Little Pain Evident In Fantasyland and Magic Kingdom - Dr. Joe Duarte
Social Unrest Ahead?
This is a special Market IQ Report.
Disneyworld - December 29, 2008, 08:00 A.M. Shares of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) seem to be undervalued, at least based on the Peter Lynch principle of analysis, where actually going out and looking at the business yields tangible evidence of prevailing conditions.
We've been here since Christmas day and have seen nothing but huge crowds at every park, including Magic Kingdom, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT Center where there were 45 minute waiting times to get on rides that most people would normally ignore due to their low thrill potential.
The on-site restaurants are all full for those without reservations. Buses and boats to all parks are full to capacity, and one Disney worker told us that Magic Kingdom alone saw 72,000 visitors cross the gates on Christmas day.
We've seen and spoken to visitors from Japan, Argentina, India, England, and New Zealand, as well as visitors from the United States, where our non-scientifica methods suggest lots of folks from Florida and the East Coast are visiting.
There are lots of locals apparent, and the parking lots are full of cars, with lines forming at night to take visitors back to their cars in shuttles.
All in all, three major trends are apparent. First, Disney parks, at least Disneyworld, continues to be a major global attraction, and is perceived as a value, despite very high prices for all items, including food, drinks, admission, hotel stays, and souvenirs.
Second, much of this is being aided by the low dollar, as the number of foreign visitors to this park, is the highest we've ever seen.
And third, lower oil prices are playing a significant factor, given the number of cars visible in all parking lots.
Conclusion
As we've noted in other "Tales From The Road Installments" recently, travel does not seem to be affected to the degree that Wall Street analysts and economists seem to expect that it would be during a recession.
This, for us, is now a trend that we've been following for the past two months, having delivered reports from two small towns in Texas, Wichita Falls, and Waco, where the local economies were quite stable and local businesses and national brands with strong presences in the communities seemed well supported.
Now, we're in Florida, in huge international setting and brand loyalty is clearly a dominant factor in destination travel.
We'll be reporting from here for at least one more installment of "Tales From The Road."
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