Actually, to be fair, without speculation and insider info, we would have no idea about MM+ until it's roll-out went public, and we would have no idea on it's budget, or that it went "over". And varying groups of insiders have always had different numbers on how much and how long that acutally was. We rely solely on insiders and speculation for all of these things, as Disney isn't going to be coming out to the public and showing their initial budget and implementation timelines. We have no idea outside of insider info and speculation that MM+ is affecting future projects at all!
Since we've had such good info from our insiders (and I am not being sarcastic here), we know about things that make it to varying degrees of drawing boards well before they are in any way greenlit. Maybe Disney is doing nothing (aside from finishing an expansion of Fantasyland, fixing what they broke at DTD with a massive project, and building an entire new land at DAK), or maybe they are deciding to be a little tighter with their information, spreading false information, or a combination of all of it.
We know nothing for a fact until ground is broken. It's fun to speculate. It's fun to get insider info. But Disney is under no obligation to ensure that insiders get information out to the public before they are ready for it to be there for the most part.
This is a balanced response but I must make one semi-contrary point ... that there are enough facts and circumstantial evidence to support the assertion that A) MM+ is behind schedule, B) MM+ is overbudget, and C) spending has been reduced from other areas subsequently.
Here's the facts:
A) Staggs, Iger, and official Parks Blog indicated in January of 2013 that it will be rolled out in the next couple of months, at one point Iger said in an interview that Summer of 2013 was the plan ... it's now 2014 it's not rolled out completely. THE RESULT: Behind schedule
B) Due to the project being behind schedule (in addition to the technical issues it's faced) it's a cause and effect thing ... the project HAS to be over budget if it's this far behind schedule. We don't need an insider to tell us it's over budget, we can see it is.
C) Spending has been reduced from other areas? Perhaps this takes the biggest leap of faith but not really ... we know MM+ is behind schedule therefore we know it's over budget and we KNOW nothing major has been announced since Avatar in 2011 (outside of Disney Springs). I'm not saying anything about construction or rumors, let's just deal with real facts ... so for roughly three years they have announced NOTHING.
What can we logically infer from that? That money is tight, that money is being spent elsewhere and since we know MM+ is behind schedule thus over budget we can assume that's where it is.
So to me, you don't need any insider information. Just based on what we can see and what is real you can state fairly definitively that MM+ is behind schedule, over budget, and has affected improvements/additions in the theme parks. And until something major is announced (that isn't a shopping/dining district/hotel that turns a profit relative to it's construction costs) then it'll be hard to make a counter argument.
That being said I appreciate your balanced response, I just wanted to make this point not directed at you personally or as a contrary response but ... I guess just to make it.
