Disney fighting hard to keep gambling out of Florida

[RollerCoaster]

Atlantis Paradise Island.

I think that may rank as family friendly.. just a little....
I’d say Atlantis and Disney share many patrons.. and many will choose one over the other during the year. Different experiences for sure, but similar price points and geared towards families.

That's not in the United States. Also, is the marketing for the Atlantis focused on families with children or adults? The later would be correct. Outside of the United States gambling is much more accepted and doesn't necessarily have the reputation it has in our country. Gambling is a part of certain cultures. In the US however it is frequently associated with alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sex, prostitution, and organized crime.

But I'll add further evidence of Disney's rejection of gambling. Aren't they the only major cruise line without casinos? I'm not going to look it up, so please correct me if I'm mistaken.

The public has raised huge objections when previously dry theme parks apply for alcohol permits to sell beer, wine and alcohol. Imagine Disney proposing a casino within EPCOT. I think the equivalent of the public's reaction would be a nuclear weapon being detonated. Suddenly Mickey Mouse is found playing roulette, Princess Elsa shooting craps and Scrooge McDuck plays a hand of Texas Hold'em. That's one way to obliterate your wholesome image.

Disney's lobbying isn't about protecting their ability to build a casino theme park, which they won't, but to keep it entirely out of their town- Orlando.

 

[shernernum]

As far as I can tell there is only one person that is proposing that one day Epcot will be a casino and since it is in line with the rest of the hyperbole that that poster usually posts, I wouldn't put much thought into it.

 

[21stamps]

That's not in the United States. Also, is the marketing for the Atlantis focused on families with children or adults? The later would be correct. Outside of the United States gambling is much more accepted and doesn't necessarily have the reputation it has in our country. Gambling is a part of certain cultures. In the US however it is frequently associated with alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sex, prostitution, and organized crime.

But I'll add further evidence of Disney's rejection of gambling. Aren't they the only major cruise line without casinos? I'm not going to look it up, so please correct me if I'm mistaken.

The public has raised huge objections when previously dry theme parks apply for alcohol permits to sell beer, wine and alcohol. Imagine Disney proposing a casino within EPCOT. I think the equivalent of the public's reaction would be a nuclear weapon being detonated. Suddenly Mickey Mouse is found playing roulette, Princess Elsa shooting craps and Scrooge McDuck plays a hand of Texas Hold'em. That's one way to obliterate your wholesome image.

Disney's lobbying isn't about protecting their ability to build a casino theme park, which they won't, but to keep it entirely out of their town- Orlando.

Depends which commercial you watch. Some/a lot are geared specifically towards children.. maybe you haven’t seen their adverts...and they run several “family packages” especially during summer.

Yes, the Bahamas are not in the US, but to get to Nassau is less than a 1 hour flight from Ft Lauderdale.. the resorts in Florida do face competition in the Bahamas.
When people are looking at “family vacations” Disney World and Atlantis will often come up.
My point wasn’t to say that Disney wants to open a casino, it was to show that the gambling and family destinations can be done together very successfully, that’s just one example..you can look to cruise lines for another.

 

[ford91exploder]

That's not in the United States. Also, is the marketing for the Atlantis focused on families with children or adults? The later would be correct. Outside of the United States gambling is much more accepted and doesn't necessarily have the reputation it has in our country. Gambling is a part of certain cultures. In the US however it is frequently associated with alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sex, prostitution, and organized crime.

But I'll add further evidence of Disney's rejection of gambling. Aren't they the only major cruise line without casinos? I'm not going to look it up, so please correct me if I'm mistaken.

The public has raised huge objections when previously dry theme parks apply for alcohol permits to sell beer, wine and alcohol. Imagine Disney proposing a casino within EPCOT. I think the equivalent of the public's reaction would be a nuclear weapon being detonated. Suddenly Mickey Mouse is found playing roulette, Princess Elsa shooting craps and Scrooge McDuck plays a hand of Texas Hold'em. That's one way to obliterate your wholesome image.

Disney's lobbying isn't about protecting their ability to build a casino theme park, which they won't, but to keep it entirely out of their town- Orlando.

Disney at one time may have cared about a 'Family Friendly' image, Now it's all about the bucks, If offering Gaming on Disney premises will bring in more bucks than 'Family Friendly' Gaming will be there in a hot minute.

Disney's a public company it's fiduciary duty is to maximize shareholder value, When gaming becomes a neccessary component of maximizing shareholder value it will happen. Until then fantasize about how Disney cares about it's Family Image.

 

[RollerCoaster]

Disney at one time may have cared about a 'Family Friendly' image, Now it's all about the bucks, If offering Gaming on Disney premises will bring in more bucks than 'Family Friendly' Gaming will be there in a hot minute.

Disney's a public company it's fiduciary duty is to maximize shareholder value, When gaming becomes a neccessary component of maximizing shareholder value it will happen. Until then fantasize about how Disney cares about it's Family Image.

They also have a fiduciary duty to protect their brand and products. The largest gaming company in the US Las Vegas Sands is 1/5 the size of Disney with $11.5 billion in revenue in 2015. Disney in the same year had $52.5 billion in revenue. If you've been following the news from publicly traded companies in this industry, like Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts, then you'd be aware that these companies are rapidly adapting because revenue from gaming is on the decline. You can't be serious about what you're saying, so stop wasting our time with pointless discussion! #troll

 

[Tom P.]

Disney at one time may have cared about a 'Family Friendly' image, Now it's all about the bucks, If offering Gaming on Disney premises will bring in more bucks than 'Family Friendly' Gaming will be there in a hot minute.

Disney's a public company it's fiduciary duty is to maximize shareholder value, When gaming becomes a neccessary component of maximizing shareholder value it will happen. Until then fantasize about how Disney cares about it's Family Image.

Nope.

 

[jakeman]

Are they going to open the casino before or after ESPN drives the whole company to bankruptcy?

Just trying to get my wheel-o-crazy timeline right.

 

[Cesar R M]

So I guess every Publix and Circle K in the southeast is a crime hotspot? They all offer gambling.

big difference in small venues vs Crime lord like giant casinos.

 

[RollerCoaster]

Depends which commercial you watch. Some/a lot are geared specifically towards children.. maybe you haven’t seen their adverts...and they run several “family packages” especially during summer.

Yes, the Bahamas are not in the US, but to get to Nassau is less than a 1 hour flight from Ft Lauderdale.. the resorts in Florida do face competition in the Bahamas.
When people are looking at “family vacations” Disney World and Atlantis will often come up.
My point wasn’t to say that Disney wants to open a casino, it was to show that the gambling and family destinations can be done together very successfully, that’s just one example..you can look to cruise lines for another.

The best example was Las Vegas' failed attempt in the 90s. It was a miserable disaster.

Outside of the US there are examples, mostly stand-alone resorts. There is a stigma in the US about gaming operations that the industry can't shake.

big difference in small venues vs Crime lord like giant casinos.

 

[UCF]

You are sorely mistaken! Your could not be more wrong in what you write.

Disney ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT want to be involved with gambling or entertainment associated with it. There is no evidence of being able to successfully mix adult gaming and entertainment with family entertainment. In fact the examples of failure in trying to do so are abundant. Las Vegas in the early 90s desperately tried to make their offerings more family friendly and the attempt failed miserably! Do you remember the MGM Grand Adventures theme park- it failed! Treasure Island tried to be more family friendly, now they're trying to pitch the sexy and bad boy image of Pirates instead.

To be fair, the Vegas "family friendly" entertainment came with replacing or toning down the previously successful adult oriented entertainment. They didn't just add the family friendly entertainment on top of it, or create a seperate section for it, they replaced what was previously successful.

The more equivalent thing to what the hotels in Vegas did in their family friendly era is replacing a kid friendly ride with a casino... Your driving a lot of people away while attracting new ones... it didn't make too much sense and was obviously a major screw up, but that doesn't mean the family friendly casino concept couldn't work, as Atlantis demonstrates. The US has mostly tried to do adult casinos, and mixing adult casinos into Disney World is a recipe for a disaster.

If Disney were to want to build a casino (which I don't believe they will have any desire to do in at least the next 20-30 years), if they build it at any current resort, theme park, etc, they definitely can kiss most of the clientele that is currently going their goodbye and needs to plan to start from scratch. It'd have to be a new resort targeting a different market.

And lastly gambling doesn't compete with amusement parks. If there were a casino in Orlando I highly doubt it would take away business from the theme parks. Hard core gamers probably aren't going to Disney parks to begin with. Vice versa most visiting Disney probably aren't going to go drop a couple of hundred dollars into slots after a day at Magic Kingdom.

Its not an exact match competition wise, but it does have some overlap. When people go to Orlando's conventions, they want stuff to do at night... I know many currently go to City Walk or Disney Springs, because they feel its the best option currently in Orlando, but I know many, MANY of them would love to go to a casino instead. The day before or after the convention many go to the theme parks before they leave, but I'm sure many would be fine switching it to a casino resort instead. But for people who are coming from across the country or internationally, it would seem unlikely it'd be for the casinos and they wouldn't really be competing with the theme parks there. If they're travelling to go to a casino and aren't in the region, it'd make more sense to go to Vegas...

 

[2351metalcloud]

The public has raised huge objections when previously dry theme parks apply for alcohol permits to sell beer, wine and alcohol. Imagine Disney proposing a casino within EPCOT. I think the equivalent of the public's reaction would be a nuclear weapon being detonated. Suddenly Mickey Mouse is found playing roulette, Princess Elsa shooting craps and Scrooge McDuck plays a hand of Texas Hold'em. That's one way to obliterate your wholesome image.

Disney's lobbying isn't about protecting their ability to build a casino theme park, which they won't, but to keep it entirely out of their town- Orlando.

What about Pleasure Island?

Those characters don't need to appear there if the area is based on a location in a popular movie like a Star Wars movie (http://movieweb.com/star-wars-8-new-aliens-photos-canto-bight-casino-city/).

You could even build the casino area based off of this location and build it somewhere nearby a park like Unviersal Studios Singapore and the future 21st Century Fox World in Malaysia or just by itself somehwere.

 

[Disney4family]

We were told 5 years ago by an upper-level CM that Disney cruise line believes it makes more money with souvenirs than it would with gambling.
Times have changed in 5 years, though, since society has changed.

 

[WDWTank]

Why is it their business to control what other companies do? Can't they just stop sticking their nose in situations that don't need intervention?

 

[WDWTank]

If they turn EPCOT into a casino, Disney is going to have a very, very bad day

 

[AEfx]

Why is it their business to control what other companies do? Can't they just stop sticking their nose in situations that don't need intervention?

I think it's quite clear why Disney has a vested interest in what businesses can pop up around it's flagship resort. In fact, we have a whole thread here talking about them. You should check it out.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

We were told 5 years ago by an upper-level CM that Disney cruise line believes it makes more money with souvenirs than it would with gambling.
Times have changed in 5 years, though, since society has changed.

As a % of tourist spending, even Vegas is making less money off of gaming, and more on shopping, entertainment etc.

Since the recession, people aren't as welling to spend their money on maybe winning. They want something in return each time they pay.

 

[Bpmorley]

I don't understand why disney would care. Gambling and disney do not go hand in hand. And lets face it, it's the people going to disney that paid for all the lobbying.

 

[Tom P.]

I know society has changed. I know things that were once taboo are now mainstream. I know people are arguing for the legalization of darn near everything these days. I get it. Yet, even with that said, Disney is unique and its theme parks even moreso. I think if Disney were to add gambling to its parks and resorts, they would have the largest public backlash that they have ever seen. I think it would be a PR disaster to rival the launch of New Coke. And I think they know that and have no desire to do it.

 

[AEfx]

I don't understand why disney would care. Gambling and disney do not go hand in hand. And lets face it, it's the people going to disney that paid for all the lobbying.

You just answered your own question.

 

[Bpmorley]

You just answered your own question.

I don't see where I did. If a casino opened up miles outside of disney, it's none of disney's business.