>>>And it is more than 7%, it is tiered<<<
That's true. I was using the estimate for their total profits (merchendising, admission, the whole nine yards), which is around 7-10%.
>>>Trust me, everything over there is completely overseen by WDC.<<<
The contract they signed specified that they must provide entertainment of the upmost Disney quality, with supervision by Disney. It is overseen by the Disney representatives there, but the company itself has very little to do with what goes on in Japan. I did neglect to mention the WDC representatives at TDR by accident (especially since I almost launched into a rant about why I wish Eddie Sotto would have tried to come back over to the American parks after leaving TDR), my bad. The WDC reps do an excellent job in Japan with Oriental Land running the gritty work, and it shows what the creative types can do with relatively free reign.
On a side note, I should add that OLC has been trying to gain the experience to run theme parks WITHOUT Disney. Unfortunately, the recent spiral of the Japanese economy has put a damper on those plans, especially with business heading downward at the TDR recently (attendance is expected to be down next year). Of course it should be noted that it is the Japanese economy that is causing their recent downturn, and not problems at the resort itself. It should also be noted that this is just going to be a temporary blip on the radar, and probably will be a non-issue in a few years. Even with attendance down next year TDS will still be a smash success that exceeds the expectations originally laid out for it.
>>>As for the 2.6 billion dollar pricetag of DisneySea, I do believe that it is just for the park alone, and not for Ikspiari or the monorail line.<<<
President Kagami Toshio said in an interview that the park cost 338,000,000,000 yen, or roughly $2.88 billion. I remember reading in a Japanese newspaper that the entire resort expansion cost around $4 billion, but don't quote me on that.
BTW, Kagami also said in that interview that TDS will be getting a new first of it's kind E-ticket in 2005 at a cost of over $85 million. This should be interesting.
One more thing, if anyone here reads a column by someone at a Disney controlled fansite (no specific names given) about "the DisneySea attendance problem and how DCA is financially sound," don't put any stock in it, because
A.) The columnist in question is a f*****g liar, and...
B.) It is all a nice corperate lie to make the suits in Burbank happy.
Remember, you heard it here first.
