Even Mickey Is Cutting Back!

Howdy!

I just got back from 12 days in the Orlando area. It was cold the first few days we were there but the weather was much better than the ugly and miserable winter we had left in Michigan. It finally warmed up for the second half of the trip as the temperatures got up into the mid 70's. Anytime you can wear shorts and a tee shirt in January, it's a blessing. Of course, you can wear shorts and a tee shirt in January in Michigan, but you better be a polar bear or be extremely fast!

But I was able to play 3 rounds of golf (actually 6 rounds if you counted all the strokes!) and go to Disney World without having to put on gear you needed in the Artic Circle. Even 50F degree weather is cold to me in Florida. When I go to Florida, I want it hot, I want to sweat, I want sunburn. If I wanted to be cold, I could have stayed in Michigan.

When I complained to people in Michigan that it was only 50+ degrees when I was in Florida, well you can only imagine what I heard. People can be so touchy.

Back to Disney World.

You can plainly see why Disney World is the number 1 tourist attraction in the world. Everything is done there is first class. The place is clean and spotless. The cast members are so friendly and helpful. They have attractions there for kids of all ages. The pricing is more than worth it when you see what you get.

You can buy into the Magic or not. But it is hard not to. I do buy into it. And when I say buy into it, I really mean it as me and BF (Babyface) have season passes to Disneyworld. We bought a short term rental in Davenport (10 minutes west of Disney) a couple of years ago so we get down to the Orlando area 3-4 times a year to check on our place and vacation. So I have a vested interest in what's happening at Disney World.

So I was perplexed and curious at some subtle changes at Disney. For instance, at the Magic Kingdom, there is a ride called the "Haunted Mansion". This is a cool ride as you are driven through this mansion watching ghosts and goblins. It is normally dark on this ride which helps out in the scary department and also helps you to see the all the ghosts better.

However, it seemed a little too dark. It seemed more dark than I remember it. And it wasn't just me, a friend who was there with us made the same comment. We also noticed it was dark on the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride, in the area where the cannons are being fired by the pirates. You couldn't tell who was shooting back because it was so dark.

We also noticed this "black out" at the "Dinosaur" ride at the Animal Kingdom park. And at Disney's Hollywood Studio's, "Fantasmic" which is a great show (BF's favorite!) with fireworks and these awesome water screens that have images projected on them, was being cut back from been shown every night to only 2 nights a week.

When we asked a Disney cast member about the cutbacks in the showing of "Fantasmic" we were giving the pre scripted corporate answer that the reason for the cut backs in the "Fantasmic" schedule was due to slower attendance. That answer was hard for us to accept as he was telling us this info while thousands of visitors to Disneyworld were walking by.

All these cutbacks now make sense after reading this article from CNBC:(http://www.cnbc.com//id/29011933)

The article interviews Robert Iger, the CEO of Disney. In one quote, Iger says "We faced a challenging first quarter with many of our businesses impacted to various degrees by the economic downturn." Which translated means that most of the businesses that Disney owns like everything else in the economy is tanking. So all the Disney businesses have to make cuts (including turning off lights) to save cuts to protect the empire.

It's really hard to believe that Disney is losing any money when you see all the Disney bags full of merchandise at every park. People are standing in line waiting to spend hundreds of dollars buying shirts, hats or other souvenirs that have Mickey's or Minnie's picture on them. I believe Disney wanted to, they could open a park just with stores! Can you imagine getting a Fastpass?

Like I always say, be good to Mickey and he'll be good to you.

I really don't know what that means but I like saying it.

If you have any comments on this article, I would love to hear what you have to say!

Feel free to comment below.

Thanks for reading!

Dan Tenchall
Great Lakes Mortgage Funding

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