Disney closing ESPN Zones nationwide

First went to B dubs in Richmond IN, (hick ass town few miles from Dayton OH) and it was awesome. They have Karaoke nights too! Burgers and wings are pretty awesome. When football season starts I might have to head out to the one in College Park to watch the games. I bet it's ridiculous there with all the UMD kids.

Well to be fair Disney and ESPN employ alot of people and its rare to here about Disney failing at anything because just about everything Disney is involved in turns to gold. Hell now is the time to be unemployed because you can stay on unemployment for like 2 yrs now. Everytime they extend unemployment people all around the US cheer for a few more months they get paid to sit on their ass.

Not everything Disney does turns to gold. Unlike what some people believe though, not everything they do is a total failure either. Many of these employees, if past similar situations are any indication, will be offered other jobs within the company.

I'll disregard your general unemployment statement

Not everything Disney does turns to gold. Unlike what some people believe though, not everything they do is a total failure either. Many of these employees, if past similar situations are any indication, will be offered other jobs within the company.

I'll disregard your general unemployment statement

They have a pretty good track record along with ESPN for getting thing right alot of the time. The unemployment statement was to get saden worked up.

They have a pretty good track record along with ESPN for getting thing right alot of the time. The unemployment statement was to get saden worked up.

On behalf of the mouse, the kind words are appreciated. I think we do get things right a lot but we also make mistakes along the way. I don't think the Zone was a mistake, by the way.

All I know if I go by our local mall area with all the restaurants the parking lots are full. I know the economy hurts some but you could never tell by their parking lots. I'm talking chain rest. and localy owned places. Last Thursday night we went out to a restaurant and the place was packed from the time we entered to the time we left. I'm talking about a rest. that you cannot get out of for anything less then $100 and we dropped $200 that night. It would be intresting to hear what SS33 can add sense he is in the business.I have a hard time feeling sorry for the mouse and love Disney-bashing as much as the next guy, but this is hardly a case of incompetent or poor management. The economy is rough out there for any disposable income related business. What you see in the restaurants and malls is still activity, but the overall spend is less. The average debt of families in the U.S. has also dropped. So not only are folks not incurring new debt, they're working to pay off old debt, hence not spending as much.

Our restaurant is down significantly from where we were even a year ago (remember unemployment is a lagging indicator). We're still keeping our heads above water, but that's due to reduced hours for our employees and increased hours for my wife and I. Our food distributors and other folks we know in the restaurant business are confirming what we see in our numbers. Also, two major local suppliers (one for bread, one for produce) that have been in business in Hampton Roads for over twenty years went out of business in the last 3-4 months. Our major supplier has cut its prices to push out our secondary supplier.

When you see Pizza Hut, Papa John's, etc. $ 10 pizza deals go away, then the economy is getting better.

I have a hard time feeling sorry for the mouse and love Disney-bashing as much as the next guy, but this is hardly a case of incompetent or poor management. The economy is rough out there for any disposable income related business. What you see in the restaurants and malls is still activity, but the overall spend is less. The average debt of families in the U.S. has also dropped. So not only are folks not incurring new debt, they're working to pay off old debt, hence not spending as much.

Our restaurant is down significantly from where we were even a year ago (remember unemployment is a lagging indicator). We're still keeping our heads above water, but that's due to reduced hours for our employees and increased hours for my wife and I. Our food distributors and other folks we know in the restaurant business are confirming what we see in our numbers. Also, two major local suppliers (one for bread, one for produce) that have been in business in Hampton Roads for over twenty years went out of business in the last 3-4 months. Our major supplier has cut its prices to push out our secondary supplier.

When you see Pizza Hut, Papa John's, etc. $ 10 pizza deals go away, then the economy is getting better.

Noooooooooo

This has been developing for a while. The Atlanta and Denver Zones were closed last year to less fanfare. The economy definitely hurts, it's hurting the restaurant business overall as fewer people are opting for sit-down eat-out restaurants. And leasing the space in some of these markets (such as NYC) is an astronomical hit. Plus the novelty has really worn off, especially as more and more households have their own home theater systems to watch sports.


As a former Marriott and Disney employee managing their revenue in the hotel/restaurant sector of their businesses I will have to say Disney has no business being in the restaurant or hotel industry. Disney should simply stick to the entertainment side of their business model. Now that the economy is stinking up or has been Disney just can't compete in the hotel/restaurant industry.

I predict Disney vacation clubs to be the next to sink.

wait, did someone post the word "ridonkulous" in this thread??

As a former Marriott and Disney employee managing their revenue in the hotel/restaurant sector of their businesses I will have to say Disney has no business being in the restaurant or hotel industry. Disney should simply stick to the entertainment side of their business model. Now that the economy is stinking up or has been Disney just can't compete in the hotel/restaurant industry.

I predict Disney vacation clubs to be the next to sink.

There has been talk for a while, there even was with the Zones, of doing basically what the Redskins did with their stores. Move the management of the business outside the company but allow the new management to keep the Disney name for licensing and branding purposes.

I'm not really involved at all on that side of the business of course, but I have worked with them on occasion and it's definitely a daunting business they seem to work in.

As a former Marriott and Disney employee managing their revenue in the hotel/restaurant sector of their businesses I will have to say Disney has no business being in the restaurant or hotel industry. Disney should simply stick to the entertainment side of their business model. Now that the economy is stinking up or has been Disney just can't compete in the hotel/restaurant industry.

I predict Disney vacation clubs to be the next to sink.

I admittedly have no idea how Disney operates as a company but they run the biggest resort in the world don't they? And make tons on it? Is that sector of their business just totally separate??? because they seem to have that stuff set up pretty well. I guess it is a different thing all together.