News Expect closure of Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland to impact Walt Disney World

Lyman

Member
Expect cutbacks in fireworks used in shows.

There can be cuts do to budget, however the fireworks come from Italy. China does not make the multicolor bursts according to the guide conducting the EPCOT tour I was on. This was several years ago and he said the cost to produce all firework shows at WDW was $65,000 per day.

Times that by 365 days
 

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
There can be cuts do to budget, however the fireworks come from Italy. China does not make the multicolor bursts according to the guide conducting the EPCOT tour I was on. This was several years ago and he said the cost to produce all firework shows at WDW was $65,000 per day.

Times that by 365 days

MK alone gets 50,000 visitors a day, probably averaging at least $100/pp when you add up admission, food, merch etc.

They can afford it.
 

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
There can be cuts do to budget, however the fireworks come from Italy. China does not make the multicolor bursts according to the guide conducting the EPCOT tour I was on. This was several years ago and he said the cost to produce all firework shows at WDW was $65,000 per day.

Times that by 365 days

There was a time, several years ago, that MK, Epcot, and DHS all had real fireworks shows.

DHS and Epcot have been cut down to the bare minnimum already.
 

Rosso11

Well-Known Member
How much different can it be when arriving aircraft are subjected to delays and embargoes as detailed here...

Airline delays and embargoes are nothing compared to post 9/11 in America. It took many years for the travel industry to recover to their pre 9/11 numbers. US Airways and United both declared bankruptcy and the US government had to loan them each 10 billion to stay afloat. American Airlines laid off 7,000 workers. The travel industry was a disaster at that time. We are no where near that at this time. Right now the Chinese airlines are taking the biggest hit and in their favor they are for the most part owned my the Chinese government so they will survive this. The situation is not a good one right now but it has a long way to go to be anything like that.
 

CJR

Well-Known Member
I think it helps them in that we're going from February to March, when they would normally beef up staffing, heading towards Easter weekend. It's easier to simply not extend things that were otherwise in the budget.
 

the.dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
What's the status on Zootopia for SHDL? Based on the construction pictures from December, they appear to not have done much more than ground clearing.
 

Cesar R M

Well-Known Member
I don’t know I’m still not sold Disney is going to make these drastic cuts already. This is a very different situation than 9/11. I was working for Disney during that time period. The parks were a ghost town for years out of pure fear of flying. This is a very different situation today outside of Asia. And yes it sounds like an incredible amount of money they are losing right now but the Walt Disney company has lost just as much money on movie bombs in the past. One example alone was John Carter which had a 200 million dollar write off. And this back In 2012 when the company was significantly smaller than it is today. Disney can manage this lose for now much better than in the past. It has grown tremendously since 9/11 which was a much much worse situation. The company today is 12.5 times larger than in 2001. Will there be cuts? Absolutely small cuts like entertainment and watching hours. Stoping the Avengers E Ticket? I’m not convinced yet. But we shall see.
This is something that I will never understand of Disney.
Instead of boolstering the areas you can have open, use the lower amount of people coming to accelerate buildings at all costs so when things normalize you can get your gates flooded with no issues of closures, shutdowns..etc..

Its like having your cousin hospitalized is a good reason to shot yourself in the foot "because". (or a better analogy, is cutting down your medication intake because your cousin had to be hospitalized, even if logic says you should with even more reason now.)
 

monothingie

Proxy War 2024: Never Forget
Premium Member
This is something that I will never understand of Disney.
Instead of boolstering the areas you can have open, use the lower amount of people coming to accelerate buildings at all costs so when things normalize you can get your gates flooded with no issues of closures, shutdowns..etc..

The current WDC leadership is not interested in long term growth. It's only about the next quarterly report. The only thing that is a priority is the positive market reaction at the end of each quarter. They are going to take a hit this quarter and will do anything and everything to mitigate a loss regardless of the cause. It is an unsustainable process.
 

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
The current WDC leadership is not interested in long term growth. It's only about the next quarterly report. The only thing that is a priority is the positive market reaction at the end of each quarter. They are going to take a hit this quarter and will do anything and everything to mitigate a loss regardless of the cause. It is an unsustainable process.

Exactly. When people post that “it’s just businesses” or “Disney is a business” - yeah.... we know. It’s a terrible business strategy to budget cut your product the way they are doing.

Studios is such a prime example. That park needs lights motors, the tram tour, and great movie ride now more than ever to take up the people coming to see Star Wars land.
 

RobWDW1971

Well-Known Member
Exactly. When people post that “it’s just businesses” or “Disney is a business” - yeah.... we know. It’s a terrible business strategy to budget cut your product the way they are doing.

Studios is such a prime example. That park needs lights motors, the tram tour, and great movie ride now more than ever to take up the people coming to see Star Wars land.
But apparently it doesn't - 2 1/2 hour wait today to get into a merch location so people are gladly lining up to pay without any of those things. Now if 30% of the guests today demanded refunds and next year because of this terrible situation attendance dropped 30%, they would take action. Every single one of those people in that park today are voting with their dollars that it is just great the way it is.
 

CastAStone

5th gate? Just build a new resort Bob.
Premium Member
Studios is such a prime example. That park needs lights motors, the tram tour, and great movie ride now more than ever to take up the people coming to see Star Wars land.
Studios is a terrible example.

The addition of TSL, SWGE, expansion of TSM, and swap out of MMRR for TGMR increased ride capacity by over 1/3 vs 2014. If MMRR hits its targets and ROTR ever works correctly that will be closer to 50%.

I am less clear on the show capacities but Lights Motors Action’s daily capacity (which is expandable based on how many shows a day you schedule) I imagine was typically less than Lightning Mcqueeen’s racing academy’s continuous showings.
 

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
Studios is a terrible example.

The addition of TSL, SWGE, expansion of TSM, and swap out of MMRR for TGMR increased ride capacity by over 1/3 vs 2014. If MMRR hits its targets and ROTR ever works correctly that will be closer to 50%.

I am less clear on the show capacities but Lights Motors Action’s daily capacity (which is expandable based on how many shows a day you schedule) I imagine was typically less than Lightning Mcqueeen’s racing academy’s continuous showings.

The park has always had too few rides, spending 1 billion (or more?) should have added even more.

And I’m not even going to begin on the comparison of LMA and the racing academy. I don’t have anything agains the academy and it’s certainly more impressive than the beauty and the beast sing along if that’s our new standard but lights motors was probably the most impressive daily stunt show ever performed in North America.
 
Last edited:

HKDLer

Well-Known Member
Some updates from Hong Kong with regard to post #102:
- Only the Disneyland hotel and Inspiration Lake are open. Disneyland park and the other two hotels remain closed until further notice.
- Except hotel cast, most CMs (including imagineers) are asked to work from home. Standby shifts have been arranged for park frontline cast.
- Part-time cast are not released from the company, yet.
- Attractions are not being cycled during the closure. What's the point of doing that?
- HKSAR govt obtained consent from Disney to use land reserved for second gate for quarantine facilities. The proposed site next to the resort parking lot could provide 600 units and would be ready by April, should construction begin soon.
- Castle remodel and Arendelle construction are still in full swing. The Central plaza stage has just been removed today to make way for the new hub and castle viewing area à la SHDL.
- Autopia demolition completed. And HKDL is not getting the E-ticket announced for Anaheim but another version of GOTG:MB instead. Such change was made before the protests even started in June 2019. If you have paid attention to previous Marvel theme park announcements, Disney has been very quiet on the Avengers E-ticket coming to HK in 2023.
- Closure of HKDL and its struggling rival Ocean Park are seen as cost-cutting measures by some. Not long before the coronavirus outbreak, the HKSAR govt unveiled a major revamp for Ocean Park that would cost taxpayers hkd10b. It was later revealed that the park had only hkd400m left to keep it running. The low attendance caused by the protests has made it not cost-effective to keep the parks open even with reduced hours. The coronavirus just provided a valid reason to temporarily close the parks.
 
Last edited:

celluloid

Well-Known Member
The thing about Communist, Authoritarian governments is there are no checks and balances agencies reporting. I am not a fan of fear mongering, but this is bigger than many suspected. Disney as a company is learning more of the difficulties of having parks in these environments. It is bigger than just the parks and company. Other recreation, movie theaters, public places, transportation schools all have areas where much of it is closed and people are STRONGLY encouraged to stay home and risk losing their pets if they are outside.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom