Will Disneyland USA suffer? ALL Of Disney's Theme Parks Now Closed - Reopening Dates Unknown

[el_super]

I’m not wanting to make this sound too aggressive but who are you?

Just your friendly neighborhood grocery store.

There are multiple “insiders” telling us some serious budget cuts are taking place.

Maybe. Maybe not. But there are a lot of things that people classify as a budget cut that really ain't. When fewer people are planned to be in the park and the park hours are reduced, is that a budget cut? If a show has poor attendance and gets cut, is that a budget cut? If China supplies their watermelon and the price skyrockets overnight, so that suddenly they have to remove it from the fruit salad, is that really a budget cut?

Even if I believed that they have cancelled some unannounced attraction because of budget cuts, what does it really matter? Are they never going to build attractions ever again? FOREVER EVER?

California has been luckier so far with keeping most attractions. I was pretty surprised to see the canoes return.

I like the canoes. I never go on them though.

 

[el_super]

Maybe you don’t know as much as you think?

Probably not.

You mixing all sorts of things up while claiming a events that did happen did not. Spending money on Epcot was planned, the cuts are to deal with unplanned losses.

What does it mean if the spending is planned? Are you saying they are only cutting spending that wasn't planned? Are you an insider?

 

[lazyboy97o]

Probably not.

What does it mean if the spending is planned? Are you saying they are only cutting spending that wasn't planned? Are you an insider?

They are cutting operating costs and not yet fully committed capital expenditures to make up for unexpected losses.

 

[RobWDW1971]

They are cutting operating costs and not yet fully committed capital expenditures to make up for unexpected losses.

Yes, but a nuance, cutting operating costs will help their Operating Income while cutting their capital will help their cash position. Unless, of course, the capital expenditure was to open during the fiscal year then the operating income would be hit with the first year's deprecation, so even delaying a complete opening to 10/1 helps operating income.

 

[SuddenStorm]

So if they are out to get more money, wouldn't they only cut things that are not making money?

That's not how this industry works. Disneyland is making tons of money, and TDA is operating under the premise that it will continue to make the same amount in revenue despite the budget cuts and delayed refurbishments/future expansions. By eliminating the 'unnecessary' expenditures, the same amount of revenue can lead to higher profits.

Of course, this ignores the long term impact the decline of show/customer service will have on the brand- but that's a different argument entirely.

 

[SuddenStorm]

Westsider is a wonderful poster with insight that's almost always spot on.

Makes me wonder why he's still posting over there, and hasn't joined the mass exodus to the far superior WDWmagic Disneyland group...

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

When fewer people are planned to be in the park and the park hours are reduced, is that a budget cut? If a show has poor attendance and gets cut, is that a budget cut?

In short.... yes. Disneyland and Walt Disney World used to have longer operating days. They are shortening the hours while guest attendance and park prices are growing. A small argument could be made at wdw that parks like DAK operate longer than they did originally.

As for entertainment... how do you put a price tag on atmosphere entertainment? The jazz bands in New Orleans Square don’t draw a big crowd but add to the overall atmosphere. The worlds top theme parks should have live entertainers in each land. It makes the place feel alive.

 

[TP2000]

How much longer can Chapek really maintain his current business model without his job truly being at stake? He seems to not have taken any real heat throughout his time in his position, despite the reality of what has been going on/off again at the parks since 2015.

It seems to me like he’s been walking on very thin ice for a while now.

I don't know that the ice is as thin as we'd like it to be. Mr. Iger allowed Mr. Chapek to be the face of the openings of Rise Before Dawn on both the East Coast and the West Coast, and Mr. Chapek has been allowed to belch forth those ridiculously unbelievable "talking points" to the media for the past several months about the new ride and the land in general on both coasts.

For whatever reason, Bob Iger and the Board of Directors seem okay with Mr. Chapek being the face of Disney's theme park division. That doesn't tell me that anyone of any importance in Burbank thinks Mr. Chapek is the fraud and clueless dolt we think he is.

 

[TP2000]

Westcot and the failures of EuroDisney were all well documented. That isnt a good example of "unnamed/unannounced projects being cancelled" type of rumor I am referring to. I'm referring more to the vague sensationalism from folks who don't understand how disney works but are all too eager to use any bad news.

There have now been multiple sources on multiple websites claiming that both the Avengers E Ticket and Mickey's Runaway Railway are being frozen in place for Anaheim in their early construction phases.

It will take a couple of weeks to prove it, but it will not be hard for anyone with a relatively new iPhone to take a zoomed HD picture of the Runaway Railway construction from the sidewalk of the Harbor Blvd. overpass to show that construction on that site has indeed stopped.

A less impressive barometer of frozen budgets and construction sites put into mothballs would be whatever it is they are building behind the Luigi's Roadsters ride. I'm not convinced that is anything more than a new office building to allow for eventual Marvel Land expansion into the parking lot behind Guardians of the Galaxy where several cheap pre-fab office buildings have existed for the past 10 years.

But if that construction behind Luigi's does stop progressing within a few weeks, I think we'll have confirmation on top of whatever is about to happen to the Runaway Railway construction visible from Harbor Blvd.

Until then, all we have to go on is anonymous posters on the Internet like you and me and WDWPro and Westsider and whoever else wants to weigh in on this interesting topic. And some names have more credibility than others.

And again, I can't think of another historic analogy to stopping already started construction in the parks. In October, 2001 a few weeks after the dust literally settled on the 9/11 attacks, TDA didn't stop early construction on Flik's Fun Fair and Tower of Terror, they continued it. But in February, 2020 it's been reported they are about to stop early construction on Avengers and Runaway Railway. That seems to be kind of a big deal, does it not?

 

[Curious Constance]

I think it’s really embarrassing for a company as large and profitable as Disney to cut or halt already announced projects for no reason other than to save money.

Suck it up and eat some lost profit for god sakes. You’ve already asked people to get excited about these projects. Now they’re basically saying never mind, you can’t have it cause we’re not okay with only making 6.5 billion this year instead of 6.8.

Disney’s grandparents ought to take them to the local bank and help them open a savings account so they can start planning for something more than 2 months from now. That way if unexpected things happen, which they’re bound to cuz $h!t, I mean “MAGIC” happens, they will be prepared and won’t have to hit the panic button and look petty and cheap.

 

[TP2000]

Constance, I couldn't love that post more. Especially this part...

Disney’s grandparents ought to take them to the local bank and help them open a savings account so they can start planning for something more than 2 months from now. That way if unexpected things happen, which they’re bound to cuz $h!t, I mean “MAGIC” happens, they will be prepared and won’t have to hit the panic button and look petty and cheap.

 

[Curious Constance]

Constance, I couldn't love that post more. Especially this part...

I channeled a little bit of my inner TP2000 on that one lol

 

[el_super]

That seems to be kind of a big deal, does it not?

Not really. Even if we assume that Corona Virus is absolutely the cause of a work stoppage, if the worst damage it does is delay a ride a few months is that really a cause of concern? No.

Also I am surprised that you didn't remember that Pirates was stopped in the middle of construction and completely redeveloped. These things happen.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Not really. Even if we assume that Corona Virus is absolutely the cause of a work stoppage, if the worst damage it does is delay a ride a few months is that really a cause of concern? No.

Also I am surprised that you didn't remember that Pirates was stopped in the middle of construction and completely redeveloped. These things happen.

Pirates of the Caribbean was paused because a better idea came along, not because Walt wished he could have sold off Disneyland and had gone into a panic about quarterly financials. Only running a business as if it is on the verge of oblivion and only responding to any issue with panic is not healthy for the business.

 

[el_super]

Pirates of the Caribbean was paused because a better idea came along, not because Walt wished he could have sold off Disneyland and had gone into a panic about quarterly financials. Only running a business as if it is on the verge of oblivion and only responding to any issue with panic is not healthy for the business.

What a bizarre way to spin it. Walt stopped all work at Disneyland in order to take a more lucrative gig: he had a bunch of industrialists pay for new attractions that he was unable to afford. The reasoning might be slightly different, but it is indeed an example of work-in-profress being halted at the park.

 

[Phroobar]

So Universal gets ready to open SLOPs and continues construction on Nintendo land.
Magic Mountain starts work on an unannounced new ride for 2021.
Knotts Berry Farm overlays Iron Reef with a Berry Tales shooter and maybe announcing the Fort Knotts project this year.
Disney stops construction on all projects in order to save a few billion in profit.

It's full steam ahead for everyone but Disney. Must protect those executive bonuses at all costs.

 

[lazyboy97o]

What a bizarre way to spin it. Walt stopped all work at Disneyland in order to take a more lucrative gig: he had a bunch of industrialists pay for new attractions that he was unable to afford. The reasoning might be slightly different, but it is indeed an example of work-in-profress being halted at the park.

Disney today is not in a position where they cannot afford to continue their work. The reasoning is not at all similar. The New York World’s Fair was all work centered around Disneyland. They didn’t stop in a panic about quarterly results. What new work is distracting attention away from the domestic parks?

 

[the.dreamfinder]

While the 9/11 attacks were the darkest and scariest days for our country since World War II, they appeared to have a much smaller impact on Disney theme park expansion. Looking back, it's quite impressive to think Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harriss pushed forward with DCA expansion in the immediate weeks and months after 9/11. Both Flik's Fun Fair and Tower of Terror began construction within two months after 9/11, when it would have been easy to stop them cold. At WDW they continued with Dinoland construction and got Primeval Whirl open and a revamped Imagination pavilion open later in 2002, while Mission Space continued its massive construction and opened in 2003.

It's terrifying to think Paul Pressler seems more rational and smarter than Mr. Chapek in this situation.

The only casualty I can think of from 9/11 were some unused hotel wings at WDW closed for "refurbishment", and the construction stoppage and eventual cancellation of the Pop Century motel expansion. That actually may not be a good omen, because Pop Century expansion was stopped in the fall of 2001 and took another decade to restart.

The bank panic and crash of 2008? A negligible impact, as plans for DCA's Billion dollar makeover steamed ahead and began opening in 2009 and 2010 and 2011.

The gas crisis of 1973-74 and hard recession it caused, when people literally couldn't get to the parks? A negligible impact, as major Tomorrowland expansion and Space Mountain construction continued at WDW for 1974 and 1975, and more modest construction continued at Disneyland with the expensive America Sings opening in the summer of '74.

They tried to sell off Parks & Resorts in the late aughts/early teens.

 

[TP2000]

I channeled a little bit of my inner TP2000 on that one lol

That's kind of you, and you did it very well, and yet it came across as solely from you.

If I get hit by a bus, you have my permission to take my place here.

 

[TP2000]

Even if we assume that Corona Virus is absolutely the cause of a work stoppage, if the worst damage it does is delay a ride a few months is that really a cause of concern? No.

Also I am surprised that you didn't remember that Pirates was stopped in the middle of construction and completely redeveloped. These things happen.

As @lazyboy97o said, the Pirates wax museum stopping construction in early 1963 is nothing like what is currently happening. I'm not sure if you were just grasping at straws, or if you truly didn't understand what the walk-thru Pirates wax museum in the basement of New Orleans Square circa 1964 was supposed to be if it had not stopped construction in 1963.

They stopped construction of that wax museum in a basement so that the vastly smaller Walt Disney Productions and WED of that time could focus their limited resources on four big pavilions for the World's Fair; all being built with other people's money and all planned to be moved back to Disneyland after the fair in 1966.

That's the 2020 equivalent of stopping construction on Avengers and Runaway Railway for two years so that WDI could focus on building a very fancy third theme park paid for by Amazon and Google on the Simba parking lot to open in 2023.