Orlando Becoming East Coast Headquarters for Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products

[monothingie]

Yeah, forgot about those. I doubt the Poly DVC tower is truly "at risk" because of its cash cow potential.

Remember, they ditched Reflections By Embassy Suites very quickly during the Pandemic.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Is WDI really in a place where they know "the plan" so to speak. Other than WDI being a shell of its former self, it seems like the M.O. of leadership has been to just make surprise decisions on things with little to no consultation with subordinate divisions/groups like WDI.

I can think of one subordinate division/group who gets to make decisions for the whole company without consultation with leadership...

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Yeah, forgot about those. I doubt the Poly DVC tower is truly "at risk" because of its cash cow potential.

And they have already started work on that .... Granted they had started on Reflections some and stopped but I think things that got started in the current environment will still get done

Other stuff is at risk - like a replacement for Primeval Whirl, other updates to AK, etc

Push the update for SSE even further down the path

 

[Californian Elitist]

What have they announced that they could possibly pause? Nothing is coming.

The E-ticket in Avengers Campus in DCA.

I wouldn’t doubt if they cancel it altogether, if it hasn’t already been cancelled.

 

[monothingie]

Ever project needs an approved budget, if basically nothing is getting approved or getting guidance to not expect approvals for anything of substance, etc then they would see indications of this

Likely not the details but they would be able to read the room/the tea leaves earlier than others, would be my guess

Disney has a bad track record of gutting or canceling projects that have gone through full development.

 

[lentesta]

Is WDI really in a place where they know "the plan" so to speak. Other than WDI being a shell of its former self, it seems like the M.O. of leadership has been to just make surprise decisions on things with little to no consultation with subordinate divisions/groups like WDI.

They'd definitely be in the loop on something like Lake Nona, because it affects their staff. They'd almost certainly be involved in pre-planning impacts, such as who's likely to stay or go.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Disney has a bad track record of gutting or canceling projects that have gone through full development.

WDI has a bad track record of needing $400 million for a project that can be done on $80 million.

Bad combination.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Remember, they ditched Reflections By Embassy Suites very quickly during the Pandemic.

But that was started before so the environment changed. The Poly DBC was approved and started during this climate so unless they now really think things will get much, much worse, to the extent they won't be able to sell DVC at the Poly, it should proceed

 

[monothingie]

But that was started before so the environment changed. The Poly DBC was approved and started during this climate so unless they now really think things will get much, much worse, to the extent they won't be able to sell DVC at the Poly, it should proceed

Then why isn't Reflections: A Generic Resort not being restarted? They had the plans, engineering, and approvals to move. It would be a lot quicker and cheaper (presumably) to restart it.

 

[HauntedPirate]

But that was started before so the environment changed. The Poly DBC was approved and started during this climate so unless they now really think things will get much, much worse, to the extent they won't be able to sell DVC at the Poly, it should proceed

The reason I don't see the Poly tower being paused is that many consumers are clamoring for it. No one, outside of a few, were clamoring for the Reflections Embassy Suites. Gotta keep the DVC gravy train a-rollin'.

ETA: I could, however, see Disney slow-rolling the Poly tower so that it opens a year later than originally planned. A recession will hurt DVC sales, presumably, so there may not be as much demand for points and thus a new offering isn't as crucial to the gravy train.

 

[el_super]

If Disney is also delaying/cancelling this capitol project are we looking at our first signs of the mouse going into recession mode? We saw this same playbook back in 2008 and 2020, no new construction and anything not half built halted or cancelled outright.

Depending on the circumstances, recessions are great time to build, especially for Disney. If money and labor are relatively cheap, it makes sense to build in the recession and be ready for big crowds returning later. Maybe not this time though.... but there are other Disney projects still continuing.

The Lake Nona move being pushed back is probably more related to staffing concerns. Imagineers were being told that their positions were moving, and then given a year or two to continue in their current role. Pushing that out further might convince a few of them to stop looking for new work. If they weren't reaching the expected numbers to transfer over, they may have realized they have a much bigger problem.

Looking on the Disney Careers website, Disney currently has 547 jobs posted for Florida, and 1239 posted for California. Lots of positions open in California are related to streaming ventures... Disney+, Marvel, Lucasfilm. Turns out there is a lot of overlap between these positions and what Imagineering was doing, so a lot of people have already jumped over to another segment of the company and in some instances just moved down the street. Easier to do that then to upend your life to move to another state.

If they don't have enough people moving, and there isn't a deep pool of talent in Florida, they are kind of stuck.

 

[monothingie]

WDI has a bad track record of needing $400 million for a project that can be done on $80 million.

Bad combination.

Bobby Cheapek follows the "Meh, It's good enough" standard.

 

[drizgirl]

What have they announced that they could possibly pause? Nothing is coming.

Seriously. You have to have things in the pipeline to actually be pausing anything.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Remember, they ditched Reflections By Embassy Suites very quickly during the Pandemic.

I have to wonder if Bob 2.0 killed it because it was a Bob 1.0 want.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Then why isn't Reflections: A Generic Resort not being restarted? They had the plans, engineering, and approvals to move. It would be a lot quicker and cheaper (presumably) to restart it.

They could but they shifted to this one as felt it was better spot for now/more likely to sell well in the current environment

I mean, they could stop this one too but I just think just because Reflections was stopped doesn't mean this one will to as the conditions when they each started is different

 

[monothingie]

ETA: I could, however, see Disney slow-rolling the Poly tower so that it opens a year later than originally planned. A recession will hurt DVC sales, presumably, so there may not be as much demand for points and thus a new offering isn't as crucial to the gravy train.

What? DVC Point Prices are vastly inflated and completely unsustainable?

 

[HauntedPirate]

Bobby Cheapek follows the "Meh, It's good enough" standard.

He's very proud of that, he pioneered it in 2015! But what else would you expect from a cheap crap merchandise peddler.

What? DVC Point Prices are vastly inflated and completely unsustainable?

Not according to Bob. "Unprecedented demand". Reality says something different, but he hasn't been accepting calls from reality for at least the last 7 years.

 

[HauntedPirate]

I have a sneaking suspicion that the initial plans for the Lake Nona complex will ultimately be scaled back significantly.

 

[Tha Realest]

What have they announced that they could possibly pause? Nothing is coming.

Lake Nona...

 

[CaptainAmerica]

@GoofGoof I tried to respond in the RCID thread but I'm still banned over there. Keep in mind that "DPEP" and "Walt Disney Imagineering" are not interchangeable terms.