News Bob Iger is back! Chapek is out!!

[MrPromey]

Here's a clip of Bob Chapek's reaction to the devastating news of his removal, the poor man, such unfathomable sadness-

As if he would be so lucky to get Woody Harrelson to star in his bio pick!

 

[MrPromey]

He's certainly not gonna be hurting, thats for sure. Who knows what his future plans are, or cares, but where do you go from here if you're him and still want to continue your career? A very public firing, mutiny, from the Walt Disney Co. Dumped on by every financial report. This isn't sorrow for the man, was just thinking about it.

I'd love to retire with tens of millions of dollars at the age of 62.

Bob Chapek may be the biggest winner in all of this.

Some hair plugs, a facelift - insane Disney fans won't even recognize him in the airport and he can do whatever he wants!

 

[BobPar]

I'd love to retire with tens of millions of dollars at the age of 62.

Bob Chapek may be the biggest winner in all of this.

Some hair plugs, a facelift - insane Disney fans won't even recognize him in the airport and he can do whatever he wants!

I just want to know as part of his severance does he have to pay for Genie+ or not lol

 

[Br0ckford]

I just want to know as part of his severance does he have to pay for Genie+ or not lol

Free ILLs for life

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

He's certainly not gonna be hurting, thats for sure. Who knows what his future plans are, or cares, but where do you go from here if you're him and still want to continue your career? A very public firing, mutiny, from the Walt Disney Co. Dumped on by every financial report. This isn't sorrow for the man, was just thinking about it.

Even with his poor results being “CEO of Disney” will look good on his resume.

My guess is he sails off into retirement but if he wants to work I don’t think he’ll have a hard time finding an executive position, likely with some sort of retail company.

 

[fgmnt]

I think you're inferring a lot from my statement.

I never said every ill to ever befall the company (or the parks) came down to one man, did I?

I've been around long enough to see the damage caused by all of these people (although only one person on you list ever ran the company) and I've said ad nauseam in this very thread, I'm not a fan of Iger, but putting creative people back in control of their own departments - one of the first things Chapek took away and the very first thing Iger started rolling on day-one of his comeback tour - seems like a move in the right direction to me.

Are you saying you disagree?

Not remotely; I just think it is fair to include Iger when we talk about hollowing out the company; this is a thing he as responsible for as the man that replaced him/he replaced.

 

[BobPar]

Free ILLs for life

So he still has to wait on 20 min lines?

 

[RSoxNo1]

The thing about this example is, in this deal, he was actually doing work FOR Disneyland so it isn't like P&R was giving up something so the studios could benefit from it or anything but someone in some department that was going to have to pay for it, didn't see the benefit to them in saying yes.*

He was simply trying to horse trade with P&R to come to an agreement both could accept and they were like "nope!".


*To be fair though, in such close proximity to Hollywood, they probably get a lot of screwy asks that create logistic nightmares which I imagine inclines them to say no.

First off that was a cool story. Secondarily, I believe Paul Reubens has a similar deal. Maybe not with the plaid assistant, but I'm pretty sure he has a lifetime pass.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

In principle, I agree with everything you're saying.

But when divisions, departments and individuals have to constantly justify their budget and existence in any largish company, it creates its own weird internal economy.

There is a story about how Dave Foley was approached to do the voice work for Flik in California Adventure and was offered insultingly low pay for it so he tried to make them a deal that would cost the company very little while being of immense personal value to his kids but would have been considered an expense to P&R and they said no.

It wasn't until Lasiter heard the imitation voice actor in the park, questioned why it obviously wasn't Foley and then insisted they give him what he asked for to fix it.

In telling the story, Foley makes it sound simple and if you had no idea how much Disney normally charges for what he was asking for, it would seem simple but on their books, it clearly wasn't.

EDIT:

Found the two hour interview and the place in it where he tells the story if you're interested. Really, this is just an example to illustrate what it's like in a company of this size. In the conversation, Kevin Pollak seems to have a sense of how the company would view that ask while Dave doesn't:

Shonda Rhimes, who was essentially responsible for almost a decade and a half of hits at ABC, famously left after she felt under-appreciated when she had difficulty getting a pass for her sister. When the sister arrived at the park it didn’t work. Rhimes tracked down a high-ranking executive to resolve this, and he responded, “Don’t you have enough?” Mind you, at that point she was essentially show running their entire (and highly popular and lucrative) Thursday night lineup.

Also, this was under Bob “He’s great at managing Hollywood creatives” Iger’s reign.

 

[wutisgood]

I think it is somewhat clear from Chapek's need for control and decisions as CEO that he had a lot of authority to influence the parks as president of them. Maybe Iger gave him a lot of leeway thinking he was on the path to be his successor. I'm sure given these events he regrets that now.

It just seems insane to me that a place with such popularity and demand as Disney world has not had more consistent and true expansion. Everest was the most expensive coaster ever at 100 million at the time which would be about 160 million today. Why couldn't Disney be making multiple 200 million dollar rides every year, especially with lightning lane adding profit for new rides. Every ride allows them to increase the daily number of guests through the gates. Instead we get replacements, entertainment cuts, staffing cuts that increase lines, and crazy budgets for new rides. Something if fundamentally broken if the most popular resort in the world has more incentive to raise prices over building more things to sell to more people.

 

[Kyle’s Dad Sent Me]

Always funny that Disney is so stingy with park tickets to even their major talent as if everyone doesn't spend hundreds of dollars there after they get through the gate.

 

[wutisgood]

Always funny that Disney is so stingy with park tickets to even their major talent as if everyone doesn't spend hundreds of dollars there after they get through the gate.

If I had a family I wouldn't be spending a dime in the parks past the ticket cost. I would be bringing in meals and going back to the car. As a single person who goes once in a while with others I still only buy food and only quick service as there isn't enough time to do a more expensive sit down meal. Merch prices are insane and priced more based on preventing resale from making money.

 

[el_super]

Shonda Rhimes, who was essentially responsible for almost a decade and a half of hits at ABC, famously left after she felt under-appreciated when she had difficulty getting a pass for her sister.

She didn't understand how Main Entrance passes work. They had already bended the rules by giving her nanny the secondary pass as a "domestic partner" and then she asked for her sister to have a third Main Entrance Pass so her sister and the nanny could attend on the same day. They changed the secondary pass over to her sister (which, honestly, they wouldn't do for any other cast member) and then when the nanny showed up, her existing pass didn't work.

There are enough celebrities going to Disneyland that they can't just let all of their nannies and siblings have free reign of the place.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Seems like now that he's out people feel they can publicly air the dirty laundry without negative impacts to the business.

Really?…because it sure as $hit seems like Iger and co are blaming chapek for a lot of decisions that Iger oversaw that now are being perceived as Low rent.

…quite an Effort - in fact

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Because no matter how many times a Disney exec says "synergy machine" they don't actually understand it.

This is the type of plussing, that Disney has been eliminating or monetizing for the last decade or such. There are costs associated with even minor stuff like this (programmers, equipment) for some department to pay while there is constant pressure to tighten the budgetary belt. Would this be a P&R cost or a D+ cost? Second, could you just imagine if even a fraction of guests used their checkout day to stay in the room and watch D+ content they could be watching at home, instead of heading to a character breakfast, a few hours in the park, Disney Springs. Not to mention the stress for the spread-to-thin housekeeping staff to turn over rooms. The number of posts of people complaining about the knocks they get from housekeeping in the mornings is already noticeable.

This isn't the same company that had some understanding of the holistic benefits of free copies of Disney magazine in a hotel room, that might generate some magazine subs, or when a park would run a parade themed to the summer animation release. In the current structure, P&R doesn't benefit by driving a tiny increase in D+ subs. D+ doesn't benefit by improving the P&R experience for guests. These divisions, in the trenches, are more in competition with each other than allies. If there isn't a clear revenue positive outcome, it doesn't happen.

All the profit at Disney parks is made off the things people buy after they get there…

So really what advantage to having people sign in to Disney + could there possibly be at all?

Have we forgotten everything around here?

 

[MrPromey]

Shonda Rhimes, who was essentially responsible for almost a decade and a half of hits at ABC, famously left after she felt under-appreciated when she had difficulty getting a pass for her sister. When the sister arrived at the park it didn’t work. Rhimes tracked down a high-ranking executive to resolve this, and he responded, “Don’t you have enough?” Mind you, at that point she was essentially show running their entire (and highly popular and lucrative) Thursday night lineup.

Also, this was under Bob “He’s great at managing Hollywood creatives” Iger’s reign.

I thought the ticket she was trying to get was for a babysitter but maybe I remember that wrong.

UPDATE:

She didn't understand how Main Entrance passes work. They had already bended the rules by giving her nanny the secondary pass as a "domestic partner" and then she asked for her sister to have a third Main Entrance Pass so her sister and the nanny could attend on the same day. They changed the secondary pass over to her sister (which, honestly, they wouldn't do for any other cast member) and then when the nanny showed up, her existing pass didn't work.

There are enough celebrities going to Disneyland that they can't just let all of their nannies and siblings have free reign of the place.

Ah, I knew there was something about the babysitter (nanny) in that story!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I also heard that Mr. Iger wanted to give every guest a puppy and build a whole land based on Figment with seven E-Tickets while Mr. Chapek wanted to hold guests' heads in the toilet and replace the corporate mascot Mickey Mouse with a handful of rancid mayonnaise.

Source: Mr. Iger

Or that they need to manufacture some dirty laundry to justify an incredibly unusual sequence of events that makes the company appear panicky and unstable.

One or the other.

…I do enjoy the company of “like minded people”

 

[Tom P.]

I don't think that's true of Disney+ (or Peacock, ironically).

Netflix - Draw people in with Stranger Things and whatever binge drama or true crime documentary goes viral, but nothing to keep them around.

HBO - Draw people in with Game of Thrones, but nothing to keep them around.

Amazon - Draw people in with free 2-Day shipping, keep them around with free 2-Day shipping, doesn't matter what anyone watches.

Hulu - Attempt to be consistently good with FX content (The Bear, Reservation Dogs, Under the Banner of Heaven, Dopesick), but no major draw outside of The Handmaid's Tale, which has a super niche audience

Paramount+ - Pray that Taylor Sheridan can keep cranking out bangers

Peacock - Nothing to draw people in, but if they get some hits people will stick around to watch The Office and Parks & Rec for the thousandth time

Disney+ - Come for Mando, stay for the Library

Disney+ and Peacock don't need to spend on "sustainment" content, because they already have it. They need to spend on must-see blockbuster content that continues to bring people into the service. Once they're in, they're in. Churn should be much lower than most of these other services.

I think the bread and butter for Paramount+ is Star Trek. I think that's what keeps that service alive. Without it, I think it would go under quickly. And even at that, I think you have people who come and go from it a great deal. We subscribe when a new season of Star Trek: Picard comes out and then eventually drop it. We aren't subscribed right now, but we'll be back in February to see season 3 with the TNG cast. Being both the exclusive home of all the previous Trek series plus the exclusive home of all new Trek content is a big, big deal.

 

[CAV]

Serious respectful open question to the people celebrating this- Can anyone here explain why they believe Iger would have handled the parks differently/better than Chapek? Or why they believe things will improve with his return. Keep in mind that Chapek has only been running the company 100% solo for less than a year. The issues people currently have with the parks are a continuation of Iger's policies (if not approved by him directly before leaving). CEO title or not, Iger was still with the company and dictating decisions until December 2021.

I would understand celebrating if this was actual new leadership with a chance for positive impact. But it's Iger again, his handling of the parks from my view was pretty much identical to Chapek. I just don't understand the excitement...

Granted I expect most of the positive reactions aren't coming from this site specifically. But if anyone here has anything to share on the matter, it's appreciated.

Serious answer: Your question is a false dichotomy. You can "celebrate" Chapel's demise without "believing" Iger will do things different or improve things.

 

[CAV]

As if he would be so lucky to get Woody Harrelson to star in his bio pick!

I nominate Michael Moore