What happened to insiders?

[Figments Friend]

That was a legendary couple of days.

I remember it well -

The drama!
The intrigue!
The mystery!
And the shaming of your attacker ,TP, from that ‘other site’ who was eventually and utterly exposed as the jerk he was right here in real time.
Epic evening.

Good times.
Makes me want to pour a drink ….



-

 

[TP2000]

That was a legendary couple of days.

I remember it well -

The drama!
The intrigue!
The mystery!
And the shaming of your attacker ,TP, from that ‘other site’ who was eventually and utterly exposed as the jerk he was right here in real time.
Epic evening.

Good times.
Makes me want to pour a drink ….



-

And then the real story behind it all! All wrapped up in bitchy cocktail gossip and a gay divorcee' on a bizarre revenge tour.

I just smile so broadly any time I think about it. There were a few moments where it was kind of weird. I know I've mentioned this, but the current owner of Miceage/chat that I reached out to then, and he got back to me immediately, could not have been more gracious and kind about the whole thing.

And 6 years later here I am... still just typing in my den. Waiting to take down Burbank before I die, or something. I'm still not quite sure what my role was.

 

[Nirya]

Look if Disney wants to pay me to post some nice things about them I am more than happy to accept bribes.

 

[Disney Irish]

Look if Disney wants to pay me to post some nice things about them I am more than happy to accept bribes.

I'm still waiting for my checks, so don't hold your breath....

 

[MK-fan]

I'm still waiting for my checks, so don't hold your breath....

If you’re lucky they’ll pay you in Disney Dollars

 

[mickEblu]

If you’re lucky they’ll pay you in Disney Dollars

I’ll settle for a free cruise.

 

[CaptinEO]

That entire story that was told falls apart the moment you start picking at it. Like most conspiracy theories, especially the glamorous and exciting ones, it requires you to suspend rational thought and basic common sense at several key junctures in the tale.

But so many folks were so willing to want to believe it, they refused to step back for 3 seconds and think it through.



To be fair, as I've been chatting on chat boards for coming up on 30 years this summer, you could probably dig up old comments of mine from Usenet in the '97-'99 era, or Laughingplace in the '04-'08 era, etc. and see my thoughts on Eisner and Iger all evolve.

But then as rational humans talking about stuff we love, we all evolved our thoughts on those two men.

I remember being fairly opinionated in '04-'05 that it was time for Eisner to go. I was very supportive of Roy Disney's public campaign at that time. DCA 1.0 had been a horrific failure and was a huge embarrassment, and even the quick fixes thrown at it in '02-'04 were cheap downgrades (Tower of Terror, Bugs Land, MSEP, XGames, etc.). Paul Pressler was a complete disaster as Parks Chairman circa '98-'02, and Cynthia Harris's policies and operational decisions were literally killing Disneyland guests during that time.

I don't think anyone didn't want Eisner to leave by 2004.

As someone who grew up with 90s/2000s Disney I think people who complain now forget how embarrassingly bad the new offerings were. Disneyland was not building out E tickets each year like now.

I remember the mid 2000s when the new ride openings were Winnie the Pooh, Monsters Inc, and Buzz Lightyear Astro blasters, culminating in a bad Nemo submarine redo.

I still think from a customer service perspective the parks were ran much better in those years but definitely not when it came to rides/maintenance as we all know.

Even though I don't like the movie property direction post Iger, by the end of his run Michael Eisner was literally throwing carnival rides into the former Disneyland parking lot and calling it a themepark.

My thoughts on Iger evolved similarly through the 2010's. By the time he chose Chapek to lead the Parks in 2015, I was quickly souring on being an Iger fan. That wasn't anything unique to me, I think the majority of us Parks fans felt the same way and our opinions and thoughts changed a lot in the late 2010's.

And to your point, a lot of my opinion was definitely shaped by the bitchy Al Lutz commentary of that era. Classic laughs!

The 60th was such a glorious time for Disneyland with the new parade, redone Alice, Matterhorn, and Peterpan rides.

I think the Mission Breakout announcement was when my opinion on WDI and Iger started to shift. By the time they did the Pixar Pier announcement any cohesion done by the 2010 redo of California Adventure was well on the way out.

Then in the movie realm he went all in on CGI remakes and milking Star Wars, Pixar, and Marvel to the point they are practically worthless shells of what they used to be.

Seems Iger's legacy was to ruin all the major acquisitions he was applauded for getting in the first place.

Iger very much was seen as a business genius basically until his return as CEO. I know everyone on this site and Micechat were all impressed with him when he took over from Eisner.

While he never reached the same lows as Eisner's DCA he has made some really confusing and terrible choices.

 

[drizgirl]

As someone who grew up with 90s/2000s Disney I think people who complain now forget how embarrassingly bad the new offerings were. Disneyland was not building out E tickets each year like now.

Disney is likely only building E tickets now because they can monetize them (beyond that piddly little admission cost) through LLs.

I would go so far as to say maybe what the parks need isn't necessarily more E tickets, but instead some nice solid lower level ticket people eaters.

 

[SteveAZee]

Did disney get better at cracking down on insiders? Or is there just no central figure like Al Lutz back in the day for people to pass along their Inside scoops to?

Even if some of it was fabricated or at the very least one sided it was so fun to read about the TDA office drama back in the day.

Re-education camp in the basement of Spaceship Earth.

 

[MK-fan]

Having three new family friendly dark ride offerings within 3 years was kinda brutal and the only one I found decent was Monsters. At least we got Tower of Terror within that timeframe.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It’s the horses mouth that’s the problem…the “leakers” are unimportant and no where near the decision process…but somehow believe they have their ear to the boardroom door.

Usually low level WDI with zero street smarts

 

[Disney Vault]

It’s the horses mouth that’s the problem…the “leakers” are unimportant and no where near the decision process…but somehow believe they have their ear to the boardroom door.

Usually low level WDI with zero street smarts

Makes me wonder how many times a low level wdi has leaked a plan they hated with the hope public reaction would stop it. For example that terrible lightyear space mountain remodel.

 

[TP2000]

Makes me wonder how many times a low level wdi has leaked a plan they hated with the hope public reaction would stop it. For example that terrible lightyear space mountain remodel.

To be fair to the creatives in Glendale, I believe that's how the creative process almost always works.

They backfill their time on that Glendale campus coming up with new ideas based on upcoming movies and cultural trends, or a new ride system someone was working on, etc. and have it ready to go if a fad hits big or a specific property needs something new fast. So WDI gets littered with a lot of creative ideas and sketches and foam models, and often they look silly in retrospect or with our clear 20/20 hindsight.

This isn't exclusive to WDI, it's a creative thing. The design studios of Detroit and Tokyo and Munich are full of sketches and full size models of cars that never saw the light of day. Design studies for new cars that look horrendous just a few years later, weird styling ideas, or attempts to guess at future technology that never arrived or never became affordable, etc.

Same thing for the fashion industry, furniture design, architecture, aviation, appliances, industrial design, etc., etc.

 

[shambolicdefending]

All I know is it's been far too long since we got a good PeopleMover rumor with any traction. And if we're not getting PeopleMover rumors, what's even the point of the internet?