Cuts coming to every area of parks and resorts - thanks to Shanghai and Paris

[ford91exploder]

When this all started coming out, I thought we were just getting an echo chamber effect, but this story seems to have grown legs on its own merits and is taking off, with little visible effort yet to squash it by the mouse.

I think the mouse is paralyzed at the moment with 'OMG what do we do to fix this, Just like they were in their response to the success of Frozen'

The Mouse thought that they could keep this covered up and it blew up in their faces. If they had engineered a 'downturn in park results' they probably could have gotten away with these cuts, But now doing this after a record quarter Disney has attracted a lot of unwanted attention and now the Investment community is going to be crawling all over TWDC and looking at the details of the bad deal in Shanghai. It's going to be a bad time to be a DIS stockholder yes it's off it;s low of 88 but with the article in the Fool things I think will quickly get worse for the Mouse.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

What does that mean exactly? Is that supposed to be a cut or is it supposed to be funny? I don't keep up with this generation of kids that like to use pictures because theyre not smart enough to know how to use words.

1. I'm not a kid.

2. It's possible the humor went over your head.

3. It's the Iraqi Information minister speaking to the press in 1991, telling them basically "there's nothing wrong... Everything is fine!" while bombs were literally going off a couple hundred yards behind him.

Sometimes comedy is hard. Don't feel bad. But the joke is ruined when it has to be explained. FYI.

But by all means... Take a swing at someone without having a clue. It's a good look for you!

 

[ford91exploder]

What does that mean exactly? Is that supposed to be a cut or is it supposed to be funny? I don't keep up with this generation of kids that like to use pictures because theyre not smart enough to know how to use words.

If you were around for the first Iraq war that's Baghdad Bob, Saddam's Minister of information telling the world that the republican guard had driven the US Army away from Baghdad while in reality a column of M1 tanks was about 2 KM from his location there. It's funny in context where, Burbank Bob is telling the investment community all is well in Shanghai when @WDW1974 and other insiders are saying that park is in deep kimchi both financially and logistically.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

If you were around for the first Iraq war that's Baghdad Bob, Saddam's Minister of information telling the world that the republican guard had driven the US Army away from Baghdad while in reality a column of M1 tanks was about 2 KM from his location there. It's funny in context where, Burbank Bob is telling the investment community all is well in Shanghai when @WDW1974 and other insiders are saying that park is in deep kimchi both financially and logistically.

You should have not typed all that and used a picture.

 

[ford91exploder]

1. I'm not a kid.

2. It's possible the humor went over your head.

3. It's the Iraqi Information minister speaking to the press in 1991, telling them basically "there's nothing wrong... Everything is fine!" while bombs were literally going off a couple hundred yards behind him.

Sometimes comedy is hard. Don't feel bad. But the joke is ruined when it has to be explained. FYI.

But by all means... Take a swing at someone without having a clue. It's a good look for you!

Baghdad Bob and Burbank Bob, The difference is Baghdad Bob did not deserve what they did to him, Whereas Burbank Bob is going to deserve everything bad that's going to happen to him and his 'Legacy'.

 

[JohnWD]

When this all started coming out, I thought we were just getting an echo chamber effect, but this story seems to have grown legs on its own merits and is taking off, with little visible effort yet to squash it by the mouse.

Can you post some links? I did find:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-disney-layoffs-hours-cut-20160216-story.html

 

[betty rose]

Cuts to DVC properties will be taken VERY badly by us the DVC members as we PAY every year for 'Maintenance' and if the maintenance line in our MF's goes up and maintenance activity goes down it will go badly for Disney Vacation Development.

I agree, every time we pay our maintenance fees, I feel a little ripped off. Housekeeping doesn't clean everyday and change sheets as often as they used to. We have stayed in the Little Mermaid room, for a week for less money than our fee's, and Housekeeping does a much more superior job at AoA. This has been our experience for the last two years.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Baghdad Bob and Burbank Bob, The difference is Bahgdad Bob did not deserve what they did to him, Whereas Burbank Bob is going to deserve everything bad that's going to happen to him and his 'Legacy'.

I wonder about that though. Even Eisner went a bit off the rails toward the end and the general public has a very favorable opinion. Much of what the folks here aren't happy with Iger on the general public either isn't informed enough on the topics to see what we see, or they just don't care.

On top of that... Time tends to soften any sort of negatives, especially on a topic such as the CEO of a major corporation. Most people, frankly, just don't care that much. They're not as invested as us.

You could be right... But I'd be surprised.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

I agree, every time we pay our maintenance fees, I feel a little ripped off. Housekeeping doesn't clean everyday and change sheets as often as they used to. We have stayed in the Little Mermaid room, for a week for less money than our fee's, and Housekeeping does a much more superior job at AoA. This has been our experience for the last two years.

Wait till DVC maxes our their maintenance increases each year instead of the historical 3-4%. The paperwork, I believe, states they can raise it as much as 11 or 13% a year, doesn't it?

 

[ford91exploder]

I agree, every time we pay our maintenance fees, I feel a little ripped off. Housekeeping doesn't clean everyday and change sheets as often as they used to. We have stayed in the Little Mermaid room, for a week for less money than our fee's, and Housekeeping does a much more superior job at AoA. This has been our experience for the last two years.

To be honest no daily Housekeeping is one of the things I like about DVC, We don't need to tidy up before we leave so that housekeeping can do their job effectively, That being said I USED to appreciate the extremely THOROUGH cleaning the rooms USED to get every 4 days until about as you say 2 years ago, Now they simply do as little as possible and the room is generally not cleaned well.

 

[Cesar R M]

How cone people think shanghai will just take off? With what money will they buy tickets?

Probably the same way some chinese guys buy apple products. Selling their kidnseys on the black market.

 

[ford91exploder]

Wait till DVC maxes our their maintenance increases each year instead of the historical 3-4%. The paperwork, I believe, states they can raise it as much as 11 or 13% a year, doesn't it?

Percentage depends on the resort and when the contract is signed, I've got 7 contracts or so and they all have a different maximum which changed depending on when DW & I signed.

If they pull that stunt - well I can see a class action suit, The DVC site is at a slow boil at the moment over cuts and MF increases, That could easily boil over.

 

[Cesar R M]

Do they think Team Disney will start to krank up the dues on the DVC owners? An increase of 100 or 200 dollars per month of each owner would bring in would $$$. Plus, nothing the DVC owners can do about it. They are painted into a corner.

I actually wonder if that was the trick all along.
Convert almost all the capacity of the "high end deluxe' hotels, into DVC, trap the members into very long contracts. Then make them suffer as they take cuts, raise prices, limit benefits.. Its not like they can do much than try their best to sell their investment.

 

[raven]

Disney still has the lion's share of the market down in Orlando, and tourism is absolutely exploding. Why would they focus their energy elsewhere? It would be a horrifically poor business decision.

I said "loosing their foothold" not placement in the Orlando tourism chain.

I think its more like, Disney is making cuts to Parks and Resorts as a whole (in order to compensate for Shanghai, because god forbid every section of the company not being profitable at all times), and since WDW is the biggest resort, it gets the most cuts. Presumably it is the most expensive to run, so that would be where they stand to save the most money. Not that I agree with this at all, by the way. I was so optimistic this year that things had finally turned the corner and then they roll this out? As much as I love WDW, this may be the straw that breaks the camels back after my trip this year. Maybe its time to finally visit DLR.

Shanghai is OVER budget. They didn't just run out of money. They just want to pump more into it. Unfortunately, the company HAS mad a "poor business decision" and are laying off people in the US and cutting guest experiences just to feed more money into a foreign park that's already way over budget.

DLR is making cuts as well (example: Their resort activities department is pretty much being liquidated).

Since the execs were the ones that caused this whole screw up, they should've started by cutting their bonus. But instead we get stuff like this:

CMs resort wide have been told about cuts because of Shanghai and managers are letting anyone who wants to leave early for the day do so, almost everyday now.

 

[asianway]

Wait till DVC maxes our their maintenance increases each year instead of the historical 3-4%. The paperwork, I believe, states they can raise it as much as 11 or 13% a year, doesn't it?

Theoretically there is no limit

 

[ford91exploder]

I wonder about that though. Even Eisner went a bit off the rails toward the end and the general public has a very favorable opinion. Much of what the folks here aren't happy with Iger on the general public either isn't informed enough on the topics to see what we see, or they just don't care.

On top of that... Time tends to soften any sort of negatives, especially on a topic such as the CEO of a major corporation. Most people, frankly, just don't care that much. They're not as invested as us.

You could be right... But I'd be surprised.

The difference I think with Eisner is Eisner greatly added to the Disney parks, Created DVC and the Cruise line and basically BUILT the Disney powerhouse that Iger is running into the ground, What are Iger's accomplishments, Price Increases, Quality Cuts and some IP purchases - not the stuff a positive legacy is built on.

 

[matt9112]

1. I'm not a kid.

2. It's possible the humor went over your head.

3. It's the Iraqi Information minister speaking to the press in 1991, telling them basically "there's nothing wrong... Everything is fine!" while bombs were literally going off a couple hundred yards behind him.

Sometimes comedy is hard. Don't feel bad. But the joke is ruined when it has to be explained. FYI.

But by all means... Take a swing at someone without having a clue. It's a good look for you!

They are nowhere they are on the move....

 

[PREMiERdrum]

Can you post some links? I did find:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-disney-layoffs-hours-cut-20160216-story.html

It made the rotation into a local morning show today (not my station), and I've already had a client reach out to me saying that she "heard" about big cost cuts at the resort and asking if her vacation was going to be effected by them.

This one looks to me like it's going to take off organically, which is far more dangerous for the company and more difficult to combat than when things originate in the cable news realm.

 

[Cesar R M]

What does that mean exactly? Is that supposed to be a cut or is it supposed to be funny? I don't keep up with this generation of kids that like to use pictures because theyre not smart enough to know how to use words.

Thats the Iraqui information ministry. Famous for saying that Iraq was all good and how they will beat the "heretic" americans and roast their stomatchs.. The best was when he claimed that everything was good and in control in Baghdad as american tanks were rolling in the background.

 

[ford91exploder]

They are nowhere they are on the move....

"God will roast their stomachs in hell"

Baghdad Bob was comedy gold.