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☆ CNBC Daily Open: Prices are low and markets are high
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The U.S. consumer price index report showed that inflation fell to its lowest annual rate in more than two years during June. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Excluding food and energy prices, core CPI was 0.2% higher month on month and 4.8% higher on an annual basis. Highest close this yearU.S. stocks advanced Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite closing at their highest level since April 2022, after the cooler-than-expected inflation report.

Persons: Joe Raedle, Dow Jones, xAI Elon Musk, xAI, Bob Iger, Bob Chapek, Barbie let's, Greta Gerwig, Roth Organizations: CNBC, Nasdaq, SpaceX, Twitter, Google, Magic, Disney Locations: Miami , Florida, The U.S

Wait times for rides and attractions at both resorts have shortened, according to analysts who track theme park attendance. Disney CEO Bob Iger attributed Disney World’s recent decline in wait times to an overall slump in Central Florida tourism. Iger told CNBC he did not have “long-term concerns” about Disney’s theme parks. For Universal’s Florida parks, every month since March has seen lower average wait times, according to the site. Pareti said she spends between four and six days per week at Disney’s parks and visits Universal parks, as well.

Persons: Los Angeles CNN —, Walt, Universal Orlando parkgoers, Bob Iger, ”, Iger, Shorter, July’s, Don Munsil, he’s, Munsil, “, Kayla Pareti, Mickey Travels, Mickey, You’re, Pareti, she’s, “ Don’t, it’s, Comcast’s, Disney’s, That’s, Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, Pete Werner, Christine McCarthy, ” Werner, It’s, Disney Organizations: Los Angeles CNN, Central, Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, Disney, CNBC, CNN, Universal, Disney’s, Universal Studios, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney Company, Comcast, UBS, DIS Universal, Republican, NAACP, Human Rights, League of United Latin American, Walt Disney, Disney Cruise Locations: Florida, Central Florida, “ Florida, Disney’s Florida, Universal Studios Florida, Bay Lake , Florida, Orange County, Orlando

☆ Disney World has a bigger problem than Ron DeSantis: people aren't going
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Cork Gaines | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Disney's ongoing feud with Ron DeSantis is certainly a factor. Ron DeSantis, it's pretty clear that the park's problems run deeper than a political beef. While crowd sizes are down in the US parks, revenue is up at international Disney parks such as Disneyland Hong Kong. Despite the DeSantis dust-up, the park's biggest issue has nothing to do with politics — Disney World is damn expensive. Ron DeSantis Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesIt's also clear that a cut back on vacationing is not the issue.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Disney execs, Li Zhihua, execs, DeSantis, —, Ron DeSantis Paul Hennessy, Courtney Garcia, Garcia, Samantha Delouya, Bob Iger Organizations: Disney, Service, Walt Disney, Florida Gov, Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Studios, Shanghai Disney Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland, China News Service, — Disney, Getty, TSA, Payne Capital Management Locations: Wall, Silicon, Magic, Shanghai, Paris, Hong, Hong Kong, Florida

☆ Florida Vacation Home Has a Secret Slide, an Indoor Drive-Thru: Photos
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Gabbi Shaw | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

An Orlando, Florida, rental home is called the Oasis by its owners and it's easy to see why. In addition to seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms, it has an arcade and a secret slide. There's also an infinity pool with an outdoor movie theater and views of a nature preserve. Instead, they can entertain themselves with an arctic-themed arcade accessible by a hidden slide, a drive-in movie theater with a vintage Chevy truck, an indoor basketball court, an infinity pool, and a camping room complete with a tent, campfire, and bunk beds. The seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom home, which is around 30 minutes from Magic Kingdom and sleeps 17 guests, is called the Oasis by its owners.

Persons: — Organizations: Service, Disney, Chevy, Magic Locations: Orlando , Florida, Orlando, Magic Kingdom

☆ Vintage Glastonbury photos show how much the festival has changed
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Martha Alexander | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

(CNN) — The countdown to this weekend’s Glastonbury Festival is on; the stages are built, headliners are on their way and some 200,000 people are expected to attend. -Twenty six-year-old British photographer Paul Misso was there on a dual mission: to drive an RV for his friend, the Oscar-winning actress Julie Christie, and to take pictures of the event. “They just languished in a drawer for decades.”A couple sit in a wildflower meadow at Glastonbury Fair in June 1971. The resulting tome, “In The Vale of Avalon: Glastonbury Festival 1971,” may be more than 50 years after the event, but it serves as both a work of art and a historical document. It’s phenomenal.”“In The Vale of Avalon: Glastonbury Festival 1971” is published by IDEA books and available in a limited run of 1,000 copies at Dover Street Market, London.

Persons: David Bowie, Paul Misso, Oscar, Julie Christie, Nicolas Roeg, Christie, “, ‘, ”, Paul Misso Misso, —, Misso, Peter Neal, Roeg, Jean Shrimpton, David Owen, Twiggy, Paul Misso “, Bill Harkin, ” Misso Organizations: CNN, Glastonbury Fair, Fairport Convention, London School of Printing, wholesomeness, Glastonbury, ”, IDEA, “, Nikon Locations: Glastonbury, London, ”, Avalon, British, Dover, Market

☆ Disney's parks division is driving big profits, a bright spot as the streaming biz struggles and ESPN's future is unclear. Here's how that could factor into Bob Iger's CEO succession plans.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Reed Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Disney CEO Bob Iger has reorganized the company into 3 core units: entertainment, ESPN, and parks. Parks' growing prominence comes as the company faces looming decisions over Iger's CEO. Travel bans "dramatically impacted" results for Disney Parks during the intense early years of the coronavirus pandemic, Heger noted, adding that parks are now generating more revenue and operating profit than they did in pre-COVID times. The parks' success is "helping to offset" losses from Disney's "DTC," or direct-to-consumer streaming business, Heger added. Josh D'Amaro, the current chairman for Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products, would be a likely figure appearing on any shortlist of CEO contenders.

Persons: Bob Iger, Parks, It's, Dave Heger, Edward Jones, Heger, AECOM, Iger, Josh D'Amaro, Christine McCarthy —, Iger's, Bob Chapek, Ron DeSantis, Chapek, Hollywood creatives, Tom Staggs, Iger —, —, Chapek's, it's, you've, Jeffery Merola, he'd, DeSantis, Reed Alexander Organizations: Disney, ESPN, Disney Parks, Walt Disney, Disneyland, Products, Florida Gov, Hollywood, Los Angeles Times, Sunshine State Locations: Tokyo, Shanghai, Orlando , Florida, Anaheim , California, execs, Chapek, Syracuse , New York, Orlando

☆ Target and Disney trip up on the Pride divide
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Jennifer Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] A shopping cart is seen in a Target store in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., November 14, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File PhotoNEW YORK, May 31 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Target (TGT.N) and Walt Disney (DIS.N) are fighting different battles over a similar social issue. Of the two, retailer Target has the harder balancing act. The $62 billion retailer run by Brian Cornell last week decided to pull some items from its 2023 collection celebrating Pride Month. Some of Disney’s employees were upset by the regulation and Iger took a stand on their behalf.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Walt Disney, Brian Cornell, ”, Bob Iger, Ron DeSantis, Iger, Marjorie Taylor Greene, John Foley, Sharon Lam Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Target, Pride, Disney, Sunshine, Cornell, Walt Disney, Fox News, Thomson Locations: Brooklyn, New York, U.S, Florida, Orlando, UK

☆ It’s Netflix’s world, rivals just stream in it
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Jennifer Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

Cheaper streaming options with unique programming were luring viewers, leaving Netflix in a tough spot as it raised prices. Paramount+, started in 2021, is joining forces with sister Showtime to widen its offerings. Disney, Paramount and WBD also operate cable and broadcast networks, and don’t specify what portion of the expense is allocated to streaming. Its subscribers, worth $136 a year in revenue apiece, are also more valuable than those of its rivals. Warner Bros Discovery on May 23 rebranded its streaming service as Max, which will include HBO programming along with Discovery’s reality TV shows.

[1/2] People gather ahead of the "Festival of Fantasy" parade at the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom theme park in Orlando, Florida, U.S. July 30, 2022. Lawyers for DeSantis, who is being sued for allegedly targeting Disney for company leadership's political views, filed a motion on Friday in Tallahassee, Florida, asking U.S. District Judge Mark Walker be recused in the case. Disney sued DeSantis in April for allegedly "weaponizing" state government in retaliation for the company's criticism of a law that banned classroom discussion of sexuality and gender identity with younger children. DeSantis' lawyers argued on Friday that the judge overseeing that case demonstrated potential partiality while handling separate cases in which the judge mentioned Disney as an example of state retaliation. Considering Walker's statements, "the court's impartiality in this matter might reasonably be questioned," DeSantis' lawyers said in the their motion.

The company plans to expand its streaming offerings by the end of the year with a new app that combines Disney+ and Hulu, Chief Executive Bob Iger said. Total subscribers to the flagship Disney+ service dropped by 4 million from the previous quarter to 157.8 million. Most of the defections came from the Disney+ Hotstar offering in India after it lost streaming rights to Indian Premier League cricket matches. "Striking a fine balance between customer acquisition versus financial performance is no easy feat." As Disney tries to build streaming, its traditional television business faces hurdles.

☆ Disney CEO Bob Iger praises rival Universal's 'Super Mario Bros. Movie'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Chris Pratt and Charlie Day voice Mario and Luigi in Universal and Illumination's "The Super Mario Bros. Disney CEO Bob Iger used part of his opening remarks during an earnings call Wednesday to praise rival Universal Studios' "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" and its success at the global box office. "Allow me to digress for a moment to congratulate Universal for the tremendous success of 'Super Mario Bros.'" Iger said. Others said Disney has done a poor job marketing its animated films to the public. The widespread success of "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" could pave the way for Disney's upcoming releases, which include Pixar's "Elemental" and the Thanksgiving release "Wish."

☆ Disney World Ditches Reservations for Some Tickets
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Joseph Pisani | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Disney had said the reservation system keeps lines shorter. Photo: Zack Wittman for The Wall Street JournalWalt Disney Co. is doing away with some of its Covid-19 pandemic ticketing policies at its Orlando theme parks. Starting Jan. 9, 2024, visitors who buy a dated ticket to Walt Disney World won’t also have to make a reservation to one of its four theme parks, Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. The company has been requiring ticket holders to make reservations since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic as a way to control crowds.

☆ Disney nixes reservation requirements at Florida parks, adds back dining plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

To start, Disney World will remove theme park reservation requirements for its date-based tickets beginning Jan. 9, 2024. The change is in addition to the recently adopted rule that passholders can visit any of Disney's Orlando-based theme parks after 2 p.m. without a reservation. The company's theme park division is one of the most lucrative segments of its overall business, and its success is driven by strong customer experiences. The company aims to adapt to customer feedback — including concerns from some guests that the park reservation system was confusing or inconvenient. Disney also announced that it is extending its early theme park entry for hotel guests through 2024.

☆ Florida board picked by DeSantis countersues Disney
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Dawn Chmielewski | Tom Hals | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

(Reuters) - A district board appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to oversee development around Walt Disney Co’s Florida theme parks sued the company on Monday to void “backroom deals” favorable to the entertainment giant. The state court lawsuit escalates tensions between Disney and the Republican governor and likely presidential candidate. It comes in response to a case Disney filed last week in federal district court against DeSantis and members of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight district board. DeSantis who is expected to soon declare his candidacy for U.S. president, has repeatedly attacked “woke Disney” in public remarks. The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board maintained that Disney rushed through the agreement before the new board assumed oversight of municipal services and development within the 25,000 acres of land in and around Walt Disney World.

☆ DeSantis’s Miscalculation: ‘Disney Is Playing the Long Game’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Arian Campo-Flores | Robbie Whelan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested it would be a short fight when he first threatened to strip Walt Disney Co. of the power to govern its magic kingdom of theme parks, waterslides and hotels around Orlando. A year later, Mr. DeSantis is enmeshed in a drawn-out conflict with the entertainment giant that has shifted from the political realm into the courts, with no end in sight.

☆ 5 reasons fighting Disney is a political winner for DeSantis — and 6 reasons it could hurt his shot at the presidency
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

It does a ton of business in China, which many GOP voters view as a threat to the US. DeSantis already ran on being anti-Disney — and wonTaryn Fenske, DeSantis' communications director, has described the Disney fight as being "the will of Florida voters." And they might not vote for DeSantis if they think the Disney fight is a killer in a general election. Families often work hard and save for years to take their children to Disney World. If DeSantis can't bring a resolution to the Disney fight, can he handle the job of president?

☆ Disney has a ‘strong case’ against DeSantis over his ‘retaliatory campaign,’ First Amendment experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Disney just cast Ron DeSantis as the villain in a story of good versus evil. DeSantis responded to the lawsuit by issuing a statement through his communications director, Taryn Fenske. “It’s a serious First Amendment case,” Floyd Abrams, the renowned First Amendment attorney of Pentagon Papers fame, told me. The truth is that characterizing Disney as a creepy company that aims to morally bankrupt kids has become a mainstream position in GOP media circles. DeSantis knows this — which is why he was happy to pick this battle with the company.

Florida lawmakers passed legislation that ended Disney's virtual autonomy in central Florida where the Disney World theme parks attract millions of visitors each year. "Disney now is forced to defend itself against a State weaponizing its power to inflict political punishment," the company said. DeSantis has argued that Disney, which employs roughly 75,000 people in Florida, had been enjoying unfair advantages for decades. Carlos Curbelo, a former U.S. Republican congressman from Miami, said DeSantis' attacks on Disney "made sense for a time." Florida's new oversight body on Wednesday said Disney's plans for potential expansion of Disney World did not comply with state law, and declared that agreement void.

☆ Despite tough talk, Ron DeSantis can’t shake Disney’s grip on Florida
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Although Disney has thwarted the state’s most aggressive efforts against it, Ron DeSantis has repeatedly promised he will win out in the end. In the governor’s effort to wrest control of Disney’s Orlando-area theme parks, he found that Disney’s corporate lawyers have routinely outmaneuvered him. “The question is, how much are you willing to hurt everybody else?”Legally, he says, DeSantis can’t single out Disney explicitly because retaliation against a single company is unconstitutional. To be sure, Disney’s parks division is a huge part of its business. In other words: Florida needs Disney more than Disney needs Florida.

☆ Nikki Haley invited Disney World to move to South Carolina and took a shot at DeSantis, but the theme park is stuck in Florida
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Disney World sued DeSantis to keep control of its self-governing status in Florida. Nikki Haley said the theme park should move to South Carolina instead. The dig didn't escape Never Back Down, the super PAC that's supporting a DeSantis presidential run. Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort in April 2022. AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC ImagesDisney can't moveDespite Haley's overtures, Disney World is stuck in Florida, Richard Foglesong, the author of the book "Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando," told Insider.

Disney sued DeSantis on Wednesday to block a state law that created an oversight board that Disney said will interfere with billions of dollars of planned development. Disney alleges a law that imposed an oversight board was punishment for voicing opposition to DeSantis' classroom instruction law known as the Parental Rights in Education Act. The gender-education statute, derided by critics as the "Don't Say Gay" law, survived challenges in federal court before a different judge. Free speech has been central to several rulings by Walker against DeSantis, although the judge has also at times sided with the governor. Walker said Florida had become a place where the First Amendment allowed, rather than prevented, the state to limit speech.

☆ Touching the sky: A rare solar eclipse and a new hotel in the clouds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Lilit Marcus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Courtesy Amelia Earhart Hangar MuseumAmelia Earhart wasn’t just the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic. Camelot Theme Park (England): Set in the leafy Lancashire countryside, the Magic Kingdom of Camelot resurrected tales of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Scott Audette/AP Pripyat Amusement Park (Ukraine): This theme park was orphaned in 1986 following the Chernobyl meltdown just five kilometers (three miles) away. Considered the first theme park in Southeast Asia, it featured an artificial lake, huge swimming pool with giant water slides and a Prehistoric Animal Kingdom. Anne Jones/Alamy Stock Photo 10 fascinating theme parks that have closed forever Prev NextThat’s the question posed by these no-longer-in-operation theme parks around the world.

☆ DeSantis may have overreached when he went to war with Disney, and Trump smells blood in the water
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Florida Gov. "DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney," Trump wrote earlier this week. "DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney," Trump crowed on his social media platform Truth earlier this week. The Florida governor wanted to burnish his national image by torching Disney. And by gobbling up intellectual property and broadcasting rights, Disney continues to be virtually inescapable.

☆ Disney announces groundbreaking for affordable housing in Florida
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 19 (Reuters) - Walt Disney World said on Wednesday it would break ground next year on a planned affordable housing development in Central Florida. The unit of Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) said it plans to provide 1,400 housing units on 80 acres (32.4 hectares) of land "a few miles away" from the Magic Kingdom and near schools and shopping. Tensions between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Disney began last year, when the company publicly opposed the state's legislation barring instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom. Disney responded by pushing through a developer's agreement and restrictive covenants that would limit the new board's actions for decades. The Governor responded by calling on the state lawmakers to pass a bill that would nullify the company's efforts.

☆ 10 fascinating theme parks that have closed forever
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Joe Yogerst | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

In April, we’re taking a thrilling ride into the world of theme parks. “We think of amusement parks as vibrant, colorful, noisy, cheerful places,” says Jim Futrell of the National Amusement Park Historical Association. Pripyat Amusement Park (Ukraine)The Pripyat Amusement Park was built right before the Chernobyl disaster. Yongma Land (South Korea)Once in a blue moon, abandoned theme parks find new life by adopting totally new functions. Faced with increased competition from Orlando’s modern theme parks, Cypress Gardens closed in 2009 and was eventually absorbed into LEGOLAND Florida.

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