Why are renovations so long?

[CampbellzSoup]

I knew that. Did you actually think that I was defending the Dwarfs Union?

Lmao I actually laughed

Who could clearly not see that as a joke?

 

[Polybound]

The 7 dwarfs can only work so fast. Now if we can get them to reduce their hi ho march

Disney seems to fall down frequently in its planning and budgeting phases of building attractions. They had to go back and add a new theater for Soarin. They had to go back and add a new track for Toy Story Mania, They really needed a second track Rock'N'Roller Coaster and they really needed a Second track for 7 dwarfs. Obviously space may be an issue in the latter, but that goes back to planning, especially long term planning.

 

[Josh Hendy]

The problem is that the typical investor in Disney stock knows nothing about the theme park industry and cares even less. They want to squeeze the lemon as hard as they can, dump the stock before anyone knows what they're doing and then find another lemon. From a personal wealth and career point of view Iger would be an idiot not to take on these attitudes and cater to them.

They're endangering Disney's market domination over a 5-10 year timeframe ... to which investors with a 6 month or 12 month horizon say, "so what?"

So in any given 3 month quarter you're going to see steps taken in order to preserve the impression that the absolutely smallest amount of money is being spent on additions and renovations and the largest possible amount is being extracted from the locked-in customer base.

 

[dclpluto]

Disney probably doesn't want to pay time and a half to their construction workers which means it will take longer. Just a guess no idea how much overtime if any their construction workers get.

 

[Accident]

Lots of really good info here. Didn't realize some of the things in the way to get things done faster these days.

Also, comcast's pockets aren't as deep as many think. They will however overspend if they want to go after someone. If any of those disney getting into the OTT market rumors happen, watch the gloves come off in a way we've not seen from universal marketing.

 

[Sweettears]

Lots of really good info here. Didn't realize some of the things in the way to get things done faster these days.

Also, comcast's pockets aren't as deep as many think. They will however overspend if they want to go after someone. If any of those disney getting into the OTT market rumors happen, watch the gloves come off in a way we've not seen from universal marketing.

As opposed to Dis that nickel and dimes everyone to fill the coffers, Comcast sells their subscribers unnecessary equipment. Did it to me.

 

[Accident]

As opposed to Dis that nickel and dimes everyone to fill the coffers, Comcast sells their subscribers unnecessary equipment. Did it to me.

I like how you think disney doesn't have an interest in that equipment your being sold.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

ok I should have used how much better universal is at it.

Yes but which Universal? Universal Hollywood is just like Disneyland in not caring if a section of the park or attraction is torn up or closed for months at a time.

 

[Sweettears]

I like who you think disney doesn't have an interest in that equipment your being sold.

What?

 

[Accident]

Yes but which Universal? Universal Hollywood is just like Disneyland in not caring if a section of the park or attraction is torn up or closed for months at a time.

Honestly, it really doens't matter to me in this convo.. let's say orlando because they are really making disney look like amateurs with their refurbs, building and rennovations the last decade. I think the point I was trying to make was more why was the old days much faster and some great info on how things have changed that even if they wanted to go faster, theres just more regulation that happens that forces some aspects to slow.

 

[Accident]

What?

is the what for the type-o of "who" instead of "how" or did you not know that disney has a lot of investments and patents and things where they make money on them as well.

 

[rteetz]

Yes but which Universal? Universal Hollywood is just like Disneyland in not caring if a section of the park or attraction is torn up or closed for months at a time.

Lol! That's funny.

I'm fairly certain every theme park has torn up sections or closed sections for months at a time. You can't have everything open in order to change and improve a theme park.

 

[Sweettears]

is the what for the type-o of "who" instead of "how" or did you not know that disney has a lot of investments and patents and things where they make money on them as well.

I'm fairly certain that Disney has no financial interest in equipment sold by Comcast.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Lots of really good info here. Didn't realize some of the things in the way to get things done faster these days.

Also, comcast's pockets aren't as deep as many think. They will however overspend if they want to go after someone. If any of those disney getting into the OTT market rumors happen, watch the gloves come off in a way we've not seen from universal marketing.

Comcast could buy disney...remember, they tried once (that was an "inside" job)...

Comcast will have problems with the downfall of cable soon enough...right now they have plenty of cash.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

The problem is that the typical investor in Disney stock knows nothing about the theme park industry and cares even less. They want to squeeze the lemon as hard as they can, dump the stock before anyone knows what they're doing and then find another lemon. From a personal wealth and career point of view Iger would be an idiot not to take on these attitudes and cater to them.

They're endangering Disney's market domination over a 5-10 year timeframe ... to which investors with a 6 month or 12 month horizon say, "so what?"

So in any given 3 month quarter you're going to see steps taken in order to preserve the impression that the absolutely smallest amount of money is being spent on additions and renovations and the largest possible amount is being extracted from the locked-in customer base.

That about covers it

 

[manning]

The problem is that the typical investor in Disney stock knows nothing about the theme park industry and cares even less. They want to squeeze the lemon as hard as they can, dump the stock before anyone knows what they're doing and then find another lemon. From a personal wealth and career point of view Iger would be an idiot not to take on these attitudes and cater to them.

They're endangering Disney's market domination over a 5-10 year timeframe ... to which investors with a 6 month or 12 month horizon say, "so what?"

So in any given 3 month quarter you're going to see steps taken in order to preserve the impression that the absolutely smallest amount of money is being spent on additions and renovations and the largest possible amount is being extracted from the locked-in customer base.

Let's try for a Disney takeover there are only
1.591 Billion outstanding shares. I'm in for a dollar

 

[George4]

Let's try for a Disney takeover there are only
1.591 Billion outstanding shares. I'm in for a dollar

I've actually contemplated this from a somewhat serious perspective (what would it take to take them private). Unfortunately, there just isn't enough revenue from all of the parts to pay off the loan you'd have to take out to buy it. It is a shame, because the fact that it is a public company is one of the major problems in my opinion. As a private company, so much more could be done with it.

 

[mcjaco]

Disney seems to fall down frequently in its planning and budgeting phases of building attractions. They had to go back and add a new theater for Soarin. They had to go back and add a new track for Toy Story Mania, They really needed a second track Rock'N'Roller Coaster and they really needed a Second track for 7 dwarfs. Obviously space may be an issue in the latter, but that goes back to planning, especially long term planning.

And if Soarin' was a bust, and that third theater sat empty???? (Which it should, Soarin' is borin').
And two tracks on a roller coaster equates to (drumroll), a entirely second coaster. So you're paying double. Double the space. Double the maintenance.

 

[Polybound]

And if Soarin' was a bust, and that third theater sat empty???? (Which it should, Soarin' is borin').
And two tracks on a roller coaster equates to (drumroll), a entirely second coaster. So you're paying double. Double the space. Double the maintenance.

i
Yes, enlargements to these attractions it would have taken a significant increase in budget/space, but that's long term planning which was my point. Stitch, Figment, etc. never stay empty, no matter how bad the attractions are at WDW, the sheer volume of people keep the seats full. Soarin isn't boring. May not be interesting to you, but it's not boring.

 

[wilkeliza]

Simple is that doing any construction in an already built skeleton is 1000X harder then building from the ground up. I know NYC building more then most other places but here for example you can level an old building and have a brand new one up in less then a year. Remodel an existing building and it takes much much longer. There are just issues that come with dealing with a 100 year old stone building that don't arrise when dealing with a new building. If it is a landmarked building forget about it. Just getting through red tape takes a year alone before you can even touch the place.

Now getting specific to theme park construction there are some big differences between the two big companies in Orlando. Quite frankly Universal/Comcast does not care if the day guest is negatively impacted by construction noise. Also look at many of their newest rides and buildings. They are literately massive show rooms with very little detailed themeing and they are dropped into existing areas. Universal also doesn't have many "new tech" rides. They buy and personalize what is available on the market and with that comes and easier and quicker build. Universal/Comcast also just simply pays. They may not have the same money as Disney but for both HP areas they were basically blank check builds. Whatever they needed to spend to get it up and running as quickly as possible was spent.

On the Disney side thing have many layers. One is that Disney does tend to theme their areas on much more detail and try to blend everything as seamlessly as possible. Yeah sometimes things fail (looking at you tangled tower ruining the HM view) but they are pretty consistent in that. They also have very strict hours that loud noisy construction can take place. Yes they do some construction during the day (and are doing more with SW and Toy Story) but they try to keep the bulk over night. On top of that Disney does not like to pay. They set a budget and it better be done with in that budget. Yes they claim they go over but really they never go over they just didn't do it for the cheapest budget that would have in theory been possible.

The final difference in new builds is Universal typically waits for the official announcement until things are pretty much almost done. Disney on the other hand has a massive convention every 2 years and they have to do something to make people want to come to that. Part of that is announcing big things way too far in advance and while it is still in Blue Sky. Heck they announced Avatarland and hadn't even decided where in AK it was going! It is a double edge sword though. It keeps fans happy for about 15 minutes but then they think the whole process isn't working fast enough because they don't realize the ink approving the idea barely dried. The NFL plans changed at least twice between announcement, construction, and opening. Those changes added a ton of time between Blue Sky and opening.

Neither park does it wrong they just do it differently.