Proof money is spent at WDW - but with a twist..

[flynnibus]

One of the fun things I noticed recently with all the 'permit watchers' that you see blogging with the latest 'news' about happenings at the parks is the trend now where they talk about permits, but don't provide any sources or links.

It's almost like they are trying to hide their sources.. uhmm you mean the online searchable public records site? That take 5 seconds in google to find? Who are you fooling? Link to the permit/filing so we don't have to reverse lookup stuff to see what is really in the permit and not just your slice of it.

Well anyways.. the service these blogs do offer is the curration of the data. There are tons of junk public record filings all the time. And reading through things like DVC deeds isn't a whole lot of fun.

But clicking through today, a fun one shows up. It's a Lien filed against the property.. we all know as the Italy pavilion. This appears to be part of the Tutto Italia rebuild.

I found it interesting.. no so much that liens are some sign of the apocolypse.. but its neat because the lien states how much the work was for, and how much is left unpaid.

So this lighting contractor, did work for Disney back in January of this year.. to the tune of 594k ! That's right, over a half million dollars. But they claim Disney still owes them 402k. http://or.occompt.com/recorder/eagleweb/viewDoc.jsp?node=DOC1003S27926

Even more fun.. is apparently the general contractor had to file a lien too. Since this was more a GC.. you can see how much they were billing for the project. So the GC's bill was 4.52 million.. of which over 400k is still unpaid. http://or.occompt.com/recorder/eagleweb/viewDoc.jsp?node=DOC1003S29132

So right there you can see this portion of the restaurant costing over 5 million. And this is of course only a portion of the expenses.. and these are just construction expenses, not other things like design, materials, etc.

Makes you wonder what the total bill for a rebuild like this (which is generally discounted on sites like this..) really is investment wise. And who is footing the bill.. Disney or the operator..

 

[rufio]

Wow! Interesting information. That's an insane amount of money for a restaurant refurb.

 

[maryszhi]

Wow! Interesting information. That's an insane amount of money for a restaurant refurb.

agreed that's crazy. i guess i will have to eat there next time to see what they did.

 

[GoofGoof]

Interesting facts. Seems about right considering they spent close to $1 billion on Aulani. Materials and labor costs are high. Maybe we should link back to this every time someone gripes about Disney not adding something new or even fixing something. Like sports fans we love to suggest spending someone else's money without having the whole picture, but this puts into context just how much repairs or refurbs cost. I am guessing there will be some pricey chicken parm on the menu to make up for the spend.

 

[flynnibus]

I wonder what Disney is holding out for.. on the GC they have roughly 10% unpaid. That sounds like a normal kind of dispute holdback.. but apparently the contractors don't agree since they filed their liens to show they are not just going to roll over

 

[GoofGoof]

I wonder what Disney is holding out for.. on the GC they have roughly 10% unpaid. That sounds like a normal kind of dispute holdback.. but apparently the contractors don't agree since they filed their liens to show they are not just going to roll over

I think this is pretty common. I know at our company we are always disputing the bills from contractors. Construction is very unpredictable so costs tend to overrun. They could also feel like the work is not complete so they are holding out payment until it is corrected. I have to think that in that market fighting Disney is probably not an easy thing to do. In the end the only people that really win are the lawyers.

 

[wilkeliza]

Just to let you know it is about 2 million to build a decent sized restaurant starting from 4 walls (4 walls means you have the building but nothing else). If Disney updated everything including the kitchen and such I could see a project of their scale going into the 5 millions. I only know the 2 million figure because someone I know was going to open a restaurant in NYC in building space they own but then decided it would be better to rent the space to someone else.

Yeah seems like this is typical kind of hold backs. Either the work isn't 100% in Disney's mind or they believe they were over charged for labor and materials. Well see what happens.

 

[experiment624]

I wonder what Disney is holding out for.. on the GC they have roughly 10% unpaid. That sounds like a normal kind of dispute holdback.. but apparently the contractors don't agree since they filed their liens to show they are not just going to roll over

I had permitted contract work done at my facility recently, and the subcontractor (contractor for my hired contractor) rented heavy-duty equipment to work on the project. I got a lein served to my company against our property from the equipment rental company, and the job hadn't even begun. What I learned is that it is common practice for subcontractors and equipment rental companies to automatically put a lein on the permitted property until they are paid for the rental/subcontract, dispute or no dispute; regardless of the fact that we paid our contractor in full and up front. The contractor was holding out on the subcontractor who was holding out on the rental company untill the job was complete. Our property garnered the lein and we didn't have anything to do with paying those people. (This is in Central Florida also)

I wouldn't invest too heavily on the public filing information to determine if Disney paid their contractors.

 

[flynnibus]

This is for a project that was completed almost 3 months ago.. The restaurant opened in May...

 

[unkadug]

Sounds like contract disputes to me.

Maybe something like the contractor had a signed contract, yet still overran his budget and now wants to be reimbursed.

 

[tare]

Sounds like contract disputes to me.

Maybe something like the contractor had a signed contract, yet still overran his budget and now wants to be reimbursed.

That is a huge insane amount of money for just a refurb restaurant--why not invest it more wisely with some attractions adds like say at dhs??!!??

 

[mickey2008.1]

I know kitchen equipment costs and restaurant costs, and this is really high for a refurb. The equipment is pretty much a set price, but the construction must have been way high. Is the place loaded with LED and leather? Marble floors and granite. It must be pretty impressive for that amount of money.

 

[experiment624]

Sounds like contract disputes to me.

Maybe something like the contractor had a signed contract, yet still overran his budget and now wants to be reimbursed.

That could do it too.

 

[flynnibus]

That is a huge insane amount of money for just a refurb restaurant--why not invest it more wisely with some attractions adds like say at dhs??!!??

How many theme park resturants do you have the budget numbers for? How do you qualify that as an insane amount of money?

The point of the numbers was to illustrate just how expensive all of this stuff is.. not just big e-tickets.

 

[Patricia Melton]

They probably spent between $6-8 million on this restaurant, including the architects, the permits, the project management, the engineers, the surveyors, and all the dozens of little things that need to be done by specialists. They most likely have in-house project management at Disney and the Imagineers are on staff of course, but the project might be billed for those services too depending on how the accounting shakes out over there. Anyone working on billable hours for that project is paid out of the project budget and maybe not department budgets. Not sure how this works at Disney. I've had only limited dealings with construction projects but my son is an architect and he's told me some things about how even simple projects get into complicated accounting when it comes to payment for construction.

They could also be doing things where they stagger the payments over the financial quarters for accounting reasons or whatever. Someone who does accounting every day should take a look at all this and report on it.

 

[tare]

How many theme park resturants do you have the budget numbers for? How do you qualify that as an insane amount of money?

The point of the numbers was to illustrate just how expensive all of this stuff is.. not just big e-tickets.

WOW!!!!! Don't take it personally!!!! No need to lash out!!!! Just stating my opinion!!! Too much $$$. Wasted on a restaurant refurb!! Whewww

 

[Clever Name]

It could involve a workman's comp claim. If Disney pulled the permit, then they assume all liability if a worker gets injured on the job. The contractor has the right to file a claim for damages.