A Spirited Perfect Ten

[Fantasmicguy]

another Tower of Terror film on the way...

http://www.joblo.com/horror-movies/news/disneys-tower-of-terror-will-be-falling-into-theaters-327

It sounds good I hope if it actually gets made I hope there is more elements from the twilight zone as opposed to just the tower.

 

[Gabe1]

Since I always chime in for the quarterly financials, it's time to ring the bell.

Domestic Parks & Resorts revenue grew by only 7.3%, the lowest Q3 growth since the recession.

International Parks & Resorts revenue fell by 12.8%. Disney was badly hurt by the strengthening dollar's exchange rate, although International theme park attendance and hotel occupancy both declined slightly, making matters even worse.

I already can hear it; "But Disney had record profits."

With what's happening up I-4, Disney sure as heck better be getting some sloppy seconds but let's put that record profit into perspective. Parks & Resorts operating income was up only 8.7%, the smallest increase in 2 1/2 years. Operating income had grown by 20% or more for the last 4 quarters, so 8.7% is not a number to strut around like a peacock, nor is where much of it came from:

The decrease in marketing costs was driven by costs in the prior-year quarter in connection with the launch of MyMagic+ and new attractions at Magic Kingdom, partially offset by spending for the 60th Anniversary celebration at the Disneyland Resort in he current quarter.​

When the heck is MyMagic+ going to stop appearing in Disney's 10Q?

However, no one should walk away thinking Parks & Resorts had a bad quarter. Quite the opposite, P&R put out some pleasing numbers this quarter, even if they were not as flashy as the prior few quarters.

More than anything, I like margins and, at 22.3%, Disney's Parks & Resorts operating margin was excellent. Take away the mini train wreck called International Parks & Resorts and the domestic margin was outstanding.

Staggs has been rewarded for restoring financial health to P&R's domestic operations.

Plans for a big, fat expansion in Orlando are safe.

Thanks for a perspective that is once again one I can comprehend. Always appreciated.

 

[Cesar R M]

Eh...she's not all that....

Spoiler:

View attachment 104531

 

[Cesar R M]

ESPN has issues. The rising cost of content. Competitors for the best content, both from other cable companies (FoxSports, NBCSportsNetwork), and the leagues themselves (NFL Network). The possibility of legislation requiring a la carte cable programming (you getting to choose the exact stations you want & pay for - ESPN is by FAR the most expensive basic cable channel), never mind outright cord cutting (getting rid of cable and getting your content by other means).

The Mouse is down more today - and is taking other companies w/ cable content (like Viacom) down with it.

While their may be other aspects scaring investors a bit, for all intents & purposes this is the ESPN Correction (and if it keeps going down the ESPN Bear). And I don't follow 'technicals', but at some point if a pattern shows up they don't like then all who follow the 'chart voodoo' may bail.

The Mouse before this was 'priced to perfection'. When you are priced to perfection you are expected to beat analysts projections - regardless whether you beat your own or not - and don't say scary stuff in the CC.

so.. where did those analysts that sweared The Dis would be soaring past 120$ a share go?

 

[PhotoDave219]

so.. where did those analysts that sweared The Dis would be soaring past 120$ a share go?

Well it did. And then they cashed out.

 

[Cesar R M]

I'm with this guy. As someone who isn't overly enamoured with Star Wars, I'm already tired of hearing about so many movies and possibly Netflix content coming out all at once. Compare that to how the original trilogy movies were spaced 3 years apart...and there were just 3 of them.

Aren't you all complaining about Frozen oversaturation? How will Star Wars be any different?

I only hope the new Star Wars content goes back to the older "pace" or "feel" of the original trilogy.
They were fun and entertaining for all ages. not dumbed down like the prequel trilogy were.

It's known to the State of California to cause insanity...

I would have blamed the water.. but then I remember that California as nothing of it

 

[Cesar R M]

Awful. These are the best Timeskip option.

http://jackfreak1994.deviantart.com/gallery/38549374/Lilo-and-Stitch?offset=0

then theres the sad one...

 

[Flippin'Flounder]

then theres the sad one...

Why did you do this to me?

 

[Cesar R M]

Why did you do this to me?

this thread always shreds our hopes and feels.
Its clear I had to..

 

[HMF]

another Tower of Terror film on the way...

http://www.joblo.com/horror-movies/news/disneys-tower-of-terror-will-be-falling-into-theaters-327

Scraping the bottom of the barrel, much . If it didn't work the first time what makes them think it will work a second unless they get REEEEALLY lucky like with POTC.

 

[Hula Popper]

so.. where did those analysts that sweared The Dis would be soaring past 120$ a share go?

As someone else already posted, some are counting their money for selling once when it did hit $120.....

Some others are writing articles like this:

http://www.benzinga.com/analyst-rat...cline-in-disney-is-a-great-buying-opportunity

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/06/cramer-why-disneys-stock-is-about-to-bounce.html

 

[brb1006]

then theres the sad one...

As if Stitch's death in Stitch Has A Glitch was sad enough.

 

[TP2000]

You are giving Iger WAY too much credit for the DCA re-do which would have happened regardless of who was CEO.

Valid point. Iger may have hated the idea of investing $1 Billion in DCA, and only approved it to keep Lasseter and the bois at WDI happy.

But I posted that timeline after the assertion was made in this thread that Michael Eisner was responsible for the DCA Makeover of 2007-12, and that Bob Iger will pull all funding from the DHS Makeover of 2015-20 if the Chinese stock market or housing market tanks or the weak global economy tilts back into recession. The timeline shows that Eisner was long gone by '07 and Iger had plenty of time and plenty of reasons to pull the plug on the DCA Makeover in the face of a very scary financial environment, but he didn't.

 

[Steel City Magic]

Scraping the bottom of the barrel, much . If it didn't work the first time what makes them think it will work a second unless they get REEEEALLY lucky like with POTC.

Didn't work the first time how? The original '97 movie was a major tv movie hit, on par with smart house, zenon, and luck of the irish

 

[Steel City Magic]

Any validity to the trending on twitter last night of tdo buying up land in Anaheim?

 

[OneDNP]

I guess my larger point would be that if Star Wars goes in a direction you don't like you have to abandon that thing and that shouldn't be too devastating because it's just a movie. I'm not saying that it's fun or easy to do that but what's the alternative? A lifetime of bitterness?
Like marvel, if I stop enjoying the movies I will stop going and eventually more will do that and if Disney remains a smart company they will correct it by doing something else. the Star Wars conversation just made me feel like chiming in. Is it possible they will over saturate Star Wars? Possibly. But new things don't ruin the old things in my opinion. The old movies will always exist and will always be able to be enjoyed.
Personally I'm a lifelong Star Wars fan and am excited for what they are doing, but if it all turns out to be terrible I'll shrug my shoulders and not watch those movies going forward.
A point was brought up with marvel saturation and Star Wars going the same way, but I think the difference is the scope of their worlds. Marvel stories tie in and twist together, but Star Wars can be tapped almost infinitely for stories that do not cross at all or only do in slight ways. Rogue one sounds great to me because it's all new characters fleshing out a previously unseen angle of the familiar story. A bounty hunter show set on coruscant has nothing to do with with sith or Jedi and could be an amazing show set in the Star Wars universe with its own tone, like daredevil was in the mcu.
I'm not really worried about these franchises because in the very least we have all these great movies already that we can always go back and enjoy no matter what happens going forward.

I dig your zen.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Any validity to the trending on twitter last night of tdo buying up land in Anaheim?

That was pretty dumb; it popped up on Facebook as a trending story, as well. It says that expansion is "rumored"; it isn't rumored... it was already promised! They bought up a relatively small amount of land for a new parking garage and space for backstage offices. They already made a deal with the city of Anaheim to invest $1B in exchange for Anaheim forgoing a tax on entertainment tickets. The relocated backstage offices will probably be used for expansion, but most of the expansion will be redevelopment of existing areas (unless they go really crazy). The strong rumors are Star Wars in Toontown, and Marvel in DCA. The story of the land purchases is relatively insignificant.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Any validity to the trending on twitter last night of tdo buying up land in Anaheim?

Is history really a rumor? The latest purchase was a couple of months back.

 

[Brer Panther]

For what it's worth, there's an anime that tells us what happened to Stitch when Lilo went to college.

He ditched her for some Japanese girl because the Japanese hate Lilo and wanted to have an anime about Stitch without her.

 

[ford91exploder]

Here's the timeline:

May, 2004 - Roy Disney Jr. via his Save Disney campaign publicly demands that Michael Eisner resign
Summer, 2004 - Corporate politics worthy of Macbeth swirl in Burbank
September, 2004 - Michael Eisner announces he will resign when his contract expires in September, 2006
2005 - Roy Disney Jr. isn't satisfied and continues to maneuver Eisner out, Iger ascends as top choice
Summer, 2005 - Deal is reach to have Eisner resign a year early
September 30, 2005 - Michael Eisner resigns and vacates the Board, a year early. Company releases statement that Michael Eisner "No longer provides services to the Walt Disney Company". Bob Iger named CEO and replacement.
Autumn, 2006 - Al Lutz begins a series of Miceage articles detailing the big budget plans to fix and expand DCA. Online critics of Lutz scoff.
2007 - Al Lutz continues the drumbeat of DCA rumors, claiming it will be an "extreme makeover" of the park with a possible name change
October 15th, 2007 - Al Lutz announces the big DCA project reveal will happen on Wednesday the 17th.
October 17th, 2007 - Bob Iger and Jay Rasulo hold a press conference to announce the re-Imagineering of DCA at a cost of over $1 Billion. Bob Iger describes DCA to the media thusly "In the spirit of candor, this park has been challenged since opening".
October 18th, 2007 - Al Lutz says "I told you so".
December, 2007 - US economy officially enters recession on rapidly weakening numbers
March, 2008 - Lehman Brothers fails, housing market tanks
October, 2008 - US bank panic & stock market crash, global financial pandemonium
Winter 2008-09 - Great Recession begins, work on DCA project continues at full speed (World of Color, Pier remake, Little Mermaid ride, etc.)
July, 2009 - Unemployment rate hits 9.4%, Groundbreaking on Cars Land begins in the old Disneyland parking lot
June 15, 2012 - Cars Land & Buena Vista Street open and a remade DCA becomes wildly successful

Michael Eisner was certainly there until 2005 as DCA failed miserably, and he may have begun discussions on what to do about it by '05. But the shepherding and approval of the project, and most importantly the funding and commitment in the midst of scary financial times, appears to be all Bob Iger.

That's good news for whatever they are doing at DHS. So long as they begin in earnest by the time Bob Iger resigns in 2018.

I think @WDW1974 in the past posted the history of the DCA upgrade and it did indeed start under Eisner, Cars land only happened because Lasseter put all his political muscle behind that project which was planned as part of the original expansion but of course Iger and Co wanted to cut it out of the project. Beautiful Bob wanted NO PART of Cars Land or RSR.