A Spirited Dirty Dozen ...

[Mike S]

Look, new kid..... Leave this one be. You have no idea how much we've worked to steer the Universal discussion to the Universal forums on this site.

The short version IMO? Universal is behaving the way Disney did in the mid-90s and Disney is behaving the way Universal did under Blackstone....

Spirit threads at least are fine for Universal talk since Spirit himself brings it up.

 

[Mike S]

Just a Spirited Quickee ... but saw this in today's LA Times and ... had to get this out.

I just love the quote from Shendi about needing guests to "lower expectations" ... looks like Disney has come full circle. Bob Iger should be so proud.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-shanghai-disney-food-adv-snap-story.html

Some Web commentators denounced the grumbling about price, arguing that if you can’t afford Disney, why go there?

Now where have I heard this before?

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

Two quick thoughts:
1- Please keep Tim Burton away from the animated classics.
2- It is absolutely FASCINATING to watch and read all this SHDL stuff.

 

[ThemeParkJunkee]

As we approach the official opening of SDL, and am thankful for the the links @WDW1974 has been providing. I have had concerns over the Chinese reluctance to make this an international destination with their Chinese theme and the affordability to the Chinese citizenry. The articles simply reinforces my decision to sell DIS for a 100% gain or more back when. Thanks Spirit for being my inadvertant stock advisor.

There is a disconnect somewhere here. I am not sure what it is. Could it be that SDL is aiming for the more affluent and the DIS company as a whole is leaning that way as well? Do they truly want to make a Disney vacation a "once in a lifetime" option for everyone in the world except the top 10-20%?

If I continue to hear reports of cuts to customer service and previously free amenities being made into upcharge events, my 2018 ttrip to Orlando will be reduced from six to four days with most of our time spent at resorts, AK and aW few favorites at the other parks.

Since I have to plan all vacations, I am actually trying to cut this down from two weeks to eight days anyway and Hubby has to do Universal and HHN. It's his favorite. He only wants to go back to WDW for Avatar which for some reason, he thinks is awesome. BTW, he also thinks putting "Frozen" in Epcot World Showcase is really dumb. So, there's that.

On another note, we saw Captain America Civil War yesterday for the $5 movie day and found it worth the $5 which is our movie rating system.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

The food pricing at SDL is truly tone deaf. I can't imagine those ludicrous prices will hold for long in a country where the average salary is below the US poverty line. Guess we'll see how it pans out.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Bob Iger's response to Bernie's comments on Disney's poverty wages for CMs.
http://www.thewrap.com/disney-boss-bob-iger-blasts-bernie-sanders-facebook/
“To Bernie Sanders: We created 11,000 new jobs at Disneyland in the past decade, and our company has created 18,000 in the U.S. in the last five years. How many jobs have you created? What have you contributed to the U.S. economy?”

 

[Andrew C]

Bob Iger's response to Bernie's comments on Disney's poverty wages for CMs.
http://www.thewrap.com/disney-boss-bob-iger-blasts-bernie-sanders-facebook/
“To Bernie Sanders: We created 11,000 new jobs at Disneyland in the past decade, and our company has created 18,000 in the U.S. in the last five years. How many jobs have you created? What have you contributed to the U.S. economy?”
View attachment 143544

Expected. He is going to defend the company he oversees. Any CEO would.

 

[Stitchon]

Bob Iger's response to Bernie's comments on Disney's poverty wages for CMs.
http://www.thewrap.com/disney-boss-bob-iger-blasts-bernie-sanders-facebook/
“To Bernie Sanders: We created 11,000 new jobs at Disneyland in the past decade, and our company has created 18,000 in the U.S. in the last five years. How many jobs have you created? What have you contributed to the U.S. economy?”
View attachment 143544

As if he personally created the jobs out of his own generosity. How benevolent of you, Bob.

Everyone likes to beat their chest about the "jobs" they create, they're not creating sustainable careers that people can live off of.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Expected. He is going to defend the company he oversees. Any CEO would.

Of course, it's a hollow statement that avoids Bernie's contention that Disney pays its CMs so little that they are part of Amercia's working poor while Bob has made hundreds of millions of dollars as CEO during these past eleven years.

 

[Andrew C]

Of course, it's a hollow statement that avoids Bernie's contention that Disney pays its CMs so poorly that they are part of Amercia's working poor while Bob has made hundreds of millions of dollars as CEO during these past eleven years.

just as hollow as Bernies statement. Except one is a politician and one is a businessman with a crazy salary.

Both can go kick rocks.

 

[TalkingHead]

A Facebook post? Couldn't even bother with a professional public statement?

Goodness, Iger can't retire a moment too soon.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

A Facebook post? Couldn't even bother with a professional public statement?

Goodness, Iger can't retire a moment too soon.

Fire, not retire.

 

[Andrew C]

A Facebook post? Couldn't even bother with a professional public statement?

Goodness, Iger can't retire a moment too soon.

Haha. A professional public statement that reaches 2 people? This is 2016. Using social media to your advantage is smart.

 

[Mike S]

Bob Iger's response to Bernie's comments on Disney's poverty wages for CMs.
http://www.thewrap.com/disney-boss-bob-iger-blasts-bernie-sanders-facebook/
“To Bernie Sanders: We created 11,000 new jobs at Disneyland in the past decade, and our company has created 18,000 in the U.S. in the last five years. How many jobs have you created? What have you contributed to the U.S. economy?”
View attachment 143544

The last comment scares me. Don't give him ideas!!!

 

[TalkingHead]

Haha. A professional public statement that reaches 2 people? This is 2016. Using social media to your advantage is smart.

Sure, the platform is one thing, but the tone is also grating. Asking how many jobs Sanders has created is classic misdirection. It also makes the CEO of a multinational (emphasis on multi- since we're talking about American jobs) corporation look like a petty thin-skinned teenager..

Which I wouldn't mind if he hadn't mismanaged WDW for a decade.

 

[Andrew C]

Sure, the platform is one thing, but the tone is also grating. Asking how many jobs Sanders has created is classic misdirection. It also makes the CEO of a multinational (emphasis on multi- since we're talking about American jobs) corporation look like a petty thin-skinned teenager..

Which I wouldn't mind if he hadn't mismanaged WDW for a decade.

To you maybe he looks like a teenager. To people like me who hate when politicians run their mouths about business wages (like they know what the heck they are taking about), it's funny.

 

[wogwog]

Bob Iger's response to Bernie's comments on Disney's poverty wages for CMs.
http://www.thewrap.com/disney-boss-bob-iger-blasts-bernie-sanders-facebook/
“To Bernie Sanders: We created 11,000 new jobs at Disneyland in the past decade, and our company has created 18,000 in the U.S. in the last five years. How many jobs have you created? What have you contributed to the U.S. economy?”
View attachment 143544

Did Bobbie count the foreign H-1B visa folks who took the IT jobs from citizens as added jobs?

 

[danv3]

Is that really his account? It seems very unlikely to me that he would respond in that way, through that medium, to a major party presidential candidate.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Regarding the statements about "Disney is a luxury that only the rich deserve and the poor would die for" (what an absolutely grotesque ideal) and unlivable cast wages, here's a rather important article to consider for perspective sake-
http://www.keytothekingdombook.com/...h-the-buckets-of-money-he-made-at-disneyland/

Walt wanted to keep Disneyland affordable and was alarmed when the parking fee went from twenty five cents to fifty cents. That was huge to him. He once said, there will always be a 10 cent cup of coffee at Disneyland.

Walt decided that all the hourly employees would be paid first. Their need, he knew was great and perhaps greater than any other of the park employees…he paid them fairly, but understood they needed the money with a sense of urgency that could not wait.

After the hourly employees were paid then the management level positions would be paid.
This included hourly wages and straight salary wages.

Again, the thinking here was that these salaries were higher and these folks also had needs to provide for their families and homes. Working with Walt was their career.

On weeks when there was money left…and many times there was not. But if there was money left then Roy and then Walt would take a paycheck. Never first, always after everyone else was taken care of. This is the way the park operated in those early days.

Although the stress was high, the work was hard, and the needs were real…in Walt there was a leader who valued and understood the importance of taking care of those who helped to make his dreams a reality.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Regarding the statements about "Disney is a luxury that only the rich deserve and the poor would die for" (what an absolutely grotesque ideal) and unlivable cast wages, here's a rather important article to consider for perspective sake-
http://www.keytothekingdombook.com/...h-the-buckets-of-money-he-made-at-disneyland/

This article is wonderful... I would remind however, that this current culture of low paid employees and high ranking people in suits getting paid too much is not a Disney problem.. It's a capitalist one. The flaw in a capitalist society that wasn't fully born yet when Disneyland started.

If you want to change the culture, you need to change the country.