Staggs resigns

[TeriofTerror]

First post. Been reading and enjoying the forums here for years.

I have been traveling to Disney World literally since I was 1+ year old. It is my favorite place to vacation. That being said, major change is needed. Today's Disney literally lives solely off the magic and nostalgia that Walt created. Gone are the days of lands that present their theme without shoe-horned money-grab attractions. Gone are the days when a ride like Horizons would get built. Gone are the days where proper upkeep and good show were what separated Disney, not what dogs Disney. Gone are the days where there is a balance between business and amazing (not good, not great) product.

Epcot, my personal favorite park, has a full pavilion and a central restaurant left virtually abandoned. A once lavish and colorful and engrossing Journey Into Imagination is now a bare, stripped down, slow moving ride through, in one scene, the dark, and in another scene, a virtually empty room with a pull-down screen. A fantasyland and/or Hollywood studios ride is *REPLACING* (not being built in addition to) a ride in Norway pavilion. Cartoons have been lazily injected into the ride in Mexico pavilion. Why not build them where they are most appropriate based on theme of land? Why not build "in addition to" rather than, so often, replace?

Magic Kingdom, the most popular theme park in the world, opened New Fantasyland on a plot of land held vacant for many years where a ride once sat. It also caused the *replacement* of a classic dark ride. Mine Train is laughably short. Laughably. You literally are stunned when it ends.

Hollywood Studios has a new construction wall image that shows a scaled back version of Toy Story Land. Scaled back version of Toy Story Land, really? A new land with one beautified carnival ride and one small-scale coaster has actually been seemingly downgraded in the mere 8 months since it was announced. What has been cut? The details and plussing that made this ride even halfway worthy of the Disney name. I have very high hopes for Star Wars land, and truly believe even with this unbalanced business model of current Disney execs (who think only for the dollar of now as other theme parks around them grow and grab market share for the future... while Disney withers and loses what made it special for the next generation of guests) they understand the magnitude of this project.

Animal Kingdom mostly (mostly) gets it right, and only suffers a bit from a lack of nostalgia as the newest of the 4 parks and a lack of full development, yet, for the same reason. I have high hopes for Avatar Land and only hope that the boat ride has a length and details worthy of a new major land being built in Disney World in 2016 that will, likely, stand for decades. To cheap out on 1 of likely 2 rides would be a senseless decision that hurts the park, and the brand, for the future.

Time for some new, more balanced leaders to heal Disney World. Much of the Disney brand and power grows directly from the parks -- time for leaders that are ready to amaze and captivate a new generation of park-goers and Disney brand lovers, not simply satisfy them. My opinion anyways.

Welcome!

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

What about James Murdoch? He is the current CEO of 21st Century Fox and is only 43.. He could be a guy that comes in like Eisner and has a 20 year run. As long as he has a good number 2, then why wouldnt he work?

Because anyone associated with papa Murdoch is by default a scumbag who cant be trusted. Murdoch will sell his granny if it brought an increase in margin. The Murdoch empire has no interest in quality or customer satisfaction. Just hand over the folding stuff. And the apple never falls far from the tree.

 

[IowaHawks7]

Because anyone associated with papa Murdoch is by default a scumbag who cant be trusted. Murdoch will sell his granny if it brought an increase in margin. The Murdoch empire has no interest in quality or customer satisfaction. Just hand over the folding stuff. And the apple never falls far from the tree.

alright then....

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

alright then....

Just my opinion.

 

[GeneralZod]

BTW, BvS will do more damage to the DC characters than Phantom Mennace did to Star Wars.

This is incorrect.

 

[WDWLover#1]

First post. Been reading and enjoying the forums here for years.

I have been traveling to Disney World literally since I was 1+ year old. It is my favorite place to vacation. That being said, major change is needed. Today's Disney literally lives solely off the magic and nostalgia that Walt created. Gone are the days of lands that present their theme without shoe-horned money-grab attractions. Gone are the days when a ride like Horizons would get built. Gone are the days where proper upkeep and good show were what separated Disney, not what dogs Disney. Gone are the days where there is a balance between business and amazing (not good, not great) product.

Epcot, my personal favorite park, has a full pavilion and a central restaurant left virtually abandoned. A once lavish and colorful and engrossing Journey Into Imagination is now a bare, stripped down, slow moving ride through, in one scene, the dark, and in another scene, a virtually empty room with a pull-down screen. A fantasyland and/or Hollywood studios ride is *REPLACING* (not being built in addition to) a ride in Norway pavilion. Cartoons have been lazily injected into the ride in Mexico pavilion. Why not build them where they are most appropriate based on theme of land? Why not build "in addition to" rather than, so often, replace?

Magic Kingdom, the most popular theme park in the world, opened New Fantasyland on a plot of land held vacant for many years where a ride once sat. It also caused the *replacement* of a classic dark ride. Mine Train is laughably short. Laughably. You literally are stunned when it ends.

Hollywood Studios has a new construction wall image that shows a scaled back version of Toy Story Land. Scaled back version of Toy Story Land, really? A new land with one beautified carnival ride and one small-scale coaster has actually been seemingly downgraded in the mere 8 months since it was announced. What has been cut? The details and plussing that made this ride even halfway worthy of the Disney name. I have very high hopes for Star Wars land, and truly believe even with this unbalanced business model of current Disney execs (who think only for the dollar of now as other theme parks around them grow and grab market share for the future... while Disney withers and loses what made it special for the next generation of guests) they understand the magnitude of this project.

Animal Kingdom mostly (mostly) gets it right, and only suffers a bit from a lack of nostalgia as the newest of the 4 parks and a lack of full development, yet, for the same reason. I have high hopes for Avatar Land and only hope that the boat ride has a length and details worthy of a new major land being built in Disney World in 2016 that will, likely, stand for decades. To cheap out on 1 of likely 2 rides would be a senseless decision that hurts the park, and the brand, for the future.

Time for some new, more balanced leaders to heal Disney World. Much of the Disney brand and power grows directly from the parks -- time for leaders that are ready to amaze and captivate a new generation of park-goers and Disney brand lovers, not simply satisfy them. My opinion anyways.

First off welcome. I'd thought i'd say my view on things as well. I would argue that today's imagineers equal in quality to imagineers 10, 20 years ago. NFL is remarkably well themed. Ratatouille is great e ticket. Cars Land (in fact the whole of DCA makeover) was superb. Shanghai looks to be incredible. The new parades and fireworks shows have been amazing. Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Manor. I think they don't have a problem with nostalgia. A child today is going to ride TLM and in 10 years have that be there favourite ride. Same with Frozen. Paint the Night is having the same effect as MSEP. Disney has not lost little touches that you are referring to. Not at all. And that's been proven in their last couple of projects alone, and I believe will continue indefinitely.
What has always happened on these boards is criticism which is a good thing of course. This is something we all love. Uncertainty is also something that plagues these boards. Two recent examples come to mind. The FoF parade. Someone said that music was being copied from Soundsational. That started pages of discussion about how TDO are just being "lazy" "cutting". Turned out when the thing came along it was a completely new music score. Avatar: someone stated about the boat ride no longer happening, and that created pages of the same thing. This again turned out to be just a rumour and false.
First of all no one knows for sure if anything has been cut from the slinky coaster (of course I could be wrong there and actually no nothing). It could just be that this concept art was the real thing while the one at d23 was a blue sky and hadn't gone through any process. It could be that this is just another representation by a different artist. That he/she decided to draw it differently than the previous artist. I personally don't understand the big thing about this. Wait till the actual thing comes along. Then start bashing disney if it's just a coaster with grass around it and don't go. It's just concept art. Have a look at Cars Land concept art. There's stuff when they announced it in there that wasn't in the drawings this one person decided to do, with everyone around them telling what to put in it. Yes it could be that there has been cuts. But I'm gonna wait till we see it when it's done. Just because people have been wrong on these boards before. And I think it's going to be really cool.
I would argue that yes, there was time when upkeep was just not what it should be. But now? There's been numerous refurbs every month, the plussing of attractions such as Little Mermaid, Test Track, Soarin, POTC, Peter Pan, The Safaris, Fantasmic soon Big Thunder. The castle has been painted twice in the space of two years! So much has happened.
And as for the little details that made Disney special, they recently debuted a new mini parade at Coronado Springs and a new Cinderella character experience at the Grand Flo. I think Disney is not losing those little things at all. I would argue they're making new ones.
As far as I'm aware so far, the only bad product that's come recently is this Star Wars show that is awful. And then looking at the big picture, it's a fast attempt to do something because Disney has to in that park. There's nothing. And it was a bad decision because it is a lackluster show.
I anyone thinks that Disney isn't good at details anymore or upkeep then don't go. There's a reason prices are going up because there's a demand and Disney is a company. Disney has done really good stuff recently. Epcot needs a clear direction thats obvious. But the other parks? It used to be when Meg reigned that you'd be lucky to get anything over two years. So much has grown and happened and will continue to happen in the next couple of years at the parks. So far so new money making item has taken away anything. It's just a new thing. If Disney of course start getting rid of EMH then I'll start complaining as well.
Personally, that's what I think anyways. Staggs resigning has nothing to do with Toy Story land. I think I kinda went all over the place and kinda drifted from you post but oh well.
Back on topic now?

 

[RIDEinSPHERE]

Welcome!

Thanks!

 

[RIDEinSPHERE]

First off welcome. I'd thought i'd say my view on things as well. I would argue that today's imagineers equal in quality to imagineers 10, 20 years ago. NFL is remarkably well themed. Ratatouille is great e ticket. Cars Land (in fact the whole of DCA makeover) was superb. Shanghai looks to be incredible. The new parades and fireworks shows have been amazing. Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Manor. I think they don't have a problem with nostalgia. A child today is going to ride TLM and in 10 years have that be there favourite ride. Same with Frozen. Paint the Night is having the same effect as MSEP. Disney has not lost little touches that you are referring to. Not at all. And that's been proven in their last couple of projects alone, and I believe will continue indefinitely.
What has always happened on these boards is criticism which is a good thing of course. This is something we all love. Uncertainty is also something that plagues these boards. Two recent examples come to mind. The FoF parade. Someone said that music was being copied from Soundsational. That started pages of discussion about how TDO are just being "lazy" "cutting". Turned out when the thing came along it was a completely new music score. Avatar: someone stated about the boat ride no longer happening, and that created pages of the same thing. This again turned out to be just a rumour and false.
First of all no one knows for sure if anything has been cut from the slinky coaster (of course I could be wrong there and actually no nothing). It could just be that this concept art was the real thing while the one at d23 was a blue sky and hadn't gone through any process. It could be that this is just another representation by a different artist. That he/she decided to draw it differently than the previous artist. I personally don't understand the big thing about this. Wait till the actual thing comes along. Then start bashing disney if it's just a coaster with grass around it and don't go. It's just concept art. Have a look at Cars Land concept art. There's stuff when they announced it in there that wasn't in the drawings this one person decided to do, with everyone around them telling what to put in it. Yes it could be that there has been cuts. But I'm gonna wait till we see it when it's done. Just because people have been wrong on these boards before. And I think it's going to be really cool.
I would argue that yes, there was time when upkeep was just not what it should be. But now? There's been numerous refurbs every month, the plussing of attractions such as Little Mermaid, Test Track, Soarin, POTC, Peter Pan, The Safaris, Fantasmic soon Big Thunder. The castle has been painted twice in the space of two years! So much has happened.
And as for the little details that made Disney special, they recently debuted a new mini parade at Coronado Springs and a new Cinderella character experience at the Grand Flo. I think Disney is not losing those little things at all. I would argue they're making new ones.
As far as I'm aware so far, the only bad product that's come recently is this Star Wars show that is awful. And then looking at the big picture, it's a fast attempt to do something because Disney has to in that park. There's nothing. And it was a bad decision because it is a lackluster show.
I anyone thinks that Disney isn't good at details anymore or upkeep then don't go. There's a reason prices are going up because there's a demand and Disney is a company. Disney has done really good stuff recently. Epcot needs a clear direction thats obvious. But the other parks? It used to be when Meg reigned that you'd be lucky to get anything over two years. So much has grown and happened and will continue to happen in the next couple of years at the parks. So far so new money making item has taken away anything. It's just a new thing. If Disney of course start getting rid of EMH then I'll start complaining as well.
Personally, that's what I think anyways. Staggs resigning has nothing to do with Toy Story land. I think I kinda went all over the place and kinda drifted from you post but oh well.
Back on topic now?

Thanks, appreciate your thoughts !

 

[FrankLapidus]

Colour me surprised but pleased about this development.

Vaughn and Rasulo gone, Staggs now following...the creative brain drain are finally being ousted.

Now let's see who does get the nod to succeed Iger when he too, finally and blessedly, clears off.

 

[FigmentJedi]

From Variety

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/t...ney-sheryl-sandberg-peter-chernin-1201745286/

This is an interesting paragraph

There’s also a chance that CBS chief Leslie Moonves could find himself in the market for a new perch given the uncertainty surrounding the future of Sumner Redstone’s Viacom and CBS Corp. holdings. One truly outside-the-box possibility might be to buy DreamWorks Animation and install its founder Jeffrey Katzenberg in the corporate suite. His history with the house that Mickey built is a complex and fraught one — the psychological stuff of Greek dramas.

Eh, Dreamworks Animation's a sinking ship. Been having trouble since the unfortunate underperformance of Rise of the Guardians. Don't know if Katzenberg would be as valuable an asset. Dreamworks does have quite the IP library ever since it bought out Classic Media though.

 

[doctornick]

They still made a lot of money.

DC really hasn't "made" a lot of money (or won't) on the movie. BvS: DoJ was a very expensive movie to make (and promote) and projections indicate it needed to gross over $800M to break even. At this point, the movie will probably end up making only $850-900M at the box office, heavy on foreign receipts, so it will likely make a profit yes but nothing noteworthy given the degree of investment. I'd imagine that the Warner execs were expecting $1B minimum and probably were hopeful for something more similar to The Avengers.

Furthermore, the poor critical and general audience reception (on top of Man of Steel's mixed reception) does not bode well for the shared universe they have already announced and plotted. BvS was always going to make a decent amount just due to having those two iconic characters (and Wonder Woman) on screen together for the first time ever -- but the audiences won't be as kind to Justice League unless there's significant changes and good word of mouth. Warner Bros has got to be wringing their hands over it. I've got to imagine that they get rid of Zack Snyder.

 

[Mike S]

I bet he decided to leave the company after watching the Star Wars "stage show"

How that was signed off on by the people at LucasFilm after they pushed for the cancellation of SWW is one of life's great mysteries. Total garbage.

That makes it more impressive, not less. Anybody can slap Spiderman or Batman on a crap movie and have a box office success. Creating box office dominance with B- and C-list characters is far more impressive.


Disney made that the case, they didn't inherit it. If Ant-Man were released in 2004 it would have made maybe $200M.

Loved Ant-Man. Can't wait to see more heroes I don't know about get the spotlight. All I need to watch are Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron and I'm caught up in the MCU.

First post. Been reading and enjoying the forums here for years.

I have been traveling to Disney World literally since I was 1+ year old. It is my favorite place to vacation. That being said, major change is needed. Today's Disney literally lives solely off the magic and nostalgia that Walt created. Gone are the days of lands that present their theme without shoe-horned money-grab attractions. Gone are the days when a ride like Horizons would get built. Gone are the days where proper upkeep and good show were what separated Disney, not what dogs Disney. Gone are the days where there is a balance between business and amazing (not good, not great) product.

Epcot, my personal favorite park, has a full pavilion and a central restaurant left virtually abandoned. A once lavish and colorful and engrossing Journey Into Imagination is now a bare, stripped down, slow moving ride through, in one scene, the dark, and in another scene, a virtually empty room with a pull-down screen. A fantasyland and/or Hollywood studios ride is *REPLACING* (not being built in addition to) a ride in Norway pavilion. Cartoons have been lazily injected into the ride in Mexico pavilion. Why not build them where they are most appropriate based on theme of land? Why not build "in addition to" rather than, so often, replace?

Magic Kingdom, the most popular theme park in the world, opened New Fantasyland on a plot of land held vacant for many years where a ride once sat. It also caused the *replacement* of a classic dark ride. Mine Train is laughably short. Laughably. You literally are stunned when it ends.

Hollywood Studios has a new construction wall image that shows a scaled back version of Toy Story Land. Scaled back version of Toy Story Land, really? A new land with one beautified carnival ride and one small-scale coaster has actually been seemingly downgraded in the mere 8 months since it was announced. What has been cut? The details and plussing that made this ride even halfway worthy of the Disney name. I have very high hopes for Star Wars land, and truly believe even with this unbalanced business model of current Disney execs (who think only for the dollar of now as other theme parks around them grow and grab market share for the future... while Disney withers and loses what made it special for the next generation of guests) they understand the magnitude of this project.

Animal Kingdom mostly (mostly) gets it right, and only suffers a bit from a lack of nostalgia as the newest of the 4 parks and a lack of full development, yet, for the same reason. I have high hopes for Avatar Land and only hope that the boat ride has a length and details worthy of a new major land being built in Disney World in 2016 that will, likely, stand for decades. To cheap out on 1 of likely 2 rides would be a senseless decision that hurts the park, and the brand, for the future.

Time for some new, more balanced leaders to heal Disney World. Much of the Disney brand and power grows directly from the parks -- time for leaders that are ready to amaze and captivate a new generation of park-goers and Disney brand lovers, not simply satisfy them. My opinion anyways.

Welcome to the boards. I think you'll do just fine here

 

[seabreezept813]

...but, the light emittance from devices like an iPad actual interfere with brain chemistry and alter sleeping among other things. That's a real issue that many prior instruments didn't have. When four teenagers sit at a table at a restaurant and each one of them is staring at a phone and not conversing, that's antisocial and it's rampant. We see it on a daily basis. People talking on the phone or using them when "talking" to someone at a store, checking out, etc., it's either antisocial or just simply rude.

I chaperoned prom this past weekend. For a solid hour the dance floor was empty, while kids huddled near the wall to use their phones while they charged and others sat around watching bad karaoke. It's quite scary how these teens are so removed by their devices. I've become worse about using my phone too much too, it is distracting!

 

[disneyflush]

Regarding many rumors about Sheryl Sandberg taking over, i know very little about her. But from what i have read about her, i'm far from convinced she is a good fit to run Disney. .

You should really listen to some interviews with her in discussing her management philosophies. She is a billionaire at 46 based off being extremely smart and professionally fearless. Disney would be lucky to land her as CEO if that is what happens.

 

[doctornick]

Again, I'm not giving Iger credit for the "creative feat" here. But what you described is not a small thing. If it was so obvious and all you had to do was cut a few checks to make billions of dollars, then why didn't ComcastNewsCorpCBSViacomSony acquire Marvel? Making that acquisition carried tremendous risk for failure.

This. If it were so obvious and simple a purchase, any number of companies could have done it -- DC has been owned by Warner for decades, so it's not like media conglomerate ownership of a comic book company from unknown. Marvel went bankrupt in the 90's and could have been had for a song. Other media companies felt the safe bet was to simply license the film rights of characters, but Iger and Disney saw value in ownership of the characters in total.

At the time of the purchase, some business types felt Disney overpaid and there was concerns about the long term value. Comic book movies were more hit or miss at the time -- yes, the occasional blockbuster, but many were barely profitable and there were also a number of bombs (e.g. Steel, Catwoman, Elektra, Punisher: War Zone) -- and not the obvious hits they now seem to be.

Even Marvel Studios at the time of the purchase had only released two films at the time of the purchase. Yes, Iron Man was a success, but The Incredible Hulk wasn't. Painting Marvel Studios and the MCU as an obvious money maker in 2009 is complete hindsight bias -- yes, they had financing and a plan, but they were far from a sure fire success.

I don't mean to oversell the risk, because it was still a purchase with a lot of value (especially to Disney given the potential synergy) but I think people are too dismissive of how the deal was perceived at the time.

 

[Cletus]

First post. Been reading and enjoying the forums here for years.

I have been traveling to Disney World literally since I was 1+ year old. It is my favorite place to vacation. That being said, major change is needed. Today's Disney literally lives solely off the magic and nostalgia that Walt created. Gone are the days of lands that present their theme without shoe-horned money-grab attractions. Gone are the days when a ride like Horizons would get built. Gone are the days where proper upkeep and good show were what separated Disney, not what dogs Disney. Gone are the days where there is a balance between business and amazing (not good, not great) product.

Epcot, my personal favorite park, has a full pavilion and a central restaurant left virtually abandoned. A once lavish and colorful and engrossing Journey Into Imagination is now a bare, stripped down, slow moving ride through, in one scene, the dark, and in another scene, a virtually empty room with a pull-down screen. A fantasyland and/or Hollywood studios ride is *REPLACING* (not being built in addition to) a ride in Norway pavilion. Cartoons have been lazily injected into the ride in Mexico pavilion. Why not build them where they are most appropriate based on theme of land? Why not build "in addition to" rather than, so often, replace?

Magic Kingdom, the most popular theme park in the world, opened New Fantasyland on a plot of land held vacant for many years where a ride once sat. It also caused the *replacement* of a classic dark ride. Mine Train is laughably short. Laughably. You literally are stunned when it ends.

Hollywood Studios has a new construction wall image that shows a scaled back version of Toy Story Land. Scaled back version of Toy Story Land, really? A new land with one beautified carnival ride and one small-scale coaster has actually been seemingly downgraded in the mere 8 months since it was announced. What has been cut? The details and plussing that made this ride even halfway worthy of the Disney name. I have very high hopes for Star Wars land, and truly believe even with this unbalanced business model of current Disney execs (who think only for the dollar of now as other theme parks around them grow and grab market share for the future... while Disney withers and loses what made it special for the next generation of guests) they understand the magnitude of this project.

Animal Kingdom mostly (mostly) gets it right, and only suffers a bit from a lack of nostalgia as the newest of the 4 parks and a lack of full development, yet, for the same reason. I have high hopes for Avatar Land and only hope that the boat ride has a length and details worthy of a new major land being built in Disney World in 2016 that will, likely, stand for decades. To cheap out on 1 of likely 2 rides would be a senseless decision that hurts the park, and the brand, for the future.

Time for some new, more balanced leaders to heal Disney World. Much of the Disney brand and power grows directly from the parks -- time for leaders that are ready to amaze and captivate a new generation of park-goers and Disney brand lovers, not simply satisfy them. My opinion anyways.

Welcome!

 

[Mike S]

Welcome!

 

[Nubs70]

Turning this back to China, a member of President Xi Jinping's family as well as members of other prominent Chinese political families have been ensnared by the Panama Papers.
https://www.wbez.org/shows/marketpl...a-papers/d4185f46-4ca3-427c-93cd-6096d278ee4d

Curious to see if there was an $800MM deposit laying around.

 

[Phineas]

C'mon Lasseter!

I would be so happy if this were to happen. I think, if anyone were to come close to being a modern Walt Disney, it's Lasseter.

 

[Cesar R M]

Because anyone associated with papa Murdoch is by default a scumbag who cant be trusted. Murdoch will sell his granny if it brought an increase in margin. The Murdoch empire has no interest in quality or customer satisfaction. Just hand over the folding stuff. And the apple never falls far from the tree.

so.. just like Iger then?