Disneyland Eliminates Early Entry for Resort Hotel Guests Beginning January 5, 2026

[joseph821]

Reddog and others are right about "corporate culture" being a big factor in companies being greedy, but that culture is heavily influenced by Disney and others being publicly traded companies. They are under constant pressure to increase earnings every quarter. Sometimes they'd like to take steps that might decrease value in the short term but hesitate to do so because of the likelihood of a bad reaction from investors. It's a real quandary.

I recently listened to a Freakonomics Radio podcast about Trader Joe's. Obviously customers love TJ's, and so do employees. But here's the thing: TJ's is privately owned. They don't have to think about whether the stock price will go down tomorrow if they do such-and-such. Having to chase quarterly profits is arguably one of the worst features of being a publicly traded company.

Agreed. But theme parks prop up the corporate Disney and provide over 50% of the profits. The ABC/linear and cable TV outlets are bleeding money time to sell. Disney/Hulu + is finally stable and the movie unit is back to performing. Instead of cutting EE. Sell ABC and cable units and net over $10B. It is time for Disney to sell ABC and get rid of it. Linear TV and Cable TV are dead. Disney bought Cap Cities/ABC in 1995 primarily for ESPN.

 

[MartyParty]

Related to the ongoing discussion about corporate short-term decision-making, I was reminded of something I learned this week. Among companies with annual revenues exceeding $100 million, only 13% are publicly traded, while 87% remain private.

I’m not sure what the long-term historical trends are, but this suggests that a significant number of companies are choosing to stay private for various reasons. One possible factor could be related to the kind of behavior we’re seeing from Disney—nickel-and-diming park visitors to meet corporate targets—which might be more common among publicly traded companies under shareholder pressure.

Just putting this out there in case someone with more experience has insights into the public vs. private company split. Honestly, I would’ve expected the numbers to be the other way around.

 

[wabbott]

Netflix (NFLX) is publicly traded on the NASDAQ, and has been since 2002. It seems to be able to make movies and TV/streaming content that people want to watch. So does YouTube which is owned by Google (GOOG).

What do they do different from Disney (DIS)?

 

[joseph821]

Netflix (NFLX) is publicly traded on the NASDAQ, and has been since 2002. It seems to be able to make movies and TV/streaming content that people want to watch. So does YouTube which is owned by Google (GOOG).

What do they do different from Disney (DIS)?

Those companies are not dragging down by ABC and the cable outlets like Disney. Disney would not make 50-70% of the content that Netflix would. Why? Because it is not family friendly or part of their current cultural philisophy. Disney does not make mainstream movies anymore. It is all Marvel, animated features and a small number of mainstreamers.
Take a look at this:

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls066531766/

All sequels and the like. Original films, dramas and comedies at Disney? Not really.

 

[disneychrista]

Agreed. But theme parks prop up the corporate Disney and provide over 50% of the profits. The ABC/linear and cable TV outlets are bleeding money time to sell. Disney/Hulu + is finally stable and the movie unit is back to performing. Instead of cutting EE. Sell ABC and cable units and net over $10B. It is time for Disney to sell ABC ad get rid of it. Linear TV and Cable TV are dead. Disney bought Cap Cities/ABC in 1995 primarily for ESPN.

Without the ABC/Fox content would Hulu still be as marketable? I would probably not subscribe if not for that content.

 

[joseph821]

Without the ABC/Fox content would Hulu still be as marketable? I would probably not subscribe if not for that content.

Hulu is a premium site. Disney owns the Fox content and would own all of the ABC content prior to a sale. I am certain Disney would pay a fee to the new owner to stream ABC content as terms of the sale.

 

[tarheelalum]

Costco may or may not nickel and dime its customers but they force companies into very small margins if they want their products in them. There is a reason they can sell products for so much less. It isn’t because they are warm hearted. It is because they purchased the products for less.

Yet those companies line up and beg Costco for the opportunity to sell their products in Costco for low margins. They are taking the long view, not the quick buck mentality that Disney has now.

 

[Tinkaboo]

Disney is run/owned by old white men and women who still think it's a big thing to "own a network". Network TV hasn't been relevant for YEARS. No one under 50 watches, particularly news. Yet, they hang onto this like it's the end all-be all. Yes, if Disney would get rid of ABC, they'd have all the money they need to return the parks to the crown jewels they once were. Just this OLD lady's opinion (who only watches broadcast TV for the local westher, which is wrong about half the time anyway )

 

[joseph821]

Disney is run/owned by old white men and women who still think it's a big thing to "own a network". Network TV hasn't been relevant for YEARS. No one under 50 watches, particularly news. Yet, they hang onto this like it's the end all-be all. Yes, if Disney would get rid of ABC, they'd have all the money they need to return the parks to the crown jewels they once were. Just this OLD lady's opinion (who only watches broadcast TV for the local westher, which is wrong about half the time anyway )

Disney bought ABC for ESPN. Time to keep ESPN and sell the rest. Disney will then go back to being a theme park/travel and movie company like it was before!!

 

[AquaDame]

On the opposite end, think about the current hub-bub with American Eagle. They have a buxom blonde in a pair of jeans and not much more, and there was a lot of people upset with the campaign. Now these people will make up all sorts of ridiculous reasons why they object to Sydney Sweeney in a pair of jeans, but for me, the people who are upset and on some sort of crusade are probably upset that American Eagle is bucking the trend and going back to what was being done to sell jeans in the 1990s. That's why my DW and I shrug our shoulders, because American Eagle is doing the same thing as Guess did 30 years ago with Claudia Schiffer, Anna Nicole Smith, Drew Barrymore, etc. etc. It may not be the trend today, but it was how jeans were marketed many decades ago and my DW and I are just accustomed to it, I guess.

No, the backlash of AE is due to the line “great jeans” being taken as something other than the pants she is wearing. That’s why GAP clapped back the way they did. They also have beautiful women in the ad, that isn’t what people found disturbing. Not trying to argue about it, I have nothing more to say on the subject, but just in case folk don’t know.

 

[LAS2AMS]

Disney bought ABC for ESPN. Time to keep ESPN and sell the rest. Disney will then go back to being a theme park/travel and movie company like it was before!!

They bought ABC for its media empire, as a medium to distribute its library of content and promote its theme parks. Over the years, EDPN has emerged as the golden asset.

We went to WDW in October ‘98 - before Spooky Season became a hit and when attendance was so light the parks closed by 6PM. Anyway, much of the property was decked out for Christmas as they were filming Holiday promo shots for a variety of programming, like The View. Obviously not something that would happen today for many reasons…