Disney and Universal: Two very different paths

[Goofyernmost]

Sure,

Comcast CABLE has the worst customer service in the industry, That being said DISNEY with the SOLE exception of ESPN does not have any 'MUST HAVE' cable properties, NO ONE will care if ABC Network/Family Channel/Disney XD/Disney Junior is not available.

The same cannot be said for the comedy channel/nickelodeon etc Also the VAST majority of the 'basic cable' channels now belong to Comcast through the NBC/Universal merger. You would be amazed at how MANY including the majority of spanish/portugese language channels Comcast now owns.

Disney has NO independent content distribution other than OTA from network affiliates, So if Comcast/TWC/Metrocast/ATT/Verizon/DirectTV/Dish decided not to carry Disney's content Disney's cable holdings would drop in value OVERNIGHT to almost nothing. Disney uses ESPN as a hammer to force the cable companies to carry their other channels.

I believe Disney is charging the cableco's somewhere north of $5/month per-sub for ESPN. A LOT of cable providers would dearly love to put ESPN in a 'sports' package and drop the Disney 'shovelware' as it would vastly improve their cashflow.

Disney is on the way to irrelevance because they have not CREATED any new IP with mass appeal in nearly a decade - When 'Hannah Montana' was airing the Disney Channels were MUST HAVE as they were a direct pipeline to the 'Tween demographic. Now they are 'background noise' for small children at best.

It's going to be very interesting what happens next contract renewal for one of the Major's I expect they will play hardball and block out Disney. I expect Disney to dig in it's heels and I imagine we will hear the sound of crickets except from the relatively small core of hardcore sports fans who will be in withdrawal from 'Sportscenter'.

Gotcha...thanks! I wasn't looking at it from the prospect that no one would care if Disney channels did not exist. I think that there would be a tad more uproar about ESPN than what you are envisioning though. Sports fans are a large number and Comcast (and others as far as that goes) use ESPN in yet another higher priced layer of choices. Disney Channels (other then Sports) have sucked for a very long time. Not worth anything really. In fact, fairly recently they were put into the basic program slot with many companies, be it cable or satellite. No extra charge at all. First layer basic! There was a time that they were premium.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Comcast CABLE has the worst customer service in the industry.

^^This x 100. We dealt with Comcast for years before getting Verizon. Although Verizon's customer service isn't great, it's leaps and bounds better than Comcast

 

[StarWarsGirl]

NO ONE will care if ABC Network/Family Channel/Disney XD/Disney Junior is not available.

Hey now, I enjoy Last Man Standing, Once Upon a Time (and the Wonderland spin off), and a couple of ABC Family shows. But I see your point. Disney Channel does not seem to have the drive that it had when I was a tween, in the days of Hannah Montana and High School Musical. And Disney XD just seems...dumb. It was much better when it was Toon Disney.

 

[George]

I'll confess to being completely unfamiliar with raft ride safety mechanisms. But on intuition, I'd say that you can not hope to overturn an upside down raft by manpower anyway. The best remedie is not a few lifeguards (they're not Superman), but a plug to quickly drain the water to prevent drowning.

You bring up an interesting point. These giant, circular raft rides exist all over the world and have been around for years. I did a search on raft ride accidents and these came up -

http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/water-ride-accident-cedar-point/2013/07/22/id/516215

Note: The above article from Cedar Point really drives home the point that the water on these things isn't cheap (deep! thanks for a really weird change auto correct), so unless you're knocked unconscious abrasions, broken bones etc. are the big danger and emergency personnel (and in this case park visitors) can wade in after you.

Apparently in 1999 there was a spate of accidents on this things after a 20 year "solid" safety record - http://articles.courant.com/1999-08...as-accident-six-flags-great-adventure-rafting

In the accident in Riverside Park, the raft flipped all the way over and 8 were trapped underneath it. I imagine that was incredibly scary.

Apparently in 2003, this ride had a raft flip over -

and 4 were injured. It looks a little smaller than the typical giant raft ride I've seen, but the same basic concept. Anyway, it appears as though having the raft flip over is the main danger and the main solution is to get as many people out there as quickly as possible to flip the thing over. One creative solution would be to have all the people who are part of the show along the ride trained in this procedure. Lord knows, I can't be bothered if I my fastpass window is about to close.

Did you know piranhas were banned from rides like this because sometimes the water runs red with blood - http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/ak-kali-river-accident-5-29.187008/#post-2274041

Of course, you should always be wary of early thread reporting. This - http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/ak-kali-river-accident-5-29.187008/page-4#post-2274500
turned out to be incredibly accurate.

 

[ford91exploder]

Hey now, I enjoy Last Man Standing, Once Upon a Time (and the Wonderland spin off), and a couple of ABC Family shows. But I see your point. Disney Channel does not seem to have the drive that it had when I was a tween, in the days of Hannah Montana and High School Musical. And Disney XD just seems...dumb. It was much better when it was Toon Disney.

The shows you mention ARE pretty good - But they are available online if your cable bill did not increase or it went down because DIsney's content was no longer carried - would it it be worth it to watch online instead of over cable.

 

[ford91exploder]

Gotcha...thanks! I wasn't looking at it from the prospect that no one would care if Disney channels did not exist. I think that there would be a tad more uproar about ESPN than what you are envisioning though. Sports fans are a large number and Comcast (and others as far as that goes) use ESPN in yet another higher priced layer of choices. Disney Channels (other then Sports) have sucked for a very long time. Not worth anything really. In fact, fairly recently they were put into the basic program slot with many companies, be it cable or satellite. No extra charge at all. First layer basic! There was a time that they were premium.

You may be correct on the ESPN backlash, Personally I'm one who believes sports should be participated IN not WATCHED so that colors my view.

That being said these days ESPN does not seem to have many current GAMES on, it's always video of classic games, or two guys in a studio taking calls or former players arguing about the calls in the last game. I know a lot of people watch - but watching sports talk radio??? to me it seems that watching paint dry or grass grow would be more compelling.

I CAN remember if you wanted to see the BIG games you watched ESPN - Does not seem to be true anymore - perhaps a more spectator sports oriented poster can shed more light on this.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

The shows you mention ARE pretty good - But they are available online if your cable bill did not increase or it went down because DIsney's content was no longer carried - would it it be worth it to watch online instead of over cable.

True, but then again, I like watching some shows live. Last Man Standing is one of the few shows my family watches together. And Once Upon a Time is my favorite show. Heck, I wait all day for it. If they took them off without changing the bill, I would be pretty mad.

 

[jdmdisney99]

Hey, if Disney really felt like it, their next big purchase could be Verizon. :shrug: They'd be on near equal levels of conglomeracy (is that a word? lol) with Comcast.

 

[Turtle]

(This feeling has been gestating in my head for a while and I feel this thread is most suitable for it)People need to stop blabbering that Disney is behind Universal and all of that. In fact, Universal is behind Disney. Does Universal have 4 parks, 20+ hotels, two shopping centers, a sports complex, as well as other recreational activities such as campgrounds, mini-golf, and water parks? They are on complete different timelines. Universal is up to some great things right now. But people are ragging that Disney is not up to par with new rides?? In the 90's Disney constantly had new attractions and things to do every year! The thing is that, Universal is in that phase now too. Major props to Universal cause their stuff is awesome too.Do you know how freaking large it is to build something physical and immersive with the Disney-quality? If Disney were to make yearly additions you'd say that they're value engineered. Disney isn't failing by not adding new rides, they're just not doing as good as before!!Everybody is just looking for a way to accuse Disney of doing something wrong because conflict = entertainment. And 90% of the people who complain, forget about all that pompous bickering when they're actually in Disney because they're having the time of their life!Stop whining and "threatening" to go Universal because Disney isn't "on top of their game".

 

[bubbles1812]

(This feeling has been gestating in my head for a while and I feel this thread is most suitable for it)People need to stop blabbering that Disney is behind Universal and all of that. In fact, Universal is behind Disney. Does Universal have 4 parks, 20+ hotels, two shopping centers, a sports complex, as well as other recreational activities such as campgrounds, mini-golf, and water parks? They are on complete different timelines. Universal is up to some great things right now. But people are ragging that Disney is not up to par with new rides?? In the 90's Disney constantly had new attractions and things to do every year! The thing is that, Universal is in that phase now too. Major props to Universal cause their stuff is awesome too.Do you know how freaking large it is to build something physical and immersive with the Disney-quality? If Disney were to make yearly additions you'd say that they're value engineered. Disney isn't failing by not adding new rides, they're just not doing as good as before!!Everybody is just looking for a way to accuse Disney of doing something wrong because conflict = entertainment. And 90% of the people who complain, forget about all that pompous bickering when they're actually in Disney because they're having the time of their life!Stop whining and "threatening" to go Universal because Disney isn't "on top of their game".

You make some interesting and valid points but.. "They're just not doing as good as before" ... Read that again. I think that's a problem. I don't need rides at the rate Universal is currently producing them (but an E ticket more than once a decade would be nice). But it's more than that. The maintenance is sloppy. Repairs are slow. Off site guests are second tier with MM+. The mindset of the people at the top is solely focused on making shareholders happy. (And in that aspect, they certainly do win. Though their many fired employees certainly didn't). But please, read that again. Is "they're just not doing as good as before" something I should be happy with? Is that what I'm supposed to settle for now? Disney is better than that. And we as customers should expect better than that. My visits are enjoyable, yes. I don't try to look for flaws while I'm there (Though I inevitably notice a few that are more obvious. The fact that you wrote "they're just not doing as good as before" suggests you do notice too). But that doesn't mean I shouldn't want better. Or that I should shove the things that are wrong out of my mind just because I have fun when I'm at the place. And your second sentence that I highlighted literally makes no sense.

Oh and also, I did go to Universal my last trip because Disney isn't "at the top of their game." And I loved it. Disney got some time on my vacation. But not as much as before. I have no regrets about it. I still love Disney but Uni gets my love (and money) too. They earned it.

 

[Turtle]

You make some interesting and valid points but.. "They're just not doing as good as before" ... Read that again. I think that's a problem. I don't need rides at the rate Universal is currently producing them (but an E ticket more than once a decade would be nice). But it's more than that. The maintenance is sloppy. Repairs are slow. Off site guests are second tier with MM+. The mindset of the people at the top is solely focused on making shareholders happy. (And in that aspect, they certainly do win. Though their many fired employees certainly didn't). But please, read that again. Is "they're just not doing as good as before" something I should be happy with? Is that what I'm supposed to settle for now? Disney is better than that. And we as customers should expect better than that. My visits to are enjoyable, yes. I don't try to look for flaws while I'm there (Though I inevitably notice a few that are more obvious. The fact that you wrote "they're just not doing as good as before" suggests you do notice too). But that doesn't mean I shouldn't want better. Or that I should shove the things that are wrong out of my mind just because I have fun when I'm at the place. And your second sentence that I highlighted literally makes no sense.

Oh and also, I did go to Universal my last trip because Disney isn't "at the top of their game." And I loved it. Disney got some time on my vacation. But not as much as before. I have no regrets about it. I still love Disney but Uni gets my love (and money) too. They earned it.

I wrote that in a minute so my grammar isn't the best

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Neither is the logic. But lets not go over old ground. Ill vote as I have been with my wallet.

 

[flynnibus]

What am I missing in that post. It seems backwards to me. I'm not being sarcastic, just confused. Could you explain that a little more? It seems like Comcast is way more dependent on Disney then the other way around. I must be missing a crucial piece of the puzzle.

I look at it this way... Comcast is the 'incumbent' - They are already in front of the customer, and hold a distinct lead on any competitor by being 'in the ground' in front of the house. Second, Comcast has more than one type of content.. it has hundreds. So while you may miss 'something', they have hundreds of other things to try to make you forget you are missing that 'one something'.

A content creator on the other hand has to SELL you on the idea of watching your show.. and then.. has to convince you to watch them more. It's an uphill battle for every show and every customer. It's a sell sell sell.. and hope you get some wins. They don't get to float their boat with other people's success.

Meanwhile... distribution networks like Comcast keep collecting every month no matter if your show is a bust or not.

 

[danlb_2000]

I look at it this way... Comcast is the 'incumbent' - They are already in front of the customer, and hold a distinct lead on any competitor by being 'in the ground' in front of the house. Second, Comcast has more than one type of content.. it has hundreds. So while you may miss 'something', they have hundreds of other things to try to make you forget you are missing that 'one something'.

A content creator on the other hand has to SELL you on the idea of watching your show.. and then.. has to convince you to watch them more. It's an uphill battle for every show and every customer. It's a sell sell sell.. and hope you get some wins. They don't get to float their boat with other people's success.

Meanwhile... distribution networks like Comcast keep collecting every month no matter if your show is a bust or not.

But on the flip side, distribution is a commodity, whereas specific pieces of content aren't. If for example I really like Modern Family (to use an ABC/Disney example) it doesn't matter which distribution channel I get it through, it's still the same show, but no matter which channel I choose, the content is still coming from ABC/Disney.

 

[TubaGeek]

(This feeling has been gestating in my head for a while and I feel this thread is most suitable for it)People need to stop blabbering that Disney is behind Universal and all of that. In fact, Universal is behind Disney. Does Universal have 4 parks, 20+ hotels, two shopping centers, a sports complex, as well as other recreational activities such as campgrounds, mini-golf, and water parks? They are on complete different timelines. Universal is up to some great things right now. But people are ragging that Disney is not up to par with new rides?? In the 90's Disney constantly had new attractions and things to do every year! The thing is that, Universal is in that phase now too. Major props to Universal cause their stuff is awesome too.Do you know how freaking large it is to build something physical and immersive with the Disney-quality? If Disney were to make yearly additions you'd say that they're value engineered. Disney isn't failing by not adding new rides, they're just not doing as good as before!!Everybody is just looking for a way to accuse Disney of doing something wrong because conflict = entertainment. And 90% of the people who complain, forget about all that pompous bickering when they're actually in Disney because they're having the time of their life!Stop whining and "threatening" to go Universal because Disney isn't "on top of their game".

Quality over quantity for me, thank you.

 

[flynnibus]

But on the flip side, distribution is a commodity, whereas specific pieces of content aren't. If for example I really like Modern Family (to use an ABC/Disney example) it doesn't matter which distribution channel I get it through, it's still the same show, but no matter which channel I choose, the content is still coming from ABC/Disney.

Because of the requirement of infrastructure and limited channels of distribution - no way it's commodity. Can an average joe really decide where to watch prime time? No way - most have one cable option, one sat option, or delayed online.

 

[EpcoTim]

I was linked this page on Reddit where they are having a field day with the responses and how little people know about the world of business.

First off I used to be a Florida local and grew up with both parks. I'm sick of both of them and remember Universal's hotels having bed bugs all the time. Disney I just plain outgrew.

Now the Comcast verse Disney debate that everyone is trying to out do each other on. I work as an analyst so knowing both companies is important in my line of work, I also have a better knowledge of both companies infrastructure in regards to what they are capable of business wise so keep that in mind before you bring out the torches and pitchforks. To be blunt, I can care less how this is perceived especially by the people involved. I do not mean that to be insulting rather I'm just being honest.

Comcast, is a good company. Disney is a good company.

For the general public that's all you need to know. Comcast would suffer without Disney and vice versa. Comcast needs ESPN and the Disney Channel, Disney needs the absurd fees they charge for those channels. ESPN costs about 5 to 6 bucks on your cable each month, no other channel is close to that, the next channel is like a dollar and change. Disney charges so much because they can. Comcast is in no position to tell them they can't. Comcast is very good in the delivery business, Disney knows this so I honestly believe they have no intentions of killing the golden goose.

That being said, I do own Disney stock and do not own Comcast nor do I intend to purchase any, anytime soon. Disney at the moment is a better value.

tldr

Both companies are good, get off the soap boxes people.

Reddit...lol
Analyst....lol
I also have a better knowledge of both companies infrastructure in regards to what they are capable of business wise.....lol
Get off your soap boxes people.....lol.

What a worthless post.

Take your hand out of your pants and come back when you can confirm that you're the coolest hipster on reddit.

 

[Communicore]

I dunno if this has been discussed here before but why is "Despicable Me" showing on Disney Channel?

 

[marni1971]

People need to stop blabbering that Disney is behind Universal and all of that.

Only an idiot would think that. The more sane members have not said that.

 

[Alektronic]

...not overkill at all, these accidents happen. Disney would rather err on the side of caution:

• "On March 21, 1999, a 28-year-old woman died at Six Flags Over Texas, and 10 other guests were injured, when the raft they were on overturned in 2–3 feet of water due to sudden deflation of the air chambers that support the raft. The raft then got caught on an underwater pipe, which provided leverage for the rushing water in the ride to flip the boat over.[2] In a subsequent settlement, Six Flags agreed to pay US$4 million to the victim's family..."

In fact, after that accident Disney pulled out an overturned raft that had there on purpose to show how dangerous the rapids could be. It was positioned in the waterfalls on the right hand side after the downramp . They thought people would be thinking that Disney was making fun of Six Flags even though the raft was positioned there months before the accident.