The Cuts... They Just Keep on Coming

The change in the Mousegears hours is the only one I question. I suspect that will change as we get closer to summer travel season.

I mentioned in a post I made in Theme Parks about the Flower and Garden festival that Disney management needs to strike up some new sponsorship deals. That’s why Flower and Garden has lesser name performing acts as well as performances and seminars only on weekends; they lost HGTV as a sponsor. Food and Wine has a lot more activities because that festival is sponsored by Chase.

You can go back to the days of Walt Disney running the company and see how money from sponsorship was one of the things he used to keep the park updated. The business model for Epcot Future World relied heavily on sponsors for all pavilions. It isn’t as easy to find sponsors as it used to be, but it can be done. I read a great article earlier this year about possible companies that could sponsor Epcot pavilions. I didn’t agree with all of the suggestions, but some I thought were really good ideas. I especially liked the idea of Tesla becoming the sponsor of the Universe of Energy. Totally redo the ride so it doesn’t focus on fossil fuels (which made sense when ExxonMobil was the sponsor, but is very outdated thinking) and highlight all of the new energy sources being used around the world.

I still enjoy my trips to WDW, but rides are not a primary focus for me or anyone in my family. We enjoy rides, but we like being able to do many of the other activities at Disney or just taking some time to relax and do absolutely nothing. A friend of mine just got back from her yearly trip to WDW with her son for his birthday. It also allows her to spend time with her son after her busy season at work (she is a merchandising manager at Macy’s). I was a little nervous as they stayed at Wilderness Lodge as they have every year and I know there is a lot of construction going on. She said they had a blast. She saw the construction, but took the view that these things have to happen at some point. There isn’t a time when no one would be inconvenienced.

Terra;2478929 wrote: LOL true. I need to do the Behind the Seeds tour again. It's been about 13 years since I've done it.

I did it last month with my 7 & 10 year olds. We really enjoyed it. And yes we were told the same story about mean shrimp.

Disneyland Paris has been fighting for survival from day one because the then management team got over excited and built all the hotels before opening day rather than build up gradually. It's been the most visited theme park in Europe for years but still struggles. I visited HK Disneyland in September and it was almost empty (I took pictures at about 1pm looking both ways down main street and the only person in sight was the balloon seller.) Hong Kong generally has seen a huge drop in Chinese business because of the downturn (or lack of constant increase) in China. If China turns around an overspend on Shanghai probably won't be too big an issue but if the Chinese stop spending at home as well as away it will be mega bad news. We haven't been in a WDW park since 2014 so it will be interesting to see what it is like and whether we will notice the cuts. We did Disneyland last year and loved that. Mousegear opening does seem odd but maybe their stats show people are not buying early? I'm hearing positive things about Disney Springs now so I shall be interested to see that. I do recall a lot of dissatisfaction from folks while all the changes were happening. I think a lot of us may question how and where they do the cost cutting but it is certainly something that seems to be part of modern life in Disney and elsewhere.

AgentC;2478946 wrote: And yes we were told the same story about mean shrimp.

So Fresh Water Shrimp are not the best choice for fish farming, while Talapia are since they survive quite well in very over crowded conditions.

Dave aka: Altair
"Even though they're graceful when swimmin', it's hard to believe sailors thought they were women" - Manatee area, the Living Seas

 

Ok, back to the thread - from the Inquisitr this morning...

Domestic Disney Parks Reportedly Suffering Financial Issues Due To Shanghai Disneyland

Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/2801921/domestic-disney-parks-reportedly-suffering-financial-issues-due-to-shanghai-disneyland/#6ZAT0XQwl6WlwdIh.99

Shanghai Disneyland is currently scheduled to open in June of this year, and it will be the first mainland China Disney resort. Right now, the gigantic park is hoping for that opening, but some financial issues and delays may cause that to be pushed back a bit. Well, reports are now coming out that the amount of money being spent to build Shanghai Disneyland are causing financial issues at domestic parks, Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

An unconfirmed report from WDWNT states that Shanghai Disneyland is so far over budget and behind schedule that money is most likely going to come from cost-cutting measures at the domestic theme parks.

and...

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

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-disney-layoffs-hours-cut-20160216-story.html

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.

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.

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."

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.

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....

[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.

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.) ;)

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."

AndrewJackson;2479111 wrote: 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?