Jay Rasulo spoke at the Lion King Theater in WDW this evening to a group of Stock Brokers and other invited Investors.

He had 3 major points.

1. Improve Existing Businesses

He stated the Hong Kong Disneyland was moving "More Slowly" than expected, which matches Tom Staggs comment that HKD was "more challenging than we thought" made earlier today.

He mentioned that "Where Dreams Come True" will be a long term marketing idea, and then addressed the current year plan, Year of a Million Dreams where he described the program and mentioned that over 300,000 prizes (he called the dreams) have been rewarded.

2. Tapping into Emerging Markets

Talked about potential growth, especially in the Asian, Eastern Europe and Latin American markets.

3. Establish a Bigger Footprint

This was the most interesting part, because he talked about possible BLUE SKY ideas. Once again, the following plans are NOT concrete and are still just in the discussion stages. Also, these Ideas are worldwide proposals, so they might only be built outside of the USA.

Building Themed Hotels in cities other than those that have Disney Theme Parks, where you would just have a Disney Themed hotel. Good potential for 3rd party Equity funding, and working with third party vendors, similar to the Oriental Land deal.

Opening Downtown Disney Shopping Malls in non-Theme Park cities as a stand alone location. He stated the the Anaheim Downtown Disney location is in the Top 5 California malls based on Sale Revenue per Square foot.

Building stand Alone Disney Water Parks in new cities, maybe Indoor, maybe Outdoor or both.

Building smaller "Niche" theme Parks that are Deeply Immersing, where Disney could have a smaller initial outlay, but be able to charge an All Exclusive Price that would be Many times the current cost of visiting a Disney Theme Parks, either near the existing resorts, or as a Stand Alone park in a new city.

Then he talked about two Existing Businesses that had some BLUE SKY ideas.

The possibility of expanding the Cruise Line, if they can get the right price on building new ships. The West Coast 2008 schedule set a 1st day Booking Record, and that both Repositing Cruise have been Oversold.

And then DVC (Vacation Club), how the investment is low and has brought in Strong Double Digit Profits. They have been tracking the owners that have been trading points for other locations for the possibility of building DVC hotels in popular Foreign locations. One interesting comment, he specifically talked about expanding DVC to "Walt Disney World and Around the World", with no mention of Anaheim.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/orl-bk-disneyhotels020707,0,5603094.story?coll=orl-home-headlines



Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is considering putting Disney-themed hotels and nightlife districts into downtown areas of major cities that don't currently have Disney properties.

Disney is not yet making any commitments to "urban Disney hotels" or stand-alone Disney entertainment districts, Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo told investors tonight. But he outlined them as "some of the ideas our business team and Imagineers [Disney's term for designers and engineers] are thinking about," as ways to expand Disney's tourism business into new locales.

doesn't the urban DTD model somewhat mimic the Rainforest Cafe/Planet Hollywood idea - but on a larger scale? One of the reasons I think that DTD works in Anaheim is that it provides a nightlife location for those on property as well as the day visitors. The locals will always come - but the massive lines are provided by having both kinds of audiences.

However, PH restaurants away from themed areas fell through (even in South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, ca). RFC still is in Costa Mesa but is not packed every day and night.

And - I think the sales per sq ft is somewhat misleading for popularity or foot traffic in shops when sometimes items are marked up due to the location and/or cost factors (not just demand). if I need to make a certain profit on an item - and my costs are x - then I might as well charge $200 for a rhinestone t-shirt.

I just can't see the Urban centers as long term viable entities to work similar to the Oriental Deal. To me - DTD in Anaheim has very little to do with overall Disney themeing (how many Gypsy bands can play in one night along the walk!).

Part of the reason DTD is such a success is specifically because it's right next to DLR. It's already a unique high traffic area. That won't be duplicatable everywhere.

It's like deja vu. Wasn't it less than 10 years ago that Disney tried to do DisneyQuest, ESPN launched ESPN Zone and Sony tried Metreon in SF, and other "Urban Entertainment Centers" in Tokyo and Berlin.

Virtually none of those locations survived in the urban entertainment format. Of the three, ESPN Zone has done the best, and they have 8 locations and are the smallest, most focused of the three.

Interesting.

Now the hotels, I could see that working.

Rasulo did say that they've learned a lot from the failure of these enterprises. After reading all I can find about it, I'm cautiously optimistic. But rather than this kind of expansion, I'd like them to the their core property, WDW, back up to spec first.

Rasulo did say that they've learned a lot from the failure of these enterprises. After reading all I can find about it, I'm cautiously optimistic. But rather than this kind of expansion, I'd like them to the their core property, WDW, back up to spec first.

I just returned from there - and I share your sentiment. But if you recall on a previous report/post - and other site reports - the WDW managers who visited DLR during the 50th were shocked at all of the fixes and repairs that were done and claimed they would never get approval for all that. And, to me, Rasulo is not one to think that "repairs and upkeep" are things to focus on.

Two Words: Club Disney
I loved it -- but it just didn't work.

Two Words: Club Disney
I loved it -- but it just didn't work.
What was club Disney.

I like the idea of themed Disney hotels be built but I don't like the idea of a mini theme park idea. That will just make the real parks less special imo.

What was club Disney.


It was in Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village, CA... sort of Chuck E Cheese/Jungleland ... there were activities for kids based on different Disney films, computers, a store and a cafe... But the attractions didn't change so there wasn't much of a repeat incentive. I did buy some awesome mini-bean-bag plush from there (like a club Disney Merlin).

It was in Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village, CA... sort of Chuck E Cheese/Jungleland ... there were activities for kids based on different Disney films, computers, a store and a cafe... But the attractions didn't change so there wasn't much of a repeat incentive. I did buy some awesome mini-bean-bag plush from there (like a club Disney Merlin).
So there was only one? It sounds like a very basic version of Disney Quest. And how long was it around for?

So there was only one? It sounds like a very basic version of Disney Quest. And how long was it around for?

Yes, just the one --- it was totally aimed at kids though (think more Mickey's Toontown than Innoventions)... maybe a year or so -- someone else can correct me on that.

I also think that the Downtown Disney idea is dumb.
But the hotel idea is a good one. If they did it like Great Wolf Resorts (http://www.greatwolfresorts.com/) and made it more of a destination resort, in a destination resort area (Yellowstone, Hawaii, Yosemite, etc). With some type of attraction (water park, DisneyQuest type thing, etc) attached to or in the hotel. They could also combine most of the ideas into one.
Create a destination hotel resort that has DVC rooms and is a stop on a Destination Disney tour.

Two Words: Club Disney
I loved it -- but it just didn't work.


We actually had a couple (I think) of club disney's out here in AZ. Didn't they all close down sometime around 1999. I remeber talking to a CM and they told me that the Club Disney in Chandler/Ahwatukee (Ray & 56th) was the most profitable. I took my oldest son there many times and it was always PACKED!
I don't understand why they couldn't have kept the ones that were doing well.

I agree that one of the reasons DTD has done so well is because of it's location near the park. I don't know if that would work elsewhere.