Disney Misses Earnings Expectations for First Time in Over 5 Years

Now I'm curious how the next quarters will turn out after SDL opened.

TWDC has to do something at HKDL, because it looks like they are neglecting the resort since SDL is coming and this will not fare well with the government of Hong Kong.

Since DLP is now part of TWDC, I wonder if this will have an impact on the results in the future.

I guess Disney is now completely out of the console gaming business.

By the way, thanks for running the live blog. Since it's the middle of the night in Europe when Disney is doing the Q&A, it's great to be able to read everything in the morning.

 

Thanks, Shanghai!

Obviously that's where they're going to place the blame, but that's tough to do when Parks & Resorts spending is up 10%. That seems like an enormous number, but considering the recent price increases (everything from hotels to park tickets to food) and numerous up-charge events, I guess it's not too surprising. Hopefully Disney isn't turning off potential repeat customers with skyrocketing prices and stale parks

I think that HK is very aware of the situation, and is doing everything they can to not get abandoned; that's why they demanded that the mini-lands get added (at Disney's expense). It's a nice little park for what it is, but it was never going to be a major vacation destination. I hope that it doesn't get neglected now that Disney has their long-awaited physical presence in mainland China

 

History is repeating itself, I guess. Didn't Disney face the same problems with DLP? Hopefully SDL turns out to be a success after it opened.

Is there anything planned for HKDL besides the new Explorers Hotel, which looks really cool.

 

Yes, DLP had issues after it opened. I suspect that SDL will be more successful (if only for the Chinese government and Disney to save face), but it seems like it's a frequent excuse for cutbacks in the US parks, even though that's not how budgets are allocated

As far as I know, the hotel is the only new thing in HKDL for the next few years, but they knew there was going to be a dip in attendance when Shanghai opened so I think they're taking it as time to reconsider what they want. There have been rumors of beginning work on the 2nd park, though obviously that would take many years to be designed and built

 

IF they are planning on building a second park, I just fear that it will be a cheap solution like in Paris.

 

I hope not. HKDL knows they're competing directly with SDL now, so they'll need to step up their game. A half-day park was fine when they were only competing against Ocean Park and the tourist sites in HK, but they're in the big leagues now. The mini-lands (well, not Toy Story that much) seem to have taken the right approach, so I'm intrigued to see what they can come up with

Unlike DLP, I don't think that HKDL has to use the land by a certain date, so I don't think they would push to open a park simply for the sake of having a second park. They went to great expense to reclaim the land for future use, so clearly it's a long term goal, though we really don't know much more about it at this point

 

Does Disney have any say when it comes to land? If I'm not mistaken, I remember the government threatening Disney with giving the land to Universal or another themepark company. Maybe that was just bullsh...

 

I don't remember hearing about that. From what I remember (which isn't a whole lot), Disney has that land to themselves, since they built the public recreation space on the northern portion of their site. But I don't really remember a lot of the details, nor would I know where to look to find such a thing

 

I didn't realize that the Iron Man attraction in Tomorrowland hasn't opened yet. That's on the near-term horizon for HKDL, but there doesn't seem to be much/anything after that from what I've seen. Then again, HKDL stuff often gets overlooked by the sites I tend to see

 

I forgot about Iron Man too. When is it supposed to open? This year or 2017?

 

I'm not sure. I have to think it is this year, it seems like it's been under construction forever at this point

 

Did anyone else read this post in Dobby's voice?

 

I don't know Doobie and I have never heard him talking, so I didn't read the post in his voice ;-)

 

lol Dobby, the house elf from Harry Potter

 

Now I'll be reading every post in Dobby's voice