On the menu today: The Wall Street Journal reports that “Disney World Hasn’t Felt This Empty in Years.” No doubt some on the Right will reflexively cite this as another example of “get woke, go broke,” and perhaps the perception that Disney is now a powerful force for the cultural Left is spurring some conservative families to stay away. But it’s as likely that the exorbitant admission prices to the parks — which has risen considerably faster than the rate of inflation over the past four decades — are having a comparable or larger deterrent effect. Disney’s recent Star Wars-themed “Galactic Starcruiser” attraction apparently wildly overestimated how many parents were willing to spend thousands of dollars to have their kids hang around aliens and droids for two nights. Disney’s theme-park business has quietly and subtly become a luxury brand, and there’s likely a connection between Disney’s decision to cater to a smaller, wealthier, more elite customer base and its drift into more ideologically charged entertainment content. The Disney theme parks just aren’t as interested in attracting middle-class America to come through the doors — which creates a de facto permission slip for the Disney creative class to take more antagonistic stances on hot-button cultural issues.
A few weeks ago, this newsletter looked at the drastic changes at National Geographic magazine, particularly staff cuts that were likely spurred in part by the magazine’s parent company, Disney. The Disney corporation has been tightening its belt and canceling some high-profile projects after running up an astronomical amount of debt during the pandemic — $54 billion by the middle of 2020. Disney is trying to cut $5.5 billion in costs, a move that will reportedly include cutting 7,000 employees.
You see the consequences of Disney’s belt-tightening all over the media world — high-profile layoffs at ESPN, executives being laid off at ABC News radio, Disney selling off its last radio station, cancellations of television shows on FreeForm, removing lots of shows from Disney+, and writing down losses on the company’s tax returns.