having the ship there for 3 months is causing a build up in demand there....so again, they can keep prices at a premium level. It's all about marketing, something Disney normally is a master of. (the one exception of course was the decision to kill the Main Street Electrical Parade at Disneyland........it is of course back, but at California Adventure.)

 

[mickey2000]

Just a big party for Disneyland.

Frankly, I don't think Disney is going to add a ship anytime soon. They have the perfect balance between supply and demand, demand outstrips supply so they can charge premium prices.

As for "Special Cruises" in 2007, your guess is as good as mine. But I suspect they may bring the Wonder out to California to do 3 and 4 day cruises .
The Magic's visit out west has been a huge success, sold out, at HIGHER than Caribbean cruise fares, and it has exposed the ship to a whole new market. I suspect Disney is considering bringing one of the ships out every year. Wonder one year, Magic the next.
And back back in Orlando, not having the ship there for 3 months is causing a build up in demand there....so again, they can keep prices at a premium level. It's all about marketing, something Disney normally is a master of. (the one exception of course was the decision to kill the Main Street Electrical Parade at Disneyland........it is of course back, but at California Adventure.)

I'm afraid your correct about the marketing. The extra money is being used to support other divisions, like the parks, as stated by Disney in June.
You see Disney has a habit of milking a good thing until they kill it. Like beannie babies and pin collecting! They are being more cautious with a new ship. IMO I think they are waiting way too long as other cruise lines are expanding quickly. The two Disney ships are begining to show thier age, and soon will be old compared to many other ships. A third ship might cause them to lower cruise prices which I don't think they want to do. Di$ney loves the big $$$'s. The life of a cruise ship that keeps up with the times isn't that long! TIME TO BUILD NOW!

 

[jel0511]

The party that was July 16th on the Magic was a charity event, raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. It cost a minimum of $1,000 per person to get on board, and $100,000 for a table. It really wasn't related to Disney at all, that's what we heard on-board from almost all of the CM's during the 7/9 Magic.

 

[logan1_2000]

I suppose the announcement was that all the well-intentioned and hopeful wishes and speculation that have filled this board for what, a year, have all been for naught. No new ship announcement, no Alaska or Hawaii or Europe or even return to the West Coast announcement (though I agree the West Coast is a likely return location) over the weekend. And I agree that DCL is waiting too long, using exchange rate as a justification. Economically, it can be justified--but how many economists ever provided dreams, wonder, magic or pixie dust? Other cruise lines have built in the same economic environment, Disney hasn't, so Disney is content to run two lovely ships that may soon have the word "quaint" associated with them. Luckily, most of us here at DIS love this particular brand of quaint.

 

[AUDREY BELCHER]

It would be great if the Wonder would come out and do 3 and 4 day cruises out here in California. We did the 7 day cruise on June 25 and I know I have friends that would love to do disney but not for a week. I would go again out here on a 3 or 4 day cruise.

 

[tvguy]

I suppose the announcement was that all the well-intentioned and hopeful wishes and speculation that have filled this board for what, a year, have all been for naught. No new ship announcement, no Alaska or Hawaii or Europe or even return to the West Coast announcement (though I agree the West Coast is a likely return location) over the weekend. And I agree that DCL is waiting too long, using exchange rate as a justification. Economically, it can be justified--but how many economists ever provided dreams, wonder, magic or pixie dust? Other cruise lines have built in the same economic environment, Disney hasn't, so Disney is content to run two lovely ships that may soon have the word "quaint" associated with them. Luckily, most of us here at DIS love this particular brand of quaint.

I think Disney learned a valuable lesson after they opened California Adventure back in 2001. It was supposed to be a grand new park that people would pay extra to see. With in months in was clear that folks saw it just as new rides at Disneyland and most would not pay extra.
Like I said before, Disney has found the perfect balance between fares and capacity with the Magic and Wonder. A third ship would likely cannibalize passengers from the two others. Look at EVERY other cruise line, they are still building ships, but are will to lower fares to keep them full. Disney wants to maintain the premium "limited availabity" status.
As for the ships getting old, I cruised twice on the Norway, it was over 30 years old at the time. Yes it was old, but it was a class ship, that would still be sailing at capacity today if it weren't for that accident.

 

[Azptcruiser]

I suppose the announcement was that all the well-intentioned and hopeful wishes and speculation that have filled this board for what, a year, have all been for naught. No new ship announcement, no Alaska or Hawaii or Europe or even return to the West Coast announcement (though I agree the West Coast is a likely return location) over the weekend. And I agree that DCL is waiting too long, using exchange rate as a justification. Economically, it can be justified--but how many economists ever provided dreams, wonder, magic or pixie dust? Other cruise lines have built in the same economic environment, Disney hasn't, so Disney is content to run two lovely ships that may soon have the word "quaint" associated with them. Luckily, most of us here at DIS love this particular brand of quaint.

I agree with logan1_2000 as it relates to the exchange rate. I believe that one of the biggest factors affeting Disney's decision is the exchange rate...1 Euro (EUR) = 1.20500 US Dollar (USD). Seems that everything in business is about economics, but in this case that are looking at the short term economic impact.

Now, as for an observation that I noticed on our recent cruise (July 2 West Coast) that I had not noticed on our past 2 cruises...there seemed to be a broader mix of nationalities, cultures, and ages. With a more noticable number from the Oriental segment. This has got to be noticed by Disney when considering a west coast ship presence as it is much easier to fly from Japan and the other countries of the Orient into California than to Florida. This is a large untapped market that appears to like the things of Disney.

 

[jrabbit]

I think Disney learned a valuable lesson after they opened California Adventure back in 2001. It was supposed to be a grand new park that people would pay extra to see. With in months in was clear that folks saw it just as new rides at Disneyland and most would not pay extra.

Yeh, but Paul Pressler is safely (or maybe precariously) entrenched at the GAP and can't influence DCL to bring back the "big red boat(s)".

**DCL is quality (Matt Ouimet as President and now Tom is seeing to that). **Disneyland was Quality, the in came Pressler and over the next 10 years the Magic along with the paint and several attractions disappeared. Matt O. is bringing back the Magic (not the ship) and Quality to Disneyland and people are turning out in record numbers.
**Disney's California Adventure is NOT quality (because Pressler thought that all we wanted to do at Disney Theme Parks was to shop and buy way overpriced food). But Matt is working on fixing that. Unfortunately it will take a good 10 years for DCA to evolve into something folks are willing to pay a full admission for.
**Adding a third (and maybe even a fourth) ship to DCL can be done with quality of the ship and service and crew if DCL wants to. I don't believe that a third ship out of Florida will "hurt" their supply vs demand capacity advantage. To keep three ships sailing at near capacity they might have to lower their prices by a small amout (or just "freeze" the rates for a year or two). Three ships sailing at 85-90% capacity vs 2 ships at 97% seems to me that they could continue to make serious money. Especially (and unfortunatly) if they all sail out of port Canaveral (existing facilities).

Build it with quality. Continue to offer interesting ports. Change up the iteneraries periodically and Couples and families will continue to come and enjoy the wonderful experience of DCL cruises!!

 

[Azptcruiser]

Build it with quality. Continue to offer interesting ports. Change up the iteneraries periodically and Couples and families will continue to come and enjoy the wonderful experience of DCL cruises!!

The above statement by jrabbit says a lot. If the iteneraries do not change periodically or other incentives not provided (the 10 day cruises, the doubel dip of Castaway Cay, the west coast), then DCL cannot continue to enjoy the success that they have...especially for what they are charging compared to other cruise line companies.

As for Disney as a whole, there is indeed a different management team that is running the organization. You can see the changes that are taking place to make disney, Disney again. But, management is still responsible to the shareholders. And they would not put forth monies towards changes/improvements unless there is a definate payback and unless it looked good to the shareholders. Another ship soon? I don't think so! Use what you have and make the necessary enhancements and changes to keep the people coming back. Like Disneyland, paint it every once in a while and people are happy!

 

[tvguy]

**Disney's California Adventure is NOT quality (because Pressler thought that all we wanted to do at Disney Theme Parks was to shop and buy way overpriced food). !![/B]

We were just in DL and CA last month. I was shocked at the prices in DL for food. $65 for 4 eating dinner at the French Market. Dinner for 4 at ESPN
Zone WITH tip, $80. Needless to say, we ate two sit down full service meals at ESPN over eating in the parks since for $15 we got a lot more.

 

[thegrovers]

Yeh, but Paul Pressler is safely (or maybe precariously) entrenched at the GAP and can't influence DCL to bring back the "big red boat(s)".

**DCL is quality (Matt Ouimet as President and now Tom is seeing to that).

Just as a point of clarification...

DCL fits in the Disney organization chart under Al Weiss, the head of Walt Disney World. It's not under the control of the folks who run the Anaheim parks. It's essentially considered to be another Florida park, even with the Magic sailing in the Pacific.

 

[mickey2000]

I agree with logan1_2000 as it relates to the exchange rate. I believe that one of the biggest factors affeting Disney's decision is the exchange rate...1 Euro (EUR) = 1.20500 US Dollar (USD). Seems that everything in business is about economics, but in this case that are looking at the short term economic impact.

If this is true, then DI$NEY will as they say miss the boat! As all the other cruise lines are building ships! Just watched the making of the Magic last night. It was planned back in 1985 and took 3 years to complete. That means if they started a ship today it wouldn't be done till 2008, making the Magic a 10 year old worn Wonder!!!! IMO Better Build Now they have the money

 

[tlynk]

It would be great if the Wonder would come out and do 3 and 4 day cruises out here in California. We did the 7 day cruise on June 25 and I know I have friends that would love to do disney but not for a week. I would go again out here on a 3 or 4 day cruise.

This would be awesome! This would save me big bucks on airfare!