VaderTron
Well-Known Member
While you have a right to your own opinion, you clearly have no idea what I am saying. As with others, you are trying to understand my point of view without pausing to realize you have to stop looking at the matter from your point of view. I have never said Disney isn't making money. I said they are making poor decisions now that are unsustainable. It will take a much different strategy to make long-term gains (we're talking down the road a decade or more, not just the ones we have seen over the past few years) without stripping down all of their offerings to bare-bones. You have to remember that Disney is a monstrosity of a business. It's like an ocean liner headed towards the rocks. The people in charge are acting like it's a little tug boat that can maneuver with ease and aren't really looking that seriously to the future and where the business is headed outside of making gains for the next quarter or two. An ocean liner takes 1/4-1/3 of a mile to make a turn. Disney similarly would need to start making a turn in their strategy to avoid the rocks they are headed towards years down the road. This isn't something that can be solved with a few months of discounts or throwing money at advertising. It would mean walking back so many bad decisions and changes it would have to be done in phases over several years so as to not upset stockholders into selling-off (because a quicker approach would mean several quarters of year-over-year losses to get back on track to a sustainable park management design that would result in a smaller percentage of revenue increase).
It's true, we can all decide to overlook the bad and focus on the positive. When the Titanic launched they said it was "unsinkable", and they were right...until it sank. Icebergs are avoidable, but that means looking out for them and doing what is necessary to navigate away from them as soon as you notice the potential danger. That also means looking objectively ahead to see where the current course is taking Disney.
Star Wars: I like it, but many don't. So it's a mixed bag. Money wise, it still hasn't made back the initial investment in profits after several years. Far and away from the slam dunk* they were thinking it would be. (* NBA Experience: I don't even have to argue this, do I?)
Fox Acquisition: Too early to tell if it was worth it or not.
Disney+: Again, I like it, but see it as a flawed roll-out. They have withheld a large amount of content which has limited interest in the service and stifled sign-ups. Some would say they already are getting more than they expected in sign-ups. The question, though, will be if they can sustain those members. How many did the free trial and dropped them? We don't have those numbers. A significant number had their accounts hacked. I'm sure that didn't help Disney's bottom line. What did it cost them in labor/man hours to fix all of those accounts? Was it more or less than $6.99 a customer? On another note, I'm a big Disney fan and can honestly say I'm already questioning how long the current content will be able to keep my interest. I have a number of the movies already in my personal library. My interest is in older content that was hard to come by and occasionally some of the older series/cartoons. Some of the NatGeo shows are nice as well. But how long will it take me to watch that? Then what? I can see myself dropping the service from time to time over the years as I wait for new content to build back up making it worth paying for the service again. Additionally, Disney+ still has issues with the software (my watchlist constantly get's "corrupted" and duplicates the first 15-20 listings and dumps the rest so I have to re-load them onto the list over and over; the "continue watching" feature has never worked and still doesn't.)
WDW: Too high of ticket prices, too much intentional crowding of the parks by slashing workforce and operational costs (only partially opening rides until crowds grow throughout the day), too few new rides, too many classic ride closures, too little maintenance, too much for not great food, way too much for good food, ridiculous prices for hotels, expensive add-ons that take away from the experience of "average" guests, and on and on...Of course I still love the parks despite their flawed condition. I just wish I was dumb enough to be willing to hand over the ransom they demand these days to enjoy yourself there.
The point is, I see the good, but I also see the mistakes. I'm not naive enough to believe Disney is the unsinkable Titanic 2. There is a tightrope path out of the disaster that looms ahead, but it means changing things sooner rather then later. When people slow down in park attendance and spending in large numbers it's too late. The damage will have been done. It will take a decade or more to repair it by then. Why go down that path just for easy profits in the short-term? Even as a stockholder I would think you could see the point in that. Unless you will be equally happy with a damaged WDW park as long as you sold your shares before the huge sell-off. I certainly hope you're not "that person".
