A Spirited Perfect Ten

[WDW1974]

But, you have to admit they get it right... sometimes.
Andy Castro (@21royalstreet)
2/5/15, 1:50 PM



BREAKING: Jeep Rasulo cut from "Cars 3"

We need to find a boyfriend (just assuming here) for Andy. Fidel's Little Bro always seems angry. He needs to relax or he'll have a stroke by 30. ...and what does he have against John Lasseter. But, yeah, that is funny stuff there ...

 

[Gabe1]

I admit that I was tempted to look at the Twitverse earlier and then I recalled a recent Tweet by proud man-child Tom Amity calling this site 'psychotic' and decided that laughing at them isn't the best use of my time when I am attempting to build a scale model of Cindy's Castle out of earwax and eye goo.

Ha! I stayed away from twitter today too. Never a good day in twitverse when Disney announces things like this, way too many clueless experts. If any of them ever even skimmed the annual report they would realize how stupid their comments can be.

 

[VJ]

Like I said… A kitty coaster. Princess themed bathrooms. Upcharge dessert parties.

Am I missing anything here?

Well if it was a Sanrio themed coaster I can see it being popular...

Aw, man, you beat me to it! That'll teach me to get behind in Spirit threads again! (although I probably will anyway.)

 

[Gabe1]

Virtually every public place in Cali has those signs because the law behind them is so dumb. Its Chicken Little in real life... no one even pays attention to the signs anymore because literally... every place has them.

Oh Dear. It reminds me of the 4x4 inch signs we stick all over in grass at our school buildings when we have the lawn fertilized/weed killer. Ahhh the safety net disclaimers.

 

[ford91exploder]

I'm hard pressed to think of a state that is free of corruption. I grew up in Cook Country and my Dad was a contractor and then worked for OSHA. I know what happens and what is lost in the fiction of movies and TV shows. In no way am I saying Cook County is free of corruption but we all laugh at the never ending Al Capone comparisons. It is everyones go to mantra for Chicago.

There are major issues and unfortunately the gangs have more to do with that than the politicians. Me I look back to when I was small and the county was run by the First Mayor Daley. They pounded out deals in the backrooms, everyone was paid well and there were not strikes, the city prospered. Now I look at it much the same way as I do the Feds. Opposites debating everything to death and progress doesn't happen. I am an elected official and I want to put my head through a wall daily. People make things too complicated. My biggest disgust is the issues with the concept of Open Meetings, it is genuinely a concept lost on many politicians.

I hear you on the Open meetings concepts. Our local pol's do as well usually resulting in lawsuits which I think the pol's should be personally responsible for not the taxpayer.

 

[WDW1974]

I just hope that everyone happy about the seemingly coming disappearance of Rasulo from TWDC will not get rid of all those that "grew up" in Strategic Planning. Staggs is from exactly the same roots. For all we know he might just have had better people to advise him and who gave him the hint that he should try to fake being interested in the parks - oh and he was lucky to have kids that he could take to the parks.

Absolutely, the man is a toxic force in a company like Disney because of his background. I don't care that he is good looking (that's what fanboi pals tell me) and has kids who like to visit DLR and never wait in a line for anything so it seems that Dad gets some joy out of the parks.

I know his department basically killed Disney and its effects are still being felt decades later. He must go too.

 

[flynnibus]

video inside pirates at shanghai
http://v.hinews.cn/page-508621.html
http://www.linkshop.com.cn/video/v_22413.htm

Awesome... thx for linking

I can't recall the last time Disney let news crews report themselves from within an unfinished attraction like that.

 

[ford91exploder]

Oh Dear. It reminds me of the 4x4 inch signs we stick all over in grass at our school buildings when we have the lawn fertilized/weed killer. Ahhh the safety net disclaimers.

Do you put those same signs up when you apply that deadly chemical oxygen dihydride on the lawn as well it also is quite deadly in sufficient concentrations and if it becomes too thermally excited it causes terrible burns.

 

[WDW1974]

So there were some interesting little nuggets in Variety's article on Staggs' big promotion.

You know what I like about that story (*well, beyond that it was largely well done)?

Writer has very good taste in unnamed sources!

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Awesome... thx for linking

I can't recall the last time Disney let news crews report themselves from within an unfinished attraction like that.

Actually this isn't the first time video has come out of the park. A week or two ago, a Chinese cement company posted a video of cement application and sculpting on Roarin Rapids. It has since been taken down.
Alain got some screen grabs and posted them to the Disney&More Facebook page.

 

[WDW1974]

I can't believe for one second that Disney's board would want Lassetter as CEO. He is a creative leader, not a Wall Street leader and TWDC needs both. I can't believe I'm saying this...they need someone closer to Eisner or Jeff Bewkes. Someone who can corale the creatives and the analysts. I can't believe anyone on the board would be deluded enough to think Lassetter is that guy.

No, BoD wouldn't want that and JL wouldn't want the job. He likes what he does. I think his nightmare might be going over ESPN contracts with the NBA or negotiating on IP rights in China.

But the BoD takes John very seriously, so when he went to members and said either Rich Ross goes or he would, Bob got 'orders' very quickly.

 

[flynnibus]

Actually this isn't the first time video has come out of the park. A week or two ago, a Chinese cement company posted a video of cement application and sculpting on Roarin Rapids. It has since been taken down.

Seems like a press-er tour here. I mean in the DPB era of course we get early peaks, construction views, etc... but I can't recall the last time I saw a media person doing this directly. Fun stuff

 

[flynnibus]

Oh Dear. It reminds me of the 4x4 inch signs we stick all over in grass at our school buildings when we have the lawn fertilized/weed killer. Ahhh the safety net disclaimers.

It's so much worse. If you've not been out there since they put the law in place... it's comical. Like when you goto a hospital, and read a sign that say 'this place contains stuff that will kill you' basically, etc The irony and the range of stuff that must be labeled could keep a whole meme site running for years

 

[WDW1974]

@WDW1974 not sure you can/will comment on this publicly but didn't MDE used to really like Staggs? And for that matter wasn't there a point where he liked Bobby? It seems to be that there might have been some falling out. MDE also recently responded to an anti Iger tweet on Twitter, saying he disagreed and that Bob was doing a "good job". (I'm not naive enough to think it wasn't just public fronting but who knows)

Yes, he was fond of Tom.

As to Bob...well, that is much more complicated. And who isn't going to say Bob is doing a good job publicly at least?

 

[Mike S]

Awesome... thx for linking

I can't recall the last time Disney let news crews report themselves from within an unfinished attraction like that.

Wish I could watch them but for some reason I can't.

 

[Gabe1]

It's so much worse. If you've not been out there since they put the law in place... it's comical. Like when you goto a hospital, and read a sign that say 'this place contains stuff that will kill you' basically, etc The irony and the range of stuff that must be labeled could keep a whole meme site running for years

But the sign companies are super happy. The budget for signage has expanded exponentially.

 

[WDW1974]

Let's reframe the John as CEO discussion for a second. We have had this conversation many, many times here. The consensus is always; John's spread too thin already and his talents are best suited to his current position. But what if those pro John board members put their efforts behind another idea; putting John in charge of an executive search committee for new leadership of the company. John may not be the best person to be CEO of the world's largest media conglomerate, but he does value and understand good leadership. Where do you think Disney got the idea to replace Rich Ross with former Warner Brothers head Alan Horn? John Lasseter. John lobbied hard for Alan and won. While Alan is indeed handicapped by Iger's "Tentpole" and ...ugh "Brand Deposit" strategy, he is a good exec who plays well with others and knows how to make a quality film. If John could land a younger outsider of comprable skill, we would be in a good place. However, we will still need to fumigate the Dwarves building, WDI, and TDO.

Not a bad idea, but now that Bob has agreed to stay for what seems like an eternity and he has camera number two, albeit without giving him the Prez title, there really isn't a strong desire (my opinion here) to worry about beyond 6/18 now. And with 2015 shaping up to be a huge year for Disney financially, I doubt succession will be a serious topic again before 2017. Sadly.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Wish I could watch them but for some reason I can't.

This link worked for me.
http://v.hinews.cn/page-508621.html

 

[WDW1974]

I don't see the fascination with Lasseter although the earnings calls could be quite entertaining. The Wall Street guys do love Staggs. He was popular as CFO.

I guess there really isn't anyone worth considering from ABC or ESPN, but I'm surprised they want to turn the reigns over to Staggs with zero TV experience. It is almost half the company. I guess he can just rely on the segment heads to run that side of the business.

Why? They turned the theme parks over to him with no experience whatsoever in the business.

 

[WDW1974]

Lou has a piece of the Walt Disney Birthplace roof up on eBay right now.

That's all I needed to know

You have got to be kidding me, but I know you are not.