A Spirited Valentine ...

[jakeman]

I don't think this tangent is on either approved list of topics.

This is Walt Disney World News and Rumors. We should probably go back to talking about Shanghai...

 

[ford91exploder]

I am just relieved both are gone from the company. Too bad the third stooge is still running things.

But that stooge is not funny unlike Larry Moe and Curly

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Not being an insider my read it was Rasulo as he was purely a numbers guy, Staggs was rumored to actually like and visit the parks but with Iger planning to stay till the heat death of the universe he wiped away his tears with his vested stock options and bailed post haste...

No question he had a part of it - But I think he was thinking more of optimizing park operations but not in the manner it's being done now.

Story Time: Circa late 00's, Nick Franklin, the executive behind Disney Regional Entertainment (DisneyQuest, Club Disney and ESPN Zone), needed a new project to keep his job at the company after the Oriental Land Company had passed on building a regional Disney complex on Okinawa. Franklin pitched the NextGen project to his boss, Jay Rasulo, who approved the project. When Iger had Rasulo and Staggs switch jobs, Franklin then reported to Staggs. It was under Stagg's leadership NextGen, now known as MDE, was eventually integrated into the Walt Disney World resort well over budget and without many of the functions that had been promised to Iger/the BoD so many years ago. Franklin is no longer with the company.

 

[ford91exploder]

Story Time: Circa late 00's, Nick Franklin, the executive behind Disney Regional Entertainment (DisneyQuest, Club Disney and ESPN Zone), needed a new project to keep his job at the company after the Oriental Land Company had passed on building a regional Disney complex on Okinawa. Franklin pitched the NextGen project to his boss, Jay Rasulo, who approved the project. When Iger had Rasulo and Staggs switch jobs, Franklin then reported to Staggs. Is was under Stagg's leadership NextGen, now known as MDE, was eventually integrated into the Walt Disney World resort well over budget and without many of the functions that had been promised to Iger/the BoD so many years ago. Franklin is no longer with the company.

Thanks!

 

[aladdin2007]

Talked to some friends in the business today (groundlings, no one near the level of a George K). Word from on high is that Disney Springs is absolutely slaughtering business at many of the locations above--Citricos and Jiko were mentioned specifically. Apparently guests would rather get better food from a celeb chef at those ridiculous prices, or get get better prices for comparable food from a celeb chef. It would seem Disney Springs is the new DAK, largely cannibalizing existing guests rather than bringing in new ones.

Interesting, because pretty soon disney springs may be the only place we can go for dining, if they implement resort parking fees. (and yes Spirit Im sending letters out about this to the top, not that it will do any good but hey) Don't know about the rest of you but I am not going to pay a fee to park at the resorts to dine at some of our favorites or what use to be our favorites, so they will essentially be shutting us right out. Its getting too restrictive, cant go here cant go there etc.... I guess they aren't concerned about losing revenue because we spend quite a bit at several resorts frequently. The hope is, since passholders get dining discounts at these locations and what not, something will be in place but the rumors don't sound like it so far.

 

[COProgressFan]

Talked to some friends in the business today (groundlings, no one near the level of a George K). Word from on high is that Disney Springs is absolutely slaughtering business at many of the locations above--Citricos and Jiko were mentioned specifically. Apparently guests would rather get better food from a celeb chef at those ridiculous prices, or get get better prices for comparable food from a celeb chef. It would seem Disney Springs is the new DAK, largely cannibalizing existing guests rather than bringing in new ones.

Interesting, because pretty soon disney springs may be the only place we can go for dining, if they implement resort parking fees. (and yes Spirit Im sending letters out about this to the top, not that it will do any good but hey) Don't know about the rest of you but I am not going to pay a fee to park at the resorts to dine at some of our favorites or what use to be our favorites, so they will essentially be shutting us right out. Its getting too restrictive, cant go here cant go there etc.... I guess they aren't concerned about losing revenue because we spend quite a bit at several resorts frequently. The hope is, since passholders get dining discounts at these locations and what not, something will be in place but the rumors don't sound like it so far.

I didn't even consider the parking angle, but you are right that if they are having trouble filling the nicer resort restaurants, parking fees certainly aren't going to help. I hope they're smart enough to understand that the parking and resort fee proposal is a terrible idea, though I'm not confident they have the foresight to realize this.

I'm not entirely surprised by the fact that Springs is cannibalizing restaurant business from elsewhere on property. There's a newness to everything, and guests want to get a taste (literally) of all the new offerings. I know I still want to try lots of the new places. If I'm going to pay $40+ a head for dinner anyway, I might as well try it out at one of the newer places I've never been to -- after all, not being run by Disney, they haven't been victimized (yet?) by smaller menus, smaller portions, lesser quality meats, removal of bread service, etc., which are all classic Disney cost cutting moves that have been implemented over the years.

Essentially, in developing Springs, Disney created significant restaurant competition with itself. In theory, that's a good thing because it should encourage Disney to either up their game at their owned restaurants with some combination of pricing/discounts or quality improvements. But in reality (sadly), Disney is likely to just jack prices and cut quality, as that is generally their M.O.

 

[ford91exploder]

I didn't even consider the parking angle, but you are right that if they are having trouble filling the nicer resort restaurants, parking fees certainly aren't going to help. I hope they're smart enough to understand that the parking and resort fee proposal is a terrible idea, though I'm not confident they have the foresight to realize this.

I'm not entirely surprised by the fact that Springs is cannibalizing restaurant business from elsewhere on property. There's a newness to everything, and guests want to get a taste (literally) of all the new offerings. I know I still want to try lots of the new places. If I'm going to pay $40+ a head for dinner anyway, I might as well try it out at one of the newer places I've never been to -- after all, not being run by Disney, they haven't been victimized (yet?) by smaller menus, smaller portions, lesser quality meats, removal of bread service, etc., which are all classic Disney cost cutting moves that have been implemented over the years.

Essentially, in developing Springs, Disney created significant restaurant competition with itself. In theory, that's a good thing because it should encourage Disney to either up their game at their owned restaurants with some combination of pricing/discounts or quality improvements. But in reality (sadly), Disney is likely to just jack prices and cut quality, as that is generally their M.O.

Remember a time when the word Disney STOOD for unquestioned quality and service. Unlike today where it stands for financial engineering and quality cuts.

 

[WildcatDen]

I frankly can't wait to get out of this hellhole.

As someone involved in the security of our great nation, I have but one simple reply to your comment. . . Buh Bye

 

[ford91exploder]

To help narrow the scope of the discussion, here is a list of things Spirit has mentioned in this thread. Please limit the scope of this thread to....

Valentines Day

Cupid emoji

visiting all of Disney’s international parks

ticket prices going up

“The Weatherman”''s and “Chappie”'s cluelessness as to price increases

the value of an AP

what “lifestylers” and bloggers are doing about AP prices

are MK and DAK worth their one day price ticket?

are DHS and Epcot worth even half their one day price ticket?

Disney financials, the darling of Wall Street

Is Iger overstaying his welcome like Eisner did?

Disney’s ESPN problem

Movie studios are doing well… but c’mon, they’ll fail eventually, right? cf. the next pirate movie

the pirates’ Superbowl commercial sucked and heads should roll for it

Cars franchise is growing tired (and Planes, right?)

That thing where Iger is a thin skinned petulant brat and refuses to answer a question from Richie Greenfield

CM food discounts doesn’t mean Disney is nice to their CMs, it means their restaurants are failing

Disney has little use for guests and even less use for CMs

Disney premier restaurants survive mostly on bloggers and government aid

Spirit would still like a CM to take him to lunch at any of those fancy places, tho

Parking and resort fees: though rumored to be coming for years, in Spirit’s opinion, will happen ‘soon’

People should be calling TDO and everyone from Georgie K on down to stop them from doing this unannounced thing of adding parking and resort fees

Spirit is a DVCer

Disneyland Paris takeover: Disney had an evil plot to let the park rot so they can easily buy them out and make “debt disappear”

Though, it is good that DLP is going to get some love now

DLP’s 25th anniversary was more sparkle than substance

DLP need to market to countries other than UK, Spain, and France

DLP’s Buzz Lightyear harmed the consistency of story in the parc

DLP’s neglect saved it from recent bad decisions in other parks

DLP faces competition from Germany’s parks with more bang for the buck, though lesser themed

Spirit went on a Disney Cruise and visited WDW twice recently

Did all the bloggers think Rivers of Light was the greatest thing ever? Or other thoughts?

RoL was 10 years of missteps and a final truncated version

The Walt Disney Company’s Board of Directors...

Iger: he was considering politics; was criticized by Bernie Sanders; vacillated on meeting the president; removed two possible successors; soon to join the Billionaire "Bois" club; planted a story in the Wall Street Journal about staying on longer; but other board members are vocal about no extensions; it's like replacing the Pope.

Burke: intrigue with feelers about him going to be Disney's new chief; Universal “fanbois” like him, but Disney wouldn’t want him; he has an ego; not likely to be asked to replace Iger

Mark Woodbury: No. 2 at Universal parks now; widely unliked, like Bruce Vaughn was, co-workers think of him as Satan; likes screens too much

WDI overspends, but puts out a better product than Universal, other than Potter

Universal Beijing is just a cut-and-paste job, like Tokyo Disney Land in 1983.

Steve Bannon is Satan

Grammies weren’t that entertaining. Karaoke car and Sweet Caroline didn’t go well

contemporary music is held by Spirit in the same regard as the typical blogger/podcaster/Lifestyler

Some people in the Trump cabinet want us to go to war with China, but let’s not get into politics

A war with China will kill us all, and consequently, be bad for business with Disney and Universal

Universal Beijing: a model of the new Beijing park will be put up in Universal Orlando; project is 18-24 months behind; they’ll catch up, but then delay opening for 6 – 12 months, just like Shanghai Disney; Jurassic World looks good, the rest not so much; mostly a Western type park; ignoring Beijing weather at their peril; Beijing has a smog problem; no common sense; it will be like DCA 1.0, but with a better lineup

DLP will turn around unless there is more terrorism there or Trump starts a world war

Disney in China: plans for the new castle are still planning; top WDI talent that worked on Shanghai are going to Hong Kong

Iron Man Ride: hasn’t been a big draw… blame 80’s tech

Shanghai DL: doing relatively will and meet goal of 10 million guests in first year; but guests are spending less on extras; a third hotel likely; Disney Town struggling; The Lion King production no popular enough; most restaurants and shops are ghost towns

Disney disappointed that Rogue One didn’t do better in China

Spirit interested in “Art of…” coffee table books

DAK is the best WDW theme park, and Pandora will be good for it, tho something else could have been better

Move It Shake It is cheap and stale

Obama’s administration believed in a good relationship with China and was the best interest of everyone. Trump’s administration paints China as the enemy and some in the administration who want to engage them militarily, which is an attitude that will hurt Disney and Universal in China; this is why Spirit is sure that Iger wanted in on Trump’s advisory group to head off such a thing

DVC is coming to Caribbean’s property as a separate resort (Tom Amity said so, but Spirit said so 2 years earlier)

More DVC for the Contemporary and Coronado and Epcot-adjacent (later in the thread: DVC at Coronado: most likely no)

DVC is only going to continue to grow

Regular resort rooms are way overpriced

Epcot plans still in too much flux to comment on

Still doubtful that DHS’s SWL will open in 2019, but, hoping to be wrong about that

Not sure about Mickey ride in DHS actually going to happen

Disneyland: Bob Chapek is destroying it. SWL there and GotG ToT are awful mistakes. Though, the evening parade and shows are a bit of a balm.

Bob is shoving an IP into DL that doesn’t belong there; hey guys, can you not discuss the merits of that IP?

Huge Capital Expenditures right now aren’t enough of a balm to soothe anger over years of neglect or the wastefulness of the spending

Hey, parking garage fire!

Spring Hill Suites is an OK cheap place to stay near WDW

Again, Pandora will be great (though overbudget and late); hey guys, let’s not talk about Avatar’s box office

Bob Chapeks claim that GotG is not coming to DHS’s ToT was precipitated by Spirit, but, it could still be a lie, since he has lied before

The rumor a bunch of WDIers were fired or soon to be fired (especially Joe Rohde) is wrong. False rumor from Tom Amity.

Weatherization of Tokyo versus Shanghai

More discounts being offered, and then nickel and dime the ones you hook

hey guys, let’s not talk about Johnny Depp’s career

merits of Hong Kong’s castle and its embellishment

Euro Disney was overbuilt. DL Paris wasn’t.

WDW is cracking down on bloggers who say false things in a way to stop the leaking of true things

Spirit rightly called the Disney announcement that GotG at DCA will open Memorial Day weekend with “Meet and Gropes”

Gondolas: the current rumored ones for now, maybe more later

Luxury resort coming to near Epcot entrance, originally was planned to be DVC

Most likely a Star Wars resort coming

“Chappie” and “The Weatherman” expect WDW attendance to greatly increase

Resort occupancy numbers and what turns a profit

hey, guys, don’t talk about the DL deaths and the maintenance debate, it has nothing to do with what’s happening at WDW today

Let’s talk about Shanghai, or RoL, or Marvel in the US parks​

@MisterPenguin you win the Internet today for this post!

 

[xdan0920]

If I didn't live here, I can't really blame them. I am just happy I have international trips planned for the next few years. I frankly can't wait to get out of this hellhole.

What is stopping you from leaving? If I may ask?

 

[ford91exploder]

What is stopping you from leaving? If I may ask?

Americans not being welcome in other countries for one,

 

[jakeman]

Americans not being welcome in other countries for one,

Bollocks.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Americans not being welcome in other countries for one,

I've been to more countries than you can ever think of going to, and not once have I thought that I wasn't welcome.

 

[DznyRktekt]

I've been to more countries than you can ever think of going to, and not once have I thought that I wasn't welcome.

Agreed

 

[ford91exploder]

I've been to more countries than you can ever think of going to, and not once have I thought that I wasn't welcome.

From somebody who is on 4 hour notice for international travel, American MONEY is always welcome, Americans themselves not so much.

It's always good to have a trusted translator who tells you what people are actually saying about you and I try to avoid anything on my person which identifies me as American.

 

[GoofGoof]

Here's an article showing how it's affecting travel from other countries not just ones on the list. When you hear stories of having to provide social media passwords, people are going to think twice about a visit to the US.

Interesting read. I can see how people's perception of the government could impact their desire to travel to that country even if they didn't have fear or uncertainty about the specific policy. I hope that this is more of a short term trend and reverses once cooler heads prevail (or the courts in this case).

What is likely to be a far larger economic impact will be the steep decline in international business travel if the US decides to go down the isolationist path and cancel trade agreements. I think that could have a longer lasting and more dramatic impact on airlines and hotel chains than a reduction in tourism. Not sure how it will impact WDW but at least some of the guests are likely here for business and add a stop there onto their trip.

On a positive note, it seems like Disneyland Moscow is a little closer to reality

 

[flynnibus]

Ouimet wanted Rasulo fired and was not shy about that. Iger picked Rasulo. Most people don't stay around after trying to get their boss fired.

And why he had a new job and never hit the curb. Lost the power struggle and went right to greener pastures.

The second part of that sad story is that's when we started the 3yr Disneyland president rotation schedule... :/

 

[Princess Leia]

Steering this back onto one of the topics...

To help narrow the scope of the discussion, here is a list of things Spirit has mentioned in this thread. Please limit the scope of this thread to....

Valentines Day

Cupid emoji

visiting all of Disney’s international parks

ticket prices going up

“The Weatherman”''s and “Chappie”'s cluelessness as to price increases

the value of an AP

what “lifestylers” and bloggers are doing about AP prices

are MK and DAK worth their one day price ticket?

are DHS and Epcot worth even half their one day price ticket?

Disney financials, the darling of Wall Street

Is Iger overstaying his welcome like Eisner did?

Disney’s ESPN problem

Movie studios are doing well… but c’mon, they’ll fail eventually, right? cf. the next pirate movie

the pirates’ Superbowl commercial sucked and heads should roll for it

Cars franchise is growing tired (and Planes, right?)

That thing where Iger is a thin skinned petulant brat and refuses to answer a question from Richie Greenfield

CM food discounts doesn’t mean Disney is nice to their CMs, it means their restaurants are failing

Disney has little use for guests and even less use for CMs

Disney premier restaurants survive mostly on bloggers and government aid

Spirit would still like a CM to take him to lunch at any of those fancy places, tho

Parking and resort fees: though rumored to be coming for years, in Spirit’s opinion, will happen ‘soon’

People should be calling TDO and everyone from Georgie K on down to stop them from doing this unannounced thing of adding parking and resort fees

Spirit is a DVCer

Disneyland Paris takeover: Disney had an evil plot to let the park rot so they can easily buy them out and make “debt disappear”

Though, it is good that DLP is going to get some love now

DLP’s 25th anniversary was more sparkle than substance

DLP need to market to countries other than UK, Spain, and France

DLP’s Buzz Lightyear harmed the consistency of story in the parc

DLP’s neglect saved it from recent bad decisions in other parks

DLP faces competition from Germany’s parks with more bang for the buck, though lesser themed

Spirit went on a Disney Cruise and visited WDW twice recently

Did all the bloggers think Rivers of Light was the greatest thing ever? Or other thoughts?

RoL was 10 years of missteps and a final truncated version

The Walt Disney Company’s Board of Directors...

Iger: he was considering politics; was criticized by Bernie Sanders; vacillated on meeting the president; removed two possible successors; soon to join the Billionaire "Bois" club; planted a story in the Wall Street Journal about staying on longer; but other board members are vocal about no extensions; it's like replacing the Pope.

Burke: intrigue with feelers about him going to be Disney's new chief; Universal “fanbois” like him, but Disney wouldn’t want him; he has an ego; not likely to be asked to replace Iger

Mark Woodbury: No. 2 at Universal parks now; widely unliked, like Bruce Vaughn was, co-workers think of him as Satan; likes screens too much

WDI overspends, but puts out a better product than Universal, other than Potter

Universal Beijing is just a cut-and-paste job, like Tokyo Disney Land in 1983.

Steve Bannon is Satan

Grammies weren’t that entertaining. Karaoke car and Sweet Caroline didn’t go well

contemporary music is held by Spirit in the same regard as the typical blogger/podcaster/Lifestyler

Some people in the Trump cabinet want us to go to war with China, but let’s not get into politics

A war with China will kill us all, and consequently, be bad for business with Disney and Universal

Universal Beijing: a model of the new Beijing park will be put up in Universal Orlando; project is 18-24 months behind; they’ll catch up, but then delay opening for 6 – 12 months, just like Shanghai Disney; Jurassic World looks good, the rest not so much; mostly a Western type park; ignoring Beijing weather at their peril; Beijing has a smog problem; no common sense; it will be like DCA 1.0, but with a better lineup

DLP will turn around unless there is more terrorism there or Trump starts a world war

Disney in China: plans for the new castle are still planning; top WDI talent that worked on Shanghai are going to Hong Kong

Iron Man Ride: hasn’t been a big draw… blame 80’s tech

Shanghai DL: doing relatively will and meet goal of 10 million guests in first year; but guests are spending less on extras; a third hotel likely; Disney Town struggling; The Lion King production no popular enough; most restaurants and shops are ghost towns

Disney disappointed that Rogue One didn’t do better in China

Spirit interested in “Art of…” coffee table books

DAK is the best WDW theme park, and Pandora will be good for it, tho something else could have been better

Move It Shake It is cheap and stale

Obama’s administration believed in a good relationship with China and was the best interest of everyone. Trump’s administration paints China as the enemy and some in the administration who want to engage them militarily, which is an attitude that will hurt Disney and Universal in China; this is why Spirit is sure that Iger wanted in on Trump’s advisory group to head off such a thing

DVC is coming to Caribbean’s property as a separate resort (Tom Amity said so, but Spirit said so 2 years earlier)

More DVC for the Contemporary and Coronado and Epcot-adjacent (later in the thread: DVC at Coronado: most likely no)

DVC is only going to continue to grow

Regular resort rooms are way overpriced

Epcot plans still in too much flux to comment on

Still doubtful that DHS’s SWL will open in 2019, but, hoping to be wrong about that

Not sure about Mickey ride in DHS actually going to happen

Disneyland: Bob Chapek is destroying it. SWL there and GotG ToT are awful mistakes. Though, the evening parade and shows are a bit of a balm.

Bob is shoving an IP into DL that doesn’t belong there; hey guys, can you not discuss the merits of that IP?

Huge Capital Expenditures right now aren’t enough of a balm to soothe anger over years of neglect or the wastefulness of the spending

Hey, parking garage fire!

Spring Hill Suites is an OK cheap place to stay near WDW

Again, Pandora will be great (though overbudget and late); hey guys, let’s not talk about Avatar’s box office

Bob Chapeks claim that GotG is not coming to DHS’s ToT was precipitated by Spirit, but, it could still be a lie, since he has lied before

The rumor a bunch of WDIers were fired or soon to be fired (especially Joe Rohde) is wrong. False rumor from Tom Amity.

Weatherization of Tokyo versus Shanghai

More discounts being offered, and then nickel and dime the ones you hook

hey guys, let’s not talk about Johnny Depp’s career

merits of Hong Kong’s castle and its embellishment

Euro Disney was overbuilt. DL Paris wasn’t.

WDW is cracking down on bloggers who say false things in a way to stop the leaking of true things

Spirit rightly called the Disney announcement that GotG at DCA will open Memorial Day weekend with “Meet and Gropes”

Gondolas: the current rumored ones for now, maybe more later

Luxury resort coming to near Epcot entrance, originally was planned to be DVC

Most likely a Star Wars resort coming

“Chappie” and “The Weatherman” expect WDW attendance to greatly increase

Resort occupancy numbers and what turns a profit

hey, guys, don’t talk about the DL deaths and the maintenance debate, it has nothing to do with what’s happening at WDW today

Let’s talk about Shanghai, or RoL, or Marvel in the US parks​

Pick a topic, any topic (that won't get deleted by a mod)

 

[uncle jimmy]

Steering this back onto one of the topics...

Pick a topic, any topic (that won't get deleted by a mod)

My vote is for the new Hong Kong Castle and how plans are still being worked on... They want the biggest one now last I read. Do they have enough space to create such?

 

[GoofGoof]

Things have changed in many places since November. America sent a message to the world, and the world has taken notice.

Luckily there are plenty of welcoming countries out there for foreigners to visit instead, even if America is shutting its doors to visitors - there's even some great Disney parks to visit in China, France and Japan!

Maybe the boost DLP needs to get back on track. Probably the bigger factor is the strength of the dollar vs Euro and Pound. No clue how that will be impacted long term.