The Spirit Takes the Fifth ...

[the.dreamfinder]

True, but LA is the entertainment and media capital of the world in a way that Shanghai never was nor will ever be ...

Don't tell that to the folks who are giving Katzenberg the money to build that complex there!

 

[asianway]

Is Nick Franklin still in charge of NextGen?

Hes been moved on to other projects-so expect him to be the next exec moving on to be with family, retire, layoff...

 

[WDW1974]

So we're talking income figures about the middle class and Shanghai.... Gives me a few thoughts that are generally tangental but such is the nature of these forums.

Disney and NBC/Universal are the largest employers in this area, followed by health care. I do not get why both companies refuse to invest in their employees by paying them a fair wage...

This thought came from watching yet ANOTHER orange grove get bulldozed for more houses in the Orlando area. No one can afford what theyre charging. There arent enough salaries that pay enough for a $180k house. The average Disney employee cant afford that.

$180,000 is a bargain ... Try Golden Oak. Or Islesworth where George and Andy are moving. Or Windermere. Or even the rundown town of Celebration.

The fact is if you work at a Florida theme park be glad you don't live with three others in an old Best Western room in Kissimmee where you pay $200 a week for a 'home' ...

How anyone lives in Florida on less than $15-20 an hour blows my mind.

 

[PhotoDave219]

$180,000 is a bargain ... Try Golden Oak. Or Islesworth where George and Andy are moving. Or Windermere. Or even the rundown town of Celebration.

The fact is if you work at a Florida theme park be glad you don't live with three others in an old Best Western room in Kissimmee where you pay $200 a week for a 'home' ...

How anyone lives in Florida on less than $15-20 an hour blows my mind.

My general point is the lack of investment in the Florida economy by these companies. They simply don't invest in the employees which drags down the area....

 

[WDW1974]

If its anything like it is here in South Florida, they aren't building them for anyone "local" to afford, at least not to buy. A HUGE HUGE chunk of our housing market here (and why its currently a sellers market) is because of a vast increase of south americans buying up everything and renting them out. Its why I have been in the same apartment for going on 4 years now, its hard to find a reasonable place to buy that isn't getting a higher bid.

I don't understand the housing market at all. It reeks like it did in 2008. My SoFla home is again worth about three times what I paid for it. That is absurd.

And there's only so many affluent South Americans who want homes in the States to begin with.

 

[WDW1974]

Add to that the fact that the housing market here was prime for cheap buying. TONS of foreclosures made it easy to get lots of property, cash...cheaply.

I was in Las Vegas in late 2011 looking at property and was amazed at the Europeans who would be at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Summerlin in the mornings with lists of Bank of America freshly foreclosed on homes in the desert. Binders full of them ...and yet when you tried to get a Realtor to show ONE home to you (or me) it was like nothing was for sale.

But y'all know me and my conspiracy theories ...

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Probably the best thing to come of MVMCP, an ad traditionally animated and directed by Eric Goldberg.

 

[WDW1974]

You miss the point, Disney & Universal's low pay drags the whole area's pay down. No one can afford these housing because everyone is underpaid.

In Central Florida, yes. But at least there are options in Southern California.

O-Town is almost totally a service economy.

 

[WDW1974]

Does Disney pay minimum or a hair above it? Do any positions within the company pay decent?

Disney starts just over minimum wage, just under $8 an hour.

Sure. Management positions. Exec positions. ... But say you wind up being area manager for Captain Cook's or Gasperilla's ... you're likely talking a 60 hour a week salaried position at $28-34K a year. To me that's just another level of slave labor.

 

[Captain Chaos]

I must have read over the part where the BoD won't green light Star Wars for DHS until they start seeing returns on the investment from NextGen, MyTragic-.... Does that mean we won't see star Wars until 2025? LOL...

 

[Calvin Coolidge]

THIS!

And it bears repeating. Many Americans like to focus on the fact that China is ruled by the Communist Party, which is true. But it's also naively simplistic and ignorant at its base.

China is ruled by capitalism. Same as us. And they aren't going to destroy the makings of what may turn out to be the only 21st century super power by screwing with business deals to get better terms after the fact.

If the CCP wants something from Disney, then they'll get it ... but it will come thru negotiation and backroom business deals. Just like here in the good, old, moldy US of A!

What you're describing is not capitalism...

 

[WDW1974]

Shush! These people should be able to afford a house and send their kids to college on jobs designed to be filled by anyone with no prior job skills required! These people should be allowed to work the same job doing the same exact thing.. forever.. and expect to get pay raises! </sarcasm>

If you do a job that you can be replaced by a kid off the street tomorrow.. you should be expect to be paid accordingly.

I think the problem is what you do when the vast majority of jobs are jobs where you could be replaced by a kid off the street tomorrow.

If those are the only jobs available, then tomorrow is going to be awfully bleak for our society.

I don't think people realistically think that operating Dumbo should keep earning raises that have someone making $30 an hour for pushing a button and making sure the lap belts are used. But I do think it is realistic to expect a company the size of Disney to have fair chances for people to be able to advance up the ladder.

My good pal Georgie K started as a bus boy as the Contemporary Resort in 1971. His dopey MK VP started as a Mansion butler. ... No one can expect that kind of movement today. But when you can be a great front-line ride operator in Fantasyland and NOT have the chance to ... move to lower management, well ... then both the American Dream and the Disney Fantasy are DOA!

 

[WDW1974]

Right, but $180K in Anaheim is a 16 bedroom estate.

Did you start on the egg nog early?

 

[WDW1974]

Wow, I didn't know Mom could hack into people's accounts.

The woman goes to Russia ...I think we should not put anything past her!

 

[WDW1974]

Is Nick Franklin still in charge of NextGen?

I believe he is globally.

At WDW, it has all been handed to ops ... meaning it's Georgie's problem now.

 

[WDW1974]

Hes been moved on to other projects-so expect him to be the next exec moving on to be with family, retire, layoff...

Really? Where did you hear that?

 

[janoimagine]

Right, but $180K in Anaheim is a 16 bedroom estate.

Try a 500 sq' shack in Palmdale.

 

[WDW1974]

What you're describing is not capitalism...

True. It is the 21st century version that almost sent us all down the abyss in 2008 and continues to run the world's economy.

 

[Funmeister]

$180,000 is a bargain ... Try Golden Oak. Or Islesworth where George and Andy are moving. Or Windermere. Or even the rundown town of Celebration.

The fact is if you work at a Florida theme park be glad you don't live with three others in an old Best Western room in Kissimmee where you pay $200 a week for a 'home' ...

How anyone lives in Florida on less than $15-20 an hour blows my mind.

Very easy...roommates. IT is sickening that many Cast Members have to have roommates even after they are married just to pay the bills on an APARTMENT!

 

[Goofyernmost]

Very easy...roommates. IT is sickening that many Cast Members have to have roommates even after they are married just to pay the bills on an APARTMENT!

I know this is going to sound terrible, but, they must be OK with it because they continue to take abuse from Guests and make little or nothing. There is a fine line between loyalty and stupidity. Look for something else, somewhere else if it is that bad. Seriously, you want Disney to pay more money for people without enough sense to go out and better themselves? Is it difficult? Yes, sometimes but we all make choices and, to my knowledge, no one has a gun to their heads to work there and try and live on next to no wages. What is the reason? The love of Disney? Really? Is it normal to want to stay down or do they lack the skills and ability to do anything else. If that is the case, nothing is going to get better on the outside. No one is owed a living. They weren't hired and then told later how much they were going to make per hour. Don't have an education? Go get one or resign oneself to sub-standard pay and screwy hours. From everything I hear, working for Disney is not really a fun place to be most of the time.