George K to Replace Meg Crofton as WDW head in early 2013

[Disneyhead'71]

The question I would ask GK is:

Have you considered taking your partner for an anonymous 2 night stay and touring the competitions resorts and parks to see what you're up against? You know a little first hand market research?

 

[articos]

The question I would ask GK is:

Have you considered taking your partner for an anonymous 2 night stay and touring the competitions resorts and parks to see what you're up against? You know a little first hand market research?

Good question - he and nearly every other Disney exec have all toured IOA recently. All the CA execs have been on Transformers as well - there's a habit of inviting each other to openings at USH and DL. Not as much in Orlando, although the creative teams tend to more than the ops/exec management.

 

[lazyboy97o]

The 2 primary questions that GK should be asked: Will you take an afternoon and take Andy - sans nametag - and go experience your parks like an average guest, and observe/listen? Call dining and try to make a reservation. Go stand in lines. Observe the cast interactions. Look at the conditions of the attractions. Make notes. Eat a burger. Talk to guests as equals.

This! I do not get the love for suits showing up and walking around their parks in suits. Yes, they are there, but it is not an honest experience. Almost anybody walking around a theme park these days in a suit is going to be treated differently because the employees just assume that said person is somebody checking up on them.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Good question - he and nearly every other Disney exec have all toured IOA recently. All the CA execs have been on Transformers as well - there's a habit of inviting each other to openings at USH and DL.

Yeah, but when I have seen them touring IOA and USF, they have been wearing suits and name tags. They are obviously going to get the VIP treatment that way. I think that, not only should they secret shop their own parks but the competition as well.

 

[Bolna]

My question would be: "What do you yourself consider a premium vacation experience? Do you think WDW - which charges premium prices - lives up to the standards you expect when you go on vacation?"

 

[RunnerEd]

The 2 primary questions that GK should be asked: Will you take an afternoon and take Andy - sans nametag - and go experience your parks like an average guest, and observe/listen? Call dining and try to make a reservation. Go stand in lines. Observe the cast interactions. Look at the conditions of the attractions. Make notes. Eat a burger. Talk to guests as equals. Then: Will you talk to your cast members and go spend time with them afterwards? Take those notes and ask the painters why the wall has mismatched paint or hasn't been touched up. Ask why BTMRR has effects not working from the techs working on it at night. Not their managers, or your VP, the actual guys doing the work, and ask them to be honest. Find out what is preventing them from doing the job. Find out what procedures work and what doesn't and change them. Do both of these within the first 30 days, and I think he'll be off to a good start.

It isn't about budgets or staffing or NextGen when you take over a role like this for the first month - yes, you need to be on top of those initiatives, but more importantly, you have to understand the basic state of the product. The absolute first thing is getting down there and getting a feel for what's going on. Look at the day to day and work from there. George used to be a detail guy - he needs to get back to that for a while to set an example.

^^^^This^^^^ with one addition, stay in a $200 a night (spring break/Christmas rate) value resort and ride the bus home after "Wishes."

 

[George]

This! I do not get the love for suits showing up and walking around their parks in suits. Yes, they are there, but it is not an honest experience. Almost anybody walking around a theme park these days in a suit is going to be treated differently because the employees just assume that said person is somebody checking up on them.

Great idea! I know how I'm dressing my next trip!

 

[George]

Mine would be - Can you explain why EPCOT no longer puts up Christmas decorations sans the giant tree and a few topiaries and crap? Do you think they should?

Also, why are we here on this Spaceship Earth? To look at unexplained dark silhouettes in the foreground?

 

[KevinYee]

My question for George:

How will you change the CULTURE of WDW? What makes DL more magical than WDW is partly the scale/charm of the place, and partly the *culture*. If you do something that is "bad show" at DL, the managers come down on you like a ton of bricks. At WDW, not so much.

In fact, at WDW, they are just as likely to do things to make the line go faster as things which are "fair" to all in the line. An example: filling up the side queue area with folks who will get out of the way of others behind them in line, but will have to wait longer. This sounds like a small thing, but it's not.

 

[articos]

Mine would be - Can you explain why EPCOT no longer puts up Christmas decorations sans the giant tree and a few topiaries and crap? Do you think they should?

Also, why are we here on this Spaceship Earth? To look at unexplained dark silhouettes in the foreground?

These are questions for Erin, Epcot's VP. And questions that I have yet to get a good answer for.

 

[articos]

My question for George:

Kevin, if I ever saw this, I would ask for the area ops manager, then nicely ask why there was a cone as opposed to closing the doors. If they defended, get a name and take it up with City Hall.

 

[MattM]

They've been quite on the ball since the Patty Melt fiasco.

I've seen this mentioned a few times around here. Did I miss something?

 

[Californian Elitist]

I've seen this mentioned a few times around here. Did I miss something?

You certainly did. Some of the users put on a great show in the best thread ever. I almost joined in, but I was afraid of using language I rarely use. You missed it, it was a huge show/mess.

 

[Belowthesurface]

Kevin, if I ever saw this, I would ask for the area ops manager, then nicely ask why there was a cone as opposed to closing the doors. If they defended, get a name and take it up with City Hall.

Those doors might not be able to be permanently shut, since they open automatically when coming into unload/load.

OR

Peoplemover doesn't have anything to tag vehicles or their tags are missing/damaged.

Good luck getting an Area Manager. It's a pain in the butt sometimes to get the regular Leaders on scene without Coordinators asking why you didn't call them first.

CMs don't "bother" their Area Manager first, because it's not protocol.

 

[articos]

Those doors might not be able to be permanently shut, since they open automatically when coming into unload/load.

OR

Peoplemover doesn't have anything to tag vehicles or their tags are missing/damaged.

Good luck getting an Area Manager. It's a pain in the butt sometimes to get the regular Leaders on scene without Coordinators asking why you didn't call them first.

CMs don't "bother" their Area Manager first, because it's not protocol.

Unless the mechanism for the doors is broken, it's easy to shut them and lock them out. This was (and still should be) the preferred way to take one of the peoplemover cars offline for decades. CM's should never have a problem asking for a lead or an area manager if asked. Period. Pain in the butt is not an excuse within the company. Ever.

 

[Belowthesurface]

Unless the mechanism for the doors is broken, it's easy to shut them and lock them out. This was (and still should be) the preferred way to take one of the peoplemover cars offline for decades. CM's should never have a problem asking for a lead or an area manager if asked. Period. Pain in the butt is not an excuse within the company. Ever.

It's easy to get Coordinators/Leads, but sometimes you are looked at strange if you only want a Leader.

 

[Alektronic]

But asking for a GSM (Guest Service Manager) doesn't always help because they switching OPs supervisors so much that none of them really know what is going on in their area, they get moved around so much I don't think they really have time to get familar with their areas.

 

[articos]

But asking for a GSM (Guest Service Manager) doesn't always help because they switching OPs supervisors so much that none of them really know what is going on in their area, they get moved around so much I don't think they really have time to get familar with their areas.

Any suggestion then as to making sure cones don't happen? I can address from the top down, but I can't guarantee the word will make it to the right ears who are the ones allowing said cones to happen.

 

[articos]

It's easy to get Coordinators/Leads, but sometimes you are looked at strange if you only want a Leader.

Being looked at strangely doesn't phase me in the slightest, especially if correcting something that is bad show and is not within SQS guidelines.

 

[maxairmike]

Unless the mechanism for the doors is broken, it's easy to shut them and lock them out. This was (and still should be) the preferred way to take one of the peoplemover cars offline for decades. CM's should never have a problem asking for a lead or an area manager if asked. Period. Pain in the butt is not an excuse within the company. Ever.

This has been the way they've "tagged" cars on Peoplemover for a few years at least, so I'm surprised it took you this long to notice. I know a few people who work/have worked that attraction and have discussed the ride with them (once a ride op, always an operations observer, even to a fault), and if there's an easy way to lock them shut, no one is being trained or told that by anyone now. I believe part of it has to do with union related issues (i.e. locking the doors may involve a mechanism that maintenance views as something ops shouldn't touch, and having an ops CM doing such may be seen as "taking away work" for a maintenance person), so they place a cone for a tag and let maintenance handle it at night. It may also be related to "safety" in that it takes the CM's attention off of possible guests while the ride is in motion, and the exit CM sometimes has a hard enough time getting the foreign guests to understand that their ride is over and to get out or they need to shut their door for another 10 minute ride. Those are my best guesses based on what I know, so I may be wrong, but that's how I see it.