If your are going to compare ROI from over a decade ago then all of those factors come into play. But if the cries from some on here are to be heard then turns at the gate are up, prices are up and investment back into the parks is down, if that was the case it seems ROI would be way up. So where is the disconnect to the math?
For historical perspective, P&R gross margins were in the high teens (18%-20%) while EPCOT was built, low twenties (22%-24%) while Disney-MGM & DAK were built.
Under Bob Iger (who became CEO in 2005), they reached an all-time low of 12%-13% from 2009-2011.
They now are starting to climb back up, at around 16%, not because of any major investment at WDW but because theme park ticket and food prices were up over 8% domestically, up over 20% since 2011. WDW just rushed another 4% ticket price increase last month.
Meanwhile, domestic P&R capital investments (i.e. money spent at WDW & DLR) were slashed by over $1 billion in 2013.
Corporate Disney is raising prices and slashing FF&E budgets in order to prop up profits. Again, compare that to the 1980s and 1990s when Disney built entire theme parks, water parks, hotels, shopping districts, and more yet still maintained P&R gross margins near or above 20%.
Operational costs this year for MyMagic+ were projected by Disney to be around $300M in FY2014. Rather than bringing in revenue, so far MyMagic+ is costing WDW a lot of money even though it's been rolled out to all hotel guests since October. Rumors are that MyMagic+ is more than 100% over budget, although Iger has refused to comment on MyMagic+'s budget. Right now, MyMagic+ is shaping up to be a bad financial decision.
MK attendance is strong. However, DAK and DAK have guest retention problems. Many show up in the morning but leave by mid-afternoon, making those 2 theme parks less profitable to operate after a certain hour. In 2017, DAK will be unveiling a new nighttime show in an attempt to keep guests at DAK at night.
What's particularly weak are hotel occupancies at the Deluxe and Moderate Resorts. (With the exception of AOA's Family Suites, the Value Resorts are performing well.) The hotels are highly profitable. They have much better returns than the theme parks so when their occupancies are down, it hurts the bottom line. Corporate Disney would rather have fewer theme park patrons and more Deluxe and Moderate Resort patrons.
Finally, VGF sales have been inconsistent. This needs to get sold out quickly in order to make room for DVC sales at the Poly.
There is a lot of uneven financial performance at WDW right now, which is acting as an anchor on the overall gross margin.
MK is a money-making machine. The rest of WDW is not performing nearly as well.