News Bob Iger is back! Chapek is out!!

[SuddenStorm]

I know people talk about Eisner’s 2nd half being terrible… what would be some of his biggest mistakes thats people say were awful etc?

1. DCA 1.0
2. Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harriss, and the decline in park quality at Disneyland Park- there were changes made to CM policies, service, maintenance standards that we still feel the effect of today.
3. Ruining Disney's relationship with Pixar, a studio that was outperforming Walt Disney Animation at the time.
4. This one is debatable, but souring Disney's relationship with Katzenberger (although it sounds like there were issues on both sides here, so Eisner can't be entirely to blame)- leading to the creation of Dreamworks, Disney and Pixar's biggest competitor of the last 20 years. And the steep decline in quality at Walt Disney animation that followed Katzenberger's departure.

Iger had to do a lot of legwork to fix the relationship with Pixar and get the parks 'back on track'.

I'm not sure how many of the problems Disney faced from '96ish to '05 can be attributed directly to Eisner, and the decline at the company after Wells passed was noticeable- but the point remains that Disney underwent a lot of negative changes during the last half of Eisner's career. I personally believe the first half of his tenure far makes up for a lackluster second half.

And I'm a far bigger fan of Eisner era park additions and films than I am Iger era stuff.

 

[JoeCamel]

1. DCA 1.0
2. Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harriss, and the decline in park quality at Disneyland Park- there were changes made to CM policies, service, maintenance standards that we still feel the effect of today.
3. Ruining Disney's relationship with Pixar, a studio that was outperforming Walt Disney Animation at the time.
4. This one is debatable, but souring Disney's relationship with Katzenberger (although it sounds like there were issues on both sides here, so Eisner can't be entirely to blame)- leading to the creation of Dreamworks, Disney and Pixar's biggest competitor of the last 20 years. And the steep decline in quality at Walt Disney animation that followed Katzenberger's departure.

Iger had to do a lot of legwork to fix the relationship with Pixar and get the parks 'back on track'.

I'm not sure how many of the problems Disney faced from '96ish to '05 can be attributed directly to Eisner, and the decline at the company after Wells passed was noticeable- but the point remains that Disney underwent a lot of negative changes during the last half of Eisner's career. I personally believe the first half of his tenure far makes up for a lackluster second half.

And I'm a far bigger fan of Eisner era park additions and films than I am Iger era stuff.

Who gave us Meg outgoing Mike or incoming Bob?

 

[SuddenStorm]

Who gave us Meg outgoing Mike or incoming Bob?

Wait- are you talking about the character from Hercules?

 

[JoeCamel]

Wait- are you talking about the character from Hercules?

Meg Crofton queen of the single ply TP?

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Epcot is for amateurs..

Yep. But it is entertainment.

EPCOT during F&W is quite possibly one of the greatest “People Watching” experiences that exists - in the whole of the world.

 

[WondersOfLife]

At $2.9 billion someone, somewhere must have seen it

I didn't say people haven't seen it. I'm saying people don't talk about it.

I've seen it... This website is the only place I have ever engaged in a conversation about the films in any shape or form.

EDIT: Let me re-phrase... I didn't mean that nobody has seen it... I just haven't met anyone that remembers much of it or HAS seen it.

 

[WondersOfLife]

It's like how I've yet to encounter someone who was underwhelmed by Galaxy's Edge outside of this board.

This is actually a very good comparison.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

I think he lost his nerve after Euro Disney, he went from money is not object ideas to keep building but do it as cheaply as possible.

He also lost his nerve when Frank Wells suddenly died and Jeffrey Katzenberg exited (and co-founded DreamWorks) over being denied taking over Wells' position.

 

[SuddenStorm]

It's like how I've yet to encounter someone who was underwhelmed by Galaxy's Edge outside of this board.

I took some extended family to the one out in Anaheim back in 2019. They rode the Falcon, walked the land, said 'wait this is it?' and we didn't return for the remainder of the day. This was with me making an effort not to share my very harsh opinions of the place.

But on the other hand, my 12 year old cousin who visited Disneyland for the first time a few months before his passing in 2021 loved the land and far preferred it to the rest of the park. But when the sequel trilogy comes out while you're in elementary school I imagine you're the exact demographic for the land.

 

[SuddenStorm]

He also lost his nerve when Frank Wells suddenly died and Jeffrey Katzenberg exited (and co-founded DreamWorks) over being denied taking over Wells' position.

He also had some major health problems that impacted his ability to lead.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

The biggest knock on Eisner from my perspective is how the parks stagnated in the mid to late 90’s to the mid 00’s.

Besides that, the thing that also keeps me on the Eisner hate train is what he did to EPCOT Center in the mid-late 90s. While I very much enjoyed some exhibits in Innoventions (especially Alec Tronic, he appealed to my love for robotics and classic Disney attractions), overall it was kind of lesser than Communicore before it and was the first sign of things to come. Then Horizons lost its sponsor that year and became a "seasonal" attraction (more like it was operated intermittently over next 5 years to help offset the other attractions being closed). Then World of Motion closed in 96, Universe of Energy got a really inferior and stupid overhaul with Ellen that same year, then Imagination in 98, and Horizons' final permanent closure in 99. EPCOT used to be a wonderful park, and they absolutely razed it under Eisner...

 

[Elijah Abrams]

He also had some major health problems that impacted his ability to lead.

Yep, I heard about that as well.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

It's like how I've yet to encounter someone who was underwhelmed by Galaxy's Edge outside of this board.

I doubt many were underwhelmed with the execution of the final product - based on Disneys vision of what it should be.

Rather, they were disappointed by the exclusion of critical components of the franchise and sheer lack of connection they had. There’s a big difference there.

But it is a cool “space land - in the desert”.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Eisner also had emergency quadruple bypass surgery a few months after Wells’ death.

Wells was very much Eisner’s mentor, the elder executive to whom Eisner looked to for reassurance. The one who could stand firm that investing in the product was the right strategy. That double whammy definitely shook Eisner’s already lacking confidence.

 

[Br0ckford]

I doubt many were underwhelmed with the execution of the final product - based on Disneys vision of what it should be.

Rather, they were disappointed by the exclusion of critical components of the franchise and sheer lack of connection they had. There’s a big difference there.

But it is a cool “space land - in the desert”.

I agree with this. It's a cool land and definitely feels like a space port. It does not feel like star wars to me. But neither do the sequels.

But I'm also the guy that wants Luke, Leia, Han and Darth so what do I know.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Besides that, the thing that also keeps me on the Eisner hate train is what he did to EPCOT Center in the mid-late 90s. While I very much enjoyed some exhibits in Innoventions (especially Alec Tronic, he appealed to my love for robotics and classic Disney attractions), overall it was kind of lesser than Communicore before it and was the first sign of things to come. Then Horizons lost its sponsor that year and became a "seasonal" attraction (more like it was operated intermittently over next 5 years to help offset the other attractions being closed). Then World of Motion closed in 96, Universe of Energy got a really inferior and stupid overhaul with Ellen that same year, then Imagination in 98, and Horizons' final permanent closure in 99. EPCOT used to be a wonderful park, and they absolutely razed it under Eisner...

As for the rides and themes - it’s all subjective. You liked the robotics. I liked Adventurer’s Club. Eisner shut down the former and Iger the latter.

 

[hopemax]

Possible, he had 20 years though, as I said earlier if this was his plan all along it’s the longest long game ever.

I don't think it was a 20 year plan. But when MyMagic+ didn't alleviate the issues and worked the way he thought it would, IMO, he believed his next solution was to lean more into demand pricing. Not attraction investment. If this was all Chapek's idea, then the idea would have had to have been conceptualized, project management, developed and made it into production between Feb 2020 and Oct 2021. When have you recently seen Disney work that fast? Remember, people said that the reservation system had to be build on the old Fastpass+ system in order to get it ready quickly enough. Chapek turned the dial up much faster than Iger seems to have been comfortable with. But it's still the same equipment. Just because Chapek went straight to 7 while Iger wanted to start at 3, then go to 4, 5, and slow walk it to 7 doesn't mean that we won't end up in the same place at the end.

 

[Rani_needs_coffee]

Wow, interesting turn of events.

How long until they can make the parks an enjoyable, worry free, experience again?

In 10 years time my personal opinion on WDW has shifted from “a vacation where everything is taken care of for me” to “ How do we power through this thing one last time for the kids, is this even worth it?”

That’s not how you grow a customer base.

Totally agree! Well said!

 

[Rani_needs_coffee]

Wow, interesting turn of events.

How long until they can make the parks an enjoyable, worry free, experience again?

In 10 years time my personal opinion on WDW has shifted from “a vacation where everything is taken care of for me” to “ How do we power through this thing one last time for the kids, is this even worth it?”

That’s not how you grow a customer base.

I completely agree. I don’t think we can justify this anymore.

 

[MrPromey]

I don’t know. No marketing *and* bad word of mouth from those that actually made it a point to go see it?

I get what you're saying - I'm just kind of in disbelief.

I know this movie came with an elephant but I didn't expect it to hurt things that much.

.. which isn't to say that's the problem or that there even is one specific problem - I just - even lame animated Disney movies in wide theatrical release normally do better than that.

Don't they?