A Spirited Perfect Ten

[DDLand]

Wow, I'm constantly amazed by how much we're become an "instant news" society.

It's been what - barely 2 months since the Snyder article and the censoring? Inside of 2 months, actually, yet they still want immediate resolution and sources for (your) info.......

It takes time to gather the quantifiable facts that can turn an (insightful) op-ed into an investigative story, or to disprove the premise of the piece.Inside of 2 months, yet things keep popping up with surprising regularity for such a short time. You would expect the WSJ's and others would wait until they were 110% sure what they had was bullet proof.

This is actually a very good point. One of the great things about these SPIRITED threads is how information flows out all the time. We get interesting news at least once a week. Sometimes that's a good thing because we're ahead of the curve. If Spirit waited too long, everything would be pointless. The flip side is, (especially with this China story) more information is needed to get the big picture.

As the additonal information comes out, the thesis seems to be getting stronger. Like any story early in development there were leads that ended up being nothing, but that doesn't destroy the thesis. Really this thread has been a collection of ideas that might just lead to something big. It's still being written.

I think at the end of the day if this all turns out to be nothing, Spirit won't care. (correct me if I'm wrong) He'll have done his duty of asking tough questions and following up leads. More then can be said of others...

 

[Cesar R M]

It's hard to prove without a whistleblower. Was it Walmart that recently had a scandal like this? There was a U.S. company that was in the news a year or two ago about this exact issue.

Walmart was only given a slap in the wrist by both Mexican and US authorities.
they were found guilty for manipulating prices of products in Mexico (including paying inspectors and officials to let them keep doing it)

Example, the prime of lemon as always been like 1 USD per kilo.
they inflated the price by blocking the main source of lemon towards other vendors, thus the lemon was suddenly "scarce" ..making the price increase 4x (selling at 4 per kilo )
the scandal hit pretty nicely, because the people they paid to block the lemon.. WERE MEXICAN CARTEL NARCS.

Similar things have happened almost every year.. Specially the Avocado (which once ended costing 8 USD per kilo)

 

[the.dreamfinder]

I bet Bob's loving this.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/b...n-ceo-worker-pay-gap-data-remains-hidden.html

 

[bhg469]

I find it funny that those toys r "illegal" here, since they do have other brands just like those that I find at my local dollar store all the time! My kids love them!

It is peculiar.

 

[Nubs70]

Shhhh! If you say kinder eggs you may be put on a watch list since they're illegal here!

Yup, a children's candy treat is illegal here due to soccer moms running the country.

In spite of being "banned" in the USA, they are readily available for sale at the Christkindelsmarkt in Chicago. My daughter thought she was quite the domestic criminal when she aquired this contraband last winter.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Sorry, but the above is inaccurate ... everything I have put forth on Shanghai Disneyland ... everything has thus far proven to be true. I think a 100% accuracy rate is pretty damn good myself. You wait for Disney, Goof.

Spirit, I am certainly not questioning your accuracy. You have proven to be correct far too often. I guess what I am wondering is whether the person(s) that you received the original list from are holding back from giving you any kind of updates. Maybe someone figured out where it came from, and told them to not give you anything else? Would they do that to you? Anyway, that was my point. I obviously have no idea where your sources are, but I hope they continue to feed you news on the WDW and DL fronts.

 

[truecoat]

Prevailing intel is that someone's iPhone did fly off of Dragon Challenge (probably someone trying to get a selfie) and it was a "near miss" to people standing near the exit of the castle.

My son's droid phone flew out of his pocket on the Hulk and I believe it's at the bottom of the lagoon. Happened on a the first ride of a seven day band trip in which I was a chaperone.

 

[Phil12]

I bet Bob's loving this.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/b...n-ceo-worker-pay-gap-data-remains-hidden.html
View attachment 89700

That's impressive. According to the article the median Disney worker made $19,530 last year. That's better than the median fast food worker at $18,870. Perhaps Disney is paying too much for their typical employees. Or maybe Bob Iger is paying his typical employees more so the CEO pay ratio won't be too far out of whack.

 

[RobBlock]

Shhhh! If you say kinder eggs you may be put on a watch list since they're illegal here!

Yup, a children's candy treat is illegal here due to soccer moms running the country.

I got stopped by customs once on a trip back from Germany because I had Kinder Eggs with me. Choking hazard, you know.

 

[GymLeaderPhil]

That's impressive. According to the article the median Disney worker made $19,530 last year. That's better than the median fast food worker at $18,870. Perhaps Disney is paying too much for their typical employees. Or maybe Bob Iger is paying his typical employees more so the CEO pay ratio won't be too far out of whack.

Overtime tends to be plentiful.

 

[FloridaRes]

That's impressive. According to the article the median Disney worker made $19,530 last year. That's better than the median fast food worker at $18,870. Perhaps Disney is paying too much for their typical employees. Or maybe Bob Iger is paying his typical employees more so the CEO pay ratio won't be too far out of whack.

Remember, Disney is not only theme park workers.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Remember, Disney is not only theme park workers.

Its workforce is overwhelmingly CMs which absolutely negates the white collar jobs across the company.

 

[Phil12]

Remember, Disney is not only theme park workers.

That's exactly my point. Disney is a media giant and involved in television, radio, publishing, film production and distribution, toys and other consumer products. Yet the median Disney worker last year made only $19,530! Obviously the "little people" in the Disney organization are offsetting the big executive salaries. It just goes to show that lots of people are willing to work for the mouse for low wages. The HR department has no recruiting problems.

 

[StageFrenzy]

That's impressive. According to the article the median Disney worker made $19,530 last year. That's better than the median fast food worker at $18,870. Perhaps Disney is paying too much for their typical employees. Or maybe Bob Iger is paying his typical employees more so the CEO pay ratio won't be too far out of whack.

 

[ParentsOf4]

That's exactly my point. Disney is a media giant and involved in television, radio, publishing, film production and distribution, toys and other consumer products. Yet the median Disney worker last year made only $19,530! Obviously the "little people" in the Disney organization are offsetting the big executive salaries. It just goes to show that lots of people are willing to work for the mouse for low wages. The HR department has no recruiting problems.

Just remember that the article said "median". 49% of the employees could make $1 million per year, but if the remaining 51% make $19,530 or less, then the median is $19,530.

More than half of Disney's work force are Cast Members at the theme parks, so perhaps the median is what a CM with several years of experience is paid?

That's impressive. According to the article the median Disney worker made $19,530 last year. That's better than the median fast food worker at $18,870. Perhaps Disney is paying too much for their typical employees. Or maybe Bob Iger is paying his typical employees more so the CEO pay ratio won't be too far out of whack.

The average U.S. employee works about 1800 hours per year. If we use that as a basis, then the median Disney employee makes $10.85/hour while the median fast food worker makes $10.48/hour, a 37 cents/hour difference.

I've never worked at WDW or at a fast food place. For those of you who have, how does a job as a CM compare to a job at (for example) McDonald's? Which is more demanding?

 

[TalkingHead]

It just goes to show that lots of people are willing to work for the mouse for low wages. The HR department has no recruiting problems.

No recruiting problems, but the flipside is CM turnover is high. (I wonder why.)

 

[Nubs70]

No recruiting problems, but the flipside is CM turnover is high. (I wonder why.)

Not to be argumentative but high turnover is a HR recruiting problem (unless hr is paid piece work). Employee retention is (or should be) a key metric.

 

[Cesar R M]

Spirit, I am certainly not questioning your accuracy. You have proven to be correct far too often. I guess what I am wondering is whether the person(s) that you received the original list from are holding back from giving you any kind of updates. Maybe someone figured out where it came from, and told them to not give you anything else? Would they do that to you? Anyway, that was my point. I obviously have no idea where your sources are, but I hope they continue to feed you news on the WDW and DL fronts.

Which comes to no surprise honestly.

If you give way too much info consecutively.. they can pinpoint the "leaker" and remove him.
That would mean a big hit for the leaker in his business life.
As he will be labelled "untrustworthy".

 

[Cesar R M]

I've never worked at WDW or at a fast food place. For those of you who have, how does a job as a CM compare to a job at (for example) McDonald's? Which is more demanding?

I honestly do not believe the job of certain quick service restaurants at WDW are "less demanding" than McDonalds for example.

Have you been in the Columbia Harbor House?
despite the small menu, these guys throw food at insane speeds.

 

[The Visionary Soul]

I honestly do not believe the job of certain quick service restaurants at WDW are "less demanding" than McDonalds for example.

Have you been in the Columbia Harbor House?
despite the small menu, these guys throw food at insane speeds.

The fact that the old chicken tenders were replaced with chicken nuggets of exactly the same chicken and breading only confirms this. Chicken tenders have a longer cooking time than the nuggets. Evidently those seconds saved was enough for a company wide change.