If you don't feel the Magic because you can't get into the park early, you never really felt it in the first place.
While I stand-by this statement, I apologize for the abruptness of it. I really only meant that if the elimination of EE causes someone to not go to Disney, they must have been waffleing anyway.
Some have pointed out that this was just the straw that broke..., and I can understand that. However, EE is/was a perk for resort guests to help them deal with the crowds. Since the crowds are down, that offsets the smaller amount of park time. I will say that when crowds return to pre-recession levels, I would expect to see EE return. Personally, I don't use it and probably never will, but it appears the useage of it justifies it when crowds are large.
As for previous cuts, true, they began before 9/11. But to say that because a cut was made in March 9/11 had no impact if ludicrous. Airports were shutdown, and airline travel is still down. Tourism in general is down. Yes, it was dropping before 9/11. But the curve went from a gradual decline to a freefall in one day. You just can't say that this does not have an impact on a business.
Some are saying the cuts have gone on for years and its bad business, yet attendance continued to rise until the recession hit. Perhaps good and bad business have different defintions to some of us? Yes, there can come a point where the cuts do hurt attendance, but there is no evidence to support that happening prior to the recession.
The purchase of ABC was not a bad decsion, but the programming direction was. The Fox Family deal was just completed, and hasn't played itself out yet. If ABC does return to its family-oriented comedy roots, as they say they will, ABC Family fits in quite nicely. ESPN is doing quite well. The sports franchises have turned sour, and Disney is looking to get out. They just aren't going to give them away however, and will sell when the price is right. If baseball contracts as they plan to, Disney will be bought out.
