Spirited News & Observations II -- NGE/Baxter

[Funmeister]

Just think when it came to this $1.5 billion datamining and trip planning fiasco, it all started with a Mouse ... a plush, talking Mouse ... My Pal Mickey.

Really!

FYI - Technically started as "My Pal Simba" during test and adjust for a short time only at DAK prior to My Pal Mickey making his debut.

Something else to support what you are saying....on a smaller scale but still the same...

Back in the late 90's Disney announced they were going to start charging guests to valet park at the resorts. The statement from the company was something to the effect that "we are only doing what the rest of the industry is doing." The problem was that Disney WAS the leader in the industry and basically admitted that it was no longer interested in being a trail blazer but and industry follower.

It was small things like this that feed into "Blue Ocean." Sure on a smaller scale but nevertheless the same.

 

[Jakester]

So is Baxter being secretly forced to leave the company but making it seem like it's his retirement to the general public?

 

[flynnibus]

2 - Corporate Weasels. - This is your "fail upward" category. People who do their job well enough to get noticed, make themselves look good but at the end of the day dont really do anything. Their job is to cover their own and navigate office politics well enough to get a promotion.

Add to this they are the 'yes men'. They will tell their boss anything they want to hear and let everyone else downstream suffer just so they don't have to deliver a negative or dissenting message.

These types never deliver on time.. because they never say no.. so they get conditioned to accept failure. Then when they move up to the next level because they always told the boss what they want to hear.. the new level below them learns the same thing. Just say yes, and delivering is unimportant. Eventually you have a whole leadership blowing smoke up each other's , no one delivers, and no one understands the realities because they only tell each other what they want to hear.

The company slows down, it bloats, it loses it's competitive edge. And when the accountants say 'we aren't going to hit our targets' - they resort to wild movements (like big cuts) to correct the balance sheet quarter to quarter.. instead of actually fixing the toxic leadership. Because again.. no one values truth.. only 'support'.

There is an easy way you can see the difference in a company. When something succeeds.. who do they shower with praise? The executive of the division? Or the team that did the work?

I mentioned it before.. one of the principles we believed in 'Respect the Doers'

 

[Todd H]

... And who eventually ended up winning that fight?

Clubber Lang did. Of course, Rocky then decided to change the way he trained to regain the "Eye of the Tiger" and then went on to defeat Clubber in the rematch. For some reason I don't see Disney regaining the "Eye of the Tiger" from MyMagic+. I see it as acceptance of their fate of getting knocked out cold. It's like an aging fighter having that one last fight not for glory but for a final payday.

 

[marni1971]

Just when will they admit the theme park visit doesn't need reinventing? You can reinvent the wheel. Value for money and immersive, quality attractions - rides in a themed environment- are what theme parks are known for, and new attractions in that environment are what keep people coming back. That and keeping existing facilities maintained to an expected standard.

If BoS is where Iger sees the future it shows he's only interested in short term growth. Repeats outnumber first timers and in a decade the repeats will be turned off by the lack of new quality offerings whilst the (non) competition flourishes.

BoS? More like BS. So many locals I know are saying they'll visit WDW less and go elsewhere. Even friends who surprise me by saying it. People who used to be like I was. I can't wait for this whole sorry plan to collapse. Iger is becoming a dangerous person for the future of the resort as we knew it.

 

[flynnibus]

So is Baxter being secretly forced to leave the company but making it seem like it's his retirement to the general public?

More like 'we will make your life miserable until you give up and leave'

Once you reach a certain level in leadership.. its extremely rare to be 'fired' unless you commit crimes. At worst you are told to leave.. and given the opportunity to 'resign'.

 

[lazyboy97o]

So is Baxter being secretly forced to leave the company but making it seem like it's his retirement to the general public?

More like 'we will make your life miserable until you give up and leave'

Once you reach a certain level in leadership.. its extremely rare to be 'fired' unless you commit crimes. At worst you are told to leave.. and given the opportunity to 'resign'.

I'm surprised the old favorite, "to spend more time with family" was not trotted out.

 

[flynnibus]

IBM now focuses a lot on information technology. For a lot of people like me (materials scientist/chemist), we've been quite disappointed that IBM has gone away considerably from that kind of research.

To be fair, they are still one of the leaders in the nanotechnology field, but ever since they abandoned the computer building/microelectronics business, they've downsized that division a lot. They don't really focus on consumer products anymore (they used to be the best makers of computers in the world) instead focusing on consulting for corporate and big business.

I don't really know how that ties into the "blue ocean" discussion we've been having here, but IBM does seem to be a company that sacrificed a lot of the small fish to continually reel in the whales, and apparently that is to be commended.

Put simply - they switched to a services company... selling brainpower and integration abilities.. instead of commoditized hardware. A bold move given how fast they were sliding in the consumer and enterprise hardware at the time. A move that HP and Dell have both tried to duplicate to save their rears from the low margin commodities as the foundation of their business.

 

[menamechris]

BoS? More like BS. So many locals I know are saying they'll visit WDW less and go elsewhere. Even friends who surprise me by saying it. People who used to be like I was. I can't wait for this whole sorry plan to collapse. Iger is becoming a dangerous person for the future of the resort as we knew it.

You can add me to that list. After almost a decade of having an annual pass, I am giving it up next month when it expires. The price increases have been outrageous, and I feel that I am consistently getting less and less. Since we are looking at YEARS before anything of substance is added to WDW parks, I can save thousands of dollars in the meantime....

 

[rudyjr13]

So what do we do? I already canceled an April trip. Reason, I'd rather spend that money on a house project or save it than go back for the same stale (more expensive) product (was there in Nov).

 

[awoogala]

Just think when it came to this $1.5 billion datamining and trip planning fiasco, it all started with a Mouse ... a plush, talking Mouse ... My Pal Mickey.

Really!

Sad, because My Pal Mickey had something this new bracelet does not have. A bit of heart to it. A bit of magic, with talking mickey at your side, giving you little hints and tidbits. My kids thought it was magical, and I liked it. If they had continued down that path, but kept some sweetness to it, some wonder, they might not have the debacle they have now.

 

[Bolna]

Thanks for the headache, @WDW1974!

I tried to understand BOS from your explanation as well as from a little research on the net. The one thing that puzzles me though is: How can this strategy ever lead to a sustainable situation? If one finds a blue ocean, what will keep the competitor from turning the blue ocean into a red one? Isn't that exactly what Universal is doing at the moment in Orlando? With every step they have improved their resort over there, the ocean is turned a little more "purple". With state of the art Harry Potter attractions in both parks, an affordable family resort, a water park and all the other improvements planned I would view the ocean pretty deep red.

 

[awoogala]

Well, do you have any intention of buying a Wii U? Being a console maker is a VERY expensive business. If Nintendo loses the faith of Third Party devs and sales tank in North America and Europe they will be in a very bad position. Nintendo can't afford to lose money on this console and a posible acquisition of its development studios and IP is a very real possibility.

Being a wii family who killed our wii, we went out and bought another wii, not a wii u.

 

[flynnibus]

How can this strategy ever lead to a sustainable situation? If one finds a blue ocean, what will keep the competitor from turning the blue ocean into a red one?

The idea is the competition is irrelevant because of your lead and differentiation. Certainly people will nip at your heels - but are they truly a factor? Are they what you are builiding around or chasing? Ultimately you may decide a crowded business landscape is no longer for you and you move on (sell the business or reduce). That's a normal business cycle as well. Businesses become redundant, they become commoditized, the margins get too tight.. and people move on. That doesn't mean the original concept 'wasn't sustainable'.

 

[flynnibus]

Being a wii family who killed our wii, we went out and bought another wii, not a wii u.

Ashame.. you probably could have fixed it! The two most common faults are either free or about $40 to fix!

 

[awoogala]

Ashame.. you probably could have fixed it! The two most common faults are either free or about $40 to fix!

shipping it back and forth and the fix could have cost more- a new wii was around $100. Not worth the hassle.

 

[flynnibus]

shipping it back and forth and the fix could have cost more- a new wii was around $100. Not worth the hassle.

No, the fix you do yourself

1) It doesn't power up - almost always just the power supply safety tripped. you just leave it unplugged from both ends for about 30mins
2) It doesn't read disks - you swap out the DVD drive for the price of a drive and special screwdriver. Less than $45

 

[Lee]

I was obviously a bit sleepy this morning and put this in the wrong thread. Moving it here...

So Blue Ocean. A hare-brained business scheme that I'm just now learning about, on account of I don't spend a lot of time on business theory. (For fear of having to decorate the house with posters of soaring eagles or jet fighters with some inspiring caption like "Teamwork" or "Excellence" or some such nonsense.)

Anyway...I don't like it.
We have been talking about it here for a while without actually using that terminology, and giving it a name doesn't make it any better.

Corporate Disney has made the decision to treat WDW as a real estate venture that just happens to incorporate theme parks as weenies to pull folks in, and hopefully get them hooked on "Magic". An addiction that, as we all know, you never really recover from...you just take it one day at a time.

As we've been saying for seemingly forever, Disney seems to have backed out of the attractions race. Allowing innovation to be replaced by profit maximization via marketing, discount schemes and high-tech systems aimed at keeping guests on property and electronically emptying their wallets. I am not a fan.

I want the old Disney back. One that aimed higher, that wanted to offer people the most amazing experiences available anywhere, and that actually strived to do everything better than anyone else. They don't do that now. Now we are in an era of "good enough." Are guests still packing the parks? Then they feel they are doing good enough. Are hotels mostly full? Good enough. Are they still the most-visited parks? Yeah? Good enough.
Uh-oh...are guests starting to cast longing glances at amazing things going on up I-4 a ways? No problem. Let's electronically tie them to our property and make it a pain in the to leave. That'll keep them here. Good enough.

And for those of us who say it isn't good enough...we're left on the margins. Tilting at windmills. Considered by many in the company as malcontents who they are better off without. They really don't care if we stop coming, since there is a seemingly endless supply of "first timers" and "foamers" lining up to pay for free dining and to ride a $100 C-ticket past platic fish on sticks. Saddens me to no end.

But, I do feel that all is not lost. There is always hope that some new blood can be infused into the system. That someone who realizes and understands that the old ways were the better ways. That guest satisfaction can't be reflected in spreadsheets, and magic can't be seen in powerpoints. That loyalty is earned, not gained through entrapment. That theme parks are living, breathing creature that must evolve and be kept fresh lest they wither and die.

Those people are out there. And they don't give a damn about any ridiculous business theory like BOS, and they sure as hell don't want any soaring eagles on their wall. I'm waiting for those people. Sadly, I fear the ones that are already in the company are in danger of being escorted out of the building, being told they are no longer needed.

End of babbling, barely coherent, Sunday morning rant.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Thanks for the headache, @WDW1974!

I tried to understand BOS from your explanation as well as from a little research on the net. The one thing that puzzles me though is: How can this strategy ever lead to a sustainable situation? If one finds a blue ocean, what will keep the competitor from turning the blue ocean into a red one? Isn't that exactly what Universal is doing at the moment in Orlando? With every step they have improved their resort over there, the ocean is turned a little more "purple". With state of the art Harry Potter attractions in both parks, an affordable family resort, a water park and all the other improvements planned I would view the ocean pretty deep red.

Even with all the talk, I still don't think people get what Universal is planning with Potter 2.0.

Gringott's Vault alone is going to blow the roof off of the themed entrainment industry. Italian marble inlaid floors and crystal chandeliers along with advanced AAs in the queue. And everything in the special effects arsenal on the ride. This thing is going to be a beast.

King's Cross Station load platform is going to be a wonder at close to a football field in length and fully themed complete with glass ceiling. The ride system isn't actually a ride system as much as a real 176 passenger Doppelmayr commuter train with Parallax screens for windows.

There is supposedly a Borgin and Burkes dark arts shop walk through. And a special effects laden Weasley Wizard Wheezes shop with in store fireworks.

 

[bubbles1812]

But, I do feel that all is not lost. There is always hope that some new blood can be infused into the system. That someone who realizes and understands that the old ways were the better ways. That guest satisfaction can't be reflected in spreadsheets, and magic can't be seen in powerpoints. That loyalty is earned, not gained through entrapment. That theme parks are living, breathing creature that must evolve and be kept fresh lest they wither and die.

Those people are out there. And they don't give a damn about any ridiculous business theory like BOS, and they sure as hell don't want any soaring eagles on their wall. I'm waiting for those people. Sadly, I fear the ones that are already in the company are in danger of being escorted out of the building, being told they are no longer needed

Agree they are out there... They are at Universal and Sea World and heck even the like of Busch Gardens, which is much more impressive these days. It would be nice if Disney considered more outside hires rather than most often promoting from within. I think that's one of their biggest problems. How can anything be changed if you always hire from within the same corporate culture? All at the upper levels have the same mindset and no one can see the forest thru the trees when it comes to identifying and fixing problems.