Exec says Disney might cruise to Asia and Hawaii
Disney Cruise Line, Featured, Jason Garcia, News — By Jason Garcia on June 7, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Might Disney Cruise Line soon sail to Asia or Hawaii?
Walt Disney Co. President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger suggested as much last week during a presentation to stock analysts in New York. Discussing Disney’s decision to spend an estimated $1.5 billion building two more cruise ships, Iger said the expanded fleet will give Disney the ability to spread out to more destinations.
With its two new ships to be based at Port Canaveral, Disney already plans to permanently move one of its two existing vessels to the West Coast and to at least temporarily send the other to Europe.
“We thought we had an opportunity to expand our horizons, no pun intended,” Iger said. “We’re going to take advantage of that with Alaska, Southern California and Mexico, parts of Europe and, maybe down the road, Asia or Hawaii.”
Strategic ties
Both Asia and Hawaii offer some strategic ties for Disney should it decide to offer cruises in either location.
In Asia, for instance, Disney could use a cruise ship to offer land-and-sea vacation packages in conjunction with Hong Kong Disneyland or, eventually, Shanghai Disneyland, which is in the planning stages.
And in Hawaii, Disney next year is to open an 830-room hotel and time-share resort that could be paired with a cruise ship.
Scaling back spending
In his talk at the Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York, Iger told analysts that Disney’s theme-parks division is likely to pull back on capital spending in a few years.
Iger described the current capital-spending surge at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts — including the two cruise ships; the Hawaiian resort; and expansions of the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Disney California Adventure in Anaheim, Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Paris — as “mildly aberrational.”
The bulk of the spending on those projects began in 2009 and is expected to continue through 2014.
“I think, once we get through this period, we’re probably going to drop down to what I’ll call a more steady state,” Iger said. “We don’t really project — save for Disneyland Shanghai, should be we successful in completing that agreement and building the park — we don’t really project anything as significant as this collection of investments on the [capital expenditure] front over the next decade.”
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11 Comments
So, no fifth gate for WDW; no third gate for DLR until after 2020.
What is with the fascination around a fifth gate at WDW… I would much rather see them “fix” the existing parks (expand DAK & DHS, new countries in Epcot, additional updates at MK, etc…) than waste the money on a fifth park that would just decrease the others.
I agree with Daguru. make what you have now even better, 4 parks is plenty but they just need to expand on them al little more. And i expect if potter were to effect them his statement would go out the window and they would re act with a new ride hopefully. But you never know? =/
Agreed! DAK, DHS and Epcot all need some love!
While I personally would prefer expansion of existing parks over a new park, Disney has consistently shown an unwillingness to expand DHS and AK (with the exception of Expedition Everest). These parks are still essentially what they were a couple years after they opened. EPCOT has actually shrunk over the last 25 years with the loss of the Wonders of Life pavilion. You could also make a case that the current MK expansion isn’t all that large, either, and is tailored almost exclusively towards the younger crowd.
Don’t get me wrong…Disney has done quite a bit of work in all of its parks, bringing old attractions up to date or replacing them with new ones. However, this isn’t expansion to me – it’s modernization. History has shown that the only way Disney expands it’s offerings in Florida substantially is when it builds a new park (which opens as a small entity and, over a few years of agressive expansion, becomes a major park).
This strategy makes business sense – if the parks are successful, why spend a lot of money upgrading them if you don’t believe your going to see a substantial increase in visits? However, it is the exact reason that so many fans are craving a fifth gate.
Disney will not cruise to Hawaii because of the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886.It would require Disney to switch from a flag of convenience to American registry.Not so easy because it would require American labor laws on the ship.Hawaii gets few cruise ships because of this requirement.If Disney switched registry and made profits then the argument could be made to switch them all.Offshore oil platforms fly a flag of convenience to avoid American regulation.Iger wants to place the ships where the environment is still attractive.Disney strategy is like Monty Python-Run Away!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_Vessel_Services_Act_of_1886
Hawaii could certainly be part of an itinerary that starts in LA, makes a stop in Mexico and continues on to Hawaii (and returns). Other ships do it now. the ship can also sail within Hawaii with a detour stop to fanning island.
This has been common knowledge for years. I worked for DDC (precursor to Imagineering) in the early 1990s, and plans were for ships based in Port Canaveral for the eastern Caribbean, Tampa for the western Caribbean, Los Angeles for Mexico, Seattle for Alaska, somewhere in the Mediterranean, and somewhere in Asia. Anybody want to prove me wrong?
Also common knowledge: WDW fifth park will be a coaster park, with killer rides; something Disney hasn’t done, yet Busch Gardens and Universal shine at, and they pull in the teen boy market AND young adults with loads of money. The theme will be VILLAINS, and Disney has quite a lot to work with: Tchernobog from Fantasia, Ursula the Sea Witch, various other witches, etc. Plans were to put it down by Pop Century (why do you think they built all those rooms without a park nearby?) but now that the sports complex has taken off so well they may put it across World Drive from EPCOT Center
on land which originally was to be kept in its natural state… but once Disney opened the Nature Preserve south of here, they traded development rights so now they can build there. Plus, there is plenty of empty land north of the EPCOT Center parking lot, room for another theme park.
Anybody want to prove me wrong?
FormerInsider (and I question that title):
First of all, DDC (Disney Development Company) was NOT a precursor to Imagineering. WDI was started by Walt in 1952, while DDC came about during the Eisner/Wells era to build resorts and such. Everything inside a berm was WDI, everything outside of a berm was DDC.
As for the fifth park, the Villains/Iron Ride rumor has been floating around for years, but was never really a viable option.
The main thing holding Disney back from building a fifth gate is not the lack of land or even interest from the tourists; rather, it is a shortage of employees to staff such an operation. WDW can barely staff what they have now and the quality of employees the WDW now hires has dropped proportionally to the amount of expansion.
In a nutshell, Florida ain’t getting a new park!
u are so right about the employees! live in jersey, go to disney 2 times a year with 2 kids, got married in disney, just love it! BUT the quality and personalities of the employees has gone down drain! what happen to being paid to always smile and be pleasant! have come across some miserable people with mickey ears last couple years! not to mention young punks cursing, flirting, and carrying on while my little ones are there to witness! they are weeding out full timers so dont have to pay benefits, now the part timers just don’t care!
There should be a fifth park built sometime between 2013-2018. This is according to a report from the Reedy Creek District. It said there will be one major theme park and 2 minor parks (water park etc.) built within the next 10 years. The theme of the park is a big question. Does anyone have any insight into this?