Originally Posted By HokieSkipper <<Why would they purposely ask the contractor to go slow? Wouldn't that dramatically increase labor costs?>> They're spreading the cost over fiscal years. And if you've seen the amount of people working on the thing, labor costs aren't a worry.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: My sisters and I have sometimes noticed that Disney is ahead of schedule on various projects which end up opening earlier than expected. When the Fantasyland expansion first broke ground, we heard that even it was ahead of schedule. Since the Dwarf coaster was a last minute decision to add--and since it's such a eye sore to the rest of the expansion, a witch would expect that management--if anything--would be cracking the whip to get this thing completed as soon as possible. ORWEN: Yeah! What SHE said! Especially since some people have been misled by a certain radio station in Orlando, FL that the thing was to open this week! ORGOCH: Got overtime pay?
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "They're spreading the cost over fiscal years." Sure, but in the end the cost is money spent. How can the "sharp pencil guys" let something like this happen on their watch? "And if you've seen the amount of people working on the thing, labor costs aren't a worry." So there's continually a large labor team on the site who are visibly working and the progress is still going slow? Sorry, but if that scenario is true it contradicts the notion that Disney has purposely accepted a slow construction schedule from the contractor.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: Well, at least they managed to complete Mystic Manor a year ahead of schedule for Hong Kong Disneyland. It was originally going to open in 2014. Now it's opening in May of 2013.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "No. The opposite" Gotcha. I thought you were saying that there were a lot of workers on the site.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>It seems all projects at WDW take forever to do. Name one that didn't.<< The removal of the Wand from SSE a few years ago was pretty quick. I think the whole thing only took 2-3 weeks. There really haven't been a lot of construction projects recently in WDW, so I can't think of ones that went especially fast, but I don't think that they're going horribly slow either.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<They're spreading the cost over fiscal years. And if you've seen the amount of people working on the thing, labor costs aren't a worry.>> Exactly. Disney thinks of labor as some kind of fiscal cancer. And the fact that Disney takes three times longer than the other parks/resorts to build new attractions/additions/etc pretty much confirms that they've quietly ceded their #1 vacation destination status and are simply attempting to maintain the market share they're still getting. If Disney actually cared about the significant attendance gains Uni has made from Potter, and will continue to make with Potter 2.0 and the new rides and resorts heading their way, Disney wouldn't be spreading out their project schedules like this. Dragging out construction just to make each fiscal year look more appealing to the shareholders screws the company out of increased attendance and gives Uni more time to catch up. That right there tells me Disney is more concerned with other avenues to increase profitability, like cost reduction through layoffs and cutbacks, instead of growing the resorts with expansions or updating lackluster attractions and entertainment that haven't aged gracefully. There seems to be a very limited vision regarding the future, which I fully blame Iger for, given that he'll be out the door in two years. Iger is obviously ignoring the long-term health of the company and leaving those concerns to the next schmuck taking the reins, so he can amass as much personal wealth as possible by artificially inflating Disney's bottom line which determines his total compensation each year.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Dragging out construction just to make each fiscal year look more appealing to the shareholders screws the company out of increased attendance and gives Uni more time to catch up.<< That's true in some sense, but I also wonder how long Universal will be paying off the debt from all of this construction at the same time. Yes, they've had a big increase in guest spending to help it out, but it may be better for the longterm bottom line to have it financed in a sensible way. Then again, it amy be better longterm to have it open early and have the extra guests in the park sooner >>Iger is obviously ignoring the long-term health of the company and leaving those concerns to the next schmuck taking the reins, so he can amass as much personal wealth as possible by artificially inflating Disney's bottom line which determines his total compensation each year.<< I've long questioned Iger's direction for the company, from the parks to the studios. When he announced years in advance that he was leaving in 2015, he basically gave himself free reign to squeeze all life out of the company in the interim, leaving very little for its future.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 I think the Disney is purposely milking the time on this because it gives them twice as much time to talk about the expansion rather than a one time open everything at once. Think about it. Everyone has talked about Little Mermaid and Be Our Guest and now a second press event was held partly to talk about a previously announced coaster. Then there will be another press event for the opening. So Disney has effectively gotten a couple of years of publicity on one expansion.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros From a publicity standpoint, I think they'd prefer it to all be open at once. When you can rattle off a list of new attractions in a commercial, it sounds much more impressive than the vague shots of buildings that they're doing now. Plus, almost every review of the area so far has included the huge caveat that the center of the "new" Fantasyland is a giant construction site, so they really can't make a final decision yet. Yes, the folks online will talk about it more, but we are a tiny minority compared to the average guest
