News Cost Cutting Measures Coming Early 2025

[Disstevefan1]

Universal finishes construction in May. Universal did the smart thing and did a ton of construction during a cheap and low inflationary environment during the first year or so of Covid. Disney stupidly paused everything and cancelled everything instead of planning towards the future like Universal did.

Comcast is a larger corporation (by market cap) than Disney, so the “Disney was just doing what every responsible publicly traded company had to do” excuse doesn’t fly at all.

Totally agree, but we will see Disney will, actually, they MUST, make excuses when they fail to calm shareholders.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Florida (CFTOD), Anaheim, LEGCO, Shendi and Meyer Werft.

There’s no real Paris obligation apart from being deep into a current project and the very distant third gate agreement.

“Obligations” can be broken with a text message at this point…there are more ways to parachute out of all those “developmental” deals than are available to the 82nd Airborne.

Lower interest rates will lower cost of financing projects. This tends to have a more significant impact on the projects than cost of materials and labor.

It's probably a contributing reason for why Reflections was shelved and is now resumed.

They didn’t really do much the last time rated were low

Don’t expect an about face from “tech Bob”

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

They aren't going to get a pass if they have to build less because they sat on their backside too long and costs go up.

They’ve been doing that since 2005

Everything too late and not enough

 

[Dranth]

They’ve been doing that since 2005

Everything too late and not enough

I don't disagree. They should have been expanding/updating since day one and on a regular basis.

 

[Trauma]

Hi

I don't disagree. They should have been expanding/updating since day one and on a regular basis.

I can take a great Universal trip for what I’m paying in DVC dues.

I can’t be the only one taking a look around and wondering why the heck should I go to Disney.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I can’t be the only one taking a look around and wondering why the heck should I go to Disney.

…the frequency keeps increasing…to be honest

 

[Dranth]

Hi



I can take a great Universal trip for what I’m paying in DVC dues.

I can’t be the only one taking a look around and wondering why the heck should I go to Disney.

Depends on the business of course but it almost never works that way in a public company.

You budget for a project and while there is some leeway you can't just decide to spend whatever you want. Instead you generally get a modest increase if the situation warrants it, often with the board having to get involved, but then have to cut the project to fit within your new budget. Sometimes things get dropped, sometimes they get pushed to another phase, etc.

Now if you are private sure, spend as much as you want.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

As a general matter, Uni's parks appeal to me more then Disney's simply because I don't need to plan 6 months ahead of time to enjoy them. They let me relax, wander around, eat where I want when I want, etc.

I agree with the sentiment, but would still chose IoA over USF because it's a nicer looking park with a better ride line up IMO

I wouldn't argue Studios is the best park in Orlando - if AK had, say, four more attractions, I'd give that the nod. Frankly, every park in the city has such deep flaws that choosing a "best" is difficult.

I've said this before and it's unfortunate that is the case.

They all deserve better than how they've been treated, and so does the consumer given how much prices have gone up.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Depends on the business of course but it almost never works that way in a public company.

You budget for a project and while there is some leeway you can't just decide to spend whatever you want. Instead you generally get a modest increase if the situation warrants it, often with the board having to get involved, but then have to cut the project to fit within your new budget. Sometimes things get dropped, sometimes they get pushed to another phase, etc.

Now if you are private sure, spend as much as you want.

That’s assuming your public company is well run

There is almost zero evidence this one is based on the last 10+ years of “governance”

I’m not entirely sure any of them actually knows they’re still on the board?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

They all deserve better than how they've been treated, and so does the consumer given how much prices have gone up.

The last part should get alot more play than it does

 

[Laketravis]

I can’t be the only one taking a look around and wondering why the heck should I go to Disney.

Unfortunately, you're not.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Universal doesn't need another bare coaster. That should be at the absolute bottom of their list of priorities.

Minions Blast and Dreamworks Land are really bad. Worse, they feel incredibly cheap in a way additions to Disney, for all their faults, have not. The parade is fun because of the inclusion of the 80s films, but despite being longer most of the floats are less impressive and, yes, feel cheaper then the parade it replaced.

Uni has slashed entertainment with a machete. They killed streetmosphere, one of the things that made them feel more guest-friendly then Disney. They have been going mad with cost cutting, staggering openings, neglecting maintenance and upkeep, etc. 3D has been removed from rides that depend on it. Attractions are run for years in secondary mode to save on maintenance. The entrance arch to Seuss has been broken for years.

An entire land is closed at IOA and there is no movement on a replacement - that's an eighth of the park. There are three massive theaters sitting empty at IOA, one of which has been abandoned for decades.

Studios is my favorite park in Orlando, but it needs significant additions. Dreamworks Land is unacceptable. The Simpsons Ride needs to be replaced immediately. Family-friendly headliners are desperately needed.

EU looks great but its underbuilt.

Hotel prices just SKYROCKETED with the new year.

I'll still take Uni over Disney any day of the week, but the golden age of Universal seemingly ended with the pandemic and a management change. It's falling into all the same traps as the Mouse. It's a glaring reminder that Disney's problems are much, much more profound then Iger or his ilk - the problem is the entire business culture of the US.

Universal doesn’t need another coaster but it’s about the only thing they can deliver at the moment. They’ve spent the last decade or so speed running all of Disney’s problems, inefficiency and indecision. Most recently all of the Genslerification that people accused Barbara of doing at Disney, Molly has done at Universal.

There’s a point to where doing something isn’t actually worthwhile. KidZone was once considered to be transformed into Super Nintendo World or Pokémon. It was hastily and cheaply turned into DreamWorks Land just to say they did something new for 2024 and now we’re stuck with it for awhile since they just spent money on it.

They’re about to open the world’s most expensive theme park and it is absolutely lacking. It will have significantly less capacity than the previous world’s most expensive theme park (Universal Studios Beijing) and also be lacking compared to the parks at the north campus. Even with two new parks in the pipeline the money spigot has been tightened significantly.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I feel like all of the Orlando parks suffer from spending too much money on projects that deliver too little.

Toy Story Land and Dreamworks being prime examples.

But even Galaxies Edge and Cosmic Rewind deliver very little for the $$$ spent in my opinion.

Couldn’t you get like 10 sally dark rides for $100M?

 

[lazyboy97o]

Couldn’t you get like 10 sally dark rides for $100M?

Maybe 7 if you want the better ones. But they definitely show what can be done with a lot fewer resources and, more importantly, small spaces. The Orlando parks could all use some small dark rides squeezed into little spaces.

 

[bmr1591]

I feel like all of the Orlando parks suffer from spending too much money on projects that deliver too little.

Toy Story Land and Dreamworks being prime examples.

But even Galaxies Edge and Cosmic Rewind deliver very little for the $$$ spent in my opinion.

Couldn’t you get like 10 sally dark rides for $100M?

I don't disagree Cosmic Rewind was way too expensive, but man is it a run ride. It consistently ranks as one of the top rides at all of Disney World. I'm certain it's driven a lot of people who would have skipped EPCOT to it.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I feel like all of the Orlando parks suffer from spending too much money on projects that deliver too little.

Toy Story Land and Dreamworks being prime examples.

But even Galaxies Edge and Cosmic Rewind deliver very little for the $$$ spent in my opinion.

Couldn’t you get like 10 sally dark rides for $100M?

You can thank Harry Potter world for that. Ever since that success at Uni, Disney thinks they have to build themed lands instead of more attractions. Pros and cons for sure

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

. It consistently ranks as one of the top rides at all of Disney World.

Well…it never was a “ride place”…which is why it’s had the following it has.
That following had no problem getting to Epcot

 

[bmr1591]

Well…it never was a “ride place”…which is why it’s had the following it has.
That following had no problem getting to Epcot

I mean, it’s hard to call EPCOT a ‘ride’ place even now, but if Disney can get people to spend money they weren’t going to to visit the park, I don’t see why that’s a problem.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Another good reminder that there are contractual obligations to carry through with half of the capex. About 27-30B they can’t really get out of now. 12 for DCL, 8 for WDW, 2 for DLR, what has already been spent (particularly Paris) and then their partner resorts have signed agreements as well.

WDW can certainly have a worse spending decade than 2014-2023 (because it has deflated), but they can’t really do a 2004-2013 at their current required spend.

$12B for DCL? Curious where you got that number, I saw $6B from cruiselinenews.com for the four new ships coming 2027-2031. I don’t believe you can include the money for the Destiny and Treasure since those contracts were signed before they announced the $60 billion.

 

[BrianLo]

$12B for DCL? Curious where you got that number, I saw $6B from cruiselinenews.com for the four new ships coming 2027-2031. I don’t believe you can include the money for the Destiny and Treasure since those contracts were signed before they announced the $60 billion.

From this filing (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1744489/000095015724000366/defa14a.htm)

There’s a bit of misunderstanding here. 60B is a guidelines essentially for what the company plans to report from fiscal years 2024 (October 2023)-2033 (October 2033). Which of course includes DCL Adventure, Treasure and the vast majority of Destiny. A portion of lighthouse point. It doesn’t really matter when anything is announced, but when the money is spent.

Likely we may have a couple major projects on the go that won’t open until 2034 or beyond where significant money will be spent during this fiscal guidance.

This slide was why I was so sure new ships were imminent before D23. I had said 3-5 depending on the sizing and the leftover money from the already known projects.