Also very true
Agreed. I have to think labor at parks are one of their biggest expenses and when looking to cut that is an option. I also think any new projects at parks get cut. Yes, they took on huge debt from Fox and are spending big dollars to push other owned companies(Disney+, ESPN(huge drain), Hulu, etc…)but I fear the parks will be the one picking up the profits.
Is it really apparent? Many resorts are or recently have been remodeled and updated, new attractions have opened, more are being worked on, others are being updated (think Tiana). That doesn't sound like ignoring parks and resorts.
I certainly know there are tons of people who've been going to WDW for years, can't speak to DL, but I've been going for a very long time and while the freebies of yesteryear are going by the wayside more and more, I think WDW has done better and better over time enhancing the parks, adding new attractions, granted they need more original ideas, and keeping them looking top notch. There are photos from my trips as a kid and parts of the park look scary. Epcot had peeled paint, as did MK, in 80s and going into the 90s. There's trash in some of my photos and special events were not what they have going on today.
Agreed, I think we'll see discounts from most travel related industries. I've already been surprised to see the amount of discounts from WDW over the holiday season. I actually got a unique pin code offer last month, no better than the AP offer but still hadn't seen one of those in a very very long time.
I think, revenge travel is coming to an end this year, and the travel industry will feel pain as folks tighten their wallets given the higher inflation. They're going to have to discount to get people into the parks. But I expect they'll start out small to begin with to see how much lower they need to go.
In another life, I cover local government for my own newsblog. City council, county commission (called Police Jury here in Louisiana), school board. This past Monday, at city council, the city treasurer gave her monthly financial report. The local sales tax collections were down, compared to the same month last year. Not much, but those numbers had steadily been growing since the Covid lockdowns of early 2020 by 2 to 4 percent per year. It is an accurate predictor of retail spending. So folks are beginning to tighten up discretionary spending.
I don't think the equity market has this priced in. Right now, it's looking for any reason to rally. The reality is that after you pay for essentials, you have less left over, and I doubt many people are getting raises high enough to offset this year's inflation next year.
You are correct.
Problem is that all but the most wealthiest international visitors are also being squeezed, especially British visitors, who are facing so many problems at home, such as the poor £-$ exchange rate, soaring bills and continued stagflation, which is made worse by externalities arising from current events on the European Continent. Unless some economic miracle happens, Disney would have a hard time attracting any guests, international or otherwise, and on top of controversial manoeuvres such as Genie+, the loss of value-for-money and other negative externalities arising from increased prices will continue to hurt Disney.
The problem here is the strong US Dollar. Conversion rates are pretty awful, so I wouldn't expect a whole lot out of international travelers.
