Bob Iger ‘not at all concerned’ about Disney World traffic, blames drops on COVID, hot weather

Published

2 years ago

July 21, 2023

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Disney CEO Bob Iger pushed back on reports of worrisome drops in Disney World attendance, claiming that foot traffic is down because of difficult comparisons with 2020, when Florida’s lax COVID restrictions sparked an unusual boom at the theme park.

“Florida opened up early during COVID, and it created huge demand. It didn’t have competition because there were a number of other places — states — that were not open yet,” Iger said during a televised CNBC interview on Thursday.

Since 2019, lines for attractions at Magic Kingdom, Disney’s most-visited park, have gotten increasingly shorter, it was reported this week. Average wait times fell from 47 minutes per ride in 2019 to 31 minutes in 2022, according to The Wall Street Journal.

So far this year, lines at Magic Kingdom are averaging 27 minutes, according to The Journal. Shrinking wait times are also reportedly a trend that are apparent at EPCOT, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.

In response, Iger told CNBC that in 2020, “Florida was the only game in town,” suggesting that wait times have dropped because “there’s much more competition today” and he’s “not at all concerned” that attendance would continue to drop and affect business over time.

CNBC interviewer David Faber asked the Mouse House boss if the company’s warring lawsuits with Gov. Ron DeSantis could be impacting attendance.

“No,” Iger said definitively. “We see no sign of that at all.”

Iger also said that The Journal’s report of declining attendance failed to take into account that Orlando, Fla.’s temperatures soar “to about 100 degrees and 99% humidity” in the summer.

He added that Independence Day’s figures are “inaccurate” measures of year-over-year declines as it only accounted for a single day.

“We do not have long-term concerns about that business,” Iger added of the Orlando theme park.

Orlando’s Walt Disney World closed its doors for COVID on March 16, 2020, and was permitted to reopen just four months later, in July of 2020.

For reference, California officials didn’t allow Disneyland’s West Coast park to reopen until April 30, 2021, more than one year after its initial closure.

July 4 attendance at Disney was particularly dismal, The Journal found.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which features Disneys Star Wars attractions, saw its third-slowest day of the past year on the Fourth of July.

Jaime Brown, a Walt Disney World annual pass holder who lives in Celebration, Fla., told The Wall Street Journal that she visited all four of the resorts theme parks during the week of July 4.

Brown said that she managed to easily patronize attractions that are normally in high-demand such as Spaceship Earth and the Topolinos Terrace restaurant.

I couldnt believe how light the crowds were, Brown told The Journal.

The Post has reached out to The Walt Disney Company for comment.

Travel agents have attributed Disney’s pricing model, in part, for its dwindling attendance.

Ticket prices surged in early December — and the cost of entering Magic Kingdom around the holidays nearly doubled.

Despite generating a whopping $28.7 billion in revenue and $7.9 billion in profit for fiscal year 2022 — topping the company’s pre-pandemic performance — Iger upped one-day tickets to any of its four Orlando theme parks from $109 to anywhere between $124 and $189 depending on date and demand.

Three of Disney’s annual passes also got a price increase.

The Incredi-Pass increased to $1,399 from $1,299 and the Sorcerer Pass went from $899 to $969. In addition, the PiratePass will cost $749, up from $699, while Pixie Pass prices remain at $399.

Entertainment

New AC/DC stamps to celebrate 50th anniversary of rock band’s debut album High Voltage

Published

2 hours ago

February 6, 2025

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New AC/DC stamps to celebrate 50th anniversary of rock band's debut album High Voltage

New stamps are going to be issued to mark the 50th anniversary of AC/DC’s debut album, the Royal Mail has said.

The group introduced themselves to the world with the electrifying High Voltage in 1975, before going onto become one of the most successful rock bands of all time.

To mark 50 years since its initial release, the Royal Mail has said it will issue eight stamps that capture a sample of the “electrifying” live performances of the band.

A further four stamps presented in a miniature sheet will feature the covers of High Voltage as well as Highway To Hell, their sixth studio album released in 1979; Back In Black, the best-selling rock album of all time, and Power Up, the band’s return in 2020.

The stamps go on sale from 18 February.

AC/DC will become the eighth music band to feature in a dedicated Royal Mail stamp issue.

They will follow on from The Beatles in 2007, Pink Floyd in 2016, Queen in 2020, The Rolling Stones in 2022, Iron Maiden in 2023, Spice Girls in 2024, and The Who also in 2024.

David Gold, Royal Mail’s director of external affairs and policy, said: “AC/DC is one of the most successful rock bands in the world.

“Over the past half-century, they have recorded some of the best-known rock anthems and have given us Back In Black – the biggest-selling rock album of all time.

“These stamps capture a sample of their electrifying live performances, along with some of their most iconic album covers, and celebrate their significant contribution to the world of rock music.”

Here are the eight anniversary stamps below:

And the four-stamp miniature sheet:

Technology

Google scraps diversity ‘aspirations,’ citing role as federal contractor

Published

2 hours ago

February 6, 2025

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Google scraps diversity 'aspirations,' citing role as federal contractor

Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks with Emily Chang during the APEC CEO Summit at Moscone Center West in San Francisco on Nov. 16, 2023.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Google is scrapping its diversity goals, becoming the latest tech giant to alter its approach to hiring and promotions following the election of President Donald Trump.

In its annual report published on Wednesday, Alphabet excluded language from prior years stating that, “we are committed to making diversity, equity, and inclusion part of everything we do and to growing a workforce that is representative of the users we serve.”

Fiona Cicconi, Alphabet’s chief people officer, told employees in a memo that the company has to make changes due to new requirements.

“Because we are a federal contractor, our teams are also evaluating changes to our programs required to comply with recent court decisions and U.S. Executive Orders on this topic,” Cicconi wrote in the memo, which was viewed by CNBC. “We’ll continue to invest in states across the U.S. — and in many countries globally — but in the future we will no longer have aspirational goals.”

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the memo.

Cicconi noted that in 2020, the company set aspirational hiring goals and focused on growing offices outside California and New York to improve representation.

One of Trump’s first acts as president after taking office in January was to sign an executive order ending the government’s DEI programs and putting federal officials overseeing those initiatives on leave. And following a midair collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter above Washington, D.C., last week, Trump blasted former President Joe Biden and DEI policies claiming they “could have been” to blame for the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. since 2001.

Tech companies have shown an eagerness to appease the new administration following a rocky four years during Trump’s first tenure in the White House.

Amazon said earlier in January that it was halting some of its diversity and inclusion initiatives, and Meta announced plans to end a number of internal programs designed to increase the company’s hiring of diverse candidates. Beyond the tech industry, companies including Target, Walmart and McDonald’s have made similar changes.

Google’s commitments for 2025 had included increasing the number of people from underrepresented groups in leadership by 30% and more than doubling the number of Black workers at non-senior levels.

The company began making cuts to its DEI programs in 2023, CNBC reported at the time, getting rid of staffers who were in charge of recruiting underrepresented groups and letting go of DEI leaders who worked with Chief Diversity Officer Melonie Parker.

Parker, who took on her current role in 2019, will work closely on evaluating programs and trainings and update “those that raise risk, or that aren’t as impactful as we’d hoped,” Cicconi wrote in her memo.

She added that the Google’s employee resource groups will remain as will the company’s work with colleges and universities.

A Google spokesperson told CNBC in a statement that the company is “committed to creating a workplace where all our employees can succeed and have equal opportunities, and over the last year we’ve been reviewing our programs designed to help us get there.”

WATCH: Trump blasts Biden, DEI efforts after D.C. plane crash

World

Orebro attack: Mass shooting survivor describes moment he escaped classroom

Published

2 hours ago

February 6, 2025

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Orebro attack: Mass shooting survivor describes moment he escaped classroom

“I was in the classroom and someone suddenly came in. I saw him, I saw the shooter. As soon as he entered, he’d started shooting. Six, five times. So I started running.”

We’re speaking with a man who survived when Rickard Andersson opened fire, killing 11 people, at an adult education centre in Sweden’s worst mass shooting.

“I fell over and he started shooting towards me and I dropped my phone as I ran off and managed to escape,” the witness says.

As he shares the visceral detail of his account, he becomes emotional as he describes losing friends before his eyes.

“It was very scary,” says the man, who asked not to be named.

“I saw him shoot others. So I’m having a really, really tough time right now. I haven’t been able to sleep.”

Orebro shooting: What we know about the attacker

He came back to the scene of the attack on Wednesday – where he used to go to lessons each day – and felt unable to comprehend how a place of safety became a place of terror in a matter of minutes.

The adult education centre in Orebro sits between two schools and many gathered at the police cordon the morning after the attack.

We watched as children lit candles with their parents before starting their day. At the cordon clutching his brown briefcase we meet Marcus Ahltun.

He’s the headteacher at one of the schools and had been in his office when he heard the gunshots next door and made the rapid decision to lockdown the school.

“I heard screams, and then I heard shots fired. I immediately decided that we needed to shelter in the school,” he told us.

Being metres away from the atrocity he said was “a surreal, numb feeling”.

Numb is how many have felt at the site today. Some came alone to pay their respects, some gathered in groups. We watched friends clutch and hold each other tightly.

Orebro is a university city and a young place with diverse communities.

People in the city and throughout the country are both mourning the loss of the victims and asking themselves how a gunman was able to enter an educational facility and kill.