im just curious about something-there a outside companies that operate disney businesses for disney.for example the dolphin and swan are operated by an outside company,fultons crab house(formally empress lilly)is operated by levi brothers restaraunts,and the rest. in mexico in epcot is operated by an outside company too.i know disney had the vast knowlege of running food and beverage and hotels but why do they choose outside companies to run them-and why and how do they pick the ones not to be run by disney?
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Maria
New Member
I would say that they do it because they mean more profit and less cost? I would think so... also, for the restaurants around WSC... it adds a lot to say that you ate in the let´s say "world famous San Angel Inn Restaurant from Mexico City" in Epcot, than saying that you ate in a restaurant owned and operated by Disney in an attempt to recreate the real food from Mexico...! Those companies I´m sure pay a lot of money to Disney to be there. At least San Angel Inn is a very nice restaurant in Mexico city... I haven´t eaten there, but I have eaten at the one in Epcot and loved it! I like the fact that not everything is run by Disney... :animwink:
Excellent points, Maria! Remember, too, that all Disney parks have always had a heavy element of corporate sponsorship in many of their attractions and restaurants. This goes back to Walt and Disneyland (at that time, he would do anything for extra cash to build his park).
As far as the Swan and Dolphin, there is a great explanation of this in the book The Disney Touch, which details the events starting with Eisner taking control of the company in the mid 80s and up through the early 90s. In a nutshell, Eisner was always annoyed that all the hotels in the "Village" area of WDW (those owned and operated by other hotel chains) were boring and unimaginative. If I recall correctly (I no longer have the book), Eisner's predecessors (Card Walker and Ron Miller) had made an agreement with the Westin and Sheraton hotel chains which would allow them to build highrise hotels on WDW property. Evidentally, this really ticked off Eisner until he took a closer look at the contract and realized there was a stipulation that said Disney would have the final word on who the architect would be. So Eisner chose Michael Graves to design something fanciful that would fit in with the WDW skyline. Sheraton and Westin had no choice but to agree. The end result were two hotels (The Swan and Dolphin) that sit on WDW property but are not owned or operated by Disney.
As far as the Swan and Dolphin, there is a great explanation of this in the book The Disney Touch, which details the events starting with Eisner taking control of the company in the mid 80s and up through the early 90s. In a nutshell, Eisner was always annoyed that all the hotels in the "Village" area of WDW (those owned and operated by other hotel chains) were boring and unimaginative. If I recall correctly (I no longer have the book), Eisner's predecessors (Card Walker and Ron Miller) had made an agreement with the Westin and Sheraton hotel chains which would allow them to build highrise hotels on WDW property. Evidentally, this really ticked off Eisner until he took a closer look at the contract and realized there was a stipulation that said Disney would have the final word on who the architect would be. So Eisner chose Michael Graves to design something fanciful that would fit in with the WDW skyline. Sheraton and Westin had no choice but to agree. The end result were two hotels (The Swan and Dolphin) that sit on WDW property but are not owned or operated by Disney.
CmdrTostada
Member
McDonalds
mightyduck
Well-Known Member
Popcorn and glazed nuts are outside vendors. If it rains, they close for the day. No popcorn after that. 
Originally posted by mightyduck
Popcorn and glazed nuts are outside vendors. If it rains, they close for the day. No popcorn after that.
That's not true, unless they changed since Christmas.
It depends on the time of day, sales, weather forecast for the rest of the day when it comes to opening back up.
If it was late 7:00+, my carts would probally not open back up. We shut carts down when sales were so slow ($500 by 5 pm).
Photographers in the parks work for an outside company, most of the World Showcase restaurants are not disney owned... so are quite a few of the shops there. Arribas Bros owns Crystal Arts at MK, and the Sword Shoppe in the castle, as well as the Arribas Bros store in the Marketplace...
there's a TON more
there's a TON more
Maria
New Member
Arribas also owns and operates the carved rings booths at the Marketplace, MK and Epcot, and the cristal store inside the Mexican Pavillion.
Also, those cast members who work there, are hired directly by those companies and don´t exactly work for Disney... they work at Disney, but are paid by Arribas, San Angel Inn, and so on... My friends who were hired by Arribas, could work in any of the parks or store locations, not like the rest of us because our visas were different. They were also paid more... but I think they didn´t have the "maingate" which allows you to sign in family and friends with you a few times a year.