A Spirited 15 Rounds ...

[GoofGoof]

Anyone talking about this:

http://www.attractionsmanagement.com/detail.cfm?pagetype=detail&subject=news&codeID=334431

Tom knows the biz inside and out, but I can't help but feel he is being brought aboard to be the fall guy as this project is so troubled that it makes SDL look like a smooth ride in comparison. The fact he is an American who ... how to put this delicately ... is very sympathetic to the Communist way of life likely helped as well.

FWIW, UNI is already pushing back opening from 2019 to 2020 and its very likely we're talking late 2020 with some major parts not opening until 2021.

Will they ever learn?

Let’s hope this doesn’t impact spending at the FL parks like Shanghai did for Disney.

 

[GoofGoof]

When a company is spending 10x on buybacks vs investment in the business it has a problem. Disney has made massive cuts in P&R maintenance and expansion to fund its buyback program.

Where do you get the 10X number from? Per the last 10K TWDC spent $7.5B on stock repurchases in 2016 while capital expenditures in the P&R segment were over $4B and that’s only one segment. Total operating expenses for P&R is also up year over year. There’s really no evidence that they were cutting costs to fund the stock buybacks. You could probably make an argument that they could have reallocated a portion of the $7.5B to be used in the P&R segment instead, maybe keep it split 50/50 at a minimum, but the picture you paint just seems factually inaccurate. I also think if you look at those other companies you will see a similar ratio between buybacks and investment.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Anyone talking about this:

http://www.attractionsmanagement.com/detail.cfm?pagetype=detail&subject=news&codeID=334431

Tom knows the biz inside and out, but I can't help but feel he is being brought aboard to be the fall guy as this project is so troubled that it makes SDL look like a smooth ride in comparison. The fact he is an American who ... how to put this delicately ... is very sympathetic to the Communist way of life likely helped as well.

FWIW, UNI is already pushing back opening from 2019 to 2020 and its very likely we're talking late 2020 with some major parts not opening until 2021.

Will they ever learn?

His face looks like it's missing a mustache.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

To go along with that dose of common sense thats missing if he really is sympathetic to Communism.

 

[AEfx]

The fact he is an American who ... how to put this delicately ... is very sympathetic to the Communist way of life likely helped as well./QUOTE]

You are a big boy, no need to dog whistle. Is it because he has a German name or something?

 

[MisterPenguin]

Where do you get the 10X number from? Per the last 10K TWDC spent $7.5B on stock repurchases in 2016 while capital expenditures in the P&R segment were over $4B and that’s only one segment. Total operating expenses for P&R is also up year over year. There’s really no evidence that they were cutting costs to fund the stock buybacks. You could probably make an argument that they could have reallocated a portion of the $7.5B to be used in the P&R segment instead, maybe keep it split 50/50 at a minimum, but the picture you paint just seems factually inaccurate. I also think if you look at those other companies you will see a similar ratio between buybacks and investment.

They were able to fund $6.3 billion of the buybacks by laying off value resort concierges and raising the price of Mickey bars to $5.

 

[kpilcher]

Anyone talking about this:

http://www.attractionsmanagement.com/detail.cfm?pagetype=detail&subject=news&codeID=334431

Tom knows the biz inside and out, but I can't help but feel he is being brought aboard to be the fall guy as this project is so troubled that it makes SDL look like a smooth ride in comparison. The fact he is an American who ... how to put this delicately ... is very sympathetic to the Communist way of life likely helped as well.

FWIW, UNI is already pushing back opening from 2019 to 2020 and its very likely we're talking late 2020 with some major parts not opening until 2021.

Will they ever learn?

Smart hire on Uni's part. Especially given he has to have understanding of how to operate within the Chinese bureaucracy. Staggered opening? Bad idea.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Smart hire on Uni's part. Especially given he has to have understanding of how to operate within the Chinese bureaucracy. Staggered opening? Bad idea.

Hong Kong isn’t quite the same as the Mainland and the rest of the Mainland isn’t quite Beijing.

 

[ford91exploder]

Just curious, are you short DIS (puts or otherwise)?

Dumped all of mine at 114, Right now no way i'd go anywhere near DIS stock until they fix or unload ESPN and scale back or stop share repurchases

 

[the.dreamfinder]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/harvey-weinstein-at-weinstein-1046874
It’s not just Harvey.
It’s not just the film/tv side of the business.
It’s time for an audit Disney.

 

[AEfx]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/harvey-weinstein-at-weinstein-1046874
.

Reading that article, and others, I'm just as disgusted (if not more, really) with all the Johnny-come-lately celebrities twitting about it, saying "Oh, thank goodness this is all out now! We've all known for years!" Yeah, now that his career was already way past it's heyday, this awful and horrific behavior that supposedly all these powerful and important people knew about and didn't say a word while it was going on should be real proud of themselves. It's not simply coincidence that he finally outlived his usefulness, and they are just now throwing him to the wolves. Yet they will all get millions of "likes" and be applauded for their virtue signaling like it matters now.

That said, I'm waiting for actual crimes to be alleged. He was a dirty, perverted, creep, but while the anecdotes are just yucky, none have been followed with "and then he forced himself on me", or that "he fired me because I wouldn't sleep with him", etc. People keep comparing this to Cosby, but this is a very different ball of wax from being a serial rapist who drugged his victims. He's still a disgusting human being, no doubt - I'm not defending him in any way, shape, or form - and he deserves what he is getting - but there are an awful lot of other folks who have a lot to answer for, it's just too bad the culture today is so one-track-minded that they won't.

 

[Quinnmac000]

Reading that article, and others, I'm just as disgusted (if not more, really) with all the Johnny-come-lately celebrities twitting about it, saying "Oh, thank goodness this is all out now! We've all known for years!" Yeah, now that his career was already way past it's heyday, this awful and horrific behavior that supposedly all these powerful and important people knew about and didn't say a word while it was going on should be real proud of themselves. It's not simply coincidence that he finally outlived his usefulness, and they are just now throwing him to the wolves. Yet they will all get millions of "likes" and be applauded for their virtue signaling like it matters now.

That said, I'm waiting for actual crimes to be alleged. He was a dirty, perverted, creep, but while the anecdotes are just yucky, none have been followed with "and then he forced himself on me", or that "he fired me because I wouldn't sleep with him", etc. People keep comparing this to Cosby, but this is a very different ball of wax from being a serial rapist who drugged his victims. He's still a disgusting human being, no doubt - I'm not defending him in any way, shape, or form - and he deserves what he is getting - but there are an awful lot of other folks who have a lot to answer for, it's just too bad the culture today is so one-track-minded that they won't.

I don't think its just the entertainment business though...heck even some very powerful politicians have conducted this activity despite it being extremely public knowledge and gotten away with it.

I think more so people are more worried about protecting their livelihood than going forth with he said she said even when they know it may be somewhat true. Add in those who are friends with these people. Then add in the aspect of those who knowingly put themselves and did what they had to do to get where they are in their careers which they may be ashamed of having to confess what happened which now adds was it consensual or non consensual etc.

 

[disney1023]

The Monument to 90s Imagineering's Sins video by Martin is up

Hu. I mean, the concept of the ride is good, and it is certainly better than what we have now with annoying bratty Figment, but the physical ride and the final seen? I think this would have been fine if it didn't replace Journey into Imagination 1.0 and if that version weren't considered, I would take this over Journey into Imagination with Figment. Of course, They should breath some life into the theme and bring back HISTA if they keep the Imagination Institute theme.

 

[ford91exploder]

I don't think its just the entertainment business though...heck even some very powerful politicians have conducted this activity despite it being extremely public knowledge and gotten away with it.

I think more so people are more worried about protecting their livelihood than going forth with he said she said even when they know it may be somewhat true. Add in those who are friends with these people. Then add in the aspect of those who knowingly put themselves and did what they had to do to get where they are in their careers which they may be ashamed of having to confess what happened which now adds was it consensual or non consensual etc.

Precisely - it's the last category who will never breathe a word of what transpired as they view the world in transactional terms.

The 'casting couch' was and is a very real thing and unfortunately it makes hollyweird go round

 

[AEfx]

I don't think its just the entertainment business though...heck even some very powerful politicians have conducted this activity despite it being extremely public knowledge and gotten away with it.

I think more so people are more worried about protecting their livelihood than going forth with he said she said even when they know it may be somewhat true. Add in those who are friends with these people. Then add in the aspect of those who knowingly put themselves and did what they had to do to get where they are in their careers which they may be ashamed of having to confess what happened which now adds was it consensual or non consensual etc.

I agree that the type of behavior isn't relegated to the entertainment industry, but the entertainment industry is where the hypocrisy is seen the most. And those that had a platform to do something about it, that isn't afforded to most. We aren't just talking just about unknown production assistants and office workers here. We are finding out that well-known individuals accepted financial settlements to keep their mouths shut. We are talking about wealthy, privileged people no matter which way we slice it.

It's not like this was the "dark ages" or "Mad Men" era, either. Weinstein was certainly powerful and influential in his own company, but we are talking about the 90's and 00's where sexual harassment was already well-known and a condemned behavior. I have a hard time with the fact that some of these people who were well-known and were in a position to expose this behavior, who instead chose a financial incentive not to. That enabled him to continue his behavior and victimize those who couldn't be expected to "take it on" - those production assistants/etc. who don't have the wealth and power that some of the individuals who accepted settlements had.

Even beyond them - the amount of people who were not directly involved and knew about this, and the fact that it remained such "insider knowledge" for so long, is really unconscionable. Weinstein is a scumbag. He deserves what he is getting. But the fact is a lot of people have a lot of explaining to do, but our current cultural stance is to applaud these people for piling on after the fact, which isn't courageous at all.

 

[seabreezept813]

Blackfish was only the knockout punch. Potter has been kicking them stupid since 2010.

I did a project with my students on Blackfish.. we were all in horror until we read Sea World’s legal response picking apart every line of the film.. you were left pretty baffled..but most agreed Sea World has the better evidence and argument.. at the very least it’s an interesting read

 

[bclane]

I agree that the type of behavior isn't relegated to the entertainment industry, but the entertainment industry is where the hypocrisy is seen the most. And those that had a platform to do something about it, that isn't afforded to most. We aren't just talking just about unknown production assistants and office workers here. We are finding out that well-known individuals accepted financial settlements to keep their mouths shut. We are talking about wealthy, privileged people no matter which way we slice it.

It's not like this was the "dark ages" or "Mad Men" era, either. Weinstein was certainly powerful and influential in his own company, but we are talking about the 90's and 00's where sexual harassment was already well-known and a condemned behavior. I have a hard time with the fact that some of these people who were well-known and were in a position to expose this behavior, who instead chose a financial incentive not to. That enabled him to continue his behavior and victimize those who couldn't be expected to "take it on" - those production assistants/etc. who don't have the wealth and power that some of the individuals who accepted settlements had.

Even beyond them - the amount of people who were not directly involved and knew about this, and the fact that it remained such "insider knowledge" for so long, is really unconscionable. Weinstein is a scumbag. He deserves what he is getting. But the fact is a lot of people have a lot of explaining to do, but our current cultural stance is to applaud these people for piling on after the fact, which isn't courageous at all.

He is a scumbag you got that right. From the reports I read, he didn't just ask employees and others for sexual favors (obviously made worse by the fact that he was in a position of power), but he would continue to harass them even after they repeatedly said no. And the incident with the plant!! What the heck? The guy is disgusting and so are the people that covered for him.

 

[bclane]

I did a project with my students on Blackfish.. we were all in horror until we read Sea World’s legal response picking apart every line of the film.. you were left pretty baffled..but most agreed Sea World has the better evidence and argument.. at the very least it’s an interesting read

I love SeaWorld and always have. I believe that wothout their work in educating people and helping millions to care about the ocean, we'd be much worse off than we are (the oceans are in trouble). But, imo, SeaWorld needs to retire their large Cetacean program pronto. Having said that, the Blackfish thing wasn't really fair. When people who they quoted came out and said they were misquoted or quoted out of context by the makers of Blackfish, I lost faith in the show. But whales should not be in such small enclosures imho and I doubt you could build one large enough to actually provide for their needs.

 

[AEfx]

I did a project with my students on Blackfish.. we were all in horror until we read Sea World’s legal response picking apart every line of the film.. you were left pretty baffled..but most agreed Sea World has the better evidence and argument.. at the very least it’s an interesting read

Yeah, Blackfish was a really good example of people using disingenuous means to make a somewhat valid point. It's something that is like a cancer in our social media-driven culture, because people tend to stop caring about the facts. Even if we agree that it probably is not a good idea to keep massive killer whales in any type of captivity to perform for humans, the second you try to sift the hyperbole and misdirection for the truth, it's automatically assumed you are somehow in favor of the practice.

It's heartening to hear teachers out there teaching the skill of seeing through this, because it's something that is so sorely needed right now.

 

[John park hopper]

Don't know if this the place to pose this question, if not moderator please delete--- Question, in light of the controversy concerning one of the ESPNs commentators comments and subsequent suspension for 2 weeks is it time for Disney to look into its ESPN holdings. Personally I have no thoughts one way or the other