The Mouse Rules

QUINNSCOMMENTARY · Post by **QUINNSCOMMENTARY** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:29 am

Forget the economists, the Federal Reserve or Wall Street, if you want to really know how the economy is doing, check Disney. With the economic crisis in America, with people living paycheck to paycheck, with no money to tap from home equity, there is surely no money to spend stand in line to ride in a tea cup or shake hands with a four foot mouse. Misak, Mouska, Mickey Mouse. (I learned that from the endless playing of a CD for my 18 month old granddaughter).

Well, what you may think ain’t happening. In fact, revenue at the theme parks and resorts is up 5%. Some visits were down slightly from a year ago, but in Orlando hotel occupancy was at 92%.

Either that crisis is not as wide spread as we are lead to believe or we sure have our priorities screwed up. After all, how far will a rebate check go at Disney World? :wah::wah:

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:34 am

I think people spend what little disposable income they have on something that will take them away from reality. Theme parks, the movies, etc. are an allure to have time away from returning to the reality of life and the economy.

My rebate check went to pay a family member's bill, I didn't do much economic stimulus with it, just alleviated a big family pain and got rid of the bill. It was a wise decision.

I don't do theme parks, went to the movies once this year. I don't spend my income on that stuff much.

QUINNSCOMMENTARY · Post by **QUINNSCOMMENTARY** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:24 am

99th Monkey;936620 wrote: I think the tourist trade will gradually slow down, remember Disney is an international venue so it's not really a good barometer for Americans not only that but many people book such things in advance so it would be hard for them to cancel and upset their children.. However when the middle classes are affected to the same degree of the working classes or those who have borrowed the most you will soon see a decline in such activities although we will still see anomalies in the economy worldwide....

Actually, the figures for Disney was based on California and Orlando, not international.

sunny104 · Post by **sunny104** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:27 am

QUINNSCOMMENTARY;938169 wrote: Actually, the figures for Disney was based on California and Orlando, not international.

but what percentage of visitors were from other countries? Maybe that's what monkey meant?

YZGI · Post by **YZGI** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 9:10 am

Another point.

As of right now, a lot of these families may have already booked and paid for these vacations up to a year ago. I would be interested in the future bookings right now.

QUINNSCOMMENTARY · Post by **QUINNSCOMMENTARY** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 10:25 am

The last two posts have good points, but I am still waiting to have some credibility to what people are doing to cope as a result of this post:

http://www.forumgarden.com/forums/showt ... hp?t=39043

I haven't seen any "cancelled my vacation "or trip let alone cancelled trip to Disney.

All I hear is a litany of the problems with the economy, but what does it all really mean to the average American?

K.Snyder · Post by **K.Snyder** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 11:34 am

chonsigirl;936430 wrote: I think people spend what little disposable income they have on something that will take them away from reality. Theme parks, the movies, etc. are an allure to have time away from returning to the reality of life and the economy.

My rebate check went to pay a family member's bill, I didn't do much economic stimulus with it, just alleviated a big family pain and got rid of the bill. It was a wise decision.

I don't do theme parks, went to the movies once this year. I don't spend my income on that stuff much.

Absolutely...

Disney World is a sort of once in a lifetime vacation...It doesn't matter how bad the economy is people will still do the once in a lifetime vacations...What people are finding out, and soon will find out if such isn't the case, is that they're going to have to start sacrificing the little luxuries in life most people tend to waist their money on in my opinion anyway...

I wouldn't hold the income of Disney World as an indicator of how bad the economy is...In fact,..I would go as far to say that the increase is reasonable given people know things are more than likely going to get worse so they're probably getting their "quality family time" in as soon as possible...

K.Snyder · Post by **K.Snyder** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 11:41 am

QUINNSCOMMENTARY;939534 wrote:

All I hear is a litany of the problems with the economy, but what does it all really mean to the average American?

It means our economys' downfall now and any point within what I would speculate the next 15 years still won't be even bad at all in comparison to the rest of the world let alone underdeveloped countries...

Americas riches are coming to an end and people might as well just get used to saving their money instead of ordering out for the night and renting a movie...

I think using the "once in a lifetime" opportunities as an indicator of economic stature is inaccurate at best...

If you want to get a perspective look at agricultural inclinations not once in a lifetime getaways that people to whom could seriously lose their home upon their decision to go let alone those living paycheck to paycheck...