CNN Money-"Disney Dissing Discounts"

[cakathy57]

This morning 5/21/02 on CNNMONEY I caught the tail end of a story about Disney.
They were talking about Disney dropping discounts. And the reporters speculated
that Disney was going to use the extra money to finance ABC and Peter Jennings salary.
Did anyone else hear the story? There was nothing on CNN.com.

 

[hopemax]

I don't know about CNN, but there is an article about no summer discounts at Disneyland Resort in 2002.


The complete article is
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020521/media_nm/disneyland_1

LOS ANGELES, May 20 (Reuters) - The Walt Disney Co.'s (DIS) California theme parks will not offer any discounted admissions this summer, reflecting improving business at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure, a spokesman said on Monday.

The lack of promotions during this year's important summer travel season comes in sharp contrast to last year, when Disney's then-newly opened California Adventure offered big discounts at the height of summer vacation to offset disappointing attendance in the park's opening months.

 

[Another Voice]

A brand new feature on the DIS Boards – “A View into The Future!!!”

In the not too distant future see a Disney spokesperson uttering the following line, “it’s not a discount, it’s a promotional marketing campaign”.

Stock price manipulation is such an ugly thing to watch….

 

[hopemax]

Yeah, you wonder since there are 2 things which us laypeople would call "discounts" on the Disneyland.com homepage. The free child with paying adult promo and the $90 park hopper with the tag "Save over 20%." Both are good through September.

I have a feeling this summer at the DL iResort is going to be fun to watch, in a car crash sort of way....

 

[raidermatt]

Maybe my memory is failing, but didn't Disney say on its earnings call that same period attendance at DLResort was actually up from last year?

This would make some sense, since DL guests are made up of a higher percentage of locals than WDW, and would at least partially explain why prices were raised at DL but not WDW.

 

[Another Voice]

Park hopping, annual passes and free tickets let one get very creative in counting attendance. And of course one can always fail to mention that the last year’s figures included only two months of operations of a second theme park, compared to the three months this quarter. Small little details always help the spin.

 

[Bstanley]

Ah yes, statistics.

"Statistics are like loose women; once you get your hands on them you can do anything you like with them."

- Walt Michaels -

Spin is an OK thing, as long as the G forces generated don't exceed the compressibility strength of The Truth. Even people who get in for free are going to spend money at the park.

 

[DisneyKidds]

LOL . I'll have to remember that one about statistics.

 

[raidermatt]

Ah yes, the ever-present conspiracy theory...

Why Disney would not do the same fudging with the WDW numbers is "curious", to say the least. (Though I'm sure there is a conspiracy theory for this as well...)

Regardless, its pretty much accepted that DL relies more on locals than WDW, and we've heard from various sources that anyone who relies on locals has been less affected than those who rely on "tourists", particularly international tourists. So there is no logical reason to doubt that DL has recovered from the recession and 9/11 faster than WDW. Just as many smaller parks thoughout the country were not hit as hard as the larger, resort destinations.

Since DL has made park-hopping a little easier, that certainly could be part of the reported increase, and I don't believe any of the analysts asked if the DL figure included more DCA time this year. Still, it remains that prices were not increased at WDW, while they were increased at DL. That's a basic indicator of their relative recoveries.