MiceAge on the latest news regarding MyMagic+ : Read it and weep.

[dreamfinder]

I know I'm in the minority and I'll get bashed and probably personally attacked for this... but I still think there are many good things about MyMagic+, it's been the project management (development, education, and implementation) parts that are ridiculous disasters.

Eh, it's pre PM. The initial scope and vision was way out of whack with what is really possible. Someone way overpromised and underdelivered. Plain and simple. Surprised @WDW1974 hasn't already dug up numerous connections in upper management to one of the firms doing most of the consulting/contracting work. Who then happens to get a cushy golden parachute offer with that consultant. Outside of the gov't ties that is. Sacred cow project to the extreme.

 

[devoy1701]

probably not much... I don't 100% fully buy everything in that article... considering Disney Springs is still being worked on and we're now seeing avatarland permits filed, etc.

Honestly... I can't seem to figure out how delaying needed projects in the American parks would help anything regardless of the issues with MM+

Iger just may be trying to make a statement... who knows

It's because the project is bleeding cost overruns and WDI is a very expensive division with resources allocated to certain segments of P&R. The "STOP ALL PROJECTS" decree is most likely to limit (or atleast slow) the labor overruns for these segments of P&R. If people aren't working on the project, then the project isn't going to be billed back for that period of time. Essentially, he's demanding that all man hours that have been allocated to the NA (and Paris/Hong Kong) projects for this quarter be re-allocated to MM+ so P&R doesn't end up posting a loss (or steeply lower profits) for this quarter. There isn't room in the budget to pay for the overruns of MM+ AND all of the other projects. What we can extrapolate from this is that the overruns for MM+ for this quarter are AT LEAST equal to the entire budget of all other P&R projects currently in the pipeline.

 

[phi2134]

I am not sure how a company like Disney works with its Board and Iger, but how can heads not roll after this? I saw a few posts a while back about a few people being let go, but this is a massive failure. I know the blame will be pushed around, but is there a confirmed source of who started pushing the ideas of magic bands and who started it all?

 

[Radok Block]

I am not sure how a company like Disney works with its Board and Iger, but how can heads not roll after this? I saw a few posts a while back about a few people being let go, but this is a massive failure. I know the blame will be pushed around, but is there a confirmed source of who started pushing the ideas of magic bands and who started it all?

I was just going to say that, if all of this is true, a lot of people in corner offices need to be fired.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

I am not sure how a company like Disney works with its Board and Iger, but how can heads not roll after this? I saw a few posts a while back about a few people being let go, but this is a massive failure.

Blame will be shifted to the mid-level folks for "failing to successfully execute the concept", while the misguided leadership from the boardroom and the dysfunction they promote survive unscathed.

Top floor management: Heavy on power to change things, light on responsibility
Mid level management: Light on power to change things, heavy on responsibility

 

[FigmentJedi]

Too bad Star Wars Tomorrowland wasn't shifted to full out cancelled. Star Wars should be a big part of a third gate dangit.

 

[disneyflush]

To be fair, its not like this is an ALL OF A SUDDEN type reaction from Iger. Like he didn't know things were going poorly and just happened to look at the spreadsheets bleeding red and was caught off guard and shut down everything else in surprise. To have NegGen approved there had to be bullet points laid out that stated Factor X will generate X dollars in additional revenue per year, Factor Y will generate X dollars, etc. A lot of this initiative feels very vague and blue-skyish from the outside looking in on the full scope and effect of it to us but from the inside I'm sure there are some concrete expectations and metrics that have been falling short pretty consistently the entire buildout. Its not like this is strike 1 and everything gets shut down to make it work, to take this kind of action this had to be about strike 10 or 11 (meaning tons of warnings from above to get it right and speed it up, etc) which further reveals the struggles behind the scenes.

 

[ABQ]

I wouldn't mind them cancelling every new thing if it meant they'd spend even a modest portion of the saved budget on repairing, cleaning and maintaining of the existing products. Half a billion not spent on this, instead, a quarter million on a 3rd shift team to run some maintenance here, there, everywhere for the next year.

 

[FigmentJedi]

 

[scoobygirl39541]

Wow didn't see any of this coming at all [/sarcasm]

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Reading this has me grinning from ear to ear. I just booked two weeks for my family in Tokyo in March with the majority of the time visiting TDR (for a second time). We plan on getting our Parks fix at the best Disney parks on the planet, and doing so in a gluttonous fashion. We're gonna OD on the parks while we're there. Then we'll vacation elsewhere for a couple more years till we need our fix again... When Shanghai and Hong Kong will combine for our next trip.

We couldn't care less about WDW and its sorry state and the MM mess. I hope we read in the NYT about all the execs that get the axe.

It's a sorry state or affairs when I'm willing to take my family to the other side of the planet to see it done right. And it delights me that the OLC will get the majority of the cash... Not Disney.

Sindbad... Here we come.

 

[Mammymouse]

To be fair, its not like this is an ALL OF A SUDDEN type reaction from Iger. Like he didn't know things were going poorly and just happened to look at the spreadsheets bleeding red and was caught off guard and shut down everything else in surprise. To have NegGen approved there had to be bullet points laid out that stated Factor X will generate X dollars in additional revenue per year, Factor Y will generate X dollars, etc. A lot of this initiative feels very vague and blue-skyish from the outside looking in on the full scope and effect of it to us but from the inside I'm sure there are some concrete expectations and metrics that have been falling short pretty consistently the entire buildout. Its not like this is strike 1 and everything gets shut down to make it work, to take this kind of action this had to be about strike 10 or 11 (meaning tons of warnings from above to get it right and speed it up, etc) which further reveals the struggles behind the scenes.

Spreadsheets, schmreadsheets - it all sounds like "fuzzy math syndrome" to me. Sometimes by luck it works, sometimes it doesn't. By the way, I think it must be the same kind of math our Government uses, so it must be accurate - right???

 

[devoy1701]

Spreadsheets, schmreadsheets - it all sounds like "fuzzy math syndrome" to me. Sometimes by luck it works, sometimes it doesn't. By the way, I think it must be the same kind of math our Government uses, so it must be accurate - right???

The funny thing about spreadsheets is that you can make the numbers tell any story you want them to...and you can hide any story you don't want to show as well. All it takes is some clever manipulation and what we like to call "vanity metrics."

 

[ABQ]

Spreadsheets, schmreadsheets - it all sounds like "fuzzy math syndrome" to me. Sometimes by luck it works, sometimes it doesn't. By the way, I think it must be the same kind of math our Government uses, so it must be accurate - right???

Well the next quarterly earnings call will be interesting. If any of this MiceAge type news gets to the analysts out there, how will Iger respond to any questions of how every project on the boards for the domestic parks has been hampered by overspending? He can and will deflect all day long, but the bottom line is....if it impacts the bottom line. Shareholders will not be pleased and if the stock takes a hit, he'll have to respond.

 

[devoy1701]

Well the next quarterly earnings call will be interesting. If any of this MiceAge type news gets to the analysts out there, how will Iger respond to any questions of how every project on the boards for the domestic parks has been hampered by overspending? He can and will deflect all day long, but the bottom line is....if it impacts the bottom line. Shareholders will not be pleased and if the stock takes a hit, he'll have to respond.

especially on the heels of his last statement regarding P&R spending about how he would be "tapering down spending on the parks."

 

[raymusiccity]

Spreadsheets, schmreadsheets - it all sounds like "fuzzy math syndrome" to me. Sometimes by luck it works, sometimes it doesn't. By the way, I think it must be the same kind of math our Government uses, so it must be accurate - right???

I wouldn't be concerned, since Disney plans on enlisting some of the same geniuses that have been working on Obamacare. After 2015, WDW will be able to keep the Star Wars Project; keep Avatar; keep a new Monster's Inc. Coaster, et al. Period!

 

[Bairstow]

Is anyone else skeptical about the accuracy of this reporting? None of the projects reported here as cancelled or placed on hold had even been confirmed or given a tentative start date. There are no sources cited, at all. The whole thing sounds like a hit piece against MyMagicPlus that uses rumors and counter-rumors as evidence.

 

[ABQ]

Is anyone else skeptical about the accuracy of this reporting? None of the projects reported here as cancelled or placed on hold had even been confirmed or given a tentative start date. There are no sources cited, at all. The whole thing sounds like a hit piece against MyMagicPlus that uses rumors and counter-rumors as evidence.

I agree with you on that, though it's primarily, more than 95% of it, it seems, focused on Cali. The only Orlando item is a vague reference to certain Star Wars related things being cancelled that had been earmarked for the Studios. Though no details on what those items are.
But to your point, yes, it's a smear job. Doesn't mean it's not warranted, but it really is just mug being slung on MM+ in the end.

 

[wdwgreek]

So because of the failure of my magic to pay for itself, which I think any of us could have told them we now will see a spending freeze to focus on promoting my Magic, and DL will get stiffed out of pretty much everything else. Wow...I don't know how to respond. Disappointment, but not surprise.

 

[COProgressFan]

I wouldn't mind them cancelling every new thing if it meant they'd spend even a modest portion of the saved budget on repairing, cleaning and maintaining of the existing products. Half a billion not spent on this, instead, a quarter million on a 3rd shift team to run some maintenance here, there, everywhere for the next year.

Couldn't agree more.