On layoffs, very bad attendance, and Iger's legacy being one of disgrace

[TrainsOfDisney]

The point is they can't live their life doing it... hence the "failure" part of my post

They can if they choose to?

 

[PhotoDave219]

Spell it out, be specific.

It.

I. T.

It.

 

[PhotoDave219]

WDPR will save an enormous amount of expense once they officially sever ties with Actors Equity.

Which would be absolutely awful for the actors who perform at WDW.

... for an entertainment company, Disney sure is getting bad at providing actual entertainment.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Below are some photo's from my son's trip July 19-23 (Sunday to Thursday).

Multiple headliner rides were walk-on. He experienced Flights of Passage 5 times (was even allowed to cut through the FP+ line at one point), Smuggler's Run 5 times, Test Track 3 times, Space Mountain 5 times, Rock n Roller Coaster 5 times, Expedition Everest 5 times. For most, it was a matter of his group simply getting bored with the attraction and deciding to move on.

Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Train was the longest line, followed by Slinky Dog Dash. (This last because it was down for most of the day.)

Crowds were light throughout the trip, with Disney Hollywood Studios feeling the most crowded, by far.

As his photos show, it was possible to encounter moments of modest crowds but also see the parks nearly empty, with many of his contrasting photos taken within an hour of each other.

These give you a sense of what it was like for my son during his weekday trip in mid-July.

Epcot Sunday Evening:

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Bridge to Pandora Monday Midday:

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Leaving Animal Kingdom Monday at 5:30 PM:

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Magic Kingdom Tuesday Opening:

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Walkway To Tomorrowland Tuesday Noon:

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Waiting for Rise Of The Resistance Wednesday at 1 PM:

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Galaxy's Edge Less than 1 Hour Later:

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Disney's Hollywood Studios Wednesday Afternoon:

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One of the more crowded images of Disney's Hollywood Studios:

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Nice.

Those are the crowd levels I remember from 04/05.

 

[mkt]

Which would be absolutely awful for the actors who perform at WDW.

... for an entertainment company, Disney sure is getting bad at providing actual entertainment.

It would be also bad for the Studios, Theatrical Productions and Television divisions, as SAG-AFTRA will likely stand by their AEA colleagues.

 

[celluloid]

This is the first I've seen a report that such layoffs did happen.

But... it's odd that this wasn't more well known. People who get laid off tend to post about it on social media. Then it gets picked up by mainstream mass media.

Universal made an official announcement on it. Some severance also come with NDAs.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Universal made an official announcement on it. Some severance also come with NDAs.

But I thought we were talking about Disney lay-offs.

NDAs don't require people to pretend they're still hired at a company. Their LinkedIn will surely be updated to looking for a new job.

 

[MrPromey]

Then has it gone down hill?? Look one of those psych questions.

It's like my 100 year old Aunt who reminsces of back in the day especially air travel. That means absolutely nothing to me.
I love MK since I first went in 2000 so while I believe you that it was golden but for it's still awesome

Having grown up in FL, I’ve been going to WDW my whole life. Started buying my own annual passes once I was old enough to drive, along with friends, with money from my high school jobs.

Unfortunately for you, you started going after the decline had begun. With that context, your opinions makes total sense.

If you like current WDW, you’d be as crotchety as the rest of us if you’d experienced previous WDW.

The technology and the rockwork have gotten better. Everything else has just continued a slow path of decline.

Disney has always been expensive but it used to be expensive in the way buying popcorn at a movie is - you knew you were getting gouged but it was still possible for many working class people to do it now and then while staying within their means.

Coming from that, seeing them try to spin it as a vacation for the upper crust - especially with a lot they’re trying to sell being the same stuff from 20+ years ago only with less of it and not in as good of condition as the lower middle class once had access to - just feels crazy.

I don’t discount that what they have is impressive. I’m sure they spend more annually on ”free” guest transportation around property than many large regional attractions spend on their entire operations but most of their amazing development came from past decades.

As impossible as it may sound, you used to get more in almost every sense for less in almost every sense (money, stress, crowding, needed planning, etc.)

With WDW, it feels like “Disney - who do you guys think you’re foolin’?” But the sad truth is, the answer is pretty much everybody that didn’t know them back in the day.

 

[mkt]

Having grown up in FL, I’ve been going to WDW my whole life. Started buying my own annual passes along with friends with money from my high school jobs.

Unfortunately for you, you started going after the decline had begun. With that context, your opinions makes total sense.

If you like current Disney, you’d be as crotchety as the rest of us if you’d experienced previous Disney.

The technology and the rock work has gotten better. Everything else has just continued a slow path to worse.

Disney has always been expensive but it used to be expensive in the way buying popcorn at a movie is - you knew you were getting gouged but it was still possible for many people to do it now and then.

Coming from that, seeing them try to spin it as a vacation for only the upper crust while seeing them offer less in many ways (without an extraction of even more money) than the lower middle class once had access to just feels crazy.

With WDW, it feels like “Disney - who do you guys think you’re foolin’?” But the sad truth is, the answer is pretty much everybody that didn’t know them back in the day.

WDW is like BMW.

It's gotten more expensive, somehow sells more, and is somehow a lot worse than it was a decade ago, and that was worse than it was two decades ago.

 

[Tom Morrow]

I think this is the perfect time to point it out, in a forum like this. Mean is doing it publicly to someone's face. If a job doesn't pay a living wage, then don't expect to make a living while working that job. Get a different job.

I love to watercolor, and I'm pretty good at it. I doubt I could support a family with it though, so I do something else for a living and watercolor when I can.

Very few CM's intend to stay frontline, they just end up stuck in it much longer than they were hoping for and assuming.

I don't care if its your dream.., know what hou are getting into and be prepared for what it will extract of you.

you can't deny the numbers that go in and fail because they let their dream turn off their brain

What happens is CMs get sucked into the toxic culture of WDW's leadership and promotional methods. It's hard to escape because when you've busted your a-- for several years, do you give up and start over? Or do you tough it out because next year might be your big break? It's a very tough cycle to break out of, and it's not always as easy as "well, just do something else/get a different job."

But this stuff is not appropriate for this thread or these times. We're talking about an unprecedented global event that nobody could have thought to prepare for, and no one facing hardships because of it should be criticized for not being prepared for it.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

What happens is CMs get sucked into the toxic culture of WDW's leadership and promotional methods. It's hard to escape because when you've busted your a-- for several years, do you give up and start over? Or do you tough it out because next year might be your big break? It's a very tough cycle to break out of, and it's not always as easy as "well, just do something else/get a different job."

This... and this is not at all unique to Disney.

 

[bryanfze55]

Don't worry... there are plenty here that would jump in and tell you that they've been visiting Disney since 2007 and it's the greatest thing ever... you're just being nostalgic

Doesn't matter how many examples you give... They thought them being wowed was as good as it gets.

As someone who didn’t visit until 2015 and has been wrongly labeled as a “pixie-duster” before, I’ll say that I’m certain both Disneyland and WDW (but especially WDW) peaked long before I set foot in either.

The problem is, even if Disney falls so far short of what it could and should be - we live in a world of relativity rather than absolutism, and every other theme park on American soil pretty much sucks.

 

[Lilofan]

Having grown up in FL, I’ve been going to WDW my whole life. Started buying my own annual passes once I was old enough to drive, along with friends, with money from my high school jobs.

Unfortunately for you, you started going after the decline had begun. With that context, your opinions makes total sense.

If you like current WDW, you’d be as crotchety as the rest of us if you’d experienced previous WDW.

The technology and the rockwork have gotten better. Everything else has just continued a slow path of decline.

Disney has always been expensive but it used to be expensive in the way buying popcorn at a movie is - you knew you were getting gouged but it was still possible for many working class people to do it now and then while staying within their means.

Coming from that, seeing them try to spin it as a vacation for the upper crust, especially when a lot of what they’re trying to sell that way is the same stuff from 20+ years ago only with less of it and not in as good of condition as the lower middle class once had access to, just feels crazy.

I don’t discount that what they have is impressive. I’m sure they spend more annually on ”free” guest transportation around property than many large regional attractions spend on their entire operations.

it’s just, as impossible as it may sound, you used to get more in almost every sense for less in almost every sense (money, stress, crowding, needed planning, etc.)

With WDW, it feels like “Disney - who do you guys think you’re foolin’?” But the sad truth is, the answer is pretty much everybody that didn’t know them back in the day.

One would perhaps think that lifers like former execs Al Weiss and George Kalogridis who started working in Disney as teenagers and rose up all the way to the role of WDW President would reverse the decline.

 

[Lilofan]

Huge WDI and Creative layoffs happened this week.

WDI exec Joe Rohde has survived many layoffs. Someone he reports to likes him.

 

[Lilofan]

If I had to take a guess the vast majority of these layoffs are going to be corporate, WDI, and potentially management within the parks. Front line shouldn't be hit too bad if hit at all

Some forget that office and clerical could be part of the " restructuring " too. If anyone is part time, they would consider getting any work extremely lucky. Not all front line staff are working and are still collecting unemployment ( if they successfully applied online) due to some resorts and others areas still closed or hardly open.

 

[Lilofan]

That's true. Disney's probably going to be extremely strict with discipline now. Expect reprimands for things that a year ago wouldn't have even raised an eyebrow.

With the job prospects in FL almost non existent and Disney staff know this, if they did their job accordingly and follow all policy, then discipline would not be an issue.

 

[Tom P.]

But this stuff is not appropriate for this thread or these times. We're talking about an unprecedented global event that nobody could have thought to prepare for, and no one facing hardships because of it should be criticized for not being prepared for it.

No one could have prepared specifically for COVID-19, that's true. But there are certain good general preparations one can be responsible enough to make that will change the outcome of most any crisis.

I'm talking about things like having a sizeable emergency fund, avoiding excessive debt, etc. If someone had minimal debt and 3 months worth of expenses in the bank as an emergency fund, they would have done a lot better when COVID-19 hit than one who has debt up to their eyeballs and no emergency fund.

 

[MrPromey]

As someone who didn’t visit until 2015 and has been wrongly labeled as a “pixie-duster” before, I’ll say that I’m certain both Disneyland and WDW (but especially WDW) peaked long before I set foot in either.

The problem is, even if Disney falls so far short of what it could and should be - we live in a world of relativity rather than absolutism, and every other theme park on American soil pretty much sucks.

When Universal opened here in FL, they didn't come even remotely close... Now days, it feels like they're starting to give Disney a run for their money in part because they've really stepped up their game... and sadly in part, because Disney's apparently decided to meet them in the middle.

 

[MrPromey]

WDI exec Joe Rohde has survived many layoffs. Someone he reports to likes him.

Maybe he's how someone above him tries to maintain credibility.

 

[dreamfinder912]

I decided to play around with the app a little while ago. According to the availability calendar, there is no availability for APs tomorrow. However, if I try to reserve a spot for the Magic Kingdom, it’s letting me. Now, I know that tomorrow is a little bit of a different day with the storm rolling in, but I also wonder if they’re beginning to open things up for AP holders last minute if the demand isn’t there.

I hope so, because as much as people view local AP as "cheap" we're all that's willing to go right now. So if you want people in your parks buying your $8 pretzels, let us in.