Spirited News & Observations II -- NGE/Baxter

[lazyboy97o]

Has Parks & Resorts ever been the largest segment in TWDC?

Disneyland, Walt Disney World and the deal with the Oriental Land Company are what kept Walt Disney Production afloat in the late-1970s and early-1980s.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Has Parks & Resorts ever been the largest segment in TWDC?

Until the release of the "Modern Classics" (beginning with The Little Mermaid in 1989), throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Parks & Resorts kept TWDC from going belly up. Consider the following revenue numbers from 1983:

WDW: $727M
DLR: $148M
TDL (royalties): $83M
Other: $73M
P&R Total: $1013M

Motion Pictures: $165M

Consumer Products: $111M

Total: $1289M

There once was a time when Disney movies stunk and they did not sell a lot of merchandise outside of the theme parks.

WDW merchandise sales alone in 1983 was $172M, more than their other segments.

 

[flynnibus]

I waited over a half hour for a relatively modest line for a beer at Fantasmic this weekend. Why? The swipe to pay system wasn't working, and if you had the band they were trying to give you a hard time if you wanted to just pay with cash or cc instead. Ended up being one of the best beers I'd ever had.

Who had the bands?

 

[MattM]

I understand your argument, but I think that that last line should be more to the fact that people need to realize that employers need employees as much as employees need employers. Every officer of the TWDC makes close to 15 to 16 million dollars a year. The question is why do cuts always come from the low wage employees or that the consumer has to pay for the increase. As mention in a previous post I manage a small family hardware store and with the lack of snow in the Chicago area sales have been slow. To offset the lose of income I have been working 12 hour days to reduce the payroll expense, but the owner of the store hasn't been paying himself since November. So if a small business can hand out cost cutting measures at the bottom and the top why can't a big company like Disney.

The quick answer is small businesses aren't contractually obligated to pay certain positions/employees certain salaries. I've been there too, not paying myself to keep the business and my employees afloat. Now that I've done all that sacrifice I'm an evil doer because now we are successful and I like to keep my money. Even though I give a significantly higher percentage of my income away than our two highest leaders combined, yet they keep placing labels.

 

[ParentsOf4]

This is as good as I could have said it. It's easy for people who don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, wrapped up in the business they've created (or didn't, depending on who you ask *BONUS POINTS*). Then government tells you what to do with the money you risked and you are branded as evil if you don't want to do it. To that I say go start your own business and pay people what you want. Start your own business and compete with me. If you beat me, then your way is better. If all my employees leave my business for yours, then more power to you. But that doesn't happen. Really, people just want to tell you what to do with your money and your business.

But this will get me branded as a right wing extremist, I'm sure. But this is an internet message board, and it really doesn't bother me.

One of the fallacies used to defend today's uber rich is that they are risking their own money. Bob Iger is a prime example of this fallacy. He has collected over $200M while running TWDC, basically taking no personal risk while playing with other people's money. (Don't get me started on the no-risk stock options he received.)

Last year alone, Iger collected $40M in total compensation, a 20% pay increase, while simultaneously looking to shed 10% of TWDC's work force.

The imbalance between the haves and the have not has not been this extreme since the days of the Robber Barons. Where is Teddy Roosevelt when you need him?

In the glory days of U.S. business, the typical CEO made about 20 times the average factory worker. Iger's CEO-to-CM compensation ratio is around 2000-to-1.

P.S. Walt Disney, who built the company with his own sweat, risking his money countless times, never collected more than about $150,000 in annual compensation, approximately $1M adjusted for inflation.

 

[MattM]

One of the fallicies used to defend today's uber rich is that they are risking their own money. Bob Iger is a prime example of this fallacy. He has collected over $200M while running TWDC, basically taking no personal risk while playing with other people's money. (Don't get me started on the no-risk stock options he received.)

Last year alone, Iger collected $40M in total compensation, a 20% pay increase, while simultaneously looking to shed 10% of TWDC's work force.

The imbalance between the haves and the have not have not been this extreme since the days of the Robber Barons. Where is Teddy Roosevelt when you need him?

In the glory days of U.S. business, the typical CEO made about 20 times the average factory worker. Iger's CEO-to-CM compensation ratio is around 2000-to-1.

Of course. I'm not talking of corporate ceo's. I'm talking about successful small business owners, who we wouldn't describe ourselves as uber wealthy, but this Administration does. Our life savings are wrapped up in our businesses.

 

[MattM]

Who had the bands?

It would have to have been resort guests, I assume? I'm not even sure if they were bands, but the CM said they were having issues with the tap to pay system. My nose was buried in my phone, trying to pass the time.

 

[GoofGoof]

Until the release of the "Modern Classics" (beginning with The Little Mermaid in 1989), throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Parks & Resorts kept TWDC from going belly up. Consider the following revenue numbers from 1983:

WDW: $727M
DLR: $148M
TDL (royalties): $83M
Other: $73M
P&R Total: $1013M

Motion Pictures: $165M

Consumer Products: $111M

Total: $1289M

There once was a time when Disney movies stunk and they did not sell a lot of merchandise outside of the theme parks.

WDW merchandise sales alone in 1983 was $172M, more than their other segments.

This makes a lot of sense. The ABC deal changed the company. ABC/ESPN dwarfs the studios and parks now. And remember Iger is an ABC guy. In a lot of ways the parks provide steady earnings to level out the ups and downs of the other 2. I guess they also provide a good way to reinvest the gobs of cash the company generates. Just not in FL

 

[tracyandalex]

What you have to ask yourself is why anyone should/would trust this company with tracking your children and handing them all of this personal info on them and you, when they can't even prevent folks from pulling up other guests' info now?

Just think about that for a bit. This isn't one person on the DIS Boards. This is now multiple people, including here. ... and we all know that most people don't post on fan forums, so one can easily extraoplate that these aren't a few 'isolated incidents' but a major flaw with Disney's security protocols.

Thus far I have not seen anyone else's info, but it made me wonder - Would I know if someone else could see mine? Would I be missing info like others are or would everything look fine to meanwhile someone else somewhere is checking out my vacation plans rather than their own? I must say I am very glad that I did not put a credit card on there.

 

[Genie of the Lamp]

Back to Tony Baxter (a spirited obeservation), I'm suprised that they didn't show that Barnabus T. Bullion portrait when they filmed that behind the scenes vid with the Imagineers. That and the mountain portrait were one of the first few items shown that were going to be present in the queue and in the video they talked about pretty much everything except that portrait that is referenced to Mr.Baxter. Again I'm sure it's just an oversimplification, but I don't know why they didn't show that portrait in that vid be it that it's his attraction. Maybe they haven't put it up yet Idk. @Figments Friend, got a take on this. Plus maybe they wanted to focus on the majority other queue enhancements as well.

 

[njDizFan]

Of course. I'm not talking of corporate ceo's. I'm talking about successful small business owners, who we wouldn't describe ourselves as uber wealthy, but this Administration does. Our life savings are wrapped up in our businesses.

I understand the plight of the SB owner(as someone in the financial side of things) but quite a bit of the blame falls on the hands of Wall Street and it's corporate culture. Survival of the fittest has allowed for the behemoth retailers(in your case Home Depot, Lowes) to thrive by diverting funds out of the community. I'm sure you do your banking and highering within your community, these big box stores do their finances overseas or into giant national corporate accounts. They buy their products largely from companies outside of the US.

The majority of small business that are successful are people that have started new or niche products and/or are highly sustained by services not products/manufacturing. The US is becoming or has become a land where we don't actually make "things" anymore we just are good at moving the money around.

 

[tracyandalex]

BTW, supposedly APers will be receiving a letter at some point 'soon' is what I've been told, but that can mean anything from three months from now to late 2014, which asks more personal questions and then gives them options so they can choose their MAGICBand. That band will, theoretically, remain in use for as long as it lasts and it will be used as your room key anytime you stay at a Disney resort.

Oh, and in what seems like lawsuits waiting to happen, apparently your AP free parking privilege will be accessed by you swiping your wrist at toll plazas. One would hope it can read you from inside the vehicle or else I could see limbs flying off like during an episode of The Walking Dead.

There were 2 pages about MM+ in the Monitor we got the other day, but since you've already provided so much MAGICAL info I didn't bother to read it. I'll have to go back and read those pages it seems.

It's nice to know that having an AP will soon literally cost at least an arm. The next time I visit I will have to have the band on my leg so I guess they will eventually get that too.

 

[flynnibus]

The US is becoming or has become a land where we don't actually make "things" anymore we just are good at moving the money around.

Well that's what happens when you can't compete on the global market due to
- labor market
- labor costs
- regulation

The reality is other regions have more workers willing to work for less.. with less government overhead.

Other countries have built up an infrastructure that they didn't have 100 years ago and global trade has gotten so efficient it became cost effective to buy/build anywhere.. and not be constrained to local manufacturing.

You can't undo progress - governments can try to build walls to trade to protect local industry.. but that only works in limited scenarios. You can't wall off from the world as a whole and be successful.

We have become less desirable due to costs and regulation.. while other countries have become more desirable by catching up in infrastructure and trade. You can't stop other countries from modernizing - so you either make us more attractive (things we have others don't, or lower costs) or build artifical barriers to trade (tariffs, trade blocks).

Increasing worker pay won't make us more attractive as a manufacturing country. If we are going to cost more, we need to offer more, or offer something unique. We can't will our wage scales or cost of living onto other countries.. we have to accept their country is not ours.

 

[MattM]

I understand the plight of the SB owner(as someone in the financial side of things) but quite a bit of the blame falls on the hands of Wall Street and it's corporate culture. Survival of the fittest has allowed for the behemoth retailers(in your case Home Depot, Lowes) to thrive by diverting funds out of the community. I'm sure you do your banking and highering within your community, these big box stores do their finances overseas or into giant national corporate accounts. They buy their products largely from companies outside of the US.

The majority of small business that are successful are people that have started new or niche products and/or are highly sustained by services not products/manufacturing. The US is becoming or has become a land where we don't actually make "things" anymore we just are good at moving the money around.

That's not really what I'm saying. My business actually depends on many larger corporations as they are our clients. My point is, I think its a problem when I have invested countless (well, not really, I can tell you to the penny how many of my dollars I have in the company) of dollars into a business only to have a government, union, whatever tell me what to do with my dollars. I don't care what the blue-chips do with their money, that is their business. I just don't think its right for someone who has never run a business, met payroll, grown the business, or have a single penny invested to tell those of us who do how we should run things.

People who blame their woes on Wall Street, Corporate culture, or anything else for that matter are losers who are just making excuses for not getting the job done. Most people just don't want to put the work in to overcome a stacked deck, and then look for someone to blame. I say plow that deck over and laugh at everyone after you do it. Anyone CAN do it, most people make a choice not to. I know this point of view won't win me any brownie points here. But that's okay too.

 

[njDizFan]

Well that's what happens when you can't compete on the global market due to
- labor market
- labor costs
- regulation

The reality is other regions have more workers willing to work for less.. with less government overhead.

Other countries have built up an infrastructure that they didn't have 100 years ago and global trade has gotten so efficient it became cost effective to buy/build anywhere.. and not be constrained to local manufacturing.

You can't undo progress - governments can try to build walls to trade to protect local industry.. but that only works in limited scenarios. You can't wall off from the world as a whole and be successful.

We have become less desirable due to costs and regulation.. while other countries have become more desirable by catching up in infrastructure and trade. You can't stop other countries from modernizing - so you either make us more attractive (things we have others don't, or lower costs) or build artifical barriers to trade (tariffs, trade blocks).

Increasing worker pay won't make us more attractive as a manufacturing country. If we are going to cost more, we need to offer more, or offer something unique. We can't will our wage scales or cost of living onto other countries.. we have to accept their country is not ours.

I agree on most of what you have stated. although I would not lump all those reasons into a negative light(regulations,salary standards etc.). We cannot force other countries to be on the same playing field as us nor should we. But giving special consideration to companies that exclusively use American labor would be a nice start. And basically we are only talking China, India and a few other Asian countries, which themselves are evolving.

The problem is that we are trying to fight a labor war with a huge population of people that are mirror images to ourselves 60-70 years ago. The new middle class and prosperity of post WWII is what made us great..we worked hard and expected a nice modest living. That is not true today we want more than we deserve and are not willing to fight for what we have.

Oh should I bring up Universal healthcare..that would help reduce expenses

 

[MarkTwain]

Back to Tony Baxter (a spirited obeservation), I'm suprised that they didn't show that Barnabus T. Bullion portrait when they filmed that behind the scenes vid with the Imagineers. That and the mountain portrait were one of the first few items shown that were going to be present in the queue and in the video they talked about pretty much everything except that portrait that is referenced to Mr.Baxter. Again I'm sure it's just an oversimplification, but I don't know why they didn't show that portrait in that vid be it that it's his attraction. Maybe they haven't put it up yet Idk. @Figments Friend, got a take on this. Plus maybe they wanted to focus on the majority other queue enhancements as well.

I've been curious about that painting too. The timing of it certainly was interesting. I wonder if whoever painted it had a feeling about what was coming and created as a kind of tribute to him... or it we're now not going to see it in light of recent events (ie, drawing attention to the fact he's no longer there).

Whatever the case it, I'm just glad to see that the painting has a found a new life on the internet:

https://twitter.com/EvilTonyBaxter

These Hollywood people could learn a lesson from us, replace a principal character with a screen. #Oscars

 

[njDizFan]

That's not really what I'm saying. My business actually depends on many larger corporations as they are our clients. My point is, I think its a problem when I have invested countless (well, not really, I can tell you to the penny how many of my dollars I have in the company) of dollars into a business only to have a government, union, whatever tell me what to do with my dollars. I don't care what the blue-chips do with their money, that is their business. I just don't think its right for someone who has never run a business, met payroll, grown the business, or have a single penny invested to tell those of us who do how we should run things.

People who blame their woes on Wall Street, Corporate culture, or anything else for that matter are losers who are just making excuses for not getting the job done. Most people just don't want to put the work in to overcome a stacked deck, and then look for someone to blame. I say plow that deck over and laugh at everyone after you do it. Anyone CAN do it, most people make a choice not to. I know this point of view won't win me any brownie points here. But that's okay too.

So what exactly is the government telling you to do with your money? Is there more regulation and more unions now then there was 20-30 yers ago? Just trying to understand your POV

 

[Goofyernmost]

This is as good as I could have said it. It's easy for people who don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, wrapped up in the business they've created (or didn't, depending on who you ask *BONUS POINTS*). Then government tells you what to do with the money you risked and you are branded as evil if you don't want to do it. To that I say go start your own business and pay people what you want. Start your own business and compete with me. If you beat me, then your way is better. If all my employees leave my business for yours, then more power to you. But that doesn't happen. Really, people just want to tell you what to do with your money and your business.

But this will get me branded as a right wing extremist, I'm sure. But this is an internet message board, and it really doesn't bother me.

Although, I guess, it didn't come out that way, that is basically what I was saying. It's easy to want more money (who doesn't) when you don't have to worry about where it is going to come from and having been a business owner myself, I know that was my primary reasoning when setting pay rates. You have to have it to give it out and so many people think that it is just a matter of raising it and, like magic, they will come. It's almost like the which came first, the chicken or the egg question.

I would be one of the first to say that places like Disney should be able to pay more, but the majority of the low paying jobs are unskilled, simple task (if you don't count the nasty tourists) jobs and if you take just a moment to do the math, know the matching fund laws and multiply even $1.00 per hour by the total number of hours that are paid out, it would floor most people. Just as a ballpark thought, think about this. ALL HYPOTHETICAL: 40,000 employee's working an average of 20 hours per week will equal $41,600,000.00 per year if raised by only $1.00 per hour.

 

[Tiggerrules]

Thus far I have not seen anyone else's info, but it made me wonder - Would I know if someone else could see mine? Would I be missing info like others are or would everything look fine to meanwhile someone else somewhere is checking out my vacation plans rather than their own? I must say I am very glad that I did not put a credit card on there.

More than likely you would have no idea if someone else pulled up your profile.

 

[flynnibus]

I agree on most of what you have stated. although I would not lump all those reasons into a negative light(regulations,salary standards etc.)

Well - I don't look at them as negatives per say - but we must accept we are not equals when it comes to globalization. People take the simple road and act like it's about moving jobs for greed or they simply don't want to build locally. Many times its cost.. many times it's simply not available. There is a bit of a snowball effect where you need a critical mass of services to do certain things as well.

If the gas station down the street were 2-3x the cost as the gas station in the next town over. Are you greedy for going to the next town for gas?

We cannot force other countries to be on the same playing field as us nor should we. But giving special consideration to companies that exclusively use American labor would be a nice start. And basically we are only talking China, India and a few other Asian countries, which themselves are evolving.

I can agree in theory to giving some perks to companies who make an effort - but I think its difficult to do in practice. Just look at the 'minority owned' preferences in government contracting and look at just how effective that really is... people just game the system.

The problem is that we are trying to fight a labor war with a huge population of people that are mirror images to ourselves 60-70 years ago. The new middle class and prosperity of post WWII is what made us great..we worked hard and expected a nice modest living. That is not true today we want more than we deserve and are not willing to fight for what we have.

People don't want to work hard - the explosion of the white collar job market has made blue collar jobs less socially desirable and everyone wants the quick buck. If they fail, they are looking for the hand-out to pick them up. The generations that grew up through the 30s and 40s learned the value of things and were willing to do just about anything to make things better.

Think about the 30s... company towns.. people moving cross country JUST to work in a construction project. Now.. people turn their nose up at such things.

The decline of blue collar work and work ethic is undercutting the country. Everyone hates that so many labor markets are dominated by immigrants... its because they are willing to work (the hunger) while many native citizens are not.