The company said attendance at its domestic resorts was off a bit from last year because this year’s busy Easter holiday fell during the previous quarter. At the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Calif., both hotel occupancy and per-capita spending were down slightly from last year, but higher nightly room rates at the hotels helped offset the decline. Per-capita spending at Walt Disney World in Orlando was up 3%, while hotel occupancy, at 92%, was down 1% from the year-earlier period.

“We aren’t immune to the challenging economy but we continue to be pleased with the level of business activity we’ve seen so far,” Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger told analysts on the quarterly conference call. “The parks’ performance has been particularly noteworthy.” He added that visitation to Walt Disney World in Orlando was unlikely to be affected by a continuing reduction in airline seat capacity. “Just under 50% of visitors to Walt Disney World are flying in and they typically book early,” so there is plenty of access to available airplane seats, he said.

It does paint a growing picture of Disneyland, with growth rates of 9% over last year. But well see how that continues now that the dollar is gaining strength and we seem to be headed into a recession….maybe that is what Disneyland is bracing for by the elimination of healthcare?

Look at their P/E, their profit margin, and their future prospects (reflected in the stock price)…and it doesn’t look as good as you make it seem. However you slice it, Disneyland is going through some tough times.

PS: I agree that the stock price alone is not the entire picture…but the stock price, or more directly, the P/E of a stock price is probably the one thing you can point to that gives more about a company than any other single indicator.

Also, note that their benefits are often considered relatively weak compared to other companies. It’s a major pain point for employees and an incentive to look elsewhere.

It’s dangerous to use a stock price as an indicator of how well a company is doing. Obviously, extreme performance can be a clear indicator, but the market price of a stock is more speculative and subjective to other market pressures rather than an accurate measure of performance. Entertainment is a very speculative industry because it ultimately relies on unpredictable consumer tastes.

Disney, unlike Ford and GM, makes products people actually want to buy and they rake in tons of money.

Yes, but even Disneyland has to compete and sell tickets. And if their stock is any indicator, they are not doing so differently than Ford or GM.

Also, it doesn’t make sense to compare Disney to GM and Ford. Disney, unlike Ford and GM, makes products people actually want to buy and they rake in tons of money.

Disney’s hotels, theme parks and stores require a certain number of employees to keep it operating at a level that will keep customers satisfied. Paying more money to give the same benefits to part-time employees as full-time employees means less money to hire more employees or worse, keep some employees on the payroll.

Government doesn’t really have to worry about debt, which is why part-time employees (whose paychecks are obviously smaller than those of their full-time colleagues) should be able to turn to the government for health insurance. Unfortunately, some members of the working poor, for reasons only known to Congress, are not deemed poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or Medicare.

State-sponsored universal health care for those who cannot afford a private insurer is not a perfect solution for millions of uninsured Americans, but it’s a better and more realistic solution than using the law to force private companies to provide health benefits to its employees.

Besides, if the union cares so damn much about its low-wage workers, perhaps they shouldn’t make them pay union dues. If the unions don’t know where in their budget to cut expenses to allow low-wage workers free union membership, perhaps they should look at the six-figure salaries of their highest ranking officers. Most union bosses are paid very well, growing fat off the union dues of the working poor. That’s worse than any allegation of “corporate greed” that I could ever think of.

Go ahead, boycott Disney. Warner Bros. is funnier anyway and Six Flags theme parks are way better than Disney World.