Rumor concerning Phil Holmes

[EPCOT Explorer]

I have said it time and time again. Matt Ouimet needs to be president of Parks and Resorts.

Heck with it...Whole WDC.:lol:

 

[SirGoofy]

^My favorite is having my first cruise of the day, and having neither elephant pop up for squeeze play.

"We need to watch out here, sometimes the elephants like to give us showers."

*Pauses*

"Well apparently they don't want to do it today."

*:brick:*

 

[PhotoDave219]

I am not going to call Phil a 'lunatic' or any other derisive term. Don't know him. Met him in passing. I do believe the most important thing to him is self preservation at all costs. I do KNOW (for a fact) the man has caused issues with rehabs to Mansion, Pirates and Space Mountain (amongst others). I do KNOW (for a fact) the man hasn't pushed for new entertainment (parades, shows etc) while cutting it. As far as rejecting new attractions, he doesn't have that power. (or didn't if he is indeed gone)

How much of that comes from above and having HR bean-counters as his direct report?

What makes you think that if Phil is gone that Meg Crofton won't replace him with one of her own cronies that's also an HR bean-counter instead of a seasoned park-ops person?

Do you really think HR bean-counter people give a rat's ______ about theming, effects, rehabs or E-Rides?

The issues you've got are more than with Phil Holmes. Its with WDWP&R and TWDC itself. Its a corporate management culture that is putting profit over everything. It can get a lot worse with Meg Crofton puppet in place.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I am happy Dave worked at the parks (if he is happy that he did) ... but I don't have to work somewhere I frequent to know if is run well (and that's leaving out any/all CMs, execs, Imagineers and consultants I may personally know). I just open my eyes based on countless visits since 1974.

That aside, I'd be curious to know if he thinks the MK is being run well and what his frame of reference is.

Yes, it helped me with my people skills.

(Actually The Disney Way and the guest service lessons they teach are invaluable and somehow apply every day. But thats another story)

74, we agree on a lot of things. I agree that rides/effects should be properly maintained. The maintenance is the last thing you want to cut back on. (Ask DLR how well that worked out for BTMRR :lookaroun )

I agree that there's a lot better things they can be coming from the MouseHouse and that they can do things better especially for the egregious amount of money it costs to go anymore. I agree with the "WalMarting" observations that have been made and my personal pet peeve is Disney Dining and how that's been gutted like a catfish. (Whomever came up with 'free dining' is also an idiot but thats a different rant) I agree that the guest experience has been negatively effected based on the cuts over the past few years.

But my beef isn't with Phil Holmes. He's just caught up in a management culture thats obsessed with numbers. Al Weiss, Jay Rasulo, Meg Crofton are all above him. They're more to blame for the current state of affairs IMO. Meg with her HR stance and lack of front line experience and Al & Jay with their lack of a stance for fighting to keep more money in Orlando.

What i fear is whom he would be replaced by. With Phil you know what you get. At least Phil has some front line experience and actually goes out into the park every now and again. You can't say that about Meg. And i fear that whomever she chooses to run MK would be of a similar, beancounting mindset.

 

[HMF]

How much of that comes from above and having HR bean-counters as his direct report?

What makes you think that if Phil is gone that Meg Crofton won't replace him with one of her own cronies that's also an HR bean-counter instead of a seasoned park-ops person?

Do you really think HR bean-counter people give a rat's ______ about theming, effects, rehabs or E-Rides?

The issues you've got are more than with Phil Holmes. Its with WDWP&R and TWDC itself. Its a corporate management culture that is putting profit over everything. It can get a lot worse with Meg Crofton puppet in place.

Getting rid of Rasulo is key to the future of the parks division.

 

[DoctorPrius]

Getting rid of Rasulo is key to the future of the parks division.

Nope. I heard the same thing when Paul Pressler was in charge how removing him would solve the problem. It didn't. The honest truth is until the CEO and the board decides to create a clear long term vision for the parks themselves (not side stuff like DVC) and commits to maintaining high quality standards you won't see a substantial change.

Rasolu is bad but Iger is worse for taking such an extreme "hands off" approch with the parks. At the very least he should give WDI or John Lasseter more control/input on the parks.

 

[csm]

That's the thing I feel a lot of folks here do not get.

Attractions in the past would NEVER operate in the conditions they now do. They wouldn't. Now, they'd never let them get this way to begin with. But if you had an E-Ticket like EE, Mansion or PoC with so many effects not working they'd come in and shut it down and work as long as it took to get it up and running.

Anyone who has ridden on Space Mountain for the last decade has ridden an embarrassing attraction ... Mansion was for a long time too ... now Everest is.

And I am really tired of hearing that it doesn't matter if most effects are inoperable you have to run the attraction.

No. You don't.

:sohappy:

 

[csm]

Getting rid of Rasulo is key to the future of the parks division.

Is it? Because when Rasulo came in there were parties all across the land for getting rid of Pressler. So what says #3 will be any better? Don't mean to sound pessimistic but I think there's a certain art to being able to say "hey boss, look at how much money I saved you without losing attendance!" Sadly, I think that's what is really looked for these days.

Pressler was no doubt the devil and he single-handledly ruined Disneyland Park, but I wonder if Rasulo is simply doing as he's told.

 

[wdwmagic]

I was last down there in mid-January, but I'm in constant contact with a ton of people down in Orlando.

I mentioned to a friend of mine that Phil may have been let go, and he had heard the same thing and apparently many cast members were ecstatic of the possibility.

.

Ah that must be Diver Dave in maintenance you are talking to! Could he even pick out Phil in a lineup?

 

[wdwmagic]

That's the PR, but I have seen areas that look like they haven't been cleaned in months at MK (food stains, bird waste, stains from OCV etc..) ... and I've been told DAK is not doing them nightly now under Val (they were before). Maybe they're doing them once every week or so or maybe they've stopped doing certain areas completely, but it's pretty obvious that they aren't keeping the place as clean as they were.

If you've got someone who will tell me they've seen DAK's walkways pressure cleaned recently then I'd love to hear them tell me.

Not PR, reality.

I verified the information with a contact before posting. They obviously arent going to come on here and talk, but I am passing on the information.

 

[wdwmagic]

There's no logical way to leap to a conclusion that it wouldn't be hugely successful at WDW.

I can just see it now. WDW installs Nightmare and you then spin that around to be "Disney - always cloning attractions, why can't something be unique to a park?".

You have a strange logic in understanding the Nightmare issues, so I'm not going to keep on at that. Hopefully the info as to why it's not here will help other people who are reading this thread to understand the issues involved.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

Grass is always greener on the other side I was lucky enough to go to WDW and DL back to back recently - WDW is in just as good shape as DL on average.

...and that is after a major, major overhaul under JR from DL's truly pathetic state 6 years ago!

 

[Lee]

Attractions in the past would NEVER operate in the conditions they now do. They wouldn't.

Yep.
Like I posted in another thread, I have an ops manual for Pirates from the late 70s. In there it clearly states three situations that call for the attraction to be cleared out and go 101 until fixed:
-Auctioneer not working.
-Captain at well scene not working.
-Rope puller at well scene stopped in down position.

Now days....the freakin' yeti doesn't work...every day, and yet the ride is kept open. No good excuse for that.
(Not to mention the icy mist, blowing snow, train steam, vulture, and second waterfall, all of which either work seldom or not at all.)

Show quality standards? Where?
Oh, well. I guess someone got a nice bonus for not spending the extra money.

 

[CaptainMichael]

Yep.
Like I posted in another thread, I have an ops manual for Pirates from the late 70s. In there it clearly states three situations that call for the attraction to be cleared out and go 101 until fixed:
-Auctioneer not working.
-Captain at well scene not working.
-Rope puller at well scene stopped in down position.

Now days....the freakin' yeti doesn't work...every day, and yet the ride is kept open. No good excuse for that.
(Not to mention the icy mist, blowing snow, train steam, vulture, and second waterfall, all of which either work seldom or not at all.)

Show quality standards? Where?
Oh, well. I guess someone got a nice bonus for not spending the extra money.

Heck, now days, half of the pirates attraction is 101 and they still run guests through. A month ago it was in serious need of a rehab.

BTW, I don't see the draw for closing HM for a 1/3 or 33.333% of a year, every year. I'd support a minor holiday overlay that would take like a week or two to implement. I say that every major attraction should at least go down for 2 weeks every year.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

4 months? Where do people get these figures?:

"Haunted Mansion – closed September 2 to 25 to install the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay."

"Haunted Mansion – closed January 5 to February 14, 2009 to remove the holiday overlay."

From Mouseplanet last year. 23 days does not equal 2 months, and last time I checked the ride opened a few days early for soft openings. The extra time for removal includes a standard refurb which is why it takes the extra 2 weeks. Even still, 8-9 weeks is not 4 months and it's not in a row either. January is a slow month anyway and I'm sure they can find ways to shorten the downtime. It would be cheap to do too since they would just duplicate show elements from Tokyo and California and it gives the an excuse to sell more Nightmare merch.

If MK had a decent replacement for 20K there would be no problem in closing 1 E Ticket for a short time. However the park is so lacking in shows and attractions worth seeing I can understand the relectance, but it's there fault for running the park like that in the first place.

 

[SirGoofy]

I'm not going to drop names, Steve. You should know better than that. But even if that was the case, and the person you named was one of the people I'm in contact with, there are a heck of a lot of other people, so don't act like I talk to one person in engineering, and I make it seem like ten.

I love your site, Steve, but you aren't gaining many points with me in this thread.

 

[goodtimes5286]

4 months? Where do people get these figures?:

"Haunted Mansion – closed September 2 to 25 to install the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay."

"Haunted Mansion – closed January 5 to February 14, 2009 to remove the holiday overlay."

From Mouseplanet last year. 23 days does not equal 2 months, and last time I checked the ride opened a few days early for soft openings. The extra time for removal includes a standard refurb which is why it takes the extra 2 weeks. Even still, 8-9 weeks is not 4 months and it's not in a row either. January is a slow month anyway and I'm sure they can find ways to shorten the downtime. It would be cheap to do too since they would just duplicate show elements from Tokyo and California and it gives the an excuse to sell more Nightmare merch.

If MK had a decent replacement for 20K there would be no problem in closing 1 E Ticket for a short time. However the park is so lacking in shows and attractions worth seeing I can understand the relectance, but it's there fault for running the park like that in the first place.

I couldn't agree MORE.

So....theres this little fish called nemo.....

 

[Lee]

4 months? Where do people get these figures?

Simple, they count the months HMH is open.
Theory being, guests making a first, or "once in a lifetime" visit to MK only want the standard HM, not Jack and co.
It's four months that original HM is not running.

 

[jt04]

4 months? Where do people get these figures?:

"Haunted Mansion – closed September 2 to 25 to install the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay."

"Haunted Mansion – closed January 5 to February 14, 2009 to remove the holiday overlay."

From Mouseplanet last year. 23 days does not equal 2 months, and last time I checked the ride opened a few days early for soft openings. The extra time for removal includes a standard refurb which is why it takes the extra 2 weeks. Even still, 8-9 weeks is not 4 months and it's not in a row either. January is a slow month anyway and I'm sure they can find ways to shorten the downtime. It would be cheap to do too since they would just duplicate show elements from Tokyo and California and it gives the an excuse to sell more Nightmare merch.

If MK had a decent replacement for 20K there would be no problem in closing 1 E Ticket for a short time. However the park is so lacking in shows and attractions worth seeing I can understand the relectance, but it's there fault for running the park like that in the first place.

It' a hideous idea no matter how long it takes. And I would say the same thing if the WDW 20K ride still existed and they wanted to do a Finding Nemo overlay seasonally or otherwise. What works at Disneyland does not necessarily work for WDW.

 

[SirGoofy]

It' a hideous idea no matter how long it takes. And I would say the same thing if the WDW 20K ride still existed and they wanted to do a Finding Nemo overlay seasonally or otherwise. What works at Disneyland does not necessarily work for WDW.

Yes, it's hideous idea to bring something new and exciting to a park that has been virtually unchanged for 15 years.