I agree that Disney's gone to shit. I haven't willingly or knowingly given them any money in two decades.

Because they were having really long lines so raising the price brings in more revenue and/or reduces the amount of traffic, which from what you describe is more than their capacity can handle. Apparently a lot of people don't share your view and still go creating long lines and overworked staff, Disney probably hopes that raising the price will lower their attendance while maintaining revenue. Disney has been setting record profits and record revenues so they are doing something right.   

Actually... they have been doing really shitty. They laid off a bunch of the hourly people and switched to part timers so they could save money. They love these people who work 1-3 days a week because there are no benefits they need to give away. Those people work just so they can get free passes which they sell to family or friends at a discounted price. Actually, it isn't a free pass. You get to let X number of people in per month if you meet them at the gate.

Yeah, they are still riding high, but the stock is on a downward move and will continue to slide ever so slowly until the economy recovers. Yeah, it looks good on paper but that isn't anything but fancy bean counting.

Also, there have been a record number of poor attendance ratings except for Disneyland which had an increase because of the Cars Land. The numbers at Disney World will go up a little because of the new "Fantasy Land" which opened just recently.

One other thing, the locals down here over all despise Disney. They have been a thorn in the side of Orlando politics for decades and they manipulate shit like "express way" and Interstate remodeling. They also refused to help out with the Light Rail unless Disney got special consideration for a main hub rather than a "single stop". The list goes on.

Roflmao. Record attendance, record revenue and record profits is "really shitty"? 

Of course they are. Any business that relies heavily on low skill/low wage workers like theme parks do would be stupid to continue hiring full time staff. Obamacare makes it the financially smart thing to do, if not an absolute necessity to remain profitable. 

Sounds like a very sensible benefit to offer when you are paying low wages. It costs very little to the company and no doubt many people that work there are more interested in that benefit than they are in the money. Why do you think that is indicative of some kind of problem?

Oh? I thought the economy is recovering, that is what Bama told me.

Regardless, Disney's stock has not moved downward at all recently. It has been hitting all time record highs and is still only trading around 20 times trailing earnings which is only slightly above average. For a company like Disney that has been increasing their profitability almost everywhere except for ABC and their video game division, that is a good deal- especially when you factor in their rather generous dividend. The only danger is if their revenues drop significantly, but there is no reason to believe they will. Even if the theme parks collapse like you seem to think (and I doubt, Disney has a pretty long track record of being successful in that industry) they own Lucasarts and Marvel both of which should be cash cows in the movie industry. Even if it is terrible, the next Star Wars movie is going to bring in a shitload of cash and the Marvel movies continue to be one hit after another. ABC will probably continue to fail, if I was them I would seriously consider selling it. Their video game division might start turning a profit because they just made a licensing deal with EA so rather than attempting to make games themselves, they will just profit from the characters. A smart move that removes the risk of loss and should turn a money losing branch of their company into one that makes a small but consistent profit. There is no reason to think that Disney stock is going to have any significant loss.   

Oh, so they are lying in their SEC filings? Is Disney the next Enron? Somehow I don't think you have any evidence of this whatsoever. You simply have an emotional problem towards Disney so you assume it can't be as successful as it is. 

Last quarter their attendance was up higher than ever in the history of the company.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/06/01/disney-theme-park-stocks/2343753/

Idiots always despise the hand that feeds them. Why would anyone go to Orlando without Disney? There are much more beautiful areas of Florida. Those of us without kids don't even consider Orlando as a destination when going to Florida, I imagine if the park wasn't there most families with kids would also prefer to be 50 miles east or 100 miles west.  

You were in the war right? Did you get hit by a IED?

Only Disneyland in California has had any attendance records. Euro-Disney has never turned a profit (even with a Saudi prince spending $20 million in three days). All other Disney parks have suffered.

Disneyworld only had an increase of 2.3% last year and that includes all the parks. Ooooooh wow... record setting increases.

There are plenty of us who don't want you to come to Orlando. If you are currently visiting, please leave and take one of your transients with you.

lol

I'd ask for some more data for both arguments but I don't much care. Disney got their first strike with me for suing West Edmonton Mall for having Fantasy Land, a name Disney didn't even use, in a park thousands of kilometres away from any Disney park, back in the 80's. Strike two was releasing sequels to classic tales. Aladdin 2? Fuck you, you lazy talentless hacks. Strike three was Eisner.

Whether they are swimming in profits or drowning in failure, I have no respect for the corporation anymore, and wouldn't give them a nickel of my money for anything.

No and no. 

So Disney is lying on all of their financial disclosures? The revenue for their parks last year was $12.9 billion an increase of 10% over the year before. Their operating income was up an impressive 22%. Their first quarter statement for 2013 showed even stronger growth, which is why their stock had a nice bump.

As usual, you are spewing your ignorance all over the board. Disney only has a 40% equity interest in Euro Disney S.C.A. It has a 51% ownership interest in the actual theme park in Paris, so when you buy stock in Disney, the performance of Euro Disney isn't particularly important as The Company makes their money off the use of the Disney name, characters, and leasing the land regardless of whether or not Euro Disney S.C.A. earns a profit. They have similar arrangements with most of their international parks. The attendance which matters most to the bottom line is the domestic parks, which were very healthy last year.

Not that I expect you will read them, or have the ability to understand them, but in case anyone is interested, all of the financial statements and trends are available here and make it clear that either you are flat out wrong or that Disney is committing fraud on a massive scale.   

I have no intention of ever visiting Orlando.

I feel the same way, but my order is different, starting with 1) Eisner 2) Rehashed characters and music in their movies 3) rides (such as the Haunted Mansion) which need a serious upgrading.

I knew a person who had worked for Disney since the first day they opened in Orlando. They retired after X number of decades and told me that they were glad to be leaving. The changes in the Disney realm of things would have embarrassed Walt and he would have fired all the money sucking leaches for ruining his dream.

As for data:

2013 - http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/07/us-disney-layoffs-idUSBRE9060AH20130107

2013 - http://www.cartoonbrew.com/business/breaking-disney-shuts-down-lucasarts-150-staffers-laid-off-80498.html

2013 - http://variety.com/2013/biz/news/espn-layoffs-disney-to-cut-hundreds-of-employees-1200484819/

2010 - http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2010/12/disney_park_attendance.php

2009 - http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/worklife/04/09/disney.layoffs/

2008 - 2012 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_amusement_park_rankings

Keep in mind, the one article shows how Disney controls the information now to help with their stock. They do not release actual statistics any more and only give averages.

I couldn't find the article from the Orlando Sentinel from 2010 where Disney laid off over 600 full time employees in Disney World. They said it was because of "restructuring" but it was really because they wanted to save money.

Personally, I think they are too top heavy with executives.

As usual you are a ignorant sap who knows nothing other than your own opinion is right and every one else is wrong. If you were religious I'd group you right along side Jean.

Disney profits, as stated by you, are based on EVERY aspect of their investments including cruises, movies and merchandise sales. Please go back to my original post and actually read it this time. Better yet, just STFU and don't bother posting on my blog any more. Your an idiot.

Um, yeah. Says nothing about the theme parks. The first article specifically talks about removing redundant jobs caused by their recent purchases. It is pretty standard when a corporation purchases a large company that they lay off a bunch of people because many of the positions can be taken over by people who have been long time Disney employees. It is also a move that usually makes the company more profitable, which was my only point. In the case of Lucasarts, Disney purchased it to have the intellectual property, they have announced that Lucasarts will no longer be making games which means that there is no reason to continue to employ the programmers. For Disney, that is probably a smart move because Disney has performed very poorly at making video games. Instead they are going to license the characters to EA and have EA take on the risk of investing in games while they make money from the license regardless of the games success. There is a lower potential profit, but virtually no risk and since the video game division has been a constant drain, it is probably a smart move unless they intend to focus time and resources on it. Did you even read your own links?

Yes, the first article doesn't "show" shit, it is some random person creating a plausible theory; namely that Disney's decision to stop publicizing attendance statistics was driven by a desire to hide poor attendance. 3 years later, we have the luxury of being able to look back and see whether or not their revenue has decreased. It has not. It has increased and the amount of money they make off of ticket sales has increased. Obviously, that speculation was wrong. (As if 2010 attendance levels are at all relevant to Disney's decision in 2013, if I found out they made their decision looking at data that old I would sell the stock in a heartbeat.)

Then your wiki link confirms exactly what I said. Attendance went up every single year and in 2012 it went up at a faster rate (over 4% increase compared to <1% increases in previous years through the recession). Which if you read my original response, I pointed out that they increased their ticket price because their sales were increasing at a rapid rate and increasing prices would cause slower growth and higher per visitor revenue.  

Your own links refute your claims that Disney has been experiencing "record low" attendance. Really, how easy do you want to make this for me? All I have to do is get out of the way and let you debate with your own links. 

Complete with taking the phrase out of context. I addressed a very specific portion of your ignorance. Are you saying I am wrong about Disney's relation to Euro Disney?  

Yes, and if you will note the link I provided to you, you would see that it separates all of that and their theme park segment is their fastest growing segment and only the television is more profitable overall. Which my only original point was to answer the question you asked in your OP why are they raising prices. The short answer is because they can and it will result in them making more money.

The funny thing is that your own anecdotal evidence of the lines being really long and you not being able to do anything because it was so overcrowded supports the theory. The hard numbers confirm it, their theme park division is growing rapidly and is making large profits. If what you say about your recent experience being poor due to long lines and overworked employees is true- and I have no reason to doubt it, then raising ticket prices is a sensible and profitable solution. They will lose a few visitors like you which will allow them to be less crowded and provide a better experience for those who go, while maintaining high revenues. When you are dealing with a business that is geographically limited, there is a such thing as too many customers.   

@Beyond It's amazing you are still breathing.

I always found it funny that Beyond's picture suits his attitude most of the time; bemused, perplexed, self-centered and like he's taking a hard shit all in one fell swoop.

In any case, I went to Disneyland a lot when I was a kid with my dad; it was our summer thing.  As I grew up, we started getting annoyed at the lines, the increasing ticket/concession stand prices and the overall feel of the park being more or less a piggy bank rather than a place that loved it's customers.  Also, it pissed me off that they got rid of The Main Street Electrical Parade which was a cornerstone near the end of our visits.

The Disney Company has gotten way too big for it's britches, buying out my childhood one piece at a time (Marvel, Star Wars Franchise; side note on how fucked they are when they purchase big companies http://kotaku.com/disney-shuts-down-lucasarts-468473749) and covering up so much shit over the years making a mockery of human life for fear of profit loss: http://www.anomalies-unlimited.com/Disney/DisDeaths.html

Anyone arguing in favor of Disney's business ethics and backing them up with what they're doing with their workers or mass corporate absorption has serious mental problems and needs an immediate CAT scan.