| **Variable Interest Entities**            | 12 Months Ended                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
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| **Variable Interest Entities [Abstract]** |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| Variable Interest Entities                | Variable Interest EntitiesThe Company is the primary beneficiary of the Employee Housing Entities, which are Variable Interest Entities (“VIEs”), and has consolidated them in its Consolidated Financial Statements. As a group, as of July 31, 2012, the Employee Housing Entities had total assets of $31.3 million (primarily recorded in property, plant and equipment, net) and total liabilities of $62.7 million (primarily recorded in long-term debt as “Employee Housing Bonds”). The Company has issued under its Credit Agreement $53.4 million letters of credit related to Employee Housing Bonds. The letters of credit would be triggered in the event that one of the entities defaults on required payments. The letters of credit have no default provisions.The Company is the primary beneficiary of Avon Partners II, LLC (“APII”), which is a VIE. APII owns commercial space and the Company currently leases substantially all of that space. APII had total assets of $4.5 million (primarily recorded in property, plant and equipment) and no debt as of July 31, 2012.The Company, through various lodging subsidiaries, manages hotels in which the Company has no ownership interest in the entities that own such hotels. The Company previously extended a $2.0 million note receivable to one of these entities at the time the entity acquired the hotel property that the Company managed. This entity was formed by unrelated third parties to acquire, own, operate and realize the value in a resort hotel property. This entity was in default on certain debt held by the entity and the third party owners of the entity were unable to reach an agreement to restructure the debt with their creditor, as a result, the creditor foreclosed on the hotel in June 2011. As such, the Company recorded an asset impairment charge of $2.6 million (including accrued interest on the note receivable) in the Consolidated Statements of Operations during the year ended July 31, 2011. The Company had previously concluded that the note receivable along with the management agreement were significant variable interest in the entity that owned the hotel. |

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| - Definition
Tabular disclosure of the significant judgments and assumptions made in determining whether a variable interest (as defined) held by the entity requires the variable interest entity (VIE) (as defined) to be consolidated and (or) disclose information about its involvement with the VIE, individually or in aggregate (as applicable); the nature of restrictions, if any, on the consolidated VIE's assets and on the settlement of its liabilities reported by an entity in its statement of financial position, including the carrying amounts of such assets and liabilities; the nature of, and changes in, the risks associated with involvement in the VIE; how involvement with the VIE affects the entity's financial position, financial performance, and cash flows; the lack of recourse if creditors (or beneficial interest holders) of the consolidated VIE have no recourse to the general credit of the primary beneficiary (if applicable); the terms of arrangements, giving consideration to both explicit arrangements and implicit variable interests, if any, that could require the entity to provide financial support to the VIE, including events or circumstances that could expose the entity to a loss; the methodology used by the entity for determining whether or not it is the primary beneficiary of the variable interest entity; the significant factors considered and judgments made in determining that the power to direct the activities of a VIE that most significantly impact the VIE's economic performance are shared (as defined); the carrying amounts and classification of assets and liabilities of the VIE included in the statement of financial position; the entity's maximum exposure to loss, if any, as a result of its involvement with the VIE, including how the maximum exposure is determined and significant sources of the entity's exposure to the VIE; a comparison of the carrying amounts of the assets and liabilities and the entity's maximum exposure to loss; information about any liquidity arrangements, guarantees, and (or) other commitments by third parties that may affect the fair value or risk of the entity's variable interest in the VIE; whether or not the entity has provided financial support or other support (explicitly or implicitly) to the VIE that it was not previously contractually required to provide or whether the entity intends to provide that support, including the type and amount of the support and the primary reasons for providing the support; and supplemental information the entity determines necessary to provide.
+ References
Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name FASB Interpretation (FIN) -Number 46R -Paragraph 4 -Subparagraph g -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009.  This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy.Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) -Number 140 -Paragraph 35 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009.  This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy.Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) -Number 167 -Paragraph 22B -Appendix DReference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 810 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 5A -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=7880789&loc=SL6759159-111685Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name FASB Staff Position (FSP) -Number FAS140-4/FIN46(R)-8 -Paragraph C4 -Subparagraph d -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009.  This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy.Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) -Number 167 -Paragraph 22E -Appendix DReference 7: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 810 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 6 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=7880789&loc=d3e5747-111685Reference 8: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) -Number 167 -Paragraph 24 -Appendix DReference 9: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 810 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=7880789&loc=d3e5710-111685Reference 10: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name FASB Interpretation (FIN) -Number 46R -Paragraph 2, 14, 15, 16, 23, 24, 25, 26 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009.  This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy.Reference 11: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) -Number 167 -Paragraph 23A -Appendix DReference 12: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 810 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 9 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=7880789&loc=SL6228884-111685Reference 13: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 810 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 4 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=7880789&loc=d3e5728-111685Reference 14: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Glossary Variable Interest Entity -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6528138
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