BabybetterDisney
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2018
There is a rumor that if the parks don’t open by summer, Disney is going to go bankrupt. I don’t believe that, but in a way, I think it’s good that the coronavirus is bringing Disney to their knees because Disney have grown more and more arrogant in the recent years. I am referring specifically to the recently invented daily parking charge at the resorts. I don’t drive in Disney World, but I find that rather uncouth. They slapped that charge on right when their attendance and profit margin were rising rapidly, and there was no particular lack in resort parking spaces. It’s things like that that makes you not feel sorry for Disney World when they are in dire need.
I have read that Disney World is as big as a real town such as San Francisco. If Disney World is a town, then we the WDW fans are definitely its residents who have zero say in its government. Otherwise, the parking fee would never have passed. But it’s not just the parking fee. Disney World has been hugely profitable in the past few years. So why should being shut down for a few months make it go broke? They should have a huge cash reserve. But they don’t because they blew it all up on expenses that are a huge waste in the past years, against the fan’s open protests or silent disapproval, such as the following:
1. The Skyliner. I am a Pop Century fan who is as excited about the Skyliner as anyone, but from the very beginning, I was against the building of a gondola system because I knew that the guests at Pop can’t afford it. Disney never announced how much the room costs will increase as a result of the Skyliner and whether the Pop guests are willing to pay for the Skyliner with a 50% increase on the room charge. The increase as much as or more than a round trip ride to the parks in the Minnievan, which for most people, that’s all they need in a day at WDW. For CBR guests, the increase is more than 2 round trips. The Skyliner cost a rumored 200 million to build, and now that bad times have come, I don’t believe Disney can even afford to run it when WDW opens again, the Skyliner is so expensive to run. If they hadn’t built the Skyliner, its cost alone should be enough to float Disney World through two months worth of shut down.
2. Soaring around the World. The original Soaring was so popular that Disney decided to fix it when it ain’t broke. The new Soaring has been out for 4 years now (it started when I was pregnant with DS4), and runs at a fraction of the wait time of the original Soaring. But Disney continues to run it like they couldn’t care less. They eventually brought back the original Soaring in California last summer after the people in Disneyland whined incessantly that they should get the California soaring while Soaring around the World should stay at World Showcase. That is just so selfish of them. What makes the Disneyland guests think we want Soaring around the World when we don’t want it? Did Disney do a test run of the new Soaring at either coast to see who wants that thing? In four years, Disney hasn’t gotten the hint: the guests don’t want Soaring around the World! It doesn’t begin to compare to the original Soaring! How much did they pay to reduce the most popular ride of Epcot into a ride with short lines?
3. The NBA experience. Disney bulldozed an entire multistory building and built a brand new one that is an indoor basketball court, against the huge disapproval of Disney Quest fans. Even basketball fans were against it from the beginning. Who’s got time to play basketball during an expensive Disney vacation, when you can do that at home, even in your bedroom or office? And how many millions did it cost to build something like that? From Day 1, it hasn’t been making enough money to even pay for its expenses, let alone paying down the construction loan.
4. Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge: 2 billion dollars. Before Disney announced SWGE, not a Star Wars fan on this earth has ever heard of SWGE because it doesn‘t exist and still doesn’t. Star Wars is a movie franchise. SWGE has never appeared in any SW movie, and yet, Disney thinks it’s a great idea to sink $2,000,000,000 in it. It has done nothing since its opening except reduce park attendance at both coasts. With that money, the parks could’ve closed for a year and wouldn’t blink twice.
5. Star Wars hotel. Rumor has it that the project will be abandoned. At $3500+ per night per room for a family of 4, nobody can afford it even if the coronavirus never happened. Most of the suites at the deluxe hotels with the deluxe dining plan don’t cost half that much, and the $3500 is just for a standard room. If you want a suite, it costs more (I can‘t imagine how much more). Furthermore, like Galaxy’s Edge, it has no Star Wars in it; it doesn‘t look like any Star Wars movie. It would have tanked just like GE, but now we don’t get to see the big crash. I was waiting for Pete Werner to say, “The Star Wars hotel just opened, and nobody gives a damn” like he said about the NBA experience. The hotel was to be completely locked up, so you can’t go admire it like you do the Grand Floridian. It fact, it has no windows, so it’s just an ugly gray blob on the outside. Twenty years ago I looked at GF from across the lake at MK entrance, and I thought, wow, one day I am going to stay there! I eventually did, years later, and it was a dream come true. Nobody would have dreamed of staying at SW hotel based on what an ugly thing it looks like on the outside. Have you ever noticed that there are no promotional pictures of the SW hotel’s OUTSIDE? And in the mean time, how many millions have Disney already sunk into this project that could have gone to the coronavirus emergency fund?
The above are just a few examples of the millions and billions that Disney World has wasted during recently years. I know that any business will at times make bad decisions: you win some, you lose some. However, there is no excuse for the above decisions: they could have easily been prevented if Disney had simply asked the guests what they want. Disney conducts surveys all over the place, but they are tedious and worthless. They ask nothing but inane, frivolous questions that seek approval rather than look for problems and tips on improvements. For example, with SWGE, you know that they merely asked, would you like a Star Wars theme park? Rather than, would you like a Star Wars theme park with no Luke Skywalker or anybody else you know, located in no SW place that you’ve seen, and it has 2 rides, 10 stores and will cost a billion dollars each that will be tagged on to your park entrance fee?
In the mean time, there are too many Disney shrills and suckups who are constantly encouraging Disney in their stupidity. When the Skyliner was being built, there were people who claimed that it would be cheaper to run than the bus, and they even manipulated numbers trying to prove their point, knowing full well that buses are only busy few hours a day. Before SWGE opened, I was the only one who complained about it being not truly Star Wars, even though it was a blatant fact which the least of all the Star Wars fans would see at a glance. Disney themselves announced the “extra extra magic hours” despite their impending low booking, so they knew full well that SWGE was a failure before it opened. They still kept DHS open long hours for months despite low attendance.
I think a lot of shrills do it with good intentions, but the truth is, as the proverbs say, a man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet. Now Disney is trapped in a huge financial net.
We Disney guests are like citizens of a town who has no say in its government because we are all temporary; each of us can only afford to be there for a few days or weeks every year. So Disney runs it like a complete dictatorship, making decisions without the people’s consent, shoving things down people’s throats with the mantra, “If we build it, they will come.” That line worked for Walt, but he was a genius. Disney can’t just keep doing that.
I think all frequent WDW guests who go at least once every few years should get to vote on important decisions. For example, there should be a vote from the people of Pop, AofA, and CBR to decide on whether the Skyliner should be built, after they‘ve been given solid information on how much it would increase their hotel prices. This vote should not have controlling power, but Disney should conduct such a vote and then take its results seriously. They can still decide to build it anyway, but at least with a solid understanding of what the people want.
This is not to say that most of Disney World’s spending decisions have been bad. They are building a walkway from GF to MK, and I think it’s wonderful without being overly expensive. But Disney has been arrogant. They must always remember that pride goes before a fall, whereas humility comes before honor. No matter how big and successful you get, you cannot start feeling like you can do no wrong. Humility is very important for a company’s or an individual’s continued success.
Now that the coronavirus is threatening Disney’s existence (not to mention my existence), I find myself indifferent about Disney’s predicament. As a fan, I certainly don’t want to see Disney fail, but at the same time, remembering how they slapped the parking fees on us back when they didn’t need the money, I feel no urgency in trying to help Disney out either. I feel that Disney wasted all the money I contributed to them over the years, and it doesn’t matter how much I give them, they will just blow it like privileged kids who don’t know the value of money and need to be taught a solid lesson. I hope Disney learn this expensive lesson well. At the least, I hope they survive it.
I hope we all survive.
I have read that Disney World is as big as a real town such as San Francisco. If Disney World is a town, then we the WDW fans are definitely its residents who have zero say in its government. Otherwise, the parking fee would never have passed. But it’s not just the parking fee. Disney World has been hugely profitable in the past few years. So why should being shut down for a few months make it go broke? They should have a huge cash reserve. But they don’t because they blew it all up on expenses that are a huge waste in the past years, against the fan’s open protests or silent disapproval, such as the following:
1. The Skyliner. I am a Pop Century fan who is as excited about the Skyliner as anyone, but from the very beginning, I was against the building of a gondola system because I knew that the guests at Pop can’t afford it. Disney never announced how much the room costs will increase as a result of the Skyliner and whether the Pop guests are willing to pay for the Skyliner with a 50% increase on the room charge. The increase as much as or more than a round trip ride to the parks in the Minnievan, which for most people, that’s all they need in a day at WDW. For CBR guests, the increase is more than 2 round trips. The Skyliner cost a rumored 200 million to build, and now that bad times have come, I don’t believe Disney can even afford to run it when WDW opens again, the Skyliner is so expensive to run. If they hadn’t built the Skyliner, its cost alone should be enough to float Disney World through two months worth of shut down.
2. Soaring around the World. The original Soaring was so popular that Disney decided to fix it when it ain’t broke. The new Soaring has been out for 4 years now (it started when I was pregnant with DS4), and runs at a fraction of the wait time of the original Soaring. But Disney continues to run it like they couldn’t care less. They eventually brought back the original Soaring in California last summer after the people in Disneyland whined incessantly that they should get the California soaring while Soaring around the World should stay at World Showcase. That is just so selfish of them. What makes the Disneyland guests think we want Soaring around the World when we don’t want it? Did Disney do a test run of the new Soaring at either coast to see who wants that thing? In four years, Disney hasn’t gotten the hint: the guests don’t want Soaring around the World! It doesn’t begin to compare to the original Soaring! How much did they pay to reduce the most popular ride of Epcot into a ride with short lines?
3. The NBA experience. Disney bulldozed an entire multistory building and built a brand new one that is an indoor basketball court, against the huge disapproval of Disney Quest fans. Even basketball fans were against it from the beginning. Who’s got time to play basketball during an expensive Disney vacation, when you can do that at home, even in your bedroom or office? And how many millions did it cost to build something like that? From Day 1, it hasn’t been making enough money to even pay for its expenses, let alone paying down the construction loan.
4. Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge: 2 billion dollars. Before Disney announced SWGE, not a Star Wars fan on this earth has ever heard of SWGE because it doesn‘t exist and still doesn’t. Star Wars is a movie franchise. SWGE has never appeared in any SW movie, and yet, Disney thinks it’s a great idea to sink $2,000,000,000 in it. It has done nothing since its opening except reduce park attendance at both coasts. With that money, the parks could’ve closed for a year and wouldn’t blink twice.
5. Star Wars hotel. Rumor has it that the project will be abandoned. At $3500+ per night per room for a family of 4, nobody can afford it even if the coronavirus never happened. Most of the suites at the deluxe hotels with the deluxe dining plan don’t cost half that much, and the $3500 is just for a standard room. If you want a suite, it costs more (I can‘t imagine how much more). Furthermore, like Galaxy’s Edge, it has no Star Wars in it; it doesn‘t look like any Star Wars movie. It would have tanked just like GE, but now we don’t get to see the big crash. I was waiting for Pete Werner to say, “The Star Wars hotel just opened, and nobody gives a damn” like he said about the NBA experience. The hotel was to be completely locked up, so you can’t go admire it like you do the Grand Floridian. It fact, it has no windows, so it’s just an ugly gray blob on the outside. Twenty years ago I looked at GF from across the lake at MK entrance, and I thought, wow, one day I am going to stay there! I eventually did, years later, and it was a dream come true. Nobody would have dreamed of staying at SW hotel based on what an ugly thing it looks like on the outside. Have you ever noticed that there are no promotional pictures of the SW hotel’s OUTSIDE? And in the mean time, how many millions have Disney already sunk into this project that could have gone to the coronavirus emergency fund?
The above are just a few examples of the millions and billions that Disney World has wasted during recently years. I know that any business will at times make bad decisions: you win some, you lose some. However, there is no excuse for the above decisions: they could have easily been prevented if Disney had simply asked the guests what they want. Disney conducts surveys all over the place, but they are tedious and worthless. They ask nothing but inane, frivolous questions that seek approval rather than look for problems and tips on improvements. For example, with SWGE, you know that they merely asked, would you like a Star Wars theme park? Rather than, would you like a Star Wars theme park with no Luke Skywalker or anybody else you know, located in no SW place that you’ve seen, and it has 2 rides, 10 stores and will cost a billion dollars each that will be tagged on to your park entrance fee?
In the mean time, there are too many Disney shrills and suckups who are constantly encouraging Disney in their stupidity. When the Skyliner was being built, there were people who claimed that it would be cheaper to run than the bus, and they even manipulated numbers trying to prove their point, knowing full well that buses are only busy few hours a day. Before SWGE opened, I was the only one who complained about it being not truly Star Wars, even though it was a blatant fact which the least of all the Star Wars fans would see at a glance. Disney themselves announced the “extra extra magic hours” despite their impending low booking, so they knew full well that SWGE was a failure before it opened. They still kept DHS open long hours for months despite low attendance.
I think a lot of shrills do it with good intentions, but the truth is, as the proverbs say, a man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet. Now Disney is trapped in a huge financial net.
We Disney guests are like citizens of a town who has no say in its government because we are all temporary; each of us can only afford to be there for a few days or weeks every year. So Disney runs it like a complete dictatorship, making decisions without the people’s consent, shoving things down people’s throats with the mantra, “If we build it, they will come.” That line worked for Walt, but he was a genius. Disney can’t just keep doing that.
I think all frequent WDW guests who go at least once every few years should get to vote on important decisions. For example, there should be a vote from the people of Pop, AofA, and CBR to decide on whether the Skyliner should be built, after they‘ve been given solid information on how much it would increase their hotel prices. This vote should not have controlling power, but Disney should conduct such a vote and then take its results seriously. They can still decide to build it anyway, but at least with a solid understanding of what the people want.
This is not to say that most of Disney World’s spending decisions have been bad. They are building a walkway from GF to MK, and I think it’s wonderful without being overly expensive. But Disney has been arrogant. They must always remember that pride goes before a fall, whereas humility comes before honor. No matter how big and successful you get, you cannot start feeling like you can do no wrong. Humility is very important for a company’s or an individual’s continued success.
Now that the coronavirus is threatening Disney’s existence (not to mention my existence), I find myself indifferent about Disney’s predicament. As a fan, I certainly don’t want to see Disney fail, but at the same time, remembering how they slapped the parking fees on us back when they didn’t need the money, I feel no urgency in trying to help Disney out either. I feel that Disney wasted all the money I contributed to them over the years, and it doesn’t matter how much I give them, they will just blow it like privileged kids who don’t know the value of money and need to be taught a solid lesson. I hope Disney learn this expensive lesson well. At the least, I hope they survive it.
I hope we all survive.
