Disney Quarter 1 2020 Earnings Report

[mshanson3121]

Only includes about 3 weeks of RotR in this quarter at WDW and none of DL.

But SWGE was open for all of it. I'm sure not all of the many people who had booked late fall trips hoping for SWGE/RotR were able to reschedule.

 

[loutoo]

All of the people on other threads who (for years) have been explaining how everything Disney does is a debacle and how the parks are going to pot and how Iger is ruining everything clearly never listen or read about earning calls... It certainly sounds like somebody know what they are doing.

 

[BrianL]

All of the people on other threads who (for years) have been explaining how everything Disney does is a debacle and how the parks are going to pot and how Iger is ruining everything clearly never listen or read about earning calls... It certainly sounds like somebody know what they are doing.

Yeah, I mean I don't like everything Disney does as it impacts me, but Iger does his job and does it well. People point out that his compensation is so high but it seems to me that the shareholders aren't too worried about that. Now, if they want to invest a bit of this profit back into the parks for both improvements and staff, that would be perfectly fine by me.

 

[rteetz]

All of the people on other threads who (for years) have been explaining how everything Disney does is a debacle and how the parks are going to pot and how Iger is ruining everything clearly never listen or read about earning calls... It certainly sounds like somebody know what they are doing.

It really depends on how you view things. Much of the criticism of Iger comes from the park aspect. Many think he is a great media person and he is since that is his background. Much of the issue with Iger too stems from nostalgia of fans. I think people look at someone like Eisner who expanded the parks soooo much during his time. Iger has done great things in the second half of his career for sure in terms of parks but some areas have been left neglected too and Iger doesn’t appear to be as much of a parks fan as say Eisner was.

 

[RivShore]

It really depends on how you view things. Much of the criticism of Iger comes from the park aspect. Many think he is a great media person and he is since that is his background. Much of the issue with Iger too stems from nostalgia of fans. I think people look at someone like Eisner who expanded the parks soooo much during his time. Iger has done great things in the second half of his career for sure in terms of parks but some areas have been left neglected too and Iger doesn’t appear to be as much of a parks fan as say Eisner was.

I'm continually surprised about the nostalgia for the Eisner years on these boards. I remember too well the latter of his years and the condition of the parks - peeling paint, ride breakdowns, tired looking rooms, etc, etc.

 

[Disco]

It really depends on how you view things. Much of the criticism of Iger comes from the park aspect. Many think he is a great media person and he is since that is his background. Much of the issue with Iger too stems from nostalgia of fans. I think people look at someone like Eisner who expanded the parks soooo much during his time. Iger has done great things in the second half of his career for sure in terms of parks but some areas have been left neglected too and Iger doesn’t appear to be as much of a parks fan as say Eisner was.

Yeah I think it took the Harry Potter lands at Universal to wake Disney up a little.

 

[rteetz]

I'm continually surprised about the nostalgia for the Eisner years on these boards. I remember too well the latter of his years and the condition of the parks - peeling paint, ride breakdowns, tired looking rooms, etc, etc.

Oh certainly in his later years he struggled but the company was also in a different position. Parks projects went way over budget and under delivered. Frank Wells was his guiding star and once he passed things took a turn. There is still issues with conditions today though too. Eisner certainly should be praised for a lot of what he did as should Iger. Nobody is perfect.

 

[rteetz]

Yeah I think it took the Harry Potter lands at Universal to wake Disney up a little.

That’s exactly it. All of the sudden someone else was doing something better than Disney. Bruce Vaughn former head of Imagineering went on record once saying nobody can beat us we’re Disney. And yet someone did. Now universal hasn’t really ever beat Disney but universal made a HUGE leap with Potter.

 

[CastAStone]

Finally listened to the call and I was struck by Iger’s comments about the US parks late in The Q&A. He is all in on investing in them. They asked him how you drive profit increases when you’ve raised prices so damn much and he basically said we keep making the parks much, much better.

I think that’s evident at DHS and Epcot - you can say you hate it compared to 1998 Epcot or what could have been and I too wish they’d gone in a somewhat different direction, but it’s basically unarguable that they’re spending a boatload of money to make the park much better than 2017 Epcot.

I also thought it was interesting that he didn’t mention US park count expansion at all. That has to be in the works, be it in Florida or Anaheim or somewhere else. At some point you need additional guest capacity to grow revenue, and pretty soon they will run out of opportunities to do that by enhancing fundamentally broken US parks, as has been their recent strategy (DCA, DHS, now Epcot).

 

[Tiki Birdland]

Finally listened to the call and I was struck by Iger’s comments about the US parks late in The Q&A. He is all in on investing in them. They asked him how you drive profit increases when you’ve raised prices so damn much and he basically said we keep making the parks much, much better.

I think that’s evident at DHS and Epcot - you can say you hate it compared to 1998 Epcot or what could have been and I too wish they’d gone in a somewhat different direction, but it’s basically unarguable that they’re spending a boatload of money to make the park much better than 2017 Epcot.

I also thought it was interesting that he didn’t mention US park count expansion at all. That has to be in the works, be it in Florida or Anaheim or somewhere else. At some point you need additional guest capacity to grow revenue, and pretty soon they will run out of opportunities to do that by enhancing fundamentally broken US parks, as has been their recent strategy (DCA, DHS, now Epcot).

I think they'll have to answer Universal's new park with something. They knew Avatar's Pandora would be a "base run" compared to HP. Fox had a rich history. I think they could find some gems there for a new park. I liked the rumor about a "Disney Sea" for Florida. I watched videos from Japan on that and it looks impressive.

 

[BrianL]

I feel like we are not quite at the "fifth gate" point just yet, but we are getting closer than ever. I think once Epcot is "finished" and all of the other major new rides are up and running, we may see something come out about it.

I liked the rumor about a "Disney Sea" for Florida. I watched videos from Japan on that and it looks impressive.

DinseySea is impressive! I've been - it's the greatest theme park in the world!

 

[firefly_ris]

I liked the rumor about a "Disney Sea" for Florida. I watched videos from Japan on that and it looks impressive.

Oriental Land Company knows what's up, those parks are amazing looking and well taken care of. Cynic again... I don't know that WDW would pull that off domestically. I could see initial grand visions and then 20 budget cuts. Would be nice though.

 

[Remy is Up]

From an investor Standpoint, Iger has done his job and done it well. ROI is extremely high and value for that investment is positive. I have a feeling, and it is just an opinion, Iger knew that to reinvigorate the US parks (WDW in particular), they had to get more working capital to do everything necessary. Early on he focused on what he knows, media. And how to maximize the $ there in order to create a chest of money to then move toward park expansion and improvement, overall resort improvement. Hard to say that his plan has failed when you look at the changes/improvements ( set aside the hatred for IPs) in the last and coming few years and none of that couldve been accomplished without boosting media to the point the company had excess funding to work with.

FWIW I still think we are minimum 10-15 years from a new gate in WDW

 

[AvidDisReader]

I read and article that I think was in the Wall Street Journal on the Harry Potter opening. Igor sent some Disney Imagineers to check out the new HP attraction shortly after it opened. At the time Disney was in the beginning stages of Pandora expansion. When the Imagineers came back with the glowing reports, Igor took quick action. Called a meeting of the Board and immediately increased the budget for Pandora with orders to plus it/out do HP. Competition never hurts.

 

[crvetter]

Talking of the investments in the park DCA VP hints at Hollywood Land getting some work in the future or at least admits it will need work once the Marvel Land opens up there because the meet and greets will be moving out.

https://www.ocregister.com/whats-ne...ia-adventure-as-the-park-enters-its-20th-year

 

[Tiki Birdland]

... Called a meeting of the Board and immediately increased the budget for Pandora with orders to plus it/out do HP. Competition never hurts.

Frankly, he missed the mark thinking Pandora out-did HP. SWGE can be debated; not Pandora.

 

[BrianL]

Frankly, he missed the mark thinking Pandora out-did HP. SWGE can be debated; not Pandora.

I dunno, I think Pandora is better than the original HP world at IOA, but not combined with the additional at US. I'm not a big Potter fan though.

 

[rteetz]

Frankly, he missed the mark thinking Pandora out-did HP. SWGE can be debated; not Pandora.

I think Pandora exceeded many people’s expectations though. Maybe not beating Potter but it certainly gave a huge bump to AK. Either way we all win in this situation.

 

[mvk]

I dunno, I think Pandora is better than the original HP world at IOA, but not combined with the additional at US. I'm not a big Potter fan though.

I have no interest in Harry Potter, I do know, though, that some people will diminish anything Disney does, so

 

[BrianL]

I have no interest in Harry Potter, I do know, though, that some people will diminish anything Disney does, so

To be fair, HP World was very well done, but the initial phase was just one ride and two re-purposed roller coasters. I actually prefer the London area better, though it really has just the one ride. I do appreciate the competition Uni brings though as it keeps Disney on their toes.