Lengthy Interview with Roy E. Disney

Didier Ghez pointed over at his Disney History blog today to a very lengthy (and high quality) interview with Roy E. Disney, son of Roy O. and nephew of Walt.  The link from his blog takes you to the Archive of American Television, which has a very nice layout with background information, a 6 part taped interview along with notes and an outline. 

The actual videos themselves are on YouTube in HD and all 6 parts run about 3 hours and 45 minutes.  The AAT website says, ‘The interview was conducted by Jennifer Howard on November 5, 2007’.

I recommend you check out the AAT website, but here are the videos if you want to watch them back to back without a lot of fuss.  :)

Sorry for the right edge bleedover, but I didn’t want to mess with the aspect ratio.  You can actually see these on the YouTube website in HD directly.

Mickey in Florida still lagging on booking window?

Of course it’s no surprise that Disney’s theme park’s continue to under-perform due to the economy.  What I didn’t expect was that they’d be sending out incentives for what is normally their busiest week of the year:  Christmas to New Years.

Back in the 80’s when it was just the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, that week was dead.  We used to go all of the time and the parks were pretty quiet.  As long as you were out by the 31st, which was when central Florida college bowls games kicked in, you were golden.  Now it’s the busiest time of the year; garnering holiday room rates, higher meal prices via surcharges, and a variety of extra money making deals for Mickey and crew.  

But it looks like that won’t be the case this year.  Mickey is sending out offers this late 30% off at select Deluxe hotels.   I’m sure that the value and moderates are probably packed to the gills however.  I’ve seen quiet a few offers this year for the Deluxe resorts, which isn’t a large surprise.  It does make me wonder how all of the other luxury offerings that are doing up around WDW are doing? 

The other downside of course is that people who spend $300+ a night for a hotel tend to spend MORE money both in the hotel and in the parks, whereas people in moderates and values probably tend to spend less.  That’s not looking good for increasing those ‘per cap’ park and room spending numbers that were off 10% and 7% respectively.  

Regardless of room occupancy and deals, given our experience at the last holiday week we went we won’t be going back this year for it either.

Here is the offer I got in my inbox earlier this week:

Last-Minute Magic!

Get 30% off Disney Deluxe Resorts for stays most nights Dec. 25, 2009 through Jan. 2, 2010.

Imagine spending one of the most festive weeks of the year in grand style at a Disney Deluxe Resort—at 30% off! Make this holiday season your family's most magical ever. Call now, the number of rooms available at this special rate is limited.

Minimum length-of-stay requirements may apply for Friday or Saturday arrivals. Savings based on non-discounted price for the same room. Additional per-adult charges apply if more than two adults per room. No group rates or other discounts apply. Offer is nontransferable. Call 407 939-5696 or your Travel Agent today! Be sure to mention your PIN: XXXXX XXXXX XXXX Ask about other Disney Resort categories that may be available when you call!

End of Year Telcon for Disney

Sorry it’s been a bit since I posted anything.  No, I’m not dead.  LoL.  Just been very busy (and a little TOO addicted lately to this).

So here is the blow by blow of this quarter’s conference call.

Of course, the lead off story was about the early morning announcement of the unusual swap of Tom Staggs and Jay Rasulo.  (Ed: It’s also possibly a shrewd move on Bob Iger’s part to keep two high profile executives inside the Disney fold, since with the slowly improving economy either would be natural targets to lure away.  It also gives both of them a chance to broaden their base for a CEO shot sometime in the future).

Bob Iger opening comments:

• Chinese last week gave permission for park in Shanghai.  Looking forward to building a ‘world class resort’ experience.
• Working toward closing of Marvel deal. 
• Studio had a BAD year due to performance of live action slate (Ed: 5 quarters of losses, which is probably the main reason why they let Dick Cook go).  Also see challenges to overall motion picture model.  Expect a tighter focus on costs of production, marketing and distribution.  Expect more challenges from Disney to the status quo as the distribution mediums for content expand.
• See Disney, PIXAR and Marvel now as covering a wider array of family entertainment.
• Will continue to invest in franchise properties in each of these studios such as Princess and The Frog, Cars 2, and Pirates 4. 
• Parks and Resorts continues to expand at DCA, HK Disneyland, Cruise Line, etc.
• ABC off to a good start with the fall lineup.
• ABC Family continues to grow and gain viewership.
• Disney Channel at all time high in ratings, and XD channel has been very successful in US.  Overseas expansion also continues to drive Disney Channel subscriptions.
• ESPN, in its 30th year, posted its largest ever audience numbers in the 4th quarter.

Tom Staggs financial highlights:

• ESPN operating income up, much of it because of an extra week in the quarter and a 1 time recognition of additional deferred revenue. 
• ESPN add sales were flat, but because of the extra week were likely down about 3%.
• Broadcasting improved on higher sale of shows, but relied on the extra week to overcome weaker ratings demands.
• Q4 add revenue, excluding extra week, at affiliates was off about 15% but seems to be firming.
• Q1 upfront pricing for advertising is running higher and Q2 option pickups are the highest in 10 years.
• Studio had another bad quarter forcing movie right downs as well as some losses in the music side.
• 2010 studio slate is full however.
• Consumer Products had a 20% decline in licensing due to the lag in how long it takes a downturn in the economy to ripple through the production of licensed products.
• Parks and Resorts domestic attendance were up 10% due to extra week and solid response to promotional offers.
• Combined attendance without the extra week was up about 3% with a 15% increase at DL offsetting a 3% decline at WDW.
• WDW occupancy for the quarter was 84%, 5% under the prior year, Disneyland was also at 84% occupancy (4% lower).
• Per cap spending at parks off 10% and per room spending was off 7%.
• Q1 bookings are running about 5% behind last year.
• New offers have increased the booking rate in recent weeks.
• Pension and health care expenses will increase dramatically this year. 
• Strong cash flow and tight control on cash expenses have allowed the company to weather the year.
• First priority for new spending is on increasing the slate of available opportunities that have attractive returns.
• This includes investment in programming, movies, and video games.
• Purchased only a modest number of shares in Q4, expecting to increase that throughout the year as they believe the current stock price is still at an attractive price.

Question highlights:

• No further information is forthcoming in the short term from Disney or the Chinese on the Shanghai park until the deal is formally done.
• Bob sees the largest opportunity for revenue growth in FY’10 in advertising.  Continue to perform for the next year as if the economy will not improve.
• Tom also mentioned that almost everybody in company got no salary increase in FY’09.
• Current discount is a slightly less costly (and therefore slightly less advantageous) than the previous offers this year.
• Bob sees the ‘Keychest’ initiative as a consumer focused technology that will allow the consumer to essentially ‘buy once, consume in many places without having to repay’.  Of course, expect that ‘keychest’ enabled content will be able to garner a higher price than a use on only one device type of purchase.
• On the Dreamworks distribution deal, probably will be very little impact in 2010.  Possibly one film in 2010, but probably more likely in 2011.

The question session was longer than this of course, but not a lot of other unique discussion there.