Bring back more guest experiences please!!

[Illinois76]

Small correction past management teams were geniuses at creating the magic, Current management team is busily ‘unlocking shareholder value the first step on the road to bankruptcy, second step being ‘focusing on core competencies’. Considering that imagineering is now a empty buildings with a few executives with the title ‘imagineer’ there to manage the contract work with whichever so called creative team who submitted the low bid for latest project. The lights went out for good when Joe Rohde left for a company who appreciates his talent rather than denegrates it.

so they are well on the way to step two, covid allowed them the opportunity to ‘rightsize the organization’ which is step. 1.5 in road to bankruptcy

This is just blatantly false or you just aren’t paying attention.

Your straw man is built on the premise that Disney makes all and/or desires to make all of its money from the parks.

I realize that there are many (you are leading the charge) that are tied deeply to the nostalgia of the old ‘magic’ and can’t seem to fathom a Disney where the parks aren’t treated like a sacred cow.

But Disney is not heading towards bankruptcy because they are generating tons of top line revenue (and will crush it more so this year and next).

Whether they invest in the parks enough to your liking is another conversation. I would suggest you see Pandora, Galaxy’s Edge, Toy Story Land, etc for a counterpoint however.

 

[New Mouse]

Whether they invest in the parks enough to your liking is another conversation. I would suggest you see Pandora, Galaxy’s Edge, Toy Story Land, etc for a counterpoint however.

3 great examples of budget cutting.

 

[ford91exploder]

This is just blatantly false or you just aren’t paying attention.

Your straw man is built on the premise that Disney makes all and/or desires to make all of its money from the parks.

I realize that there are many (you are leading the charge) that are tied deeply to the nostalgia of the old ‘magic’ and can’t seem to fathom a Disney where the parks aren’t treated like a sacred cow.

But Disney is not heading towards bankruptcy because they are generating tons of top line revenue (and will crush it more so this year and next).

Whether they invest in the parks enough to your liking is another conversation. I would suggest you see Pandora, Galaxy’s Edge, Toy Story Land, etc for a counterpoint however.

WDW has long been the ATM for Disney corporate, Shanghai issues fire 8000 WDW CM’s and cut hours and menu’s Many more examples.

with all of Disney’s other lines of business bleeding red ink. Squeezing every nickle out of Disney’s only cash positive site becomes imperative.

Also the examples you give had their construction budgets slashed due to cost overruns in Shanghai and Galaxy Edge aka bombed out war zone. had its operating budget slashed to make it more profitable which is why most of the atmospheric pieces to bring it to life are missing.

Disney should have built ONE fully developed Star Wars park instead of two half baked ‘lands’ would have cost less and provided better experience for guests.

 

[Illinois76]

WDW has long been the ATM for Disney corporate, Shanghai issues fire 8000 WDW CM’s and cut hours and menu’s Many more examples.

with all of Disney’s other lines of business bleeding red ink. Squeezing every nickle out of Disney’s only cash positive site becomes imperative.

Also the examples you give had their construction budgets slashed due to cost overruns in Shanghai and Galaxy Edge aka bombed out war zone. had its operating budget slashed to make it more profitable which is why most of the atmospheric pieces to bring it to life are missing.

Disney should have built ONE fully developed Star Wars park instead of two half baked ‘lands’ would have cost less and provided better experience for guests.

Again… looking backwards to the good old days.

First… comparing the originally intended investment to the final investment is the straw man of all straw mans. If this were true, literally every publicly traded company would be on the way to bankruptcy by your logic because they all make ROI/NPV decisions that impact individual project budgets.

Secondly… their streaming business just hit the four year growth plan in less than 18 months… so they are clearly finding successful paths to alternative top line growth.

It’s fine to have an opinion that the current product in the parks isn’t up to your liking based on what you used to know… but to claim that the company is in peril is just plain wrong.

They are clearly catering to higher end customers and pricing out the ‘main street families’ and I understand why some hate that philosophically.

You can hate the culture part of it… but your business argument holds no water.

 

[ford91exploder]

Again… looking backwards to the good old days.

First… comparing the originally intended investment to the final investment is the straw man of all straw mans. If this were true, literally every publicly traded company would be on the way to bankruptcy by your logic because they all make ROI/NPV decisions that impact individual project budgets.

Secondly… their streaming business just hit the four year growth plan in less than 18 months… so they are clearly finding successful paths to alternative top line growth.

It’s fine to have an opinion that the current product in the parks isn’t up to your liking based on what you used to know… but to claim that the company is in peril is just plain wrong.

They are clearly catering to higher end customers and pricing out the ‘main street families’ and I understand why some hate that philosophically.

You can hate the culture part of it… but your business argument holds no water.

As to Disney’s desired demographic my family is there and then some We can pay the prices but we refuse to because the VALUE is no longer there. I’m not paying 20 bucks for a burger which is not even a match for burger king.

I’m not paying 60 bucks per person for a mediocre buffet. Just not happening. But we’ll happily pay more than that for a steak at Shula’s/Ruth Chris/Mortons or a good local steakhouse.

here’s the problem with Disney’s new strategy, The people making 75,000 and less are the most interested in Disney vacations Families making over 150,000 have virtually no interest in Disney vacations. This is from multiple studies in the travel industry.

If you dont take Iger selling half his Disney stock as a major red flag well i cant think of a bigger signal that Disney corporate is in deep kimchi. If the picture was rosy going forward he’d be hanging on to it one for control reasons and secondly for wealth accumulation.

This action tells me things are bad, really bad. He’ll step down sell the rest of his Disney stock and leave Chapek twisting in the wind reporting all the bad news.


The only streaming services who are cash positive, at the moment are Netflix and Hulu (and probably amazon prime) but Amazon does not break out that result.

The remainder are bleeding cash especially Disney after buying fox for its back catalog.

As for Disney’s studio properties they no longer need ‘Hollywood Accounting‘ to create losses

 

[New Mouse]

Again… looking backwards to the good old days.

First… comparing the originally intended investment to the final investment is the straw man of all straw mans. If this were true, literally every publicly traded company would be on the way to bankruptcy by your logic because they all make ROI/NPV decisions that impact individual project budgets.

Secondly… their streaming business just hit the four year growth plan in less than 18 months… so they are clearly finding successful paths to alternative top line growth.

It’s fine to have an opinion that the current product in the parks isn’t up to your liking based on what you used to know… but to claim that the company is in peril is just plain wrong.

They are clearly catering to higher end customers and pricing out the ‘main street families’ and I understand why some hate that philosophically.

You can hate the culture part of it… but your business argument holds no water.

Sure...if Disney wants to cater towards a more exlusive group in the future, its a great business move. Get the rich to pay $1000 per ticket and it doesnt matter if the common family..
comes

Except for the fact that the companys entire existence is based off the common family. So hey, roll the dice... but it wasnt broke so why are they trying to fix it? (Hint, the answer is greed).

Unless Iger needed a hundred million to go grocery shopping this week, it was a very odd stock sale this past week.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Families making over 150,000 have virtually no interest in Disney vacations.

No way is this true. Families making over 1mil a year maybe.

 

[tigger2002]

the parks aren’t treated like a sacred cow.

They are treated as a cash cow.

 

[soniam]

Families making over 150,000 have virtually no interest in Disney vacations.

No way is this true. Families making over 1mil a year maybe.

I think both of these are inaccurate in some circumstances. Where are they going then? Europe, Asia, maybe, but some of the things in those places are not as interesting for kids. Ask my son. A lot of people that I work with go to Disney, maybe not as often as we go though. I know they are making more than $150,000, and that's just one spouse. Some of them have spouses that work too, and in the same industry. They are in similar jobs and levels as me, so I do know the range of their pay. I also know some very wealthy families, ie huge houses and in multiple places, own at least a few very high end cars (Ferraris), own airplanes, and they go to Disney as well.

 

[bsmcneil]

No way is this true. Families making over 1mil a year maybe.

https://www.businessinsider.in/thel...naffordable-for-them/articleshow/83210255.cms

 

[shawthorne44]

3 great examples of budget cutting.

I agree.

Look at Harry Potter, for example. They could have had that. But they weren't willing to spend the money to make it immersive/worthwhile. JK wasn't willing to bend on that. So, Universal scooped it up, said Yes, Ma'am to her every whim and spent the money. They are reaping the benefits of that.

I give Universal credit for Disney's GE. Disney saw what Universal did with HP and said, "Oh, Crap, we need to step up our game." Disney's original Star Wars plans would have pissed off every Star Wars fan. Calling it chintzi is a complement.

Can you imagine if Disney built HP like Universal did, and added Star Wars like they did? Universal would have been gone.

 

[RamblingMad]

As to Disney’s desired demographic my family is there and then some We can pay the prices but we refuse to because the VALUE is no longer there. I’m not paying 20 bucks for a burger which is not even a match for burger king.

I’m not paying 60 bucks per person for a mediocre buffet. Just not happening. But we’ll happily pay more than that for a steak at Shula’s/Ruth Chris/Mortons or a good local steakhouse.

here’s the problem with Disney’s new strategy, The people making 75,000 and less are the most interested in Disney vacations Families making over 150,000 have virtually no interest in Disney vacations. This is from multiple studies in the travel industry.

If you dont take Iger selling half his Disney stock as a major red flag well i cant think of a bigger signal that Disney corporate is in deep kimchi. If the picture was rosy going forward he’d be hanging on to it one for control reasons and secondly for wealth accumulation.

This action tells me things are bad, really bad. He’ll step down sell the rest of his Disney stock and leave Chapek twisting in the wind reporting all the bad news.


The only streaming services who are cash positive, at the moment are Netflix and Hulu (and probably amazon prime) but Amazon does not break out that result.

The remainder are bleeding cash especially Disney after buying fox for its back catalog.

As for Disney’s studio properties they no longer need ‘Hollywood Accounting‘ to create losses

I don’t take Iger’s stock sale as a red flag. He’s most likely diversifying his holdings. And he’s most likely also trying to get ahead of impending tax law changes. This makes sense to me.

Disney is cash rich at the moment. And they’re not paying a dividend. I’m not worried about their balance sheet.

This doesn’t make me miss 90s WDW before all of the planning nonsense started. But that’s more personal than business related. Lots of people love WDW despite the planning hoops.

 

[disneyseniors]

Disney is a giant machine running on nostalgic inertia. With their actions that nostalgia is quickly being lost. When the Disney machine runs out of nostalgia what happens then. The core of Disney’s appeal is the ability to share the experiences you had as a child with your children.
Once that ability is lost what then? Uni does ‘ride the movies’ better than Disney

That's where we are at right now. The nostalgia of wonderful trips with the kids and grandkids keeps pulling at us to go back. We look at a ride and say, Hey remember when X did that". It's all about the nostalgia.
But, the constant cuts and higher prices are wearing that nostalgia out. Will it be gone forever, I don't know. I always fall back on the nostalgia it seems.
We have nothing planned for this year but may go to DL this fall/winter. That's all. We are going traveling to other places closer to us this year.

 

[jade1]

I agree.

Look at Harry Potter, for example. They could have had that. But they weren't willing to spend the money to make it immersive/worthwhile. JK wasn't willing to bend on that. So, Universal scooped it up, said Yes, Ma'am to her every whim and spent the money. They are reaping the benefits of that.

I give Universal credit for Disney's GE. Disney saw what Universal did with HP and said, "Oh, Crap, we need to step up our game." Disney's original Star Wars plans would have pissed off every Star Wars fan. Calling it chintzi is a complement.

Can you imagine if Disney built HP like Universal did, and added Star Wars like they did? Universal would have been gone.

US/IOA is just an extension of WDW for us, about a 10 min drive. The AP price is crazy low so it's just part of the theme park entertainment bill/budget.

Heck most US/IOA employees worked at WDW and vice versa.

By far the best thing for us guests, was US getting HP. Not only is it great competition and a great experience-but gave us Pandora and Star Wars Land.

 

[ford91exploder]

If you dont take Iger selling half his Disney stock as a major red flag well i cant think of a bigger signal that Disney corporate is in deep kimchi. If the picture was rosy going forward he’d be hanging on to it one for control reasons and secondly for wealth accumulation.

This action tells me things are bad, really bad. He’ll step down sell the rest of his Disney stock and leave Chapek twisting in the wind reporting all the bad news.


The only streaming services who are cash positive, at the moment are Netflix and Hulu (and probably amazon prime) but Amazon does not break out that result.

The remainder are bleeding cash especially Disney after buying fox for its back catalog.

As for Disney’s studio properties they no longer need ‘Hollywood Accounting‘ to create losses

No way is this true. Families making over 1mil a year maybe.

no the lower boundary was 150,000 with increasing disinterest as income level scaled higher. Now this was a survey of potential domestic guests.

I think both of these are inaccurate in some circumstances. Where are they going then? Europe, Asia, maybe, but some of the things in those places are not as interesting for kids. Ask my son. A lot of people that I work with go to Disney, maybe not as often as we go though. I know they are making more than $150,000, and that's just one spouse. Some of them have spouses that work too, and in the same industry. They are in similar jobs and levels as me, so I do know the range of their pay. I also know some very wealthy families, ie huge houses and in multiple places, own at least a few very high end cars (Ferraris), own airplanes, and they go to Disney as well.

nowhere did I imply that high income peeps cant be disney fans but they are a lot rarer.

We own an airplane, I know a few multimillionaires who are rabid Disney fans. What the study said was for incomes 75,000 more than half 64%) wanted a Disney vacation.

When you got to the 150k and above level only 8% wanted a Disney vacation.

sociologically remember lower income parents much more involved with their kids both time and activity wise. My DBIL works for govt but he’s home every night for his kids, I fail miserably in that regard in that I can be away for months fortunately DW is a teacher

Once you hit 150k and above. Day Care, Boarding Schools and Summer camp start to become the norm or a nanny/au pair who takes care of children while parents do their demanding professional job.

 

[RamblingMad]

no the lower boundary was 150,000 with increasing disinterest as income level scaled higher. Now this was a survey of potential domestic guests.


nowhere did I imply that high income peeps cant be disney fans but they are a lot rarer.

We own an airplane, I know a few multimillionaires who are rabid Disney fans. What the study said was for incomes 75,000 more than half 64%) wanted a Disney vacation.

When you got to the 150k and above level only 8% wanted a Disney vacation.

sociologically remember lower income parents much more involved with their kids both time and activity wise. My DBIL works for govt but he’s home every night for his kids, I fail miserably in that regard in that I can be away for months fortunately DW is a teacher

Once you hit 150k and above. Day Care, Boarding Schools and Summer camp start to become the norm or a nanny/au pair who takes care of children while parents do their demanding professional job.

You need the higher income to afford the deluxe resorts at WDW. We have given up on WDW. We will go to FL for Universal.

My family is high income. And we feel like Disney is pricing us out. We now go to DL and stay off property. It’s the best bang for our buck. I can knock out a weekend trip there for a couple of grand. But we’re waiting for fireworks to return.

I’d rather buy $30k of Disney stock than spend it on a WDW vacation, which is what I did after the last earnings call. It’s a much better value proposition.

 

[hereforthechurros]

https://www.businessinsider.in/thel...naffordable-for-them/articleshow/83210255.cms

Interesting numbers, thanks for sharing. $75k is well above the median income, but still far from comfortable. Psychologically I've seen many comments here, whether posters realize it or not, that visiting Disney makes them feel special; they want royal treatment. Hence why CMs are quick to tell you just how different people act at WDW (entitled, to sum it up.) I'd love to see the amount of debt people go into for their Disney fix.

 

[RamblingMad]

Interesting numbers, thanks for sharing. $75k is well above the median income, but still far from comfortable. Psychologically I've seen many comments here, whether posters realize it or not, that visiting Disney makes them feel special; they want royal treatment. Hence why CMs are quick to tell you just how different people act at WDW (entitled, to sum it up.) I'd love to see the amount of debt people go into for their Disney fix.

But their customer service isn’t that good. So people should be prepared to be disappointed.

 

[ChipnDale79]

Interesting numbers, thanks for sharing. $75k is well above the median income, but still far from comfortable. Psychologically I've seen many comments here, whether posters realize it or not, that visiting Disney makes them feel special; they want royal treatment. Hence why CMs are quick to tell you just how different people act at WDW (entitled, to sum it up.) I'd love to see the amount of debt people go into for their Disney fix.

I'm not condoning any of the bad behavior, but disney sets the bar insanely high with their commercials, and yes they are hands down better than just about anywhere else, but for what anyone pays just for a single day to get into one of their theme parks, its very hard for disney to hit the bar they've set based off of the commercials and the amount of money spent by that person.

People's expectations on what they're going to get for their money are inflated because of how Disney markets itself.

 

[hereforthechurros]

I'm not condoning any of the bad behavior, but disney sets the bar insanely high with their commercials, and yes they are hands down better than just about anywhere else, but for what anyone pays just for a single day to get into one of their theme parks, its very hard for disney to hit the bar they've set based off of the commercials and the amount of money spent by that person.

People's expectations on what they're going to get for their money are inflated because of how Disney markets itself.

I don’t disagree. Even a page or two back I commented that Disney should be held to the highest standard especially for the cost. But what I’m referring to goes a little beyond that. People want upgrades, they thrive off pixie dust, they want to feel like Disney is somehow secretly catering to them/their family. Maybe it’s because the cost of a Disney vacation is already a stretch for them, or maybe they get satisfaction from Disney treatment they don’t get elsewhere. Not saying this is right or wrong, just my impression.

We go enough that I don’t feel this way. I just want Disney to be fair, and to deliver on what is being paid for, and to communicate effectively... things that has been missing for a year now.