jt04
Well-Known Member
That is why I said it was a start. Pandora is the big add. And I am sure more is in the pipeline.
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Disney reports largest quarterly earnings in its history
- Thread starter Bob
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That is why I said it was a start. Pandora is the big add. And I am sure more is in the pipeline.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
The Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) generates an annual report for theme park attendance. TEA has reported flat attendance for WDW for many years. Quoting from the Orlando Sentinel's article, "Operating profit at Disney's global theme-park division surged 21 percent to $630 million on sales that rose 9 percent to $3.4 billion. That growth was driven by the late March launch of the Disney Fantasy cruise ship; the mid-June opening of a "Cars"-themed attraction in Southern California; and a rebound at Tokyo Disney, which was forced to close for a time last year following a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan."
Despite how it sometimes feels)), WDW did not increased overall prices by 9% from last year. With attendance flat, it can be deduced that WDW did not increase revenue by 9%, especially since they continued to offer considerable "room only" and "Free Dining" discounts. This means the overall total of the other locations (including cruise ships) must have increased by more than 9% to make up for the underperforming WDW, suggesting that the gap between WDW (which I believe is the theme-park division's largest asset) and other locations is even greater.
It appears that WDW has performed so poorly that senior Disney management has begun to focus their attention on that resort.
Per the 10Q domestic park revenue was up 11% for the 9 months ended 6/30/12. That includes both parks plus cruise line and DVC. I doubt that 2 weeks of increased attendance due to Carsland pumped DL up that much. Next quarter that number should pop when we have a full 3 months of attendance. I have seen the 2011 report you are talking about and I am pretty sure Disneyland and WDW were both flat (around 1% attendance growth). I suspect that the cruise line and to some extent DVC are the biggest drivers of the 9 month year over year domestic growth. We don't have 2012 attendance numbers but there was a price increase this spring for tickets. To me there is no clear sign that points to decreased revenues or profits from WDW that are dragging down the other pieces that make up domestic parks segment. Since they don't publicly disclose this information we will never know. In the end I hope that you are right and management will focus on WDW.
jt04
Well-Known Member
I explained my reasoning. If I was always so wrong people would not react to me as they do. But because I am often right my hunches get people's attention. I never say people have to believe me and I do not mind if people disagree with me. I welcome differences of opinion. Unlike others here.
jt04
Well-Known Member
Search my posts for the word "pendulum" Everything happening now was predicted by me long ago. Goodnight.
FrankLapidus
Well-Known Member
I don't think it's fair to expect the FLE to single-handedly improve WDW's current fortunes. But, hopefully, it will be a part of a long-term improvement at WDW in general. It's a shame that a ride like Expedition Everest, an attraction that is a potential tour-de-force, has been let down by technical and maintenance problems. I still think that the ride itself and the concept is fantastic but the experience as a whole falls short because of the Yeti. I do really like TSMM and Soarin' and felt that they improved their respective parks while Star Tours II turned out a lot better than I expected it to. The problem I have with all of them is that Disney didn't go further and expand upon the potential they offered by plussing other areas of those parks so that they're all bright spots but the parks as a whole seem disjointed and lacking overall.
GLaDOS
Well-Known Member
He believes TWDC purposefully allowed WDW to flounder for 7 years, and it was always their plan to have to do a ton of work to fix it now.
EpcoTim
Well-Known Member
Ahhh, yes. That's perfectly logical.
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
I do think it's fair. Both WWOHP and Carsland single handedly turned around Universal and DCA. Disney's executives are being paid unseemly amounts of money to make the right business decisions to grow WDW's revenue and profits. If DLE cannot match the performance of WWOHP or Carsland, then those executives that pushed FLE should face the consequences.
Don't forget that Disney had Harry Potter in the bank and then chased J.K. Rowling away when they thought she demanded too much. Just imagine the fortunes of WDW and Universal if WWOHP was at WDW instead of at Universal.
jt04
Well-Known Member
It is not what they would have choosen, it was a necessity. WDW was the "division" best equipped to survive while higher priority problems were solved. Yes, that is exactly what I believe. It is a fortunate coincidence that it happened roughly on WDW's normal business cycle for investment. If this were not the case things would have happened differently.
DCA 2.0 could be just getting started right now. But that is not the strategy they choose. It is all very clear.
GLaDOS
Well-Known Member
FLE was never meant to do those things though. And that's what a lot of people miss. It's a nice capacity shifter, and that's it. It's not meant to get Cars Land and Potter numbers.
Captain Chaos
Well-Known Member
Universal would have probably been close to being out of business... especially since the parks were badly mismanaged up to that time.. Thank the lords for Comcast...
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
FLE is an awful lot of money and years of effort for a "capacity shifter".
GLaDOS
Well-Known Member
It's a line of things that went right for Universal. Rowling fell into their laps, they knocked it out of the park, the results were record breaking, Comcast saw the results and bought the parks, the results continued, and now they know investment = profit, and we're reaping all the benefits.
GLaDOS
Well-Known Member
Sure, but that's what it is. From day one, everyone involved knew what it was. It was to loosen up the walkways of the MK, not bring more people into them.
Captain Chaos
Well-Known Member
Everything fell perfectly into place... Like it was fate...
FrankLapidus
Well-Known Member
You make a very good point and I can't really argue with that to be honest. For me, the FLE just isn't on the scale of the two examples you mentioned so that's probably why I'm not expecting it to replicate their impact or success; perhaps I'm setting my sights too low in this case and not demanding enough of those in charge. But my overriding hope with the FLE as it stands right now is that it is the beginning of an extensive overhaul and expansion at WDW as a whole. But I have to give you credit, you completely and utterly gazumped me with that post and I think it is a great point that you make.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
If you add to theses things you listed FLE, test track refurb and Avatarland that is a pretty large list of new or refurbed rides and attractions. The general consensus seems to be that WDW management has done Nothing to the parks. Maybe none of this has been as large scale as potter or Carsland, but those were 2 parks in desperate need of major attractions.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
Disney doesn't seem to be having problems selling the points even with the direct sale price going up. They don't make any money from the resale market so that probably doesn't concern them too much. The major dropoff in resale seemed to start around 2008 when the economy tanked too so that is a contributing factor. I agree that the over build will continue to drive resales down which is not great for current owners. This is especially the case for less desirable locations like OKW considering the newest units with the longest contracts are at BLT, GF and most like Poly next. These are the flagship resorts on the MK monorail so they have a natural appeal.
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
What Disney managament overseeing WDW (whether you believe it's Burbank or TDO) has failed to do is figure out how to create the excitement of WWOHP or Carsland. These people are being paid insanely large sums of money to keep WDW the undisputed industry leader. In the last decade or so, they've failed miserably to do that.
I like to compare our passion for WDW to sports fans so I'll use an American football analogy. What Disney management at WDW has done is recruit some good linesmen and perhaps a defensive back or two. I don't think they've landed a top-rate wide receiver. They certainly haven't landed a big-name running back or QB in the last decade. They had the QB (Harry Potter) but lost it due to their own ineptness. Meanwhile, they are now charging $7 for a hot dog and $9 for a beer, while letting the stands slowly rot and the bathroom facilities degrade.
Disney management is being paid top-dollar to put together a winning team. They are also charging the consumer top-dollar as if they had the winning team. As fans of WDW, we have the right to expect a top-rated team for the money we are being asked to pay.
IMHO, WDW is still "better" than the competition. But the competition is gaining while WDW is slipping. This happens a lot in industry. The leader gets lazy while the competition gets hungry. The leader has to continue to put together a successful business strategy to maintain its position. So far, WDW leadership has mostly given us water downed attraction upgrades, increased prices, and reduced offerings. I want Disney management to stop taking WDW (and us fans) for granted, to stop coasting on past success, to get creative, and to turn WDW into the once-again undisputed leader in vacation destinations.
Fundamentally, I think everyone who has enough passion to post on these discussion boards wants WDW to be "better". How could you not want WDW to be better? Even the most ardent supporter of the current WDW still has things they would like to see changed. The big argument that seems to occur repeatedly on these threads is whether WDW as it exists today is "good enough". Having seen WDW during its perceived golden age, I know WDW can be "better" so I'm not willing to settle for the current state of WDW.