Is TDO doing things strategically at WDW?

phi2134

phi2134

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Before people bash this thread, hear me out and let me know what you think about the state of the parks and what I think they are starting to do in WDW.

With the recent boom from CarsLand and additions over in California, I believe that WDW is starting to receive a vast amount of minor tweaks, updates and changes that are getting ready for a bigger push in Florida. There was just a ton of money that was spent in California and right now they are seeing a revenue surge because of the massive land they put in as well as beautification of the parks (matterhorn,DCA,etc....).

I think WDW is getting ready to go through the same cycle. I havent been to WDW since last year, but all of the trip reports and announcements coming from WDW have shown tons of buildings under scrims, rides having minor tweaks, bathrooms being updated to themed areas, as well just overall maintenance of the park. Yes there are still things not addressed, but what it feels like is as they are just getting things ready for the next massive "overhaul"/"addition" to the parks and im not even talking about FLE.

With Disney its the little things that make the differences, and right now I feel like they are addressing these differences. A lot of complaints come from M&G's, but these small changes happening with the characters feels like they are starting to pay attention to where they are strategically placed in the park and trying to do what makes sense. Cleaning up the Main Street buildings an the new Tangled area are examples of what could really be at Disney.

With TDO fixing these small things and not focusing on the rides for right now with money being spent in California on the bigger things, I feel like it is only time before they focus on the bigger projects.

Yes things will not get fixed right away, older rides might not get massive refurbs like they need, but I am encouraged by all of the happenings in TDO. And honestly I dont even think its CarsLand or even Avatar that they have planned. It just seems like they are prepping the parks for something.
 
Californian Elitist

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
Money is being spent for WDW, too. That money, though, is going towards hotels and NextGen, it seems. I hope some money towards the actual parks themselves will start to pop up soon.
 
phi2134

phi2134

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
raven24 said:
Money is being spent for WDW, too. That money, though, is going towards hotels and NextGen, it seems. I hope some money towards the actual parks themselves will start to pop up soon.
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I don't know if this information is made public if at all, but does Disney ever release shareholder information stating how much money is being spent towards the parks and how far in the future they have planned?
 
kap91

kap91

Well-Known Member
It's good to recognize that WDW actually has been getting a lot of TLC in the past 6-10 years or so, and actually isn't being ignored and left to rot like many here would like you to believe. There's still a lot that needs to be addressed since the parks went without much care for the latter part of the 90's into the 00's but maintenaince has surely increased. The entirety of MS has been refurbed, if not nearly every building in the park - we've had numerous queue plussing, re-imaginings, restaurants added (at Epcot) and expanded (France specifically), locations in the parks that were boarded up for years or almost all the time actually being used (used well is another question - Adventureland veranda, diamond horseshoe, tommorowland terrace, COP), basically a complete redo of Fantasyland,tearing down the SSE wand, restoring the orange bird and the original tiki room, a completion of the the abandoned segment of Pop Century ,and now various transportation system improvments.

While not all of these are happening in the way I'd desire, and I'd love to see more ,TDO's show standards and attention to guest feedback have done nothing but increase in the past decade (with the exception of the Yeti). For example, while I see many complaints about some effects not working in Splash Mountain, I remember a time when nearly none of them ever worked. Now, every time I ride nearly all do. I do dislike the whole one Disney initiative, but that has less impact on quality and more on originality -so we can save that for a different debate.

I don't know if increased care for the parks is an indicator of bigger things to come or if its just a change in philosophy that has occured with the various management shifts, but on the whole its a good change. Seeing long neglected parts of the world slowly coming back is encouraging. Clearly Disney is investing in all of its parks very heavily at the moment, and it sure would be nice if that meant bigger developments in Orlando. From the murmurs on various boards, and from the people I know personally, it does seem that its being considered.
 
MichWolv

MichWolv

Born Modest. Wore Off.
Premium Member
phi2134 said:
I don't know if this information is made public if at all, but does Disney ever release shareholder information stating how much money is being spent towards the parks and how far in the future they have planned?
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Forward looking information tends to get released in dribs and drabs without much context or consistency, so there isn't much to go to. I believe Iger has made some comments about capital spending at P&R (which includes cruise line) coming down in the near future, but not to bare bones levels.

Historical information about capital expenditures in the Parks and Resorts segment is readily available, broken down into "Domestic" and "International", although more detailed breakdowns are not generally available. From Disney's Form 10-K for the year ended October 1, 2011:

Investing Activities
Investing activities consist principally of investments in parks, resorts, and other property and acquisition and divestiture activity. The Company’s investments in parks, resorts and other property for the last three years are as follows:


(in millions) 2011 2010 2009
Media Networks
Cable Networks $ 179 $ 132 $ 151
Broadcasting 128 92 143
Parks and Resorts
Domestic 2,294 1,295 1,039
International 429 238 143
Studio Entertainment 118 102 135
Consumer Products 115 97 46
Interactive Media 21 17 21
Corporate 275 137 75
$ 3,559 $ 2,110 $ 1,753

Capital expenditures for the Parks and Resorts segment are principally for theme park and resort expansion, cruise ships, new rides and attractions, recurring capital and capital improvements. The increase in capital expenditures at domestic and international parks and resorts in fiscal 2011 reflected the final payment on our new cruise ship, the Disney Dream, theme park and resort expansions and new guest offerings at Walt Disney World Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and the development of Shanghai Disney Resort. The increase in capital expenditures at domestic and international parks and resorts in fiscal 2010 as compared to fiscal 2009 reflected higher construction progress payments on the two new cruise ships, the expansions at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and Disney California Adventure and the construction of Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa in Hawaii. The increase in capital expenditures at Consumer Products from fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2011 was driven by costs at the Disney Stores for new stores and remodels.
 
ScoutN

ScoutN

OV 104
Premium Member
MichWolv said:
Capital expenditures for the Parks and Resorts segment are principally for theme park and resort expansion, cruise ships, new rides and attractions, recurring capital and capital improvements. The increase in capital expenditures at domestic and international parks and resorts in fiscal 2011 reflected the final payment on our new cruise ship, the Disney Dream, theme park and resort expansions and new guest offerings at Walt Disney World Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and the development of Shanghai Disney Resort. The increase in capital expenditures at domestic and international parks and resorts in fiscal 2010 as compared to fiscal 2009 reflected higher construction progress payments on the two new cruise ships, the expansions at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and Disney California Adventure and the construction of Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa in Hawaii. The increase in capital expenditures at Consumer Products from fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2011 was driven by costs at the Disney Stores for new stores and remodels.
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Quoted the last part to fix the size. Killing me eyes, man!
 
luv

luv

Well-Known Member
I don't think they are. If they can't afford something (like lights of winter, good napkins or training the staff, for instance), that's one thing. If they don't have the money, they don't. Can't do much about that.

But they are also making the parks more bland. We have well-behaved pirates. We will soon have un-funny Country Bears. They even changed "the chuckies" in Spectro to make more cute/cuddly and less interesting/funky.

And everything new involves technology and screens. We can all look at screens at home. And honestly, my screen at home has more impressive, sharper, clearer images. I have technology out the wazoo. If they want to show me I haven't seen, that would be great. Otherwise, save the technology and screens. I'm bored with it.

They are making parks that are 4 year old friendly and excessively PC...which is fine if you happen to be four years old or exceedingly easily offended...but not so interesting for most Americans and certainly boring for people from less PC countries, which is most of them. It will quiet the loud-mouths who complain about pirates who are ne'er-do-well cads...but so would saying "too bad, we aren't changing it."

The people who enjoy the fun aspects of these things won't complain. They just won't go back. And they won't rave to their friends.

I think that Disney, with it's attempts to please tots and the PC crowd, is making the parks less interesting and less fun.

When this "toddlerization" is combined with all that they remove to save money and the slow slipping of customer service by the staff...I cannot believe there is anyone with any sense in charge who is thinking long-term.

They're still great parks, no doubt, but they're heading down the crapper. And building more of the same won't help anything.
 
phi2134

phi2134

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
luv said:
I don't think they are. If they can't afford something (like lights of winter, good napkins or training the staff, for instance), that's one thing. If they don't have the money, they don't. Can't do much about that.

But they are also making the parks more bland. We have well-behaved pirates. We will soon have un-funny Country Bears. They even changed "the chuckies" in Spectro to make more cute/cuddly and less interesting/funky.

And everything new involves technology and screens. We can all look at screens at home. And honestly, my screen at home has more impressive, sharper, clearer images. I have technology out the wazoo. If they want to show me I haven't seen, that would be great. Otherwise, save the technology and screens. I'm bored with it.

They are making parks that are 4 year old friendly and excessively PC...which is fine if you happen to be four years old or exceedingly easily offended...but not so interesting for most Americans and certainly boring for people from less PC countries, which is most of them. It will quiet the loud-mouths who complain about pirates who are ne'er-do-well cads...but so would saying "too bad, we aren't changing it."

The people who enjoy the fun aspects of these things won't complain. They just won't go back. And they won't rave to their friends.

I think that Disney, with it's attempts to please tots and the PC crowd, is making the parks less interesting and less fun.

When this "toddlerization" is combined with all that they remove to save money and the slow slipping of customer service by the staff...I cannot believe there is anyone with any sense in charge who is thinking long-term.

They're still great parks, no doubt, but they're heading down the crapper. And building more of the same won't help anything.
Click to expand...

I think your issue is with having them be a Disney Park and not a Cedar Point.
 
Pumbas Nakasak

Pumbas Nakasak

Heading for the great escape.
Is carrying out routine maintenance and essential repairs really indicative of a forthcoming strategic business investment plan? Id have classed it as BAU.
 

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