EpcoTim
Well-Known Member
Probably less to do with WDI and more to do with how corporate handles their books and bills out internal services, etc.
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The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...
- Thread starter WDW1974
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Probably less to do with WDI and more to do with how corporate handles their books and bills out internal services, etc.
They've created a multi billion dollar system that's impossible to tell if it's working? That's a great defense for a system that IS NOT working (in the sense of how they said it would).
They changed what your park ticket, room key and FP look like as well as the way you use them. That's it. The system is working in the sense that it is turned on and running. The better question to ask is does it make your vacation more magical as they claimed it would? Is it making wait times better? Is it creating better memories for your family?
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
I had a really good reply I was half done typing and then the keyboard went away and I somehow clicked on the Waldorf Astoria ad.
Does anyone know if ad block is available for Chrome for iOS?
Does anyone know if ad block is available for Chrome for iOS?
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
Anyways, what I was saying is that this current frozen offering is better then anything that was over planned and given to us in the past five years.
It's a nice little summertime offering that the guests will enjoy.
A lesson that should be taken from this is that if you build it, they will come and your revenue will increase.
Unfortunately, I don't think that's the lesson these executives are going to take from this…
It's a nice little summertime offering that the guests will enjoy.
A lesson that should be taken from this is that if you build it, they will come and your revenue will increase.
Unfortunately, I don't think that's the lesson these executives are going to take from this…
Mike S
Well-Known Member
As I've pointed out before by 2018 Universal will have 4 parks in Asia, one of them in mainland China just like SDL. Universal is expanding heavily in the region as well as expanding domestically. Here is my original post which you seem to have conveniently missed.
Now answer honestly. Which parks and resorts division is making wiser investments for long term growth? One that expands worldwide including its domestic properties, or the one that seems to focus more on the rest of the world than its domestic properties unless it's desperately needed?
Stevek
Well-Known Member
If they didn't learn the lesson from DCA 2.0, it's unlikely they ever will.
asianway
Well-Known Member
It will be resentment for 1.) having to actually work and 2.) being shamed into having the division president force it down their throats. They will fight all the harder next time to do nothing
Let's start with the view that has been expresses all over this tread that universal is killing Disney on rides and attractions. I don't agree with this but lets accept that for now. Based on that view all sorts of people staying at WDW will be going to universal. How does Disney compete with that? Next gen is designed to keep the guest on property an extra day or two. How do you gage that? By total attendance.
With all due respect, what the 'eff are you talking about? Asian corps. primarily determining retirement? investment in WDW now that Shanghai is done? 5th gate? Orlando vacationers are the only ones with stock and mutual funds? SMH
First of all, it's "gauge" not gage. Secondly, Next gen is actually helping guests hit the rides they want and then leave the parks.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
I like how it is such a lousy business move for the hotels at Universal Orlando Resort to be Lowes partnerships but Shnaghai Disneyland is brilliant because apparently the Shanghai Shendi Group is a mass hallucination.
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What? Nothing except that MyMagic+ is a failure on this site?
Looks like I have to repost something I wrote a couple of months back on another Spirited thread ....
Disney has made a horrible mistake with MyMagic+.
Now that I have your attention ...
No, I’m not bashing MyMagic+. Quite the opposite. The just-released Q2 company financial results suggest that MyMagic+ could have been a key driver to financial success, if leveraged properly. However, it looks like Disney leadership is letting a tremendous opportunity slip away.
Let’s focus on a single passage from the company’s press release for this quarter and consider what Disney’s 10Q filing tells us about it:
"Higher operating income was due to growth at our domestic parks and resorts driven by increased guest spending at Walt Disney World Resort, higher attendance at Disneyland Resort and increased occupied room nights at both resorts. Higher guest spending was due to higher average ticket prices and food, beverage and merchandise spending. These increases were partially offset by higher costs which were driven by spending on MyMagic+ and labor and other cost inflation, partially offset by lower pension and postretirement medical costs."
As disclosed in the 10Q, domestic theme park attendance is up 3% but that number is artificially low as a result of Easter shifting to Q3 this year. As indicated in the press release, it appears most, perhaps even all, of the quarter’s gain is driven by DLR. WDW attendance essentially is flat.
Flat attendance at any Orlando theme park is pretty good performance right now, especially with the loss of Easter week.
Historically, theme park attendance tends to decline before the unveiling of a major addition. Park goers tend to defer their visits, waiting for the big opening.
Although it’s debatable whether Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (SDMT) qualifies as a truly major addition, it is WDW’s best addition since Expedition Everest in 2006. That’s 8 years; practically a lifetime between rides when it comes to amusement parks. For Disneyphiles, SDMT represents the best thing in years.
There should be no debate that Diagon Alley is a huge addition in Orlando.
With Diagon Alley and SDMT rolling out this summer, it’s likely that large numbers delayed their Orlando vacations this year. Even with the addition of Diagon Alley, Universal remains a 2 or 3 day vacation for most, giving WDW the opportunity to draw these guests into their resort for 3 or 4 days. This summer, Diagon Alley will increase attendance at both Uni and WDW.
All things considered, flat attendance at WDW right before the opening of Diagon Alley and SDMT is pretty good performance. WDW remains as popular as ever.
Another number from the 10Q to consider is Per Capita Guest Spending (PCGS). This represents the amount spent per person at the theme parks. This is up only 4% 2Q2013 vs 2Q2014.
For corporate Disney, this is bad, really bad. In recent quarters, 8% has been the norm. WDW has raised ticket prices an average of 12% over the last 12 months. Food, beverage, and merchandise prices are up considerably too.
A 4% PCGS increase along with much higher prices suggest WDW theme park prices are reaching a breaking point. Rather than simply pay Disney’s higher prices, guests are reducing spending. That means fewer meals; fewer drinks; fewer t-shirts. All these are high margin items. This adversely impacts profitability. Disney simply cannot keep charging more for the same old same old. Their paying customers are starting to revolt.
Taken together, the attendance and PCGS numbers suggest that guests still love WDW but just can’t stomach the prices anymore.
Disney needs to slow down theme park price increases and look for revenue elsewhere.
Guess what? They have it at the hotels if they are not afraid to use it.
What do I mean?
Unlike the theme park numbers, which are roughly split 2-to-1 between WDW vs. DLR, the 10Q hotel numbers are nearly 90% of what’s happening at WDW. Overwhelmingly, these numbers represent what’s happening in Orlando.
And this quarter’s hotel numbers are good.
Really good.
Both for Disney and for consumers.
MyMagic+ was rolled out to onsite guests in October and was announced before then, just in time to influence guest hotel choices for the just-reported quarter.
Guests responded tremendously. Whether frightened at the prospect of being treated like second-class citizens and being forced to stand in those sometimes ungodly FastPass+ kiosk lines or simply being attracted by the idea of preselecting 3 attractions before arriving, guests decided to stay onsite.
Occupancy skyrocketed from 80% to 86% year-over-year, one of the largest jumps in the history of WDW. Available Room Nights remained flat, suggesting this surge in occupancy was real.
This is not some correction easily attributable to external factors such as the economy or cheap travel. The improved occupancy represents a significant rethinking by WDW guests on the way they selected their hotels.
Remember, pre-selection of FastPass+ wasn’t made available to offsite guests until April, after the end of the quarter. Throughout the entire second quarter, onsite guests had a distinct advantage over offsite guests. The second quarter results show a customer base ready to respond to this advantage by purchasing more high-margin hotel stays.
Also helping this surge were flat hotel rates.
Per Room Guest Spending (PRGS) represents the amount spent per occupied room night at the hotels, including “guest spending on food, beverage and merchandise at the hotels”. PRGS was up only 2.6%. Think about that for a moment. Taking into account food, beverage and merchandise price increases at the hotels and actual room rates were flat.
Taken together, MyMagic+ along with flat hotel rates helped fuel a surge in onsite hotel stays.
Did I mention that WDW’s hotels are obscenely profitable?
Once a hotel reaches a certain occupancy rate, the incremental cost of filling extra rooms is minimal. At Disney’s occupancy rates, the incremental cost of filling extra rooms is perhaps $20 or $30/night. Yet PRGS was $275/night. That’s a lot of profit.
WDW has nearly 24,000 hotel rooms. Until the most recent quarter, over 5,000 of these were going empty most nights. $275 X 5,000 X 365 nights per year equals, well, it equals a lot of money every year.
Whether you like it or not, MyMagic+ could work as a tool to increase the number of onsite hotel stays. MyMagic+ could be used to fill those empty rooms, even justify the construction of additional rooms.
With Disney’s incredible margins, increased hotel stays are WDW’s next chance to cash in big.
Yet WDW management is letting this opportunity slip away.
Offsite guests now are able to make their FastPass+ selections 30 days in advance, considerably reducing the appeal of onsite stays. Piling on top of that, MagicBands now are for sale for a measly $12.95. Rather than representing a badge of distinction for onsite guests, MagicBands can be purchased for about the same price as those cheap metal pins Disney sells by the tens-of-millions.
Offsite and local guests won’t like the suggestion but, if kept as an exclusive onsite perk, MyMagic+ was a potential gold mine or, in the spirit of SDMT, a potential diamond mine.
Fortunately for offsite and local guests, Disney management was afraid to leverage MyMagic+ to its full potential.
It just goes to show that WDW continues to be mismanaged, both creatively and financially.
WDW desperately needs strong leadership with vision.
there are at least 2 ways that they can give on site guests extra with MM+ without taking away the 30 days for all others guests.
-give extra FP+ to guests based on resort type value +1, moderate +2, deluxe +3
-allow FP's at 2 parks on the same day
Either one of these would reward on site guests and yet still allow others to make FP reservations. 30 days out, which has been shown for most rides to be more than enough even during heavy periods.
I have said in the past that the cost savings can clearly be proven. So can certain sales, i.e. magic bands. The problem is increased sales in other areaz are difficult to prove. So are people spending an extra day in one of the parks. Can the reason be proved? No. I still say it was worth it and allowing people to plan in advance is great. I will have my 9 days of fast pass plus selected shortly for my vacation from 9/20 to 9/28. Am I spending an extra day in one of the parks? No. We would have spend every day like we do every year. Will we spend more? Yes but we do that every year anyway. Do I love the new system? Yes. So where does that leave us? My wife will buy all three Frozen magic bands if they are still available in September. Disney will save money on us because we use the magic bands at the food booths at Food and Wine. That is at least 200 charges over the 9 days. Then add all that my wife spends at the stores. All that can be proven is the cost savings. Everything else is speculation but some of it has to be the result of next gen. Profits are all that matters and they will increase.
asianway
Well-Known Member
Guilty
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
Hey, Can you do some damn research before you put something blatently wrong & misleading up here?
Its for international direct flights from certain airports with direct flights to the U.S.
This is not a domestic thing.
PeterAlt
Well-Known Member
Omg... Finally made it out of Miami last night... There was a Comicon convention there that I didn't know about... Had to spend the night for it (no sleep)...
GUESS WHO I BUMPED INTO?
...The legendary Timothy Zahn, author of the Heir of the Emperor Star Wars trilogy of novels! I asked him how he feels about Disney producing the sequel trilogy.
He said he has trepidation about it and worried about "another Jar Jar Binks."
I told him not to worry and that it is in good hands with JJ Abrams directing it.
This didn't ease his trepidation and his facial expression showed doubt.
Then, I asked the $65,000 question in the form of a Jeopardy answer, "So, they decided not to use your stories, but they will use your characters that you created."
He gave me that look like I wasn't supposed to know that and said, "They can still use my stories... They own them, so anything is possible!"
I got his autograph, thanked him, shook his hand and moved on...
Funmeister
Well-Known Member
So if I charge people $1.00 to get in using NextGen and attendance goes through the roof...would you agree or disagree that "total attendance" is a good gauge?
jakeman
Well-Known Member
Can you post the responses as well?Within the confines of an earnings call, Wall Street has been about as probing as possible with regard to MyMagic+'s financial performance.
An earnings call is not like some "60 Minutes" piece of journalism. It's intended to be an extremely polite Q&A. A question is asked once, answered, and then it's on to the next question.
A couple of earnings calls ago, Wall Street took the unusual step of asking Iger about MyMagic+'s financials twice. Something like that rarely happens during one of these calls.
Wall Street just doesn't understand how MyMagic+ is supposed to pay for itself. (Note they don't ask Universal similar questions about Diagon Alley.)
Let's look at Wall Street's questions from the last six straight earnings calls and see if anyone can answer them with anything more meaningful that Iger's and Rasulo's hand-waving replies.
February 5, 2013: "On the parks, I guess it was mostly cost-related. Could you clarify on the technology spend -- or MyMagic+ or however you want to refer to it -- how much more to go is -- the press reported it's something like $800 million to $1 billion of spend on that effort. How much more is there to go?"
May 7, 2013: "Bob, if you could talk about the timing of the rollout of MyMagic+. Is there any way to give us a sense of the potential impact from that initiative? It's not the easiest thing for us to model."
May 7, 2013: "Perhaps then, Bob, just in terms of timeframe, would that be something where by fiscal 2014 you would think we start to see some impact?"
August 6, 2013: "You didn't mention MyMagic+. Any comment on how that's impacting business at this point?"
November 7, 2013: "And just a follow-up question on the domestic parks. I think in the past, you've sort of called out some incremental expense that we may see in different initiatives. I guess is there something incremental we should look out for in fiscal 2014? I guess, where are you on the spending around MyMagic+? And then on MyMagic+ when we might see, I guess, some signs or data points of how it's impacting the business?"
February 5, 2014: "Then for Bob, you guys had talked about the cost of MyMagic+ this quarter, but can you give us some indications of how the rollout's going on revenue and customer behavior, because per capita is really good at this point, so what's going on with MyMagic+?"
February 5, 2014: "Then just my second question on MyMagic+, I know you said the benefit of guest satisfaction, but there must be some benefit to revenue to be able to put a device button, get out of the store, run to doors quickly. Is it showing up in the per cap revenues? On the cost side, how much more is there to go? How much more it is there to go now?"
May 6, 2014: "And then any color maybe on the cost side with the launch cost, if there is anything significant for this last phase of the opening and I guess additional costs of MyMagic+ there, or is most of that behind us?"
Wall Street is asking the same basic questions again and again because Iger and Rasulo are not giving satisfactory answers. Iger & Rasulo keep tiptoeing around the questions, talk about vague notions of getting the guest to spend more as a result of a “better experience”, and then move on.
We're now at the point where MyMagic+ should start having an effect. Let's watch the numbers from the next four quarters and see what happens.
Thank you. Indeed it was. This is one aspect I personally am glad didn't happen.
Don't I know it....