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[Lumieregirl]

Early in the webcast today, Karl Holz mentioned that he also oversees ABD, and alluded there being some kind of connection between the two, or ABD-type experiences on DCL, or something like that. I cannot recall exactly what he said.
Who would like to venture a guess as to what this might entail? An ABD+DCL vacation similar to Land-&-Sea? Or simply ABD-style excursions? Other ideas?
Or did I misunderstand him?

[iamgrumpy]

I think its more of the Pay to Cruise and get most of your trip included like ABD most of your trip is included in the price?

I could be wrong but I think its just how cruises tend to be "inclusive"

[Dave Marx]

I missed the webcast, and I can't find a link to it currently (at least, at a Disney-owned site - anyone have one?), however, I've discussed the "synergies" in the past.

Holz's group has DCL, ABD, and the new off-property resorts being built in Hawaii and Washington DC (more of those are probably in the works). The grand scheme of things seems pretty obvious to me:

ABD will gradually (or even quickly) move to become a guided tour business that supports DCL and the new off-property resorts, as well as the free-standing tours we now see (well, there is the Disneyland/Hollywood excursion currently). For example, some of the other cruise lines in the Alaska trade operate their own hotels and guided tour add-ons to their cruises, rather than farm them out to independent companies. If DCL doesn't start that immediately, I suspect it'll come along pretty quickly. For 2011, DCL is offering round-trip cruises. Other lines offer one-way cruises with substantial add-on stays in Alaska, since folks want to see more of the state than they can see during a few days of port-of-call visits. After DCL "tests the waters" who knows what'll come next.

I see the same sort of thing happening in Hawaii and DC. In essence, instead of building more theme parks, Disney gets to use the hotels as home base for "virtual theme parks." So, they'd get the lodging money and the excursion money and a goodly chunk of the food money, and on a per-day basis, that's about as much (or even more) than theme park guests spend on a daily basis, without having to build a park.

On top of that, DCL can visit many of the places they're building hotels (or are likely to build hotels). For DC, they'd cruise to Baltimore, and the Hawaii hotel (Ko Alina Resort) is adjacent to a port facility. That means the Land/Sea package is alive and well, no matter where Disney may build its hotels, and with relatively high-priced excursions available in each of those destinations, too... The sky may be the limit (or maybe not - with sub-orbital tourist flights in the works now, maybe the sky isn't the limit )

With Disney's reputation for quality, the company has the potential of making serious inroads into the regular excursion business in many big tourism-focused destinations, giving companies like Gray Line a run for their money.

Where might Disney build more hotels in the future? I'd look at the current ABD tour selections. They're already cherry-picking some of of the most popular guided tour destinations in the business. A Disney-owned hotel with DVC units in... New York, Boston, somewhere in the Southwest, the Jackson Hole/Yellowstone region, Tuscany/Venice/Rome, Ireland, outside London, New Orleans....

[Lumieregirl]

Wow! Thanks, Dave A lot to look forward to - so many possibilities.

[chezp]

Very interesting...

[Colexis Mom]

Thanks for the input Dave!

[Sandy_N]

I had an impression like Dave...they will be offering high end "Disney exclusive" tours for cruise guests. Since they already have guides in parts of Alaska that may be the ideal testing ground.

[HallsofVA]

Originally Posted by Dave Marx

I see the same sort of thing happening in Hawaii and DC. In essence, instead of building more theme parks, Disney gets to use the hotels as home base for "virtual theme parks." So, they'd get the lodging money and the excursion money and a goodly chunk of the food money, and on a per-day basis, that's about as much (or even more) than theme park guests spend on a daily basis, without having to build a park.

On top of that, DCL can visit many of the places they're building hotels (or are likely to build hotels). For DC, they'd cruise to Baltimore, and the Hawaii hotel (Ko Alina Resort) is adjacent to a port facility. That means the Land/Sea package is alive and well, no matter where Disney may build its hotels, and with relatively high-priced excursions available in each of those destinations, too... The sky may be the limit (or maybe not - with sub-orbital tourist flights in the works now, maybe the sky isn't the limit )

This is an interesting point I hadn't thought of. I live in the Northern VA/DC area and know about the hotel that Disney is building. But I never thought that perhaps they'd have a sailing or so out of Baltimore that connects with a DC hotel stay or ABD trip. Something to keep an eye on!