Kevin Yee- Airing of Grievances

Todd H

Todd H

Well-Known Member
Kevin's article eloquently puts into words what a lot of us are thinking. Unless things change I think our trip in February may be our last for the foreseeable future. My son is five and by the time we decide to vacation again in 2014 he'll be close to seven. By then I believe he'll be able to enjoy a lot of what Universal has to offer.

For years I scoffed at the thought of going to Universal. And then I went there this year for the first time and was blown away. It's going to be hard to resist the urge to slip away to Universal for a day or two during our February WDW trip.
 
evilzorac

evilzorac

Active Member
Florida_is_hot said:
Good article and everything is correct but the results are Walt Disney World attendance still grows.
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But is attendance growing? I know for the company as a whole it is but I believe I have read on these boards that attendance at WDW is down along with lower reservations at the Disney hotel properties in Oland.
 
alphac2005

alphac2005

Well-Known Member
Patricia Melton said:
I am a big fan of Kevin Yee's. I have read ALL his books, and they are all excellent.

My one criticism of this new article from him is that he's missing something really obvious in his search for a "grand unified theory" to explain everything that happens at TDO...where he tries to reconcile the "Decline by Degrees", "the Rizzo Factor" (which assumes that tourists don't know any better so TDO can get away with shirking maintenance), and "Miller Lite Budgets" (spend on things that get attention but cut back on things that guests won't ever write home about)...Yee misses out that the one unifying element in all of this is that this stuff is all coming from the heads of the young MBAs that have infiltrated the Disney c-suite offices over the last two decades.

Guys are coming out of business school with MBAs after being taught by their professors that the way to get ahead in business today is to cut, cut, cut expenses. They are also taught by these professors to only push projects that will get them a lot of attention...because attention is what moves guys up the ladder.

Every single thing in Yee's article can thus be explained by MBAs hired by Disney who have this mentality...and who also don't see Disney as a permanent place they will work. MBAs jump from one company to another, and only stay in a job about 1-3 years before leaving for another company. The goal for these guys is to rack up a half dozen prestigious positions on their resumes before they are 40.

Disney is very foolish to hire these guys...because none of them want to become "lifers" with Disney...and so there is no incentive to make the company strong and healthy for the long term. These guys want to push projects that will make big splashes in the next 1-3 years while they are there...and have the payoff come before they jump ship to Coca Cola or IBM or a Wall Street Investment firm or whatever. The ultimate goal for these MBA guys is to become "consultants" with their own little firms where they can write their own ticket. Disney has too many people on staff in the executive offices who don't care about the company, only their own personal advancement.

My advice: put a hiring freeze on anyone from the Ivy Leagues. Get some new blood in there from state schools...with people who were not taught by the same professors who taught all the other guys in the c-suite offices. Disney should start hiring people who really want to be at Disney for life and retire far in the future with 40 years of time in the company.

Avoid at all costs the young guys out of Ivy League business schools who just want to score a flashy kudos on something and then bail on Disney while their personal stock is high from that success. This is clearly not good for the company long term to be run by people who only care about making a splash for the short time they are there...before they move on to something else.

It really does explain everything that Kevin Yee cites as wrong with Disney...especially the big push to forgo the maintenance...since no MBA ever got a promotion or a bigger new job somewhere else by championing maintenance. Their professors at Harvard told them never to do that!
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I totally agree with the sentiment here and it's well known that the Walt Disney Company amongst countless other American corporations that have been overrun by the MBA generation, using spreadsheets to enhance their own careers and bank accounts, while in the end, actually costing many of these companies lost business and declining customer enthusiasm all because of their desire to appease the Wall St. crowd that can't look beyond tomorrow, let alone years of investment paying off as even higher revenue in the future. However, your theme of Ivy League is misplaced. There are countless universities around the nation that provide MBAs and many have the sort of professor that you're attributing to Harvard. It's a systemic problem, not limited to the Ivy League crowd.
 
evilzorac

evilzorac

Active Member
Todd I am in the same boat my youngest is now 6 (in picture with Darth Vader Shrek getup). We all are liking Universal better. Also went to Bush Gardens Williamsburg this summer and loved it. We are a Florida family and have been loyal to WDW since the beginning but enough is enough. This year Univeral AP's, yes Disney AP's no.
 
evilzorac

evilzorac

Active Member
alphac2005 said:
I totally agree with the sentiment here and it's well known that the Walt Disney Company amongst countless other American corporations that have been overrun by the MBA generation, using spreadsheets to enhance their own careers and bank accounts, while in the end, actually costing many of these companies lost business and declining customer enthusiasm all because of their desire to appease the Wall St. crowd that can't look beyond tomorrow, let alone years of investment paying off as even higher revenue in the future. However, your theme of Ivy League is misplaced. There are countless universities around the nation that provide MBAs and many have the sort of professor that you're attributing to Harvard. It's a systemic problem, not limited to the Ivy League crowd.
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I too have to agree with this, I see it as corporations are now run by bean counters and attorneys instead of entrepreneurs with vision. Not that both of those professions have their place, but to succeed you need someone who will stick to there vision through all trials.
 
IWant2GoNow

IWant2GoNow

Well-Known Member
Skippy's Pal said:
In my opinion, senior Disney management could commission a 3 or 4 million dollar consultant's study of WDW, and not come up with anything more on-point, accurate, and actionable than what Kevin Yee has written. I feel like printing-out his article, putting it in a frame, and mailing it to Tom Staggs. That would at least get someone's attention. In fact, I think I'll do just that.
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drew81 said:
I think I might do the same.
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Longhairbear said:
I am loving that idea, maybe we all should.
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If we were to do this, what address would we use? And please tell me if this is a concentrated effort because I will jump aboard if it is.
 
alphac2005

alphac2005

Well-Known Member
ParentsOf4 said:
My favorite quote:

What is sometimes misunderstood is that all the "whining" and "complaining" does not occur because we hate WDW. It occurs because we love WDW so much that we want it to be the very best it can be.

It reminds me of being a parent. In order for it to not get lost in all the other requirements of being a parent, I tell my children every day I that I love them. So, WDW, I love you.:)
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It's funny how it all works. I've seen elsewhere how WDWMagic is considered to be a bunch of whiners and complainers now. When I first came here to WDWMagic, people such as us that didn't have rose colored glasses on and had seen this perpetual decline at Walt Disney World were deemed complainers, jerks, that we didn't love the parks, etc. Now, we've turned the page, and a clear majority on the boards see what we've seen for quite a long time.

Your analogy with the kids is so true. Too many times we've found that other parents want to be best friends with their kids and lost in this is parenting. Just because we discipline you for doing the wrong thing or make you do chores that you might not like, it isn't because we don't love you, it's because we do! We're trying to give some tough love here when it comes to WDW.
 
BryceM

BryceM

Well-Known Member
evilzorac said:
Todd I am in the same boat my youngest is now 6 (in picture with Darth Vader Shrek getup). We all are liking Universal better. Also went to Bush Gardens Williamsburg this summer and loved it. We are a Florida family and have been loyal to WDW since the beginning but enough is enough. This year Univeral AP's, yes Disney AP's no.
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Universal AP's are only $164.00 at Publix. After I get a job, and a car, I will certainly purchase one as soon as possible. It would be so great to be able to drive down there every other weekend! (If my parents would let me... Haha)
 
wdwmagic

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
BryceM said:
Universal AP's are only $164.00 at Publix. After I get a job, and a car, I will certainly purchase one as soon as possible. It would be so great to be able to drive down there every other weekend! (If my parents would let me... Haha)
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$164 and $15 to park every visit.
 

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