PDA

View Full Version : Fantasmic: $20,000 a night?



DisneylandKid
07-02-2002, 06:32 AM
In Kevin Yee's article today, he estimated that Fantasmic costs $20,000 a night to run. Wow.

RStar
07-02-2002, 07:30 AM
And then if you add the Belive in Magic Fireworks show, you can double that, just for those two shows!! Wow!!:eek:

There goes $40,000 of the gate money right there.

disguy
07-02-2002, 07:42 AM
But they said that Fireworks were 20,000 but when I heard that. There was no belive yet it was just the nightly fireworks so now I'm sure it's even more cash. No wonder I pay 2.50 for a churro!

HBDisneyPrincess
07-02-2002, 11:55 AM
Thats $20,000 per showing of Fantasmic...so $40,000 at two shows a night plus the cost of Believe...

CEO Andrew
07-02-2002, 01:05 PM
Ouch! At $60,000 in nighttime entertainment, I definitely recognize why Disneyland (even in its current situation) is the premiere theme park in the world.

Is there anywhere we can check out daily gate totals, profit, etc.? I'd be curious to know what percentage of their bottom line this total represents. Thanks in advance!

jason
07-02-2002, 01:21 PM
yeh - but all the stuff they sell to the masses holding their spot for three hours nets them 80k

cyberRoo
07-02-2002, 01:27 PM
I wondered something similar, and ran some numbers. These figures are pure speculation, and are based on the high season when things like Fantasmic are running:

Figure, on average, high season attendance averages around 60,000.

As a general rule for attractions, you figure the average ticket is half of the full-price, for DL, it might be a little less. For simplicity of math, let's say average ticket is $20.

60,000 x $20 = $1,200,000.

Another way to look at it is that it takes the entire admission cost of 1,000 average visitors to pay for a showing.

--Hopefully someone will tell me if I'm completely off base! :)

LIMANDL4EVA
07-02-2002, 04:04 PM
well ive heard several times that the finale in believe alone is 11,000, so i would assume that the entire show is around 40, 000, fantasmic costs are probably half from pyro (dont quote me on that) so if you think about it there is TONS more pyro in Believe (obviously) so believe is definately MUCH more expensice than fantasmic, by a long shot.

plus, i wouoldnt say each ticket averages to 20 bucks, most people dont have discounts and stuff, they pay the full 43 or 45 (whatever it is now)

HeeHeeHeeHoHoHo
07-02-2002, 04:32 PM
I don't think Believe is more expensive than Fantasmic! It takes a lot of hourly man power to Fantasmic! - I think there's somewhere around 50 performers - and another 50 or so crowd control CM - plus all the behind the scenes people as well (let's say 20) . If you figure in the real wage Disney is paying (SSA share benefits ect) and figure (including Fantasmic! managment and tech workers) the average hourly rate the labor is costing them is $12 an hour (this is low) Say an average shift is 5 hours (for the 2 shows including prep and take down work) then your labor alone is around $7,500 hundred a night. Believe does not have labor costs anywhere near this - (although I'm not sure how much tinkerbell gets paid.. but that would be a cool job).

"So what do you do for a living?" ....." I'm tinkerbell at Disneyland and every night I fly from the top of the Matterhorn down to the Trees behind Sleeping Beautys' castle".

As far as how expensive the actually fireworks are - Disney is great cutting costs and milking contracts for all their worth. I'm sure they do not pay the 'retail' price for their effects

Disney Nick
07-02-2002, 05:05 PM
Originally posted by LIMANDL4EVA
plus, i wouoldnt say each ticket averages to 20 bucks, most people dont have discounts and stuff, they pay the full 43 or 45 (whatever it is now)

He's about right about the $20 price. You have figure in park hoppers, APs, signed-in guests, and discounted tickets. $20 seems like a safe price for the DLR.

DisneylandKid
07-02-2002, 05:12 PM
I'm trying to figure out a math problem here. How many people --- on average --- visit Disneyland (just Disneyland... not the entire resort) daily?

Also, does anybody know how much it costs daily to operate the average attraction?

Also, how many CM's does Disneyland park employ? What is their average pay?

Thanks!

Disney Nick
07-02-2002, 05:17 PM
Originally posted by DisneylandKid
I'm trying to figure out a math problem here. How many people --- on average --- visit Disneyland (just Disneyland... not the entire resort) daily?
Obviously depends on the time of year. On the busier summer months I'd venture somewhere in the 45-55,000 person range, but I could be off.

ahecht
07-02-2002, 07:29 PM
When it first opened, Belive cost $11,000 per show (for the whole show, not just the finale). Fantasmic costs around $30,000 for the first show, and around $20,000 for each additional show. So yes, on most summer nights, there is $60,000 of entertainment.

sydney
07-03-2002, 01:44 AM
does anyone know if they changed the believe show to cut costs? looking at video downloaded from the web of believe's first summer, the shells look different-- notable example, the "willow" type (well that's what we call them) fireworks during the when you wish upon a star right before the tink finale. In that first summer the shells had many more trails falling from the sky than the ones they use in this part of the show now. I wonder what other small changes may have been made-- and if this does indeed reflect the current cost of believe....

DisneylandKid
07-03-2002, 06:12 AM
sydney: My cousins are in charge of Believe, so I will ask them. I doubt it, though.

RStar
07-03-2002, 07:59 AM
There was an article in the WestWays Magazine this month that was on fireworks. They were talking about the company that does the DL fireworks, and said that it takes "days, even weeks, to load one shell, at an average of $200 each." That would add up real quick. I'm not sure how many people it takes to run the show, but they get paid a lot more per hour than the performers in Fantasmic! I'm sure!

And as for the cost to run the rides, that depends alot on the ride. Indiana Jones cost way more per hour to run than Peter Pan, for instance. And then you could break it down to per guest capacity numbers if you like. And then there are " show" type attractions like Tiki Room, and Honey I shrunk the Audiance.

Then we also have stage shows like Mickey's Detective School, Parades, Buzz Lightbeer (I mean Light year:D ),ect. And because they have a job only when guests are present and don't take in revinue you could toss in on-stage janitorial (bathrooms, grounds sweeping, ect.). Maintenance should be charged to the attractions for the most part, except infrastructure. We'll ignore that for now.

So if we add all that up for one day (say for July when gate numbers are good and the hours are 8am-11pm) and divide it all up per guest (and include what the average guest spends while at the park) you get some idea of what is actually going on.

Any one care to give it a try?:eek:

ahecht
07-09-2002, 10:39 PM
They may have taken some stuff out, but there ahve also been additions. When the show first opened, there were only four comets -- now there are five (I believe they added one to the very beginning). Also, when it first opened, the only pyros launched from the castle were the red ones at the end of the Hellfire sequence. Now, there are additional white pyros launched from the castle at the "false finale" as well.

LeslieluvMcky
07-10-2002, 06:31 AM
I thought that HP is the sponsor for the fireworks show and that they would be picking up the bill? Does Disneyland have to pay for the fireworks or just for the cm's?

Uncle Dick
07-10-2002, 11:34 AM
Originally posted by LeslieluvMcky
I thought that HP is the sponsor for the fireworks show and that they would be picking up the bill? Does Disneyland have to pay for the fireworks or just for the cm's?
I seriously doubt that HP is paying for $10,000 worth of fireworks every night at Disneyland for a two second blurb on the Disneyland loudspeaker and a little logo in the guidemap. I'm sure Disneyland splits the bill with HP in some way or another.

cyberRoo
07-10-2002, 12:01 PM
As a general rule, sponsorships such as the HP/Compaq deal with Disney involve some flat rate that is paid, plus a bunch of intangible agreements. For instance, the Compaq deal probably also included an agreement that HP/Compaq would provide X number of state-of-the-art computers, to be replaced every X month. It may have also included an ad buy, where HP commits to purchase a certain number of ads on a Disney-owned network (although Disney isn't usually that organized), and any number of other agreements (a fully catered private party for HP, X number of tickets, etc, etc). The actual cost of the fireworks show is probably a fairly minimal consideration on either side.

Disney Nick
07-10-2002, 12:09 PM
Originally posted by cyberRoo
As a general rule, sponsorships such as the HP/Compaq deal with Disney involve some flat rate that is paid, plus a bunch of intangible agreements. For instance, the Compaq deal probably also included an agreement that HP/Compaq would provide X number of state-of-the-art computers, to be replaced every X month. It may have also included an ad buy, where HP commits to purchase a certain number of ads on a Disney-owned network (although Disney isn't usually that organized), and any number of other agreements (a fully catered private party for HP, X number of tickets, etc, etc). The actual cost of the fireworks show is probably a fairly minimal consideration on either side.
Correct... that's the way most sponsorship deals like this work.

innerSpaceman
07-10-2002, 12:32 PM
So while we're figuring the cost of pyro and entertainment and labor for ride operations, etc. to determine if Disney is making enough profit, considering how many admissions are simply pre-paid APs or discount tix, etc. - - - let's also figure the cost of a cup of Coca Cola vs. the charge for a cup of Coca Cola. I choose that as probably the biggest mark-up item, but you get the idea. High cost of pyro or not, huge mark-ups on food, merchandise, and parking plus cheap wages paid to labor all add up to plenty of profit.

MonorailMan
07-10-2002, 01:39 PM
Originally posted by innerSpaceman
So while we're figuring the cost of pyro and entertainment and labor for ride operations, etc. to determine if Disney is making enough profit, considering how many admissions are simply pre-paid APs or discount tix, etc. - - - let's also figure the cost of a cup of Coca Cola vs. the charge for a cup of Coca Cola. I choose that as probably the biggest mark-up item, but you get the idea. High cost of pyro or not, huge mark-ups on food, merchandise, and parking plus cheap wages paid to labor all add up to plenty of profit.

A friend of mine use to work at Carls Jr., he said that the total cost for a *large* drink, with cup, is $.12. At 2.19 for a drink, that's $2.07 profit, per cup.