Spirited News & Observations II -- NGE/Baxter

[Rodan75]

But I dunno ... I'm also much more interested in seeing Man of Steel than Iron Man 3 ... and way more interested in seeing Star Trek: Into Darkness than Star Wars Episode VII. And, no, I don't know why I added that. I must just be crazy because of all the stuff I have to do before my vacation and felt like dropping that in.

I'm pretty stoked on both Star Trek (# 12) and IM3 (Marvel # 7), Man of Steel (#6) is beginning to grow on me...but no matter how you look at it, all of them are franchises and all have had peaks and valleys. But yes, I would like a few more original movies from all of the studios.

 

[WDW1974]

WDW1974...Any clues to a possible revamp of Universal City Walk Springs?

Nope. That is actually one thing I haven't asked about or been told about. But I would bet you'll see some changes there too ...

 

[HMF]

No, he isn't. He is a very smart savvy numbers guy. I don't like him at all. I don't think he should be at Disney. But he is no idiot.

He is smart with nuumbers which makes him an idiot creative-wise. I would argue that nearly everyone is smart in some field yet completely incompetent in others.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Since I'm a weirdo, I make a list of the movies I want to see in a given season.
Trance
Oblivion
From Up on Poppy Hill
Pain & Gain
Iron Man 3
Kiss of the Damned
Only God Forgives
The Great Gatsby
Star Trek into Darkness
Man of Steel
Monsters University
The Lone Range
Pacific Rim

Draw your conclusions on the state of the industry...

 

[ParentsOf4]

No one has said Iger is a total failure. And hate isn't an emotion I would use to describe a man I have never met. I don't think I'd like him based upon his business decisions and how he has treated Spirits that are near and dear.

But his hands off/hands on strategy hasn't let creatives flower. He has no choice with Lasseter or Feige as they are printing money. Kennedy he just bought. She is likewise someone that won't cowtow to him. The problem is he doesn't have any faith in the multitude of Disney franchises and IPs and believes Disney needs to buy content and not create it.

When they do create now, they do it in limited numbers and if it doesn't succeed immediately then ... well ... they have done a lousy job of making their own product and marketing it.

And Iger is nuts if he really believes there's an audience out there for a Star Wars film a year from 2015 to the end of days. This isn't any sort of slam dunk by any means.

Iger's weakness is that he is a non-creative beast running a company built on creativity. He views every decision through the prism of ROI. The problem is predicted ROI for a project is notoriously unreliable in his industry. It's difficult to understand why the public embraces (for example) one movie yet rejects another. It's far too easy to manipulate predicted ROI to get pretty much any result you want to justify any decision you want. That seems to be what's happening at P&R today. Iger & co. are playing it safe because that's what the numbers tell them while Comcast is going for broke at Universal.

It takes a CEO with phenomenal instinct to judge an idea not based on some numbers cooked up by a bunch of mid-level executives but through insight of what the public craves.

Iger would be a better fit on Wall Street. Wall Street loves him because he thinks like Wall Street. However, at TWDC, he slowly is killing the creativity and innovation that made Disney what it is.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

AP moved two crops of Jeff Bauman being wheeled away. (Here's a bit on him)

The full frame edit - rather nauseating even by my liberal standards - is something out of a war. (Here's the link, You must click again to actually see what we're talking about. I HIGHLY ADVISE AGAINST VIEWING THIS. I MEAN IT. DONT CLICK IT. THINK TWICE. You were warned.....) It does put into context exactly what happened and exactly how horrific the event was. He lived and the link above tells of his interview with cops that led to the information on Suspect #1 (dark hat) coming out today.

For the life of me, I cant find the AP's bit on them moving multiple crops of the same photo, which is very common to do so. They likely did because its goddammed gruesome.

Actually, you don't put a black stripe or blur things, IMO. That violates everything. You run it or you don't. An interesting bit on this here on Photoshelter..... where they have the cropped image and a conversation about it.

Of course, thats nowhere near as bad as what the NY Post did this morning about that track star & his coach on the cover.... eeech. Someone's gonna get sued over that.

My take? Dont dumb things down with the news. We're adults and grown ups, we don't need to be spoon fed this crap ad nauseum. We can handle gory photos. We may not like it and it may us off (as it should- we cannot tolerate acts in our society that lead to this kind of horror) but we're mature enough to see these things.

Just tell us what happened and enough with the speculation, rumor mongering and unadulterated bull(pooh!) that seems to be a product of 24 hour cable news and the rush to be first. Just be right and for the love of god, stop using unnamed sources.


.... So there's was a blimp?

The thing I don't get is why choose that photo to run if you're going to crop out the important part? Just viewing one photo aggregating thread, I probably saw a dozen non-gory pictures of bloodied people being wheeled away from the blast zone.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Iger exemplifies the modern CEO: intelligent, well-spoken, professional, personable but, in the end, a number cruncher. A number cruncher tends to be dispassionate about one’s own product. A number cruncher often lacks vision. It takes vision to grow a company. Since Iger lacks vision, he grows the company through acquisition. He looks for incremental growth in businesses he knows rather than for new opportunities.

Walt Disney’s decision to build Disneyland represents exactly the kind of vision Iger lacks. The company knew absolutely nothing about amusement parks when Walt decided to launch this venture. Most told him he was crazy to do so.

In order to fund DL, the Disney brothers sold much of DL's ownership. For $500K cash and a guaranteed loan for another $4.5M, they sold 34% interest in DL to ABC. Another 13.8% went to Western Printing and Lithographing for $200K. Walt himself purchased 17.5% ownership for $250K. Bank of America funded most of DL with a $11M loan. At the time, Bank of America was nervous about that loan amount, not sure that the company could survive if DL failed. Walt supposedly was about $100K in personal debt until DL's finances fell into place. DL was a huge financial risk and it took several years to pay off the original loans. Eventually, WDP bought back 100% ownership of DL (using more loans to do it), including purchasing Walt's share and buyouts of all the concessionaires in DL.

As it turned out, DL became a cash cow for Disney for decades. The company’s financial success in the 1950s to 1980s was built primarily on theme parks. Even today the parks are big money makers for TWDC. But they aren’t seeing the aggressive growth Iger wants exactly because he lacks the vision to expand them the way Eisner did. TWDC could build (for example) a Fifth Gate but there’s no assurance it would be a financial success because there’s no one at today’s TWDC capable of making the right creative decisions to make sure it was a financial success.

For Iger, it’s much better to build DL versions 5 & 6 in the Far East, cruise ships #5 & #6, DVC resorts #12 & #13, Iron Man #3, Star Wars #7 #8 & #9, etc. That’s Iger.

Iger is one of the most difficult kinds of CEOs to redirect because he makes the kind of short-term decisions Wall Street loves. But in 10-20 years, what does Disney offer? Cruise ships #11 & #12? Iron Man #6? At some point, the well runs dry and creativity is required. Vision is required. A visionary creates IP that can be built on for decades to come.

Like Walt did.

 

[djlaosc]

Nope. They've gotten progressively worse.

Just from last year to this year. All you hear is KIDS, KIDS, KIDS, KIDS, KIDS, KIDS, KIDS, KIDS ....that's all a result of Mommy Bloggers.

I remember the 2005 DVD (the one with Erin) and they were advertising "Figment/The Imagination Pavilion" - from that DVD, I didn't even realise that there was a ride in there - I thought it was just a gigantic kids playground.

I know it's not a great ride, but they didn't even make it look like there was a ride there at all!

From 3:50...


...it does feature a clip from the seats of the ride, but it is in the middle of the playground, so it doesn't seem that it's an actual ride - just part of the playground!

 

[djlaosc]

Something else is going on the Wet n' Wild parcel!

Will it still be something to do with Universal? (rather than selling/swapping the land with someone else)

 

[djlaosc]

That last Planning DVD where they actually tried was the group of four (you know, with Dave the bench guy). Sure, it was cheesy, but it was entertaining and got your attention.

2005 - Dave, Erin, Josh (?) and I can't remember the other woman's name - because she was just focused on kids - the other three were focused on everyone else.

 

[Goofyernmost]

That last Planning DVD where they actually tried was the group of four (you know, with Dave the bench guy). Sure, it was cheesy, but it was entertaining and got your attention.

The one they distribute now has a woman sitting in what appears to be a plainly appointed apartment, speaking in a slow, soft voice, with terribly old stock footage of many things - and worst of all, absolutely NO creativity, excitement or magic.

My wife and I watched both versions a couple weekends ago, for fun. It was such a stark contrast, and the current video wouldn't convince anyone to go!

I cannot tell you how much a agree with you on this specific Planning DVD. It was great, funny and exciting. It broke down things for young kids, teens and adults. It was indeed the last good DVD that they produced. When I was planning my 2008 family trip my grandkids watched that DVD over and over again. I see "Dave" in commercials on TV occasionally. At first, I wondered...who is that? I know him from somewhere and then they had of shot of him sitting on a couch and I remembered. Everyone since then has been a real sleep inducer.

 

[jt04]

For Iger, it’s much better to build DL versions 5 & 6 in the Far East, cruise ships #5 & #6, DVC resorts #12 & #13, Iron Man #3, Star Wars #7 #8 & #9, etc. That’s Iger.

Iger is one of the most difficult kinds of CEOs to redirect because he makes the kind of short-term decisions Wall Street loves. But in 10-20 years, what does Disney offer? Cruise ships #11 & #12? Iron Man #6? At some point, the well runs dry and creativity is required. Vision is required. A visionary creates IP that can be built on for decades to come.

Like Walt did.

Iger does not have the luxury of being "Walt". He had to rescue the company financially which his long term investments will allow. China and the ships etc. are not for short term returns. Plainly obvious to any honest analysis.

But you keep jumping through hoops and dancing to the spirits tune to advance such tortured logic and spin this silly meme. Your words speak volumes. But not as you intend.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

But Iger has failed to invest in some of its most troubled assets, WDW and WDI come to mind. Every day Disney loses to UNI and SW will be hundreds of millions of dollars lost annually. MAGICAL wristbands WILL NOT fix the problem!!

 

[Rodan75]

But Iger has failed to invest in some of its most troubled assets, WDW and WDI come to mind. Every day Disney loses to UNI and SW will be hundreds of millions of dollars lost annually. MAGICAL wristbands WILL NOT fix the problem!!

I agree TWDC is failing Orlando, but when you look at what TWDC is doing holistically, they are being smart and creative. I genuinely feel as if they are not entirely sure what to do with the swamp, what will truly counter the march of Comcast (who should be investing in their Studio business as much as their Theme Park business). I don't think they know what is truly going to be successful in Orlando and it is much easier to copy DL in Shanghai than to fix Orlando.

 

[Daannzzz]

Land. What about the struggling Festival Bay Mall property across the freeway? Seems like a nice big piece of property. Some of the other pieces look a bit small. Only issue is a link form one location to the other. Not insurmountable. Looks like the outlet mall next to the freeway is popular but in the way.

 

[misterID]

The mall shouldn't be a big deal to buy out. I remember when all that land was available. I remember seeing deer all the time on Kirkman Road!

 

[LudwigVonDrake]

So I guess we won't be seeing any "spirited change" anytime soon at WDW?

 

[the.dreamfinder]

I have been wondering if UNI is looking to create a green buffer. BTW, is it just me or does that Lockheed land look like it could fit a nice sized lake?

 

[lazyboy97o]

Land. What about the struggling Festival Bay Mall property across the freeway? Seems like a nice big piece of property. Some of the other pieces look a bit small. Only issue is a link form one location to the other. Not insurmountable. Looks like the outlet mall next to the freeway is popular but in the way.

I believe [another] redevelopment of Festival Bay was just announced.

 

[George]

Iger does not have the luxury of being "Walt".

Remember when he had that burlap "Walt" face sewn over his mug? Pretty awful look.I think ditching that was one of his better decisions.