Disney has done as close to "nothing" as humanly possible over the past decade as it relates to improving its overall offering. Don't take this to read that it's a "bad" offering - the parks as they stood 15 years ago were fantastic. The problem is, by and large, they've changed/evolved very little since. The biggest notables over the past decade have been the Billion dollar FP+ system (which in my opinion, is a step back from the prior system) and the additional 5,000 SF of concrete in MK known as New Fantasyland with a handful of mediocre attractions. Oh, and don't forget the ~70 - 100% price increases in tickets and room rates that came along with it. Despite this, people continue to flock to MCO in droves with fistfuls of dollars (I happen to be one of them).
Disney is far from "screwed". Rather, I feel that we as consumers are, as we've proven to management that time and time again, we are always going to be there regardless of the product that is put forward. We have rewarded their mediocre performance with steady increases in both sales and profitability, lining the executive management teams' pockets all along the way. Until that changes, neither will the product that they put forward.
Aside from NFL, which consists of 2 new rides, MK is essentially the same park today as it was 15 years ago. EPCOT (specifically FW) is in decay and has actually regressed over that period, with the best/only thing in the pipeline being Maelstrom 2.0. Studios is a shell with no definitive plans. AK is getting Avatar (sometime before 2019?), but it sounds like we are getting heavy theming with a boat ride and one (debatable) E-ticket. And of course, who could forget the Great Corporate Mall of Lake Buena Vista?
My beef with all of the above is not with what has or is in the process of being added (I really hope and pray that many of these things exceed my expectations and turn out to be good additions). Rather, my beef is with what could have been added. Management's current, decade-long philosophy has been to maximize returns with as little investment as possible (prototypical Wall Street). My belief is that returns would actually be higher if management were willing to pony up a bit more capital upfront and really turn Imagineering loose to create something really, truly special. This type of philosophy is what defined Disney in the 70's, 80's and 90's and made it into the juggernaut that it is today. A prime example in the making is only a few miles up I4 (aka Potterworld). Whether you're talking about a lemonade stand in the front yard, a small business or Disney - you always, always get out of your business what you put into it. This is where I feel that Disney has done nothing but "swing and miss" in recent years.
The fact that Disney Parks still continue to perform well from a sales and EBITDA standpoint is not so much a testament to great management in recent years, but rather, a testament to how special of a place was built in 1971 and developed through the 1980's and early 1990's. I return to Disney primarily for the things that were built during that time period, not for anything that has been built/added within the past ~15 years under the current management philosophy.
