Finally some financial news!

[jrriddle]

Euro Disney prepares to raise E250m
By Isabelle Chaperon in Paris
Published: May 26 2004 1:10 | Last Updated: May 26 2004 1:10

Euro Disney is preparing to launch a €250m ($302m) capital-raising after reaching outline agreement with its biggest lenders on a financial restructuring, Les Echos, the French sister paper to the FT, has learnt.

The heavily indebted company, which operates Europe's most-visited attraction, the Disneyland Resort north of Paris, has been in talks with its creditors since November.

But executives close to the talks say Walt Disney, the US group that is Euro Disney's biggest shareholder with a 39.1 per cent stake, has now struck a deal with the group's lead bankers.

These are the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, a French state investment bank that is Euro Disney's biggest creditor; Calyon Corporate and Investment Bank, and BNP Paribas, the two leaders of the company's banking syndicate.

The deal is now expected to be ratified by the remaining bank creditors before May 31, when the waiver granted by lenders with respect to Euro Disney's banking covenants expires.

Under the proposed deal, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to guarantee €100m of the fund-raising. The balance will be underwritten half by CDC Ixis, an arm of the Caisse des Dépôts, and half by a panel of banks led by Citigroup, ABN Amro and NM Rothschild.

Euro Disney, which is chaired by André Lacroix, is weighed down by €2.4bn of debts, as of March 30, of which more than €900m is owed to CDC.

The Walt Disney Company has also agreed that Euro Disney should resume paying royalties for using its brands only after achieving specified financial targets.

 

[cherrynegra]

Hmmm....sounds like a reasonable plan. Let's just hope that it's successful and that they're able to prevent a Disney park from filing bankruptcy.

 

[djmatthews]

I was hoping the Oriental Land Company would buy it! :animwink:

 

[netenyahoo]

I am now interested to know what they will use that $302 million for. Hopfully they will use it smart and fix that rotten second park they built. WDS should have never been built until the company was on better grounds. Maybe they'll build a Tower of Terror ride which seems to be the ride that fixes parks.

 

[djmatthews]

Originally posted by netenyahoo
I am now interested to know what they will use that $302 million for. Hopfully they will use it smart and fix that rotten second park they built. WDS should have never been built until the company was on better grounds. Maybe they'll build a Tower of Terror ride which seems to be the ride that fixes parks.

They need something totally new, something fab, something that people will travel to see!

 

[jrriddle]

Originally posted by netenyahoo
I am now interested to know what they will use that $302 million for. Hopfully they will use it smart and fix that rotten second park they built. WDS should have never been built until the company was on better grounds. Maybe they'll build a Tower of Terror ride which seems to be the ride that fixes parks.

I'm not sure that ToT will fix DSP, it hasn't seemed to fix DCA from what I've been reading the last couple of days (attendance is down again at DCA & the lines at ToT are moving pretty quickly).
Another problem seems to be that I don't think that ToT would fit into DSP's theme. The park is pretty bland. It looks like a studio. No details. Then to have this highly detailed tower in the middle of the park. It just wouldn't look good.
I think the money should be spent on some new attractions and rehabs at DLP. That the draw for the resort. That's what people will come and see.
DLP needs a new E-ticket or two. Starting with Western Rivers Expedition.
Then maybe a small kids land for the Studios.

 

[DarkMeasures]

WDSP needs more than ToT. It needs the entire Sunset Buelivard.

 

[jrriddle]

And the Great Movie Ride, Fantasmic, Muppets 3D and Maroon Studios with Toon Tower (not ToT).

 

[stagestar]

WDS ... and a big new E-Ticket-Ride

Hey there, Hi there, Ho there,

it just had to come up again ... we had this discussion quite a few times when fans of DLRP met and also on the boards of DLP.info ... which has allowed me to come up with a rahter worked out point of view on this ... so let me explain ...

1. there is a major difference between the relationship that the Disney MGM Studios and the MK in WDW have and the one between the WDS and Disneyland in DLRP. This I think needs to be kept in mind: MK barely has any thrill offerings aiming at teenagers, with the addition of ToT and R'n'R in combination also with Star Tours this target audience is now serviced by the studios. This means the positive effect the ToT had on the studios at least partially can be explained with finally opening up the resort to a new target audience (thrill seekers).
In comparison Disneyland at DLRP is catering to the young thrill seekers since the early years. It was the first Disney park to feature a (admittedly small) looping coaster (Indy), had Star Tours from day one and opened Space Mountain (with inversions) in 1995, which was THE coaster to beat in Europe and attracted teenagers to the park that usually would have shunned it for being too Disney. Even so the WDS also carter to that audience with R'n'R it means that by just adding another thrill ride (may it be ToT) all you can do is attract a target audience to this park, which is already attracted to the resort anyway. So you can't open up a whole new audience. Therefore any positive effect created by the addition of the thrill ride is supposed to be smaller compared to the effect it has if this target audience would not have been attracted anyway before already.

2. I don't see the ToT attracting huge crowds. Problem is: to attract crowds you need to communicate how great and unique a ride is. ToT is not known in Europe among ordinary guests at all, so you start at point zero, compared to the US where ToT was more widely known thanks to WDW already prior to opening in DCA. So DLRP would have to convince the press to give it a good write up. This would proof difficult as to the press (and many ordinary guests) ToT in the end is "just a free fall ride with some themeing", especially as the surprise of moving out of the elevator shaft instead of droping it down would not be incorporated as in WDW but as in DCA (as DCA got the ToT designed for the WDS). But basically all major thrill seeking cartering parks already have Free Fall Towers in Europe, so it is no longer something special (well, there is even one indoor free fall ride placed in a fake castle tower in Germany). I don't even get into the fact that DCA (which is in a similar bad situation as far as actual guest attendance compared to estimated guest attendance is concerned, even so it is a beautifull park compared to the WDS) failed to attract the crowds with ToT even so the park was able to spend a whole lot of money on advertising, got rave pre opening and opening press coverage in all media and the audience already knew how great the ride is from WDW due to word of mouth stronger than in Europe. Now seeing the bad word of mouth for WDS (even worse than DCA), the more limited advertising budget, no word of moth for ToT in WDW among the general audience in Europe and the problems with marketing another free fall ride in Europe - why should the ride be more successful in attracting guests to the WDS than to DCA??

3. Let's assume that ToT (or any other E-Ticket built instead of it) manages to attract the hoped for huge crowds, so is able to repeat the wonder that Space Mountain did 1995 for the Disneyland Park next door ... oh, no, forget what I just said ... that wonder was not sooo big, as the guest numbers of the theme park itself were not the problem prior to 1995, it was more the hotels ... but anyway, let's just assume the new e-ticket would attract the huge hoped for crowds to the WDS. What then?? Then all hell would brake loose. The park is not equipped to deal with huge crowds. With currently a maximum capacity set at a very optimistic maximum of slightly more than 20,000 guest there would just not be enough capacity with the other attractions to absorp huge crowds rushing into the park. A preview day I personally attended with a crowd of roughly 16,000 to 17,000 and all attractions operating at full capacity with the exception of one stage show (Animagique) had lines for all attractions exceeding even the make-shift extension queue-lines.
So if the crowds would show up in earnest due to one single new e-ticket, what would they have done after standing in line ages to ride that attraction? All they could do is joine one of the seemingly endless lines for the other attractions ... which certainly would have a negative impact on the overall ratings for the park and the word of mouth. There is just no other option what to do as there is nothing to enjoy by looking at while just wandering around the park due to the missing detail.

Therefore I think right now there is no fast cure for the WDS problem. The only way out (besides just admitting "total failure", closing the WDS, opening a path between Disneyland and the WDS and reopening them as "additional land of Disneyland" included in the Disneyland ticket price - as some fans have suggested) is a slow build up: add some themeing and some C- and D-tickets in the next years to create capacity (which will be needed in the future only, that is correct, so basically for the near future you knowingly further increase operational costs even so you can't predict a revenue increase anytime soon) and improve the impression of guests of the park. Basically make it a park which offers more so that guests already get the impression of a park nearer to a "full day experience". Once that is done open an e-ticket to attract the crowds. By then the park not only has the capacity to deal with real crowds but also enough for guests to discover besides the new e-ticket, so that guests won't end up with impressions like "that e-ticket was great, I also loved R'n'R and the stunt show, but I was still done way too fast and there wasn't enough to do!".


Problem with such a strategy: how to afford it...

 

[marchofthecards]

Hey everyone

Would like to just say that the only thing that will save DLP DS is the CAST!

At disneyland the only thing that lets it down is maintainence and cast magic

The studios is Design (with the exeption of the front lot entrance to park) Ride theming and Cast Magic

The Cast holds the Magic of disney together and if that fails then the magic is really not there!

Funnily in DCA the service is somewhat evident but the Ride theming and design is sloppy and feels rushed Just like the studios at Paris!

Lets not compare Tokyo who built a second wel prepared park they reach capacity at all times andthe japaneese cast memebrs absolutely love the Magic of disney. They believe in the pixie dust so to speak. They love the entire idea so therefore it sells itself very well

At DLP many cast members couldnt even be bothered and that is a shame. Im not making own assumptions as I have numerous amounts of DLP cast member friends who have told me first hand acoount situations. There is a Minrity that actually care but a majority needs to be evident to make the change!

Lets take it down to management! If management are bad! The cast will follow!

Thought id go to the core of it and the core is realisticaly the people behind the DLP magic and thats the Cast!

 

[AndyP]

The trouble is, you can't improve a park with just one E-Ticket, you need at least 2 or 3 to be added, ie. look at EPCOT, Test Track followed by M:S followed by Soarin' and then Future World makeover, is this sort of investment needed to create a successful park!