Record profit for Disney

[WDW1974]

:lol:


BTW I find it interesting that DK is now closed due to excessive bandwidth. :shrug:

I'd guess that's because of all the Disco Orange Bird art that plays well over there!:ROFLOL:

I do like some of the DK posters. And some really have a lot worth hearing ... even old pal Merfie makes a lot of interesting points. But no one is listening there.

~Spirited Hating Disney Coast to Coast Holiday 2011 Tour~

 

[WDW1974]

Quote:
Originally Posted by TP2000
But forums overall are dying, I agree. I guess the kids are all twittering now about their tweets, and posting a few complete sentences to a dedicated website board is hopelessly square and 2000's for them.

too 2000s for them? Oh boy! I am getting old.

Not so much as people are getting dumber by the day ... sadly.

~Spirited Hating Disney Coast to Coast Holiday 2011 Tour~

 

[WDW1974]

He's been working daily at this since 2003 if not before to become what you are calling a leech. I'd match his work ethic against anyone here.

Struck a nerve, did I? I do enjoy when that happens! Almost as funny as The Big Bang Theory!

I'm sorry (well, I'm not, but that's what polite people are supposed to say) that I believe folks who make a living by spending their lives in theme parks (when ostensibly not employed by Disney -- and there seems to be questions about whether said individual actually is an employee) aren't exactly showing a great work ethic.

When I hear about online folks and moaning about spending 12 hours at EPCOT to sample food and wine ... or spend the day taking pics of construction walls at MK and putting them online ... or BSing through a podcast on all they feel is 'newsworthy' my reaction is WORK!??! ?!?! THEY REALLY THINK WHAT THEY DO IS WORK?!?!

It isn't. Let them swap places with a front of the line CM for a month and then we'll talk about work ethics.

What folks like Lou have figured out is the perfect way to the game the system (both Disney and the fan community) to enrich themselves. I have no doubt that many of them 'work tirelessly' to do this.

I met him once in 2007 for a few hours and have exchanged a few emails. I would consider him an acquaintance. I'm more familiar with other travel agency owners than the owners of the sites that they sponsor.

I've been working selling Disney since 1997. Someday soon it will fully support my family's lifestyle instead of my day job in IT.

Good luck. There's far too many Disney-specialized travel agencies and far too few people who will be using them going forward. Also, a lot of folks are waking up to the fact that most Disney speciality TAs push their clients into much pricier WDW resorts (vs. off site or non-Disney owned on prop) and dining plans etc.

I'm not sure what your problem is, but most people who are earning money from their passion for Disney have been working very hard at it for many years.

If it takes me 15 years of hard work to earn press credentials or other perks from Disney and am deemed a leech by you, then so be it.

My problem? My problem is that I don't like to see people treated special for all the wrong reasons. My problem is that many people are bending or outright being allowed to break Disney policies in a quid pro quo where they spin PR talking points.

I don't know your circumstances, so all I'll say is that you may have the right to expect certain TA perks, but I see no reason why you should ever be afforded press credentials just because you sell Disney vacations. They are called PRESS credentials for a reason.

~Spirited Hating Disney Coast to Coast Holiday 2011 Tour~

 

[jakeman]

My problem? My problem is that I don't like to see people treated special for all the wrong reasons. My problem is that many people are bending or outright being allowed to break Disney policies in a quid pro quo where they spin PR talking points.

Name them. Something for all your bluster you have yet to do.

 

[Next Big Thing]

Name them. Something for all your bluster you have yet to do.

Plenty have been named in this thread. I'm confused on why you continue to ask him to name them when there have been many bloggers already named.

 

[DisneyJoe]

Name them. Something for all your bluster you have yet to do.

I'm seconding this motion.

The reality is Disney is spending tens of millions annually on kissing up to many webmasters/bloggers/podcasters and I want to know how that is growing the business and by how much.

Tens of millions? How? Again, name the sites and people and how Disney is spending anywhere near that amount.

As far as growing Disney business - when these 'Disney fan celebs' have a relationship with a travel agency, and many do, the travel agency takes advantage of this relationship by running podcast cruises, reunion events, fan community Adventures by Disney Tours, "Sail with celeb xyz" cruises and so on. These events draw hundreds of people to book with the travel agency, promote the agency as well as the celeb and Disney itself (i.e. new cruise ships, Adventures by Disney), and put much money in Disney's pockets.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Facebook is largely responsible for the closing of the forums for our site. We just found that it wasn't worth the maintenance of getting rid of the spam for the handful of comments. Moving these discussions over to Facebook seems to be an easy solution for a smaller community.

Now a community of this size may say a decline in posting, but because it's established as a viable source of information it's somewhat exempt. It's not to say that these forums won't also go the way of the Dodo, but it will take a lot more than Facebook to do it.

 

[puntagordabob]

How TDA views this: "Great news, let's keep up the good work."

How TDO views this: "Wow! Told you'd they come no matter how much we scale back!"

At first I laughed....then I thought about it and realized how you were not joking and that your comment is not entirely outside the realm of possible truths either.

All the "negative Nancies" have been nowhere to be found since this news broke yesterday. Obviously the first thing they had to do was hit the bottle because all their spin and carefully constructed web of misinformation lies in ruins. So now they have to get over their collective hangovers before they coordinate the new spin. It is going to be very interesting to see what the come up with. Interesting in a "hah hah you can't be serious" kinda way. :ROFLOL:

So I have been sitting back waiting for someone to start this thread as it is best it was not me. This is awesome news for the future of WDW (all I care about) as Disney realizes that a little quality can generate good profits then a lot more quality can generate awesome profits.

Build, baby, build.

Oh, and I told you so.

Oh, and way to go TDO!

Oh, and congradulations to Meg and her team!

Oh, and those of you here who say I am out of touch, don't know what I am talking about and just see things through pixie dust colored glasses, you can apologize on your own schedule. But do have the class to apologize :wave:

Hi... Please say Hi to the Lion and Dorothy while you are visiting The Land of Oz.

They had to fix Disneyland (DCA 2.0 and the then necessary resort upgrades) before adding to the parks at WDW lest they just cannabalize from the DLR. That is how it appears to me the strategy is playing out.

They want and need a healthy and robust DLR before they can put the emphasis on WDW. It is very clear to me this has been the strategy since Iger took the reins. JMHO.

PS- it was the so-called "walmarting" of merchandise (which is terribly overstated by some) and other financial strategies at WDW that helped build DCA 2.0. If successful it will mean WDW can get more capital improvements to the parks. I believe Iger is so confident DCA and the DLR will be a major success that he felt comfortable enough to go ahead and announce Avatarland. Plus the fact the competition is pressing them in central Florida. The dots all connect.

Sorry..... the two management styles between the two resorts has been too independent for too long for me to believe your theory.

As for the Walmart thing.... it has been accurate for quite a while at WDW.... perhaps in some areas it is improving...for example I did see a "iasw" plastic boat toy last month.....and rumor has it that Resort merchandise is making a possible return.....etc.... but still the generic Disney Parks stuff is well GENERIC.

All the while, Oriental Land is expecting a 28% increase for this fiscal year in the face of a gigantic natural disaster: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/business/news/20111105p2g00m0bu028000c.html

I'm sure some will attempt to explain-away the differences, but if Tokyo Disneyland can increase overall profits on the year despite being closed for a sizable chunk of the year, maybe there's a lesson to be learned that spending money and really churning out a high quality product drives people through the turnstiles better than increasing prices (and accompanying discounts) and cutting costs?

Team Disney Orlando needs to take fewer lessons from Kohl's, and more from Oriental Land.

That is far more than a simple lesson..its an entire Master's Degree of material to be learned!

My thoughts in addition to the above:

TDO.... has been making some better moves in 2012.... The Enchanted Tiki Room (yeah Go Jose!), the continuing FLE, the announcement of DAK Avatarland, the sprucing up of the parks, and even simple things like removing the stickers from all over the Monorails (I am referring to the Balloons and such.... and for the record I liked the Tron monorail alot but STILL the precedent being set sorta opened the door to things like a Selena Gomez monorail -and for the record I like her and all...just do not want a monorail themed after her or anyone lol)....

BUT on the flipside there are still some glaring issues going on...like the Bandaid fix for the Monorails (limiting their service versus actually announcing a plan to fix the problem) for example.....

.....Still 2011 has shown some rays of hope & pixie dust for us at WDW..... and I hope everyone will be sure to agree that we all want to see this trend continue and even accelerate in 2012!

 

[flavious27]

I've noticed that too. LP has totally died off from what it was just a couple years ago, much less 5 or 10 years ago; as I've been a member of that site since it started in the late 90's. The others are a shadow of their former selves, while Micechat still gets a boost from being associated with Al Lutz and some other really solid contributors like Werner Weiss at Yesterland, etc. I find the Micechat conversations get just too SoCal Local AP nerdy for me (and yes, I know there are many here who find that hilariously ironic that I said that), and Micechat still has threads that get a hundred or more posts in a day and I simply can't keep up.

But forums overall are dying, I agree. I guess the kids are all twittering now about their tweets, and posting a few complete sentences to a dedicated website board is hopelessly square and 2000's for them.

I think there are a couple of reasons why the traffic on disney fan sites are down. First off, there isn't much more info for people to gleam off the fansites anymore. The food and planning sites aren't as fresh with people asking about this or that. Second, there isn't as much rumors and or projects in the pipeline. FLE is like halfway done and the ships are almost built, there isn't much more disney is going to spend in the us. Third, the groups of people on FB.

There is still going to be a healthy amount of info added to the forums each day, just not as much as before unless there is a second disney decade.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Disney will pay for your vacations if you just simply buy their stock on the dips. This is the greatest entertainment company in the world and the stock was destroyed just a few short months ago because of recession concerns and European worries. It was such a screaming buy at $28-$34. I was at their parks and said multiple times to my family that the recession fears are clearly overblown. Disney is one of the best measures of the consumer and they were spending in full force the 4 times I was there this year.

They are diversified into 5 high performing businesses:

Networks (ESPN, ABC, Disney Channel)
Parks/Resorts
Merchandising
Movie Studios
Online Media

Just do some reading and research and it's clear their businesses are performing at a high level. They have great management and execute very well. I bought their stock before earnings and watched it fly. Honestly, it's very clear Disney has premium brands like ESPN and viritually all their movies are a hit. Lion King 3D raked in over $100m and it was simply a re-release. They have more in the pipeline too. Conference call was extremely bullish.

I love Disney and know they are a business and in it to make money; but they do work hard to provide wholesome family entertainment and don't make insane profits. Companies like AAPL (which I respect as well) make a lot more money off "screwing" their customers. Hey, it's just business.

Don't like it? BUY THE STOCK!

If you took my advice and bought the stock here, you would have more than doubled your money in 2 years and paid for many vacations. Disney is trading at $76.31 today.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

If you took my advice and bought the stock here, you would have more than doubled your money in 2 years and paid for many vacations. Disney is trading at $76.31 today.

For the price of one share of Apple, you can get 7 shares of Disney.

Ask any investor with reasonable intelligence which of those two options will make you more money in a 2 year time frame.

Jimmy Thick- You can throw in the 11 shares of Comcast in the mix as well.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

For the price of one share of Apple, you can get 7 shares of Disney.

Ask any investor with reasonable intelligence which of those two options will make you more money in a 2 year time frame.

Jimmy Thick- You can throw in the 11 shares of Comcast in the mix as well.

But 7 or 11 or 16391 shares makes no difference. $1000 worth of shares is a $1000 worth of shares.

 

[unkadug]

For the price of one share of Apple, you can get 7 shares of Disney.

Ask any investor with reasonable intelligence which of those two options will make you more money in a 2 year time frame.

Jimmy Thick- You can throw in the 11 shares of Comcast in the mix as well.

So, by your logic, anybody that owns Apple stock is an idiot?

 

[danlb_2000]

Let's say we spend $1000 on stock at the opening price on 12/30/2011, here is what the $1000 would now be based on the opening price 12/31/2013:

Apple: $1,373.37
DIS: $2,021.73
Comcast: $2,186.26

 

[Prototype82]

See! This is what happens when you build nice things.

 

[Chef Mickey]

For the price of one share of Apple, you can get 7 shares of Disney.

Ask any investor with reasonable intelligence which of those two options will make you more money in a 2 year time frame.

Jimmy Thick- You can throw in the 11 shares of Comcast in the mix as well.

You don't understand stock prices, but it's OK...lots of people think the price of a stock matters. I'll make it quick...it doesn't. Look at BRK.A, GOOG, AAPL, PCLN, etc.

For the price of 7 shares of Disney, you could get 1564 shares of GCVRZ. You want it?

 

[Chef Mickey]

Let's say we spend $1000 on stock at the opening price on 12/30/2011, here is what the $1000 would now be based on the opening price 12/31/2013:

Apple: $1,373.37
DIS: $2,021.73
Comcast: $2,186.26

What's your point? Let's do $1,000 in DIS and AAPL 5 years ago. Rough numbers:

Apple: $6,600
Disney: $3,450

My point was, stock price means nothing.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Lesson here is buying best of breed when the market hate stocks is almost always a winning strategy. I wouldn't recommend the stock up at $76, because expectations are just too high and the multiple is a little crazy. I'd buy DIS again on any dips or market correction we should see soon.

That said, AAPL is a much cheaper stock than DIS at current levels. DIS is quite expensive.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

My point was, stock price means nothing.

Jimmy Thick- I just lurve being corrected. No really.

 

[danlb_2000]

What's your point? Let's do $1,000 in DIS and AAPL 5 years ago. Rough numbers:

Apple: $6,600
Disney: $3,450

My point was, stock price means nothing.

Not trying to make a point, just throwing out some numbers.