Rumor Hollywood insiders say there's growing tension at Disney as CEO Bob Chapek chafes at Bob Iger's 'long goodbye'

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I agree that EPCOT was the best -- I'm saying currently DAK is the best and it's not really close IMO (thanks to how they've butchered EPCOT over the years). Of course that's not solely due to the original construction, obviously, but the level of detail there certainly helped.

Anyways, I'm not suggesting Rohde was amazing with budgets. I'm simply saying singling him out doesn't make sense because every single WDI project has the same issue. There's nothing different about him from a budget/spending standpoint, except that his results were a lot better so people know who he is. Most people have no idea who was in charge of New Fantasyland or Toy Story Land.

Again, I think Cosmic Rewind is costing Disney almost as much money as the whole Pandora expansion. That's light years beyond any budgetary issues Rohde had. Some of Rohde's overruns look like absolute steals compared to the kind of money Disney is spending on things now.

Dak still isn’t quite there for me…

dinoland is still a mess…they need one more miniland…and the one big addition cost a ton and they needed outside creatives to pull it off.

Disney’s latest sole effort was the most boring planet in the Galaxy.

 

[UNCgolf]

Disney’s latest sole effort was the most boring planet in the Galaxy.

This goes along with my point too. I don't hate Galaxy's Edge as much as you do, but I was definitely underwhelmed by it. When you look at the amount of money they spent on it, New Fantasyland, and Toy Story Land... it makes Rohde look like an absolute genius for what he was able to build with similar amounts of money.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

This goes along with my point too. I don't hate Galaxy's Edge as much as you do, but I was definitely underwhelmed by it. When you look at the amount of money they spent on it, New Fantasyland, and Toy Story Land... it makes Rohde look like an absolute genius for what he was able to build with similar amounts of money.

So if I was gonna make a show about this…I’d call it: Waste Trek: The Next Generation

Joe can make a guest appearance as Data

 

[UNCgolf]

So if I was gonna make a show about this…I’d call it: Waste Trek: The Next Generation

Joe can make a guest appearance as Data

Guardians and TRON are the real headscratchers. I don't remember the numbers now, but they're absolutely insane for individual rides that don't even have a themed exterior. Expedition Everest cost $100 million, but they built a mountain and a detailed, elaborate queue (which I think I like more than the actual ride) -- regardless of whether you think it was worth it, you can at least see where the money went. Guardians is 4x that or more, and I'm pretty sure TRON is past it as well.

 

[Lilofan]

So if I was gonna make a show about this…I’d call it: Waste Trek: The Next Generation

Joe can make a guest appearance as Data

Rhode could be riding into space on his new gig with Virgin Galactic. Billionaire Sir Richard Branson picked a good one to be on his exec team.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Guardians and TRON are the real headscratchers. I don't remember the numbers now, but they're absolutely insane for individual rides that don't even have a themed exterior. Expedition Everest cost $100 million, but they built a mountain and a detailed, elaborate queue (which I think I like more than the actual ride). Guardians is 4x that or more, and I'm pretty sure TRON is past it as well.

Did the $100 million for Everest include the Yeti? Because if so, then something majorly wrong is going on...

 

[Jrb1979]

IMO the problem seems to be that every new attraction has to be a high costing E ticket attraction. Instead they should be adding more C and D ticket attractions. They should be doing what Cedar Fair parks do. Adding smaller attractions most years and every few years add a major attraction.

 

[UNCgolf]

Did the $100 million for Everest include the Yeti? Because if so, then something majorly wrong is going on...

I think so, but I'm pretty sure @lazyboy97o knows all the numbers.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Guardians and TRON are the real headscratchers. I don't remember the numbers now, but they're absolutely insane for individual rides that don't even have a themed exterior. Expedition Everest cost $100 million, but they built a mountain and a detailed, elaborate queue (which I think I like more than the actual ride). Guardians is 4x that or more, and I'm pretty sure TRON is past it as well.

I don’t believe that Everest cost ended up being accurate…but it also is basically a rollercoaster, exterior facade building and the one “thing” in the middle. The complexity of that ride might be exaggerated.

I think I stopped paying attention to “budgets” altogether now…they a PR circus at this point. The last 4 “land” budgets weren’t anywhere near the cost invested…unless they were burying bags of $20 bills below the concrete?

toy story land had absolutely nothing of high expense built after midway mania.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

IMO the problem seems to be that every new attraction has to be a high costing E ticket attraction. Instead they should be adding more C and D ticket attractions. They should be doing what Cedar Fair parks do. Adding smaller attractions most years and every few years add a major attraction.

They have. I'll go back 10 years:

• Major
  • Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
  • Frozen Ever After
  • Slinky Dog Dash
  • Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run
  • Rise of the Resistance
  • Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway
  • Flight of Passage
• Minor
  • Enchanted Tales with Belle
  • 2nd Dumbo
  • Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid
  • The Muppets Present...Great Moments in American History
  • Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival
  • Awesome Planet
  • Beauty and the Beast Sing Along
  • Alien Swirling Saucers
  • Toy Story Mania expansion
  • Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy
  • Na'vi River Journey
  • Atmosphere games (Wilderness Explorers, Agent P, SotMK, Pirates Adventure)

One of the major problems they have is that Disney fans hype up non-major things as if they were major. Rat in Epcot is not major, but people are FREAKING OUT in anticipation of it.

 

[UNCgolf]

They have. I'll go back 10 years:

• Major
  • Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
  • Frozen Ever After
  • Slinky Dog Dash
  • Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run
  • Rise of the Resistance
  • Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway
  • Flight of Passage
• Minor
  • Enchanted Tales with Belle
  • 2nd Dumbo
  • Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid
  • The Muppets Present...Great Moments in American History
  • Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival
  • Awesome Planet
  • Beauty and the Beast Sing Along
  • Alien Swirling Saucers
  • Toy Story Mania expansion
  • Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy
  • Na'vi River Journey
  • Atmosphere games (Wilderness Explorers, Agent P, SotMK, Pirates Adventure)

Of course they spent money on Under the Sea like it was an E ticket!

The other issue is that a third of that list is in the Magic Kingdom when it's really the other parks that need more of that type of attraction. The MK can always use more too, of course.

 

[Nerdman3000]

Eisner did a good job on the creative side but he lost it after Wells died, Just like Walt needed Roy to be the adult in the room, Eisner needed Wells to be the adult who made the responsible decisions with money and executive staffing.

Disney as a company has never run well unless both a creative and finance guy are sharing the top role. Card Walker and Ron Miller along with Iger are all exemplars of this.

It didn’t help that, from what I understand, Wells was actually the bigger risk-taker of the two. I know the standing assumption in the fandom and industry has always been that Michael Eisner was the bold risk taker and Frank Wells the conservative “steady hand”, but from what I read on Wells, it seems it was actually Frank Wells who of the two was the one willing to do things that were higher-risk, higher-reward, and who was willing to spare no expense when needed, often having to drag Eisner along. When Wells died, Eisner and Disney lost that willingness to take as many bold risks, leading to a lot of interesting projects getting canned.

I certainly believe that a number of projects which got canceled in the mid-late 90’s in our timeline may not have been had Wells lived.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

They have. I'll go back 10 years:

• Major
  • Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
  • Frozen Ever After
  • Slinky Dog Dash
  • Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run
  • Rise of the Resistance
  • Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway
  • Flight of Passage
• Minor
  • Enchanted Tales with Belle
  • 2nd Dumbo
  • Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid
  • The Muppets Present...Great Moments in American History
  • Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival
  • Awesome Planet
  • Beauty and the Beast Sing Along
  • Alien Swirling Saucers
  • Toy Story Mania expansion
  • Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy
  • Na'vi River Journey
  • Atmosphere games (Wilderness Explorers, Agent P, SotMK, Pirates Adventure)

One of the major problems they have is that Disney fans hype up non-major things as if they were major. Rat in Epcot is not major, but people are FREAKING OUT in anticipation of it.

You’re way exaggerating the investment/significance of many things on that list…

but opinions vary.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

It's not just the projects though, it's the entire division. They're an expensive bunch of employees to administer, and in comes in part from a rock star mentality that pervades the group. Joe, for better or worse, was the face of that mentality.

Tony Baxter would like a word with you.

 

[tanc]

After the star wars pricing, I am really considering making Tokyo my home resort. Everything that made the Disney difference is fading into obscurity and I really just don't how I feel about someone taking the reins who will make the cuts.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Don't forget though...those travels for research aren't limited to WDI...the studios do them, too. (Moana is the first that comes to mind.)

And of course people love to knock on research trips as though a couple of books and Google are similar.

Did the $100 million for Everest include the Yeti? Because if so, then something majorly wrong is going on...

Yes, it did.

IMO the problem seems to be that every new attraction has to be a high costing E ticket attraction. Instead they should be adding more C and D ticket attractions. They should be doing what Cedar Fair parks do. Adding smaller attractions most years and every few years add a major attraction.

The high costs prevent them from being able to deliver true small scale attractions. They are now in such a capacity hole that even a small addition gets overwhelmed.

 

[UNCgolf]

The high costs prevent them from being able to deliver true small scale attractions. They are now in such a capacity hole that even a small addition gets overwhelmed.

They really need to build a handful of small scale attractions simultaneously and open them all together, or even a couple of major attractions with several smaller ones.

Opening one or two new things every couple of years just leads to the newest thing getting overwhelmed. If there were 5 or 6 new things all at the same time, or even within a couple of months of each other, it would help spread things out.

 

[MisterPenguin]

They really need to build a handful of small scale attractions simultaneously and open them all together, or even a couple of major attractions with several smaller ones.

Opening one or two new things every couple of years just leads to the newest thing getting overwhelmed. If there were 5 or 6 new things all at the same time, or even within a couple of months of each other, it would help spread things out.

Or use some sort of park reservation system and keep any one park from becoming over capacity.

 

[UNCgolf]

Or use some sort of park reservation system and keep any one park from becoming over capacity.

That could work, except they'd have to make the max capacity lower than a regular attendance day to keep every ride from having long waits -- not much chance of that happening. They'd be giving away too much money, especially if they're going to sell FastPasses.

I doubt they're actually going to use the park reservation system that way, but who knows!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

They really need to build a handful of small scale attractions simultaneously and open them all together, or even a couple of major attractions with several smaller ones.

Opening one or two new things every couple of years just leads to the newest thing getting overwhelmed. If there were 5 or 6 new things all at the same time, or even within a couple of months of each other, it would help spread things out.

They gave up the consistent outfitting approach long ago.

avatar opened going on 5 years ago…what have they added in the park since?

Or use some sort of park reservation system and keep any one park from becoming over capacity.

That would have been a great idea when they had 45 mil or so clicks in Orlando, wouldn’t it have been?