If execs start selling a big amount of company stock to cash in millions then they know something we don't at the moment.
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Is attendance really down at WDW this or…
- Thread starter coachb
- Start date
Grimley1968
Well-Known Member
At some point, there will be a cyclical economic recession. WDW will have a tough time with that because of their foolish decisions while times have been relatively prosperous. They won't be able to improve the guest experience much if they're having to tighten their spending as much as guests.
GhostHost1000
Premium Member
maybe the new country bear's Disney IP concert will help improve the guest morale and experience?
The Dow , Nasdaq are at record levels , my portfolio is the highest and contInues to climb, my real estate holdings have 5X in value risen like a rocket so that's a recession prediction for some ?
Grimley1968
Well-Known Member
Similar sentiments were expressed in 1928, 1981, 1999, 2007, 2020, and I'm sure many times I'm forgetting. People always seem to assume economic cycles don't apply to their times or circumstances. The lesson of the story of the ants and the grasshopper always applies, IMO.
Some have been predicting a recession for the last 3 years. Not breaking news to report.
Grimley1968
Well-Known Member
Some have; I'm not predicting one now, and I'm not saying it's breaking news. But it will happen cyclically, and WDW in relatively prosperous times have put themselves in a uniquely weak position to deal with it when it does happen, and if there is some event that hastens the cycle or makes it worse, WDW will be affected more than the overall economy, IMO.
Iger thought otherwise. Post recession 2009, Iger went full steam ahead in spending. I wish I had a more of a cash position in 2009 when many lost their jobs and homes and values fell like a rock. Real estate was bought on the very cheap post 09' recession.
DisneyHead123
Well-Known Member
It does feel like the zeitgeist is shifting recently. And consumer spending is finally slowing down. I don't know that we're in for a full blown recession but consumer spending can really only go down more at this point, no chance it can keep going up. And when spending goes down, it's not an economic boom time, at the very least. Hopefully it's a soft landing.
Not entirely sure this will be horrible for Disney though, so long as Disney is able to manage getting their prices down without a huge loss in profits. While it may be unfair, my impression is that huge corporations like Disney are in a better position to do this during economic downturns. If a supplier doesn't play ball with the little corner market in a small town, likely not going to impact them much. If Disney and Walmart give them a Serious Face and tell them to get prices down and do it fast, probably more likely to happen (is my understanding, at least.)
Laketravis
Well-Known Member
I'll go on public record right now and predict that there will absolutely be another recession.
I just can't tell you when.
I just can't tell you when.
Grimley1968
Well-Known Member
Until then, put the fiddle down and be the ant.
Or, in WDW terms, make decisions that increase value to guests to make them want to come back, no matter the economic conditions, rather than decreasing value as they have done, which makes guests less likely to come in good times and unwilling and unable to come back in bad times. Increasing value for WDW guests was something Disney seemed to understand for decades, but seems foreign to them now.
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I will go on record too. The attendance of parks domestically will improve. I just don’t know when.
V_L_Raptor
Well-Known Member
I went to an event in Orlando last year and was a little gobsmacked by the absence of several repeat vendors -- far more than might be expected to skip a year for the occasional reason here or there. This wasn't post-pandemic dropoff. The show the year before last was bustling, but last year... not so much. Someone I spoke with mentioned that, essentially, the recession had arrived. The direct costs of participation, whatever they may have been in each case, had cut into several vendors' involvement.
The economy is not really rooted in the stock market, particularly considering how easily stock prices might be manipulated through things like buybacks. As affordability worsens, spending slows. We've belabored this a lot, but really, we have a quiet recession going on now, even if it doesn't show on Wall Street yet. How soon until it does (at least, to the extent that it gets taken seriously for what it is) remains to be seen.
The economy is not really rooted in the stock market, particularly considering how easily stock prices might be manipulated through things like buybacks. As affordability worsens, spending slows. We've belabored this a lot, but really, we have a quiet recession going on now, even if it doesn't show on Wall Street yet. How soon until it does (at least, to the extent that it gets taken seriously for what it is) remains to be seen.
Wall Street loves companies who look for ways each quarter to have record profits that use pricing to their advantage. It enriches the companies, its execs, and what's so bad about the average Joe getting in on the action to see that monies is working harder than they do by investing in the markets and increasing their net worth? Many are invested in the markets and that's a key to financial freedom for a number of investors. Selling shares from time to time for profit taking is a good thing, having a good cash position, because no one wants to lose their shirt when the dreaded R hits. TWDC has weathered many storms and the Street and the Board still believe Iger can captain the ship.
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Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
The wait times are laughable…realizing everything breaks down twice a day and they’re juicing the waits anyway
CntrlFlPete
Well-Known Member
07/08/2024 15 minutes before three PM and there is plenty of open spaces save where people are taken up every inch of shade they can find
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
What time is the parade?
LSLS
Well-Known Member
Ok, so my observations.
-It felt busier than last year. That said, it was still not bad
-The lines were WAY longer than they should be. Walking in the parks wasn't too bad, but the lines for almost every ride were super long. No idea why, but usually when everything is 35+ minute waits (and at times 60), it feels wall to wall people. It did not at all.
-MK was the least busy of the parks most of the weeks, I'm assuming because of blackouts. Also showed in that VQ and LL were available for Tiana on Friday at like 3:30.
Side not, but, I've never had such an annoying on-site stay. We were at Coronado. First, it was dead until about Thursday when some Martial Arts tournament took over the place. I don't know if the Tower added a bunch of rooms, but the Dig pool was the busiest I've ever seen. Slide line all the way down to the bottom of the slide at the pool, and no room to even really get in. The fridge has something on it that says it doesn't go below 41 degrees and may be over that which is absolutely INSANE, no microwave, they obviously don't have enough housekeepers as ours didn't come til like 5:30 (and they only come every other day). And they were not even doing semi-fresh food. Legit you go to the QS, and there are containers piled high with burgers and fries in a warmer, you can't even interact with people cooking. It was just not worth CLOSE to the cost. It honestly may be our last on-site stay ever.
Also, it is so dumb you can't go to other resorts to eat. I get that some people go for free parking, but they are costing themselves money. We wanted to go eat at the Polynesian, and eat at the QS since it's our favorite. Turned away at the gate at 6:30. I asked if I could drop the family off up front and then go park at MK, told no, kids need to walk too. Mind you the Poly lot was empty. Poly is my favorite QS, but if you are telling me I need to park at DS and bus all the way there and back just to get a 15 minute meal, I'll just eat at DS or somewhere else off site.
-It felt busier than last year. That said, it was still not bad
-The lines were WAY longer than they should be. Walking in the parks wasn't too bad, but the lines for almost every ride were super long. No idea why, but usually when everything is 35+ minute waits (and at times 60), it feels wall to wall people. It did not at all.
-MK was the least busy of the parks most of the weeks, I'm assuming because of blackouts. Also showed in that VQ and LL were available for Tiana on Friday at like 3:30.
Side not, but, I've never had such an annoying on-site stay. We were at Coronado. First, it was dead until about Thursday when some Martial Arts tournament took over the place. I don't know if the Tower added a bunch of rooms, but the Dig pool was the busiest I've ever seen. Slide line all the way down to the bottom of the slide at the pool, and no room to even really get in. The fridge has something on it that says it doesn't go below 41 degrees and may be over that which is absolutely INSANE, no microwave, they obviously don't have enough housekeepers as ours didn't come til like 5:30 (and they only come every other day). And they were not even doing semi-fresh food. Legit you go to the QS, and there are containers piled high with burgers and fries in a warmer, you can't even interact with people cooking. It was just not worth CLOSE to the cost. It honestly may be our last on-site stay ever.
Also, it is so dumb you can't go to other resorts to eat. I get that some people go for free parking, but they are costing themselves money. We wanted to go eat at the Polynesian, and eat at the QS since it's our favorite. Turned away at the gate at 6:30. I asked if I could drop the family off up front and then go park at MK, told no, kids need to walk too. Mind you the Poly lot was empty. Poly is my favorite QS, but if you are telling me I need to park at DS and bus all the way there and back just to get a 15 minute meal, I'll just eat at DS or somewhere else off site.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
DisneyHead123
Well-Known Member
Those are “drink coolers”, not fridges, and I agree that it’s insane, especially at a family destination where people are traveling with bottles. Not to mention guests who may be traveling with medication - or just want an actual refrigerator for their kid’s yogurt, to store leftovers from restaurants, etc. People resort to filling them with ice bags and putting a fridge thermometer in to make sure they’re not going to get food poisoning which is - I mean come on, that’s just silly. It’s insane to be paying Disney prices and be shoving bags of ice in a “drink cooler” to create your own makeshift refrigerator. I am more sympathetic to Disney than many on here and do think they’ve been hit by labor shortages and inflation on goods, but the “drink cooler” thing honestly infuriates me.