It wasn't a rewrite that CEO Bob Iger wanted for his personal screenplay. Indeed, although the market knows that we're in a recession and that growth will slow for almost every company, it still wants to see companies doing slightly better than what the analysts are predicting. That would show superior management.

The one thing Iger has going for the quarter is that it occurred during the holiday season. Obviously, Disney moves a lot of merchandise during that time period, and I would assume that a lot of people are in the mood to visit the parks to catch them in their festive states.

However, the one thing that Iger has going against the quarter is that, well...it occurred during the holiday selling season! Since Christmas was so bad at retail stores and there was so much negative news out there, consumer confidence decided to take a vacation. And I'm not sure it took a vacation to Disney World.

Looking to some of the individual operating segments, I come away being less than confident about their prospects since the recession is in full gear. Disney's ABC network is suffering through a horrible advertising climate, as are media assets controlled by News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), General Electric (NYSE: GE), CBS (NYSE: CBS), and Viacom (NYSE: VIA). Everyone's in the same boat.

I'd have to assume that Disney's video-game business has seen its own challenges during the last few months. You have to wonder how price points on games were since every parent was looking for (and demanding) the best deal possible.

How will the movie studio shape up? Disney hit with Bolt and a big-screen version of High School Musical (although the grosses on those two projects weren't as high as I would have expected them to ultimately be), but we'll have to see what the marketing expenses were and how they affected profitability for the division. The High School Musical movie did benefit, however, from a relatively low budget and a large foreign gross. The film may have cost as low as $11 million to make and it took in over $150 million at theaters outside the U.S. marketplace (the musical grossed about $90 million at domestic multiplexes).

Shareholders are hoping that the Iger difference will give Disney an edge during the slowdown. I'm not so sure about that (can't say I'm Iger's biggest fan), but since the company missed in the fourth quarter, I'd have to believe that he is pulling out all the stops to salvage his reputation. Still, that might not be enough.

I'll guess that Disney will miss slightly this Tuesday. I just can't see the Mouse, no matter how magical its brand may be, delivering a powerful quarter. Powerful quarters are for the future. For the time being, Disney is cautious about the future, as evidenced by the recent decision not to raise the company's annual dividend payment (a misguided decision, in my opinion). That's a signal for investors and traders to be skeptical ahead of the earnings report.

Disclosure: I own Disney and GE; positions can change without notice.