What's Still On and What's Now Off

[Lilofan]

They can use all there massive parking lots (TTC, the 3 other parks parking lots) or even ESPN World Wide Sports complex...

Would give them good publicity and there not being used...

Coronado Springs has a huge convention center.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

They expect to lose money on Disney+ till around 2024. That's a long wait for rescue when you're drowning now.

Not to mention movies account for 10% of revenues/profits.

It’s amazing how many times on threads people quote the raw box office numbers and infer Disney keeps it. That’s not how the movie business works. They need to sell its rights - mostly for products - to make cash.

Where can they make that cash? PARKS...target, Amazon, Walmart. People have to choose to watch it or buy it other places. How many $15.00 an hour (let alone something legit) jobs can you pay on a $7.99 a month D+ subscription?

 

[VaderTron]

Star wars hotel was a poor financial decision on Disney part to begin with. Alas, it won't be abandoned. I don't think they started reservations yet so they will delay like they did pop Century 1900s.

Epcot is not in any position to stop building. They have created an embaressment theme park with all the construction. I actually would suggest epcot closing all together for 2 years to allow them to refocus and build. The only thing missing is their festivals, they could move those to Disney Springs.

They could close the front of the park and just open WS with back gate as the only entrance.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

They could close the front of the park and just open WS with back gate as the only entrance.

It’s possible...but that would be a huge logistics problem - especially in light of how they already will have to reconfigure their entire system with new social distancing guidelines.

Nobody thought of that, did they? Think Disney legal department and their insurance carriers are gonna allow mobs around Mickey head spinners and the faux security checks?

So you’d have go keep the hotels behind closed and shuttle people in to access Epcot...but you can’t because two are DVC and two are third party leased.

 

[SoFloMagic]

They expect to lose money on Disney+ till around 2024. That's a long wait for rescue when you're drowning now.

They'd kill for those Netflix licensing checks right now...

 

[Disstevefan1]

I'd assume that "no characters" implies the removal of characters from character dining

I have a bad feeling we are going to lose all of the buffets on property . Farewell Biergarten

 

[VaderTron]

It’s possible...but that would be a huge logistics problem - especially in light of how they already will have to reconfigure their entire system with new social distancing guidelines.

Nobody thought of that, did they? Think Disney legal department and their insurance carriers are gonna allow mobs around Mickey head spinners and the faux security checks?

So you’d have go keep the hotels behind closed and shuttle people in to access Epcot...but you can’t because two are DVC and two are third party leased.

Logistics for it wouldn't be as hard as you think. First off, people wouldn't be clamoring to go to Epcot under those conditions. There would be a decent measure of self-regulation of attendance, especially if they don't give a hefty discount. Only those who love the Showcase and restaurants would want to go. Or, (I like this idea best) they could limit Epcot access to an AP "benefit" to lure in more passholders. A number of passholders like Epcot just for the restaurants in WS.

How to get the people in the back gate? Several ideas. Demand for Epcot back gate hotels will likely be down. Limited parking at those hotels could be made available. Others could park at HS and take the boat or Skyliner. Or, if they want to man the Epcot front parking lot they could bus/shuttle people to the back and/or to Beach/Yacht and/or Caribbean (Skyliner access).

 

[seascape]

They expect to lose money on Disney+ till around 2024. That's a long wait for rescue when you're drowning now.

You need to rethink what you consider profits and where they come from. Disney Plus is receiving over $5.50 a month on average from each consumer. They are paying the Studio for the shows and movies. So, lets say the Studios are spending 2 billion a year on new shows just for Disney Plus, Disney said they would only spend 1 billion a year. Add to that the $300 million a year they were getting from Netflix and 500 million for operating costs. Disney needs about $2.8 billion a year to break even from what they were making. At $5.50 a month per subscriber they would need 42 million subscribers to break even. They had just over 28 million through January. They just started a large portion of Europe this week with France starting in Early April. With everyone stuck at home it is very possible they will be profitable in the first half of the year. Also keep in mind that the Studio will be making a profit on the production of the shows so even if Disney Plus only breaks even The Walt Disney Company makes a profit.

 

[Horizons '83]

Buffets are big profit makers for most restaurants.

Always felt Beirgarten could be done much better if they had more entertainers.

They can find a way to keep it open, like having CM's actually serve the food from the buffett rather than 100's of people touching the food.

 

[VaderTron]

WWII didn't stop Disney or many other American companies. Just saying.

That was when men would drag fellow soldiers off the field after their own leg was blown off. Today, we have people who "can't adult today" because their favorite TV show is canceled. Nostalgia is nice for reminiscing, but not for present-day solutions.

 

[VaderTron]

You need to rethink what you consider profits and where they come from. Disney Plus is receiving over $5.50 a month on average from each consumer. They are paying the Studio for the shows and movies. So, lets say the Studios are spending 2 billion a year on new shows just for Disney Plus, Disney said they would only spend 1 billion a year. Add to that the $300 million a year they were getting from Netflix and 500 million for operating costs. Disney needs about $2.8 billion a year to break even from what they were making. At $5.50 a month per subscriber they would need 42 million subscribers to break even. They had just over 28 million through January. They just started a large portion of Europe this week with France starting in Early April. With everyone stuck at home it is very possible they will be profitable in the first half of the year. Also keep in mind that the Studio will be making a profit on the production of the shows so even if Disney Plus only breaks even The Walt Disney Company makes a profit.

You are forgetting all the money they used to get for rights to show their movies on other platforms and the money they are not getting for copies of their most popular movies that are now available on Disney+. There is more to it than meeting the cost of production. They have to meet and then exceed the profit margins they WERE making prior to bringing everything to their own platform. Plus, they have to overcome the losses incurred during the initial lift to that point before the venture can be considered truly profitable.

 

[Rosso11]

As far as ESPN the money is still coming in fast. Yes Ad revenue is down but that was never the main money maker for the network. It’s the $8 fee that about 85 million houses still pay for every month. The entire company has not shut down. Money is still flowing in from many avenues.

 

[CastAStone]

As far as ESPN the money is still coming in fast. Yes Ad revenue is down but that was never the main money maker for the network. It’s the $8 fee that about 85 million houses still pay for every month. The entire company has not shut down. Money is still flowing in from many avenues.

Particularly useful if they don't have to pay their rights fees for games that don't happen (which according to SI's legal expert is TBD)

 

[ToTBellHop]

Have you heard anything about some of the other cancellations OP mentioned? Like Poppins, Star Wars Hotel, etc?

I don’t think anyone will be Poppin in anytime soon but SW hotel, at worst, gets delayed until there’s a vaccine and people can come.

 

[FigmentFan82]

It would then follow, that cable subscribers shouldn't have to pay their $8 fee to them since they have no live programming.

I would think existing contracts would prevent that

 

[networkpro]

I don't think contracts are a barrier to leases, rent and agreements right now

You really don't understand carriage fees. The fee is only for carrying channels by a system, not for what's playing on them. We're not talking about necessary services or products here, these are entertainment.

 

[Lilofan]

They can find a way to keep it open, like having CM's actually serve the food from the buffett rather than 100's of people touching the food.

If CMs serve the food, then there would be better portion control and waste in regards to buffett food. The amount of food guests take from the Buffett themselves and just leave the leftover on the plates is staggering. And Americans eat too much food anyways.

 

[GhostHost1000]

The lack of proper prep and uniform response is contributing greatly to the panic - just my opinion.

Admit our mistakes and decide to do what we can...not get into a discussion about C-Law or Corporate governance.

The real time world situation shouldn’t resemble a thread off the rails here. And let’s admit: it kinda has.

Back on topic - I hope.

I get what you’re saying but could anyone have prepped for this? Hindsight is easier now

 

[stretchsje]

50% capacity with all indoor shows closed and ride throughput reduced due to wipe-downs doesn't seem like nearly enough to keep people at a distance from one another. Not even close. I thought the parks would need to be at 25% capacity or lower and that was with indoor attractions open but with spaced seating. @lentesta do the numbers make sense to you?

 

[eliza61nyc]

This is why it's hilarious when people are attacked for not having savings while also wanting to bail out huge corporations. Why should individual people bother with savings to get them through a crisis when gigantic corporations don't bother keeping cash reserves for a crisis?

Lol I would hope no one thinks that way. macro economics are a total different animal than your household budget.
If that's the thought then people would really be nuts because the country currently has a huge deficit