News Expose reveals WDC control in online fan community

[Filby61]

Sorry but the reality was a bit more nuanced than what you are describing. Lutz had become a big thorn in the side of Disney towards the end of Eisner's reign. It had gotten to the point where major media outlets were quoting him, from WSJ to NYT. That bugged Disney to no end. With the Save Disney campaign offering his platform a lot of visibility to the shareholders, he became the perfect vessel becoming the "official" critic of the company. By strategically putting the blame on Eisner and his "team," they kept it off Bob.

The reality is that Mucha had a million other things going on and still had responsibilities to the Company and to Eisner, as she reported to him directly. This likely wasn't her focus, it was just one of many side projects.

Everybody knew Lutz was getting detailed, insider-y information. The fact he was basically repackaging what he was given should not surprise anyone.

My point is not that Al was receiving and publishing insider information. My point is that he could have gotten all of it from sources other than Zenia.

Also, part of the respect that Al earned during the years of holding Disney's feet to the fire on maintenance issues came from his reputation of confirming his info from more than one source before he published it. Always independent, he swam against the tide of popular fan opinion and in the face of constant fanboy criticism with his Usenet critiques of Disney, for years before the Save Disney movement. Snyder's claim that Al would let himself be manipulated by Zenia and allow somebody to ghost-write his blog is beyond ludicrous.

 

[marni1971]

I never questioned his identity, more if he thought his sources were genuine or plants. I’ve always assumed that his sources had various perspectives.

Also curious on both @Lee and @marni1971 thoughts on @WDW1974 identity becoming public.

Adding that after seeing Martin’s responses in the DL thread I’m more concerned than I was originally. I think our world here is about to change dramatically.

I just woke up.

Looks like a battlefield around here.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

One more point of order about the article:

Galaxy’s Edge in Anaheim really is a total failure. And it is a cancer on the park. It is the antithesis of Disneyland. I welcome it’s underperformance, the end of the worship of IP, and a return to theme parks being clever rather than selling out.

So with regards to this my question becomes . . . what's to be done about it?

I tend to suspect that things will pick up both when AP's are no longer blocked and later again when Rise of the Resistance opens (if you ask me, we're still well within the window of the "short term" when it comes to gauging the success of the land), but I'm curious about the impact this lull will have on the Disneyland even if it does start to turn around for Galaxy's Edge. Will they "forgive and forget", so to speak, and we'll see no effect on the guest experience? Or will reactionary moves be made anyway?

And then, of course, I'm even MORE curious about the impact to be felt if things DON'T turn around, and Galaxy's Edge proves to be a flop in the long term. What does the response look like to that sort of outcome? That would be a pretty unprecedented situation in terms of Disney Theme Parks.

(I do agree overall that it's wrong for Disneyland.)

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

I just woke up.

Looks like a battlefield around here.

The DL thread is much worse!

 

[pheneix]

Guys, Zenia is probably reading this thread right now looking for ways to diffuse this.

I’m glad critical examination of Disney’s manipulation of social media is being done. Some of the stuff they were planning to defend Galaxy’s Edge and Rise of Skywalker was brutal. It had to end. Or at least be contained.

 

[pheneix]

So with regards to this my question becomes . . . what's to be done about it?

I tend to suspect that things will pick up both when AP's are no longer blocked and later again when Rise of the Resistance opens (if you ask me, we're still well within the window of the "short term" when it comes to gauging the success of the land), but I'm curious about the impact this lull will have on the Disneyland even if it does start to turn around for Galaxy's Edge. Will they "forgive and forget", so to speak, and we'll see no effect on the guest experience? Or will reactionary moves be made anyway?

And then, of course, I'm even MORE curious about the impact to be felt if things DON'T turn around, and Galaxy's Edge proves to be a flop in the long term. What does the response look like to that sort of outcome? That would be a pretty unprecedented situation in terms of Disney Theme Parks.

(I do agree overall that it's wrong for Disneyland.)

Build rides. Not this “immersive worlds” nonsense. In the meantime try to get as much of their money back as they can.

12 acres in Anaheim is an outrageous waste of space. Coulda been three mini lands with different themes + smaller Batuu with the Resistance ride.

 

[ParkPeeker]

The DL thread is much worse!

To be fair we did a whole lot of messing around, especially before that bombshell moment

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Build rides. Not this “immersive worlds” nonsense. In the meantime try to get as much of their money back as they can.

12 acres in Anaheim is an outrageous waste of space. Coulda been three mini lands with different themes + smaller Batuu with the Resistance ride.

Is that what they should do, or what they will do?

(Edited to Add: I agree that it's what they should have been doing this whole time).

I must say, the walk from Critter Country to the meat of the land felt endless last week. I felt like I kept turning corners waiting for a grand reveal, only to look and question if I was actually yet in what was considered Galaxy's Edge. There's some serious No Man's Land there. ROTR will mitigate that a bit, but I agree that there's a real desert there that just feels wildly irresponsible for a park whose real estate is so precious.

The scale will be exciting in DHS but was a little horrifying in DL. I'd be interested to see reclamation there. Galaxy's Edge doesn't need *THAT* much space here.

 

[Kram Sacul]

One more point of order about the article:

Galaxy’s Edge in Anaheim really is a total failure. And it is a cancer on the park. It is the antithesis of Disneyland. I welcome it’s underperformance, the end of the worship of IP, and a return to theme parks being clever rather than selling out.

Okay.

 

[rioriz]

Okay.

@pheneix is right, should've been only one Immersive Universe in DHS and a smaller port like DLP for DL

 

[Crazydisneyfanluke]

Holy smokes what that a lot.

I guess I am not getting sleep tonight with all this reading to do. 2:45am and counting...

 

[Indy_UK]

Woke up to another 10 pages and it mealies even less sense than it did last night lol

So has Al come back to bring down Chapek or not? Why can't Iger just sack him?

 

[Otamin]

I'm not claiming anyone is lying, nor do I want this to be a personal attack on anyone but I find it very odd that the following happened:

"I can claim that TP2000 is lying!"

"Actually I like to lie, just ignore me"

 

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

Build rides. Not this “immersive worlds” nonsense. In the meantime try to get as much of their money back as they can.

12 acres in Anaheim is an outrageous waste of space. Coulda been three mini lands with different themes + smaller Batuu with the Resistance ride.

It's 14 acres actually.

 

[marni1971]

It's 14 acres actually.

In total. Including BOH. And expansion.

 

[LittleBuford]

I am trying to make sense of this thread without reading the whole thing but am utterly flummoxed by what’s going on. Would someone be so kind as to summarise the situation in a sentence or two?

 

[LSLS]

I am trying to make sense of this thread without reading the whole thing but am utterly flummoxed by what’s going on. Would someone be so kind as to summarise the situation in a sentence or two?

As a newer member i may be completely wrong in how I've read this, but basically spirit or his brother returned and made a bunch of claims that iger used al lutz to oust Eisner, and is now using him to oust chapek. And that al lutz doesnt even write the articles, a ghost writer from TWDC does it for him. Also ousted a member of this board (TP2000). Micechat has had some pretty wild replies to this whole issue as well I guess. Oh, and spirits identity is now out there.

 

[bclane]

I am trying to make sense of this thread without reading the whole thing but am utterly flummoxed by what’s going on. Would someone be so kind as to summarise the situation in a sentence or two?

I admit I’m still trying to figure it out myself, but so far I’ve learned two things.

1. TP does not stand for toilet paper (I honestly thought his name meant toilet paper 2000 for some reason. Lol!

2. You are being mind controlled, but don’t worry because while resistance is futile, these are the droids you’ve been looking for.

 

[LittleBuford]

As a newer member i may be completely wrong in how I've read this, but basically spirit or his brother returned and made a bunch of claims that iger used al lutz to oust Eisner, and is now using him to oust chapek. And that al lutz doesnt even write the articles, a ghost writer from TWDC does it for him. Also ousted a member of this board (TP2000). Micechat has had some pretty wild replies to this whole issue as well I guess. Oh, and spirits identity is now out there.

Thanks! And does there appear to be any truth to the claims about Al Lutz?

 

[LittleBuford]

I admit I’m still trying to figure it out myself, but so far I’ve learned two things.

1. TP does not stand for toilet paper (I honestly thought his name meant toilet paper 2000 for some reason. Lol!

2. You are being mind controlled, but don’t worry because while resistance is futile, these are the droids you’ve been looking for.

Best of luck. I've just spent the last hour reading the two threads, and I am none the wiser.

From what I can gather, Disney have been accused of manipulating fan content for their own gains. Some people have been accused of being part of it then it's been retracted. It's alleged that this manipulation has been used to drive people out of the Disney Company and is being done again.

Other highlights include:

- lots of mention of popcorn
- TP stands for theme park (who knew?)
- Accusations and apologies
- Being born in or around 1974 is now classed as old?!?
- Lots of people stayed up late to read the thread

Thank you both for the chuckle, and for making me feel less stupid for being mystified!