The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...

[doctornick]

The Street's view usually doesn't get much past the most recent news cycle.

WWOHP was inexpensive and a huge success.

Transformers was inexpensive and a success.

They expect Diagon Alley to be inexpensive and a huge success.

Right now, The Street would love Universal to build more but that will sour the first time Uni stumbles. (And Uni will stumble; all companies do.)

Conversely, for Iger, "What Wall Street thinks" has become as limiting a factor as "What would Walt do?" was for the pre-Eisner generation.

Comcast and TWDC are huge conglomerates. They need to focus on smart business strategies; not on what Wall Street (or Walt) thinks.

OK, that's fair. I guess my curiosity was if Comcast was getting any concern from Wall St regarding their high spending on the parks, but you make a good point that they aren't going to complain if an investment is recouping quickly.

Being efficient with the money spent certainly helps.

 

[Mike S]

Potter turned out great because Uinversal Creative, the WB designers, and contractors were actually given some room to play. It was still a relatively cheap project with a ton of reused infrastructure. There's a reason Diagon will blow it out of the water, and a reason why the Hollywood and Japanese versions will be significant improvements.

Any chance they could apply some of those improvements to our Hogsmeade sometime in the future?

 

[stlphil]

Conversely, for Iger, "What Wall Street thinks" has become as limiting a factor as "What would Walt do?" was for the pre-Eisner generation.

This paragraph is perhaps the greatest and most instructive analogy I've ever seen in a post.

 

[seascape]

Or a Disney themed strip bar for the husbands. At rope drop mom and the kids take off sprinting left while all the husbands go sprinting the left. Imagine the money that could be made from the $50 poloroids. Not exactly Walt's vision but it would surely increase gross revenue.

No. No. No. I don't like strip clubs and I am happily married. Walt would never accept one in his park either.

 

[wdwmagic]

Universal has a plan and Wet and Wild is not part of that plan. That whole area on I Drive around that park is about to be transformed over the next 10 years. Universal will have a large part of it. They aren't going to be able to hide much longer all the land they have acquired and are acquiring. They have plans to build a state of the art water park. Orlando may have 4 water parks but outside of crush n gusher none of them have any of the modern state of the art water slides many parks around the country have gotten in the last few years. Holiday World's water park has more state of the art large scale/capacity slides then any park in Orlando. UNI will need something new and shiny for all the resorts they will be building across the highway until they reach the point that a 3rd park is viable. But who knows they may end up jumping across Kirkman Rd instead or including. We got a long way to go and it is gonna be fun to watch it all happen.

I think there is no doubt that Universal could really disrupt the water park market in the area. I think many guests will only visit one water park per trip, and something entirely new with cutting edge water attractions may be the winner. Of course, they will always have to contend with so many Disney visitors having one of Disney's water parks included in their ticket. That could be hard to beat. Either way, something coming from Universal might finally push Disney into adding something to the water parks. They are way overdue for something new.

 

[Nubs70]

No. No. No. I don't like strip clubs and I am happily married. Walt would never accept one in his park either.

Be honest, you would love to see Elsa shoot her bra into the crowd while singing "Let It Go". (Or "Let Them Go"as the case may be)

 

[lazyboy97o]

OK, that's fair. I guess my curiosity was if Comcast was getting any concern from Wall St regarding their high spending on the parks, but you make a good point that they aren't going to complain if an investment is recouping quickly.

Being efficient with the money spent certainly helps.

Universal's spending has yet to get out of control the way Disney's has been for years now. Comcast has also been openly bullish and positive about theme parks, a sentiment not at all shared by Disney's leadership.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Be honest, you would love to see Elsa shoot her bra into the crowd while singing "Let It Go". (Or "Let Them Go"as the case may be)

It would be a great place to use your Disney $$$$$$

 

[seascape]

I think there is no doubt that Universal could really disrupt the water park market in the area. I think many guests will only visit one water park per trip, and something entirely new with cutting edge water attractions may be the winner. Of course, they will always have to contend with so many Disney visitors having one of Disney's water parks included in their ticket. That could be hard to beat. Either way, something coming from Universal might finally push Disney into adding something to the water parks. They are way overdue for something new.

No one goes on a vacation to Orlando to visit a water park. That said I would love for universal to build the most amazing water park in the world. If they did all the locals would go there pay the $48.00 annual fee and free up the Disney Water parks for those staying on property. I don't care about the slides as much as the wave pool and lazy river. Besides people who go all the time are not that profitable and those staying on Disney property are not going to go to another water park off property. Disney has a captive audience just like Universal has for those staying at a Universal resort. Universal would do better to build another hotel and rebuild Wet N Wild.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Conversely, for Iger, "What Wall Street thinks" has become as limiting a factor as "What would Walt do?" was for the pre-Eisner generation.

This paragraph is perhaps the greatest and most instructive analogy I've ever seen in a post.

One of my favorite Disney quotes was spoken by someone who did not work for Disney.

It came from a securities analyst in a 1984 Newsweek article when the company was struggling:

"Walt was a real genius. He was running the company 15 years after his death."​

By the 1980s, the "What would Walt do?" mentality was smothering creativity at Disney.

Today, the "What does Wall Street think?" mentality is smothering investments in Parks & Resorts.

 

[tirian]

Didja ever notice that all the scumbag blogs that steal content & rumors from elsewhere have all banded together to form their own little lowlife webring?

This is the only Disney fanboard I respect. I'll even shamelessly plug the comment and tag Steve @wdwmagic !

 

[StageFrenzy]

Didja ever notice that all the scumbag blogs that steal content & rumors from elsewhere have all banded together to form their own little lowlife webring?

A circle of jerks even?

 

[Goofyernmost]

One of my favorite Disney quotes was never spoken by someone who worked for Disney.

It came from a securities analyst in a 1984 Newsweek article when the company was struggling:

"Walt was a real genius. He was running the company 15 years after his death."​

By the 1980s, the "What would Walt do?" mentality was smothering creativity at Disney.

Today, the "What does Wall Street think?" mentality is smothering investments in Parks & Resorts.

The last hugely creative park development or attraction would be in 1982 when EPCOT opened. That was a "what would Walt do" mentality. I haven't seen anything to write home to mom about, since then. I think it was the reverse to smothering, but, I do understand that it had to stop with time. New attitudes and technology eventually made it impossible to know what Walt would do. However, "what does Wall Street think" has done nothing except cut creativity and innovation.

 

[Funmeister]

A circle of jerks even?

Are you talking about imagineer fanbois again?....oh..you said circle OF jerks. Nevermind...nothing to see here.

 

[Mike S]

The last hugely creative park development or attraction would be in 1982 when EPCOT opened. That was a "what would Walt do" mentality. I haven't seen anything to write home to mom about, since then. I think it was the reverse to smothering, but, I do understand that it had to stop with time. New attitudes and technology eventually made it impossible to know what Walt would do. However, "what does Wall Street think" has done nothing except cut creativity and innovation.

 

[spacemt354]

Okay. Enough. Take it to a PM.

Wait ...there's a topic to this thread??

My bad.

 

[aladdin2007]

That place is just too cool, yet we can't have anything grand like that. If you look at that pic in a way it almost looks like it would make a great world showcase pavilion with a mountain attraction in background.

 

[cheezbat]

No one goes on a vacation to Orlando to visit a water park. That said I would love for universal to build the most amazing water park in the world. If they did all the locals would go there pay the $48.00 annual fee and free up the Disney Water parks for those staying on property. I don't care about the slides as much as the wave pool and lazy river. Besides people who go all the time are not that profitable and those staying on Disney property are not going to go to another water park off property. Disney has a captive audience just like Universal has for those staying at a Universal resort. Universal would do better to build another hotel and rebuild Wet N Wild.

You're wrong.

I have a trip planned in August flying up north JUST to check out Holiday World and Splashin' Safari...and talked of taking one to Denver to check out Water World. There are people who make those kinds of trips...even though we're not common.

Also, you must have forgotten in 2008 when Aquatica opened in Orlando. Many people I talked to chose Aquatica over the Disney waterparks, even though they were staying on site at WDW. The Disney waterparks were probably more convenient and cheaper for them, but the new park in town just seemed so much more exciting.

Wait to see what Universal does with a Waterpark. They may very well become the top dog of waterparks in Florida.

 

[Omnispace]

That place is just too cool, yet we can't have anything grand like that. If you look at that pic in a way it almost looks like it would make a great world showcase pavilion with a mountain attraction in background.

That park is not a result of the "What would Wall Street do" mentality.

Nor is it a result of the age of Post Modern irony.

edit: You are right, that scene would look good in WS.

 

[ScoutN]

No one goes on a vacation to Orlando to visit a water park.

Pedaling. Pedaling hard. We do just water parks pretty much each year for a week. Keep pedaling.