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View Full Version : Roy Disney's thoughts about DCA - very interesting...



Darkbeer
02-04-2004, 08:01 PM
Yes, I have been busy today doing a lot of Business of Magic posts, between things Roy Disney and Steve Jobs have said about Michael Eisner.... Some very interesting things.... I would recommend you check out some of the raw material, especially the Pixar actual Webcast Audio, and the Roy Disney SEC filings....

But enough of the Business of Magic plug, let's look at the parks, since this is the right thread to do that... in particular what Roy Disney said in his SEC filing yesterday about DCA....

http://www.hoovers.com/free/co/secdoc.xhtml?ipage=2568832&doc=0&attach=on




DISNEY'S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE AND DISNEY STUDIOS PARIS

With a strategy put together by the schemers to transform single-park sites into multi-day destination resorts (and a price tag of well over $1 Billion) Disney's California Adventure was destined to failure before ground was broken.

Frightened by the economics of EuroDisney and misinterpreting the reasons for its failure, the "numbers guys" assigned an investment cap to DCA's construction. Rather than innovating and designing the Park from the bottom-up based upon what the consumer would expect for the price of admission, DCA was designed from the top-down based on what the spreadsheets said was required to hit a return figure that has never materialized.

The continued suppression of innovation - fixing the off the shelf rides - is likely as the schemers desperately try to avoid any financial write-offs at this time. DCA has failed and will never come close to generating the financial return the planners forecast.

Why? Consumers are not willing to pay the same admission price for a smaller and subjectively less-special park. The excessive discounting in the last twelve months clearly supports that the consumer knows what DCA is worth. If only the schemers had listened in the first place.

By contrast, Oriental Land Company financed and opened the innovative and luxurious Tokyo DisneySea during the same period. Its' marvelsquickly became a major draw even in a flat Japanese economy. Anaheim should have been so lucky.

The insistence on avoiding reality in Anaheim led to Disney Studios Paris - another "second gate" failure akin to DCA. Conceived on an even smaller creative scale and, it too, heavily relied on recycled product. In both instances, planners mistakenly assumed that Disney name alone would move the product regardless of the quality of its content.

We fear Hong Kong Disneyland will be similarly doomed to mediocrity. Although the schemers negotiated a very favorable deal from the local government, there will not be many rides at the new Park on opening day, and those that do open will be recycled attractions from Anaheim and Orlando. The "half-park" scheme remains in effect despite two enormous failures.

danyoung
02-05-2004, 06:36 AM
Interesting, and truly frightening.

Corith
02-05-2004, 08:38 AM
Roy's comments are what the majority of posters on this message board have been saying since DCA opened.

It is so nice to be vindicated by Roy Disney. If only Eisnser could come to the same realization and start fixing the problems.

Ghoulish Delight
02-05-2004, 08:45 AM
Hmmm, now where have I heard all this before? Where was it? Oh yeah! Pretty much every day here on MousePad :D

Demigod121
02-05-2004, 08:59 AM
Amen, guys.

Ya know, I can hear the cheering now! It's getting louder and louder the closer we get to March 3rd! :D

-Demigod
(Let's get ready to rumble!!!!!!)