I love credit cards so much! v4.0 - 2021 (see first page for add'l details)

[SouthFayetteFan]

PDF of report:
https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/app/uploads/2021/02/q1-fy21-earnings.pdf
Diluted earnings per share down 98% vs. prior year quarter. Wow! $113MM paid in severance in this quarter alone.

Most of this is just my armchair banker analysis.
Domestic Parks saw a revenue decrease of $3.5 billion (70%).
- Last year they did $4.9 billion in revenue with $3.4 billion in expenses, netting $1.5 billion in income
- This year is $1.5 billion in revenue, they were able to cut expenses to $2.3 billion, and showed a $798 million loss.

I wonder what portion of those expenses are fixed costs at DL and what the P&L for WDW alone looks like right now.

Here is a quick analysis I did on domestic parks dating back for many quarters:


Q1 of Fiscal'21 shows improved revenue vs. Q4 LY. Of course Q3 had the parks closed the entire quarter.

Interesting takeaway, Disney incurred $1.8 billion in expenses in this division during a quarter where the domestic parks were closed entirely. That starts to give us a sense of just how high the fixed expenses might be here, although nothing I'm presenting can be taken as accurate. I'm piecing together information from the 10k and 10Qs.

My best guess though is that WDW is now at least generating a breakeven against their portion of the fixed costs... heck, it might even be generating a profit at this point... It's hard to say how much of that $798MM loss is tied to DLR and its dead weight.

A question on the call was asked about capacity:
- She even said "you're only at 35% capacity a few days a year."
- Chapek's answer: "We are currently operating at 35% of that full capacity."

That sort of did clarify though that some busier days right now might feel pretty normal to Pre-COVID. 35% is a fairly significant number! Also mentioned, there was no capacity increase since November. Seems to indicate to me that MANY days are operating well below the capacity right now.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1359991594456395781

BlogMickey article regarding the above tweet:
https://blogmickey.com/2021/02/disn...-park-mask-mandate-social-distancing-in-2022/

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Something else I just noticed that I totally glossed over with the Domestic Parks...

Expenses DECREASED by $370 million in the most recent quarter while revenue INCREASED by $554 million. That's a HUGE swing. Now there could be a lot of things in those numbers, especially with last quarter being year end. But still, pretty crazy to me.

 

[havaneselover]

PDF of report:
https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/app/uploads/2021/02/q1-fy21-earnings.pdf
Diluted earnings per share down 98% vs. prior year quarter. Wow! $113MM paid in severance in this quarter alone.

Most of this is just my armchair banker analysis.
Domestic Parks saw a revenue decrease of $3.5 billion (70%).
- Last year they did $4.9 billion in revenue with $3.4 billion in expenses, netting $1.5 billion in income
- This year is $1.5 billion in revenue, they were able to cut expenses to $2.3 billion, and showed a $798 million loss.

I wonder what portion of those expenses are fixed costs at DL and what the P&L for WDW alone looks like right now.

Here is a quick analysis I did on domestic parks dating back for many quarters:
View attachment 555682

Q1 of Fiscal'21 shows improved revenue vs. Q4 LY. Of course Q3 had the parks closed the entire quarter.

Interesting takeaway, Disney incurred $1.8 billion in expenses in this division during a quarter where the domestic parks were closed entirely. That starts to give us a sense of just how high the fixed expenses might be here, although nothing I'm presenting can be taken as accurate. I'm piecing together information from the 10k and 10Qs.

My best guess though is that WDW is now at least generating a breakeven against their portion of the fixed costs... heck, it might even be generating a profit at this point... It's hard to say how much of that $798MM loss is tied to DLR and its dead weight.

A question on the call was asked about capacity:
- She even said "you're only at 35% capacity a few days a year."
- Chapek's answer: "We are currently operating at 35% of that full capacity."

That sort of did clarify though that some busier days right now might feel pretty normal to Pre-COVID. 35% is a fairly significant number! Also mentioned, there was no capacity increase since November. Seems to indicate to me that MANY days are operating well below the capacity right now.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1359991594456395781

BlogMickey article regarding the above tweet:
https://blogmickey.com/2021/02/disn...-park-mask-mandate-social-distancing-in-2022/

Bring on 2022!

 

[miztressuz]

Does anyone have any experience with the WF Platinum biz card ($300 SUB, $3k MSR, no AF) or the Cap One Spark ($500 SUB, $4500 MSR, $0 AF fist year)? I'm looking for a biz card to tide me over for a while. I'm especially curious about getting approved with a "business."

FYI - I think I should be 4/24 but was denied a SW personal card last week due to being over 5/24. I'm still waiting on my TU report to come to try to understand what the issue is, but for now I'm really feeling like I need to get a new card! We have a few bigger expenses (for us) coming up and it's driving me crazy not having an MSR. There are several personal cards I'd like to go for, but I have two 5/24 spots opening up in May/June so I want to wait so I can try again for a Chase card.

TIA!

I can feel the frustration. While you wait, you can also pull your credit report from the free annual report site. They are allowing a pull from each bureau once a week until April.

"During these times of COVID-19, accessing your credit is important. That's why Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion are now offering free weekly online reports through April 2021."
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action

 

[Alexle2007]

I can feel the frustration. While you wait, you can also pull your credit report from the free annual report site. They are allowing a pull from each bureau once a week until April.

"During these times of COVID-19, accessing your credit is important. That's why Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion are now offering free weekly online reports through April 2021."
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action

With all of the Internet fraud and all, they should allow you to always pull them. Just ridiculous.

 

[djmeredith]

With all of the Internet fraud and all, they should allow you to always pull them. Just ridiculous.

Exactly!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Southwest Offer Update:

First off - the 80k offers ARE STILL ACTIVE via support link. Who knows for how long... and with what I'm about to share, perhaps they'll be gone sooner rather than later. I LOVE this offer, it's an all-time high, and if you pull of a MDD with two of them you're looking at 180k SW points and a CP good thru 12/31/22 - those two things combined could set you up for many flights!!

However, if you generate a NEW support link you'll now find the new 30k + Promo CP offer. This offer requires a $5k MSR and you receive 30k SW points + a CP good only through 2/28/2022.

On the surface this new offer sort of sounds good... but how many times will you use that CP in the next 12 months? For anybody who had an active SW account at 12/31/2020, you've received 25k SW CP points (or effectively your CP requirement has been reduced to 100k). If you grab a MDD of 2 personal cards and merely hit the FIRST tier you would get 104k SW points for $4k MSR and have a CP good through 12/31/22.

So to compare these two:
1) MDD of all-time high offers (first tier only on each card) = ~$1,500+ in SW flights plus a CP through 12/31/22 (and hopefully 2022 will bring more travel opportunities)
2) 30k new offer = ~$500 in SW flights plus a CP through 2/28/22.

And these aren't the only strategies you could employ right now. If you hit the 2nd tier on that MDD, you'd end up with 180k SW points. You could also look to the biz cards which have some excellent offers as well. You could get just ONE personal card and come up with a way to make up the missing 10k points to get that CP. Basically, I'm not keen on this new offer. BUT that said, it is available via a support link, so if that's what you want... it is out there!

Even if you needed a CP really quickly, if you can do the MDD, it's $1k less spend for a better result! I guess the one way I'd see this making sense is if you CAN'T get biz cards, you're 3/24 (or maybe 2/24) and don't want to push too close to 5/24, and you have A LOT of use for a CP in the next 12 months...

 

[mfly]

Update on my Sapphire MDD:

To recap: I’d been approved for CSP after 5 days of review. I applied for CSR the next calendar day after CSP approval. CSR did not get auto-approved.

I didn’t call in (I know, I know!) because when I called the auto status line it was telling me I had more than one current application. I was afraid the rep would see that same info right away and just push it to denial, so I was hoping it would sneak by on its own.

5 days in, I got the 7-10 message on the status line and a notice in my account that I’d been denied for holding another Sapphire product.

I’m not super bothered - the MDD was a last minute addition to my original plan to just get the CSP. I have the Amex Plat now, so I won’t miss the benefits of the CSR too much. I have family with the CSR that I could transfer points to if I decide to redeem for travel, and I plan to upgrade to the CSR in a year when they’ll let me.

If I could go back, I would still try. Only thing I’d probably change is downgrading my old CSR earlier. I product changed it to a freedom ~1 week before I began the MDD. I also reduced the credit lines on my other accounts - probably too much. I was at ~15-20% of my reported income.

Anyway, life goes on! I still have to finish my MS on both the CSP and Platinum, so I have plenty to keep me busy!

 

[Psychodisney]

For any IKEA fans out there, new AMEX offer today for $25 of $250.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Update on my Sapphire MDD:

To recap: I’d been approved for CSP after 5 days of review. I applied for CSR the next calendar day after CSP approval. CSR did not get auto-approved.

I didn’t call in (I know, I know!) because when I called the auto status line it was telling me I had more than one current application. I was afraid the rep would see that same info right away and just push it to denial, so I was hoping it would sneak by on its own.

5 days in, I got the 7-10 message on the status line and a notice in my account that I’d been denied for holding another Sapphire product.

I’m not super bothered - the MDD was a last minute addition to my original plan to just get the CSP. I have the Amex Plat now, so I won’t miss the benefits of the CSR too much. I have family with the CSR that I could transfer points to if I decide to redeem for travel, and I plan to upgrade to the CSR in a year when they’ll let me.

If I could go back, I would still try. Only thing I’d probably change is downgrading my old CSR earlier. I product changed it to a freedom ~1 week before I began the MDD. I also reduced the credit lines on my other accounts - probably too much. I was at ~15-20% of my reported income.

Anyway, life goes on! I still have to finish my MS on both the CSP and Platinum, so I have plenty to keep me busy!

Thanks for sharing this info! It’s certainly a YMMV play when you wait it out. I’m glad you got the card you wanted most!

Also a good takeaway to prepare for MDDs a month in advance. Cancel (or PC) cards... adjust credit limits... and then give them time to actually update in the system and on credit reports.

 

[Sheree]

Going to apply for a new southwest card. thinking positive about travel!
I'd go through someone's support link if that will help them. How do I go about that/
thanks

 

[ski_mom]

I just wanted to share that I used the BPme offer that's on our AmEx and Citi cards. It's for $10 back with $20 purchase. It was on DH and my Plat and Citi cards. I used one last night and it was so easy to use the app. I even got 11 cents per gallon off my gas for some reason. Maybe because I was a new user, I'm not sure. It was very easy to add all 4 cards to the app, so next time, I'll pick DH's citi card and work through all of them.

 

[havaneselover]

I just wanted to share that I used the BPme offer that's on our AmEx and Citi cards. It's for $10 back with $20 purchase. It was on DH and my Plat and Citi cards. I used one last night and it was so easy to use the app. I even got 11 cents per gallon off my gas for some reason. Maybe because I was a new user, I'm not sure. It was very easy to add all 4 cards to the app, so next time, I'll pick DH's citi card and work through all of them.

I had this too. The issue for me is premium at BP was $1.20/gallon more than at Costco. So the savings were negligible even though I was getting "half price" gas. Still have the offer on both kids' cards.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Going to apply for a new southwest card. thinking positive about travel!
I'd go through someone's support link if that will help them. How do I go about that/
thanks

Your approved.....
the support links are in our private reddit dischurners group...if your not a member @SouthFayetteFan can help

 

[chattadisser]

I FINALLY got my PayPal credit from 2/1 on my AmEx Plat!!

 

[Erica Ladd]

I posted somewhere else but maybe it should be here. Do SW bonus points count towards earning a new companion pass? My plan is to use the new promo and get a pass thru 2/2022 but build up the points (125,000?) by January or February of 2022 thus getting a CP good through 12/2023. Is that a reasonable strategy? Am I missing something?

ETA - what’s MDD?

 

[ski_mom]

I had this too. The issue for me is premium at BP was $1.20/gallon more than at Costco. So the savings were negligible even though I was getting "half price" gas. Still have the offer on both kids' cards.

Wow, that's a huge difference. I live in a small-ish town and basically every gas station is the same price. We are about 45 minutes from the state line and the neighboring state has much lower gas taxes, so when we head that way, we always fill up there, but otherwise you can take your pick of stations in our town - all the same price lol!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I posted somewhere else but maybe it should be here. Do SW bonus points count towards earning a new companion pass? My plan is to use the new promo and get a pass thru 2/2022 but build up the points (125,000?) by January or February of 2022 thus getting a CP good through 12/2023. Is that a reasonable strategy? Am I missing something?

ETA - what’s MDD?

Our DISchurners Reddit group has a long guide on the SW CP. Some of what you’re saying here is accurate, some needs a little massaging, but that’s ok! I’ll PM you on how to join. You might want to read that first before making any decisions.

Primarily, you want to be aware that those 125k points must ALL post within the same calendar year. So earning points now, and then again in 2022 would count towards separate years.

Oh and MDD is a way to get 2 SW cards and double up on your earnings potential!

 

[punkin]

I FINALLY got my PayPal credit from 2/1 on my AmEx Plat!!

I have to check mine.

 

[GZanta77]

I had this too. The issue for me is premium at BP was $1.20/gallon more than at Costco. So the savings were negligible even though I was getting "half price" gas. Still have the offer on both kids' cards.

thats a huge difference. I thought it was bad at my BP where regular is about $0.30 more than Costco and premium about $0.80. On my recent premium fill using the BP Amex offer, I estimate the real discount versus what I would have paid at Costco to be ~33%. Not as good as 50% but I'll take a third off gas anytime.