DEBATE: How much of an impact on Disney's financial situation?

[C.Ann]

I posted a similar thread on another board but I'm not getting much of a response so I thought I would post it here as I know that some of you are stockholders and therefore concerned about anything that might have an impact on Disney's financial situation..

If you scan any of the other boards here you will see that there are many various ways that people circumvent the "rules" of WDW in an effort to be able to afford a Disney vacation on a limited budget..

Some things include: passing 3 yr. olds off as being younger in order to obtain free meals or free admission into the parks; exceeding the limit of how many people should be in a room; bringing brown bag lunches into the parks; etc..

Do you think this has any real impact on Disney's financial situation? Should people adhere to "all" of the rules? "Some" of the rules? Or - "none" of the rules?

If you are a stockholder - or just someone who is concerned with the future of Disney - I would like to hear your opinions on this..

 

[Planogirl]

I personally doubt that these things have much of an impact on the bottom line at least not while times are good. I would expect Disney to have a write-off of sorts just like a retail concern (I can't think of the name for it!) to cover losses in general. Disney is very expensive and it doesn't surprise me a bit when I read about people trying to save some money in an underhanded way. Plus there is the entitlement attitude that some people believe exists too.

People should in theory adhere to all of the rules. But will they? Not likely and many never have IMO.

 

[Another Voice]

Well let’s figure this out.

How many four year olds have to pass themselves off as only being three to make up for the $100 million loss on ‘Bad Company’ from earlier this summer?

How many fifth guests have to make that mad dash from the parking lot into their room at the All Star Resort to make up for the $200+ million loss coming from ABC?

How many more Cokes must Disney sell to sneaky picnickers to pay off $1.5+ billion write-down for the playing around with the Internet?

As a concerned stockholder, I worry about a whole lot of things that are damaging the company’s financial performance. A mother of five smuggling in some granola bars is not one of them.

 

[C.Ann]

Finally! A couple of responses!! Thank you so much..

I think there are probably those who will agree that the financial aspect isn't that troubling, but undoubtedly there will also be a handful who feel otherwise..

Anyone else care to comment?

 

[Jeff in BigD]

I think that those minor infractions have little to do with the sinking ship.

It's like complaining about an stubbed toe while someone is breaking your arms at this point.

 

[KNWVIKING]

..... if not sneaking that 5th child into a studio means loosing the whole family to an off-site property,then WDW made zero $$$. If the full price admission for 3 yr old child means family can't afford admission for 6 yr old & 8 yr old plus 2 adults,then what profit is WDW making the family opts to spend a week on I-Drive.

I don't want to be so closed-minded about RULES that it denies hard working families from having a great Disney experience and quite honestly I think Disney feels the same way.

 

[Luv2Roam]

As a WDW guest, I am more conerned about Disney enforcing their non-smoking status than I am about mothers sneaking in candy and juice or an extra person in the room.
I agree if they enforced the resort rules more heavily, that would just drive evn more to off-site anyway.
No use trying to stop the pennies from falling when millions are being flushed away daily.
I hope they have bigger things to be concerned about.

 

[raidermatt]

As is so often the case, AV has captured the "big picture" quite well.

KNW makes a good point as well. Disney knows that this stuff doesn't have much of an impact on the bottom line, however, they don't want anyone else to know that. The fact that they have the rules is enough to keep many "law-abiding" guests from doing these things (5 in a room, etc), and Disney wants to keep it that way.

On the other hand, when it comes to guests who consider these things "deal-breakers", Disney certainly doesn't want the deal broken, so they generally look the other way.

So, I'm sure it has very little actual impact to Disney's financial performance.

There are other moral and ethical issues of course, but that wasn't the question...