Ed Grier Yay or Nay???

[wedway71]

After reading a bunch of articles from various sites it seems like the New Prez is in his own world.I havent seen any impressive actions so far from him and it seems like he never ever goes into the parks unless its for Publicity shots.

Any opinions????

 

[Nicole220]

After reading a bunch of articles from various sites it seems like the New Prez is in his own world.I havent seen any impressive actions so far from him and it seems like he never ever goes into the parks unless its for Publicity shots.

Any opinions????

I agree with everything you said. He's never in the parks and hasn't done anything new or impressive. Unless he does some great stuff for the resort soon, I want to see a new president very soon...I really miss Matt!!

 

[wedway71]

I agree with everything you said. He's never in the parks and hasn't done anything new or impressive. Unless he does some great stuff for the resort soon, I want to see a new president very soon...I really miss Matt!!

With the hype of DL expanding pretty soon Jay Rasulo better make some changes in the Execs then prior to this. I cant see him sailing this huge ship let alone the tugboat.

 

[Fried Chicken]

I don't understand this unjustified disliking of the man. The parks upkeep is still very good and nothing had slipped or happened yet because of him. I simply don't understand why some dislike him. :brick:

 

[Nicole220]

I don't understand this unjustified disliking of the man. The parks upkeep is still very good and nothing had slipped or happened yet because of him. I simply don't understand why some dislike him. :brick:

That is true about the park upkeep, the main reason I just don't care for him is because he is not a people person like Matt was. I'm more for the people who interact with others and walk through the park than the ones who stay away and are never heard of. I hope the parks stay the way they are and don't go down the tube like they did in the pre 50th era.

 

[wedway71]

Dont dislike Ed. I dont think he has come out of the corner swinging though either.Im just going by what I have read or heard and it seems pretty consistant that he is making no major efforts to feel the pulse of his CMS.

 

[mickster]

That is true about the park upkeep, the main reason I just don't care for him is because he is not a people person like Matt was. I'm more for the people who interact with others and walk through the park than the ones who stay away and are never heard of.

So even though the guy has done nothing wrong, and things have been pretty steady in the short time he's been at the helm, you'd be willing to gamble on a totally different person as president...just because this guy doesn't walk around the park and interact with people?? :brick: Forgive me, but that makes absolutely no sense. Honestly, of the execs who have held that position, how many of them did you actually interact with in the park? And assuming there WERE some you interacted with, how often did it happen? As a guest and fan, I couldn't care less whether DL's president "interacts with others and walks through the park" as long as we get great attractions and the parks stay clean and safe.

I hope the parks stay the way they are and don't go down the tube like they did in the pre 50th era.

Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harris are the reasons things went "down the tube" at DL. If your wish is for the parks to "stay the way they are" then your best bet right now seems to be Ed Grier.

 

[Nicole220]

So even though the guy has done nothing wrong, and things have been pretty steady in the short time he's been at the helm, you'd be willing to gamble on a totally different person as president...just because this guy doesn't walk around the park and interact with people?? :brick: Forgive me, but that makes absolutely no sense. Honestly, of the execs who have held that position, how many of them did you actually interact with in the park? And assuming there WERE some you interacted with, how often did it happen? As a guest and fan, I couldn't care less whether DL's president "interacts with others and walks through the park" as long as we get great attractions and the parks stay clean and safe.



Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harris are the reasons things went "down the tube" at DL. If your wish is for the parks to "stay the way they are" then your best bet right now seems to be Ed Grier.

I should have made my previous statment clearer. I don't just want the parks to stay the way they are, but to excel and become better.

 

[Nicole220]

So even though the guy has done nothing wrong, and things have been pretty steady in the short time he's been at the helm, you'd be willing to gamble on a totally different person as president...just because this guy doesn't walk around the park and interact with people?? :brick: Forgive me, but that makes absolutely no sense. Honestly, of the execs who have held that position, how many of them did you actually interact with in the park? And assuming there WERE some you interacted with, how often did it happen? As a guest and fan, I couldn't care less whether DL's president "interacts with others and walks through the park" as long as we get great attractions and the parks stay clean and safe.

Forgot to add this:
The people I was referring to in my origional post are the cast members. I know the CM's don't get good benefits and good working areas in DL, and I know Disney wants to change that. How is he supposed to help the CM's without talking with them? If a person wants to change something and make it better, they go to the source and ask questions. I would like to see Ed make an effort to help the CM's, not neglect them. If DL wants to keep their CM's, than this would probably be a good first step.

 

[wedway71]

Forgot to add this:
The people I was referring to in my origional post are the cast members. I know the CM's don't get good benefits and good working areas in DL, and I know Disney wants to change that. How is he supposed to help the CM's without talking with them? If a person wants to change something and make it better, they go to the source and ask questions. I would like to see Ed make an effort to help the CM's, not neglect them. If DL wants to keep their CM's, than this would probably be a good first step.

Nicole you are 100% correct. Do you know how to offer wonderful and magical Guest Service ? You offer wonderful and magical Cast Member treatment. The CMS perception of Ed is their reality. If they think the new President is too good to be amongst the troops how can DL Execs expect CMS to exceed Guest Expectations.

As a Guest of DL it DOES MATTER if Ed is walking the parks and seeing whats going on. If Ed looses respect from DL CMS from the start then you can bet turn over will be high and Guest Service will go down the drain and then were right back to square one.

 

[Nicole220]

Nicole you are 100% correct. Do you know how to offer wonderful and magical Guest Service ? You offer wonderful and magical Cast Member treatment. The CMS perception of Ed is their reality. If they think the new President is too good to be amongst the troops how can DL Execs expect CMS to exceed Guest Expectations.

As a Guest of DL it DOES MATTER if Ed is walking the parks and seeing whats going on. If Ed looses respect from DL CMS from the start then you can bet turn over will be high and Guest Service will go down the drain and then were right back to square one.

:sohappy: Finally someone is agreeing with me. I've felt like the world was against me today...it's good to see some positive feedback on something that I do/say right about now.

My mom was a CM at DL and said that the "bad treatment" didn't help her mood during her working hours. In a month, I'm going to apply to be a CM. I know if I'm going to have bad working conditions and treated poorly, it'll be harder to be kind and helpful to others. All the time? No, but it does have an impact.

Like you said, I get the impression that Ed is too full of himself to interact among the "lower" people in the company.

Working conditions better = CM's = customers
Poor working conditions = :fork: CM's = customers

 

[mickster]

Forgot to add this:
The people I was referring to in my origional post are the cast members. I know the CM's don't get good benefits and good working areas in DL, and I know Disney wants to change that. How is he supposed to help the CM's without talking with them? If a person wants to change something and make it better, they go to the source and ask questions. I would like to see Ed make an effort to help the CM's, not neglect them. If DL wants to keep their CM's, than this would probably be a good first step.

Okay well that at least makes more sense.

The problem, however, is that I'm not sure I agree that this attribute in a president is a high criteria. I do agree it's important, especially if that's what the CMs have become used to. But as a guest, I would rather have a DL president who oversees great things happening in the parks, but keeps a low profile, over one who is out interacting with CMs but is allowing things to slip in the parks. If these are the two choices, and CMs aren't doing their jobs and are quitting just because their president isn't out shaking their hands and asking about their jobs, then I would say those CMs need to get over it. To me, that just seems like a silly thing to be a cause of low morale. Of course I agree with you that the ideal situation would be that things improve. A distant second choice would be status quo (which, of course, would ultimately lead to a decline over the long term), and the unacceptable third choice would be that things start to decline immediately (as they did in the Pressler/Harris era). Although it may be a tad off-putting to have Ed Grier noticeably absent most of the time, I'd say that much worse things could be happening. And given the relatively short time that he's been in this position, I'd say it's too early to jump to an assessment and suggest they get a new president soon. I think it's also worth considering the fact that Matt left a pretty good legacy the Ed may just be following at this point (kind of an "if it ain't broke, why fix it" mentality). Long term, that won't work. But if Ed inherited an organization that is running great, and great things are already on the horizon from Matt's era, then I actually applaud Ed for staying the course. I hate it when new presidents (managers, etc) come into an organization and automatically assume their purpose for being there is to completely change everything. I'm frankly relieved that Ed Grier has not turned out to be that type of manager, at least not yet.

 

[mickster]

:sohappy: Finally someone is agreeing with me. I've felt like the world was against me today...it's good to see some positive feedback on something that I do/say right about now.

My mom was a CM at DL and said that the "bad treatment" didn't help her mood during her working hours. In a month, I'm going to apply to be a CM. I know if I'm going to have bad working conditions and treated poorly, it'll be harder to be kind and helpful to others. All the time? No, but it does have an impact.

Like you said, I get the impression that Ed is too full of himself to interact among the "lower" people in the company.

Working conditions better = CM's = customers
Poor working conditions = :fork: CM's = customers

Just so we're clear, I do agree 100% with your equation at the end of your post. However, I think it's possible that people are jumping to conclusions about Ed too quickly. People are assuming that the fact he's been laying low is because he's "full of himself", and it could actually be for completely different reasons. I would still say it's too early to make a judgment about the man.

 

[Nicole220]

Just so we're clear, I do agree 100% with your equation at the end of your post. However, I think it's possible that people are jumping to conclusions about Ed too quickly. People are assuming that the fact he's been laying low is because he's "full of himself", and it could actually be for completely different reasons. I would still say it's too early to make a judgment about the man.

I have been thinking about it the past few days and do agree that it's too ealy to judge him. I guess I just read a bunch of great things about him when he first arrived. Everyone was saying that he can bring a lot of new things to the DLR, so him not doing anything thus far got me concerned. I guess we'll see in a few months-year if he can live up to some of the people like Matt, or watch the resort start to go down the tube.

 

[FloridaRocks]

what does this mean

 

[Nicole220]

what does this mean

What does what mean?? What are you trying to ask? :shrug:

 

[Nicole220]

Found this over at mouseinfo.com. He's finally out and about in the parks, but why was he sweeping while being followed by a camera?....not sure yet. :shrug:

ED GRIER'S DIRTY PHOTO-OP
We ran into Ed Grier in the hub doing some dirty work - sweeping. He wasn't wearing the appropriate custodial costume, but blended in with his white dress shirt and black pants.

He's a nice guy. He asked what my favorite attraction was, and after I quickly offered the Haunted Mansion he asked if I liked Haunted Mansion Holiday. I said it wasn't my favorite, but it was okay. I prefer the original Mansion, I told him. "You're a purist, aren't you?" he asked. I admitted I was at least a little, and then he said "So what did you think about Rockin' Space Mountain?" Peoplemover1 gladly pitched in and said that it was bad and we haven't ridden it since it opened. To this, Ed didn't have a reply. He was responsive to our comments, but he didn't seem like he knew how to reply to negative criticism. He then changed subject to the Submarine Voyage. He asked if we were excited it was coming back, and naturally we said yes. He said the technology was amazing and that he's very impressed with what is being created in the Lagoon. Peoplemover1 asked if there would be any chance of AP Previews, and he said they're working on trying to plan a couple preview days. He said the Subs are a complicated attraction, and they're working on getting people trained on how to operate them properly with the new show and that hopefully they'd be able to offer a few AP preview days.

Anyway, after the chit-chat, I asked for a picture and then we headed our seperate ways. Overall, I left the encounter very impressed with him. He seemed down-to-earth enough, mentioning his family and wife in particular when I told him I had to go home to do some homework and that I was an art student after he asked if we would be sticking around for the fireworks. Apparently, his wife was an art major.

Then after all of this, it hit me. Peoplemover1 pointed out that someone was following him around with a camera, but it wasn't another fan like me - it was a Disney employee- probably a PhotoPass CM. After noticing this, we continued to follow as Ed and the photographer headed towards Fantasyland, posing along the way, sweeping up trash.

This wasn't Ed's noble attempt at garnering CM Matt-like respect from the online fan community and the frontline CMs that he was schmoozing with. This was just for some glitzy photos of him doing some dirty work. I'm willing to bet these snazzy Custodial CM Ed photos will pop up in the next Cast TV episode or CM guide.

It's a shame. It seems like Ed's frontline duties aren't because he genuinely cares about the Cast or Guest experience - but because the press shots will be absolutely stunning with him, dustpan in tow, and the Matterhorn rising majestically behind.

Dirty photo op, indeed.
http://www.mouseinfo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86257

Now, I don't agree with the poster quite yet, until I see what the pictures are used for and how they are used. But I for one am glad to see him out in the parks! :sohappy:

 

[mharrington]

Just so we're clear, I do agree 100% with your equation at the end of your post. However, I think it's possible that people are jumping to conclusions about Ed too quickly. People are assuming that the fact he's been laying low is because he's "full of himself", and it could actually be for completely different reasons. I would still say it's too early to make a judgment about the man.

Let's not forget that before coming to Disneyland, Ed workd for the Japanese Disney parks and you know how envious we are of THOSE parks.

Maybe the reason he's "laying low" is because he is trying to make use of the old relaible "element of surprise".