Originally Posted By dagobert WDWNT is reporting that SDL's financial problems have an effect on the US parks. Disney is going to cut costs. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://wdwnt.com/blog/2016/02/breaking-shanghai-disney-puts-financial-strangle-hold-on-domestic-disney-parks/">http://wdwnt.com/blog/2016/02/...y-parks/</a>
Originally Posted By monorailblue Well, it's a good thing the domestic resorts haven't had record-breaking attendance or anything. Should easily be able to absorb major entertainment and staffing cuts, since the parks are basically empty right now. Another reason to seriously rethink the family trip we've been planning for more than a year. Why should domestic Guests have to pay the price for Shanghai? This kind of contempt for the cash-cows that are the domestic resorts is infuriating.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance I also heard that the Marvel expansion planned for DCA has been put on hold due to this.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>I also heard that the Marvel expansion planned for DCA has been put on hold due to this.<<< A Marvel expansion was/is planned for DCA? I didn't know that. Do you have any infos on what they might have planned. As a big Marvel fan, I would like such an expansion. Is there still room to expand DCA?
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance I heard from a member of the WDW Magic forum, he seems to have a contact in the know who works for Disney. The Marvel plan has been put on hold for now, but it was going to be going behind the Tower Of Terror area. Not sure what all it involved though.
Originally Posted By dagobert Thanks for the answer. That's bad. Disney had a record quarter and now they are cutting costs. They have enough money to buy back shares, but now they have to cut costs. What a strange business world. I always was under the impression that share buy backs are like over here. The company I work for also bought shares back from the market, but they were given to the employees for a very fair price to strengthen the employee's investment into the company.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance I always thought that the foreign parks are paid for by the countries they are in, so I don't really understand why this effects the US parks.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I asked my Magic 8 Ball if any of this blog-based crap was true and it said "My sources say no". I give my Magic 8 Ball a whole lot more credibility than Disney Bloggers.
Originally Posted By hopemax > Well, it's a good thing the domestic resorts haven't had record-breaking attendance or anything. Should easily be able to absorb major entertainment and staffing cuts, since the parks are basically empty right now.< It's also good they didn't institute major changes in touring philosoph by dumping 80% of all the major ride's capacity OUT of the queue so people could take advantage of the park's other offerings: like characters, entertainment, merchandise, etc. Road Trip, my Mom worked at WDW for 10 years before she passed away last year. I was visiting 2 weeks ago, and all her co-workers basically said, "Good to see you, you won't believe how bad things have gotten here." They are stressed out about the lack of hours that are available to anyone. It doesn't matter if your FT, PT, Seasonal and these are people that have worked for WDW for over 20 years. They have already been through thick and thin and they've never seen it this bad. So believe it's only "Disney Bloggers" if you want to. Many CM's are trying to figure out if they can continue to work for Disney. On the DIS someone said their friend was scheduled for ZERO hours the next week, and was told to expect the same for the next few weeks. People can't live like that. It's not just that blog that is reporting this. The guy who runs WDW Magic posted a thread on the forums <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/cuts-coming-to-every-area-of-parks-and-resorts-thanks-to-shanghai-and-paris.909756/">http://forums.wdwmagic.com/thr....909756/</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I've heard about some of this too. With Bob Chapek taking over Parks & Resorts, it makes sense that there would be some changes, though I kind of wonder how much of this can be directly linked to the ongoing Shanghai problems. Especially given the record attendance and profits that P&R has had for several years in a row, it really makes you wonder how they're justifying the cuts This *really* makes you wonder whatever happened to that $800M, doesn't it? >>A Marvel expansion was/is planned for DCA? I didn't know that.<< There have been rumors of it, but I've always thought it was mostly wishful thinking. Now that they've made the upstairs of Innoventions into a more permanent Marvel space, I would be really surprised to see a serious Marvel expansion at DCA
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>This *really* makes you wonder whatever happened to that $800M, doesn't it?<<< I'm pretty sure now that the money wasn't used for expansion. Maybe the park ran so much out of budget that TWDC had to infuse such a high amount. It's DLP all over again. BAck then they had the same problems. The project was out of control, but the Disney management raised the budget several times a year to claim that they are still in budget.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros It's not quite the same scenario though, since Disney was ultimately in charge of DLP. With SDL, it seems like the Chinese government is in control and telling Disney what to do. When Disney invested more in DLP, their ownership stake increased; that doesn't seem to be the case here, and they're essentially just throwing money into the wind and hoping for the best
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>When Disney invested more in DLP, their ownership stake increased;<<< Are you sure about that? ED SCA went public before construction even started and the shareholder structure didn't really change since then until recently, when TWDC took over the debts.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I could be mistaken, but I thought that Disney started with a really low ownership (around 25%?), and as they invested more and more money, their share increased I also didn't think that the initial build-out was terribly over budget, but it was only after the crowds failed to materialize at the expected levels (despite being the #1 tourist destination in Europe in its first year) that they began to suffer How were the early additions like Indiana Jones, Storybookland, and Space Mountain funded?
Originally Posted By dagobert I just checked the french Wikipedia website. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcorporate.disney.go.com%2Finvestors%2Ffact_books%2F1997%2FDisneyfactbook.pdf">http://archive.wikiwix.com/cac...book.pdf</a> From page 3: >>>November 6, 1989: 51% of Euro Disney S.C.A.’s 170 million shares are offered to European investors at FF72 per share. A subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company owns the remaining 49%<<< Page 4: >>>October 20, 1994: The Walt Disney Company sells a portion of its shares in Euro Disney S.C.A., operator of Disneyland Paris, to a Saudi Arabian investor, reducing its ownership interest to 39%.<<< >>>How were the early additions like Indiana Jones, Storybookland, and Space Mountain funded?<<< I don't know, but according to Tim Delaney TWDC agreed before opening DLP to put another $100 Mio into the resort. He got 90 Mio for Space Mountain and the rest was used for Storybook Canal Boat and the small coaster and for Discoveryland Station. So I guess TWDC funded these rides.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Apparently I did a price check on some hotel dates in November a while back while I was logged into my MyDisneyExperience account. In the time since then, I’ve gotten no fewer than 3 different pieces of mail (booklets, brochures, etc) begging (I mean….encouraging) me to go ahead and book that trip Given that I already have a trip booked in April and I was just there in January, this seems really desperate on their part. I realize that they’re always trying to find people to stay in their hotels (especially at those prices, it must be a struggle most of the time), but it’s rather unbecoming of The Walt Disney Company. With how personalized the advertising has become through the new system (for an all-adult trip, the booklet showing highlights of the parks didn’t include children in any of the stock photos and showcased things like unique dining experiences), it’s sad that they have to resort to such low tactics. It really makes it feel like a going-out-of-business/fire sale, rather than welcoming returning customers
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt According to Motley Fool the cutbacks are most likely unrelated to SDL. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/18/disney-world-is-cutting-costs-at-the-worst-possibl.aspx">http://www.fool.com/investing/...ibl.aspx</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Idono, I read the article and it sure made it sound like SDL (and DLP to a lesser extent) was responsible for most of the cuts. ESPN could be somewhat of a factor, but given that it is in a different division of the company (not to mention completely overblown by media coverage compared to Disney's response) it seems unlikely
