Originally Posted By Rebekah This topic is for discussion of the 4/1/2002 news item <b><a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/dowjones/20020401/bs_dowjones/visitors_to_tokyo_disney_theme_parks_up_27__last_fiscal_year" target="_blank">DowJones: Visitors To Tokyo Disney Theme Parks Up 27% Last Fiscal Year</a></b> The April 1st <I>Dow Jones</I> reports attendance at the Tokyo Disney Resort rose 27% during the fiscal year that ended Sunday.
Originally Posted By dennis-in-ct so .... how would these profits help the U.S. parks? Congrats Tokyo for a great park!!!!!
Originally Posted By x-TDL-character Cool. Wonder what all the naysayers will have to say about that!
Originally Posted By x-TDL-character ROTFL!! Well, Dennis, at least you can be negative about SOMETHING! ; ) I wrote you a little something over in the Paris section, check it out.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer This will help the Disney bottom line - a percentage of every admission and purchase in the Tokyo parks drops into Scrooge McDuck's moneybags in Toontown. All of the operating costs and capital are covered by OLC, so it's pure profit for us. The agreement with OLC was one of the best deals Eisner ever made, and it means more money for the American and European parks.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Did i miss something here?? I don't recall Eisner being around when the deal to built TDL was put together back in the late 70's or early 80's. Or is there another deal concerning TDS i am not too knowledgable about? Still the percentages Disney Co. gets from OLC are so minuscule that i would think it really doesn't help the bottom line that much. Again, i am speculating because Disney finances are not the reason i love their parks.
Originally Posted By OrlandoBoi Thank you TDL. I am with you. When I walk through the gates at a Disney theme park, ledgers, balance sheets and the bottome line are THE LAST THING on MY mind.
Originally Posted By MagicalNezumi One big error that Disney made was not investing in OLC when they had a chance in the '70's. Hopefully someone can provide details here. -- MagicalNezumi
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Hey Rebekah, Shouldn't this thread be located in the Tokyo Resort section of the Discussion Boards? It seems odd to have it here in the WDW:General section.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer I wouldn't say 10% of all purchases and 5% of all admissions is miniscule in a resort that sees 22 million customers a year. Especially since there is no outlay of funds from Disney for operating costs, and since Disney gets that money whether OLC is making a profit or not. And Disney has the final word on what can happen in the park and what can't. Pure profit, creative control and no risk - it's a very sweet deal.
Originally Posted By WEDWAY100 Careful now... Let's not get too excited about this. Remember that Disney is a public company whose main goal is to make money. Now I'll quote from the artice, "For the year ended March 31, 2002 , Oriental Land expects group net profit of Y700 million, down 85% from Y4.74 billion in the year-ago period, hurt by high development expenses for Disney Sea." I realize that TDS is one of the best parks on the planet, and I hope that we can get some of this quality returned to our parks here at home. But I think this is exactly what the Disney company is concerned about. The OLC spent a bunch of money, got 27% more visitors and saw the profits go way down for the first year. TDS is a long term investment. So the question is whether the high costs will continue. Did OLC write a check, or did they borrow a bunch of money like Disney did for EDL? If they have to continue to make payments to the debt for years to come, then this could be a bad investment. However, if the original building costs for this park will be covered in a few years, then it will prove to be a great investment. Only time will tell...
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I don't know much about money matters (but i sure know how to spend it at TDR!) but even an 85% drop in profits mean a 15% profit made, as opposed to the EuroDisney fiasco and how it has affected the quality of the product here at home and in France. If OLC is as astute as i think they are, they proably already had planned for this drop in profits and are prepared to proceed accordingly to make sure they stay in the black.
Originally Posted By OrlandoBoi This puzzles me since a lot of people will justify the expense of adding to the DLR with DCA and DTD even WITHOUT a huge upswing in profits there to justify the costs. At least TDS is a solid investment that looks set to keep roping in the full paying day visitors for YEARS to come. And let's not even start on things like DCA's discount coupons, two for one deals and comping which sully the park's reputation and further cheapen the brand name....in the US anyway. Sorry to harp on this but some people try to turn the same arguments on TDS and it CLEARLY is a VERY different creature.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer The market for Disney products and anything western is very dense in Japan, and comparing OLC's success with TDS to Disney's success elsewhere without taking that into account gives a false impression of OLC's acumen.
Originally Posted By OrlandoBoi TS-as crass as it is, bean counters don't care about reasons. They want to see $$$'s. TDR generates that. Anything else is simply trying to put a bad light on an exceptional product whilst trying to make a very avergae product look shinier and more appealling. 'nuff said.
Originally Posted By Doobie <<< Shouldn't this thread be located in the Tokyo Resort section of the Discussion Boards? It seems odd to have it here in the WDW:General section. >>> It should've been. Sorry about that. Doobie.
Originally Posted By WEDWAY100 << Anything else is simply trying to put a bad light on an exceptional product whilst trying to make a very avergae product look shinier and more appealling. >> I am not trying to put a bad light on TDS. It looks like an incredible park, and I am very glad it got built. I wish we would see more of that level of quality and detail here in the states. However, while it drew in more visitors, it lowered the profit considerably. Unfortunatley, investors don't look at the fact that it still made 15% of previous profits. What they see is that the profit went down sharply. As an example, the company I work for recently reported earnings that were only 50% of what investors had expected. The investors responded by selling and the stock price went down 35% in one day. They didn't care that we still made money. It was less than last year and less than it should have been. The profit will definately go back up at TDR when the start up costs of TDS are absorbed. The only question is how long will that take? If it takes too long, then it was a bad investment, and could have very serious consequences. If the debt is paid off relatively quickly, then it will look like a great financial decision. I don't know the answer to this yet. I think we will have to wait and see. Also, I was not in any way trying to compare or contrast this with the DLR expansions. The DLR and TDR have taken two completely opposite approaches to the expansion concept. Neither approach is without its own advantages and disadvantages. This is what makes it so interesting to watch.
