News Disney’s Q1 FY25 Earnings Results Webcast

[DarkMetroid567]

What about Universal, Islands of Adventure and of course EPIC?

Attendance-wise? None of the three will come particularly close. They’re in stronger competition with DCA (and the other WDW parks of course) than they are Magic Kingdom.

For a UOR park to actually surpass MK in attendance, their capacity would need to be expanded dramatically and they would need to nearly double their number of unique new guests.

Epic likely won’t hit 10 million guests for awhile.

 

[BrianLo]

See that’s where i think you are completely wrong. Disney has had cash for a very long time. Old money some would say. Consumers are not target but its merch and for example mufasa earned Grammy at awards show and Beyoncé of all people accepted. Fort Knox situation and this won’t go.

 

[JackCH]

See that’s where i think you are completely wrong. Disney has had cash for a very long time. Old money some would say. Consumers are not target but its merch and for example mufasa earned Grammy at awards show and Beyoncé of all people accepted. Fort Knox situation and this won’t go.

... wut?

 

[Agent H]

... wut?

I think they are a troll a person who goes by stanfidte in YouTube comment sections on Disney videos says things like “Disneys monopoly is going to get busted up by Uncle Sam and that he works in the military and bla bla bla you know insane obviously not true stuff this sounds similar

 

[Agent H]

I think they are a troll a person who goes by stanfidte in YouTube comment sections on Disney videos says things like “Disneys monopoly is going to get busted up by Uncle Sam and that he works in the military and bla bla bla you know insane obviously not true stuff this sounds similar

I will note this person seems to “be from the past” while the commenter I was referring to is “from the future” at least that’s what they say

 

[MisterPenguin]

See that’s where i think you are completely wrong.

You're wrong. Read the financials for the past decade and show us the money you *think* they had.

 

[monothingie]

This has become a fairly tired misdirection. Financial illiteracy parroted, I don’t know why I can’t stamp it out. This is not what is happening.

Who puts money into the left pocket to begin with? Consumers.

Why do they put money into the left pocket? To watch the media Disney produces.

How much money do they put into the left pocket? 24 Billion annually and counting.

What is the revenue opportunity lost by not licensing out their content to third party distribution like Netflix rather than keeping it in-house and essentially paying themselves for the ability to do so?

Disney actually did a trial of this in the beginning of 2024, but limited the scope by excluding their key franchises from Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar.

With the vast library of significant Disney IP, does licensing not make more sense? The D+ service is a safe number 3 or 4 amongst the competition, having seemingly plateaued with subscribers now that the integration of HULU is complete. The competition is growing, both ahead of them and behind them. The dream of becoming an equal to Netflix or Prime is just not going to happen.

The one challenge they have is that their key franchises have been severely damaged by a variety of reason, including very poorly received/watched original content on D+ and in theaters, which has hurts efforts to license it. Lastly and probably most importantly, going to licensing means that they've given up D+ (and would ding Bob's ego).

 

[Dranth]

Which endzone are you kicking for?

Money or attendees?

Because they keep saying how the money is coming…and I bet it’s buried in plain site again…
The attendance thing…not quite so much

Personally? Keep attendance down. The place was miserable 2016-2019 and I have no desire to go back if it returns to those levels without a significant increase in capacity, both attractions and actual land for people to spread out.

In terms of Disney, I am sure they would love both but reality is they can't support the attendance. None of that means I like or approve of how they are going about it.

 

[Jrb1979]

Personally? Keep attendance down. The place was miserable 2016-2019 and I have no desire to go back if it returns to those levels without a significant increase in capacity, both attractions and actual land for people to spread out.

In terms of Disney, I am sure they would love both but reality is they can't support the attendance. None of that means I like or approve of how they are going about it.

They could support that attendance if they had more than single digit number of attractions in the parks other than MK. Adding multiple E tickets isn't the answer. The parks need more filler attractions.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Personally? Keep attendance down. The place was miserable 2016-2019 and I have no desire to go back if it returns to those levels without a significant increase in capacity, both attractions and actual land for people to spread out.

In terms of Disney, I am sure they would love both but reality is they can't support the attendance. None of that means I like or approve of how they are going about it.

That’s a Disney fan forum myth though

They will never be able to make more money with less people every quarter. We are on the edge of that sword right now.

It can’t be done…because it doesn’t fit that product/marketplace.

Is the place more or less enjoyable now with “less people”

To an old dog like you or me…maybe more? And that’s highly questionable

To their core market…it appears not. And the more defect, the more they will have to squeeze our grapes to extract more juice to compensate.

They’re coming for us too…

“They won’t do that”. Of course they will…because the emperor will just quit/leave/die and that’s where the company focus will end.

This is a dragon that will eventually eat the townspeople

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

They could support that attendance if they had more than single digit number of attractions in the parks other than MK. Adding multiple E tickets isn't the answer. The parks need more filler attractions.

Which again is how the parks were designed to operate

Diffuse the crowd and move it around

That’s why they were genius and not your local joint with 2 rollercoasters and a hot dog stand

But it all is needed…the entertainment…the flat rides…the shows…the shops…
You can’t just eliminate parts without tearing at the seams of the operation

So trying to concentrate on big tickets to reap fees…like a New Jersey boardwalk…is very pound foolish in the long run

 

[Dranth]

They could support that attendance if they had more than single digit number of attractions in the parks other than MK. Adding multiple E tickets isn't the answer. The parks need more filler attractions.

I see people say this a bunch, and don't disagree that they need more, but outside of Tron, what build have they done that hasn't included at least one attraction lower than E?

- Epcot got Guardians, Frozen, Remy, Moana, some show space and a suggestive planter. That is one E. Well, two if you REALLY like the planter.
- Toy Story added Slinky and Alien Swirling Saucers. That is zero E unless you want to count the expansion to Mania.
- Galaxies Edge added RotR and MF. One E.
- Pandora added NRJ and FoP. One E.
- MMRR is a D to me, but we could count it as an E.
- NFL gave us 7DMT, The Little Mermaid, Enchanted Tales with Belle, a splash pad and a second Dumbo. Zero E though if people want to count 7DMT that is fine though my understanding is it is a D.

We don't know enough about the next round to say how many will be E, but I got the impression outside of one ride for Villains and the Indy takeover we were in for a bunch of D and lower. Maybe one of our insiders could provide a bit more insight?

 

[Jrb1979]

I see people say this a bunch, and don't disagree that they need more, but outside of Tron, what build have they done that hasn't included at least one attraction lower than E?

- Epcot got Guardians, Frozen, Remy, Moana, some show space and a suggestive planter. That is one E. Well, two if you REALLY like the planter.
- Toy Story added Slinky and Alien Swirling Saucers. That is zero E unless you want to count the expansion to Mania.
- Galaxies Edge added RotR and MF. One E.
- Pandora added NRJ and FoP. One E.
- MMRR is a D to me, but we could count it as an E.
- NFL gave us 7DMT, The Little Mermaid, Enchanted Tales with Belle, a splash pad and a second Dumbo. Zero E though if people want to count 7DMT that is fine though my understanding is it is a D.

We don't know enough about the next round to say how many will be E, but I got the impression outside of one ride for Villains and the Indy takeover we were in for a bunch of D and lower. Maybe one of our insiders could provide a bit more insight?

That's fair. IMO the parks needs more NFL additions and less Monsters Inc or Cars.

On top of that start adding new additions and not replacements. Each park should have 20 -30 attractions to spread out the crowds. Doing that would help with wait times on many attractions.

 

[Laketravis]

Which again is how the parks were designed to operate

Diffuse the crowd and move it around

That’s why they were genius and not your local joint with 2 rollercoasters and a hot dog stand

But it all is needed…the entertainment…the flat rides…the shows…the shops…
You can’t just eliminate parts without tearing at the seams of the operation

So trying to concentrate on big tickets to reap fees…like a New Jersey boardwalk…is very pound foolish in the long run

That's fair. IMO the parks needs more NFL additions and less Monsters Inc or Cars.

On top of that start adding new additions and not replacements. Each park should have 20 -30 attractions to spread out the crowds. Doing that would help with wait times on many attractions.

Of course we know they won't take the logical path.

A dynamic number of people in a park with a fixed capacity per hour divided disproportionately among a fixed number of resources based on popularity producing little additional revenue beyond the cost to enter the park versus creating perceived demand among a subset of guests in order to drive additional revenue yet maintain the perceived benefit of lower wait times while avoiding unacceptably longer standby wait times for the revenue non-producers all weighted against total guest satisfaction without adding capacity is an equation that only Einstein may have been able to solve.

No, instead the bright minds (and accountants) at WDW will decide to institute Park Shifts. That's right, you can now join the Virtual Park Queue (VPQ) and be told what shift you will get that day. Lucky you with the 8am to 11am shift, you have three hours to enjoy each atttraction with a no longer than X minute wait time that will be assigned to you in groups (unless you'd like to buy the super duper thunder and lighting pass with the ability to make your own choices and only wait half as long) among a carefully calculated park capacity that was only admitted into the park with you. At the end of your shift an alarm will sound (similar to that used in the movie Purge), signaling your time is up and you have 15 minutes to exit the park in order for the next shift to enter.

Because, well, that's the only way to increase daily attendance turnover and maximize additional revuene streams without having to invest in additional capacity.

Duh.

 

[Dranth]

That’s a Disney fan forum myth though

They will never be able to make more money with less people every quarter. We are on the edge of that sword right now.

It can’t be done…because it doesn’t fit that product/marketplace.

Is the place more or less enjoyable now with “less people”

To an old dog like you or me…maybe more? And that’s highly questionable

To their core market…it appears not. And the more defect, the more they will have to squeeze our grapes to extract more juice to compensate.

They’re coming for us too…

“They won’t do that”. Of course they will…because the emperor will just quit/leave/die and that’s where the company focus will end.

This is a dragon that will eventually eat the townspeople

See, I don't believe it is a myth. It is a reality given poor decisions they made in the past. We could talk all day about how they never should have got to this point, but they did. That doesn't mean this is sustainable long term, it isn't. I also don't for a second believe they actually wanted to see attendance drop. More likely they just wanted to slow growth post pandemic reset as they tried to address multiple issues within the company as a whole.

As for is it more enjoyable, yes, at least for me. I've said it on here before but we were done with going to WDW after 2018. Had the pandemic not happened we would not have been back. Now that doesn't mean they can do no wrong, they do it all the time. It just means that the park experience, even with all the negatives, has improved for us.

 

[HauntedPirate]

I think the problem isn’t so much the price of tickets as it is the amount of up charges within the bubble

Hotel costs and ticket prices are a huge barrier to entry for most. A family of 4 is going to pay $3000 for 7-day hoppers (plus or minus a hundred or two). Tack on another $2000 for a room at an All-Star. Don't forget airfare, we'll call it $1000 because they found a good deal somewhere.

In case you think I'm pulling numbers out of thin air:

Adding a QS dining plan to this non-discounted room puts you at $6500.

But wait!!! Let's see what one of Disney's summer discounts gets us. Oh look. No standard rooms available for the same dates, only preferred rooms. Let's splurge and check Pop Century.

No savings there. But there is savings if you want to stay at All-Star Sports with the "free" Dining plan. Sorry, no rooms at any other value resorts.

And they'd be stupid to not use the offer which at least includes the QS dining plan. Still...

$6000, at a minimum, before they even walk into a park. They still need to eat outside of the two QS meals. They haven't purchased a single souvenir. Certainly no LL products.

I could fly RT to Haneda (airfare from MSP is ridiculous. I love Delta but I also loathe them.) and have a week at TDR for a few thousand more.

 

[Dranth]

I love Delta but I also loathe them.

Truer words have never been spoken.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I think the problem isn’t so much the price of tickets as it is the amount of up charges within the bubble

The ticket price is fine…if they hadn’t rigged it to try and induce FOMO with the upcharges

So the pressure goes both ways there…

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I’ve never flown delta…and I don’t think I’ve “missed out” on anything

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

What up charges do you mean in addition to paid ride reservations?

Well a 50% surcharge on value at restaurants…not so much on quickserve

The ride upcharges are a glaring one

Shutting parks down early to devalue the day tickets and charge again for them…

That doesn’t even take into account the cost cutting tactics that reduce the value

Like never having more than one water park open…the airport shuttle being canned…parking and valet fees jacked up…etc etc etc

…please don’t say “it’s worth it to ME”?