News Expose reveals WDC control in online fan community

HauntedPirate

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
lazyboy97o said:
And it’s not like Jay Rasulo was that great of a replacement. I do though recall Al singing Jay’s praises early in his tenure.

What did poor Ed Grier do to get the wrath of Al? And why would someone want him out?
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Honestly, he came after Matt Ouimet. That was a hard act to follow. That, and he seemed like more of a corporate puppet, didn't walk the park very often, etc. Time is getting the better of certain memories from that era.
 
tirian

tirian

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
bubbles1812 said:
Ahaha. I remember that too. But I seem to remember Meg Crofton was the one who was really rail-roaded. The Bobs are no exception to the general rule.

I feel like the takeaway from this thread of thought is that no one ever likes any of execs and we’d all do the jobs better ;)
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Buried20KLeague said:
Let me introduce you to Matt Ouimet.
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Also Staggs, who pushed for improved maintenance and refurbs, and who added Seven Dwarfs Mine Train to New Fantasyland.
 
Buried20KLeague

Buried20KLeague

Well-Known Member
dizda said:
The usual.
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Yep. It's a normal occurance around here for a long time poster to be outed as a (recently) former TDA employee and ghost writer for a major Disney fan site owner (with potential influence from TDA, his employer at the time), lie about it, ignore it, get blown up by a mod from there coming here to prove who he is, only for that mod to later beg us all to forget what he said and beg for the thread to be deleted (more than once, with a mult), only for our long time poster to continue posting as if nothing happened, while most seem to not care and happily drink the cup of kool-aid handed to them by that said poster.

So yeah, pretty much the usual.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
tirian said:
Also Staggs, who pushed for improved maintenance and refurbs, and who added Seven Dwarfs Mine Train to New Fantasyland.
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No, not also Staggs. Pressler, Rasulo, Chapek and Iger have all worked from the direction of the late Eisner era’s Strategic Planning Group that was lead by Staggs.
 
tirian

tirian

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
lazyboy97o said:
No, not also Staggs. Pressler, Rasulo, Chapek and Iger have all worked from the direction of the late Eisner era’s Strategic Planning Group that was lead by Staggs.
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It’s true that he led the Strategic Planning monkeys, but he also listened to Lasseter (hang with me) and emphasized quality in the parks.

At that time, John Lasseter was still riding high on the successes of Cars Land, Art of Animation, and a few smaller projects he oversaw. Staggs knew he personally didn’t have enough knowledge of the parks and allowed a Lasseter-led WDI a few years of creative freedom they hadn’t had in a decade, and he insisted on healthy budgets for P&R to restore their lustre. Hotels were renovated, food menus improved, attractions were refurbished, and he insisted on replacing a Cinderella M&G with Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Park tickets, dining, and hotel prices remained reasonable during his tenure instead of being used for short-term earnings report gains.

Stagg slowly gained popularity among the Disney ranks, and Iger replaced him with Chapek.

In other words, even though Staggs didn’t know much about P&R, he knew when to admit that and step out the way for the experts to do their thing.

He was a Strategic Planning flunky, but at least he didn’t think the company could cut budgets, jack up prices, and sell glittery cupcakes to be Magical.
 
D

dizda

Well-Known Member
Buried20KLeague said:
Yep. It's a normal occurance around here for a long time poster to be outed as a (recently) former TDA employee and ghost writer for a major Disney fan site owner (with potential influence from TDA, his employer at the time), lie about it, ignore it, get blown up by a mod from there coming here to prove who he is, only for that mod to later beg us all to forget what he said and beg for the thread to be deleted (more than once, with a mult), only for our long time poster to continue posting as if nothing happened, while most seem to not care and happily drink the cup of kool-aid handed to them by that said poster.

So yeah, pretty much the usual.
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That was sarcasm. Clearly the Snyder article that motivated the OP to start the thread was unusual. However, the way the thread turned into a bit of a free-for-all is not all that unusual for major threads on this board.
 
FrankLapidus

FrankLapidus

Well-Known Member
For me, this report tallies with the Bob Iger and Zenia Mucha that are presented in DisneyWar - Iger is someone who Roy and Stanley Gold regarded as little more than an Eisner lapdog who needed to go the same way as his boss, someone that Eisner himself coldly dismissed as little more than a subordinate who would never be capable or worthy of running the company.

I always thought that Iger had to have been a hell of salesman to win Roy and Gold over given their initial opinion, or underestimation, of him, and his association with Eisner. But he wasn't a Katzenberg or an Ovitz, he wasn't some abrasive personality who rubbed everyone up the wrong way because he was too overtly relentless in his personal ambition - he played the part of the lapdog, and took all of the flak for it as a consequence, until the opportune moment came for him to make his move. It was strange how he emerged from the shadows of being Eisner's loyal lieutenant into the spolight as his successor without being lastingly tainted by the messy fallout of the Save Disney campaign. But he played the game cleverly and got everything that he wanted in the end - if he (and Mucha) did manipulate Save Disney to further his own agenda, he's made Roy, Stanley Gold and Michael Eisner all look pretty stupid.

It's been clear for a long time that a lot of people at Disney are playing these PR games and that all of them have an individual axe to grind - it's corporate Game of Thrones.
 
Disone

Disone

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
No, not also Staggs. Pressler, Rasulo, Chapek and Iger have all worked from the direction of the late Eisner era’s Strategic Planning Group that was lead by Staggs.
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Disagree. I would not lump Staggs into that group of Pressler Rasulo and Chapel.

As already mentioned that Staggs was underwhelmed to by new Fantasyland and replaced character meet-and-greets with the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Staggs was also underwhelmed with Hyperion Wharf, the originally announced replacement to Pleasure Island. He felt that Disney could do better. He wasn't afraid to make the Ballzy move and literally cancelled Hyperion Wharf after construction had already broken ground. From this the reinvention of Pleasure Island became a complete redo and expansion of Downtown Disney and Disney Springs was born.

Staggs may have come from and "lead" the Eisner era but one free from Eisner he sure didn't follow suit of of the strategic planning group.

In my opinion the company would be wise to reconsider Tom Staggs and Matt too.
 
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lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
tirian said:
It’s true that he led the Strategic Planning monkeys, but he also listened to Lasseter (hang with me) and emphasized quality in the parks.

At that time, John Lasseter was still riding high on the successes of Cars Land, Art of Animation, and a few smaller projects he oversaw. Staggs knew he personally didn’t have enough knowledge of the parks and allowed a Lasseter-led WDI a few years of creative freedom they hadn’t had in a decade, and he insisted on healthy budgets for P&R to restore their lustre. Hotels were renovated, food menus improved, attractions were refurbished, and he insisted on replacing a Cinderella M&G with Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Park tickets, dining, and hotel prices remained reasonable during his tenure instead of being used for short-term earnings report gains.

Stagg slowly gained popularity among the Disney ranks, and Iger replaced him with Chapek.

In other words, even though Staggs didn’t know much about P&R, he knew when to admit that and step out the way for the experts to do their thing.

He was a Strategic Planning flunky, but at least he didn’t think the company could cut budgets, jack up prices, and sell glittery cupcakes to be Magical.
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New Fantasyland was already drowning in its operational deficiencies when it was announced. Killing the expensive to build and operate, low capacity meet and greets with a smaller version of an idea that had never fully died, that was cheaper to operate with higher capacity was not some move of passion.

Lasseter’s big creative guidance was on Cars Land and the Disney’s California Adventure rebuild. That project was approved and designed under Rasulo’s leadership. In typical fashion with Disney execs, people credit the guy who was there on opening day (Kalogridis is similarly credited).

Staggs didn’t reject the idea of cuts to make numbers. Rasulo similarly instituted things like refurbishments and other improvements when he took the top job. They weren’t reacting against the system, they were just slightly more cautious and less arrogant.
 

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