Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[AmberMV]

I don't really keep up with what Chapek says, can't stand to hear the guy speak to be honest, what did he say about AP?

I think it's moreso how AP are interpreting the park availability calendar as meaning Disney doesn't value them as much as a day or resort guest. Chapek said something to the effect of non local per person spending being MUCH higher than that of a local AP and therefore they are limiting AP attendance. I didn't listen to the call I only read the comments on the Q3 thread. None if it seemed (written, anyway) to be derogatory and I can believe that out of staters probably do spend more than locals...but maybe not if you count up how much money a local AP spends over the course of their AP. Who knows.

 

[Krandor]

a well, that's no lie, at least in my AP case. Obviously local AP won't spend as much money as an out of state AP that needs a room and food. I don't fault them for trying to get rid of local APs but for those of us who are still here, opening up availability when no one else would take it seems like a smart move. I may not spend hundreds of dollars each time I go but I will end up eating something, that's $10-$20 they didn't have before

People are taking his comments out of context. He was trying to explain the current revenue situation with the parks. He explained that right now they are at about 50% AP and 50% out of town and then explained that AP people generally spend less per day then non-APs do. It was basically a way of explaining that right now park revenue is lower then it normally would be at the same capacity levels due to more APs and fewer out of town.

It wasn't a knock on APs. Just explaining what the money per day distribution of the parks currently look like.

 

[Eric Smith]

I'm glad they many never finish the planned projects. I hate that they are turning Epcot into another IP based park. Instead of adding in Guardians, Moana and Guardians, I wish they added in the attractions that were originally planned for the world showcase. Epcot is dead to me. The day it died was when then added Frozen into Norway when Frozen has nothing to do with Norway.

The fact is that people don't ride those kinds of rides in large numbers. How crowded was Maelstrom before it was closed and replaced with Frozen? How busy is Frozen Ever After? That's your answer. Universe of Energy wasn't a very popular ride so it was closed as well. The same thing goes for the Wonders of Life pavilion. These changes are being made because people weren't drawn by the way it used to be.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

People are taking his comments out of context. He was trying to explain the current revenue situation with the parks. He explained that right now they are at about 50% AP and 50% out of town and then explained that AP people generally spend less per day then non-APs do. It was basically a way of explaining that right now park revenue is lower then it normally would be at the same capacity levels due to more APs and fewer out of town.

It wasn't a knock on APs. Just explaining what the money per day distribution of the parks currently look like.

And if it’s being broken down per day not spending per year, it should be totally obvious that APs (not staying on property) spend less. That shouldn’t bother people.

A family of 4 with a 6 night 7 day moderate resort stay in a standard room, what was the basic DDP, and non hopper tickets is looking at a bit less than $200 per person per day (using 7 days), without any additional spending on food, merch, or extras.

 

[skeeter31]

I think it's moreso how AP are interpreting the park availability calendar as meaning Disney doesn't value them as much as a day or resort guest. Chapek said something to the effect of non local per person spending being MUCH higher than that of a local AP and therefore they are limiting AP attendance. I didn't listen to the call I only read the comments on the Q3 thread. None if it seemed (written, anyway) to be derogatory and I can believe that out of staters probably do spend more than locals...but maybe not if you count up how much money a local AP spends over the course of their AP. Who knows.

He didn’t say that about limiting AP attendance. It was a simple comment that longer stay guests are more valuable than local day tripper APs from a monetary standpoint. There was nothing said about limiting AP attendance or anything like that. It was a common sense statement to investors, that most people understand, but there will be a portion of people that will take that as an insult thinking they spent a lot of money on the AP and they’re being called a less valuable guest. But really we are. They’re getting thousands and thousands of dollars from guests coming for a week or two and staying onsite for that time period.

As for Merchpass, did we expect any different? I’m sure the resellers have many different Disney accounts set up to maximize their chances of getting selected in the lottery. Plus there was such limited availability for some of those Minnie items that thousands were going to be upset. After the Disneyland 65th merch release and seeing the amount of people in that queue for 2 days, it really shines a light on the amount of people wanting these things, and these Minnie items were in smaller batches. I mean the magic band had only 400 available. The stuffed animal was the largest availability with, I believe, 14,000 roughly available. There were 3x that amount of people in the initial queue for DL 65th merch right at the beginning of the sale a couple weeks ago. And I would assume 5-10x people signed up for the Merchpass lottery. Resellers with multiple accounts had a much better chance of getting them.

 

[Krandor]

And if it’s being broken down per day not spending per year, it should be totally obvious that APs (not staying on property) spend less. That shouldn’t bother people.

Exactly. I think the people upset are those that don't normally listen to earnings calls. These are the things discussed. "we are getting x dollars from this group of customers and y dollars from this group of customers". It isn't a value judgment but just a factual one.

 

[skeeter31]

Exactly. I think the people upset are those that don't normally listen to earnings calls. These are the things discussed. "we are getting x dollars from this group of customers and y dollars from this group of customers". It isn't a value judgment but just a factual one.

Exactly. This was an earnings call, not a D23 presentation. This wasn’t really for the general public, but for investors.

 

[fatmanatee]

Exactly. I think the people upset are those that don't normally listen to earnings calls. These are the things discussed. "we are getting x dollars from this group of customers and y dollars from this group of customers". It isn't a value judgment but just a factual one.

I was just about to say that this is a weird thing that happens when Disney enthusiasts are listening to a call that is meant for a very different audience (unless they have stock, I guess). Especially with this situation being unprecedented, they're going to talk in stark terms about where they are and aren't making money. It's not a knock on anyone who visits.

 

[anthony2k7]

People are taking his comments out of context. He was trying to explain the current revenue situation with the parks. He explained that right now they are at about 50% AP and 50% out of town and then explained that AP people generally spend less per day then non-APs do. It was basically a way of explaining that right now park revenue is lower then it normally would be at the same capacity levels due to more APs and fewer out of town.

It wasn't a knock on APs. Just explaining what the money per day distribution of the parks currently look like.

Exactly.

But equally disney is still thinking it seems that they could hit park total capacity at some point soon and of course filling those last spaces up Disney would rather an out of state/international visitor who is gonna go all out on their dining and merch spend occupying that days park reservation over a local AP person who drops in for a couple of hours in the morning and is gone by lunch spending nothing.

 

[Eric Smith]

I was just about to say that this is a weird thing that happens when Disney enthusiasts are listening to a call that is meant for a very different audience (unless they have stock, I guess). Especially with this situation being unprecedented, they're going to talk in stark terms about where they are and aren't making money. It's not a knock on anyone who visits.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Normally Disney fans wouldn’t care about an earnings call but because of the current situation they’re calling in and they don’t understand what they’re hearing.

 

[Krandor]

Exactly.

But equally disney is still thinking it seems that they could hit park total capacity at some point soon and of course filling those last spaces up Disney would rather an out of state/international visitor who is gonna go all out on their dining and merch spend occupying that days park reservation over a local AP person who drops in for a couple of hours in the morning and is gone by lunch spending nothing.

On that I can only speak for myself but I'm out of town and had a september trip on the book (from the free dining bouceback) and just cancelled it last night. Based on current park experience just didn't feel worth the money for me. The question is how many people feel the same? My feeling is expecting to hit capacity with out of towners soon may be wishful thinking.

 

[Krandor]

I think you hit the nail on the head. Normally Disney fans wouldn’t care about an earnings call but because of the current situation they’re calling in and they don’t understand what they’re hearing.

Yeah. Earnings call are a specific animal that are required and regulated. A ton of regulations about how earnings have to be done and what information must be released and all that. On the one hand they are very good places to get information because unlike an interview on TV, giving out incorrect information in earning reports is a HUGE deal with legal ramifications. You do though have to know what you are listening and reading because it isn't an interview on TV meant for the general population.

 

[yulilin3]

And if it’s being broken down per day not spending per year, it should be totally obvious that APs (not staying on property) spend less. That shouldn’t bother people.

A family of 4 with a 6 night 7 day moderate resort stay in a standard room, what was the basic DDP, and non hopper tickets is looking at a bit less than $200 per person per day (using 7 days), without any additional spending on food, merch, or extras.

Exactly. I think the people upset are those that don't normally listen to earnings calls. These are the things discussed. "we are getting x dollars from this group of customers and y dollars from this group of customers". It isn't a value judgment but just a factual one.

I have said for years that Disney is losing money with me and my AP (shhh don't tell them, don't want them to come and take my AP away)
still would make sense to me for them to open availability maybe day before, even same day for AP and this way at least get a bit more money into the parks

 

[Ponderer]

The fact is that people don't ride those kinds of rides in large numbers. How crowded was Maelstrom before it was closed and replaced with Frozen? How busy is Frozen Ever After? That's your answer. Universe of Energy wasn't a very popular ride so it was closed as well. The same thing goes for the Wonders of Life pavilion. These changes are being made because people weren't drawn by the way it used to be.

Epcot didn't die for you in 1994 when they had the big Magical World of Barbie celebration?

I get very amused at people getting mad at Epcot for jamming in IP, as if people weren't furious at Eisner for bringing in Mickey into the sacrosanct Epcot in 1985 because he realized people wanted Disney at a Disney park.

 

[Eric Smith]

Epcot didn't die for you in 1994 when they had the big Magical World of Barbie celebration?

I get very amused at people getting mad at Epcot for jamming in IP, as if people weren't furious at Eisner for bringing in Mickey into the sacrosanct Epcot in 1985 because he realized people wanted Disney at a Disney park.

I’m good with it. It’s the previous poster who has the issue.

 

[rteetz]

Plenty of other places to discuss IP in the parks

 

[AmberMV]

He didn’t say that about limiting AP attendance. It was a simple comment that longer stay guests are more valuable than local day tripper APs from a monetary standpoint. There was nothing said about limiting AP attendance or anything like that. It was a common sense statement to investors, that most people understand, but there will be a portion of people that will take that as an insult thinking they spent a lot of money on the AP and they’re being called a less valuable guest. But really we are. They’re getting thousands and thousands of dollars from guests coming for a week or two and staying onsite for that time period.

As for Merchpass, did we expect any different? I’m sure the resellers have many different Disney accounts set up to maximize their chances of getting selected in the lottery. Plus there was such limited availability for some of those Minnie items that thousands were going to be upset. After the Disneyland 65th merch release and seeing the amount of people in that queue for 2 days, it really shines a light on the amount of people wanting these things, and these Minnie items were in smaller batches. I mean the magic band had only 400 available. The stuffed animal was the largest availability with, I believe, 14,000 roughly available. There were 3x that amount of people in the initial queue for DL 65th merch right at the beginning of the sale a couple weeks ago. And I would assume 5-10x people signed up for the Merchpass lottery. Resellers with multiple accounts had a much better chance of getting them.

Agreed it was a mess waiting to happen, however it is pretty odd that this particular one in the series is the only one that has been vocalized as such a nightmare by so many people. It's so bad that people who didn't get selected have been going on shopdisney and writing 1 star reviews because they didn't get selected. Not just one or two people, but dozens upon dozens. And then Disney goes through and deletes the reviews, keeps the items off the site for a few days, puts them back on and the process starts all over again. Disney has been wiping the reviews for the last week now because there is such an uproar. There seemed to not be such chaos with the last 5 months of the series.

I mean is it due to the backlog of the release of this particular one that has caused this? While they worked out the MerchPass system? And was MerchPass created because the parks were shut down or was that always in the works?

 

[AllSam]

I dont know the current contract changes, but previously hours for ft were generally guaranteed.

CPA here - positive contribution margin means they are covering variable costs but not fixed costs so losing money but not as much as if the parks were closed.

 

[Mal6586]

AP discount apparently applies on Shop Disney right now, incase anyone here hasn’t seen. Happy shopping!

Also, unlike in the parks, you can use it for face masks.

 

[hereforthechurros]

I have said for years that Disney is losing money with me and my AP (shhh don't tell them, don't want them to come and take my AP away)
still would make sense to me for them to open availability maybe day before, even same day for AP and this way at least get a bit more money into the parks

More bodies in the park means more sanitizing, more risk of exposure, heavier ride use, etc. They must know what they typically make from local* APs and feel that it's not worth it to burden everything else with extra bodies but not much more spend. But we're all just speculating!

Edit*