The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...

I

Ignohippo

Well-Known Member
ParentsOf4 said:
Most of today's Parks & Resorts capex is being spent on two things: general upkeep (what Rasulo calls "maintenance capital") and Shanghai. The amounts currently being spent on new WDW projects (Disney Springs and the Poly DVC) are laughably small.

WDW generates roughly $8 billion in annual revenue. Even a modest real investment budget of 5% equates to building a New Fantasyland every year.

Instead, for all their loyalty (i.e. money), WDW vacationers get another outdoor mall, a repurposed timeshare, and a promise to build one land based on a questionable IP in several years. :arghh:

WDW is an incredible asset yet executives within the company continue to take it for granted rather than nurture it. :banghead:
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Amazing post. Thank you.

It's called "cooking the golden goose".
 
jt04

jt04

Well-Known Member
lebeau said:
I'll take the FLE, but they should have been doing more in the other parks at the same time. So much more.
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They have been investing in the parks and elsewhere. See DTD for example. TWDC is blessed to have a CEO who knows how to win by not putting the cart before the horse. So investing in infrastructure was necessary to the long term financial viability of WDW. So that is what has happened. The fun stuff will follow. See Pandora for example.

Businesses are not run like a fast food drive through. Successful ones anyway.

BTW, this is a good spot to make another point. Any MBA that thinks WDW is subject to the usual business dynamics of growth, stasis, stagnation and then obsolescence should be fired on the spot. IMO.
 
lebeau

lebeau

Well-Known Member
jt04 said:
They have been investing in the parks and elsewhere. See DTD for example. TWDC is blessed to have a CEO who knows how to win by not putting the cart before the horse. So investing in infrastructure was necessary to the long term financial viability of WDW. So that is what has happened. The fun stuff will follow. See Pandora for example.

Businesses are not run like a fast food drive through. Successful ones anyway.

BTW, this is a good spot to make another point. Any MBA that thinks WDW is subject to the usual business dynamics of growth, stasis, stagnation and then obsolescence should be fired on the spot. IMO.
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marshmallow-fluff-trio_3.jpg


Did anyone else know there would be so much Fluff this morning? I am amazed by all the Fluff.
 
S

suburbianj

Active Member
BrerJon said:
I understand Americans aren't likely to get increased vacation days any time soon, but how would this predicition be affected by growth from international guests?

Most international guests get at least four, sometimes five or six weeks vacation a year, easily enough to fit a two week Orlando vacation in (two weeks is the normal for UK guests). At the moment that time is split between Disney, Universal and Sea World (thanks Orlando Flex Ticket!) but a fifth gate could persuade many to go Disney all the way.

Or do the numbers for international visitors barely make a dent compared to Americans, and not likely to ever be enough to make this worthwhile? Disney Springs seems to be exclusively targeting internationals, so they're clearly on Disney's radar.
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I live in bonnie scotland and we go to Orlando every two years and always stay in port Orleans riverside,however we got a cracking deal to stay in AKL next September so jumped on the deal. My point is for families with kids under 9 like i have,ten days are spent in the Disney parks,two days in universal,one day in the outlet malls and probably next year one day in legoland as my son will be three by then......im sure a large majority of UK visitors probably are the same as us give or take a day,we have nothing really like that over here in the UK that truly focuses on the kiddy market,and im sure even the new paramount park in London will still be mainly teen/adult orientated, so Disney does not have to worry about losing the uk visitors with younger kids..........however,the minute my kids hit ten or eleven,in sure they would prefer spending more time in universal,maybe more a 7 days Disney,four days universal,one discovery cove,one sea world and an outlet mall day. Disney needs to get its finger out,every two years we notice a large jump in prices,with the exception of next year,so maybe,just maybe Disney has reduced its price increases for uk travel agents,which means better deals for us punters,who knows?
 
jt04

jt04

Well-Known Member
Ignohippo said:
Amazing post. Thank you.

It's called "cooking the golden goose".
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It would be amazing if it were the case. Fortunately it is not which is why the poster uses hyperbole.

Patience. They were cooking the golden goose but it was rescued. Barely. But it was.
 
CDavid

CDavid

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
People did that? :confused:
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Try carrying this thing around the parks, circa 1982:

SL-F1Front.jpg



jt04 said:
They have been investing in the parks and elsewhere. See DTD for example. TWDC is blessed to have a CEO who knows how to win by not putting the cart before the horse. So investing in infrastructure was necessary to the long term financial viability of WDW. So that is what has happened. The fun stuff will follow. See Pandora for example.

Businesses are not run like a fast food drive through. Successful ones anyway.

BTW, this is a good spot to make another point. Any MBA that thinks WDW is subject to the usual business dynamics of growth, stasis, stagnation and then obsolescence should be fired on the spot. IMO.
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If you read this post as 99.9% sarcasm, it makes more sense.
 
Lord_Vader

Lord_Vader

Join me, together we can rule the galaxy.
AEfx said:
"It doesn't matter that the 8MP camera has half the resolution of most competitors - it's not about the MP, the main measurement of camera quality, with Apple's amazing proprietary software you don't need a high MP sensor"...
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Once you get past a certain point, MP count don't matter unless you are cropping the image to a great extent. What matters is lens (aperture) and the size of each pixel on the sensor, these both add up to great low light images. Add in the dual-phase pixels that I can attest make a huge difference in auto-focus capabilities (see Canon 70D as an example of a semi-pro DSLR that uses the same tech) makes the camera sensor/lens combo an upgrade. The larger individual pixel size allows for more light to effectively reach the sensor, this produces greater color depth and much better images overall. I am not saying the camera makes the shot, most photographers can take a cheap camera and produce a good shot.

An 8 MP image will print large format sizes (easily 18x12) which is much greater than the average user will print, larger MP counts do allow a much greater level of "digital zooming" but the trade-off is light input which I find a much greater asset. Simply put, the amount of light input makes for a much better image IMO than a large pixel count.

Digital Image Stabilization is a joke IMO though, if you want to attack an iPhone on its camera specs do it here. Digital Image Stabilization is not the best but is better than nothing.
 
DisUniversal

DisUniversal

Well-Known Member
Lord_Vader said:
Once you get past a certain point, MP count don't matter unless you are cropping the image to a great extent. What matters is lens (aperture) and the size of each pixel on the sensor, these both add up to great low light images. Add in the dual-phase pixels that I can attest make a huge difference in auto-focus capabilities (see Canon 70D as an example of a semi-pro DSLR that uses the same tech) makes the camera sensor/lens combo an upgrade. The larger individual pixel size allows for more light to effectively reach the sensor, this produces greater color depth and much better images overall. I am not saying the camera makes the shot, most photographers can take a cheap camera and produce a good shot.

An 8 MP image will print large format sizes (easily 18x12) which is much greater than the average user will print, larger MP counts do allow a much greater level of "digital zooming" but the trade-off is light input which I find a much greater asset. Simply put, the amount of light input makes for a much better image IMO than a large pixel count.

Digital Image Stabilization is a joke IMO though, if you want to attack an iPhone on its camera specs do it here. Digital Image Stabilization is not the best but is better than nothing.
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The 6+ claims to have optical image stabilization. I'm tempted because of that alone, but don't want a phone that big.
 
BrerJon

BrerJon

Well-Known Member
jt04 said:
They have been investing in the parks and elsewhere. See DTD for example. TWDC is blessed to have a CEO who knows how to win by not putting the cart before the horse. So investing in infrastructure was necessary to the long term financial viability of WDW. So that is what has happened. The fun stuff will follow. See Pandora for example.
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The two don't have to happen one after the other. Infrastructure expanded massively under the good days of Eisner, but so did 'the fun stuff'. If you aren't aware of how poor today's investment is compared to yesterday, take a look at a seven year period from 20 years ago (for my own sanity I'm ignoring attraction remakes and DVC hotels).

1988: New land at MK (Mickey's Birthdayland), brand new pavilion at Epcot (Norway), fireworks show at Epcot (Illuminations)
1989: MGM-Studios - an entire new park, a *massive* expansion of Downtown Disney (Pleasure Island), a brand new Future World pavilion with several attractions (Wonders of Life), a game-changing water park (Typhoon Lagoon), and a new parade at MK.
1990: Two deluxe resorts (Yacht & Beach), two convention hotels (Swan & Dolphin).
1991: A moderate resort (Port Orleans French Quarter), new MK night parade (Spectromagic) and a new day parade at MK.
1992: Another moderate (Dixie Landings), Aladdin parade at MGM, a new day parade at MK
1993: OK, I can't think of much that happened then!
1994: An entire water park (Blizzard Beach), a value resort (All-Star Music), Lion Kong parade, massive expansion of MGM (Sunset Boulevard), and a new day parade at MK.

Counting a new land or pavilion as a large expansion, and counting parades as shows, I think that gives the following:
= 3 whole new parks, 9 shows, 8 hotels, 5 large expansions (with around 7 attractions between them).

You don't do all that without building a lot of infrastructure along with it.

Now let's compare recent years, shall we?

2008: Toy Story Mania
2009: American Idol experience
2010: Magic, Memories and You projection show
2011: Pixar Pals parade at DHS
2012: New Fantasyland, Art of Animation Resort
2013: MyMagic+
2014: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and a new day parade at MK.
= 3 shows, 1 hotel, 1 large expansion (with 4 attractions), 2 other new attractions

Or, for arguments sake, let's take a 7 year block ending with what we know, Avatar.

2011: Pixar Pals parade at DHS
2012: New Fantasyland, Art of Animation Resort
2013: MyMagic+
2014: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and a new day parade at MK.
2015: ...
2016: Massive Downtown Disney makeover as Disney Springs Mall.
2017: Pandora opens at DAK along with night show
= 4 shows, 1 hotel, 3 large expansions (with around 6 attractions between them).

So you see, Iger has not exactly been generous with the purse strings in recent years compared to his predecessor.
 
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T

twebber55

Well-Known Member
BrerJon said:
The two don't have to happen one after the other. Infrastructure expanded massively under the good days of Eisner, but so did park capex. If you aren't aware of how poor today's investment is compared to yesterday, take a look at a seven year period from 20 years ago.

1988: New land at MK (Mickey's Birthdayland), brand new pavilion at Epcot (Norway), fireworks show at Epcot (Illuminations)
1989: MGM-Studios - an entire new park, a *massive* expansion of Downtown Disney (Pleasure Island), a brand new Future World pavilion with several attractions (Wonders of Life, a game-changing water park (Typhoon Lagoon), and a new parade at MK.
1990: Two deluxe resorts (Yacht & Beach), two convention hotels (Swan & Dolphin).
1991: A moderate resort (Port Orleans French Quarter), first DVC (Old Key West), new MK night parade and (Spectromagic) and a new day parade at MK.
1992: Another moderate (Dixie Landings), Aladdin parade at MGM, a new day parade at MK, HISTA at Epcot.
1993: OK, I can't think of much that happened then!
1994: An entire water park (Blizzard Beach), a value resort (All-Star Music), Lion Kong parade, massive expansion of MGM (Sunset Boulevard), and a new day parade at MK.

Counting a new land or pavilion as a large expansion, and counting parades as shows, I think that gives the following:
= 3 whole new parks, 9 shows, 8 hotels, 5 large expansions (with around 7 attractions between them).

You don't do all that without building a lot of infrastructure along with it.

Now let's compare recent years, shall we?

2008: Toy Story Mania
2009: American Idol experience
2010: Magic, Memories and You projection show
2011: Pixar Pals parade at DHS
2012: Storybook Circus, Art of Animation resort
2013: Little Mermaid and other NFL bits, MyMagic+, and a new day parade at MK.
2014: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
= 3 shows, 1 hotel, 1 large expansion (with 4 attractions), 2 new attractions

Or, for arguments sake, let's take a 7 year block ending with what we know, Avatar.

2011: Star Tours redo, Pixar Pals parade at DHS
2012: Storybook Circus, Art of Animation Resort
2013: Little Mermaid and other NFL bits, MyMagic+, and a new day parade at MK.
2014: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
2015: ...
2016: Massive Downtown Disney makeover as Disney Springs Mall.
2017: Pandora opens at DAK along with night show
= 4 shows, 1 hotel, 3 large expansions (with around 6 attractions between them).

So you see, Iger has not exactly being generous with the purse strings in recent years compared to his predecessor.
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the days of building like the 80's and 90's are over...that will never be done again but they could pick up the pace with the existing projects..... there is zero reason why Pandora should take until 2017 and zero reason why the DHS expansion hasn't already started
 

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