News Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District

[flynnibus]

But how many people outside of us Disney nerds know how much cash they have on hand? That was the only point I was trying to make

What you are highlighting is 'disney nerds who want to talk about financials but are actually ignorant of the subject'. The people that actually are interested/concerned in financial health as investing do know how to interpret the key data points. It's apparently the Disney nerds drifting out of their lane... not the other way around.

, I just don’t think it should be surprising that many of the 99.99% who don’t track Disney financials (just typing that made me realize we’re all a bit weird) equate taking on debt with being low on cash.

Or what you are saying is 99.99% of people are willing to post about things before they get informed about it?

 

[mikejs78]

Disney may have $10 billion cash in hand but they are also about $45 billion In debt.

Disney has very publicly taken on a ton of debt over the last few years

They do not have "a ton of debt". Comcast has about $100b in debt and $5.5b cash on hand - more than double the debt of Disney with half of the cash on hand of Disney. Yet I don't here people here saying Comcast is in dire financial straits and are deep in debt.

 

[Lilofan]

They do not have "a ton of debt". Comcast has about $100b in debt and $5.5b cash on hand - more than double the debt of Disney with half of the cash on hand of Disney. Yet I don't here people here saying Comcast is in dire financial straits and are deep in debt.

Disney is a front page news item . Heck even when there is a local police sting and they arrest a number of folks up to no good the emphasis is on the Disney cast member who got arrested.

 

[GoofGoof]

But the question wasn’t “is Disney healthy?”, or “is carrying debt a normal part of operating a business”, it was “where are people getting the idea they are short of cash?” That was all I was answering, Disney has very publicly taken on a ton of debt over the last few years, it shouldn’t be a surprise people associate that with them being a bit cash strapped.

I don’t think most of the people saying they believe Disney is cash strapped have any idea how much debt they actually have or better yet if they are aware whether $30B of debt is a lot or a little for a company the size of TWDC. My point is anyone who is aware of the financials knows that cash is not an issue. There are other issues for sure but cash ain‘t one of them.

 

[seascape]

Disney's financial health has nothing to do with the RCID, CFTOD dispute. Disney is not in financial difficulty no matter what some here or on stupid YouTube videos say. Plus some of those people have no idea what they are talking about, or why else would they be working in a 2nd or 3rd world country?

 

[celluloid]

I think as parks fans we will be disappointed at what that $17B actually gets us. It seems like a lot but they spent that over the last decade too so if your expectation is some new rides and maybe a new land or 2 then it’s likely you won’t be too disappointed. If you envision much more than that it’s likely you will be disappointed. I am setting cautious expectations but would love to be pleasantly surprised. I don’t think the company will have to reduce the amount due to financial performance. The parks are the cash cow and they know you need to spend some to keep them going. It’s not a risky place to invest money for them.

Disney+ is a less certain financial proposition. The segment is losing money so cutting costs makes more sense. Every streaming service is experiencing this to an extent. You need content to attract subscribers but eventually you also need to turn a profit and have positive cash flows.

17 billion is status quo for a decade at current WDW, and it will probably be pretty lean as all departments tend to not do as well as the last couple decades.

Netflix ditched Marvel for a reason with multiple series and focused on a fewer in house creations that were much less budget so better ROI that covers more production when they get hits.

Disney did not listen and oversaturated three to four big budget series for Star Wars and Marvel.
It is going to take awhile and be lean before it is likely to get better for them, and the way writers are being treated are not going to get them much rushed projects going to diversify.

They will streamline and Disney will just be the obvious hits which will create the cycle.

The hubris.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

What you are highlighting is 'disney nerds who want to talk about financials but are actually ignorant of the subject'. The people that actually are interested/concerned in financial health as investing do know how to interpret the key data points. It's apparently the Disney nerds drifting out of their lane... not the other way around.




Or what you are saying is 99.99% of people are willing to post about things before they get informed about it?

“Where do people keep getting the idea that Disney is short on cash?”

A very simple question, to which I gave a very simple answer… I didn’t justify it or say it was correct, just explained where I think the get the idea from.

 

[Minthorne]

Even if Disney were cash strapped, who would be positioned to buy them? I don’t think anyone expects them to go bankrupt.

 

[GoofGoof]

17 billion is status quo for a decade at current WDW, and it will probably be pretty lean as all departments tend to not do as well as the last couple decades.

Netflix ditched Marvel for a reason with multiple series and focused on a fewer in house creations that were much less budget so better ROI that covers more production when they get hits.

Disney did not listen and oversaturated three to four big budget series for Star Wars and Marvel.
It is going to take awhile and be lean before it is likely to get better for them, and the way writers are being treated are not going to get them much rusjed projects going to diversify.

They will streamline and Disney will just be the obvious hits which will create the cycle.

The hubris.

Agreed on the status quo part, but that still isn’t nothing. In the last decade at WDW we got (in no particular order)

1. Fantasyland Expansion (double dumbo, Mine Train, LM ride, etc)
2. Tron Coaster
3. Pandora (FoP, boat ride)
4. Galaxy’s Edge (RoTR, Smuggler’s run)
5. Toy Story Land (Slinky Dog, Alien Spinner, doubled TSMM)
6. Great Mickey Ride
7. Rat Ride
8. Guardians of the Universe of Energy
9. Frozen in Norway (I know…kinda lame)
10. Disney Springs expansion
11. Skyliner
12. Multiple DVC resorts and one failed Star Wars hotel

So while it wasn’t the Disney decade for sure the $15B spent over the last decade got us some interesting new stuff. This isn’t intended to be some debate about how that isn’t enough and which rides and lands were planned to be more then scaled down or replacements of existing rides. My only point is $17B will likely get us upkeep of existing stuff, for sure some DVC resorts, maybe a few more actual hotel rooms and then some “stuff” for the parks as well. That parks stuff isn’t going to be. 5th gate but isn‘t nothing either.

 

[celluloid]

Thaetrical underhwelming performances, closing a hotel, ceasing operations on operated dining options and and removing content from your streaming service does not exactly give confidence that it is rolling in.

You can have cash reserved, but you have to keep it coming back.

 

[GoofGoof]

Even if Disney were cash strapped, who would be positioned to buy them? I don’t think anyone expects them to go bankrupt.

They are still solidly in investment grade. Their debt could be downgraded another level and would still be investment grade. There’s no expectation of bankruptcy any time soon.

 

[celluloid]

Agreed on the status quo part, but that still isn’t nothing. In the last decade at WDW we got (in no particular order)

1. Fantasyland Expansion (double dumbo, Mine Train, LM ride, etc)
2. Tron Coaster
3. Pandora (FoP, boat ride)
4. Galaxy’s Edge (RoTR, Smuggler’s run)
5. Toy Story Land (Slinky Dog, Alien Spinner, doubled TSMM)
6. Great Mickey Ride
7. Rat Ride
8. Guardians of the Universe of Energy
9. Frozen in Norway (I know…kinda lame)
10. Disney Springs expansion
11. Skyliner
12. Multiple DVC resorts and one failed Star Wars hotel

So while it wasn’t the Disney decade for sure the $15B spent over the last decade got us some interesting new stuff. This isn’t intended to be some debate about how that isn’t enough and which rides and lands were planned to be more then scaled down or replacements of existing rides. My only point is $17B will likely get us upkeep of existing stuff, for sure some DVC resorts, maybe a few more actual hotel rooms and then some “stuff” for the parks as well. That parks stuff isn’t going to be. 5th gate but isn‘t nothing either.

No one said nothoing. I said status quo. I expect a theme park to get a new atraction every two years and every other to be a large scale ticketed attraction, rather than a retheme or use of one that it replaced and shares a building. The most visited theme park in the world got two ground to open built rides in the last decade. No debate about it. ha.

The point is they say investing 17 billion because it sounds like good PR, but it is status quo.

Some of your list go past a decade too. So your list is a little inflated.

For example, Tron opened this year. Little Mermaid opened in 2012.

Toy Story Mania opened in 2008. I don't think a track capacity expansion is fair to say as a list of new things in what one would think, but it is there.


Not even going into all the closures and reductions.

If you think that costs will go down and executives to front of the line and contactors will accept less pay, than yeah, we could get some neat stuff.

They just don't know how anymore.

 

[DCLcruiser]

Thaetrical underhwelming performances, closing a hotel, ceasing operations on operated dining options and and removing content from your streaming service does not exactly give confidence that it is rolling in.

You can have cash reserved, but you have to keep it coming back.

They're looking at the near future and making decisions to reduce costs. That is what all companies do.

The movie's being good or not, isn't for a lack of spending money. They are closing a super expensive land-locked cruise ship on the eve of a possible recession. I assume you mean the food trucks? Big deal. D+ is expensive to run, and they are cancelling unpopular (?) shows. The merger with Hulu will also help to reduce operating costs. None of this spells doom for DIS.

 

[flynnibus]

Even if Disney were cash strapped, who would be positioned to buy them? I don’t think anyone expects them to go bankrupt.

Bro... get with it! They're basically on life support! The stock is down and they are doing layoffs! Abandon ship!!!

/s

 

[scottieRoss]

Because we read the news, it’s no secret they went $70 billion in debt to buy Fox/Hulu a few years ago (and still owe about half that amount), it’s also no secret they took out another $10 billion in credit during Covid.

It’s also no secret that they’ve been hemorrhaging money on D+ the last couple years and that their stock has underperformed the market. Also no secret they are making cuts and laying off people left and right.

Disney may have $10 billion cash in hand but they are also about $45 billion In debt.

Are they in trouble? Nope, they can easily manage this situation with their billions in revenue, but the last half decade hasn’t been good for Disney and it’s going to take a few more years for them to get out of the hole they’ve dug.

Disney has paid down almost 9 Billion dollars of their long-term debt over the course of the last 3 years. That is an almost 20% decrease in their long-term debt. And all of that while accumulating over 10 billion in cash on hand.

 

[celluloid]

They're looking at the near future and making decisions to reduce costs. That is what all companies do.

The movie's being good or not, isn't for a lack of spending money. They are closing a super expensive land-locked cruise ship on the eve of a possible recession. I assume you mean the food trucks? Big deal. D+ is expensive to run, and they are cancelling unpopular (?) shows. The merger with Hulu will also help to reduce operating costs. None of this spells doom for DIS.

Not doom, but not exactly healthy. No one said they are not spending money on movies. What I stated is that movies they have released have had large big budget their market misses. Disney used to be the obvious animated family movie hit.

They are not just cancelling unpopular shows. They are literally taking them off to conserve server space. Not exactly the same. They are reducing the library. It is not the same as just not renewing a season.

 

[flynnibus]

They are literally taking them off to conserve server space

Highly unlikely - probably more to do with royalty arrangements, or future promotions, or similar. Storage space is basically like water to them. Expensive when viewing the whole - but basically free by the cup.

 

[DCLcruiser]

Not doom, but not exactly healthy. No one said they are not spending money on movies. What I stated is that movies they have released have had large big budget their market misses. Disney used to be the obvious animated family movie hit.

They are not just cancelling unpopular shows. They are literally taking them off to conserve server space. Not exactly the same. They are reducing the library. It is not the same as just not renewing a season.

Which recent major movies were market misses? Eternals?

John Carter lost $200mm in 2012, and it's 2023... they haven't gone under yet. (FYI, JC was a good movie, and had potential that wasn't tapped).

I haven't heard of any major shows being cancelled/deleted. Just random no-name shows. WBD deleted shows and even didn't release movies to save money. Apparently service space is expensive. I don't consider that a failing business.

 

[celluloid]

Which recent major movies were market misses? Eternals?

John Carter lost $200mm in 2012, and it's 2023... they haven't gone under yet. (FYI, JC was a good movie, and had potential that wasn't tapped).

I haven't heard of any major shows being cancelled/deleted. Just random no-name shows. WBD deleted shows and even didn't release movies to save money. Apparently service space is expensive. I don't consider that a failing business.

Strange World and Lightyear and Encanto. You can argue they never lost the company money thanks to ancillary(strange world definitely did) but they are underperformers by far of what they should have been. This is why Sing 2, PussnBoots and Mario have all. smashed them.

The Willow series, yeah I don't get why they picked that cult following either, has been on Disney Plus for less than a year and is going deleted completely.

Also, who cares about the fallacy of other businesses doing it? Disney is its own goal too. They are not healthy.

 

[celluloid]

Meanwhile Disney has the Fox IP and is planning a fifth gate. Intellectual property is waterfront property in that it is in fixed supply. The theming of Epic Universe just shows the dearth of Comcast's IP.

Maybe it is easy to think that if you think Universal is like Disney in that, the last twenty years they let things go stagnant.

IP is not in limited supply when you invest in creatives to make things in house and synergize with creatives in other departments.

I sure hope How to Train your Dragon with its popularity not in just movies but in a generation of Netflix kids the way we used to watch Saturday Morning Cartoons, the Classic Monsters that have entered a zeitgeist for over 100 years now and Mario, that is one of the biggest animated box office smashes of all time as well as a zeitgiest of its own as a character world do not struggle against Tron, Encanto, Coco and the postponed Tiana Disney Plus Series.

Universal is also getting original themed environments with the park too. Something DIsney has no desire to do anymore and corporately has chosen to paint themselves ina corner with. That is the only time it can become limited.

Not sure where you get a fifth gate for fox properties. You think that would be fitting in that 17 billion in the next decade? If they broke ground right now it would take 5 to 8 years to build. And they are not. By the time they do, Universal will have its ROI and going back into EPIC.