News Round Up

[rteetz]

Disney Parks and resorts operating margin was 17.6% last year

Before Paul Presslers terrible years it averaged 21.6% across three decades.

The highest margin was in 1989 at 30.3%.

In 2013 universal was at 31.5%

In 2013 six flags was at 18.4%

 

[DDLand]

Disney Parks and resorts operating margin was 17.6% last year

Before Paul Presslers terrible years it averaged 21.6% across three decades.

The highest margin was in 1989 at 30.3%.

In 2013 universal was at 31.5%

In 2013 six flags was at 18.4%

Interesting! Thanks for sharing. I'm wondering why Universal's are considerbly higher? Disney has made great strides in recovering from their low point profit margin wise.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

It's about time but resort specific merchandise is making a come back

http://wdwnt.com/blog/2015/02/tom-c...rt-merchandise-cornbread-waffle-sandwich-etc/

I have never understood why they took the resort merchandise away in the first place...

I know they like to magico-genericize all their merchandise...and you can't sell old key west coffee mugs at all star music...

But you can keep that stuff on the resort shelves for 2-3 years...
And contrary to all the other junk - you can sell it to repeat customers ( cough DVC cough)

Somebody in "consumer products" actually showed up and switched their brain on.

 

[rteetz]

Interesting! Thanks for sharing. I'm wondering why Universal's are considerbly higher? Disney has made great strides in recovering from their low point profit margin wise.

Universal has gained a lot over the last couple years that was there high it's expected 2014 will be lower for them their numbers are expected soon

 

[rteetz]

I have never understood why they took the resort merchandise away in the first place...

I know they like to magico-genericize all their merchandise...and you can't sell old key west coffee mugs at all star music...

But you can keep that stuff on the resort shelves for 2-3 years...
And contrary to all the other junk - you can sell it to repeat customers ( cough DVC cough)

Somebody in "consumer products" actually showed up and switched their brain on.

I agree I'd much rather have resort specific stuff than that generic stuff in the parks.

 

[clsteve]

Interesting! Thanks for sharing. I'm wondering why Universal's are considerbly higher? Disney has made great strides in recovering from their low point profit margin wise.

Disney has that huge infrastructure that has to be fed. It's why things like getting guests on-site, keeping them on-site, and their length of stay are so important to them.

If TWDC had started developing WDW from the past 15 years, I'd bet you'd see the footprint very similar to Uni's with the Parks much closer together, WaterParks, Resorts and entertainment/Shopping next to the Parks, Resorts plus golf, etc., done through Partner leasing agreements instead of wholly owned, all within walking or easy transportation.

We've talked about it some here. But, it's still one of the continually most surprising things to me - with how bottom line focused this Board/Exec Team is - that they haven't divested more of their P&R assets (and liabilities). Not like there aren't potential Partners out there that wouldn't jump at the chance.....

 

[DDLand]

Disney has that huge infrastructure that has to be fed. It's why things like getting guests on-site, keeping them on-site, and their length of stay are so important to them.

If TWDC had started developing WDW from the past 15 years, I'd bet you'd see the footprint very similar to Uni's with the Parks much closer together, WaterParks, Resorts and entertainment/Shopping next to the Parks, Resorts plus golf, etc., done through Partner leasing agreements instead of wholly owned, all within walking or easy transportation.

We've talked about it some here. But, it's still one of the continually most surprising things to me - with how bottom line focused this Board/Exec Team is - that they haven't divested more of their P&R assets (and liabilities). Not like there aren't potential Partners out there that wouldn't jump at the chance.....

Remember, this includes performance for loss generating Disneyland Paris, and still growing HKD. I feel like these two are more to blame. I'm not sure if I buy Disney World's margins are way lower then those of Universals Orlando.

I've seen that said before, I can't understand the benefit. Sell it off and return the money to shareholders? Disney Parks are powerful branding wise, physical guest meet up, and of course they provide stability when other divisions are weaker.

 

[rteetz]

Animal Kingdom walls removed to reveal new tree roots

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...fe-grows-new-roots-at-disneys-animal-kingdom/

 

[clsteve]

Remember, this includes performance for loss generating Disneyland Paris, and still growing HKD. I feel like these two are more to blame. I'm not sure if I buy Disney World's margins are way lower then those of Universals Orlando.

I've seen that said before, I can't understand the benefit. Sell it off and return the money to shareholders? Disney Parks are powerful branding wise, physical guest meet up, and of course they provide stability when other divisions are weaker.

I'm pretty sure that's the Domestic number rteetz has put up. It's the only way to do a valid 1-to-1-to-1 comparison with Uni and Six flags....

 

[DDLand]

I'm pretty sure that's the Domestic number rteetz has put up. It's the only way to do a valid 1-to-1-to-1 comparison with Uni and Six flags....

Actually Universal includes results for their foreign theme parks as well. Singapore and Japan are the two projects that represent their foriegn footprint. I could be reading it wrong, but where does it say those are for domestic parks?

Update: Verified. Just plug the numbers in a calculator and you'll find those represent Walt Disney Parks and Resorts numbers for the entire division.

They also include numbers for a cruise line, guided tours, DVC, and a massive hotel operator. Maybe it's harder then we thought to do a 1-1-1 comparison. Lol

 

[clsteve]

Actually Universal includes results for their foreign theme parks as well. Singapore and Japan are the two projects that represent their foriegn footprint. I could be reading it wrong, but where does it say those are for domestic parks?

They also break it out domestic & int'l. six flags hasn't any, so wouldn't be a good 1-to-1 esp. considering diffs in the intl holdings %'s and agrmnts. Domestic only fair comparison btwn the 3...

 

[DDLand]

They also break it out domestic & int'l. six flags hasn't any, so wouldn't be a good 1-to-1 esp. considering diffs in the intl holdings %'s and agrmnts. Domestic only fair comparison btwn the 3...

I've never seen any domestic v. international breakdown for any P&R numbers except for capital expenditures. Perhaps you could point me in the direction of those figures. Six Flags and P&Rs are not even in the same league as I alluded to above in my update. As for rteetz's numbers, those were for the entire division and not a domestic breakdown.

 

[clsteve]

Asking the wrong guy - they'rr rteetz nums. Why I said 1-to-1-to-1 not good without. Uni to disney ok. Capex, deprec, rev, occ, etc are broken out by intl and domest. in 10ks. on a boat and not near a computer......

 

[rteetz]

I've never seen any domestic v. international breakdown for any P&R numbers except for capital expenditures. Perhaps you could point me in the direction of those figures. Six Flags and P&Rs are not even in the same league as I alluded to above in my update. As for rteetz's numbers, those were for the entire division and not a domestic breakdown.

I got the numbers from wdwmagic. I would assume they are division wide and not domestic, but they didn't specify.

 

[DDLand]

Awesome, I was looking in the wrong place! Thanks for the tip.

 

[circus4u]

Crane behind Cinderella's Castle to remain into March.
http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2015/02/crane-behind-cinderella-castle-to.html

 

[rteetz]

The monorails are finally getting some love. New retro carpets are being installed on all of them. Monorail black debuted it today. All monorails will also be getting new seats.

 

[Reddog1134]

The monorails are finally getting some love. New retro carpets are being installed on all of them. Monorail black debuted it today. All monorails will also be getting new seats.

That's nice. I'm waiting for the announcement that all monorail cars will be getting new monorail cars.

 

[rteetz]

That's nice. I'm waiting for the announcement that all monorail cars will be getting new monorail cars.

Probably will be longer now with the upgrades

 

[rteetz]

Spirit says they will announce Star Wars plans for the U.S. parks at d23 in August
Toontown is still the location for Disneyland