Future development at Disney Parks worldwide

[Buried20KLeague]

A project of this size gets approved by Burbank. And they decide the number. Very little input comes from TDO. Again, this is why this project was pushed through to start with.

TDO has the power to move around funds, though.

They can take XXX millions from a proposed Monsters coaster at Studios and put them toward Fantasyland redo instead for instance. But they can't say 'we want this project to cost $432 million instead of $564 million and thus it will be'.

Hope that helps.

So Burbank says "we're doing this FL expansion whether you like it or not".

TDO doesn't want to effect the bottom line so greatly for the next few years, so they say "okay, well... We're going to can the MI coaster (because green-light for that attraction is under our control), and funnel those dollars to FL. If you're going to make us do FL, we'll just tighten the strings elsewhere and move money to lessen the impact."

Just wanna make sure I understand.

 

[DisneyDellsDude]

So Burbank says "we're doing this FL expansion whether you like it or not".

TDO doesn't want to effect the bottom line so greatly for the next few years, so they say "okay, well... We're going to can the MI coaster (because green-light for that attraction is under our control), and funnel those dollars to FL. If you're going to make us do FL, we'll just tighten the strings elsewhere and move money to lessen the impact."

Just wanna make sure I understand.

If true, some people in TDO should get the boot.
They act like they have one theme park when they really have four, plus two waterparks, plus downtown disney.

 

[Figment632]

If true, some people in TDO should get the boot.
They act like they have one theme park when they really have four, plus two waterparks, plus downtown disney.

One theme park? They really don't keep any of them to the same standards as other parks around the world.

 

[headhoncho34]

One theme park? They really don't keep any of them to the same standards as other parks around the world.

Agreed its time for most of them to pack their bags and leave and allow for people who really care about WDW and the parks to work their and manage it.

 

[yeti]

Thank you TP2000. To Pirate Frank and Sea Castle: Writing a site every day in a language which is not your language is not easy, and i'm really doing my best. Now, if the quality of the information depends of the grammar - i mean if you really enough stupid to think that, then, sorry, i can't be of any help. (BTW, just try to write even only three lines in French, just for the fun, and you will understand what it mean to do a web site every day in a language that is not your native tongue)

Alain, I had no clue that you were on WDWMagic. :wave:

 

[20009551sc]

We just returned from WDW. We didn't go into the parks as we could not afford to renew our passes. We did talk to a lot of people who have been long time Disney fans like my family. Many of us want to see money spent here at WDW. Disney needs more of a WOW factor here. Expanding Fantasy Land sounds great but how many autographs do you need.
Rides is what draws people and it is time for some new ideas. If money is so tight then it should be spent here first, China can wait!

 

[majortom1981]

hmm

I thought the foreign parks are done by other companies who essentially run those parks? Doesnt the money to build the rides come from those third party companies?

 

[EPCOTPluto]

If I understand that carefully, for example TDL, the Oriental Land Company licenses both Tokyo Disneyland & DisneySea. But Disney technically has a share with them. More of joint cooperation in profits, marketing, shares & the such.

Sorry if it doesn't make any sense. I never understood business lingo...

 

[bstiles]

Could those blueprints be one of many that were submitted? If there were multiple blueprints the one attraction that I see that could be on all of those would be The Little Mermaid.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

If true, some people in TDO should get the boot.
They act like they have one theme park when they really have four, plus two waterparks, plus downtown disney.

The part that really sucks is... You can't really blame the folks at TDO for what they're doing.

People in those decision making positions are almost universally bonused based on the bottom-line profitability of the division they're in. "Pay for profitablilty". And at first blush, that sounds GREAT. When the resort make bigger profits, the folks in charge at TDO make more money. It's a win-win situation all the way around.

The problem is that it doesn't account well for times like these. These people get used to those bonuses. And when the bottom line gets affected by a poor economy, and Burbank calls for the infusion of cash into the parks, it effects that bottom line that these people get bonused on.

So what's their reaction? Do what they can do to minimize the impact to the bottom-line, and therefore minimize the impact to bonuses. And what can they control? Refurb projects. Numbers of employees. Park hours. Numbers of busses that run. Things like that.

To a point, I'm quite sure that TWDC created a monster when it comes to TDO, because of the way their contracts are structured.

Think about it for a second. You're in charge... AND THIS IS IMPORTANT... You aren't a massive fan of the parks. It's just a business to you. You've been getting big bonuses each year, because let's be honest, you have a desired product. People have been flocking to the resort. Then the economy goes nuts. You're worried you might not get that $500k bonus this year, and you REALLY wanted a place in the mountains. "Let's get more people to come", you say. Discounts. The parks are crowded. But the people coming aren't spending as much money, so you're just treading water. It's not helping.

We can cut back operating hours and blame it on the economy and cut expenses.

We can cut some CM's, and have a perfect excuse with the economy.

We can take prime rib off the menus around property and no one will notice.

We can etc., etc., etc.... And at the end of the year, instead of losing $500k in bonus, you've cut enough to where you only lost $300k. It's a loss... But you've still saved a good portion of that bonus.

It's hard to blame them. I don't think many of them have a passion for the parks. Or for the Legacy of Disney. It's a business, and that's all. It's why we are where we are.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

I thought the foreign parks are done by other companies who essentially run those parks? Doesnt the money to build the rides come from those third party companies?

EpcotPluto is right... It's a combination of those other entities (governments) and Disney. It's true that they're "different buckets" of money... But there's only so many "buckets" to go around. :lol:

 

[majortom1981]

EpcotPluto is right... It's a combination of those other entities (governments) and Disney. It's true that they're "different buckets" of money... But there's only so many "buckets" to go around. :lol:

I see it as disney using there money where it would get the best bang for the buck.

Why spend say 50 million to make a new ride at wdw (ficticious numbers) when you could spend say 15 million to do the same thing at a foreign disney park.

The foreign disney parks attract a lot of visitors that wouldnt go outside their country to come to wdw or dl in california.

 

[headhoncho34]

The part that really sucks is... You can't really blame the folks at TDO for what they're doing.

People in those decision making positions are almost universally bonused based on the bottom-line profitability of the division they're in. "Pay for profitablilty". And at first blush, that sounds GREAT. When the resort make bigger profits, the folks in charge at TDO make more money. It's a win-win situation all the way around.

The problem is that it doesn't account well for times like these. These people get used to those bonuses. And when the bottom line gets affected by a poor economy, and Burbank calls for the infusion of cash into the parks, it effects that bottom line that these people get bonused on.

So what's their reaction? Do what they can do to minimize the impact to the bottom-line, and therefore minimize the impact to bonuses. And what can they control? Refurb projects. Numbers of employees. Park hours. Numbers of busses that run. Things like that.

To a point, I'm quite sure that TWDC created a monster when it comes to TDO, because of the way their contracts are structured.

Think about it for a second. You're in charge... AND THIS IS IMPORTANT... You aren't a massive fan of the parks. It's just a business to you. You've been getting big bonuses each year, because let's be honest, you have a desired product. People have been flocking to the resort. Then the economy goes nuts. You're worried you might not get that $500k bonus this year, and you REALLY wanted a place in the mountains. "Let's get more people to come", you say. Discounts. The parks are crowded. But the people coming aren't spending as much money, so you're just treading water. It's not helping.

We can cut back operating hours and blame it on the economy and cut expenses.

We can cut some CM's, and have a perfect excuse with the economy.

We can take prime rib off the menus around property and no one will notice.

We can etc., etc., etc.... And at the end of the year, instead of losing $500k in bonus, you've cut enough to where you only lost $300k. It's a loss... But you've still saved a good portion of that bonus.

It's hard to blame them. I don't think many of them have a passion for the parks. Or for the Legacy of Disney. It's a business, and that's all. It's why we are where we are.

Very true the only people that have a passion for the parks are the WDI and of course the people that visit them every year.

 

[SirGoofy]

Very true the only people that have a passion for the parks are the WDI and of course the people that visit them every year.

And the wonderful CMs that work in the parks.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

I see it as disney using there money where it would get the best bang for the buck.

Why spend say 50 million to make a new ride at wdw (ficticious numbers) when you could spend say 15 million to do the same thing at a foreign disney park.

The foreign disney parks attract a lot of visitors that wouldnt go outside their country to come to wdw or dl in california.

But it's all proportionate. It might only cost 15mil to build overseas, but Disney also only sees 10% (hypothetically) of the profit generated by the attraction (higher ticket sales, merch, etc).

And attraction stateside might cost $100mil, but you're going to get 100% of the revenue generated by that attraction, too.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

And the wonderful CMs that work in the parks.

Since you said "wonderful", I'm assuming you're not including the JC Skippers. :lookaroun


:lol:

Kidding. :wave:

 

[SirGoofy]

Since you said "wonderful", I'm assuming you're not including the JC Skippers. :lookaroun


:lol:

Kidding. :wave:

Heavens no! We're soulless monsters kept at bay by the laughter of our victims.

I mean guests.

:lookaroun

 

[majortom1981]

But it's all proportionate. It might only cost 15mil to build overseas, but Disney also only sees 10% (hypothetically) of the profit generated by the attraction (higher ticket sales, merch, etc).

And attraction stateside might cost $100mil, but you're going to get 100% of the revenue generated by that attraction, too.

Yes but doing the other thing disney could then take the concept that was done over seas and bring it here. Even some of the enineering if not the whole ride. Since the other company in the other country paid for some of it.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Yes but doing the other thing disney could then take the concept that was done over seas and bring it here. Even some of the enineering if not the whole ride. Since the other company in the other country paid for some of it.

that's true, but there's an exclusivity contract in place when other countries are involved... So at the very least you'd have to wait that out. Five, ten years?

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Blog, blog, blog = Bla, bla, bla....to me. I don't really find them credible. :shrug:


However, if this is the scheme for things....Ehhhh...FL is'nt that bad off, as I learned this past trip. There are other areas and projects in need of the funding. We shall see...

All this talk of the budget for FL possibly being cut massively has me wondering...

Is it possible someone on the design team was furious about the budget getting so massively slashed that they leaked the plans... Showing the public what they had lined up... So that TDO might feel pressure to not cut the budget anymore?

I could see TDO feeling like they're "between a rock and a hard place" because they want to cut... But now the public has seen plans, and anything less than what they're expecting based on those plans could be a HUGE PR nightmare...

While whoever leaked the plans on the design team sits back and smiles because TDO might win the battle, but not the war.

:shrug:

Doesn't seem that far out of line, to me. We KNOW they got leaked. They had to. Someone on the inside had a reason to get this out to the public. Then we start hearing news of potential cuts to the budget. Sounds a little fishy to me.

Well said!:wave: