Here is a couple of articles that discuss the company as a whole, and has some very good and interesting points.....

http://www.fool.com/news/foth/2002/foth020809.htm (Tips 1 thru 5)

http://www.fool.com/news/foth/2002/foth020812.htm (Tips 6 thru 10)



1. Buy the better Katzenberg

2. Play the Pressler card

3. Use the mouse ears

4. Knit a new Letterman jacket

5. Keep history on retainer

6. ABC us

7. In the Nick of time

8. Say yes to no men

9. Listen to Alice

10. Leave a legacy



Of course, there is a lot that goes with each of the tips, but these are the actual tips, go read the articles to see the "meat" of the matter....

And here is a quote from a related article...."You can't cheat quality"

http://www.fool.com/news/foth/2001/foth010626.htm



Disney's two newest theme parks are also in trouble. You won't hear this from Disney officially, but at least this time they are scrambling to treat the malady -- only from the wrong end. Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom and Disney's California Adventure are failing as full-day destinations, and the company is responding by cutting prices. In Florida, seasonal passholders who have limited access to the theme parks during peak periods will be able to visit Animal Kingdom for free all summer long. Over in Anaheim, locals will be able to pay the child's admission rate while accompanied kids will be let into the park for free.

Does Disney see the correlation? Does it realize that budget cuts at the park level are now causing lower attendance and revenue-smacking discounts at the gate? The older parks are also being watered down with attraction closures, staff cuts, and shorter operating hours. It's hard watching Disney retreat reactively and settle for less rather than build out the new parks into viable moneymakers. You can't draw the A-list crowd sans new E-ticket attractions. Disney lays the blame at the feet of the sluggish economy -- but if that were the case, why are regional amusement park operators like Six Flags (NYSE: PKS) and Cedar Fair (NYSE: FUN) poised for record-breaking seasons?

Disney has diversified itself along many leisure lines, but what good is having your eggs in different baskets if the baskets themselves are constructed cheaply? There are only so many corners you can cut before you find yourself going in circles.



And let's look at a couple of related articles.... the first is directly related to the above quote...

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.asp?Feed=RTR&Date=20020808&ID=1846481&Symbol=US:FUN



Based on preliminary July results, which indicate that revenue was up 3 percent through the first seven months of year, Cedar Fair said it still expects to achieve revenue growth for the year of 3 percent to 5 percent.



And what percent of decline do they expect at the Disney Theme Parks??????

And as to tip number 8 "Say yes to no men", here is a link to a story that came out this morning....

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.asp?Symbol=US:DIS&Feed=RTR&Date=20020812&ID=1849423




NEW YORK, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co.'s (DIS) board may face changes after it was disclosed that the company had recently employed immediate family members of three board members, putting their independence into question, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday.

Disney revealed on Friday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that directors Stanley Gold, Raymond Watson and Reveta Bowers, all have children employed by the company in the past year, the report said.



So, three less "independent" directors... and who is supposed to be watching the henhouse????????

There's already another thread here (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8744#newpost) about the topic, which I know you know about because you responded with a lot of the same information, so I'm not really sure why you're starting a second thread on the exact same subject matter, even though it's in a different section.

Well, lets see, this is the business section, and it looks like at least one of the administrators agrees, Lani just posted the news article, and linked it to this area...

The article did mention the theme parks, but really covered the entire company, and had a lot to do with the current senior corporate management, plus the fact that the second part of my post would not have made sence without the original article. And since the second half was directly related to the "business" section, I started the thread here, and posted the links to the Motley Fool article, with just the basic ten tip topics, and none of the actual tips, then posted my thoughts, with related items that supported them.