Press conference online broadcast starting any minute...

[Peter Pirate]

Works both ways Mr. Pirate.

Indeed it can...But as for me, the head of the rose colored glasses crowd, I heard a nice speech. I didn't hear anything that makes me think Disney has had an epipheny or is about to embark on a great new future. I heard a little about some things we already new about in a nice candy coated package...That's it. So maybe there are some folks out there who have taken the route opposite of the 'Eisner must resign' outlook I mentioned, but I haven't seen it here yet...

 

[Planogirl]

I too thought that they might mention Soarin'. But this was pretty much what I expected otherwise, lots of cheerleading and little substance. Pretty much what one would expect on any of these conference calls.

 

[noblemickey]

Reading the Dis boards regularly there were no surprises. I do feel it is good news that WDW, at least partially, is back in the lime light and will get some attention, ie: new and refurbished attractions. However, I still don't know why Disney Execs can sit there and let 20,000 Leagues go idle right in the middle of Fantasyland. It is an eye sore and must be addressed. Hopefully, Disney will have some additional announcements in the not to distant future for improvements to WDW-Magic Kingdom.

 

[wdwguide]

Originally posted by Planogirl
I too thought that they might mention Soarin'. But this was pretty much what I expected otherwise, lots of cheerleading and little substance. Pretty much what one would expect on any of these conference calls.

I would not be surprised if they still did this. After all, this press conference was intended for investors, who care little about the name or nature of a particular attraction, but more on costs and returns. With attraction announcements, they get a bigger "bang" for their buck by putting on a show for the press and travel agents.

 

[stlphil]

Just to be clear, I realize it was a PR event and didn't expect mea culpas, doom and gloom. Of course I expected positive spin all around.

But even given this, Jay acknowledged in the presentation that all has not been roses and light. This would have been a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the fact of having a new guy heading the segment, and spin the message in the direction of dynamic, new, forward-looking, customer-centric leadership- even if nothing had fundamentally changed. You wouldn't have to say explicitly or implicitly that Paul was clueless (that's why the spin doctors get paid the big bucks). New leadership vision would be well received by the audience since Ei$ner is not particularly well regarded in widening quarters of the financial community either.

Yet instead Jay presents a talk that mostly takes the exact same misguided tone as Ei$ner has over the last several years. Milking a brand that has been diluted, rather than building the brand to increase the value to the company. I admit I may have a somewhat distorted picture since I only read the transcript rather than listening to the speech, but on paper Jay "sounds" more in lock-step with Ei$ner than even Pre$ler did.

Would I be the first to refer to him as Ra$ulo?

 

[PKS44]

I have to agree with my St Louis neighbor-if you want to read how a successful theme park corporate exec gives out PR that reveals a different strategy and philosophy for dealing with difficult economies I refer you to this link provided on another thread by crusader:

Click Here



The head of olc operates in the same corporate way that Ra$ulo has to yet one hears about exploiting the brand from Disney...investing in the brand and a willingness to trade short term profits for long term viability and success by OLC. Think about what he says about Tokyo DisneySeas--here he has a park with 10 million visitors in its first 10 months and what does he say? We need to improve our guests experience there because the guests are too concentrated in one part of the park. They are turning people away from the gates and yet in a very difficult economic time they are concerned that they need to invest in making their guests experience BETTER?!!!! Wow! What a concept!

No reason Disney could not do what OLC is doing except for a lack of courage and leadership at the top....I won't be rushing out to buy back the Disney stock I sold when it last saw $25 a share.

Paul

 

[airlarry!]

Here's the future line-up at the Tokyo Disney Resort (TDR):

Tokyo Disneyland DisneySeas

2004 Waterfront Park
2005 Buzz Lightyear
2006 New Roller Coaster
2007 Tower of Terror

In addition, fundamentally addressing the problem of concentration of guests at Tokyo DisneySea will require large-scale capital investment to introduce new attractions, including
construction time.

By the numbers: Tokyo DL DisneySeas
42 attractions 23 attractions (**)

In contrast:

Disneyland CaliMisadventure
61 attractions (*) 33 attractions (*)

(*) These numbers are inflated by the website to include:

Disneyland:

Meet & Greet with Aladdin and Jasmine
Counting the main street railroad stations 4 times!!
A Fire Engine, presented by National Rental!!
Meet and Greet with Goofy and pals
Horse Drawn Streetcars, presented by National (are you kidding?)
Horse Drawn Carriage, presented by National!
Meet and Greet Disney princesses
Omnibus, presented by National Car Rental (come on!)
Starcade (why not count every video game at every pizza parlor in America as an 'attraction')
Meet & Greet Toy Story 2
Meet and Greet Winnie The Pooh

CaliMisAdventure:

Bountiful Farm
Meet & Greet Flik & Atta
Meet & Greet Chip and Dale
Games of the Boardwalk (I'd pay $47 to play carnie games, sure.....)
Golden Winery
Tortilla Factory
Puddle Park (in the old days, they didn't even advertise water play areas like in Epcot or DTD, they were just *suprises*)
Boudin Bakery (are you kidding me?)

(**) Tokyo DisneySeas counts in its 23 the American Waterfront vehicles, transit locations, the Gondolas, and the Fortress, but still has either 19 or 20 legitimate attractions.

As for WDW, I am a firm believer that each park should get a new E-ticket ride every 4-5 years, to remind folks to come back every 3-5 years for another visit. Smaller attractions and shows should be added nearly every years, tied in to the latest animated features. There should be no down areas like the lagoon...I have found no long term closures at the Tokyo Disneyland park, even though it has been open for 20 years this year.