News Disney plans to accelerate Parks investment to $60 billion over 10 years

[Stripes]

I will say, Disney definitely comes across as a premium product compared to the others. We got our luggage tags in the mail today, I forgot that they did that still. Pretty much all of the other cruise lines just send you an email and have you print them off. Disney has a lot of little things that set them apart. They come at a cost, but there's a lot of them.

Regarding the rotational dining, yes, all modern cruise ships have specialty dining, what I love about Disney's basic rotational dining though is that you have the same people serving you each night. They learn about you and by the end of the cruise, at least for us, offer amazing accommodation without even asking. I have yet to receive the level of dining service that I get on Disney anywhere else. To be fair, I haven't done Celebrity because while kids can go on them, it's not the most interesting brand for families with kids - definitely a more adult oriented brand (although not adult only like Virgin). Maybe when I'm older (and if they keep up their status match with Royal Caribbean).

Karl Holz, the former President of DCL posted this just a few weeks ago:

This past December, one of my neighbors stopped me and said "I just booked the Disney Treasure and was surprised at how much it cost me". He went on to mention he'd do anything for his grandkids! Well this morning I rode my bike in the neighborhood and saw him. I stopped and asked about his Disney Treasure cruise. To quote him... "we were blown away... we already booked our next trip on the Treasure... it was worth every penny and more!" He went on to explain that he'd sailed on Celebrity and Princess but he'll never go back there. He specifically mentioned the understated elegance of the ship, the countless reminders of his own childhood... growing up with Disney and what he really liked was that he and his wife enjoyed Palo Steakhouse and The Rose while the grandchildren wouldn't leave the kids clubs. Most of all, what sealed the deal for him were the tears streaming from the two girls eyes as they departed. It became clear to me that Disney Cruise Line remains a very special part of the Disney Experiences portfolio. I may be biased having been a part of it for ten years before retiring, but experiencing the Disney Treasure has made for another believer. The Difference is truly Disney.

 

[Stripes]

I would like to see Burbank turbo-charge and accelerate the maintenance and daily operations budgets of Disney parks FIRST. Spend money, fix and properly maintain what you already have before you build anything new.

Burbank, how can you say you are doing all these great things in the future when you don't even have the money yet to properly maintain what you have right now?

Well, let’s see.

They’re completing refurbing Big Thunder Mountain, the ice skating figure has returned to It’s a Small World after years of being missing, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin has just received digital projectors, they’ve recently repainted the ground in Pandora, given Adventureland a fantastic themed pavement, the Space Mountain RCA dog animatronic is moving for the first time in over 20 years, carpet was just replaced at Walt Disney Presents, Swiss Family Treehouse was just refurbed, many of the World Showcase pavilions are being refurbed, the Mission:Space exterior is being refurbed, the Astro Orbiter is being refurbed, the Tower of Terror queue water leak effect has returned being missing for 25 years, the Journey Into Imagination water cooler effect is working again after being broken for a couple years, Imagineering has fixed the cannons on Rise at Disneyland which suggests the fix will be implemented at DHS soon, Test Track is getting an update, Gran Fiesta Tour is getting a refurb, one of the Sebastian figure’s eyes was recently repaired on Under the Sea, Space Mountain’s exterior was recently repainted (and I do suspect the interior will be gutted and replaced after Big Thunder reopens), Muppetvision’s seats replaced Etc. etc. etc.

By expanding the capacity of the parks, which they’re in the process of doing, it’s also easier for park operations to take an attraction offline for an extensive refurb.

I genuinely think maintenance has improved a lot recently.