Eisner Vs Iger

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

You obviously have strong feelings and that's ok. But you've one very strong word that seems inappropriate and that's "corrupt". That's not a minor accusation of Iger and not one I've seen supported anywhere. I think that you need to back up that statement.

Eisner basically rescued the company at a time it was a takeover target but he ran afoul of a Disney family member. He was a creative force but not always true to the Disney brand, ie see DHS which was a rushed attempt to beat Universal Studios to the movie theme.

Iger has focussed more on the total business of Disney and not as much on theme parks which makes the theme park fans unhappy.. The theme parks are just one part of the company and the board and major investors wanted the company to reduce theme park costs which they saw as excessive compared to the rest of the company and as much as ordered that refocusing a few years ago.

The way I se it after doing some research and even now that the economy is improving more employees have lost their jobs under Iger.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Pixar more or less invented the CG Animated film so they should stay in that business WDAS should have continued what it did best which was Traditional Animation which is why I am mad at Eisner for killing it and Iger for killing it again.

The difference is that Eisner killed it for Chicken Little and slapped the Disney name on third-rate CGI dreck like The Wild to substitute for what looked like an inevitable loss of Pixar. Under Iger we've at least had good films like Frozen, Zootopia, and Moana. The incorporation of Pixar into Disney has, I think, also been a huge positive for Disney.

The company was going down the drain when Eisner was finally forced out.

 

[MickeyMomV]

The best place to start (in my opinion) is Disney War by James Stewart

https://www.amazon.com/DisneyWar-James-B-Stewart/dp/0743267095

This is book has a lot of information and in my opinion is very good in understanding some of the issues that have happened at Disney while under Eisner and how Iger plays into a lot of things as well.

 

[L.C. Clench]

You obviously have strong feelings and that's ok. But you've one very strong word that seems inappropriate and that's "corrupt". That's not a minor accusation of Iger and not one I've seen supported anywhere. I think that you need to back up that statement.

Eisner basically rescued the company at a time it was a takeover target but he ran afoul of a Disney family member. He was a creative force but not always true to the Disney brand, ie see DHS which was a rushed attempt to beat Universal Studios to the movie theme.

Iger has focussed more on the total business of Disney and not as much on theme parks which makes the theme park fans unhappy.. The theme parks are just one part of the company and the board and major investors wanted the company to reduce theme park costs which they saw as excessive compared to the rest of the company and as much as ordered that refocusing a few years ago.

Iger has focused on the live action movies but I don't know if any other part of the company is in better shape under his leadership.

 

[BuddyThomas]

This is book has a lot of information and in my opinion is very good in understanding some of the issues that have happened at Disney while under Eisner and how Iger plays into a lot of things as well.

This book is freaking incredible. It reads like a suspense novel. Just amazing. It is about three million pages long but never boring. Just heavy if you buy the physical book and not an electronic edition. But highly recommended.

 

[HMF]

The difference is that Eisner killed it for Chicken Little and slapped the Disney name on third-rate CGI dreck like The Wild to substitute for what looked like an inevitable loss of Pixar. Under Iger we've at least had good films like Frozen, Zootopia, and Moana. The incorporation of Pixar into Disney has, I think, also been a huge positive for Disney.

The company was going down the drain when Eisner was finally forced out.

As far as I am concerned WDFA ended after "Princess and the Frog".

 

[HMF]

This is book has a lot of information and in my opinion is very good in understanding some of the issues that have happened at Disney while under Eisner and how Iger plays into a lot of things as well.

Disney War is also good because it shows that Iger was for all intents and purposes Eisner's hand-picked successor.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Michael Eisner destroyed the heart, soul, charm, wit, beauty, and true magic of the Magic Kingdom. Then he spread this disease like a cancer across the entire company. We are still feeling the effects of it today. Nothing Bob-o has done or could do will ever come close to that.

So Iger preserved the Magic by closing Snow White, cutting New Fantasyland to bare bones, closing half of DHS and EPCOT, not fixing Yeti, and investing almost nothing in new attractions across WDW?

Under Eisner you got some of the best attractions ever built and FOUR new parks.

• Animal Kingdom
• Hollywood Studios
• Blizzard Beach
• Typhoon Lagoon
• Everest, one of the best attractions Disney has ever built
• Kilimanjaro Safaris
• Tower of Terror (maybe THE best attraction ever built)
• Splash Mountain (maybe the most classic "new" ride at WDW)
• Test Track
• Soarin'
• Mission Space
• Rock N Rollercoaster
• Fantasmic!
• All Star Resorts
• A TON of other hotels
• And more

Under Iger we got:

• New Fantasyland
• Toy Story
• Test Track 2.0
• Frozen (by closing Maelstrom)

Iger isn't completely done, but he's essentially put WDW on life support and the jury is out on Pandora, Star Wars, and Toy Story Land. Iger was only able to ignore WDW because Iger built multi decade attractions that literally needed no updating.

Eisner wasn't all great, particularly at the end. He closed some of my favorite attractions, but at least he tried to put something new and innovative in their place. I don't like that Horizons, the original Imagination, and World of Motion were closed either, but Iger only subtracts and crams more people into the parks.

 

[Earl Sweatpants]

So Iger preserved the Magic by closing Snow White, cutting New Fantasyland to bare bones, closing half of DHS and EPCOT, not fixing Yeti, and investing almost nothing in new attractions across WDW?

Under Eisner you got some of the best attractions ever built and FOUR new parks.

• Animal Kingdom
• Hollywood Studios
• Blizzard Beach
• Typhoon Lagoon
• Everest, one of the best attractions Disney has ever built
• Kilimanjaro Safaris
• Tower of Terror (maybe THE best attraction ever built)
• Splash Mountain (maybe the most classic "new" ride at WDW)
• Test Track
• Soarin'
• Mission Space
• Rock N Rollercoaster
• Fantasmic!
• All Star Resorts
• A TON of other hotels
• And more

Under Iger we got:

• New Fantasyland
• Toy Story
• Test Track 2.0
• Frozen (by closing Maelstrom)

Iger isn't completely done, but he's essentially put WDW on life support and the jury is out on Pandora, Star Wars, and Toy Story Land. Iger was only able to ignore WDW because Iger built multi decade attractions that literally needed no updating.

Eisner wasn't all great, particularly at the end. He closed some of my favorite attractions, but at least he tried to put something new and innovative in their place. I don't like that Horizons, the original Imagination, and World of Motion were closed either, but Iger only subtracts and crams more people into the parks.

I'm thankful for most of the things Eisner gave us (minus losing Horizons, etc.) and am inclined to think his tenure might not be so looked down upon had Frank Wells not tragically passed away. As a team, Eisner/Wells were great. But then Eisner was cut loose and began to slip into ego-maniacal behaviors. For my two cents, the top job at Disney is too big for one person. Iger hasn't done anything to dispel that either. He has done nothing but acquire outside companies turning Disney into a conglomeration of things and diluting it more into a simple brand name to slap on something and sell it for an over-inflated price tag.

Everything that has come out under Iger has been manufactured and not inspired to push those brands and in the end will see his "stamp" being grossly imprinted over all that was there before him. Someone mentioned it above, but its worth repeating. WDAS is now Pixar-lite and that's a shame. Sure they've come up with a few hits since the Pixar merger, but hand-drawn animation SHOULD still exist, and thankfully Eisner saw us through the new renaissance period.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

WDAS is now Pixar-lite and that's a shame.

Pixar-lite? I'd suggest WDAS has been doing far better creatively than Pixar in recent years. It was very much dying when Iger took over and it looked like Disney would also lose Pixar. Imagine where Disney would be now if things had of kept going on the same trajectory.

Sure they've come up with a few hits since the Pixar merger, but hand-drawn animation SHOULD still exist, and thankfully Eisner saw us through the new renaissance period.

Yes, and then decided to shutter hand-drawn animation and triumphantly re-launch Disney as a CGI studio with Chicken Little.

I think people are forgetting how bad things were by the time Eisner was essentially booted out. Iger hasn't been good for WDW, but overall I think he's been better for Disney theme parks. By the time Eisner left, they were churning out stuff like DCA 1.0, WDSP (which I doubt will ever quite recover from its original poor design), and the budget-version of DL at HKDL as the way forward. I don't like the shoe-horning of IP into everything, but at least they're not as tight-fisted and there's some ambition in what they are doing these days.

 

[Andrew C]

but hand-drawn animation SHOULD still exist

They tried. I think even Ed Catmull wanted it to exist....but it didn't work out. Maybe they will give it another go in a different way sometime in the future.

 

[HMF]

They tried.

With one movie that was vastly underrated and under performed so they just said screw the whole thing Frankly, If they are going to go the all CG route they might as well merge the two Studios.

 

[Andrew C]

With one movie that was vastly underrated and under performed so they just said screw the whole thing.

There was more into the decision than what you're saying...but fine...

 

[HMF]

Pixar-lite? I'd suggest WDAS has been doing far better creatively than Pixar in recent years. It was very much dying when Iger took over and it looked like Disney would also lose Pixar. Imagine where Disney would be now if things had of kept going on the same trajectory..

Defunct or bought by Comcast and both options are better than what we have now..

 

[Earl Sweatpants]

Pixar-lite? I'd suggest WDAS has been doing far better creatively than Pixar in recent years. It was very much dying when Iger took over and it looked like Disney would also lose Pixar. Imagine where Disney would be now if things had of kept going on the same trajectory.


Yes, and then decided to shutter hand-drawn animation and triumphantly re-launch Disney as a CGI studio with Chicken Little.

I think people are forgetting how bad things were by the time Eisner was essentially booted out. Iger hasn't been good for WDW, but overall I think he's been better for Disney theme parks. By the time Eisner left, they were churning out stuff like DCA 1.0, WDSP (which I doubt will ever quite recover from its original poor design), and the budget-version of DL at HKDL as the way forward. I don't like the shoe-horning of IP into everything, but at least they're not as tight-fisted and there's some ambition in what they are doing these days.

It's ironic you think WDAS is doing better than Pixar lately as they're both essentially run by the same people.

As for the other comment, yes I agree Eisner lost sight of animation and more or less spearheaded the CG world, I again, don't think things would have been so bleak had Frank Wells not passed giving Eisner 100% control of the company with very little checks and balances.

The so called ambition today in the parks IS them sticking in IPs everywhere. Excluding maybe the Shanghai Pirates (non-domestic park), what has Iger done to improve the parks? Raise ticket prices, allow overcrowding, completely butchering park footprints for his massive ego-centric SWLs, not to mention, whatever atrocity TSL will become. They're not being tight-fisted??? Apart from Frozen in Norway, Epcot has been left to rot since Iger took over. Yes we know that there are changes coming, but those are just gonna be IP shoehorns as well. GotG at DCA?? Come on.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

As for the other comment, yes I agree Eisner lost sight of animation and more or less spearheaded the CG world, I again, don't think things would have been so bleak had Frank Wells not passed giving Eisner 100% control of the company with very little checks and balances.

More or less? He shut down traditional animation and re-launched it as a completely CGI animation studio. The re-launch then turned out to be a poor man's Dreamworks.

At least Iger gave them the opportunity to try hand-drawn animation again, despite the fact that was quite expensive given they had to start from scratch once more. As Andrew C said, it didn't quite work out and I agree that it would have been better if they had of kept plugging away. Still, at the very least, hand drawn animation went out with Princess and the Frog. Under Eisner, the last traditional animated feature was Home on the Range.

The so called ambition today in the parks IS them sticking in IPs everywhere. Excluding maybe the Shanghai Pirates (non-domestic park), what has Iger done to improve the parks? Raise ticket prices, allow overcrowding, completely butchering park footprints for his massive ego-centric SWLs, not to mention, whatever atrocity TSL will become. They're not being tight-fisted??? Apart from Frozen in Norway, Epcot has been left to rot since Iger took over. Yes we know that there are changes coming, but those are just gonna be IP shoehorns as well. GotG at DCA?? Come on.

I don't love a lot of what they're doing, but I don't think things are worse than where they were when Iger took over. The solution for "fixing" DCA under Iger may have been a IP-heavy, but ultimately the park is far better for all the placemaking and new attractions that have been undertaken. Remember, the response under Eisner to the park's problems was A Bug's Land and a cut-down version of ToT.

 

[Earl Sweatpants]

More or less? He shut down traditional animation and re-launched it as a completely CGI animation studio. The re-launch then turned out to be a poor man's Dreamworks.

At least Iger gave them the opportunity to try hand-drawn animation again, despite the fact that was quite expensive given they had to start from scratch once more. As Andrew C said, it didn't quite work out and I agree that it would have been better if they had of kept plugging away. Still, at the very least, hand drawn animation went out with Princess and the Frog. Under Eisner, the last traditional animated feature was Home on the Range.


I don't love a lot of what they're doing, but I don't think things are worse than where they were when Iger took over. The solution for "fixing" DCA under Iger may have been a IP-heavy, but ultimately the park is far better for all the placemaking and new attractions that have been undertaken. Remember, the response under Eisner to the park's problems was A Bug's Land and a cut-down version of ToT.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on the domestic parks being "better" under Iger.

I think overall, my biggest Iger complaint is that he clearly is beholden to Wall St. and seems intent on not pushing Disney as a company, but as a brand made up of a bunch of other companies.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on the domestic parks being "better" under Iger.

I think overall, my biggest Iger complaint is that he clearly is beholden to Wall St. and seems intent on not pushing Disney as a company, but as a brand made up of a bunch of other companies.

$$$$$$you are correct$$$$$$

 

[rk03221]

One thing no one has really mentioned is the cms. Iger has done great things for Disney but one thing he failed to do is focus on the employees. Being a former cm myself and talking to a lot of the old school cms, Disney used to do so much for its employees but over the years it all got taken away. From what I understand the company culture definitely changed in a bad way.

 

[IanDLBZF]

Under Iger we got:

• New Fantasyland
• Toy Story
• Test Track 2.0
• Frozen (by closing Maelstrom)

Plus we got Art of Animation, a number of resort refurbs and expansions, and a lot on the horizon.