Well actually
Las Vegas seems to be doing very nicely despite last years recession. New York is understandably still off but recovering. Even Orlando as a whole is now saying they are only off 3% from the 2000 levels much better than Disneys alleged 10-20% downturn.
And even more interesting is that in Anaheim,
Disneyland is meeting or exceeding its projected attendance. In fact this Holiday season is seeing much larger crowds. However, California Adventure just a hundred yards from Disneylands gate, is still well off and falling.
I wonder if it might have something to do with offering the public a product they wish to see at a price their willing to pay. Disneyland offers that product, California Adventure clearly doesnt. Perhaps all the hour cuts, price increases and general decline in value
might be affecting the publics perception of WDW. They certainly seem to be willing to travel to places they want to go.
As for the other entertainment companies, well TimeWarner has that whole AOL mess, Vivendi has everything from Moroccan cell phone companies to text book publishing to the Paris sewer system (and its Universal unit is doing tremendously well), Viacom is doing real nice and a single Warner Brothers movie (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) generated more profit last year than Disneys
entire filmed entertainment group did. General Electric has a very profitable network (something that Disney lacks). Sony is doing very well and even pitiful MGM has posted a quarterly profit.
Looking at the entertainment companies it certainly looks like how well a business is run, rather than the boogey-man economy excuse is what separates the winners from the losers.
And Why would you need to pay someone to support a Disney admiration society why does Eisner keep his own make-up artist on the payroll? Its because its so easy to pamper ones ego with the companys money.