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Brad Rex is out
- Thread starter Enigma
- Start date
PigletIsMyCat
Well-Known Member
Why is it that so many Disney fans hate whoever is in charge of the place? When it was Eisner, everyone hated him. Now that Weiss is in charge of WDW, everyone hates him. What did these cats do that made you hate them so much?
mousermerf
Account Suspended
Brad Rex's claim to fame is having told Deb Wills (of allears.net) in an interview that there would be no Epcot 25th Anniversary. Before that no one liked/disliked him.
It's sort of like how Ouimet at DLR was seen as a father figure because he was in the parks doing low-level jobs and seemed genuinely concerned for the place.
A little something you do and that's what you're remembered for.
It's sort of like how Ouimet at DLR was seen as a father figure because he was in the parks doing low-level jobs and seemed genuinely concerned for the place.
A little something you do and that's what you're remembered for.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Hey Epcot has received tons of attention with Brad Rex--more than the other 3 parks. He'll be missed by me at least.
Brad Rex is a horrible operations manager. You can thank Disneys marketing department for wanting more charecters at epcot and Siemens for the "tons of attention" that epcot has been receiving lately.
The new VP needs to look at what made the original Epcot Center unique and restore it to its former glory. Epcot should return to a focus on futrism, science, technology, and global cooperation no more cartoon charecters. Thankfully, Siemens is leading the charge.
jmvd20
Well-Known Member
How is he a "horrible" operations manager?
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Apparently, Phil over at the MK may be next to leave. I could definitely do without him. We may see some good stuff come to Epcot in the future...like having it open later than 9 pm during peak seasons (having some of Future World close at 7 pm in July is laughable--Animal Kingdom is open later!) :lookaroun
I wonder who it is that is carrying out these firings (and, more importantly, who will determine replacements).
I wonder who it is that is carrying out these firings (and, more importantly, who will determine replacements).
Lets just say that the new management team at Disney (this includes Iger, lasseter, the new chairnman and the new board) really want to reinvigorate disney and that means getting rid of these lazy bums and getting people that will bring about rapid improvements to the parks.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
wonder why Mike over at MGM hasn't been shown the door yet? MGM is the most disgraceful of all to me. Lasseter finally showing interest in WDW? This is good news indeed!
wdwcastwannabe
Active Member
with all due respect, perhaps i am overly sensitive to this as mr. rex afforded me many an opportunity to bend his ear during my time at epcot, but that is a completely unfair statement, especially if you have no idea how the inner workings of the company operate...mr. rex is an upstanding gentleman who was a joy to work for, and is the furthest thing from a "mr. bigshot"...mr. rex acts with an amazing amount of class, nothing like the personality of a "mr. bigshot", thus making this assumption unfounded...
i would highly doubt that not having a 25th anniversary celebration was not solely the decision of mr. rex, or even largely the decision of mr. rex...the idea of an official park celebration is large enough that i would think it was more in the hands of mr. rasulo...
again, sorry if this looks upset, but "mr. bigshot" seems like a highly unfair assumption to me...
tim :king:
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
by all reports, he was great to Cast Members, but apparently from a park operations standpoint (e.g. having half of Future World still close at 7 pm with crowds the way they are), he made some poor decisions.
PigletIsMyCat
Well-Known Member
I actually feel like alot of assumptions made about the uppers at WDW are unfair. I doubt that many people on this board have any idea how to run a company as large as Disney. Even just the WDW Resort is 57,000 employees. If things don't get done, there's complaining. When they get done, it's not to someone's liking. The parks were not made for us, the Disneyphiles on the boards, they were made for everyone, and first and foremost Disney is a business. I can understand people who have worked for specific suits at Disney, like Tim stated about Mr. Rex, and have specific gripes about them. But everyone makes mistakes, and as a person they learn from them, and as a company Disney learns from them.
CTXRover
Well-Known Member
What exactly is the role of a VP for one of the parks at WDW? I am honestly not that familiar with their exact job description given the levels of hierachy currently in the theme park division. From my understanding, Jay Rasulo is the head of the worldwide theme park division, followed by Al Weiss, then followed by Meg Crofton for WDW as a resort which is then followed by each VP for the specific parks and areas of the resort. My guess is the VP is responsible for the daily operations of the parks, including proper maintenance and operation of attractions on a daily basis, proper staffing with CMs, etc., with decisions that directly affect what the parks offer guests to be decided by upper management, which includes new rides, shows, celebrations, etc. Even from an operation/CM staffing standpoint, I imagine the VP's can only work with that given/offered to them from higher up.
There are some things in Epcot's daily operations that I would like see changed, however, without really knowing what a VP's job is , I don't know whether this is good, bad, or nothing much at all. Specifically, what will a new VP be able to do for the park? My other questions are is he being fired, or is HE leaving for something else or is this really the first of many changes in the ranks of the theme park division being made by someone even higher up?
There are some things in Epcot's daily operations that I would like see changed, however, without really knowing what a VP's job is , I don't know whether this is good, bad, or nothing much at all. Specifically, what will a new VP be able to do for the park? My other questions are is he being fired, or is HE leaving for something else or is this really the first of many changes in the ranks of the theme park division being made by someone even higher up?
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
If John Lasseter saw need to leave Disneyland to fire Brad Rex, I trust he was not performing up to standards Walt would have expected.
PigletIsMyCat
Well-Known Member
Oh, I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just stating that I haven't heard anyone badmouthing this Rex cat until just now, so he couldn't have been ticking off the average guest too badly. I just feel that generally, people seem to have some animosity towards Disney uppers that I really don't understand, and I feel that they do not explain it or have reasons for it.
CTXRover
Well-Known Member
Is Lasseter in the role to make these decisions though? I thought his title was simply a "Principal Creative Adviser for Walt Disney Imagineering", which I believe would have little to do with the daily operations of the parks and resorts division run by Jay Rasulo and Al Weiss, right? Or is Lasseter and co. leading a charge to change the theme park operations as 'Enigma' suggested?
Eastsider05
Member
The decision to close futre world at 7, happened before Brad Rex was with the company.
Most people are not happy with the direction Walt Disney World has been drifting in for the past 10 years. Some things have improved but as a whole the parks have become stagnant, poorly maintained and managed, and new additions are usually on the cheap such as Monsters Inc the laugh floor and stitch's great escape. (Soarin' and Expedition:Everest are exceptions of course).
Disney's executive management team has totally changed in the past two years and now we are starting to see fundemental changes such as a focus back on Animation (specifically a revival of cartoon shorts before movies and traditional 2D animation), taking a "quality over quantity" approach to movies released, the return of Oswald the lucky rabbit, and a return to the belief that "Quality is a great business plan". Now it's time to get rid of the middle management that runs the park and bring in people that will bring dynamic changes to the theme parks that will boost the quality, maintenance, and entertainment values of the theme parks and take them soaring to new heights.
Oh and I didn't mean that Lasseter literally fired Rex. I was just saying that he is one of the power players thats trying to take Disney into a different direction that involves making major changes to all aspects of the company.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Bob Iger is at the top, though, isn't he? And John Lasseter has been having friendly conversations with Bob recently...it sounds like they went right over Jay Rasulo's head, which is a good thing--he doesn't need to be making decisions.
Of course--this decision was post-9/11. However, since attendance levels have returned to pre-9/11 levels, it's time for that policy to end. You'll notice the other parks have returned to late hours in the summer (and MGM has double-showings of Fantasmic! nightly this summer). Epcot, however, continues to roll along in its 2001 state, Wand and all.
PigletIsMyCat
Well-Known Member
I heart Al Weiss, despite his inability to read from a teleprompter convincingly.