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

[montyz81]

The real question is where would you buy a train set? Why replace them with the same infrastructure problems ie: door action, platform height etc?
Never going to happen it is an obsolete ride that needs complete replacement but stockholders want their dividend and the ROi for what it would cost to replace is not there.
You know "Disney is a bidness" and all that

Yet it seems they spent significant dollars on DEI efforts that ultimately lost them money. Why not spend it on an infrastructure project that is sure to improve CX. After all, isn't that what Disney is supposed to be about?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

This is not a Universal versus WDW thread.

It’s not?

We must have gotten confused thinking it was a “Casey’s corner bathroom vs bathroom next to cat in the hat” thread?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I don't think there needs to be one with as many as DL (quibble though: MK due to having a bunch more shows than DL is a lot closer in attraction count than you would expect by counting just rides) so much as they really just need to make each park have a larger amount of total attractions. This is particularly evident at DAK and DHS.

The constant replacement of attractions (e.g. in recent years Cosmic Rewind, MMRR, FAE, Princess Fairytale Hall, SWGE & TSL, etc) as opposed to building new additional attractions (less common like Tron and Ratatouille) has been a huge problem at WDW. Replacing Dinoland instead of adding Tropical Americas elsewhere is a continuation of this problematic trend.

Somehow at DL they manage to make additions without the "blessing of size" (e.g. SWGE, MMRR there)

Nothing is gonna change. We hope they feel the heat and get ads built?
Or will they slow roll replacements as has been their “philosophy”?

Good thing we don’t have to bet on it.

SWGE and TSL gave us four rides replacing two attractions.

Also, we got expansions and reconfigurations which dramatically increased capacity: Soarin's third theater, TSMM extra track, a much larger foot print with Ellen->GotG, a 'green side' to M:S.

Not to mention that capacity increased simply by having a more attractive attraction (Ellen->GotG and Maelstrom->FEA).

I understand the longing for a brand new ride while keeping everything else the same. But, some attractions become less attractive over time (maybe not to hardcore fans, but to the general public). Not to mention have 'operational issues' that would require the expenditure of what a brand new rethemed ride would cost. This makes the calculus to replace with something less costly to maintain and more attractive to guests appealing to the powers that be.

Who among us hasn't demolished a ride in a theme park simulator that was no longer getting many guests and replaced it with something newer and better?

If it were up to me, I'd give DHS, DAK, and EP each three new rides to make them more ride-attractive while doing only replacements in MK to even them out. The BBTM new land drives me crazy... MK is at its infrastructure limits and they wants to make it more attractive? I guess that means park reservations for ever and much, much higher prices.

You don’t understand math in your attempt to support bad management

They got rid of backlot, the playground, animation/launch bay and lights motor action to implement the two meh Star Wars ride, the pointless alien spinner and mine train part deux…

That is the problem…has been the problem…and will continue to be the problem.

The institutional investors have spoken. “Nothing to see here”

 

[The Mom]

This is not a WDW versus USF thread.

 

[erasure fan1]

You don’t understand math in your attempt to support bad management

They got rid of backlot, the playground, animation/launch bay and lights motor action to implement the two meh Star Wars ride, the pointless alien spinner and mine train part deux…

That is the problem…has been the problem…and will continue to be the problem.

Exactly. I broke it all down in a post last year. From the time of 20k closing to now, capacity is basically flat. You can argue some replacements will get a higher guest count I suppose. But the fact of the matter is WDW has taken something away for everything they've built. And that's an embarrassment. I'd have to go and check, but tron Is the first plus attraction count since 20k, that is once Tiana opens.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Exactly. I broke it all down in a post last year. From the time of 20k closing to now, capacity is basically flat. You can argue some replacements will get a higher guest count I suppose. But the fact of the matter is WDW has taken something away for everything they've built. And that's an embarrassment. I'd have to go and check, but tron Is the first plus attraction count since 20k, that is once Tiana opens.

Attendance is up 22-27.% in that timeframe based on estimates

 

[HauntedPirate]

Bob is waiting patiently for October 1. Then all he has to do is this and everything is better!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Bob is waiting patiently for October 1. Then all he has to do is this and everything is better!

You win the day for the hasselhoff reference

 

[Disney Irish]

You win the day for the hasselhoff reference

Could go with a now Disney movie via 20th Century reference -

 

[HauntedPirate]

You win the day for the hasselhoff reference

 

[CosmicDuck]

I'm so sad that the entire EPCOT revitalization and development cycle had to happen during the COVID/Chapek/D+ era. And by all accounts it'll probably leapfrog right past this current "turbocharged, Daddy Iger needs a good exit" era.

Never thought I'd say thank god for General Motors and Chevrolet.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Exactly. I broke it all down in a post last year. From the time of 20k closing to now, capacity is basically flat. You can argue some replacements will get a higher guest count I suppose. But the fact of the matter is WDW has taken something away for everything they've built. And that's an embarrassment. I'd have to go and check, but tron Is the first plus attraction count since 20k, that is once Tiana opens.

There have been some legit adds

Ratatouille is one…but they took an entire pavilion offline ten years before…losing 3 attractions. Ridiculous

Pandora is a legit add…

But that’s about it until tron. And even there it’s sketchy because they mothballed alien encounter/stitch

“New” fantasyland resulted in net zero

What? Ok…maybe the dumbo second spinner

But beyond that? It was little mermaid for 20K and swapping mine train for Snow White scary adventures

Math is hard for a lot of Bob apologists.

Even now…all geeked over DAK.
Hey…dinoland needed serious work. They let CTX collapse like they did splash before it. Which is reprehensible. But what are we gonna gain in the end? Remember: they demoed primeval hurl and didn’t replace it. It’s down a ride already.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I'm so sad that the entire EPCOT revitalization and development cycle had to happen during the COVID/Chapek/D+ era. And by all accounts it'll probably leapfrog right past this current "turbocharged, Daddy Iger needs a good exit" era.

Never thought I'd say thank god for General Motors and Chevrolet.

Iger says the EPCOT revitalization is a huge success despite COVID/Chapek/D+

BTW, Iger calls D+ a success also.

Iger also calls Genie+ a huge success.

 

[erasure fan1]

There have been some legit adds

Ratatouille is one…but they took an entire pavilion offline ten years before…losing 3 attractions. Ridiculous

Pandora is a legit add…

But that’s about it until tron. And even there it’s sketchy because they mothballed alien encounter/stitch

“New” fantasyland resulted in net zero

What? Ok…maybe the dumbo second spinner

But beyond that? It was little mermaid for 20K and swapping mine train for Snow White scary adventures

Math is hard for a lot of Bob apologists.

Even now…all geeked over DAK.
Hey…dinoland needed serious work. They let CTX collapse like they did splash before it. Which is reprehensible. But what are we gonna gain in the end? Remember: they demoed primeval hurl and didn’t replace it. It’s down a ride already.

I was more talking as a resort as a whole. The net sum of attractions at all parks is basically the same. Some are slightly better some slightly worse. No matter how you do the math, it's embarrassing for the time frame we're talking about.

 

[DonniePeverley]

Will they use the profits the parks make to pump more money into the movie studio division ?

 

[TheDisneyParksfanC8]

Will they use the profits the parks make to pump more money into the movie studio division ?

Part of me hopes that after the whole Peltz scare, Disney is starting to see the forest for the trees and actually stops directing as much money to the studio and actually sends it to the parks.

 

[DonniePeverley]

Part of hopes that after the whole Peltz scare, Disney is starting to see the forest for the trees and actually stops directing as much money to the studio and actually sends it to the parks.

What was the Peltz scare?

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

So why did Bob spend $40,000,000 fighting it?

Mixture of an overabundance of caution and also to inflict the maximum humiliation possible on the person who wounded his ego I'd figure. Corporate executives tend to have out of control egos, so it doesn't really surprise me when they go overboard on trying to stamp out any and all dissent from other wealthy ego mad people who have publicly criticized them. Even if going that hard is entirely unnecessary and the opposition wasn't a real threat.

Peltz suffered an enormous and humiliating defeat. I'd imagine much more than any relief Iger may have felt, it gave him a massive ego boost.

 

[BrianLo]

Will they use the profits the parks make to pump more money into the movie studio division ?

Not really. As a Division, 'Entertainment' has always been self-funded. Linear has propped it up while DTC and Content Sales/Licensing (or Studios) was negative. Ultimately the Entertainment portion of the company still reported 1.44 billion positive operating income for last year.

Parks money you could say went to the Hulu buyout last year in large part. This year in increased Capex, buybacks, dividends and lastly debt servicing one could say. But on paper the Entertainment will certainly again be positive and so will sports, so they are also contributing to those line items in a way.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Mixture of an overabundance of caution and also to inflict the maximum humiliation possible on the person who wounded his ego I'd figure. Corporate executives tend to have out of control egos, so it doesn't really surprise me when they go overboard on trying to stamp out any and all dissent from other wealthy ego mad people who have publicly criticized them. Even if going that hard is entirely unnecessary and the opposition wasn't a real threat.

Peltz suffered an enormous and humiliating defeat. I'd imagine much more than any relief Iger may have felt, it gave him a massive ego boost.

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I agree with you.

Did we ever get the board vote totals? They have to disclose that

Whatever Bob thinks now…the market still wants him gone. But have no faith he will honor his vague promises