Disney feeling the economic pinch About This Page:

[disneyqueenmum]

Disney World leads "massacre" of entertainment cutbacks in Theme Park Land - WalletPop Blog

[carters_mom]

it's a sad sign of the times. Let's hope the cutbacks don't continue.
Thanks for the link.

[Caldercup]

Hmmmm.... the blog mentions Woody's Cowboy Camp as a "fixture" in the park. Actually, it debuted for the Year of a Million Dreams and I doubt many people felt it would last past this December. Don't get me wrong, it was a cute mini-parade/show, but it didn't have a feel of permanence to me.

While I agree that I'm crushed by the loss of the Adventurer's Club and the loss of Four-for-a-Dollar is sad (although I hope the performers will, as Dave Marx suggested, be relocated elsewhere within the performing staff), Pocohontas and Her Forest Friends was on a downward spiral for quite a while due to lack of guest interest. I, personally haven't ever seen it in all my visits, but I've heard rumors that it was not generally well-attended or a spectacular show.

I agree with the blogger that cuts are being made where ever possible -- I may not be happy about that, but I certainly understand it. Disney is a money-making venture. They are a business and have a fiduciary responsibility to their investors and stockholders.

I'm just glad they are still a healthy company. It was very scary to me (pre-Eisner) when it was uncertain whether they'd stay in business or stay an American-owned company.

Totally just my opinion, though.
Eileen

[Eeyoresmom]

(Its Scott, just using Tanya's screen name)

I kind of found the blogger unnecessarily edgy. To me, it should not come as any shock that Disney is making some adjustments to adapt to a changing economy. I think that in my ways, it speaks volumes about Disney that they are still turning a profit utilizing guests who have the choice of paying for airfaire (and probably more for park tickets and rooms) to go to Diney than driving an hour to go to a park like Six Flags.

Some of these parks, like Six Flags are [b]not] doing as well (Six flags stock price has dropped from about $3-$4 to $1 and there are questions abut whether they will even survive. This, despite the fact that they are trying to emulate many of Disney's best practices, such as having the ability to have a VIP person accompany you around their park.

I will miss the Adventurer's Club a little as well. But things like Poch. do not really bother me, in fact, I thought that I had read on another post/poll that it was one of the rides/attractions that many passporters would remove/replace if they had the power to do so. Finally, like Eileen indicated, it may not be the case that some of these attractions are simply being eliminated, but rather that they might be replaced with something else.

[lauren-roxy]

Thanks for the link.

[chezp]

Thanks for the link. Very sad.

[NanaTink]

I agree with Eileen. And the Family Fun Day parade isn't something that's been around for a long time either. I hope it's all just more for refreshing things and making things 'new'.

[Colexis Mom]

Thanks for the story!!

[Buffalogirl18]

The blogger is way off base here, as usual.

The price hike is justified, they make one every other summer, as predicted, and to keep up with inflation, they have to. What was it - a few dollars on each ticket? If they want to keep spending hundreds of millions to bring us new attractions like TSM and Nemo, then we have to expect a couple dollars on the ticket price every now and then. IMO it's well worth it! And, I've heard there are several more in the making.

Pocahontas and her forest friends had to go, it was way out dated, and didn't have much attendance, they are doing it to make room for new attractions. If you've read the updated news on Deb's and Touringplans, you'd know that.

The changes the Pleasure Island IMO are welcomed as there wasn't much activity down there in the first place, there just wasn't enough business to keep it going, they weren't making a profit, they have done countless surveys asking guests what they want to see more of, and it was shops and restaurants, so they needed the room to do that - Pleasure Island was the only place they had to make that happen. Sure there are places we hate seeing leave that area like AC, but we never accept change easily, now do we?

IMO, Woody's Cowboy Camp wasn't all that great to begin with, so if they are sending it off to pasture, not too sad. Not many people seemed to stop and watch it anyhow. I was there in May on Memorial Weekend, peak attendance, and people just walked on by, no one was stopping to watch, they just wanted to get to food & rides. They had a "ho'down" show before that, so I am sure they will replace it with something else eventually. We were actually stopped by a CM taking a survey about the show and various other things in Frontier Land while we were hanging out there on a bench, so I assume that is one reason why the show is leaving, they probably got feedback from guests.

Fantasmic - one rumor according to Touringplans news is that they are cutting back because they think that more people will be inclined to spend time at American Idol in the evening. Personally I think that is a crock. Also, if you recall, they made the same cutbacks to Spectromagic and Wishes at MK as well, they used to show that much more often, and now it is only a couple of nights each week. I am sure they have their reasoning, whether it be budgetary or otherwise.

I just know that none of these things are going to make me think anything less of the Happiest Place on Earth, nor will it keep me from going

[JoanW]

To me, it sounded like the writer was trying to make mountains out of molehills, or stretching normal realignments and adjustments to make it sound like Disney was in dire straits.

We knew that PI was going to change. It's not closing, it's being changed. Fantasmic in the winter months has one show per night during the off peak season. Pocahontas was in line for replacement, and I for one have never seen it.

They aren't cutting back at all. I think the media likes to blow things out of proportion. I hate it when the media writes about Disney with no real park experience whatsoever. Seesh. Just ask a Passporter!

[disney]

well thank you for the link but i will say this is what i call the sign of the times .

[trixie lamb]

Nothing he said was new to me.
All of that has been reported for months on Disney boards.
Disney is bigger than anyone else esp. WDW and I see it as normal changes that they make to keep us coming back.

Did he mention the new block party bash?
Seas with Nemo/Crush?
Playhouse Disney doing Clubhouse?

To me this is Disney doing business, plain and simple.

[disneyqueenmum]

[quote=Buffalogirl18;2293542]

Pocahontas and her forest friends had to go, it was way out dated, and didn't have much attendance, they are doing it to make room for new attractions. If you've read the updated news on Deb's and Touringplans, you'd know that.

QUOTE]

Forgive me. I was simply sharing an article someone sent me. If you read back to the first post, I had no opinion on it whatsoever. I actually have read the updates on Touringplans.

[Mares75]

Most of the things he mentioned just seemed like normal reworking of any theme park - except maybe decreasing the number of times Fantasmic is shown per week, especially considering the crowds at that show.

Now Six Flags is a different story. All summer, the one near us had discounted tickets. Buy one get one free for a while, then after that adult tickets were the same price as children's tickets. I've never seen them discount tickets like that in the 20 years I've been going. When we did go, it was pretty slow too - not very big crowds at all.

[Caldercup]

Personally, I have hopes that Fantasmic! will increase its showings during more "peak" seasons -- according to the crowds Disney expects. (This is how they handle SpectroMagic, so it won't surprise me at all if we see more Fantasmic! showing when there are more crowds in the parks.)
Eileen

PS - Debbie, I didn't perceive "Buffalogirl's" comment to be directed at anyone other than the blogger from the article you posted.