News Catherine Powell's position eliminated

[Quinnmac000]

There are lots of good people in the lower ranks of execs and higher ranks of middle management. Some might rise, but the company is primarily driven by bottom-line profits, not expertise at maintaining the heritage and values.

@brb1006 — sometimes I think OLC excels with TDR because Japanese culture values traditional quality and reputation along with profit.

Yep...even Universal Parks CEO stated he wishes he could take all his japanese employees and bring them to the states because they are just so much better at providing guests with quality and respect.

 

[Lilofan]

No.

Shortly after the beginning of his tenure as CEO, Iger considered selling the parks because he believed they were a mature business that would only bleed money Fans hoped the Oriental Land Company, which owns TDL, would be interested,

Meanwhile, the P&R position became a revolving door for people who were being groomed to become CEO; except if that person ran the parks well, Iger blocked their advancement. Goodbye Rasulo, goodbye Staggs. Hello Chapek.

If Oriental Land Company would ever buy the parks, the cleanliness of the parks would certainly improve, TokyoDisney is day and night compared to the cleanliness of the U.S. Parks.
That is odd on Staggs. Wasn't it Iger's idea for Rasulo(parks) and Staggs(finance) to switch roles so Staggs being groomed by Iger to be the next CEO can get parks background in his resume? Rasulo left and realizing he wasn't going any higher. Staggs left after not getting Board support on CEO consideration. But these guys did not leave empty handed.

 

[Lilofan]

Read the piece in the Times. It was pandering in tone and language.

And yet they just fired one of the top women executives they have, instead of shuffling her into a new role if her current role was organized out of existence. Apparently Ms. Powell wasn't the type of woman they wanted to keep around.

She was like a sincere small fish swimming with the sharks. Current POTUS was quoted " Sometimes you need conflict in order to come up with a solution. Through weakness, oftentimes, you can't make the right sort of settlement, so I'm aggresive, but I also get things done, and in the end everybody likes me". Iger comes from show business. He knows how to play the part whether you like him or not.

 

[TP2000]

If Oriental Land Company would ever buy the parks, the cleanliness of the parks would certainly improve, TokyoDisney is day and night compared to the cleanliness of the U.S. Parks.

It is like night and day. But to get that to happen you'd also need to get 50,000 American tourists per day in the Magic Kingdom to act like Japanese people. That won't happen.

To get up to the level of Tokyo Disneyland's standards for grace and atmosphere, you'd also need to lay down some strict rules in the parks and at the hotels that would infuriate 21st century Americans. At the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, for example, you can't swim in the pool as a hotel guest if you have visible tattoos. Try telling Mr. and Mrs. McBlimpy from Michigan with their trashy tats that they aren't allowed to swim in the Poly pool and see how far you get.

What works in Tokyo often doesn't work in Orlando and Anaheim.

But it wouldn't hurt if the American execs at least tried to be a little more like Tokyo Disneyland. I don't think they're even trying at this point.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

At the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, for example, you can't swim in the pool as a hotel guest if you have visible tattoos. Try telling Mr. and Mrs. McBlimpy from Michigan with their trashy tats that they aren't allowed to swim in the Poly pool and see how far you get.

In Japan, tattoos are strongly connected to the Yakuza and thus considered taboo for display in public places.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Tokyo Disney Resort standards and practices were mandated by the contract Oriental Land signed with Walt Disney Productions in the late seventies. Their management was trained by the same management that led the parks in the seventies and eighties who trained under Walt’s guys or were Walt’s guys. It isn’t some coincidence that Tokyo far outpaces the other resorts, they have no other choice.

 

[asianway]

No.

Shortly after the beginning of his tenure as CEO, Iger considered selling the parks because he believed they were a mature business that would only bleed money from the company’s bottom line. This was despite his approval to reinvent DCA. Fans hoped the Oriental Land Company, which owns TDL, would be interested, but they weren’t. Legit rumors strongly pointed to a prince in the Middle East (no joke!).

Then Disney tried using FastPass+ MagicBands to rearrange crowds and avoid investments in new attractions, Universal opened Potter phase 1 and proved theme parks could innovate, and Iger suddenly decided he cared about the parks by announcing Pandora. The parks stayed in the company.

Meanwhile, the P&R position became a revolving door for people who were being groomed to become CEO; except if that person ran the parks well, Iger blocked their advancement. Goodbye Rasulo, goodbye Staggs. Hello Chapek.

Years later, his distaste for theme parks continues to manifest itself by insisting they turn ever-increasing profits through cost-cutting, price gouging, and class systems. You’ve gotta love how he has divided the Disney Park experience to favor wealthy people who can afford cupcake parties, premium parking, and upgraded packages at hard-ticketed events—while pretending he’s a moderately liberal political savior for the common family.

Prince Al Waleed already owned a 10% stake in EuroDisney SCA so not hard to fathom

 

[brb1006]

Yep...even Universal Parks CEO stated he wishes he could take all his japanese employees and bring them to the states because they are just so much better at providing guests with quality and respect.

You know something's wrong when even the CEO of Universal Parks has the same thought of us on the boards. BTW is there a quote of him saying that?

 

[Bender123]

In the WWE, they always list the people being released/fired as "Wish them well in their future endeavors" when they don't want to give a reason...Which has spawned the meme of "Future Endeavoring" in the wrestling community.

It sounds like she got Future Endeavored...

The term of "Doing something different" sounds like the type of answer Jayde at the McDonalds gives when her coworker asks what happened to the old grill guy that walked out a month ago.

 

[Quinnmac000]

You know something's wrong when even the CEO of Universal Parks has the same thought of us on the boards. BTW is there a quote of him saying that?

The employees there are super dedicated, super friendly I would really like to bottle them, so to speak, get all of our parks around the world because just culturally, they are very considerate, very considerate. When you see everybody walking around with a mask, because they don't want to give you their illness. And they don't want to get one either. But they are very considerate, very thoughtful and it's just a great environment.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/42...resents-bank-america-merrill-lynch-2019-media

 

[brb1006]

If Oriental Land Company would ever buy the parks, the cleanliness of the parks would certainly improve, TokyoDisney is day and night compared to the cleanliness of the U.S. Parks.
That is odd on Staggs. Wasn't it Iger's idea for Rasulo(parks) and Staggs(finance) to switch roles so Staggs being groomed by Iger to be the next CEO can get parks background in his resume? Rasulo left and realizing he wasn't going any higher. Staggs left after not getting Board support on CEO consideration. But these guys did not leave empty handed.

It is like night and day. But to get that to happen you'd also need to get 50,000 American tourists per day in the Magic Kingdom to act like Japanese people. That won't happen.

To get up to the level of Tokyo Disneyland's standards for grace and atmosphere, you'd also need to lay down some strict rules in the parks and at the hotels that would infuriate 21st century Americans. At the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, for example, you can't swim in the pool as a hotel guest if you have visible tattoos. Try telling Mr. and Mrs. McBlimpy from Michigan with their trashy tats that they aren't allowed to swim in the Poly pool and see how far you get.

What works in Tokyo often doesn't work in Orlando and Anaheim.

But it wouldn't hurt if the American execs at least tried to be a little more like Tokyo Disneyland. I don't think they're even trying at this point.

Tokyo Disney Resort standards and practices were mandated by the contract Oriental Land signed with Walt Disney Productions in the late seventies. Their management was trained by the same management that led the parks in the seventies and eighties who trained under Walt’s guys or were Walt’s guys. It isn’t some coincidence that Tokyo far outpaces the other resorts, they have no other choice.

Even Tokyo is able to regularly get brand new daytime parades every couple of years without reusing previous floats (Most of the time that is) especially their seasonal parades (mainly for the Christmas and Halloween Seasons) almost yearly. Other Disney Parks would usually reuse older parade floats (looking at you Castle Float) for a newer parade or sometimes keep the same old parade running for over a decade (Both the Christmas parades at WDW and DL, and the Boo To You Parade).

 

[Squishy]

Even Tokyo is able to regularly get brand new daytime parades every couple of years without reusing previous floats (Most of the time that is) especially their seasonal parades (mainly for the Christmas and Halloween Seasons) almost yearly. Other Disney Parks would usually reuse older parade floats (looking at you Castle Float) for a newer parade or sometimes keep the same old parade running for over a decade (Both the Christmas parades at WDW and DL, and the Boo To You Parade).

Well that's because it's managed by a company that actually cares about guest experience & entertainment.

 

[larryz]

I have a feeling she was expendable from the start if not already expended. Back when they moved her from Paris to the Middle-Upper-Middle Manager position between Chapek and the US parks, I had the feeling that it was all too temporary... like they were moving her up to move her out.

18 months later (which would be considered an "appropriate length of time") she's toast.

 

[Lilofan]

Even Tokyo is able to regularly get brand new daytime parades every couple of years without reusing previous floats (Most of the time that is) especially their seasonal parades (mainly for the Christmas and Halloween Seasons) almost yearly. Other Disney Parks would usually reuse older parade floats (looking at you Castle Float) for a newer parade or sometimes keep the same old parade running for over a decade (Both the Christmas parades at WDW and DL, and the Boo To You Parade).

It surely helps when Tokyo Disney is 100% owned by the Oriental Land Company. In 1979, Disney and OLC signed a licensing agreement with OLC only giving 10% of admission revenues and 5% of food and merchandise revenues as royalty to Disney. Looks like the Japanese got the better part of the

 

[tirian]

Prince Al Waleed already owned a 10% stake in EuroDisney SCA so not hard to fathom

You’re right, but in America, it looks like an Internet joke because of email scams.

 

[tirian]

It surely helps when Tokyo Disney is 100% owned by the Oriental Land Company. In 1979, Disney and OLC signed a licensing agreement with OLC only giving 10% of admission revenues and 5% of food and merchandise revenues as royalty to Disney. Looks like the Japanese got the better part of the

And they reinvest into the parks.

Disney gets 100% of their profits, and has spent the last five years axing parades and live entertainment, cutting down expansion plans (e.g. SWGE and Toy Story), playing FP+ games to maintain queues and cut staffing dollars — and price gouging the entire time.

Then fans go online and say they don’t care because they didn’t watch the parades anyway, or they’re not SW fans. They fly instead of drive, so why do they care about hotel parking rates and premium upcharges at the parking lots? They make excuses for paying more for less.

When the dining plans cut snacks or desserts or whatever, people said it was okay because it was too much food. But the prices continued rising! Somehow the fact they’re paying more than ever before and getting less for their money doesn’t register with these people. It blows my mind. I want to believe they’re shills for the company. I want to believe nobody can be that foolish.

 

[Quinnmac000]

The biggest difference that I noticed most people missing regarding OLC conversation is the why. Why does OLC reinvest. Japanese businesses are very old school and focus on long term longevity of company and not for short term gains which means they will spend more on little things such as maintenance, customer satisfaction because it will maintain their consumers longer thus boosting profits which is not the thought process in the United States.

 

[WDW Pro]

Josh D'Amaro is also in the hot seat, which really, really sucks... he knows what he is doing, is trying to soften the poor decisions of Chapek... but he'll go down before Chapek does over the current issues.

 

[brb1006]

In the WWE, they always list the people being released/fired as "Wish them well in their future endeavors" when they don't want to give a reason...Which has spawned the meme of "Future Endeavoring" in the wrestling community.

It sounds like she got Future Endeavored...

The term of "Doing something different" sounds like the type of answer Jayde at the McDonalds gives when her coworker asks what happened to the old grill guy that walked out a month ago.

At least Iger ain't like Vince at least personality wise.

 

[Bender123]

At least Iger ain't like Vince.

The cast that live in hotels beg to differ...