Is attendance really down at WDW this or…

[JD80]

Ooh, are we playing fun with budgets again? We just booked a December trip to Paris (never been). For the Disney portion we are staying: Club Level at Sequoia Lodge for 4 nights / 5 days of tickets. Lake view (better view / not standard) All tickets are park hoppers, and CL includes buffet breakfast. We are paying $2660 for 3 people, my Dad is coming.

Plugging in the same dates at Wilderness Lodge, 5 day park hoppers and it comes out $5520 BUT, no availability for club level, and so I had to use just a normal lake view room, and buy breakfast somewhere. So we're looking at at least a $3K savings, which more than covers the Paris portion of the trip ($1500 for 4 nights in a 2-bedroom apartment style hotel).

I think you just posted this to brag about staying at Club Level in Paris.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

We are here as fans, in the depths of these chat threads, clutching our pearls, hoping that BTMRR gets the DL treatment on the third lift hill, or that the outside design of Andy’s Backyard Barbecue had been designed better to hide the backstage building better. Then there is Bob (pick your poison), trying to figure out how to constantly tick the stock price up another $0.10. Maybe an up charge within up charge within an up charge after paying $190 per person for a holiday party. How did we think this would end?

Lower attendance and a bevy of discounts.

You could see Iger setting himself up for his grand retirement. Expansion at all parks and resorts. Marvel as a franchise was unstoppable. Disney+ was on its way. And yes…2…not 1…2 Star Wars expansions on both coasts. Mic drop.

Not as smooth as he had hoped. The mic hit his foot, he leaned over to get it and fell into the orchestra pit. Meanwhile, a moron took his place onstage that ended up being tantamount to the worst kind of PR nightmare. Stock drops, political nightmare ensues, park attendance falls, movies and Disney+ not doing as forecasted. Bob crawls back out of the orchestra, older and no longer Teflon. Roll credits.

Bingo

Just perfect.

The shocking part is that “true fans” stick their fingers in their ears, close their eyes and throw a veruca salt issue tantrum if you dare lay it out the way you did.

He spent 5 years doing “legacy” for himself…left in a hurry like a coward (legacy)…was out of the spotlight in both business/entertainment (legacy)…hated it (no attention…legacy)…and couped his way back like a sub Saharan banana republic…
But he overran his tarmac. The financials aren’t solid and 13 years since a recession.

So now it’s “Tony Montoya” time…his back is against the wall and if they don’t remove him…he could be really stupid.

Robert Iger…”visionary empty tv suit”

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I think you just posted this to brag about staying at Club Level in Paris.

Or to point out where the bucket brigade has allowed wdw prices to go for 15 years…”experiencing boo bash”

 

[JD80]

Or to point out where the bucket brigade has allowed wdw prices to go for 15 years…”experiencing boo bash”

I don't think anyone would disagree that WDW is waaaaaay too expensive for what you get. It's just that we still pay for it and grumble online.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Just for clarity beyond the parks…I think the main issue here is they’ve run their movie studios off course and everything bleeds out to all Disney business

A wise man once said (it’s in docs and probably on YouTube) that “at its heart, Disney is a movie company…and we are gonna get back to making movies in a big way”

Correct. Then and now…even in a different environment.

Pixar is in a bad way…no new franchises arriving to even make bank sequels on.

Marvel is off course…diminishing returns by the day…feige is gonna be in trouble soon. Guard your goat.

And they have done everything to destroy lucasfilm short of burning San Francisco down. More on that in about 48-96 hours.


That’s where the trouble is starting. For the stream, the parks, at the stores…it is infectious

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I don't think anyone would disagree that WDW is waaaaaay too expensive for what you get. It's just that we still pay for it and grumble online.

Correct…but that “army” is losing recruits

 

[monothingie]

Just for clarity beyond the parks…I think the main issue here is they’ve run their movie studios off course and everything bleeds out to all Disney business

A wise man once said (it’s in docs and probably on YouTube) that “at its heart, Disney is a movie company…and we are gonna get back to making movies in a big way”

Correct. Then and now…even in a different environment.

Pixar is in a bad way…no new franchises arriving to even make bank sequels on.

Marvel is off course…diminishing returns by the day…feige is gonna be in trouble soon. Guard your goat.

And they have done everything to destroy lucasfilm short of burning San Francisco down. More on that in about 48-96 hours.


That’s where the trouble is starting. For the stream, the parks, at the stores…it is infectious

It's almost as if there is a common factor which is causing this decline... Something in common that all these seemingly disparate divisions have all done to complete turn them into expensive catastrophes....

 

[monothingie]

Correct…but that “army” is losing recruits

Remember to avoid draconian cuts, Disney can not be operating with soft attendance. The assumption has always been that guests would show up regardless of how expensive, how crowded, how rundown, and how divergent Disney is from the social/political values. That's not happening anymore.

They seem to have forgotten that in order to be a successful mass-market attraction/hospitality business, they have to appeal to the mass-market. Catering more to niche groups at the expense of others isn't a viable long term strategy. It's become so bad that even your repeat and loyal customers are looking elsewhere or visiting less often.

 

[hopemax]

I think you just posted this to brag about staying at Club Level in Paris.

How can it be a brag if it’s more than half-price off a regular WDW room? Doesn’t the price just prove that it must be a trash pit or something? Nothing to get excited over. Smart people know to pay for the superior WDW experience. They have 4 parks instead of 2 1.5, you know. And you really know it’s better because of the difference in price. /s

It is a bucket list trip for my Dad, especially, and so we are excited about all the extra splurges and upgrades. The cherry on top is to know that it won’t be the budget breaker that a WDW version would be.

 

[ElvisMickey]

Remember to avoid draconian cuts, Disney can not be operating with soft attendance. The assumption has always been that guests would show up regardless of how expensive, how crowded, how rundown, and how divergent Disney is from the social/political values. That's not happening anymore.

They seem to have forgotten that in order to be a successful mass-market attraction/hospitality business, they have to appeal to the mass-market. Catering more to niche groups at the expense of others isn't a viable long term strategy. It's become so bad that even your repeat and loyal customers are looking elsewhere or visiting less often.

If I still lived in Jersey, I certainly wouldn’t be traveling down here as much as I used to for sure. As an Orlando local for the last 10 years and and a Lake Buena Vista local for the last year and a half, it makes no sense NOT to have an annual pass. I have no problem driving over to the Poly on a Friday night, ordering a , sitting on the beach and remembering my very first trip in ‘81, as a 4 year old. I can tune out the noise of “today’s” Disney. The current regime has zero to do with the things that made several of us fall in love with Disney to begin with. They only exploited it and then ruined it for numerous people.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Remember to avoid draconian cuts, Disney can not be operating with soft attendance. The assumption has always been that guests would show up regardless of how expensive, how crowded, how rundown, and how divergent Disney is from the social/political values. That's not happening anymore.

They seem to have forgotten that in order to be a successful mass-market attraction/hospitality business, they have to appeal to the mass-market. Catering more to niche groups at the expense of others isn't a viable long term strategy. It's become so bad that even your repeat and loyal customers are looking elsewhere or visiting less often.

Nobody ever said you can’t drown in a Blue Ocean…

It is an “ocean”

 

[monothingie]

Nobody ever said you can’t drown in a Blue Ocean…

It is an “ocean”

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It's almost as if there is a common factor which is causing this decline... Something in common that all these seemingly disparate divisions have all done to complete turn them into expensive catastrophes....

Last guy to he fired?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

If I still lived in Jersey, I certainly wouldn’t be traveling down here as much as I used to for sure. As an Orlando local for the last 10 years and and a Lake Buena Vista local for the last year and a half, it makes no sense NOT to have an annual pass. I have no problem driving over to the Poly on a Friday night, ordering a , sitting on the beach and remembering my very first trip in ‘81, as a 4 year old. I can tune out the noise of “today’s” Disney. The current regime has zero to do with the things that made several of us fall in love with Disney to begin with. They only exploited it and then ruined it for numerous people.

‘77 was a hell of a year…
…almost as good as ‘76

 

[monothingie]

Last guy to he fired?

It's too easy to blame Chapek. The rot has been permeating since the late 2000's on this one.

 

[Ayla]

I think you just posted this to brag about staying at Club Level in Paris.

Staying CL anywhere isn't a brag.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It's too easy to blame Chapek. The rot has been permeating since the late 2000's on this one.

No no…I mean blame “the last guy who will be fired”

In you want to find him, stand in the board room and look straight down on the top of his head

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Staying CL anywhere isn't a brag.

More like a “paper bag”

 

[monothingie]

No no…I mean blame “the last guy who will be fired”

In you want to find him, stand in the board room and look straight down on the top of his head

They could empty the C-Suites today. Flush everyone out in an executive role and it wouldn't change a thing because the rot is company wide. It is going to take years change course. The only hope is that an Apple would come in and just throw money at the problem until it becomes so unwieldy that it has to be burnt down and rebuilt.

 

[Lilofan]

They could empty the C-Suites today. Flush everyone out in an executive role and it wouldn't change a thing because the rot is company wide. It is going to take years change course. The only hope is that an Apple would come in and just throw money at the problem until it becomes so unwieldy that it has to be burnt down and rebuilt.

Apple worth $1T can buy Disney worth $130B , without even blinking but I don't think not at this time .