The Cuts... They Just Keep on Coming

[John]

and...

Disney World painters laid off amid other reports of cost controls -

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busin...216-story.html

[Stu29573]

So by expanding into countries were most of us will never go, the Lame-Brain Trust at Disney is wrecking their own golden goose. Quite frankly, I'm at the point where I just think they should get what they deserve. Way to kill Walt's dream, idiots.

[Stickey]

John, thank you for your perspective.

Clearly, the recent trend of focusing on the next quarterly financials instead of long-term growth objectives has led to a decrease in the value of a WDW vacation. The unique Disney goal of plussing the guest's experience has been disregarded. Damaging successful and profitable operations to compensate for the losses of the Shanghai venture is very foolish. The rising costs involved in a Disney vacation(resort, park tickets, food, etc.), along with crowding issues, represent a challenge to loyal Disney visitors and negatively impact the desire to return to WDW. However, this does not mean that the magic is gone. An aggressive campaign to barrage WDW management with the concerns of the many frequent WDW visitor's appears to be necessary. This action combined with an eventual dent in WDW and DL performance numbers may influence management's short-sighted policies.

[Stu29573]

The Motley Fool came out with an article today that sums up the Disney management foolishness nicely. Look up "Disney World is Cutting Costs at the Worst Possible Time" for a grim, but realistic rundown of the situation. They point out that the cost cutting is likely to negatively impact the future of WDW and that customers will likely continue to look at Universal as an alternative. They point out "Comcast has seen Universal Orlando's attendance grow at a faster clip than Disney World for several years now." It's all the more alarming when you read the disclaimer at the end that states "Rick Munarriz (the author) owns shares of Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Walt Disney."

[dlpmikki]

I'm not sure building in Shanghai was a mistake. The Chinese seem to be as keen on Disney parks as the Japanese and Tokyo is still the most visited theme park in the world even if most of us will never visit it. Overdoing and overspending is another matter and something that Disney have got wrong in the past.

[Park Hopper]

I think what threads like this do is illustrate the frustrations many of us who grew up with a love for Disney World now have. I know this is a completely simplistic and somewhat naive opinion, but to me Disney World is moving from a place that would just blow you away with service, innovation, and scale, to a money-grabbing entity. I am sure the money-grabbing was always there (I am not that naive), but they use to achieved it by putting their efforts into building and adding to the experience, making people want to come back again and again. The Parks sold themselves. At some point, their paradigm switched to taking those creative ideas to build the the parks to creating ways of taking every last penny from those that do visit. People will say that is just good business and others do it, and at some level I can appreciate that, but it now takes much of what seemed special about Disney (and how they touted themselves) away.

I hate to say it, but Universal seems to have adopted that Disney spirit of, 'if you build it great, people will come' and Disney is seeming more and more like a money grabbing business, like anyone else, that will react if it has to, but not lead. Again, my personal opinion, but I really think Disney is losing that special feel and moving toward just another theme park company. Still can be fun and great, but that special 'magic' or whatever that set them apart is becoming less and less.

Imagine what they could have done with all the money they spent on FP+. Now, they want us to get excited because they are expanding capacity of their popular rides. Here is a novel idea, why don't you add another E-ticket and increase the number of experiences customers can have, rather than simply increasing the capacity of something that already exists. I think we know the answer ($$$). Avatar sounds fun and I am looking forward to it - maybe it will help my attitude. Star Wars and Toy Storyland, or whatever, sound great to, but I think my kids will be college-aged before any of that will be completed. I could obviously go on and on....

[gratuspater]

[QUOTE=Stickey;2479018]John, thank you for your perspective.

However, this does not mean that the magic is gone. An aggressive campaign to barrage WDW management with the concerns of the many frequent WDW visitor's appears to be necessary. This action combined with an eventual dent in WDW and DL performance numbers may influence management's short-sighted policies.[/

I agree! But how do we get enough participants and then get all of the concerns to hit management at roughly the same time? And sorry if I didn't quote this correctly, I'm not quite sure how to do partial and multi quotes.

[AndrewJackson]

Disney execs have been adjusting Epcot hours since it opened. For those of you who visited Epcot when it first opened, World Showcase and Future World all opened at 9:00 AM. If you were smart, you would head to World Showcase first, with no crowds. Believe it or not, I've waited in line for El Rio del Tiempo for over 60 minutes. Epcot later changed World Showcase opening to 11:00 AM.

I also remember when most of Future World closed at 7:00 PM. Then, as someone else mentioned, they started closing a few of the attractions at 9:00 PM.

They have been closing Imagination early for a while now. We were there in October, and my son wanted to visit Imagination on our way out at about 6:30, and it was closed. Honestly, Imagination reminds be of Caddy Appreciation Day in Caddyshack, when they let the caddies swim for 15 minutes. That would be a sufficient time for Imagination to be open.

All in all, when you consider the attractions that will have reduced operating hours, it makes you wonder if they will ever make an investment in Epcot and fix it. I guess Disney Execs always want a half-day park. Now that they are investing in HS and AK, Epcot will be the half-day park.

Regarding opinions, they CANNOT be wrong. If a statement is wrong, then it isn't an opinion, it's a theory or educated guess or hypothesis. So, unless THE GUY (or GAL) comes on the board and tells us why HE or SHE made the decision to reduce operating hours, we are all just spewing our theories - not opinions. (That's just my opinion.)

[AndrewJackson]

One other observation - Epcot is reducing the operating hours of a "Tier 1" attraction. In the word of Jim Lovell, "Houston, we have a problem."

[Tekneek]

One other observation - Epcot is reducing the operating hours of a "Tier 1" attraction. In the word of Jim Lovell, "Houston, we have a problem."

Isn't there only one "Tier 1" attraction now? With Maelstrom gone and Soarin' closed for refurbishment? Or did they promote something from a lower tier?

[AndrewJackson]

Isn't there only one "Tier 1" attraction now? With Maelstrom gone and Soarin' closed for refurbishment? Or did they promote something from a lower tier?

Test Track, Illuminations, Living with the Land, and Mission:Space are all Tier 1 attractions.

[MrPeetrie]

ParkHopper has summed up my feelings perfectly. And if you look at my signature, you can see a severe drop-off in our visits. At one point, we frequented Disney two or three times a year (from Pittsburgh.) Now, it's just once every two or three years. Last trip left us cold. First time I can remember feeling more like cattle than a guest. (Never actually felt like a guest at all. Just a paying customer.)

You see this model all the time in business: create a solid, financially stable foundation. Then, with incompetent (or greedy) people in place, bleed it dry for financial gain before paying customers get wise. Count on their loyalty to blind them at first. When things begin to sour, replace upper management and re-focus on what made company great originally. Unfortunately, those at the top will have already become filthy rich by then.

It's sad. Disney was the leader. Everyone chased them. Now, they're following suit. No trip in our future!

[Tekneek]

Test Track, Illuminations, Living with the Land, and Mission:Space are all Tier 1 attractions.

Oh my, that is funny. That is...also kinda scammy.

[Crow]

Oh my, that is funny. That is...also kinda scammy.

Living w the Land should b Tier 1...its the only ride open in the Land...
ok so idk when I should go back. Ive been there a lot of times. but Universal is adding a lot..and Disney is kind of Froxen....when is my favorite park (Epcot) gonna make a comeback..Im gonna go to Disneyland in April (probably) since my GF hasnt been there and I have once..we like Disneyworld..but she is saying..Universal again.

[RunDMV]

It's sad. Disney was the leader. Everyone chased them. Now, they're following suit. No trip in our future!

The one thing you don't see other parks copying is FP+. Even other Disney parks aren't copying it. From the public's point of view, it is overwhelmingly an abysmal failure. The Suits might like it in a bean counting sort of way, but you can't publicly call your visitors "guests" and privately consider them "beans" and think you can bridge the gap.

[BrerGnat]

The one thing you don't see other parks copying is FP+. Even other Disney parks aren't copying it. From the public's point of view, it is overwhelmingly an abysmal failure. The Suits might like it in a bean counting sort of way, but you can't publicly call your visitors "guests" and privately consider them "beans" and think you can bridge the gap.

The worst part about FP+ is that Disney KNOWS it is a huge failure and they refuse to just pull the plug on it or modify it so that it works like the old system did (which they absolutely CAN do since it's just a basic programming change). They seem to have a real problem admitting defeat. I would respect the heck out of them if they admitted publicly that this version of FP+ is a failure and they realize that guests are not walking away happy, so they are going to change the system to a more user friendly version.

[1DisneyNut]

The worst part about FP+ is that Disney KNOWS it is a huge failure and they refuse to just pull the plug on it or modify it so that it works like the old system did (which they absolutely CAN do since it's just a basic programming change). They seem to have a real problem admitting defeat. I would respect the heck out of them if they admitted publicly that this version of FP+ is a failure and they realize that guests are not walking away happy, so they are going to change the system to a more user friendly version.

That would be nice but we all know that the corporate types don't admit defeat or take blame. They deflect until it hits the fan and then they either quit or are fired and replaced by a new group with a "new vision." lol

Right now the parks are full of first time visitors due to all of the promotions Disney has been doing. At some point that will play out. We know long time repeat visitors have been increasingly cutting back on their visits. I know for a fact that they have noticed because up until about a year ago, I had only received one promotional pin code but in the last year I have received 4 and the literature mentioned something about us being past visitors and coming back. So there is no doubt in my mind that they have already realized that repeat customers aren't coming back.

Something that has crossed my mind recently is I wonder how much the DVC resales inventory has increased here lately. If things don't change soon, I would expect the market to get saturated with resales soon because people aren't going to want to keep dealing with a timeshare they really don't care to utilize anymore. That is the problem with long term timeshares and is exactly why I talked myself out of buying in when I took the tour back in 2008. I came close to buying but decided to go home and give it some thought for a couple of months. I decided not to buy because I didn't like the direction WDW was headed then and it turned out I was right and made the correct decision. I would have hated to have been stuck with a timeshare the past 4 years because it would have affected my decision process in vacationing elsewhere.

[Stu29573]

The truly sad thing is that it didn't have to be this way. Disney had a infrastructure built that, even if only adequately maintained, would have continued to instill good will with their guests. However, they decided to go with the money-grab. Walt would have fired the "new blood" before their first meeting was over, and I'm not just talking about in the parks division. One thing ha would never do is compromise his vision. The new corporate types wouldn't know "vision" if it bit them in their backsides.

[zoopop]

For the 1st time in a long time I have no desire to spend $ to go to Disney World.

I love Disney World and 'enjoyed' my last trip in Sept 2014 but like many have said the crowds, lack of attractions at Hollywood & Epcot, & Fast Pass Plus was a huge turn off to go back.

I would love to go back but I can't justify spending the $ while Hollywood & Epcot continue to have not much value. And reading this forum is alarming and I could see somewhat true.

We went to Disneyland in Sept 2015 and plan on going back in Dec 2017. Again the crowds were heavy but the $ went alot further to me and the lack of Fast Pass + gave us a more happy go luck feel.

[DisneyGiant]

Cuts happen in every organization. For different reasons. I, myself, have survived at least 4-5 layoffs in my current position. Business is booming now & they are on a hiring spree!

Then gradually things go back to normal.

None of these cuts are making me change my mind about visiting my favorite place in the whole world. It helps that we're going at one of the busiest times of year, where I think they will need additional staff & longer hours......

If we all stop going en masse - there will be even more cuts.

What I do is - after each visit - I email guest relations & I give them my opinion - the good, the bad & the ugly. Every year, I get a phone call from them with their response to my concerns\observations.

I am a broken record when it comes to FP+ - we like that the room key, credit card & yes - even the fast passes are on it. We don't like being limited to only three (especially in the MK) and the fact that we have to choose them so far in advance (which is necessary for the more popular attractions).

I was told last year, that we would be given "a guide" to help with this process - I haven't heard from any yet though.

I should add a disclaimer - I am a Disney stock owner & have a vested interest in the stock doing well. Its one of the reasons I never go nuts when they raise prices or implement cost cutting measures - I indirectly benefit from it.......