Is Disney really hurting that bad financially?

We did Standard view (but still got to see Giraffes when we woke up, I hear thats pretty lucky), and it was about 360 a night, where as Portofino was 700 a night. (so more than 250 actually) We used a special they did in January/February (early in the year) to get the Animal Kindgom lodge room discounted. Its my understanding Disney regularly does that early year discount and people look forward to it to plan their trip for the year.

The only comparable discount I know of is Annual Passholder rate, and those rooms go super fast, (they have a small pool of rooms at that rate) where as Disney was just giving everyone who booked a room the discount to any deluxe when the special was going on.
Thanks for your reply, @namelessoracle.

We don't chance standard view at AKL since we love seeing the animals altho we sometimes stay pool view. Yes, there are some partial savanna view standard rooms, but you do have to get lucky to get them.

I'm surprised the price was so low. Is this post-pandemic? We stayed there (savanna view) last December on an AP discount and it averaged out to nearly $700/night. Pre-pandemic the AP and general public discounts were much better, and we always used to get a bounceback rate, which was also excellent. Thanks for answering my questions!

ETA: Sorry! I read your original post and see that you were there at the end of June. I assume you mean this year.
 
I posted this in another thread, it was just off the top of my head so I probably missed some but in the last 10 years at WDW, these significant capital investments have been made:

Pandora
Toy Story Land
SWGE
Skyliner
New Fantasy Land
EPCOT Makeover (in progress)
M&M RR
Remy
Tron (coming someday)
Guardians
Starcruiser
Riviera
Space 220
Connections
Countless restaurant, room and hotel makeovers and additions
etc. etc.
 
We did Standard view (but still got to see Giraffes when we woke up, I hear thats pretty lucky), and it was about 360 a night, where as Portofino was 700 a night. (so more than 250 actually) We used a special they did in January/February (early in the year) to get the Animal Kindgom lodge room discounted. Its my understanding Disney regularly does that early year discount and people look forward to it to plan their trip for the year.

The only comparable discount I know of is Annual Passholder rate, and those rooms go super fast, (they have a small pool of rooms at that rate) where as Disney was just giving everyone who booked a room the discount to any deluxe when the special was going on.
How did you manage to pay $700/night at Portofino? We stayed at AKL Savanna view in May with a discount of $475/night. Last week, we stayed at Portofino bay view room with a discount rate of $360/night, which was about $200 off regular rate. CL would have been an extra $100. Aside from being able to watch the animals from our room, the AKL stay was not up to deluxe standards. We had housekeeping once in 5 days and only got 2 clean towels, didn't replenish cups or coffee, or clean floors. Had to call to get more towels, cups and coffee. Trash was overflowing in public areas and hallways were cluttered with food containers outside rooms. It was an unsightly mess. Portofino had daily housekeeping, even when Ian hit midway through our stay. Also appreciated the ability to text questions, requests and concerns and get immediate responses.
 
While true they did tend to invest in them more then they are going forward. Going by D23 they really aren't adding anything major anytime soon. All those blue sky announcements aren't likely to happen.
That's drawing a very large inference, you are trying to make your point by tossing out what Disney has said. You can't say that Disney isn't investing in their parks moving forward, and back that up by saying "even though they said they're going to be, they definitely won't". This is clearly an opinion with nothing (not even recent history) to back your assertions
 


The conglomerate piece if Universals big weakness. They own less stuff than Disney, so their accessible IPs are less
How did you manage to pay $700/night at Portofino? We stayed at AKL Savanna view in May with a discount of $475/night. Last week, we stayed at Portofino bay view room with a discount rate of $360/night, which was about $200 off regular rate. CL would have been an extra $100. Aside from being able to watch the animals from our room, the AKL stay was not up to deluxe standards. We had housekeeping once in 5 days and only got 2 clean towels, didn't replenish cups or coffee, or clean floors. Had to call to get more towels, cups and coffee. Trash was overflowing in public areas and hallways were cluttered with food containers outside rooms. It was an unsightly mess. Portofino had daily housekeeping, even when Ian hit midway through our stay. Also appreciated the ability to text questions, requests and concerns and get immediate responses.
Universal hotel prices basically double in June and July (check it right now and see the rates go up when you go from May to June). They go back down starting in August. Also you pay another premium for Friday and Saturday (and we stayed Friday and Saturday) Portofino RIGHT now is about 600 bucks for a Saturday in November. Portofino for the last Saturday of May is 690, Hard Rock is 640, first week of of may is 574 for portofino to give you more data points. If they run out of Annual pass slots your stuck. The cheapest I can find it now is still like 340, (NOT in June or July) and thats the annual pass rate, and thats also in off season. Cheapest Deluxe you can find these days is about 300 for Royal Pacific at an Annual Pass rate

I had the exact opposite experience from AKL and Portofino in June. We had to ask for service for Portofino, they came every day without prompting at AKL.
 
How did you manage to pay $700/night at Portofino? We stayed at AKL Savanna view in May with a discount of $475/night. Last week, we stayed at Portofino bay view room with a discount rate of $360/night, which was about $200 off regular rate. CL would have been an extra $100. Aside from being able to watch the animals from our room, the AKL stay was not up to deluxe standards. We had housekeeping once in 5 days and only got 2 clean towels, didn't replenish cups or coffee, or clean floors. Had to call to get more towels, cups and coffee. Trash was overflowing in public areas and hallways were cluttered with food containers outside rooms. It was an unsightly mess. Portofino had daily housekeeping, even when Ian hit midway through our stay. Also appreciated the ability to text questions, requests and concerns and get immediate responses.
I just looked at our May AKL rez and we paid about the same amount, also savanna view, with an AP discount. No such luck for December, so we're staying at POFQ.
 
I posted this in another thread, it was just off the top of my head so I probably missed some but in the last 10 years at WDW, these significant capital investments have been made:

Pandora
Toy Story Land
SWGE
Skyliner
New Fantasy Land
EPCOT Makeover (in progress)
M&M RR
Remy
Tron (coming someday)
Guardians
Starcruiser
Riviera
Space 220
Connections
Countless restaurant, room and hotel makeovers and additions
etc. etc.

How many of those are new offerings vs replacements for old? At first glance at least half. Disney needs to increase their ability to support the absurd crowd levels.
 


How many of those are new offerings vs replacements for old? At first glance at least half. Disney needs to increase their ability to support the absurd crowd levels.
More attractions means more capacity, which means higher crowds. A lot of people feel this way, but it hasn’t proven to be an answer to crowd levels
 
More attractions means more capacity, which means higher crowds. A lot of people feel this way, but it hasn’t proven to be an answer to crowd levels

Assuming they were selling out and people were being turned away.... but they aren't and never have been. More attractions means more places to put the existing people which will lower overall waits and improve satisfaction.

The new thing will certainly create an attendance pop over the first 6 to 12 months but it would then die off.
 
Assuming they were selling out and people were being turned away.... but they aren't and never have been. More attractions means more places to put the existing people which will lower overall waits and improve satisfaction.

The new thing will certainly create an attendance pop over the first 6 to 12 months but it would then die off.
Except that they put a new thing every 6 to 12 months, so there is never a low on attendance.
 
I’m a long time lurker here but after D23 I have to wonder, are they TRUELY hurting that bad financially? And I don’t mean in a way of getting answers of “they have so much money”. Has their cost to run the parks just put a hurting on them? I’m sitting here just pondering. They’re letting Universal get ahead of them by building Epic Universe with zero solid new announcements from Disney World. You’d think they’d be chomping at the bit to stay ahead. Do they just not want to or is it that they can’t? The Blue Sky stuff made me go ‘is this what we want to do or is this what we want to do but can’t because we don’t have the money currently.’ Don’t know, just thinking out loud, looking for opinions.
IMHO the uncertainty for Disney as to the future of permitting new projects by the Reedy Creek Improvement District is cause alone for Disney to put future development on hold. The RCID is the entity that permitted most aspects a new development since the creation of WDW. The FL Legislature passed a law that dissolved RCID. The law is now effective and the dissolution will happen on June 1, 2023. The advance sheets show Florida plans to have the State of Florida appoint people to run a new district that Florida will create to replace most functions of RCID. But Disney will lose control. Like Universal, Sea World and others, Disney will now have to go through the governmental agencies for new development. There are complex bond issues but it appears Disney will have to pay them on a tighter schedule than previously. There are also new taxation issues. So, Disney is being understandably prudent in keeping new ideas on the drawing board for now.
 
The advance sheets show Florida plans to have the State of Florida appoint people to run a new district that Florida will create to replace most functions of RCID.
What are these "advance sheets" you speak of? I've seen nothing but speculation in the local news and nothing concrete from the state...even though they promised details in a few weeks about 30 weeks ago...
 
How many of those are new offerings vs replacements for old? At first glance at least half. Disney needs to increase their ability to support the absurd crowd levels.
That may be true but in every case they would have replaced an underutilized area, so they are absorbing more people into the new stuff. But as noted, the new stuff attracts more people so the crowds continue. What a horrible problem for a business to have. LOL
 
That may be true but in every case they would have replaced an underutilized area, so they are absorbing more people into the new stuff. But as noted, the new stuff attracts more people so the crowds continue. What a horrible problem for a business to have. LOL
Which is why IMO they need to build more C-ticket level attractions. Stuff like Alien Swirling Saucers.
 
Which is why IMO they need to build more C-ticket level attractions. Stuff like Alien Swirling Saucers.
This is absolutely true. I know they aren't that exciting for people, but flat spinners and such have their place. Young kids enjoy them and they can divert people from the big A-list rides. When you only have two rides in a land, and both are ostensibly E-Tickets (I'm looking at you, Galaxy's Edge), then you get that overcrowding and bottlenecks on capacity. These rides serve a necessary prupose.
 
How many of those are new offerings vs replacements for old? At first glance at least half. Disney needs to increase their ability to support the absurd crowd levels.
Pandora - NEW
Toy Story Land - NEW
SWGE - NEW
Skyliner -NEW
New Fantasy Land - NEW
EPCOT Makeover (in progress) - REPLACEMENT
M&M RR - REPLACEMENT
Remy - NEW
Tron (coming someday) - NEW
Guardians - REPLACEMENT
Starcruiser - NEW
Riviera - NEW
Space 220 - NEW
Connections - REPLACEMENT

10 New, 4 Replacement. But, you don't care about facts anyways.
 
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Pandora - NEW
Toy Story Land - NEW
SWGE - NEW
Skyliner -NEW
New Fantasy Land - NEW
EPCOT Makeover (in progress) - REPLACEMENT
M&M RR - REPLACEMENT
Remy - NEW
Tron (coming someday) - NEW
Guardians - REPLACEMENT
Starcruiser - NEW
Riviera - NEW
Space 220 - REPLACEMENT
Connections - REPLACEMENT

9 New, 5 Replacement. But, you don't care about facts anyways.
Thanks for doing the math @bbeagle ! Those pesky facts often get in the way of the narrative someone wants to be true...
 
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Pandora - NEW
Toy Story Land - NEW
SWGE - NEW
Skyliner -NEW
New Fantasy Land - NEW
EPCOT Makeover (in progress) - REPLACEMENT
M&M RR - REPLACEMENT
Remy - NEW
Tron (coming someday) - NEW
Guardians - REPLACEMENT
Starcruiser - NEW
Riviera - NEW
Space 220 - REPLACEMENT
Connections - REPLACEMENT

9 New, 5 Replacement. But, you don't care about facts anyways.

What did Space220 replace?
 
Assuming they were selling out and people were being turned away.... but they aren't and never have been. More attractions means more places to put the existing people which will lower overall waits and improve satisfaction.

The new thing will certainly create an attendance pop over the first 6 to 12 months but it would then die off.
All i can say is that based on the history of all previous add ons over the last decade+, and crowd levels over that time period. i don't see where your logic comes from.

If you do out the math, WDW has over 36K rooms, assuming a 75% capacity with a median of 3 people per room, you are looking at 81K people per day, from what i could find it has been reported that around 30-40% of guest stay on site, and 60-70% of guests are offsite, based on that you're looking at an estimated 150K more. Grand total of 231K guests per day. That is filling roughly 60% of the parks daily, not considering Disney Springs, either water park, or people who just spend the day at their hotel.

That being said, i cannot see how adding more parks would help, they are already bursting at the seems, and realistically probably only at 50% capacity on an average day. New parks will also come with more hotel offerings, onsite, and off, and a boost in tourism to central Florida for the foreseeable future, (Florida tourism has reported a boost in tourism to central Florida every year since the great recession, so saying that Disney won't see more and more guests is a little foolish based on travel patterns) all adding up to the same issue the parks are currently facing.

I would hope that Disney tries to utilize technology over the next decade to attempt to quell the long lines in their parks, i would love a 5th gate, but i just can't see that as a solution to an over decades long problem now
 
Which is why IMO they need to build more C-ticket level attractions. Stuff like Alien Swirling Saucers.
Definitely interesting take, i just wonder if people would get hip to them, and skip those rides, not to mention those rides have a very low turnover so they really aren't eating up that many people at once, especially the likes of Aliens, Aladdins carpets, Even Dumbo. Outside of die hards who must do it, and people with small children, i don't see demands for rides like those really eating into line lengths, if anything they can add to congesting an area, just like what the Magic Carpets currently do. I would be in favor of more E ticket rides with higher turnover rates. Aliens is interesting to me as well, i feel like the crowds head to slinky, and when they see the wait they settle for Aliens, which again just adds to congestion in the area. I can't say that I 100% disagree with your take i just can't see it really solving anything
 

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