Could Reedy Creek Drama actually lead to theme park projects being greenlit this year?

[Ghost93]

I was just thinking, with all of the concern about a DeSantis-appointed board potentially making things difficult for Disney, it might make sense to start approving various projects now before that happens. And as indicated by today's earnings report, Bob Iger is looking to expand capacity at the theme parks.

So do you think Disney might be more willing to greenlight tons of projects this year to get the ball rolling before they have to deal with DeSantis's appointed board? The projects probably wouldn't be built for several years, but maybe they can get a jump start on approving permits? Could this actually be a silver lining to the debacle that might lead to some short-term wins for park fans?

 

[KingMickey13]

I hope and pray this makes them green-light some stuff.

 

[lazyboy97o]

No. It easily takes months if not years to put together the required documentation for a building permit. Part of what took TRON so long was all of that work had to be done after it was announced.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Given the information that came out of the earnings report today, it seems far more likely that Disney intends to put a cork in US theme park projects. Wouldn't be surprised if that even includes killing the blue sky Beyond Big Thunder and Animal Kingdom stuff shown at D23 last year (which wasn't even close to being greenlit anyways).

Capital Expenditures at Disney's domestic theme parks to be cut by 700 million dollars

Capital Expenditures at Disney's domestic theme parks to be cut by 700 million dollars

www.wdwmagic.com

 

[Stripes]

Given the information that came out of the earnings report today, it seems far more likely that Disney intends to put a cork in US theme park projects. Wouldn't be surprised if that even includes killing the blue sky Beyond Big Thunder and Animal Kingdom stuff shown at D23 last year (which wasn't even close to being greenlit anyways).

Capital Expenditures at Disney's domestic theme parks to be cut by 700 million dollars

Capital Expenditures at Disney's domestic theme parks to be cut by 700 million dollars

www.wdwmagic.com

Quite the opposite, I think.

The capex adjustment was said to be due to timing shifts. And, in any case, capex this year should still be higher than last. But that’s just this year. As for the coming years, I think this quote is telling.

“We have learned that when we invest in increasing capacity, the Star Wars lands would be a good example of that, Pandora was a great example of that. We can grow our business. In fact, if you look at the results when we put Pandora and Animal Kingdom from year-to-year, they were stunning in terms of how many more people visited Animal Kingdom. I mentioned on the call that we are going to bring a version of Avatar to Disneyland. We have other opportunities as well. I have talked to Josh D’Amaro about this very recently, like this morning, again, to really look at all the great franchises of the company and see where we can invest in them in the parks to increase capacity while preserving guest satisfaction.”

-Bob Iger, Q1 2023 Earnings Call

 

[JoeCamel]

“We have learned that when we invest in increasing capacity, the Star Wars lands would be a good example of that, Pandora was a great example of that. We can grow our business. In fact, if you look at the results when we put Pandora and Animal Kingdom from year-to-year, they were stunning in terms of how many more people visited Animal Kingdom. I mentioned on the call that we are going to bring a version of Avatar to Disneyland. We have other opportunities as well. I have talked to Josh D’Amaro about this very recently, like this morning, again, to really look at all the great franchises of the company and see where we can invest in them in the parks to increase capacity while preserving guest satisfaction.”

-Bob Iger, Q1 2023 Earnings Call

So fifth gate confirmed - IP Land!!!!!!

 

[GhostHost1000]

Quite the opposite, I think.

The capex adjustment was said to be due to timing shifts. And, in any case, capex this year should still be higher than last. But that’s just this year. As for the coming years, I think this quote is telling.

“We have learned that when we invest in increasing capacity, the Star Wars lands would be a good example of that, Pandora was a great example of that. We can grow our business. In fact, if you look at the results when we put Pandora and Animal Kingdom from year-to-year, they were stunning in terms of how many more people visited Animal Kingdom. I mentioned on the call that we are going to bring a version of Avatar to Disneyland. We have other opportunities as well. I have talked to Josh D’Amaro about this very recently, like this morning, again, to really look at all the great franchises of the company and see where we can invest in them in the parks to increase capacity while preserving guest satisfaction.”

-Bob Iger, Q1 2023 Earnings Call

One thing I would caution Disney on is can they handle more surges of people at some of the existing parks. For example, a massive expansion at MK with more people in the parks also means more to see fireworks and parades and bus transportation etc etc.

 

[Tha Realest]

Quite the opposite, I think.

The capex adjustment was said to be due to timing shifts. And, in any case, capex this year should still be higher than last. But that’s just this year. As for the coming years, I think this quote is telling.

“We have learned that when we invest in increasing capacity, the Star Wars lands would be a good example of that, Pandora was a great example of that. We can grow our business. In fact, if you look at the results when we put Pandora and Animal Kingdom from year-to-year, they were stunning in terms of how many more people visited Animal Kingdom. I mentioned on the call that we are going to bring a version of Avatar to Disneyland. We have other opportunities as well. I have talked to Josh D’Amaro about this very recently, like this morning, again, to really look at all the great franchises of the company and see where we can invest in them in the parks to increase capacity while preserving guest satisfaction.”

-Bob Iger, Q1 2023 Earnings Call

I’m having trouble squaring this sort of statement (“Josh and I have been talking”) with the cold realities of McCarthy’s numbers - that caped reductions in the parks division overall will disproportionately fall on the U.S./domestic parks. The former feels like a platitude, the other reality.

 

[Stripes]

I’m having trouble squaring this sort of statement (“Josh and I have been talking”) with the cold realities of McCarthy’s numbers - that caped reductions in the parks division overall will disproportionately fall on the U.S./domestic parks. The former feels like a platitude, the other reality.

These projects take a long time to develop.

McCarthy said: “We also continue to invest in our parks and experiences globally and in other capital ticks across the enterprise and expect that fiscal 2023 capital expenditures will total approximately $6 billion. This is lower than our prior guide of $6.7 billion primarily due to decreases in CapEx on our domestic parks, reflecting, in part, some timing shifts.”

Fiscal 2023 is already a quarter finished. There is probably a project in the pipeline that they thought they’d get started on this fiscal year but it is experiencing delays. I don’t think the fact that fiscal 2023 capex at domestic parks was revised downward from previous guidance “reflecting, in part, timing shifts” and the pursuit of future expansion at domestic parks are contradictory whatsoever.