GimpYancIent
Well-Known Member
It's A LOVE / HATE RELATIONSHIP. Addiction is a difficult thing to overcome, some never do.
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Rumor Hollywood insiders say there's growing tension at Disney as CEO Bob Chapek chafes at Bob Iger's 'long goodbye'
- Thread starter Creathir
- Start date
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
We also know that Disney is BIG In Sweden
el_super
Well-Known Member
Maybe it's possible... but I just saw a blurb about all park reservations being sold out again. More complaints about the place being too busy.
Maybe the bad news today would have an impact on bookings 6 to 12 months out, but by then people will have Cosmic Rewind and maybe Tron tipping the calculations. For all the bad news that is out there, there has also never been as much GOOD news available either. There is a whole industry of bloggers and twitter and instagram users and youtubers pushing that life style every week.
Not only are we not seeing any meaningful change in the demand here, it's hard to even quantify if there is a problem at all. If all the reduction in services and upcharge products were all tied into the crowding issues, then presumably that would all be resolved by the crowds not showing up. If the crowds don't show up, and the experience improves enough for those that still go, what happens then? It's a catch-22.
The great thing is, they can change the number of reservations on a whim. Want to make things appears to be "sold out"? Reduce what's available for a time, then suddenly "refresh" and make more available, and people snap them up. Creating scarcity to drive demand. I'm not saying that's what they are doing, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. There certainly are a lot of people continuing to go despite their own complaints about what's going on with reservations, Genie, ILL, etc.
el_super
Well-Known Member
Sure... but if we are living in a world where, the temporary annoyance of today, leads to growth in the future, than Disney has already won.
Pretty much. Most people will look at it logically and complain, then let their emotions take control and click "Confirm reservation" on their next vacation. Lather, rinse, repeat. Meaningful change will only happen when more than half of current park consumers stop clicking "Confirm reservation".
Brad Bishop
Well-Known Member
I think we're a generation out from the problems of today taking effect. Right now they're still living on the last generation's nostalgia reservoir. Given 10, maybe 20, years time, I think we'll see a very different Disney, with a different CEO, either:
- if he's an historical Disney employee: trying to pick up the pieces, put it back together again, and regain the trust/fans that have been lost (again, it'll take another 2-3 generations there as I think it's easier to keep your good name than to have to rebuild it after having deserved a bad name)
- if he's not a historical Disney employee: it'll just be more cuts and higher prices (traditional CEO stuff - which is where we are now) to try to return the best numbers to Wall Street possible. Perhaps selling off parts of the company that aren't making money or aren't performing as well as they should (I'd think: ABC, ESPN, FOX, Marvel, maybe Star Wars (they've created this problem), etc.). Basically dismantling the Iger dynasty because they have to because they're saddled with a huge amount of debt that isn't paying for itself (meaning, the properties bought aren't showing much, if any, ROI - what do you do with old TV shows? They're, at best, filler. Most people don't have time for them like they did, say, back in the 1970s/1980s. A lot of these shows don't age well. Still, Iger bought them because he was on a spending spree).
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
Just keep in mind that my original post was not predicting an inevitable implosion of Disney's parks; just that I don't see how they'll be able to sustain financial growth long-term with the current plan of going cheaper and charging more (in all the various schemes they now have in place to do so).
Sure, Cosmic Rewind will be opening to great fanfare. A lot of people will show up to ride and discover they can't.**
Meanwhile, people will still be walking past the pile of dirt in the middle of that same park waiting on, from Disney's very vague description, what appears to be a glorified water feature.
Some day that'll be complete, though and we'll have Dreamer's Point with a statue of Walt gazing out at the giant black tacos.
I wonder if they plan for that statue to have a dedicated lighting lane.
Higher prices, lower standards.
FP+ seems to have bought them six or seven years. I'm sure the current strategy will buy them a few more, although I doubt it'll be more than half a decade.
What's next?
Seems like now would be the time to be building like crazy in anticipation of catching up to that can they've kicked down the road yet again since we know it takes them half a decade to build anything of substance nowadays* but I get the feeling the people in charge don't plan to still be her once that time comes.
If that's the case, why would it be their concern?
*I wish I could say I was exaggerating for dramatic effect here, but as you know, I cant.
**Same with TRON but at least this might mean more people finally get a crack at 7DMT
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Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
I only think chapek wants to work for 5 years…
What’s smart for him? Capex? Or cost cutting/stock pumping?
Lol…and say things like there “searching for the funds” for the “signature e ticket” centerpiece to a repurposed mini land that they already opened
I don’t think we all appreciate how ballsy that is
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
Yeah, maybe they need to try searching a little harder.I only think chapek wants to work for 5 years…
What’s smart for him? Capex? Or cost cutting/stock pumping?
Lol…and say things like there “searching for the funds” for the “signature e ticket” centerpiece to a repurposed mini land that they already opened
I don’t think we all appreciate how ballsy that is
I hear someone in the company found someplace to mine money. After all, they're managing to keep Disney+ afloat while they expect it to continue to lose them money for at least another three years. Maybe they should look where that money is coming from and take some to build the attraction they have an empty building sitting there for.
Oh wait...
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
Also, I wonder if they've added balloon animal making to the Dr. Strange birthday party magic show they have in that same land yet.I only think chapek wants to work for 5 years…
What’s smart for him? Capex? Or cost cutting/stock pumping?
Lol…and say things like there “searching for the funds” for the “signature e ticket” centerpiece to a repurposed mini land that they already opened
I don’t think we all appreciate how ballsy that is
That show, in a major "world class" theme park using one of their most valuable properties* is pretty ballsy.
*Not necessarily Dr. Strange explicitly but Marvel in general.
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Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Generation as in 15 years??
No way that holds. People won’t pay $300 and a $25 upcharge to ride Peter Pan in a wall to wall meat market
They don’t have the physical capacity to keep this going that long. Iger. 100%. Theyre reaping what he didn’t sow.
That’s a long time to survive on good will that seems to be eroding.
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
"We've been hearing 'the boat is gonna sink' for two and a half hours now - the people on deck are screaming louder than ever, and that angle's pretty steep, but if it hasn't gone under by now then it's clear it isn't going to."
Once you hit the tipping point things get real bad real fast. Even if we haven't hit it yet, with all the upcharges, crowding, retracted offerings, and negative press that scales from the top down, it seems fair to say we're closer to it than ever. All it takes is a couple more wrong moves before people throw up their hands and decide it's time to jump ship en masse.
And listen, my sincere hope is that Disney is able to correct course before it actually hits the tipping point. All of our problems here are solvable. They have literally every tool necessary to right the ship before it flounders . . . except, it seems, the will to do it. Personally, I would much rather see them take a cold, hard look and say "we've got to do something different" before things go too far, because the sort of goodwill they're burning through right now is not easy to get back once it's gone.
The Titanic took 2 hours and 40 minutes to sink. It took 2 hours and 38 minutes to get the tail way up into the air. And then it took 2 minutes for it all to disappear forever. But slowly or quickly, the ship was sinking that entire time, whether people were ready to believe it or not.
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There is even a site called Disneyaddicts.com for the fanatics all things Disney.
el_super
Well-Known Member
People have been saying that Disney (and the parks specifically) were sinking for 30 years now. Maybe even 40. How much longer do we got? Another 40 years?
So what happens if people stop going? No more crowds? No need to use Genie+? Disney starts offering services back to convince people to come back? They start discounting? I can ride Frozen Ever After with a 20 minute wait? Sign me up.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
You’re right…this happens every single time they’ve rolled out such criticized policies and such high prices that affect everyone in the park every single day.
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
Unrelated... How long before RNRC is re-themed to a Doctor Strange attraction?
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Since it doesn’t really make any sense? Don’t know for sure
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
Strange is a character they can use. RNRC is in need of an update. Strange has a movie coming out next month. I'd say if they're considering a Strange overlay anywhere it would be RNRC, Tower or Mission: SPACE.Since it doesn’t really make any sense? Don’t know for sure
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
Is it even possible to do an overlay of Mission: SPACE?
I mean, obviously they could, but I'm struggling to see how it would be done without seeming exceptionally cheap/silly. It feels like you'd basically need to start from scratch to do anything that's not a space launch mission.