The Red Button Option

[DVCakaCarlF]

Look into Ai Baojun and Dai Haibo; the latter was part of the Shanghai/CCP side of SHDR.

Can you comment further?

 

[DVCakaCarlF]

It is enough for you or I . But Disney is larger and it is the burn rate that makes it enough or not enough. If Q3 shows a burn of $1B per month and that burn rate isn't slowed by the end of September, $6B equals 6 months. Given the time it takes to create and execute plans, that is not a safe place to be. If the burn rate is slowed and slowed quickly and by a lot, then they can ride it out.

I agree, but didn’t they go through two massive rounds of bond funding?

 

[Magic Feather]

This all lines up with some things that I have heard.
There is a concern that severing the companies control of the Chinese parks (this would be an OLC style operation, not just Disney pulling out completely) would bring about Intellectual Property enforcement issues (which was a big side reason for partnering with China at the beginning with SDL).
As for domestic parks, a complete shutdown is looking very unlikely, but scaling back operations somewhat significantly is absolutely on the table. While I have reason to believe that reverting to the MK-only plan is not on the table, things like re-closing a park or two, or going into a weird operating schedule is being examined.

Also under consideration is freezing the resort reopening process; Disney is having trouble filling Pop, Ft. Wilderness, Contemporary, and DVC. The last thing they need/want is to add more to that balancing act at the moment.

 

[DVCakaCarlF]

This all lines up with some things that I have heard.
There is a concern that severing the companies control of the Chinese parks (this would be an OLC style operation, not just Disney pulling out completely) would bring about Intellectual Property enforcement issues (which was a big side reason for partnering with China at the beginning with SDL).
As for domestic parks, a complete shutdown is looking very unlikely, but scaling back operations somewhat significantly is absolutely on the table. While I have reason to believe that reverting to the MK-only plan is not on the table, things like re-closing a park or two, or going into a weird operating schedule is being examined.

Also under consideration is freezing the resort reopening process; Disney is having trouble filling Pop, Ft. Wilderness, Contemporary, and DVC. The last thing they need/want is to add more to that balancing act at the moment.

The Chinese government had to be involved if TWDC wanted any sort of patent/copyright protection around IP.

 

[Ldno]

All that Disney needs to do, is sell Park exclusive merch at shop disney website and I can guarantee they will churn out some good profit...

 

[Mrtko]

I agree, but didn’t they go through two massive rounds of bond funding?

If I understand the bond funding correctly, and I am very open to being corrected, the first was for $5B and that went into the cash reserve. The other was for something like $11B and I think that went into moving debt from the current to the future. One went to ride this out, the other went to push repayments away from this period. Somebody, say what the truth is if I am wrong.

 

[DVCakaCarlF]

This all lines up with some things that I have heard.
There is a concern that severing the companies control of the Chinese parks (this would be an OLC style operation, not just Disney pulling out completely) would bring about Intellectual Property enforcement issues (which was a big side reason for partnering with China at the beginning with SDL).
As for domestic parks, a complete shutdown is looking very unlikely, but scaling back operations somewhat significantly is absolutely on the table. While I have reason to believe that reverting to the MK-only plan is not on the table, things like re-closing a park or two, or going into a weird operating schedule is being examined.

Also under consideration is freezing the resort reopening process; Disney is having trouble filling Pop, Ft. Wilderness, Contemporary, and DVC. The last thing they need/want is to add more to that balancing act at the moment.

Looking back, they should’ve scaled back instead of totally shutting down.

 

[Getachew]

This all lines up with some things that I have heard.
There is a concern that severing the companies control of the Chinese parks (this would be an OLC style operation, not just Disney pulling out completely) would bring about Intellectual Property enforcement issues (which was a big side reason for partnering with China at the beginning with SDL).
As for domestic parks, a complete shutdown is looking very unlikely, but scaling back operations somewhat significantly is absolutely on the table. While I have reason to believe that reverting to the MK-only plan is not on the table, things like re-closing a park or two, or going into a weird operating schedule is being examined.

Also under consideration is freezing the resort reopening process; Disney is having trouble filling Pop, Ft. Wilderness, Contemporary, and DVC. The last thing they need/want is to add more to that balancing act at the moment.

which parks?

 

[ToTBellHop]

This all lines up with some things that I have heard.
There is a concern that severing the companies control of the Chinese parks (this would be an OLC style operation, not just Disney pulling out completely) would bring about Intellectual Property enforcement issues (which was a big side reason for partnering with China at the beginning with SDL).
As for domestic parks, a complete shutdown is looking very unlikely, but scaling back operations somewhat significantly is absolutely on the table. While I have reason to believe that reverting to the MK-only plan is not on the table, things like re-closing a park or two, or going into a weird operating schedule is being examined.

Also under consideration is freezing the resort reopening process; Disney is having trouble filling Pop, Ft. Wilderness, Contemporary, and DVC. The last thing they need/want is to add more to that balancing act at the moment.

I know nothing of the China issue, but for WDW, this is what I was suggesting as well. The fact that we have to pre-book parks would make it easy to dial back the number of opening days at Epcot and DAK. I gather demand at MK and DHS are “acceptable”.

Now, if the State of Florida keeps responding poorly and there is indeed a large spike headed toward Halloween, all bets are off. Let’s hope that can be avoided. There is truly no reason for another 10k Floridians to die by Thanksgiving but I’m not in charge.

 

[Riverrafter21]

Rian Johnson deleted his Twitter. I wonder if there were any internal discussions regarding the Star Wars trilogy failures and/or internal disputes over the final cut of The Rise of Skywalker

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Also under consideration is freezing the resort reopening process; Disney is having trouble filling Pop, Ft. Wilderness, Contemporary, and DVC. The last thing they need/want is to add more to that balancing act at the moment.

Who could have guessed they'd have trouble filling rooms during a pandemic when 85% of their customers come from out of state?

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

Massive layoffs are coming that will slow the burn rate. Selling off the Chinese resorts is exceedingly unlikely until 2021. But again, uncertainty is very high... all this is moot if we get a highly successful therapeutic or vaccine in the near term. If this thing lasts years, we'll see massive shifts in the global b economy.

Massive layoffs across the board? Not just the theme parks?

 

[Magic Feather]

I know nothing of the China issue, but for WDW, this is what I was suggesting as well. The fact that we have to pre-book parks would make it easy to dial back the number of opening days at Epcot and DAK. I gather demand at MK and DHS are “acceptable”.

Now, if the State of Florida keeps responding poorly and there is indeed a large spike headed toward Halloween, all bets are off. Let’s hope that can be avoided. There is truly no reason for another 10k Floridians to die by Thanksgiving but I’m not in charge.

There seems to be some people that think that dropping Epcot would be enough to fill the little bit of leftover supply that MK and AK have (they both alternate with getting filled up). However, they put so much effort into adjusting for and dealing with the quirks of getting Epcot ready for operations, that I have a hard time seeing them throw it all away.

 

[DVCakaCarlF]

There seems to be some people that think that dropping Epcot would be enough to fill the little bit of leftover supply that MK and AK have (they both alternate with getting filled up). However, they put so much effort into adjusting for and dealing with the quirks of getting Epcot ready for operations, that I have a hard time seeing them throw it all away.

I bet Epcot reaches capacity this weekend for locals...it’s like Myrtle Beach and International Drive had a baby.

 

[DVCakaCarlF]

Rain Johnson deleted his Twitter. I wonder if there were any internal discussions regarding the Star Wars trilogy failures and/or internal disputes over the final cut of The Rise of Skywalker

I would think a lot of people are dropping twitter.

 

[Magic Feather]

I bet Epcot reaches capacity this weekend for locals...it’s like Myrtle Beach and International Drive had a baby.

Slight fun fact: I-Drive has been one of the worst places for COVID spread in the tourist district of Orlando. Whatever they call the Orlando Eye complex now’s many establishments especially. Despite mask “requirements” enforcement and compliance has been abysmally low in that area. I’ve heard of some employees and visitors contracting the virus and being able to trace it there.

 

[WDW Pro]

Massive layoffs across the board? Not just the theme parks?

There's no need to get into the specifics of layoff structures... things can change and it would be cruel to put people in fear of losing their job before the company gives the word.

 

[doctornick]

The red button option might be the best idea Disney has had in awhile. I wonder if they are regretting getting involved with the CCP in the first place.

Given the importance of the China market - in particular for movies - and considering that numerous Disney owned movies have particularly benefitted to the tune of 100's of millions of dollars each, I doubt they have any complaints.

I find it somewhat amusing that there is the comment about China thinking about decades but US companies not doing so when opening theme parks in China is all about Disney looking long term. I'm not saying that it is gamble that will pay off (beats me) but it certainly isn't a short term thought.

 

[M:SpilotISTC12]

Just spit balling here...Is the reason why Shanghai DL is so vastly different somewhat of a way of Disney covering their butts if they ever needed to surrender the park due to international relations. Now I'm not as on top of everything SDL has to offer but it doesn't seem as "Disney" and IP heavy. Could that be the reason why its so different? Am I making sense? I ask because I don't know enough about it but just thinking quickly.

 

[doctornick]

Just spit balling here...Is the reason why Shanghai DL is so vastly different somewhat of a way of Disney covering their butts if they ever needed to surrender the park due to international relations. Now I'm not as on top of everything SDL has to offer but it doesn't seem as "Disney" and IP heavy. Could that be the reason why its so different? Am I making sense? I ask because I don't know enough about it but just thinking quickly.

I tend to think it is "different" because (1) the Shanghai partners wanted unique stuff, especially they wanted different stuff than Hong Kong and (2) China doesn't have the same history with Disney stuff so they tended to focus on newer/more well known in China properties when they did use IPs.

The important question I have is if Disney ended up selling Shangai, can we still get a copy of their POTC somewhere in the states? (I'd love to see it in DHS and then remove Jack from the MK ride.)