if Disney actually monitors this site then WHY, don't they seem to listen..?

[bjlc57]

I have read over the years that posters here, probably rightfully and truthfully said that Disney actually reads posts from this site. Then I guess the question is WHY, Why, why, in the wide world of sports ( ABC sports television show owned by Disney).. do they not seem to respond.. For once I feel true resentment toward the overlords of the Magic Kingdom..I can feel true, true, outrage and anger with the posters of this site, in the extremely slow progress that the Upper Management wants to take , or is taking , in regard to the expansion and the overhaul of the parks, especially Hollywood Studio's and Epcot.. Wouldn't it behoove all those current and future paying customers, a true FAST TRACK PLAN for these projects. Haven't they used up enough good will with the foot dragging of the last two projects, one finished and one, seemingly hanging in limbo over at the Avatar project.. And you can feel through out reading the posts here, that LONG TIME avid Disney stalwarts have had enough the delays and the push backs and the shortsightedness of the management team at Disney world. Posters who I have read for years, really being upset and angry that Dance party fill in's are supposed to be enough for the next up to 5 plus years.. and you all know who you are.. 10 years ago.. you would never have spoken out like you are doing so today. And its a real concern because we all think that maybe Disney is reaching that famous "tipping point" whereas minds change, vacation plan's CHANGE , VACATION PATTERNS CHANGE.. and suddenly that slippery slope appears.. and the ride isn't pretty.. may be its time for Disney Management to answer to their true bosses .. Not the stock holders.. and the bean counters.. its the people who buy the tickets.. and the Dole whips and the resort rooms,,,and Management should reach out to them TO US.. who are them.. and tell us.. that they hear us and they are listening.. Have a magical Day..

 

[Master Yoda]

I am going to go with the simple fact that this forum and others like it are not made up of what Disney considers their core client base, who, in spite of all of the changes most here would consider negative, still show up in droves with their wallets wide open.

About the only thing I think Disney really monitors these sites for are releases of confidential information.

 

[P_Radden]

Hey @wdwmagic I'm curious if you look at the analytics, can you see how much traffic this site gets from Glendale and Burbank?

I've always been curious if REAL imagineers ever glance at the Imagineering forum here?

 

[asianway]

Simple because the rubes will continue to put money in the collection plate.

 

[ford91exploder]

Simple because the rubes will continue to put money in the collection plate.

Until they don't and then it will be too late

 

[Goofyernmost]

As much as some think that they know all the answers, they do not. None of us, including me, have ever run a company the size of The Disney Company. The little nickel and dime stuff we have been involved with, has no connection what-so-ever with the business world that they are in the middle of. They spend millions of dollars researching their market audience, they have a much better idea what the masses will accept and what they won't.

We can call them "rubes" until the cows come home, they still influence the outcome far beyond all of us self appointed experts. They, indeed, do not care about what we think because we know all the ways to not spend money there. We are not the target audience and because of that they do not give a whistlers damn about what we think. And rightfully so!

I have been on these boards for many years. I have seen predictions of disaster constantly through those years, but, guess who just had the most profitable quarter of their history, so that begs the question... who doesn't know what they are doing? Is it different then it was when Walt started the company... of course, and it would be even if Walt were still alive. The world has changed, the people attending the place have changed, everything has changed. The constant refusal to accept that Disney is a BUSINESS is probably the most puzzling of all. It's like some deity placed these parks (beyond DL) on the planet to just be our personal plaything and should never have focus on anything but us. Make money or don't, it won't matter because it is our right to have this place here. We have to accept that it exists now to make money, because it has no other reason to exist otherwise. There is no one that could ever have the personal connection that Walt had and it is ridiculous to think that it would or even should. If there isn't a huge profit motivation, it just honestly will no longer have a need to exist. Pixie Dust will not keep it operating based on ideology. It is no longer a personal challenge, a new adventure and a ground breaking experience. It is here for no other reason then to make money. The sooner we accept that the better we can enjoy the uniqueness of the place.

When and if it gets so bad that it is no longer a place that people want to go to and people aren't rube-ish enough to spend money at, it will be gone. So thank the Rubes for their apparent stupidity because without them it would be 42 square miles of swamp again.

 

[Nemo14]

I have read over the years that posters here, probably rightfully and truthfully said that Disney actually reads posts from this site. Then I guess the question is WHY, Why, why, in the wide world of sports ( ABC sports television show owned by Disney).. do they not seem to respond.. For once I feel true resentment toward the overlords of the Magic Kingdom..I can feel true, true, outrage and anger with the posters of this site, in the extremely slow progress that the Upper Management wants to take , or is taking , in regard to the expansion and the overhaul of the parks, especially Hollywood Studio's and Epcot.. Wouldn't it behoove all those current and future paying customers, a true FAST TRACK PLAN for these projects. Haven't they used up enough good will with the foot dragging of the last two projects, one finished and one, seemingly hanging in limbo over at the Avatar project.. And you can feel through out reading the posts here, that LONG TIME avid Disney stalwarts have had enough the delays and the push backs and the shortsightedness of the management team at Disney world. Posters who I have read for years, really being upset and angry that Dance party fill in's are supposed to be enough for the next up to 5 plus years.. and you all know who you are.. 10 years ago.. you would never have spoken out like you are doing so today. And its a real concern because we all think that maybe Disney is reaching that famous "tipping point" whereas minds change, vacation plan's CHANGE , VACATION PATTERNS CHANGE.. and suddenly that slippery slope appears.. and the ride isn't pretty.. may be its time for Disney Management to answer to their true bosses .. Not the stock holders.. and the bean counters.. its the people who buy the tickets.. and the Dole whips and the resort rooms,,,and Management should reach out to them TO US.. who are them.. and tell us.. that they hear us and they are listening.. Have a magical Day..

2 words - $ and $

 

[Hakunamatata]

I have read over the years that posters here, probably rightfully and truthfully said that Disney actually reads posts from this site. Then I guess the question is WHY, Why, why, in the wide world of sports ( ABC sports television show owned by Disney).. do they not seem to respond.. For once I feel true resentment toward the overlords of the Magic Kingdom..I can feel true, true, outrage and anger with the posters of this site, in the extremely slow progress that the Upper Management wants to take , or is taking , in regard to the expansion and the overhaul of the parks, especially Hollywood Studio's and Epcot.. Wouldn't it behoove all those current and future paying customers, a true FAST TRACK PLAN for these projects. Haven't they used up enough good will with the foot dragging of the last two projects, one finished and one, seemingly hanging in limbo over at the Avatar project.. And you can feel through out reading the posts here, that LONG TIME avid Disney stalwarts have had enough the delays and the push backs and the shortsightedness of the management team at Disney world. Posters who I have read for years, really being upset and angry that Dance party fill in's are supposed to be enough for the next up to 5 plus years.. and you all know who you are.. 10 years ago.. you would never have spoken out like you are doing so today. And its a real concern because we all think that maybe Disney is reaching that famous "tipping point" whereas minds change, vacation plan's CHANGE , VACATION PATTERNS CHANGE.. and suddenly that slippery slope appears.. and the ride isn't pretty.. may be its time for Disney Management to answer to their true bosses .. Not the stock holders.. and the bean counters.. its the people who buy the tickets.. and the Dole whips and the resort rooms,,,and Management should reach out to them TO US.. who are them.. and tell us.. that they hear us and they are listening.. Have a magical Day..

If 911 didn't bankrupt Parks and Resorts what Disney is doing now won't.

 

[Schneewittchen]

I'm a bossette at a big-ish company, so maybe I have insights, maybe not.

1. Cultural change takes 5 years enact (even in a small team). So if the parks are doing some changing with all of the new leadership, they are 6 months into the process.
2. We're the noisy, minority, whiny, fanbois/haters (the 1%). The Disney net promoter scores are probably super high because regular guests are wowed by their services every day.
3. Go read a HBR article about big companies. Slow to change, hard to innovate, earnings reports, shareholders, inertia. There are really awesome consultants that make big bucks helping massive companies get a box of transformational innovation and a can of operational efficiency.

Then there's this idea that you can really only excel at one thing. It could be: efficiency in delivering your service (Fedex) or customer service (old Zappos) or lowest price (Walmart) or highest quality (Coach). The best you can hope for is to be good or fair at other stuff.

What's Disney's thing? "Best quality family entertainment", "Most E-Ticket rides", "Super duper nicest employees"........

 

[Bluewaves]

The parks print money , so corporate mentality is to make as much as possible with spending as little as possible.

Certain parts of the company ie ESPN are hemorrhaging money, so as long as people keep showing up at Disney and spending money and keeping the tills full, the company will keep pulling money from the parks.

When people stop showing up and the hotels aren't 90plus % full then maybe they'll listen to us whiny fan boys.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

They are only interested to see if there is still sufficient posters on message, defending the brand and ensuring the circled wagons are tightly packed and working in unison.
Besides who can be arsed trawling through pages of pap to get to the real quality nuggets of posts like mine, when they are surrounded by mediocrity of the brand advocate.

 

[wm49rs]

They are only interested to see if there is still sufficient posters on message, defending the brand and ensuring the circled wagons are tightly packed and working in unison.
Besides who can be arsed trawling through pages of pap to get to the real quality nuggets of posts like mine, when they are surrounded by mediocrity of the brand advocate.

Best remember though, so much of that "on message" tripe is bought and paid for by the mouse. That cuts down on using the search function by at least half....

 

[copcarguyp71]

Simple because the rubes will continue to put money in the collection plate.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

As others have said, the posters here are not representative of their overall guest population. We're the ones who know the parks extremely well, who notice the smallest details and changes, who spend our free time talking and thinking about Disney. The majority of their target market? They don't participate on these boards. What we think is likely not the general consensus among their entire target market. And until it becomes the general consensus, Disney won't care.

What we post on this site is good information to have for them, but it is likely one small part of their market research.

 

[bjlc57]

Disney has to start to look and see that its "core people, " the Baby Boomers of the late 40's and 50's.. with 57 being our biggest birth year, is starting to die off. Those of us who watched Davy Crockett and Annette with such intense, are going away.. I am 59.. I watched the Mickey Mouse Club in black and white.. WDW gave me a place to encourage my love and to give in to all those things we were taught on a daily basis.. a place where my siblings who are much younger , have no idea what churns in my inner being when I walk or drive under that Banner on the south side of the property.. They never had THAT DISNEY EXPERIENCE.. and never will . We have been the ones to bring our kids..but because our kids never had the daily indoctrination they get Disney but only to a certain point.. They still do not quite understand , why does DAD cry at Disney... ? what causes that type of deep emotion.The new Mouse Club was a whiff of the original show.. We were taught lessons of life and honesty and how to be a good person. Not to lie or cheat but to help one another. And there are less of us each and every day. Including many of the Mouseketeers ..We got WDW to this point.. and we have brought others with us.. .but the deep loyalty is not as deep as it was with us core people .. and it never will be, and it can't be.. and the less it gets.. The more management needs to work to keep the spark and the dream alive.. They need to offer more and not less. and if they don't see this people can change. .No one would ever think that GM would go out of business. but in effect, they did.. Sears is going to close.. JC Penney isn't far behind.. a husband and wife friend of mine, worked at one each 25 years ago.. and the morning joke was , Which store was bigger, number one in sales, as they were one and two at the time.Now both will soon be gone..Dance parties will not carry WDW into the next 25 years. No matter how often management says to let us "eat them".. as the old quote " let them eat cake .." Let them EAT DANCE PARTIES...

 

[Goofyernmost]

Disney has to start to look and see that its "core people, " the Baby Boomers of the late 40's and 50's.. with 57 being our biggest birth year, is starting to die off. Those of us who watched Davy Crockett and Annette with such intense, are going away.. I am 59.. I watched the Mickey Mouse Club in black and white.. WDW gave me a place to encourage my love and to give in to all those things we were taught on a daily basis.. a place where my siblings who are much younger , have no idea what churns in my inner being when I walk or drive under that Banner on the south side of the property.. They never had THAT DISNEY EXPERIENCE.. and never will . We have been the ones to bring our kids..but because our kids never had the daily indoctrination they get Disney but only to a certain point.. They still do not quite understand , why does DAD cry at Disney... ? what causes that type of deep emotion.The new Mouse Club was a whiff of the original show.. We were taught lessons of life and honesty and how to be a good person. Not to lie or cheat but to help one another. And there are less of us each and every day. Including many of the Mouseketeers ..We got WDW to this point.. and we have brought others with us.. .but the deep loyalty is not as deep as it was with us core people .. and it never will be, and it can't be.. and the less it gets.. The more management needs to work to keep the spark and the dream alive.. They need to offer more and not less. and if they don't see this people can change. .No one would ever think that GM would go out of business. but in effect, they did.. Sears is going to close.. JC Penney isn't far behind.. a husband and wife friend of mine, worked at one each 25 years ago.. and the morning joke was , Which store was bigger, number one in sales, as they were one and two at the time.Now both will soon be gone..Dance parties will not carry WDW into the next 25 years. No matter how often management says to let us "eat them".. as the old quote " let them eat cake .." Let them EAT DANCE PARTIES...

Very well put, however, many of those of us that used to watch the MMC back when Annette first charged up those dormant hormones are getting a lot older. A lot older then you are. I will be 68 this summer and Disney was a big part of my life, but, not the parks as I lived to far away to ever see DL until I was in my 50's, WDW when I was 35. Even though, as you said, we are the core that understood Disney, there is no real need to worry about us. I am still in good health and am able to traverse WDW with no problem, but, even in the deep denial I have toward aging, I can foresee a time in the not to distant future where that will not be possible.

However, my core, for the most part is fading, blocked by the new world that didn't exist back in the 50's, 60's and even 70's. This is a world of I-phones, pads, etc. Animatronics are old hat now and they are no longer what people want to see. Since their lives are centered around a screen, albeit a small one, that is today's world. Things that were important to us are no longer part of today's society. Everyone is in a torrid pace to get no place. Result... Fastpass. Things have changed so much that it is scary. When I was a teenager, jet service was just starting up. Doesn't seem possible now that it hadn't been that way forever. Unless you were wealthy you didn't travel. When DL and WDW were built, it was still an adventure to travel to places, not the norm. Now everyone can and does travel places if they have a steady income. It is no longer something that was reserved for the wealthy. That created a different need and things that we felt were absolutely necessary to have a good experience are not even thought about now. Hence, little things that we thought were important, are no longer.

In other words, things that we think are important just aren't anymore. All we can do is adapt to it and not constantly think that time should run backwards because, to my knowledge, it won't.

 

[cococola44]

I will fully state confidently that yes some of the imagineers do glance on this forum. When I worked for Disney, a few of the managers at Character Zoo would talk about the page, and yes they did consider a few things. They have a fabulous marketing team and business plan that will cater and target the clients they are looking for. Now a few of the employees I do know down there in the last couple of years that were my "inside" have moved locations from within and I haven't talked to them much, however... I wouldn't say that they don't glance at this page. There were a lot of things we were privy too that we couldn't talk about.. and a lot of things that we couldn't say... it could very well by that reason.

 

[s8film40]

We so often refer to Disney as a whole, but it's important to remember there are countless departments and thousands of employees that make up what we refer to as Disney. Disney as a whole doesn't monitor this site. There are employees in varying different departments and positions that read this site and many of them do likely either consciously or subconsciously bring things back from here. It's not like there's just one person sitting in a room reading this site with the power to do things but deciding not to.

 

[ItlngrlBella]

I'm a bossette at a big-ish company, so maybe I have insights, maybe not.

1. Cultural change takes 5 years enact (even in a small team). So if the parks are doing some changing with all of the new leadership, they are 6 months into the process.
2. We're the noisy, minority, whiny, fanbois/haters (the 1%). The Disney net promoter scores are probably super high because regular guests are wowed by their services every day.
3. Go read a HBR article about big companies. Slow to change, hard to innovate, earnings reports, shareholders, inertia. There are really awesome consultants that make big bucks helping massive companies get a box of transformational innovation and a can of operational efficiency.

Then there's this idea that you can really only excel at one thing. It could be: efficiency in delivering your service (Fedex) or customer service (old Zappos) or lowest price (Walmart) or highest quality (Coach). The best you can hope for is to be good or fair at other stuff.

What's Disney's thing? "Best quality family entertainment", "Most E-Ticket rides", "Super duper nicest employees"........

^^^ THIS ^^^
Exactly.

 

[Dead2009]

I'm confident that if I can complaint enough about cheese and the fresh baked goods on Main Street, in addition to bringing Maelstrom back, then and only then will we know that Disney pays attention to boards like these.