As I said yesterday, my main concern regrding Comcast's bid for Disney is that our May vacation to Disney World might somehow be interrupted, thereby causing my 4 year-old daughter Lily to interfere with my right to personal happiness. Selfish? All politics is local.
I am happy to report that all analysts are certain Comcast would keep the theme parks, and possibly spruce them up, which would be fine, but don't do it on my time:
- Mickey Mouse will stay on the Walt Disney payroll welcoming children to the Magic Kingdom if Comcast Corp.'s offer for the company succeeds, and the bidders said they would be all ears when it comes to sprucing up the Disney theme parks.
...."We believe the theme parks could be revitalized. It's a great business," Stephen Burke, executive vice president at Comcast, told Reuters in an interview. Burke is a former Disney executive and former president of Euro Disney.
Comcast said it plans to drive attendance at the parks through advertising and cross-promotion at attractions, hotels and concessions.
That view makes sense, according to analysts who called the parks a key to the Disney brand.
"The theme parks' value is not in the rides. It's the Disney brand. Kids go there to see the characters they know from the movies," said Barry Ritholtz, chief market strategist at Maxim Group, a global money management firm whose clients own Comcast and Disney shares.
....While many theme parks around the globe continue to suffer from decreased visitors, attendance at Disney parks has been improving.
In December Walt Disney said its California Adventure saw a 13 percent rise in 2003 visitors and Disney's Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland were No. 1 and 2, respectively, worldwide in visitors for the second year in a row.
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