What Is Disney Doing? Let’s Dissect This Month’s Data Dump.

What is Disney doing?

I know you’re all wondering that in the wake of a very strange start to the week.

Disney has revealed so much new information about its parks and resorts that I could cut the week right here and post a MickeyBlog News.

That’s happened maybe five times in the history of MickeyBlog, and most of those involved earthquakes and hurricanes.

This week, something else is at play. So, what is Disney doing? Let’s dissect this month’s data dump for clues.

Disney Negates the CEO Debate

The best fight is the one you avoid entirely.

The second-best fight is the one where the other person – let’s call them Nelson Peltz – starts it, but you knock them out.

Disney has unintentionally chosen the second-best option two straight years, but it would rather skip the nonsense.

The company wasted at least $40 million in its second battle to keep Peltz far away from Disney’s Board of Directors.

Some of the company’s recent tactics reflect a desire to prevent this sort of distraction from reoccurring.

Peltz increased his Disney stake significantly at this time a year ago, taking advantage of undervalued stock.

He ran a grift – let’s call it what it is – to create conflict and raise interest in Disney’s recent behavior, particularly CEO succession.

While Peltz suffered the most humiliating defeat of his career, his “punishment” was an estimated billion dollar profit.

That sort of thing would happen again in the months leading up to Disney’s 2025 Annual Shareholders meeting unless Disney prevented it.

So, some of the announcements we’re hearing right now reflect Disney’s aim to head off those potential disruptions.

The primary one is Disney’s recent statement that James Gorman will become the chairman of the board and choose Bob Iger’s successor.

Gorman’s resume is above reproach, and since he’s an outsider, no one can connect Disney mistakes to him.

He has a clean slate and a glowing reputation. Therefore, people won’t complain when he says he won’t choose another CEO until 2026.

If Iger had said that, Wall Street would be at DEFCON 1 right now.

Disney Raises Prices

We have a good news / bad news report at Disneyland Resort, where Magic Key sales resume next month.

Alas, the prices have increased from the last time Disney sold their annual passes.

The popular Imagine Magic Key increased 20 percent from $499 to $599.

The other Magic Keys increased by $125 as well.

Disneyland also increased regular admission prices, although it thankfully kept its lowest-priced tickets the same.

So, you can still visit Disneyland for $104 per person on certain dates, but its highest-priced tickets have crossed the $200 per day barrier.

This isn’t unusual in the theme park industry, as Universal Studios has raised its prices 23 times in its 35 years.

If Walt Disney World increased prices again, it would be at 23 times as well… which it is.

That’s because Disney announced ticket price increases for the 2025 holiday season and Annual Passes.

In addition, MickeyBlog tracked dozens of price increases at restaurants and snack carts.

I’ll give you a moment to fill up a swear jar before I continue.

Why Disney Did This

Disney has raised prices for the reasons I just mentioned.

The company will announce its fiscal 2024 earnings in a couple of weeks.

At that point, Disney will offer projections for theme park growth and overall revenue in fiscal 2025.

Two years ago, Bob Chapek lost his job when he stated Disney would experience single-digit growth for fiscal 2023.

People grabbed torches and pitchforks, and he was gone within ten days.

Then, Disney’s fiscal revenue in 2023 increased by… single digits.

Welcome to the Wall Street shell game.

By announcing these rate increases in October, Disney’s fiscal 2025 projections will look and sound better, thereby (hopefully) stabilizing the stock price, or possibly even leading to an increase.

We all hate things like this since we’re the ones footing the bill, but it keeps investment funds from running Disney, which is what I call the Doomsday scenario.

Disney Announces Ride Closures

On October 14^th, Disney revealed several theme park attraction updates and more followed soon afterward.

Disney confirmed the delay of Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure until the Summer of 2025.

Meanwhile, Jungle Cruise suddenly reopened, with Disney promising Jingle Cruise arriving at the start of November.

Also, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will close in early 2025 and not reopen until 2026.

Finally, we have the other groundbreaking announcement, and I mean that literally.

DinoLand USA will close three attractions and experiences on January 13, 2025.

Only one of them is a ride, TriceraTop Spin, yet all three serve the same purpose of entertaining / distracting children.

I expect Disney to introduce a few more temporary character greetings to fill the void, but there’s a larger purpose to these moves.

Big Thunder Mountain is taking an extended sabbatical so that Disney can reshape the land in anticipation of Magic Kingdom expansion.

We’ve learned that part of What Lies Beyond Big Thunder is a Villains themed land.

There will be other experiences as well, but let’s be honest that it will be the primary draw.

Why Disney Did This

To make way for the new experiences, Disney must repurpose the land at the back of the roller coaster’s grounds.

DinoLand will undergo a phased closure for a similar reason.

Disney will change that space into the Tropical Americas.

The announcements have come right now because people are starting to book their 2025 vacations.

Disney doesn’t want to surprise its guests with bad news upon arrival, so this is the early warning signal.

The parks will get a lot better soon, but there will be some short-term inconvenience.

The other three Walt Disney World theme parks have experienced something similar over the past decade.

It’s just Magic Kingdom’s time.

New and More Expensive Lightning Lane Options

Since the opening of Tron Lightcycle / Run, guests have know how much they would pay for a Lightning Lane single pass.

That was true until recently, when Disney announced that the prices have increased a little bit.

The same is true for a couple of other previously static single passes.

Disney also announced the introduction of Lightning Lane Premier Pass.

This service functions like a Lightning Lane for every attraction with a Lightning Lane queue.

The idea is brilliant, but fans started throwing flaming garbage when they heard the prices.

Lightning Lane Premier Pass costs anywhere from $129 to $449 per person per day per park.

That’s right, you don’t get Park Hopper with that price.

So, it’s really only valuable when you’ll spend the entire day at a park and want to maximize the experience.

You must be willing to pay the upsell charge for this privilege.

The best part of Lightning Lane Premier Pass is that you don’t need to schedule a time as you would with the current two Lightning Lane options.

You simply show up, scan your Magic Band, and enter the Lightning Lane.

Why Disney Did This

You may wonder why Disney is doing this, and the answer is simple.

Disney management faces an impossible logic puzzle each day.

The company wants to maximize theme park revenue without overcrowding the parks.

When the parks are too empty, people criticize Disney for having priced casual fans out of the experience.

When the parks are too crowded, people complain that they don’t have as much fun because they spend too much time standing in line.

The first argument is absolute bunk, but that’s a conversation for another day.

Thus, Disney officials agonize over the second problem and constantly search for new ways to increase revenue without altering capacity.

In a weird way, I swear to you that Disney does this to maintain the magic during your vacation. Nobody likes to hear that, but it’s true.

The Premier Pass will encourage fans with more disposable income to look at their phones less and enjoy the parks more.

So, this mega upsell option entices people who might have spent $60-100 on Lightning Lane to spend more that day for a vastly superior experience.

Disney expects that the Premier Pass will in no way impact other park guests, and at least some theme park analysts believe it could reduce attraction wait times overall.

Park officials have indicated that they will tweak the system as needed in the hope of achieving both goals.

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