Budget cuts at Walt Disney World

[sachilles]

I think this means it takes longer to build Star Wars and Toy Story lands. This maybe guarantees we don't see either until 2019-2021. They will want to spread the costs of these projects over more years. This may mean that Star Wars popularity cools down in the interim.

I'm not sure I agree with you. I think they'll feel the urge to get something open sooner rather than later to take advantage of the revenue.

I'm wondering it these current cuts are an attempt to pay down debt in order to facilitate borrowing for these near projects.

 

[jade1]

To those replying to my post - we travel this time of year nearly every year (4 out of past 5) because of my sons birthday. So I am very familiar with the crowds.

I also was specific in stating the cast members are overwhelmed. I didn't say they were rude or mean - I said the trip was rude (mostly other guests) and the cast members were overwhelmed. I was very specific about them being overwhelmed. They were training, understaffed, and had to work around many rides being down. They didn't have time to be nice or magical. They were trying to keep their heads above water and that was very clear. As a result everyone was pushed to their limits.

Again. Travel every year this time. This was something different. All week long we kept talking about staffing and even had a few CMs say they didn't have enough. Busses were late (40 mins for an MK bus at resort). The impact of packing the parks and cutting staff are showing in an extreme sense this week.

Yep assumed that, that's why it being the busiest ever is exactly what WDW wants, the rest needs work though for sure.

 

[Eoghann]

I think this means it takes longer to build Star Wars and Toy Story lands. This maybe guarantees we don't see either until 2019-2021. They will want to spread the costs of these projects over more years. This may mean that Star Wars popularity cools down in the interim.

Not necessarily. OPEX and CAPEX are separate. We don't know how exactly these cuts are happening, but we do know it's not just an even 20% across everything Star Wars CAPEX has already been assigned over multiple years. They have two parks tied up in the construction. They won't spread that out much longer if they can avoid it.

And as for Star Wars popularity cooling? Nah. Even the prequels didn't do that so I hardly think a new movie a year is going to reduce enthusiasm.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Well it has been speculated that Hong Kong which is a small park was something of a trial run for Shanghai. Shanghai is probably the one that Disney expects to pull the biggest native Chinese audience. Shanghai and Hong Kong really aren't that close together except when you compare them to the raw size of a country like China.

Tokyo makes sense simply because it's Japan and the Japanese love Disney. But also, it doesn't cost Disney anything because it's licensed not owned.

That's an interesting thought about Hong Kong..hadn't really thought about it that way and now that you mention it that does make sense. You're right about Tokyo for sure.

As for distance I was more or less comparing the distance between each location to the other location not really the size of the country where the parks were built. I checked the distance before posting and it's about a 2 hour flight between Shanghai and Hong Kong. It's around a 4 hour flight from Toyko Disneyland to Hong Kong Disneyland if you take a non-stop flight or if you go from Toyko to Shanghai it's around a 2 hours and 40 minutes flight if you take a non-stop flight.

However, it's a 5 1/2 hour flight from DLR to WDW therefore meaning that all three of the above listed destinations are actually closer to each other in distance than DLR and WDW. Also if you consider taking a train between Hong Kong and Shanghai it's less time than traveling by car between DLR and WDW.

Demographics of each location plays a very large role in the location as rteez helped explain to me and maybe citizens of each area are less likely to travel outside that area that they are in (speculation cuz I really have no idea travel statistics of that region).

I just see it as Disney was more or less looking to expand unnecessarily at the time (IMO) to Shanghai (though not suprising at all where more more more locations becomes the mantra) when they could have injected that money into expanding/upgrading/improving their already existing parks both domestically and internationally which would have allowed a greater control over the finances with the everchanging economy.

 

[Eoghann]

Demographics of each location plays a very large role in the location at location as rteez helped explain to me and maybe citizens of each area are less likely to travel outside that area that they are in (speculation cuz I really have no idea travel statistics of that region).

Well from what I understand Hong Kong is very different demographically and culturally (due to its history) to Shanghai. There may not be much overlap between those two.

I don't know much of anything about Chinese internal travel patterns, but it's certainly the case that not every country hops on and off planes like people in the US do and I have read that train and bus travel is more common in China. Which would substantially increase the travel time.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Well from what I understand Hong Kong is very different demographically and culturally (due to its history) to Shanghai. There may not be much overlap between those two.

I don't know much of anything about Chinese internal travel patterns, but it's certainly the case that not every country hops on and off planes like people in the US do and I have read that train and bus travel is more common in China. Which would substantially increase the travel time.

Yes for sure and maybe that's their rationale for building so close distance-wise between each location perhaps based on the liklihood of travel outside of the area where a particular park was built. I would speculate that the vast travel is likely done with train in China but for us in the U.S. we don't have a train system like that so we would drive.

Hong Kong is very different than the rest of China as it is an autonomous territory of China so that certaintly could lend itself to be diversified enough where Disney felt it would benefit them to build another park in China.

I still think they should have used the money to expanding/upgrading/improving their already existing parks both domestically and internationally. It's easier to take a planned refurb or expansion (at least prior to being announced for the expansion) and scrap it or table it for a while if the economy isn't as stable but you can't really take back a whole park you've already announced, broke ground on and largely built-yes I know this isn't the logic very large companies utilize.

 

[Budshark]

Fair enough.

In your opinion, is the understaffing apparent due to ride malfunctions and the backlog it creates.....or less staff than normal as well as the bad fortune with the attractions. Do the resorts seem short staffed? Do the busses seem less adequate than before? IE, is it across the board or only in the parks?

Really going out on a limb to guess the reasons but I think the understaffing is by design, the malfunctions are a result of the understaffing. The over flowing trash cans, dirty theme park restrooms, are all understaffing.

We were at Coronado this time. It didn't seem understaffed (partly because of the conventions) but it was very inefficient

Back to the parade although while we were sitting here Big Thunder just went down hard and was emptied out.

 

[rteetz]

I also was specific in stating the cast members are overwhelmed. I didn't say they were rude or mean - I said the trip was rude (mostly other guests) and the cast members were overwhelmed. I was very specific about them being overwhelmed. They were training, understaffed, and had to work around many rides being down. They didn't have time to be nice or magical. They were trying to keep their heads above water and that was very clear. As a result everyone was pushed to their limits.

Like I said in my post I didn't mean to single you out but you brought up CMs. I also know you didn't mention them being rude I brought that up because many times now a days you see people saying that about them on the boards. I essentially agreed with everything you said I just added more.

 

[rteetz]

I think this means it takes longer to build Star Wars and Toy Story lands. This maybe guarantees we don't see either until 2019-2021. They will want to spread the costs of these projects over more years. This may mean that Star Wars popularity cools down in the interim.

I don't know. From what I've read both toy story and Star Wars are still happening but what comes after that is very uncertain. I also think that toy story will still be before 2019 because I don't know if that park can survive like it is without it.

 

[Budshark]

On a side note - I'm also going to acknowledge the number of people who are genuinely thrilled to be here. The kids who are amazed and the lines to get in. All of that would say what Disney has been doing from a business viewpoint was unnecessary. If we see it as less, but the demand is high, obviously you can cut more per public company standards.

 

[sachilles]

I'm unsure it if was you Budshark...but someone pointed out there was a lot of training staff. Have you found that to be the case? Wondering if this is the first trial by fire for many staff members.

 

[Budshark]

I'm unsure it if was you Budshark...but someone pointed out there was a lot of training staff. Have you found that to be the case? Wondering if this is the first trial by fire for many staff members.

Yeah it was me. Every ride and food stand nearly. Mostly but not all college. As and example there were 4 earning my ears that were clearly on day 1 at the lockers. Cast members had 2 each they were working with

As a side note 5 cast members just walked by while in line for Sorcerers. 3 earning my ears and 2 older. The 2 older were discussing something related to staff as she said something and he replied yeah I asked for 3 hold overs in Fantasyland last night and was told no - over budget.

 

[rteetz]

Yeah it was me. Every ride and food stand nearly. Mostly but not all college. As and example there were 4 earning my ears that were clearly on day 1 at the lockers. Cast members had 2 each they were working with

As a side note 5 cast members just walked by while in line for Sorcerers. 3 earning my ears and 2 older. The 2 older were discussing something related to staff as she said something and he replied yeah I asked for 3 hold overs in Fantasyland last night and was told no - over budget.

I know the new force of College Program CMs came in mid to late January and I am sure training went into early February. That is probably part of it.

 

[sachilles]

Presidents week, must be a fun way to find out if new staff sinks or swims.

 

[SureAsLiz]

I know the new force of College Program CMs came in mid to late January and I am sure training went into early February. That is probably part of it.

There are different waves of CP start dates. Spring is January, but Spring Advantage is Late January/Early February. Usually there are 3 days the first week including Traditions as a non-park day, so its very possible the SA CPs are just now starting to train

 

[book_junkie]

They've been training new cast members everywhere the last few weeks or so. Groups have been coming by in the am in the parks professionally dressed on tour taking notes discreetly with the guide saying remember if a guest asks you...
Today I was out at Disney Springs and they were training new boat operators.
How that's lining up with the hours cutback, I'm not sure.

 

[rteetz]

The sentinel picking up on the cost cutting with a layoff of painters

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

 

[SureAsLiz]

They've been training new cast members everywhere the last few weeks or so. Groups have been coming by in the am in the parks professionally dressed on tour taking notes discreetly with the guide saying remember if a guest asks you...
Today I was out at Disney Springs and they were training new boat operators.
How that's lining up with the hours cutback, I'm not sure.

Those are probably CPs going through Traditions. Part of the day includes a trip through MK. Since they are seasonal, they are just replacing the Fall CPs who left

 

[Travis B]

I think this means it takes longer to build Star Wars and Toy Story lands. This maybe guarantees we don't see either until 2019-2021. They will want to spread the costs of these projects over more years. This may mean that Star Wars popularity cools down in the interim.

Personally, I hope not. I want my new stuff and I want it ASAP.

I don't think they can afford to give Uni that much time to open new attractions. I'm not a firm believer in the WDW vs. Uni battle narrative - because while they are technically competitors, in my eyes WDW is so head and shoulders above UNI that's it's not really an even match. Apples and oranges. (My OPINION). However, if Disney drags it's feet on Star Wars, Uni has plenty of time to open it's new-fangled water theme park thing, do Nintendo stuff, open new attractions, and progress on whatever they're doing with the new land they acquired. In other words, it gives them time to become a real competitor. I don't know if Pandora alone is enough to keep WDW's revenue at WDW.

Like I said before, these new projects need to be SPECTACULAR and timely. They need to let their talent do what it does best and really show what a Disney project is all about. They're damn fools if they skimp or cut corners. They skimped on MGM, AK, Cali Adventure, and have had to/are currently fixing their mistakes. Are they really dumb enough to do the same thing once again? I hope not.

 

[tcherjen]

I know the new force of College Program CMs came in mid to late January and I am sure training went into early February. That is probably part of it.

Yes, that sounds like CP's. My oldest has been there a month now. She went through training for her role. She moved in on MLK day.