Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
You didn’t get the hint it was all ego for Bob ? That seems pretty obvious.
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News Chapek FIRED, Iger New CEO
- Thread starter Chef Mickey
- Start date
Sorcerer Mickey
Well-Known Member
Cue the Scarlett Johansson lawsuit + Curb Your Enthusiasm theme song
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
And I believe one of my posts WAAYYY upthread is suggesting that we need to watch out for that guy. Mr tightpants is nothing.
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Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
This is more or less my impression, too. Feel a bit sorry for Miller in all of this being dealt a bad hand in terms of timing.
I know I keep saying this, but Eisner alone was really terrible toward the end. The whole company was jumping after cheap cash grabs, whether it be in the parks, DTV sequels, crappy animated features, rushed poor quality transfers of animated classics to DVD, etc., etc. The company went very quickly from being the gold standard to being cheap and nasty in most areas. People say he at least had some respect and sensibility for the parks, but I really didn't see much of that. I don't think anything they've done at the parks under Iger was as bad as DCA 1.0, WDSP, and stuff like the Epcot Wand and BAH at Hollywood Studios. All those Epcot classics you love were also torn out under his watch and Mr Toad's Wild Ride was replaced with Pooh.
As for this article, the interesting thing for me is how invested Iger seems to be in raining on Chapek's parade. It's interesting because Chapek seems perfectly capable of causing his own problems and Iger could have chosen to just sit back and let people draw their own conclusions while he sleeps on top of a pile of money with many beautiful ladies. Something in him (ego, I suppose) isn't letting him do that. One thing this does tell us is that he and the people around him are very good at managing politics and perceptions while Chapek is very bad at it. That's not irrelevant when it comes to running a company as huge and with as large a cultural presence as Disney.
Brer Panther
Well-Known Member
All of the things people give Eisner a hard time for? Getting rid of the EPCOT classics, the direct-to-video Disney sequels, etc.?
If he didn't do them, Iger would've. Heck, he made most of the same mistakes that Eisner did.
If he didn't do them, Iger would've. Heck, he made most of the same mistakes that Eisner did.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Eh, Iger stopped the direct-to-video sequels. Whatever you think about the quality of the offerings and the spiralling costs, he also didn't build anything as cheap-looking as Eisner did during those final years and was in charge when they approved spending money to add theming to the parks Eisner left behind. Think about that: they had to spend money to essentially add theming because what was left behind was so threadbare.
Overall, I don't think Iger was great for the parks, or at least for WDW. There's plenty to criticise such as the franchise mandate, generic hotels, underinvestment in WDW, Fastpass+, single-IP lands, etc. This kind of revisionism about what Disney became during the last 5-10 years of Eisner's tenure drives me a bit nuts, though.
Brer Panther
Well-Known Member
That was John Lasseter, actually. I doubt Iger wouldn't have kept those going if it weren't for John.
Plus, Iger gave us the live action remakes, which are even worse.
I'd argue that the Little Mermaid ride is far more cheap-looking than something like Test Track or Kilimanjaro Safaris.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
The Little Mermaid ride has some exceptionally cheap looking parts, for sure -- there's also the entirety of Toy Story Land, which looks like it was done as cheaply as possible.
Other Iger-era additions do not have that problem. Regardless of how anyone feels about New Fantasyland, it doesn't look cheap (outside of parts of the aforementioned Little Mermaid ride, but even there the facade and queue certainly don't look cheap). Neither does Pandora or Galaxy's Edge.
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Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Ok…he didn’t build anything “cheap looking”? Maybe…but did he build a lot that cost too much, undelivered and had low capacity?
Frankly…that’s far worse. It’s a big reason why their capacity is a mess and people at throwing darts at genie and parties without drawing the DIRECT link to it.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
I think BOG is exceptionally cheap looking…since day one. Don’t really get the weird turrets in the ground either. The circus parts and the rest are fine
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
In a lot of ways yes. There’s some nuance too. Iger was the first to shut stuff down with ZERO intention of replacement. That’s a fundamental mistake as travel grew. How do you put more into less without longterm quality decline? You can’t.
Some of iger’s schemes are just on a grander, ballsy scale that would make Eisner blush. All the live action remakes and $200 Halloween parties right at the top of that list.
But none worse than reboots disguised as sequels. They offer nothing new and insult the audience.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
Actually yes, I forgot about that. The BoG facade has a lot of issues; the forced perspective doesn't work at all.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
Didn't Eisner do this with 20K?
I suppose there may have been some long-term replacement plan, but when that attraction closed it's not like they suddenly went to work on a replacement. It was just mostly unused land for a long time.
Iger certainly did it far more, though.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
And you can hose the floors down inside in case the coke machine mounted in the walls leak
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
That was never meant to sit for as long as it did…which really wasn’t all that long when Eisner left.
Bobs list is far more impressive for a lot longer. An entire water park…for instance.
mikejs78
Well-Known Member
Didn't River Country close in 2001? That's squarely Eisner.
mikejs78
Well-Known Member
Eisner (post-Wells) tore down Horizons and gave us Journey Into Your Imagination.
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Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I think costs spiralling out of control and low-capacity attractions were certainly a characteristic of the Iger years. Cheapness, though, wasn't. If anything, he seemed to open the spigot of cash and it was what WDI did with it that was often underwhelming. That is, of course, something he needs to take some responsibility for as CEO.
I find it harder to lay single projects like BOG that were perhaps poorly executed at his feet. The concept was good and I'm sure it had a healthy budget, but the execution was... not great. That, to me, is very different from something like DCA or WDSP in which the CEO clearly had to have signed off on a major project designed and planned to be a budget version of a Disney theme park with the theming stripped down to a minimum.
Isn't River Country closing a little like Discovery Island closing, though? Did WDW really need the older and hokier water park after Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach opened any more than it needed Discovery Island after Animal Kingdom opened? EDIT: I see someone has pointed out Eisner closed River Country anyway!
As for the subs, they did close at Disneyland under Eisner's watch with no replacement until the Iger years. Thankfully they hadn't already filled them in over there. Stuff like the Keel Boats and canoes at MK also disappeared, and I think it was under Eisner that the upper level of JII became dead space. In other words, I'm not sure it's quite so clearcut that one liked to close attractions with no replacement while the other didn't do that at all.
Worse is subjective. I don't like them and haven't seen most of them, but you again can't say they don't at least try and bring in top talent and give the live action remakes a healthy budget. Things like Bambi II were barely above tv animation quality.
And Heimlich's Chew Chew Train is far more cheap-looking than Rise of the Resistance
I don't quite get this general way of comparing the two by arguing that the bad things Eisner did that Iger didn't do he would have done if someone hadn't of stopped him from doing it or if Eisner hadn't of done it first.
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Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Maybe…but it was supposed to reopen and demoed in 2018-19
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Regarding river country…it never should have reopened. Much like discovery island.
But…it was part of a ticket…it was an opinion…something should be added to accommodate. Even if it was an expansion to something somewhere else.
But…it was part of a ticket…it was an opinion…something should be added to accommodate. Even if it was an expansion to something somewhere else.