Universal Puts Disney's Reopening on Defensive

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robhedin

Well-Known Member
Jrb1979 said:
It all well and good to say they are waiting for people to be more comfortable with traveling. The communication they are putting out says the complete opposite. They are begging people to cancel and not come to the parks. That's completely opposite of trying to make money.
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If Disney did not want to open, then they just wouldn't open. They can't be forced to do so, especially not when it's occurring on both coasts.

My take is a bit different from yours though-- I think they have a problem with DVC and have to get those re-opened as quickly as possible. At the same time, I suspect they have seen a large amount of cancelations for the resorts. So it makes sense to consolidate into the resorts they have to open (DVC). Once they have sufficient demand, I'm sure they'll start reopening the other resorts. They've pretty much said that they expect at least some parks to be at (the lower opening) capacity in that they won't guarantee park access to either AP holders or resort guests, so that's not begging people to not go to the parks.

The logistics of reopening WDW are massive. This page: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/resorts/resort-hotel-list/ shows 31 hotels of varying amenities. They need to be deliberate about opening their resorts.

At the end of the day, part of their communication is that they will be limiting park capacity. They need to set people's expectation as to getting into a park given the massive popularity of WDW (and especially Magic Kingdom). That's all I see so far.
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
TrainChasers said:
Disney doesn’t get to make those decisions, their shareholders do. If Disney can legally open, and all of their competitors are open, they pretty much have to.
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Shareholders have no say. They can’t make the company do anything. Management and the BoD makes the call. Their competitors opened 6 weeks prior to them In FL so it is possible to just not open even if it’s legal and everyone else does it.
 
TrainsOfDisney

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
Management answers to BOD who answers to shareholders. I mean you’re right the BOD will make the call... that has the shareholders best financial interest in mind.

This whole thread was started because supposedly universal “surprised” Disney with the early open and Disney wasn’t ready.

Also I dare... no wait I double dog dare you to say “shareholders have no say” to the Vanguard Group or State Farm. I’m pretty sure they have a bit of a say ;)
 
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Lilofan

Well-Known Member
MisterPenguin

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
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robhedin

Well-Known Member
TrainChasers said:
Management answers to BOD who answers to shareholders. I mean you’re right the BOD will make the call... that has the shareholders best financial interest in mind.
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This is the important point, however-- The Board has the fiduciary responsibility to act in the shareholders interest. If that means in their analysis that not opening would put them in a better place then that's what they'd do.

I don't think that Disney got caught "off guard" by Universal; I'd be very surprised if there wasn't a lot of communications behind the scenes. WDW is much more of a logistical nightmare than Seaworld or Universal. Add in the whole need to protect the Disney Brand, and you end up with a company with a conservative bias here.
 
tirian

tirian

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
Well that didn’t last long 😧😧😧
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I wear a mask every time I’m in public because I don’t know if anyone around me has a compromised immune system. That said, during some recent rain storms, we had a hot day with 90% humidity. I cannot imagine walking through Orlando theme parks with a mask. I definitely won’t return until there’s a vaccine.
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
Giss Neric said:
Oh I wasn't correlating the two together. It was two separate things. The tweet was just in reference to the thread topic. Nothing more nothing less.
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As a park fan I totally agree with the tweet. Disney could have ramped up EPCOT construction and finished several other major projects faster without guests in the way. Instead they pulled back and conserved cash during the shut down. From a financial perspective Disney has been much more impacted by the pandemic so they have more of a need to be conservative. On the Universal side Comcast has been churning along with some lost revenues from the theme parks and movie studio but their core cable business was untouched. Uni parks is also a small fraction of the total Comcast numbers so it’s not as big a deal to continue business as usual on capital spend.
 
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Thelazer

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
As a park fan I totally agree with the tweet. Disney could have ramped up EPCOT construction and finished several other major projects faster without guests in the way. Instead they pulled back and conserved cash during the shut down. From a financial perspective Disney has been much more impacted by the pandemic so they have more of a need to be conservative. On the Universal side Comcast has been churning along with some lost revenues from the theme parks and movie studio but their core cable business was untouched. Uni parks is also a small fraction of the total Comcast numbers so it’s not as big a deal to continue business as usual on capital spend.
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They STILL could, no reason to open Epcot before en of year. Keep it closed, speed ahead with all projects, get it in top shape, rehab the rides.. and go for a BIG opening end of year, frame it as something like "Bringing the world together again" and showcase all the country's now that the virus is (hopefully) over etc.
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
Thelazer said:
They STILL could, no reason to open Epcot before en of year. Keep it closed, speed ahead with all projects, get it in top shape, rehab the rides.. and go for a BIG opening end of year, frame it as something like "Bringing the world together again" and showcase all the country's now that the virus is (hopefully) over etc.
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I don’t disagree. Instead they went with this hybrid approach where international CMs in World Showcase are replaces with whoever they can find to fill in and the front half of the park is a construction site. For show quality it would have been best to wait, but I think the main reason it’s opening is to provide more dining options since places will have limited capacity. There’s a good reason that park is staying open the latest.
 
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robhedin

Well-Known Member
Thelazer said:
It has more to do with operating cost , VS attendance and guest spending level as results of the first couple weeks come in than it does concern about uptick in cases.
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That would make a lot of sense, actually. Given how low attendance has been at some places initially I can see expenses out pacing revenue - especially if a lot of it was driven by locals with passes.
 
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BurnyMcBurnerface

Member
Lilofan said:
That feedback is not correct. Bloated middle mgt do not make 75K a year, more like 50-55K a year. It's FL, lower cost of living, lower pay but no state income tax.
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I was going to say that the guy clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about if he thinks a lot of the bloat is making *only* 75k/year.

Might want to take a trip over to Glassdoor to look through Florida-filtered Disney Parks salaries. Most “middle management” Disney couples where both are CMs clear a minimum of 200 a year. How do you think Winter Garden blew up?
 

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