Al Lutz: "Management must stop bending over to pick up pennies as dollars fly over their heads"

[flynnibus]

So why when booking a hotel everything is booked and people are shoulder to shoulder. According to the Guiness World book of Records, which does not lie, WDW resort and Disney Parks remian #1 across the board for number of attendance. At over 17.1 million toursit visiting the Magic Kingdom alone this past year. Disney has just released that this past quarter was there largest one with over 4 billion dollars in money made. Don't believe me look it up on the Orlando Sentinels, Daily Disney Paper. Thats from the people who blew the whistle on Disney's Florida Project.

Also just in... the Earth is 92,955,807 miles from the sun. While that is true... like your points above.. neither actually address the points in the discussion and are simple diversions.

So.. again... care to revise that corporate statement again to talk about WDW? You know.. the park competing with that 'tired' Harry?

 

[wm49rs]

Ok. So I'm a new member sorry. I have been a meber of other blogs related to disney and stumbled on this one because it's very interesting. But the official disney blog D23 has had information relating to that.

I'm sure it does....

 

[WDW1974]

That's a weird policy to have. I read every article on that site and I never once saw him recant or provide an update on anything related.

I'd be very happy to be proven wrong.

No, it's to prevent no-life fanbois (not saying you're one) from keeping me on MAGIC all the time, digging into files and doing research to find something that proves what I know to be true, true.

Al stated on more than one ocassion that TDO was holding up the project because they wanted to cut costs. That was true. Burbank stepped in. That was true. Al mentioned this at some point (maybe multiple) ... but I must ask, it's a relatively unimportant point in the scheme of things, so why are you so concerned with it?

 

[flynnibus]

Dr Disney Social Media director,

If you want to send minions out to 'shape' opinion on sites... you need to actually hire and task people that are actually smarter than the people they are trying to dupe. Stop sending us your college interns and people who just 'discovered' the Internet when WordPress got big.

K.. thx.. bye

 

[andre85]

I'm not sure if he ever came out and said it or not. It's true though.

According to WDW1974, he did say it. The fact that he seemingly didn't publicly state such supports my point.

No, it's to prevent no-life fanbois (not saying you're one) from keeping me on MAGIC all the time, digging into files and doing research to find something that proves what I know to be true, true.

That makes it no less strange. I don't think it's much to ask that you support your assertion with facts.

Al stated on more than one ocassion that TDO was holding up the project because they wanted to cut costs.

Correct.

Al mentioned this at some point (maybe multiple)

He did not; even Lee seems to suggest that might be the case. He never once publicly went back on what he said, despite the myriad times that he stated the opposite. In the interest of fairness, one would hope that he would. That is my point.

 

[WDW1974]

Al could never do for WDW what he has done for DL unless he decided to up and relocate to central FL for a couple of years. I respect and appreciate his comments on the matter (biased or not towards his own resort), but the one who mentioned that there are 50 Pixiedust Snorters for every 1 Realist is absolutely true. And when you have those realists spread across thousands of miles and dozens of countries versus DL's mostly within a 3 hr drive fanbase, it's very hard for WDW fans to rally anything.

Sad, but true. I am not sure you could get six fans in a room to agree that Walt Disney was an actual man.
It can be a fun stress reliever to argue with fans here, but that only goes so far.
So many simply don't have the knowledge and perspective, but talk like they do ... which will be driving me to take my holiday break (and allow Lee to pick up a few hundreds 'likes' on me) very, very soon.

This stuff really is cyclical isn't it? Every 6 months some people say "hey, wouldn't it be great if WDW fans could rally together?" as if we haven't tried repeatedly. At this point I'd rather just have a drink with Tom, Daniel, and Spirit somewhere at a bar in Epcot (are cocktails over the $8.00 mark yet?) than try it a 3rd time.

Yes, most drinks are over the $8 mark, but they're at least not SoBe/NYC priced yet (no, I don't want to pay $20 for a cocktail unless I'm getting something else with it!)

But fan campaigns won't work. Doing something like having a dweeb fanboi take down the Parks Blog and replace it for a day would ... of course, that might have legal repercussions, so I'd never advise that.

The bottom line is change will come when the financials show the current model isn't sustainable and the competition keeps growing their business while Disney's stagnates (something it has been doing for years now).

And if hotel occupancy is really so far off, why won't they just lower the damn prices already? I'll stay a week at the Wilderness Lodge if I could get it for $150/night again!

I just turned down a CM rate for my upcoming stay of $201 a night.

 

[WDW1974]

I'm not sure if he ever came out and said it or not. It's true though.

He said it. But the poster focused on it, apparently thinks I should go through every column he wrote and every little update he puts at the top of his site for the last few years to PROVE IT.

I just love the fan community. Really and truly, I do.

 

[asianway]

No, I have zero faith that Mongello would change and suddenly be honest or at least transparent. All I was saying was that for any sort of fan "movement" to gain any "real" attention it would have to have a leader with a voice. I used Lou as an example because really he'd be the perfect person to gather enough support to make noise because the amount of "Mongellions" that hang on his every word would be too large too ignore. Now of course he would never do that because like I said his income is now tied heavily to Disney (allegedly) so why disrupt the good thing he has going.

But when people talk about fan organized movements my point was they will always fail because we are too divided without a organization and a leader with recognition.

Allegedly? This is the guy that did the keynote entitled "Turning your passion into profit" at the Central Florida Blogger Con.

 

[andre85]

He said it. But the poster focused on it, apparently thinks I should go through every column he wrote and every little update he puts at the top of his site for the last few years to PROVE IT.

It really shouldn't be that hard if you understand how to use Google. And it's not like he even writes that many columns.

Anyways, even if you were to, I very much doubt you'd find what you claim considering he didn't say what you think he did.

 

[GLaDOS]

It really shouldn't be that hard if you understand how to use Google. And it's not like he even writes that many columns.

Anyways, even if you were to, I very much doubt you'd find what you claim considering he didn't say what you think he did.

If you're so obsessed with finding if he said it or not, why don't you go look?

 

[WDW1974]

It strikes me, without being critical of any one poster, that one of
the reasons why the "fan voice" is dismissed by the company, is because
serious discussions of quality and direction for the parks devolve quickly
into a WDW vs. DL fan discussion.

Can't we keep it on track, and take the my park vs. your park discussion elsewhere?
Again, no disrespect to anyone's particular opinion/rationalization/justification about
which park is which, but this is why it's hard to be heard, and taken seriously. IMO.

Nah, the reason we aren't taken seriously as a group (I can absolutely assure you that certain posters are taken VERY seriously by the company) is because apparently other than Starbucks destroying the MK, there never is close to a consensus on anything. ... Even attractions falling apart onto guests or climatic final scenes being turned into a disco or prices constantly going up ... the fan community never comes close to consensus.

Indeed, more people are probably concerned about Splash Mountain closing for a few months and impacting their MAGICal WDW vacations than people being concerned that chunks of the mountain have been known to fall onto guests.

Yes, this IS why we can't have nice things.
And, yes, this IS why DLR fans are a different breed than WDW's.

 

[andre85]

If you're so obsessed with finding if he said it or not, why don't you go look?

Because I'm not the one making the assertion; the burden of proof is on the one making the claim. And I've already stated I've read all of his columns and he never once said what WDW claims he did.

 

[KevinYee]

But fan campaigns won't work.

This is almost word for word what I said to you when we first met!

 

[Lee]

He did not; even Lee seems to suggest that might be the case. He never once publicly went back on what he said, despite the myriad times that he stated the opposite. In the interest of fairness, one would hope that he would. That is my point.

I don't really want to get into a whole thing, really.
All I said was that I personally don't know if Al said it or not. (I don't always read that site, so for all I know he did a whole page on it.). I only know that Al wasn't my source on that info, nor was it '74's only source.

I did find this, from Al in 2009:

But when the Orlando executives, who are a notoriously tough sell when it comes to investing in new attractions, put the brakes on not only Star Tours 2.0 but also most other major attraction additions in Florida, it threw the carefully crafted budget into disarray.

The large production and facilities installation budget was created by WDI on the ability to spread the costs between two properties, but with Walt Disney World backing out of the plan last year with no current interest in rejoining the project, the Disneyland version that TDA still wants is now left up in the air. And people wonder why I frequently have Orlando in my cross-hairs.

This matches what I was told.
TDO bailed on ST2, but were later not given the choice by Burbank

 

[andre85]

This matches what I was told.

And that matches what I've been saying.

 

[KevinYee]

Nah, the reason we aren't taken seriously as a group (I can absolutely assure you that certain posters are taken VERY seriously by the company) is because apparently other than Starbucks destroying the MK, there never is close to a consensus on anything.

Agreed.

It's also relevant that the Internet has changed. In 1997, when Al started his site, there were VERY few places of substance online about Disneyland (lots of smaller fan-driven stuff, but little that could be considered comprehensive). When it became the mouse-site in 1999, it was even more high-profile. That, combined with Al's inside sources, made it must-read stuff for anyone who cared about Disneyland. A groundswell was not only possible, you could even say it was inevitable.

In 2012, the Walt Disney World community is splintered, not just across many very comprehensive fan sites and communities, but also across Social Media. One of the things DisCo is doing by involving so much social media at the press events is to out-shout and overwhelm the critical voices, and by and large, it's working.

 

[Lee]

And that matches what I've been saying.

Which is what? I forgot...

Oh...and this from Al on the same subject:

However, around that same time a slightly less ambitious version of the remade ride is set to debut out at Walt Disney World (Orlando execs passed on paying for big updates to their exterior and exit gift shop, as well as some improvements to the ride system and vehicles that Disneyland is getting to increase hourly capacity. They're still muggled out there I guess).

 

[WDW1974]

WDW was updated and well-maintained for its first quarter of a century, even when it was physically larger than it is today (with, by the way, lower ticket, food, and resort prices adjusted for inflation). WDW’s problems are not due to size. Its problems are due to misaligned/mismanaged priorities adversely impacting its core business.

First are the maintenance and support staff cuts initiated under Eisner in the late-1990s and continued under Iger. Delaying regular & appropriate maintenance and reducing staff makes this quarter’s numbers look great but has long-term consequences that are becoming increasingly apparent today.

Second are TWDC’s decisions to morph WDW from a vacation destination into a real estate development. Over the last 20 years, a growing amount of money, time, and effort has been spent on DVC, Celebration, and Golden Oak. Today it feels as if the theme parks are treated as a means to sell real estate and merchandise, instead of TDO’s primary business.

Both issues can be solved if TDO would refocus on the theme parks as their core business and treat them like long-term investments rather than as mechanisms to boost quarterly profits.

I don't know how many times I've written the same thing. ... I'm convinced that people who pray to Mickey see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear.

WDW's attractions are falling apart. Even things that just opened like TT and Mermaid are having SQ issues daily. And people here (and elsewhere) want to excuse them and say that WDW is too big and they do the best they can and they're a business and do I want to pay $250 a day so that no lightbulb will be burned out ... yet, I know they can do better. I expect them to do better. Somehow the problem is the demanding guests and not the rubes who make the excuses?

 

[tomman710]

Allegedly? This is the guy that did the keynote entitled "Turning your passion into profit" at the Central Florida Blogger Con.

I agree with you ... I was being sarcastic when I said (allegedly) because you know the Mongellions love to say there is "no proof!"

 

[flynnibus]

It's why my anniversary trip I'm booking for next month.. is to Cali

I have no interest in going to WDW right now. Cali's xmas decorations will still be up and should make for a good trip as my wife has never been to DLR.