Originally Posted By u k fan Dalmatians! dagobert, I'd love to meet up in London. Just let me know when and where!!!
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>dagobert, I'd love to meet up in London. Just let me know when and where!!!<<< Currently we are planning to go to the UK in May, but the plans might change. First we want to go to Cardiff to do the Doctor Who Experience and then return to London. There we plan to see the WB Harry Potter Studios Tour and the rest of the time is for sightseeing.
Originally Posted By u k fan That sounds cool. One day I'd love to do the Doctor Who Experience, but Cardiff always seems like a pain to get to!!!
Originally Posted By dagobert This week Tom Wolber, the new ED SCA CEO, met with DLP shareholders and aswered their questions. D&M did a report about that meeting. It seems some interestin things are going to happen at DLP. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2014/12/exclusive-report-on-disneyland-paris.html">http://disneyandmore.blogspot....ris.html</a>
Originally Posted By dagobert Disneyland Paris Ice Dreams <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.disneygazette.fr/disneyland-paris-ice-dreams-2014-news-1615.html">http://www.disneygazette.fr/di...615.html</a>
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "This week Tom Wolber, the new ED SCA CEO, met with DLP shareholders and aswered their questions." Lots and lots of questions about maintenance problems
Originally Posted By dagobert At least these problems are addressed and that DLP management is aware of the problems.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Good point. I like his transparency and acknowledgement that they have a problem that will be given priority over the next few years. This is good news.
Originally Posted By dagobert Now DLP has 600 million Euros, that's approxiamtely 1 billion Dollars, to spend on maintenance and new rides, so I really hope that these problems are finally addressed. They are also working with Osram, a former Siemens company, to bring new lightbulbs to DLP. The lightbulbs on MS USA are indeed a big problem and hopefully they can fix it with the new ones.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Now DLP has 600 million Euros, that's approxiamtely 1 billion Dollars, to spend on maintenance and new rides, so I really hope that these problems are finally addressed. >> It is almost a poisoned chalice that recent recapitalisation. There are serious concerns that the current attendance, RevPAR and guest spend is the new norm - and DLP can't operate profitably on those levels. The harsh reality is that maintenance doesn't bring new revenue into the parks - it is just a consequence of needing to open the gates. So I don't envy ED having to get the balance right. It is sad that the park through out the SOP for maintenance years ago and is now suffering badly due to it. Maintenance isn't my area of expertise at all but I hope they learn from HKDL where the construction materials were appropriately selected for the climate and have lasted well for a park approaching 10 years old.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>> Maintenance isn't my area of expertise at all but I hope they learn from HKDL where the construction materials were appropriately selected for the climate and have lasted well for a park approaching 10 years old.<<< I think the former CEO Gas said that DLP is replacing some natural materials with artificial ones so that the buildings last longer. >>> It is almost a poisoned chalice that recent recapitalisation. There are serious concerns that the current attendance, RevPAR and guest spend is the new norm - and DLP can't operate profitably on those levels.<<< That doesn't sound good. So it looks like DLP doesn't have a good future.
Originally Posted By leemac Their success is tied to the economy and you'd have to be crazy to be bullish on the economies of France, Spain and Italy. The UK is the only economy in Western Europe that is growing but consumer spending is still tied to wages which remain depressed. Many economists think this is the new norm for at least the next cycle - which is a frightening prospect when DLP relies on so-called "second vacations" i.e. guests take a main vacation aboard and then take a short stay visit to DLP too. I'm not optimistic that anything will change any time soon. Remy hasn't had much of an impact it seems in terms of attendance - so it begs the question what can DLP really do to drive attendance. I'm not sure they can do much. The one thing that DLP just exceptionally poorly is dynamic elastic pricing - they need to get more folks to DLP with last minute deals to fill the resorts. It is crazy that they maintain pricing and would rather have rooms empty. Absolutely crazy.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Some of those ice sculptures are really impressive! Did I read correctly that they're in Belgium? >>It is crazy that they maintain pricing and would rather have rooms empty. Absolutely crazy.<< Same with WDW, whose hotel occupancy is way below what it's been in the past. They crank up the prices of the Deluxes so that they can justify the "value" of buying into DVC, and then they have to increase the Moderates and Values to match. And it seems like their new pricing model prices each hotel separately, so I've seen times when Coronado Springs costs double Caribbean Beach (which is already overpriced). I'm sure the revenue per occupied room is up, but I just can't see how this is good for the resort; Disney has a reputation for being overpriced, and I've spoken with several Joe Tourist types who have been completely turned off of it because of the huge increases in hotel prices recently
Originally Posted By dagobert I know that the UK is doing better than the rest of Europe. The problem DLP has with the UK, is WDW. Many Brits go to WDW, because it's sometimes cheaper than DLP. Maybe Tom Wolber has a new plan for the resort. I always thought that DLP might earn money without the debt interst. Now TWDC took over the debt and lowered the interest. So you might think that this would help, but obviously it doesn't.
Originally Posted By leemac ^^ Doesn't help though if you aren't profitable at an operational level (the industry norm is EBITDA - basically profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation). Interest payments are below EBITDA so only affect net profit/loss and cashflow - all depends on what metrics you use. If ED can't make money over the summer season then there is a major worry - it typically loses money in the second half anyhow. I hope they can turn it around - they have the foundations now to do so but I fear that their ability to increase all KPIs is out of their hands until the economy improves. In France I don't see that happening until Hollande is kicked to the curb.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt >>It is crazy that they maintain pricing and would rather have rooms empty. Absolutely crazy.<< That is crazy. At this point they should swallow their pride and admit defeat. Based on your analysis they have nothing to lose from offering last minute deals at the hotels.
Originally Posted By dagobert From Halloween to Christmas: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://disneylandparis-news.com/en/from-disneys-halloween-festival-to-disneys-enchanted-christmas-6-nights-to-change-everything/">http://disneylandparis-news.co...rything/</a>
Originally Posted By dagobert Here's a new pictorial update by D&M: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2014/12/disneyland-paris-pictorial-update-by.html">http://disneyandmore.blogspot....-by.html</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Nice update photos! Although I'm always happy with any update, you can tell that this was done by someone with a great photography background >>From Halloween to Christmas:<< Even though people are complaining that DLP scaled back their decorations this year, I really appreciate that they work to make the transition quickly. While DL has a lot more stuff, it starts appearing in the park a week before Halloween (NOS décor and the castle snow are typically the first to show up), so there's a long period where you're not quite sure what holiday it's supposed to be. I remember growing up there were stories of how Disney did it all in one night (probably not true, but without constant online updates, who could argue it?), so it's neat to see that a little bit of that magic still exists
Originally Posted By dagobert Honestly I don't think that the parks need so much decoration. Less is sometimes more. MS USA is such a beautiful area and with all the deco elements people can't see that anymore. In my opinion this year's Halloween decoration was perfect. Not too much, but enough to get a Halloween feeling. The same with Christmas. I like the new garlands. Before they had this huge lightpoles. They looked fantastic when it was dark, but tacky during the day. It was the same with the Christmas arches.
