News Bob Iger is back! Chapek is out!!

[Lilofan]

Will this be streamed anywhere?

On the site Inside The Magic it’s listed as a company town hall with Iger and Q&A. No word on streaming.

 

[matt9112]

It's like how I've yet to encounter someone who was underwhelmed by Galaxy's Edge outside of this board.

It’s hard not to like things on your 10,000 dollar vacation.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I wouldn't worry. It doesn't make much sense for Apple to purchase Disney.

Reporters have to write stories on which people are going to click.

It’s a story Iger has promoted in the past.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

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.

I’m celebrating because the parks were amazing in 2020 when Chapek took over.

Everyone implies Iger is behind all the recent unpopular changes from behind the scenes (G+, reservations, AP changes, magical express death, etc) but he was CEO for nearly 20 years, if he really is responsible for all these changes he played the worlds longest long game… 20 years of minor changes only to implement a bunch of monumental changes all within a year of stepping down? Seems unlikely to me, so I put that blame on Chapek.

Iger was far from perfect, most of Igers park successes stopped when Staggs left (coincidentally also when Chapek took over the parks ) but Iger never burnt the parks to the ground for a penny like Chapek did.

In short… Iger isn’t perfect but he worries about guest satisfaction, Chapek was purely a numbers guy and the guests didn’t seem to matter to him at all.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Everyone implies Iger is behind all the recent unpopular changes from behind the scenes (G+, reservations, AP changes, magical express death, etc) but he was CEO for nearly 20 years, if he really is responsible for all these changes he played the worlds longest long game… 20 years of minor changes only to implement a bunch of monumental changes all within a year of stepping down? Seems unlikely to me, so I put that blame on Chapek.

Genie was announced when Iger was still CEO, a direct result of the failure of the multibillion dollar NextGen project also conceived and implemented under Iger. Changes to the Annual Passes were happening. He didn’t only make minor changes, all sorts of things were done. Most of these changes are the direct result of Iger’s view of the parks as a mature business that could no longer grow naturally.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Genie was announced when Iger was still CEO, a direct result of the failure of the multibillion dollar NextGen project also conceived and implemented under Iger. Changes to the Annual Passes were happening. He didn’t only make minor changes, all sorts of things were done. Most of these changes are the direct result of Iger’s view of the parks as a mature business that could no longer grow naturally.

True, Genie the app designed to help plan and maximize your day was introduced back in 2019, Genie+, the scheme designed to separate money from your wallet, didn’t show up until 2021…

Iger was 100% behind Genie, the “plussing” and monetization of it happened under Chapek.

I know you think Igers the man behind the curtain pulling the strings but I still think it unlikely he chose to wait 20 years until he was no longer in charge to implement them.

Actions speak louder than words, I choose to look at what Iger did, not what he “may have done” behind the scenes.

 

[lazyboy97o]

True, Genie the app designed to help plan and maximize your day was introduced back in 2019, Genie+, the scheme designed to separate money from your wallet, didn’t show up until 2021…

Iger was 100% behind Genie, the “plussing” and monetization of it happened under Chapek.

I know you think Igers the man behind the curtain pulling the strings but I still think it unlikely he chose to wait 20 years until he was no longer in charge to implement them.

Actions speak louder than words, I choose to look at what Iger did, not what he “may have done” behind the scenes.

Monetization was always part of Genie. It was being worked on as part of NextGen. You and many others are deliberately ignoring what he did.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Monetization was always part of Genie. It was being worked on as part of NextGen. You and many others are deliberately ignoring what he did.

You keep saying that but without proof I will continue to believe what I saw over 20 years rather than what people believe happened over the last 20 years.

The question was why people believe the parks will be better under Iger, I answered why for myself. You may be right but I sure hope I am, under your theory the parks are doomed to continue along the path they’re on, under mine they improve, time will tell.

You’ll never change your mind, I’ll never change my mind, nothing wrong with that, have a great Thanksgiving.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I’m celebrating because the parks were amazing in 2020 when Chapek took over.

Everyone implies Iger is behind all the recent unpopular changes from behind the scenes (G+, reservations, AP changes, magical express death, etc) but he was CEO for nearly 20 years, if he really is responsible for all these changes he played the worlds longest long game… 20 years of minor changes only to implement a bunch of monumental changes all within a year of stepping down? Seems unlikely to me, so I put that blame on Chapek.

Iger was far from perfect, most of Igers park successes stopped when Staggs left (coincidentally also when Chapek took over the parks ) but Iger never burnt the parks to the ground for a penny like Chapek did.

In short… Iger isn’t perfect but he worries about guest satisfaction, Chapek was purely a numbers guy and the guests didn’t seem to matter to him at all.

The vast majority of recent changes you're discussing were again developed and started while Iger was still at the company. Iger has only been absent for less than one year. And despite Chapek holding the CEO title for a few years now, even by the admission of that WSJ Iger puff piece, Iger retained the true power within the company and used it to "override" Chapek whenever he felt like it. As transparent as that article is at trying to paint Iger as a saint and Chapek as the devil (I think they're both devils again), it also betrays the truth by admitting who was truly running the show prior to this past year.

If Iger significantly drops ticket prices, gets rid of G+, removes park reservations, etc, then you can say that he "fixed" some things. This is not going to happen, especially the ticket price hikes for tickets and Genie+. Genie received an enormous price hike the day after Iger was reinstated. Tickets will continue to skyrocket as they always had under Iger. They're also not going to get rid of the variable day ticket costs, which have been planned for years before Chapek became CEO. The only thing I could even potentially being scaled back eventually are the park reservations, but even that seems like there's no significant plan to do so according to marni1971.

I've also mentioned prior that the worst physical condition i've ever seen WDW in was between 2010-2012 (someone who visited prior to that period stated that it stretched back to 2008). The place was completely filthy and literally falling apart to the point where guest safety was becoming a very real concern in certain areas (there was falling scenery on Big Thunder, the queue for Splash Mountain and the Tree of Life). And as bad of a shape as Splash Mountain is in currently, it was many times worse during those years. So were a number of other rides.

You keep saying that but without proof I will continue to believe what I saw over 20 years rather than what people believe happened over the last 20 years.

It was being actively discussed back when FP+ was still being designed, much of it in WDW1974's old threads by a few different people. FP+ was always going to be evolved into something they could monetize.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

True, Genie the app designed to help plan and maximize your day was introduced back in 2019, Genie+, the scheme designed to separate money from your wallet, didn’t show up until 2021…

Iger was 100% behind Genie, the “plussing” and monetization of it happened under Chapek.

I know you think Igers the man behind the curtain pulling the strings but I still think it unlikely he chose to wait 20 years until he was no longer in charge to implement them.

Actions speak louder than words, I choose to look at what Iger did, not what he “may have done” behind the scenes.

I imagine the monetisation of Genie and some version of what happened under Chapek was in the works under Iger, but I am struggling with this narrative that everything negative that happened under Chapek's watch was Iger's fault and everything positive that happened under Iger was due to Eisner.

Sure, Iger has been very busy massaging the narrative in his favour. I don't think he's the only one who should have sore arms at this point, though.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I imagine the monetisation of Genie and some version of what happened under Chapek was in the works under Iger, but I am struggling with this narrative that everything negative that happened under Chapek's watch was Iger's fault and everything positive that happened under Iger was due to Eisner.

Sure, Iger has been very busy massaging the narrative in his favour. I don't think he's the only one who should have sore arms at this point, though.

You are grossly misrepresenting what has been said.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I feel very much this way.

On here, understandably, people seem to think of Disney just in terms of the parks and evaluate the CEO on their perception of how the parks are being managed. The company is far more than that, though, and I find it hard to argue that Iger wasn't overall a positive in setting up Disney for the future in a way where it was to be one of if not the major player in the entertainment industry rather than a target for being swallowed up by another company that wanted to strip-mine its IP for their own ventures. Even this notion that he just acquired other IPs seems off to me, as if it were that simple every CEO of a major company would be doing that. The things Iger acquired (Pixar, Marvel, & Star Wars) with the possible exception of Fox were good fits for Disney that ultimately strengthened the company. I kind of scratch my head when people dismiss all of that and focus on the death of Touchstone Pictures.

I also feel very strongly that Iger's possession of at least some EQ, empathy, or whatever you want to call it counts for something. Iger seemed to at least realise he was dealing with human beings, both in terms of talent and customers. In that respect, the extreme turbocharging of nickle-and-diming with no regard for how it looks or feels for the customer under Chapek is probably at least less likely to happen under Iger. One thing Iger was good at unlike Chapek was attracting and keeping talent, which is overall a bonus for the company.

In sum, I find all this reflexive negativity suggesting Iger is just as bad as Chapek and things will be no better under him a little too gloomy. He's certainly not the saviour of the parks and doesn't seem to really care that much about them, but Chapek was objectively terrible in a way at least I don't think Iger was when you look at the company as a whole.

Iger is much better than Slaphead…

But he made tons of mistakes and really put the parks in particular in a bind…amongst other things.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I imagine the monetisation of Genie and some version of what happened under Chapek was in the works under Iger, but I am struggling with this narrative that everything negative that happened under Chapek's watch was Iger's fault and everything positive that happened under Iger was due to Eisner.

Sure, Iger has been very busy massaging the narrative in his favour. I don't think he's the only one who should have sore arms at this point, though.

Chapek didn’t have enough time to start anything. It’s pretty easy to analyze the lack of time to get anything going in his “tenure”

They’re dumping every bad Iger move on chapek…

Pretty open progression

 

[Brer Oswald]

I’m celebrating because the parks were amazing in 2020 when Chapek took over.

The parks were amazing before 2020? I felt they really started to dip in quality around 2016. Many would argue before then, but that’s when it became most notable to me

 

[JoeCamel]

The parks were amazing before 2020? I felt they really started to dip in quality around 2016. Many would argue before then, but that’s when it became most notable to me

2010

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I imagine the monetisation of Genie and some version of what happened under Chapek was in the works under Iger, but I am struggling with this narrative that everything negative that happened under Chapek's watch was Iger's fault and everything positive that happened under Iger was due to Eisner.

Sure, Iger has been very busy massaging the narrative in his favour. I don't think he's the only one who should have sore arms at this point, though.

I don’t think Igers a saint either, I just don’t see the line connecting the dots that others see.

I don’t think anything happens at Disney in a vacuum, there’s a dozen hands on everything, but I also don’t think Igers the puppet master pulling Chapeks strings, he had 2 decades at the helm to make these massive changes, if he’s the man behind them I don’t see why he wouldn’t have done them himself when he had full control.

I associate many of the positive park changes to Staggs so I really hope they bring him back, as a (recent) former parks exec I suppose he’s probably intertwined with all these horrible changes also though.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

The parks were amazing before 2020? I felt they really started to dip in quality around 2016. Many would argue before then, but that’s when it became most notable to me

I think it’s all relative, I miss the days of us complaining about price hikes, FP+, IP relevance, etc… compared to reservations, G+, AP changes, magical express, etc those all seem so minor now.

 

[SilentWindODoom]

So, one thing that has been suggested to point to nothing changing for the better is how much of the things that happened weren't Chapek's idea.

True, but how many people know that? It's a risk to admit your own mistakes for many reasons. But Iger is coming back and really hitting hard on how much Chapek screwed everything up.

Could he be swooping in with the hindsight of how much these ideas have caused a stir and with the freedom to roll back things he implemented given that he can blame it all on Chapek with a contract keeping Chapek from contradicting it?

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

2010

Really? You aren’t a fan of Pandora, DCA 2.0, Galaxy’s Edge, NFL?

I could see 2016 because that’s when they went full IP in questionable places but I thought they were doing pretty good before that.

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

 

[JoeCamel]

Really? You aren’t a fan of Pandora, DCA 2.0, Galaxy’s Edge, NFL?

I could see 2016 because that’s when they went full IP in questionable places but I thought they were doing pretty good before that.

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Nope they have no heart