What's Still On and What's Now Off

[SpaceMountain77]

Personally, when I read the tea leaves, I see the sale and licensing of the parks and resorts and a determination to dominate streaming. Based on the finance articles I have read during COVID-19, it seems as though parks and experiences are perceived as a liability negatively affecting valuation.

 

[Brer Oswald]

Guardians, TRON, Rat, HarmoniUS, Play!, and the Galactic Star Cruiser will also happen at one point, so that will count as well.

Rat is done. Tron and Guardians are set for an opening time frame. Star cruiser is a hotel few will experience.

You’re right about Play though. Although it isn’t a ride, so most wont care

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Rat is done. Tron and Guardians are set for an opening time frame. Star cruiser is a hotel few will experience.

You’re right about Play though. Although it isn’t a ride, so most wont care

It’s been semi-confirmed that tron and guardians will be halting construction.

 

[techgeek]

what do you do? I’m an LD. (Was an Ld?)

Video here. V1 / Projectionist. Color temperature matters! And watch the spill on those screens, please...

 

[Brer Oswald]

It’s been semi-confirmed that tron and guardians will be halting construction.

The opening timeframe has been delayed but it’s still there. If they can’t open mostly finished attractions by 2022, I don’t see how they’d be able to do Splash.

 

[Surferboy567]

Rat is done. Tron and Guardians are set for an opening time frame. Star cruiser is a hotel few will experience.

You’re right about Play though. Although it isn’t a ride, so most wont care

My mistake, when I mentioned the projects I meant to say they could use that for advertising. I misquoted the part about it being “new but not really”.

 

[Dan Deesnee]

I’m still holding out hope that some of you guys are just wrong. I can’t imagine that Disney is just going to shift gears and eliminate parades, fireworks/nighttime shows, character meals and most of the entertainment in parks. I understand why it’s all gone today with Covid restrictions but I don’t think it’s a lock that none of it comes back ever. Some grim stuff for sure.

Anyone who thinks fireworks and parades will never come back to near the level of frequency they were at before is simply thinking very much in the moment.

Of course they will come back, it may be 2 years from now but they'll be back. People adapt quickly and forget just as fast. Covid will be a painful but distant memory in 5-6 years.

Of course some will slam that laugh emoji at this post, but again, it's hard to imagine life without Covid front and center. But it's coming. Maybe sooner than some think.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Anyone who thinks fireworks and parades will never come back to near the level of frequency they were at before is simply thinking very much in the moment.

That'd be all well and good if February 2020 was a peak of entertainment offerings. Walt Disney World was down to one single parade.

 

[Brer Oswald]

My mistake, when I mentioned the projects I meant to say they could use that for advertising. I misquoted the part about it being “new but not really”.

My mistake too. I was referring to what they were going to advertise over the next decade after Tron and Guardians open.

 

[GoofGoof]

Personally, when I read the tea leaves, I see the sale and licensing of the parks and resorts and a determination to dominate streaming. Based on the finance articles I have read during COVID-19, it seems as though parks and experiences are perceived as a liability negatively affecting valuation.

It really depends on the price and the level of control. If they could find a deal like OLC then maybe, but there’s very little chance anyone who would be willing to buy the parks (private equity at this point) is very unlikely to agree to the level of control over quality that Disney has with the parks in Japan. It makes no sense to risk the reputation of the company with someone running the parks into the ground.

On the financial side the parks right now are obviously a negative but in non-Covid times they are a cash cow. The money they are sinking into the streaming business was coming from the Parks segment so it made for a great synergy financially. If they switch to a licensing agreement it’s a steady cash flow with less risk but obviously not as much cash coming in as a revived Parks Segment. They will also have a difficult time getting a fair deal for the parks in the current environment so the timing is off. It would be in their best interest to wait for the parks to revive before attempting to sell, but once they are back on their feet there is less incentive to sell. A fire sale today would be a financial disaster down the road.

 

[GoofGoof]

Anyone who thinks fireworks and parades will never come back to near the level of frequency they were at before is simply thinking very much in the moment.

Of course they will come back, it may be 2 years from now but they'll be back. People adapt quickly and forget just as fast. Covid will be a painful but distant memory in 5-6 years.

Of course some will slam that laugh emoji at this post, but again, it's hard to imagine life without Covid front and center. But it's coming. Maybe sooner than some think.

Agreed. It’s hard predict when things get back to somewhat normal, but when they do there’s little reason to think Disney‘s product would be so much different when it was so successful in the past.

 

[GoofGoof]

What if they went to only fireworks and parades in the busy season. Entertainment will come back but I have my doubts for inside resorts due to low ROI. A higher end Cedar Fair park wouldn't be that bad.

Pre-Covid there was no busy season. Every season was busy and there‘s no reason to think Disney would want that to change. They have gone out of their way to make it so there’s no real down season at WDW and it’s a huge financial windfall for TWDC. I see no reason for them to change that down the road when things pick up again. Entertainment at resorts pays for itself with full hotel rooms. It’s probably easier to justify than some of the stuff in the parks.

It would be tragic for WDW to turn into a higher end version of a season amusement park.

 

[FigmentFan82]

In short most of the workers on EPCOT Center were laid off after the park was opened. Five years later the division was enjoying a renaissance albeit with new management.

And they actually covered it in one of the Imagineering Story episodes

 

[Jrb1979]

Pre-Covid there was no busy season. Every season was busy and there‘s no reason to think Disney would want that to change. They have gone out of their way to make it so there’s no real down season at WDW and it’s a huge financial windfall for TWDC. I see no reason for them to change that down the road when things pick up again. Entertainment at resorts pays for itself with full hotel rooms. It’s probably easier to justify than some of the stuff in the parks.

It would be tragic for WDW to turn into a higher end version of a season amusement park.

I do see them changing a lot of things post Covid. Fireworks and parades will be back. What I do see being cut way back is the free entertainment around resorts and the parks.

I don't think it would be that bad if it turned into a higher end amusement park. You make it sound like seasonal amusement parks are bad. There is some really good ones out there that do things almost as well as Disney, just without the IP

 

[GoofGoof]

I do see them changing a lot of things post Covid. Fireworks and parades will be back. What I do see being cut way back is the free entertainment around resorts and the parks.

I don't think it would be that bad if it turned into a higher end amusement park. You make it sound like seasonal amusement parks are bad. There is some really good ones out there that do things almost as well as Disney, just without the IP

When did I say seasonal amusement parks are bad? A place that has batting cages with mini-golf and an arcade is great fun, so should they turn Cedar Fair into that? If you are opposed to that does that mean you think those things are bad? WDW was never intended to be a season amusement park and hopefully it never will. That would be truly sad.

 

[UNCgolf]

Entertainment at resorts pays for itself with full hotel rooms.

That only makes sense if the hotel rooms wouldn't be full otherwise. I doubt that's the case, and I doubt Disney thinks so either.

If the hotels are full regardless, slashing entertainment at resorts just increases profits.

 

[tirian]

In short most of the workers on EPCOT Center were laid off after the park was opened. Five years later the division was enjoying a renaissance albeit with new management.

To be fair, they were specifically hired for EPCOT Center. Layoffs are always awful, but people knew they were hired for one project. I know you know this; I’m just clarifying for everyone else.

Unfortunately, the internet has pushed a myth that EPCOT Center bankrupted the company and forced WDI layoffs. The truth is more nuanced: people were hired for one project, and without a corporate vision for the future of the theme parks and WDI, there was nothing left to do.

It’s disheartening because the company was heading into a Renaissance, and nobody knew it.

 

[Dan Deesnee]

That only makes sense if the hotel rooms wouldn't be full otherwise. I doubt that's the case, and I doubt Disney thinks so either.

If the hotels are full regardless, slashing entertainment at resorts just increases profits.

Depends on how short sighted they are. Literally every expense they remove "increases profits". Why not only run 1 monorail, fire half the cleaning staff for the parks, permanently lower hours for all parks to just 8 hours per day, and so on.

The reason they have entertainment at the resorts and around the parks is for the guest experience. Their are many people that consider those things a big part of their Disney vacation, just like the parks being clean and getting around WDW with relative ease via the monorails.

Disney will be in a years long balancing act from this point forward. As a general rule of business, if you have a "product" (like I Disney vacation") that sells exceedingly well, you should probably not destroy it in the name of long term cost cutting. Short term, sure, they can get away with it because I think it's expected. But 2 years down the line, people will expect a lot of those cut things to have returned and if they haven't, well those guests may not return either.

 

[Nubs70]

In short most of the workers on EPCOT Center were laid off after the park was opened. Five years later the division was enjoying a renaissance albeit with new management.

Which is common in large capital projects. I am currently involved in a $700MM project with over 500 hundred engineering, trades, etc.. Once completed in Q4 2021, most, if not all, staff other than operations staff will be let go. Once the project is complete, the project staff is no longer needed.

 

[marni1971]

Which is common in large capital projects. I am currently involved in a $700MM project with over 500 hundred engineering, trades, etc.. Once completed in Q4 2021, most, if not all, staff other than operations staff will be let go. Once the project is complete, the project staff is no longer needed.

Not disputing that but It was a hard hit in 82. Followed by another in 83. Come 84 as you know they expected the worse but Eisner / Wells had other ideas thankfully.