News Cars-Themed Attractions at Magic Kingdom

Starship824

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
I know we can't stop the removal of the RoA but I just hope they find another purpose for the Liberty Belle, it would be such a shame to loose that ship. I know some are suggesting bring it over to Paris since there mark twain is bad but how would they even do that?
 

Stripes

Premium Member
Hummmm. I don't believe anyone on this forum needs a reminder that the Walt Disney company is a publicly traded company with a financial responsibility to its shareholders. This seemed unnecessary....
It sounds like it is necessary to me because many posts on this forum seem to be under the impression that fans are the only stakeholder Disney needs to mind.
How many imagineers have they hired? What is the cost?
In the past two years alone Disney has expanded Imagineering‘s headcount by over 600 people, bringing their total headcount to over 2,600. Between salary and benefits that additional 600 people is going to cost approximately $70 million per year.
What is the time frame difference between claiming marginally suitable land and completely deconstructing the rivers of America, leveling it out for construction and then building the new attraction on top of it?
There are so many variables and unexpected challenges that could and are likely to arise. It’s difficult to say with much certainty. Roughly speaking, about 2-3 years to prepare the land at a cost of approximately $30-50 million. Of course, the cost of 2-3 years of forfeited revenue from less guests booking trips than there would be if the company opened the expansion sooner also costs the company a significant amount of money.
 
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Disone

Well-Known Member
It sounds like it is necessary to me because many posts on this forum seem to be under the impression that fans are the only stakeholder Disney needs to mind.
No one has said this.
In the past two years alone Disney has expanded Imagineering‘s headcount by over 600 people, bringing their total headcount to over 2,600. Between salary and benefits that additional 600 people is going to cost approximately $70 million per year.
Interesting numbers.... Insider? Just wondering?
There are so much variables and unexpected challenges that could and are likely to arise. It’s difficult to say with much certainty.
Correct and right there is where one should not be stating as fact that this is definitely the better way to financially serve the shareholders. Really too many variables at play to say. And for every accountant that can spin the Excel spreadsheet to Lean one side of the argument, with this many variables I'm sure there's another Excel spreadsheet Master who could spin it the other way.
 

easyrowrdw

Well-Known Member
… Why wouldn’t they? Safety is one of ops’ chief concerns whether or not something is popular.
Why? its maintain or shut down. you can't just keep it going unsafely. My guess is, it was a large way to eat crowds when those that wanted to ride it did.
If safety was a concern for such a money-losing attraction, I think Disney would be more likely to have just closed it permanently than refurbished the whole thing. Closing it for repair costs way more than closing it permanently.
 

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
They already do, that's why they announced only sequels during d23 lol.
My point is the double standard in their movie business VS. theme park business.

In their movie business (and actually streaming business) there is no thought of budget or spending, they over spend and hope for the best. In their movie business, their art (and their message) is king!

One of the reason they will be paving over ROA is costs; the cost to put cars there instead of actually expanding on undeveloped land, eliminating costs of maintaining ROA, TSI and the riverboat, etc. In their theme park business, the dollar is king!

In their theme park business, every penny is accounted for, cost cuts everywhere, price increases every where. The dollar is king! The guest experience is way down the list.
 

CoasterCowboy67

Well-Known Member
Ok so we have a lot of boat maintenance experts here all of a sudden. I'm not claiming to be one, as I'm also not the one questioning Disney's timeline on boat maintenance / repairs, or the decision to shutter an attraction shortly after a repair, like people here seem to have the authority and expertise to be able to do so?

Do we know how much the boiler repairs cost? Do we know Disney didn't think it was worth the cost to keep the boat operational (and safe) for X more months? Do we know the decision-making for said repairs is owned by the same person who then decided to remove the attraction to replace with Cars? Do we know a riverboat only needs its boilers and track replaced -- nothing else could possibly require maintenance that is expensive to fix and/or could justify its closure? Do we know the decision to shutter the boat wasn't also influenced by cost to maintain the river and island altogether?

I don't, and I don't think anybody else here knows either
 

Charlie The Chatbox Ghost

Well-Known Member
So at this point, what now? Have people written to Disney execs to share their concerns? I sent out emails awhile ago, was going to do physical letters too but not sure if that's overkill.

We can complain here all we want, but unless we express our thoughts to Disney directly, it won't matter.
 

BuzzedPotatoHead89

Well-Known Member
My point is the double standard in their movie business VS. theme park business.

In their movie business (and actually streaming business) there is no thought of budget or spending, they over spend and hope for the best. In their movie business, their art (and their message) is king!

One of the reason they will be paving over ROA is costs; the cost to put cars there instead of actually expanding on undeveloped land, eliminating costs of maintaining ROA, TSI and the riverboat, etc. In their theme park business, the dollar is king!

In their theme park business, every penny is accounted for, cost cuts everywhere, price increases every where. The dollar is king! The guest experience is way down the list.
It’s the business model… for the Parks segment they need to show increased growth in per person spending to demonstrate “sound financial health” to investors.

This is particularly true in Florida where other key metrics - in terms of overall attendance, deluxe room sales, DVCs, etc, are dropping due to a multitude of factors. It helps to have the “per person spending” going up to be dangled as a silver lining to the investment community to demonstrate to shareholders that there’s still growth. This at least gives the appearance the parks business in Florida is strong and growing.

Removing attractions that essentially “suck up guests time on leisure activities” (in the eyes of management and shareholders) without spending an additional penny helps this metric immensely.
 

BuzzedPotatoHead89

Well-Known Member
I agree, and Disney's movie business does not. - a double standard.
I think they’ve been slow to adapt because they’re worried about attracting “top talent” in Hollywood. I definitely think budgets should be slashed but for a long time D+ and most streaming services were perceived as loss leaders. That time has passed a the purse strings are tightening albeit more slowly on the entertainment side.

Example: no acolyte season 2, or Willow, no more Eternals sequels, or She Hulk.

But this year has generally been a good one for Disney on film with both IO2 and D&W. Even the Fox holdovers like Alien and Apes at least are hitting break even.

But I know we’re off topic now…
 

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