News Bob Iger is back! Chapek is out!!

[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

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

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

I was referring to the people who have been expressing belief that there could be improvements to the park experience and price reductions with Iger back. There have been quite a few posts like that in this thread.

 

[socaljoeyb]

I was referring to the people who have been expressing belief that there could be improvements to the park experience and price reductions with Iger back. There have been quite a few posts like that in this thread.

I think Iger looks at GSATS and NPS more and will slow the pace of cuts/price increases and maybe improve maintenance. The stuff at the parks has started to bleed into the public consciousness and it's possible Iger recognizes this. The image of the company is important to him.

 

[rio]

IF that's true, then Chapek really comes off looking like a giant d-bag. Complaining that he had to wait to lay off employees until the CARES Act passed so that the impacted employees would have some financial assistance??? How greedy and short-sighted can someone be? It's not like those extra weeks if salary were going to bankrupt the company. Rather than complaining g about being undermined, he should have been grateful that he didn't look like an even bigger a-hole right out of the gate. That doesn't absolve Iger of his sudden disappearing act as the crap hit the fan, but it does show how uncaring and out of touch Chapek is.

But it still wasn’t Iger’s choice to make. Iger stepped down and Chapek was supposed to be running the show. Chapek was supposed to take over, and Iger’s legacy be protected because of what COVID would do to the company. A coward’s way out, but that was Iger’s choice.

Firing the employees is one of the first decisions Chapek had to make, and Iger still ran the show from under him. How many more decisions occurred the same way? Really-what did Chapek actually do, or what was he “allowed” to do?

 

[kingdead]

But it still wasn’t Iger’s choice to make. Iger stepped down and Chapek was supposed to be running the show. Chapek was supposed to take over, and Iger’s legacy be protected because of what COVID would do to the company. A coward’s way out, but that was Iger’s choice.

Firing the employees is one of the first decisions Chapek had to make, and Iger still ran the show from under him. How many more decisions occurred the same way? Really-what did Chapek actually do, or what was he “allowed” to do?

Chapek also has a non disparagement clause, which means that Iger has the advantage in recalling any conversation the two men might have had. Not saying that Iger is lying, but it might not have gone down with Chapek cackling over making his employees homeless while Iger screamed at him in disgust and prepared care packages for every single employee.

 

[Touchdown]

James Cameron has only directed 8 movies in his career. Of the 8, 2 are in the top 3 highest grossing movies of all time (Avatar and Titanic) and 3 are highly beloved wildly successful classics (Terminator 1&2, Aliens) the other 3 contain his first movie (Piranha 2, which hey gotta start somewhere) and his “flops” (The Abyss and True Lies) which were only mild success.

In baseball terms, he’s been at bat 8 times, hit 2 grand slams, 3 home runs, 2 doubles, and struck out once. That’s a hell of a record that I would not bet against. Also his last two films became the highest grossing movie of all time when released.

 

[Tha Realest]

expectations and projections on this one keep dropping

 

[Nubs70]

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

This the traditional game after a personnel change - everything bad is shoveled up.and placed at the feet of the predecessor.

Chapek was only following through on the business transformation started under Iger. While Iger was still.behind the curtain as playing Snoke.

What still gets me, Why is the CEO of DIS serving as the face and champion of WDW & DL other than an ego stroke.by being able to play "Walt".

Is there not a President of P&R?? This is the person who should be the face of P&R.

 

[MrPromey]

expectations and projections on this one keep dropping

HOLY.... WOW!

I have to think it'll do more than $20 million over these four days, though.

 

[Nubs70]

The one thing I get a kick out of - is Chapek signed a non-disparagement.

So he can’t even talk. Well he could talk. But it wouldn’t be what he wants to say.

If you want the money, you sign the non disparagement.

Standard practice

 

[Chip Chipperson]

Chapek also has a non disparagement clause, which means that Iger has the advantage in recalling any conversation the two men might have had. Not saying that Iger is lying, but it might not have gone down with Chapek cackling over making his employees homeless while Iger screamed at him in disgust and prepared care packages for every single employee.

A non-disparagement agreement wouldn't prevent him from denying a rumor about himself. It WOULD prevent him from saying something like, "The company is a mess because I inherited a mess from that lying coward."