No more live actors in ROL

[discos]

Aren't these equity performers as well?? Disney seems to be cutting a lot of equity positions lately.

 

[monothingie]

Not to get too political, but the issue here is how business and the economy works more generally at the moment and not whether the theme parks are bleeding money. I doubt that Disney's worry here is that they're going to start losing money. Their worry will be that profit margins will be lower than they were last year. And, honestly, if Disney still makes healthy profits but they're lower than expectations, the share price probably will go down and there will be plenty of headlines about a disappointing quarter for Disney.

Guest experience is second to quarterly earnings in Igertown. The minimum standard is "good enough".

 

[Minthorne]

Aren't these equity performers as well?? Disney seems to be cutting a lot of equity positions lately.

Equity probably cost more...

 

[discos]

Equity probably cost more...

They most definitely do cost more-more than your CP entertainment CM, that's for sure!

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Guest experience is second to quarterly earnings in Igertown. The minimum standard is "good enough".

I agree, but I'm not sure it's just a problem with Iger. Yes, a braver CEO would understand that increasing margins in the short term has longer term negative impacts. But this concern with short term profit margins is far from confined to just Iger.

What is strange about Disney under Iger is all of this penny pinching to increase margins at the expense of guest experience coupled with wildly inflated budgets for new additions to the parks. That, though, probably has something to do with what shows up on quarterly reports and what can be hidden in various ways.

 

[Rodan75]

I thought they added nicely to the show. However, if they hadn't been there...not sure I would have noticed.

It is interesting that they have announced cuts now, but have also announced additions for January and early next year, not sure if that fits the full doom and gloom scenario, or they are just cutting corners where they think the extra staff isn't particularly effective.

 

[monothingie]

I agree, but I'm not sure it's just a problem with Iger. Yes, a braver CEO would understand that increasing margins in the short term has longer term negative impacts. But this concern with short term profit margins is far from confined to just Iger.

What is strange about Disney under Iger is all of this penny pinching to increase margins at the expense of guest experience coupled with wildly inflated budgets for new additions to the parks. That, though, probably has something to do with what shows up on quarterly reports and what can be hidden in various ways.

In this case, it's the corporate culture created under Iger which has festered into the various divisions within TWDC is responsible for this way of thinking.

It's not just P&R, you see today that Iger came out saying they screwed up with Star Wars over saturation. This is their flagship franchise and in their effort to squeeze it, they hurt it. Unfortunately with the parks you sort of see the same type thing happening, except because of it's large size (number of people, executives, bureaucracy, etc) the trend is harder to spot.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

In this case, it's the corporate culture created under Iger which has festered into the various divisions within TWDC is responsible for this way of thinking.

It's not just P&R, you see today that Iger came out saying they screwed up with Star Wars over saturation. This is their flagship franchise and in their effort to squeeze it, they hurt it. Unfortunately with the parks you sort of see the same type thing happening, except because of it's large size (number of people, executives, bureaucracy, etc) the trend is harder to spot.

I do get the issues, but I personally find it hard to personalise it in regards to Iger. If anything, there seemed to be a greater tendency in Disney's corporate culture to wring as much money from everything they could in the last decade or so of Eisner. Remember when Who Wants to be a Millionaire was a hit tv show, so they ran it every night and shoved it in the parks until people quickly got tired of it. Before Iger, they were also releasing DTV sequel after DTV sequel of their biggest hits. Also, remember the Pressler era, particular at Disneyland.

I am not an apologist for Iger, but I think what you're seeing in terms of these petty cutbacks has more to do with how the corporate world works more generally than any unique issues he has brought to the company.

 

[monothingie]

I am not an apologist for Iger, but I think what you're seeing in terms of these petty cutbacks has more to do with how the corporate world works more generally than any unique issues he has brought to the company.

I forget who it was, maybe @flynnibus maybe posted something about Jeff Bezos and the different culture at Amazon that allowed them to grow by doing exactly the opposite of what Disney has been doing. Probably an apples and oranges comparison, but there are similarities, especially if you compare it to Disney during the 60, 70's and 80's.

 

[eddie104]

I do get the issues, but I personally find it hard to personalise it in regards to Iger. If anything, there seemed to be a greater tendency in Disney's corporate culture to wring as much money from everything they could in the last decade or so of Eisner. Remember when Who Wants to be a Millionaire was a hit tv show, so they ran it every night and shoved it in the parks until people quickly got tired of it. Before Iger, they were also releasing DTV sequel after DTV sequel of their biggest hits. Also, remember the Pressler era, particular at Disneyland.

I am not an apologist for Iger, but I think what you're seeing in terms of these petty cutbacks has more to do with how the corporate world works more generally than any unique issues he has brought to the company.

Careful don't let facts get in the way of finding a scapegoat. Iger has had his fair share of blunders with the Disney company but to act like all things he does is not typical CEO behavior is disingenuous.

 

[disney4life2008]

New fiscal year starts October 1st?

 

[flynnibus]

I forget who it was, maybe @flynnibus maybe posted something about Jeff Bezos and the different culture at Amazon that allowed them to grow by doing exactly the opposite of what Disney has been doing. Probably an apples and oranges comparison, but there are similarities, especially if you compare it to Disney during the 60, 70's and 80's.

Yeah, the point was it's not the ONLY way things need to be... and its proven repeatedly that bucking that trend is necessary to achieve greatness. In the current day as well... hence the Amazon example. Google also went public with that attitude.

 

[MotherOfBirds]

I'm sure they'll make up for all the magic cuts with cupcakes and LE popcorn buckets

 

[marni1971]

New fiscal year starts October 1st?

Bingo. It certainly does.

 

[wdrive]

There’s like 6 cast members for the the whole show. How beneficial is cutting them? It’s not like there’s a large cast that was being the cost up to ridiculous levels. I don’t understand.

6 performers onstage, but they'll be a ton of people working behind that like makeup-up artists, costumers etc.

Compared to cutting a meet and greet it's a big saving.

Not that I agree with it whatsoever.

 

[Nautilus]

Are the Shamans not the ones initiating the display that we see during ROL? They represent the two sides- water and light. And water + light = ROL. So without the Shamans to bring out the water and light then maybe you just have a series of "moments of darkness."
Really poor judgement call here.

 

[jrhwdw]

Maybe the public should give DAK a couple of dead Nights, MK too and maybe TDO would do some things to make the nights better at MK/DAK!

There better not be Any cuts going into ROE's replacement!

When are we going to get some GOOD NEWS?!?!?!?

 

[DisneyDebRob]

I thought they added nicely to the show. However, if they hadn't been there...not sure I would have noticed.

It is interesting that they have announced cuts now, but have also announced additions for January and early next year, not sure if that fits the full doom and gloom scenario, or they are just cutting corners where they think the extra staff isn't particularly effective.

I agree, they do add nicely to the show. The problem is the thousands of people that will now see the show without the actors and will never miss them. For us that have, they add a lot. Reminds me of the yeti. Seeing it in A mode was a wonderful experience but for those who never saw it still think it’s wonderful and never know what they actually missed. Another very sad cutback.

 

[jrlang1]

I bet thiz also has alot to do with the $15 minimum wage deal.

 

[Kman101]

You sell magical experiences. Attendance is down, possibly due in part to the fact that you offer fewer magical experiences than you used to. Solution? Cut more magical experiences. Seems legit.

They expect most guests not to notice most likely, lol. And many won't, sadly.

It does seem backwards doesn't it?