On layoffs, very bad attendance, and Iger's legacy being one of disgrace

pheneix

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Oh man. I have logged in, written drafts, deleted them, and swore I would never do this. Yet here I am. And I'm ready to start some .

The Walt Disney Company is about to experience some of the deepest layoffs I have ever witnessed in my adult life. I would call attention to the 2002 and 2009 layoffs after those respective crises. Those separations from the company were orderly. Often via generous voluntary packages. Hell, to his credit, Al Weiss was militant about never laying off a CM against their will after 9/11. I respect that. He was basically a dumbass otherwise.

In 2009, there was a similar "orderly" exit of excess personnel. However, much of this labor was brought back remarkably fast as Disney's business was in far better shape in 2009.

We also have other, smaller layoffs that hit project teams at WDI. These are bull layoffs. Flim Flam. Just some accounting tricks. Almost everyone is brought back.

Well, these days are no more. What you are about to see from WDC will be shocking and it will permanently change their business forever. The bloat is about to be gone. The mediocrity that's failed upward all our lives is about to be purged. A new company is emerging.

And no, Bob Chapek is no hero. But he does recognize the value in taking out the trash.

Now, lets talk about attendance at WDW. It's effing bad. Its Hard Rock Park bad. It's Dubai bad. Its the worst attendance in the history of the resort. Epcot is lucky to hit 2500 a day and usually is only hosting a few hundred at a time. Magic Kingdom is tormentingly under performing. There is simply no demand to fill the park out even to its limited capacity. The other two parks are also in dire straits, but due to their smaller size, there are certain days they can make a go of it. And yet still, the resort business is the iceberg and WDW Parks are the titanic. This will not end well.

The situation is dire. Unsustainable. WDW parks will be dropping to five day weeks soon. They will likely not be alone in this practice.

And that brings me to Bob Iger. Mr. Chairman. Mr. Gotta Put Yoda on His Wife's Dress to Bury Some Search Engine Leads. That guy. It is my pleasure to announce that he will be soon tossed on his . In disgrace. His sins, his poor judgement, his poor treatment of subordinates. His malicious temper and outrageous displays of "toxic masculinity" as the kids call it. All this and more is coming out. Good riddance.
 

Dan Deesnee

Well-Known Member
Can you speculate on why attendance is so low? Anecdotally I know of four separate parties who cancelled trips due to the one park per day limit and the reservation system.

Expecting people to pay thousands and only get into the parks guaranteed for 3 days of their trip is lunacy. If they want people in the parks, OPEN the parks and resorts. This is not Ebola.

I'm simply not convinced the low attendance is due to covid. I've seen too many packed with people places.
 

pheneix

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Can you speculate on why attendance is so low? Anecdotally I know of four separate parties who cancelled trips due to the one park per day limit and the reservation system.

Expecting people to pay thousands and only get into the parks guaranteed for 3 days of their trip is lunacy. If they want people in the parks, OPEN the parks and resorts. This is not Ebola.

I'm simply not convinced the low attendance is due to covid. I've seen too many packed with people places.

On a macro level its definitely due to COVID-19.

We have three decently sized tourism markets in the USA to study right now. We'll start with Las Vegas. It's a show. We sit on occupancy in the mid teens during the week and then host a bunch of sick Californians on the weekends. I'd also add that the demos traveling here are from *very* modest income buckets and it shows. This is the worst tipping month in Las Vegas history.

Next up is Ohio Valley. Two major parks there. Kings Island and Cedar Point. They had reservations systems due to expected attendance. They're gone now. And they've cut operating days off their calendar. CP can't even find enough people to staff the park, much less run it.

One bonus outlier -- Smokey Mountains region. Gatlinburg and Dollywood having an excellent season given the environment.. Still, even Dollywood is cutting days.

Now we have Orlando. These parks are ghost towns. Universal too. Sea World. Busch. They're all Dubai bad. They're all lucky to get even 4500 thru the gates on the best of days. Ironically, Volcano Bay and Aquatica have performed far stronger. The water park audience is more committed. Or they think all the high power chlorine will kill the Rona. Who knows. But that's a thing.

Disney's own internal reservation controls are their own worst enemy. They actually *believed* there was so much pent up demand that people would be overcrowding the resort clamoring to return. They were wrong. Disney is no more special than anyone else in a pandemic.
 

pheneix

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
For all the insiders, do you view these layoffs, taking out the trash, etc (not the park attendance) as a good long term thing?

Statistically, yes. Enough of WDP&R management is total garbage that simply removing their ranks will produce better outcomes. Disney has some of the dumbest True Believers in the industry. Its no wonder they are so hapless in a time of crisis.
 

InnKpr

Well-Known Member
One bonus outlier -- Smokey Mountains region. Gatlinburg and Dollywood having an excellent season given the environment..
That's because out of most major U.S. travel destinations, we're fortunate to draw the clientele which either:
a. Doesn't believe the coronavirus exists, and it's all a hoax.
Or
b. It does exist, but it can't be caught if you have Jesus.

And as living in the area, we're using those misconceptions to our benefit, and widespread ignorance to our advantage (even encouraged to lie about the severity of what's going on.) No virus to see here folks.

When in reality, people who research know better, but thankfully, those types don't make up most of our clientele.

Not complaining. If our region attracted more of an informed population and less of the herp 'n derp... we'd be in the same dire picture as Orlando and other places economically.
 

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