Originally Posted By HokieSkipper <<Right! Isn't the Cabana Bay Beach Resort going to have the largest pool in Florida?>> I don't remember hearing about that. Could be the case though. I know it will have 2 themed pool facilities. <<To be fair, I think USF has their fan base. And they certainly draw the teenager crowd. >> Coming from my trip 2 weeks ago, they're drawing far more than the teenager crowd. I saw more families with kids there this time then I ever have before.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom In terms of Halloween Partys, Universal is the place to be. Mickey's Not So Scarey Halloween Party is getting to be old hat. I have also noticed that USF is very active in the social media arena. Seems like everyday I get a new posting as to the Halloween Horror Nights. I guess I'm grateful that Disney isn't using social media as extensively, since everytime I turn around there seems to be some advertisement for WDW everywhere. If there is any aspect of business that Disney has over saturated its their ads, they are everywhere.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "To be fair, I think USF has their fan base." Oh I'm sure they do, and it's well deserved, but thinking about it further it's clear that they aren't as interested in making a dent in WDW's attendance as they are in getting a larger piece of the overall Orlando tourist market. This is very different from the fan created scenario that USF is a threat to Disney's dominance in Central Florida.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Right! Isn't the Cabana Bay Beach Resort going to have the largest pool in Florida?>> It is going to be a big hotel - something like 1,800 rooms with 50% being family suites - it is basically a lift 'n' shift of Art of Animation. The theme is very Pop Century. It is a relatively small plot - something like 35-37 acres - and I think it is supposed to have 2 pool so I'd be surprised if one of them is the largest in the state. Pop Century is on 177 acres in all so that puts it in perspective.
Originally Posted By leemac <<So this makes me wonder what USF's ultimate plan is, especially since they aren't very aggressive on hotel expansion. Seems like their model is more like DLR than WDW.>> Ultimate plan is to bulk up the Uni Parks & Resorts business for sale - no doubt about it. Comcast can make all the noise they like about it being a core part of their business but ultimately it is a massively capital-intensive business that is an outlier to the rest of their conglomerate. Steve Burke is making the right noises but I'd be amazed if they genuinely are holding Parks & Resorts for the long term. USF wants to be a strong competitor to WDW Co. - a good number 2 in the market. There is plenty of business for both of them. I'm sure USF would love to take attendance and occupancy away from WDW but in the short and medium term they are content with massive quarter-on-quarter increases in attendance and guest spend.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom <<This is very different from the fan created scenario that USF is a threat to Disney's dominance in Central Florida.>> I think USF is going for superior quality, and they spare little expense in achieving that. USF has the latest technology rides that WDW seems to only dream of having.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt <<So this makes me wonder what USF's ultimate plan is, especially since they aren't very aggressive on hotel expansion. Seems like their model is more like DLR than WDW.>> "Ultimate plan is to bulk up the Uni Parks & Resorts business for sale - no doubt about it. Comcast can make all the noise they like about it being a core part of their business but ultimately it is a massively capital-intensive business that is an outlier to the rest of their conglomerate." Very insightful Leemac. I hadn't even thought about that angle. I knew something wasn't adding up, and this explanation makes perfect sense. "I think USF is going for superior quality, and they spare little expense in achieving that." That's great, but for what reason? Their attendance is still only a fraction of what any of the WDW parks get. For example, DHS, Disney's bottom performer (according to TEA), got 2 million more guests last year than IOA. From a purely business standpoint Leemac's prediction is the only explanation that seems plausible.
Originally Posted By leemac <<I think USF is going for superior quality, and they spare little expense in achieving that>> When your attendance is in the toilet (see: IoA) then it becomes a very easy decision to throw capital at it to get it up to scratch. NBC-U also had a very disinterested parent in GE for a long time - that was far too busy trying to fix the failing parts of its business like GE Capital. It is far harder to predict what future attendance will be once you reach an acceptable level. One thing is certain - Uni Parks & Resorts can't continue to throw capital at USF and IoA - the tap will need to be turned off at some point. I'm certain they are window-dressing the assets up for sale once the markets return (if?). This isn't their core business and there just isn't the synergistic benefits that Disney can drive through with their business units.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "One thing is certain - Uni Parks & Resorts can't continue to throw capital at USF and IoA - the tap will need to be turned off at some point." This is exactly what I was getting at in post 75.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper I don't buy the "They're looking to sell them." If Comcast wasn't interested in the parks, they never would have bought the rest of the controlling stake from Blackstone.
Originally Posted By leemac <<If Comcast wasn't interested in the parks, they never would have bought the rest of the controlling stake from Blackstone.>> I don't think you understand fully what happened. Blackstone had a put option that could be exercised on a change of control. Blackstone told Comcast that they planned to sell their stake to the highest bidder - and they could have enforced a sale of the whole business. So Comcast stumped up $1bn to take back the 50% they didn't control. That was actually a decent price as there wouldn't have been many other buyers - except in the private equity space. Comcast decided it was better for them to control the business - better to invest and manage the business and that on sale they would get a control premium. That is how it worked. Comcast didn't have much choice as otherwise they could have either had no theme parks at all or had to deal with a new joint venture partner who could disagree with the direction of management.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper Right, but if they aren't interested/don't want the parks in the long term, why would they have cared if they didn't have a theme park? Seems odd to me.
Originally Posted By leemac ^^ Because they would have factored in the future value of Parks & Resorts when they made the deal for the whole conglomerate and the odds are that Blackstone's valuation from last summer was lower. They would have made some assumptions about the future value and probably decided that it was worth fixing the division. It is too big a part of NBC-Uni for them not to care about it. They can't let it wither on the vine like GE did. It is a bigger piece of Comcast's pie than it was when GE owned it.
Originally Posted By macnak81 I'm late to the conversation , but CBJ is one of the only original shows that were in WDW when it opened. Everything else was a clone.So what were they thinking? guests will spend more money during the 3 mins cut from the show? or are they really afraid of cartoons not being politically correct? And new character or updated references get outdated very fast. ( Kitchen Cabaret !) I looked forward to variations, vacation, holiday... why not rotate new versions?
