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

[Lilofan]

It’s widely speculated 10/1 is “krystalnacht” for layoffs...

I mentioned this on other Threads. If you got any federal covid money and fuloughed employees...you have to keep them on staff till 9/30.

That is going to be far more widespread than anyone want to thinks about.

I never knew that about furloughed staff to keep them until 9/30. I know of one at United Airlines that declined the buyout package. The CEO of UA already advised of possible massive layoffs at UA starting on Oct 1.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

That's when places like Disney are really going to feel it. Its the same where I live many are still spending as if nothing has changed. Come fall when that money runs out I think things will change. The scary part is how many aren't saving for when that happens.

Well they say that US debt has slightly dropped and savings has slightly gone up since lockdown...

But that I attribute to lack of retail and restaurant. The majority of business is not grubhub and amazon...despite myth.

But generally speaking nobody has changed...spend away.

My BIL went and basically ordered a Subaru ascent in April...like sticker price...believe it was “time to buy”..:as if the price would go UP when the inevitable recession kicked in

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I never knew that about furloughed staff to keep them until 9/30. I know of one at United Airlines that declined the buyout package. The CEO of UA already advised of possible massive layoffs at UA starting on Oct 1.

That’s IF they received the corporate money. Which is secret.

Think Disney had its hand in that till?

 

[Heppenheimer]

First of all, the current Figment is a completely different character compared to his original personality (charming, curious, and fun loving)!

This is the Figment we know and love!

This Figment is an imposter! #NotMyFigment

There's a reason why a lot of us prefer the original version over the botched version that's still running. Videos don't do the original attraction justice unless you been there during the 80s and 90s.

Not just Figment, but the whole pavilion was much better for its time, from the ride, the exterior fountains, to Imageworks, to Magic Journeys/Captain EO. Its hard to say how it would have held up over the years, but at least for the first decade of its existence, the Imagination pavilion was the most enjoyable part of Epcot. Whereas the original was fun, whimsical and technologically advanced for the early 80s, the updates have all been little more than cheap patch-jobs.

Not going to argue for Horizons, though. I get that people have a nostalgic connection to it, but I don't exactly understand why people mourn its loss so greatly. Horizon's vision of the future would have been extremely dated had it survived. I know, we haven't colonized the moon or the ocean depths yet, or terraformed the deserts... but these were the dreams of yesterday's future. We've long since discarded these ideas as impractical and/or not desirable.

 

[UNCgolf]

My BIL went and basically ordered a Subaru ascent in April...like sticker price...believe it was “time to buy”..:as if the price would go UP when the inevitable recession kicked in

I actually think buying a car this spring/summer was a good idea -- I bought one in early May and got both a good price on the car itself and incredibly good value on the trade-in. I wasn't sure if I was going to buy; I just did some exploration and the deal was so good I couldn't pass it up.

Dealerships weren't selling anything so they were desperate to move inventory off the lot, especially with the new models coming in early fall. They can't afford to have a bunch of last year's models just sitting there.

Not buying it for sticker price, though. That's silly.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Will layoffs be announced in September and be done before the new fiscal year starts on October 1st?

If layoffs have been decided prior to the close of the fiscal year, accounting can accrue for any severance/termination expense even if they have not been fully communicated yet.

In other words, Disney can take the expense hit in 2020 for layoffs that won't fully be rolled out until 2021.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I actually think buying a car this spring/summer was a good idea -- I bought one in early May and got both a good price on the car itself and incredibly good value on the trade-in. I wasn't sure if I was going to buy; I just did some exploration and the deal was so good I couldn't pass it up.

Dealerships weren't selling anything so they were desperate to move inventory off the lot, especially with the new models coming in early fall. They can't afford to have a bunch of last year's models just sitting there.

Not buying it for sticker price, though. That's silly.

Yeah...he ordered it. Which involved it coming from somewhere about 8 feet away because it was “in” in like 3 days.

Just stupid. Paying full price for that is a badge of honor...paying for anything else is “dumb”

As far as cars go...they had no sales and a supply crunch in the spring. Supply is catching up but sales my fall off now

 

[marni1971]

We've long since discarded these ideas as impractical and/or not desirable.

Speak for yourself. Though I’ve said it countless times if Horizons were still open and not been substantially upgraded it would be a joke today.

 

[FutureCEO]

I actually think buying a car this spring/summer was a good idea -- I bought one in early May and got both a good price on the car itself and incredibly good value on the trade-in. I wasn't sure if I was going to buy; I just did some exploration and the deal was so good I couldn't pass it up.

Dealerships weren't selling anything so they were desperate to move inventory off the lot, especially with the new models coming in early fall. They can't afford to have a bunch of last year's models just sitting there.

Not buying it for sticker price, though. That's silly.

I feel bad for buying a car last year then but after 10 years with my other one, it was time. That and I didn't want to bother with my check engine light that was coming on.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Not just Figment, but the whole pavilion was much better for its time, from the ride, the exterior fountains, to Imageworks, to Magic Journeys/Captain EO. Its hard to say how it would have held up over the years, but at least for the first decade of its existence, the Imagination pavilion was the most enjoyable part of Epcot. Whereas the original was fun, whimsical and technologically advanced for the early 80s, the updates have all been little more than cheap patch-jobs.

Not going to argue for Horizons, though. I get that people have a nostalgic connection to it, but I don't exactly understand why people mourn its loss so greatly. Horizon's vision of the future would have been extremely dated had it survived. I know, we haven't colonized the moon or the ocean depths yet, or terraformed the deserts... but these were the dreams of yesterday's future. We've long since discarded these ideas as impractical and/or not desirable.

Future World has the same problem as Tomorrowland. As soon as you approve an "update" for something and then actually build it, it's obsolete before a guest ever sets foot in the attraction. That's why I actually like the addition of Guardians of the Galaxy... 80s kitsch executed with modern technology can be a lot of fun.

 

[UNCgolf]

Speak for yourself. Though I’ve said it countless times if Horizons were still open and not been substantially upgraded it would be a joke today.

Absolutely. I mentioned that in my long EPCOT post earlier.

As much as I loved Horizons (probably my favorite Disney ride ever), there is absolutely no way that ride could still exist in its original form. It would be hopelessly outdated. That's actually true of most of the original EPCOT masterpieces, although Spaceship Earth would have only needed relatively minor changes from its original incarnation as opposed to a full overhaul.

Journey into Imagination is possibly an exception in that I think the original ride would still work today, but it would not be as impressive as it was and it could have been improved with new technology etc.

 

[asianway]

FL may be different, but in CA, employers (with more than 150 employees) have to give 60 days notice prior to a layoff. With no public notice being submitted, it doesn't seem that they will be laying off any corp/wdi folks until after the new fiscal year.

Law is suspended by Newsom EO, due to COVID.

 

[Heppenheimer]

Future World has the same problem as Tomorrowland. As soon as you approve an "update" for something and then actually build it, it's obsolete before a guest ever sets foot in the attraction. That's why I actually like the addition of Guardians of the Galaxy... 80s kitsch executed with modern technology can be a lot of fun.

This is why World's Fairs were not permanent exhibitions. They caught the spirit of a brief moment in time, then closed before they dated themselves. What was a fascinating item at one World's Fair could easily enter a history museum a decade later (Rubik's cube, anyone?). Therein lies the central paradox of Epcot. It brilliantly displayed the Futurism of a distinct period, and has struggled (and mostly failed) to adequately update itself as the actual future has diverged from the visions of the late 1970s-early 1980s.

 

[MrHorse]

Future World has the same problem as Tomorrowland. As soon as you approve an "update" for something and then actually build it, it's obsolete before a guest ever sets foot in the attraction. That's why I actually like the addition of Guardians of the Galaxy... 80s kitsch executed with modern technology can be a lot of fun.

I dunno.
We always say stuff like this, but is it really that hard to come up with a societal goal that will still be relevant in a 30-50 years?
Things like space colonization, neural interfaces, and moving to a sustainable society have been goals for ages and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. It's not that hard to come up with ideas on a grand scale.

 

[Heppenheimer]

Journey into Imagination is possibly an exception in that I think the original ride would still work today, but it would not be as impressive as it was and it could have been improved with new technology etc.

I think with only minor adjustments, the ride would have mostly still worked today. As much as I loved the original ImageWorks, though, most of the exhibits would have been extremely dated presently.

 

[UNCgolf]

I dunno.
We always say stuff like this, but is it really that hard to come up with a societal goal that will still be relevant in a 30-50 years?
Things like space colonization, neural interfaces, and moving to a sustainable society have been goals for ages and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. It's not that hard to come up with ideas on a grand scale.

The issue (and it would be one of the biggest problems with Horizons if it still existed in its original form) is that the vision of what that will look like varies wildly as time passes.

Basically all of the future scenes in Horizons are still aspirational goals today, but they no longer look anything like that early 1980s vision/aesthetic.

 

[UNCgolf]

I think with only minor adjustments, the ride would have mostly still worked today. As much as I loved the original ImageWorks, though, most of the exhibits would have been extremely dated presently.

Oh yeah. ImageWorks (other than the rainbow tunnel) would have needed a complete overhaul. Those exhibits would be almost uniformly laughable today.

 

[Heppenheimer]

The issue (and it would be one of the biggest problems with Horizons if it still existed in its original form) is that the vision of what that will look like varies wildly as time passes.

Basically all of the future scenes in Horizons are still aspirational goals today, but they no longer look anything like that early 1980s vision/aesthetic.

Terraforming the desert is definitely not an aspirational goal today, however.

 

[MrHorse]

The issue (and it would be one of the biggest problems with Horizons if it still existed in its original form) is that the vision of what that will look like varies wildly as time passes.

Basically all of the future scenes in Horizons are still aspirational goals today, but they no longer look anything like that early 1980s vision/aesthetic.

For sure. But a lot of that can be handled by planning for changes. Updating the decor of your space station and putting new haircuts on the animatronics goes a long way. Avoiding pop culture references and such obviously helps.
You can't do it forever but how long does a theme park ride need to last between major updates? Twenty years seems pretty reasonable and achievable.

 

[MrHorse]

Terraforming the desert is definitely not an aspirational goal today, however.

Unless that desert is a previously-terraformed rainforest =)