Surprise reshuffle of Vice Presidents at the Walt Disney World parks on the horizon?

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Mat Cauthon

Well-Known Member
I'm curious as to why Cockerell is considered the next golden boy even though he was VP at Studios which is almost unanimously regarded as the park in need of the most work and upgrades. I honestly know very little about the management makeup of WDW or TWDC (too many nicknames on here for me to keep track of actual names and positions. Although more pictures of Cupcake would be fine by me.) so can someone give me the CliffsNotes version of what he has done to position himself for such lofty expectations. This moves actually looks more like they are moving him away from the biggest money upgrade to a smaller one.
 
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BigThunderMatt

Well-Known Member
BrerJon said:
Given how often they shuffle around jobs, WDW VP's can't actually do much. You'd think with entities as large as the parks it would take years to get to know every little detail, immerse yourself in the different cultures of the different parks and really run a tight ship. If they can be swapped in and out so easily, they really must have only the most casual overview of things.
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That's the thing though: Phil Holmes HASN'T been shuffled at all. He has been in the same role for the last, what? 12 years? I'm pretty sure he was VP of MK when Wishes debuted in 2003. The fact that he has potential to finally be moved is huge. Speaking from experience, pretty much every operational decision at MK was a whim of Phil. I can't tell you how often I heard the exasperated expression of leadership saying "This is coming from Phil" in a "our hands are tied" sort of way. Dan has the reputation of being a much more hands-on leader who is open to suggestion and change and doesn't just go around barking knee jerk orders. Him coming to MK can mean only good things for a park that has stagnated in quality for a long time.
 
wannabeBelle

wannabeBelle

Well-Known Member
I met Dan Cockerell very briefly a few years back, He was very nice to me and seemed pretty on the ground and in the know as far as the question I had asked a CM he was with regarding entertainment at DHS. He answered the question, not the other gentleman. This is going to be interesting to watch to see what happens and maybe the why will become apparent. Marie
 
ToTBellHop

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
BigThunderMatt said:
That's the thing though: Phil Holmes HASN'T been shuffled at all. He has been in the same role for the last, what? 12 years? I'm pretty sure he was VP of MK when Wishes debuted in 2003. The fact that he has potential to finally be moved is huge. Speaking from experience, pretty much every operational decision at MK was a whim of Phil. I can't tell you how often I heard the exasperated expression of leadership saying "This is coming from Phil" in a "our hands are tied" sort of way. Dan has the reputation of being a much more hands-on leader who is open to suggestion and change and doesn't just go around barking knee jerk orders. Him coming to MK can mean only good things for a park that has stagnated in quality for a long time.
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Exactly. Whereas Phil can't really do any damage at DHS. Nothing left to damage! It's good news for us.
 
MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
Sage of Time said:
Doesn't sound like it'll effect the plans already in motion. Eh. At least Holmes has been taking better care of the MK, lately.
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Depends on the attraction, the quality of maintenance is pretty much hit or miss across the board at MK. Some attractions have improved in maintenance recently, others have remained in poor condition or deteriorated even further.

Attractions is decent to good condition now-
- Splash Mountain (usually a couple of animatronics having issues but otherwise good, overall decent)
- Peoplemover (last I rode the cars had new intact cushions, all lights above worked and seemed clean)
- Mine Train and Mermaid (still too new to make an assumption about upkeep)
- Haunted Mansion (generally remains in good shape with everything working)
- Main Street facades and lightbulbs (broken lightbulbs all over have improved)
- Hall of Presidents (not visited this one in a while, but it's commonly reported in good shape)
- Tiki Room (this was in amazingly good condition in May)
- Jungle Cruise (again just came out of a lot of extensive refurbs apparently)

Attractions/areas in mediocre to poor condition now-
- Space Mountain (awful awful awful)
- Carousel of Progress (some animatronics are starting to move sluggishly and other effects are messy)
- Big Thunder (lots of missing animals on my last ride, the third lift is also a joke)
- Peter Pan's Flight (old, outdated and dull/dirty paint), similar issues with Pooh
- Pirates of the Caribbean (under rehab finally but was in AWFUL condition prior, thankfully said to be getting some love now)

Small World is an oddball for me. It has been in poor shape in recent years, but recently become somewhat better in some respects. Mixed bag though. Last I rode it, the ride seemed much cleaner overall (though some of the carpets and walls still had stains), though it was missing a few figures. I'd still say it's in pretty poor shape though.

It is said that Phil likes Haunted Mansion (and Hall of Presidents I think?), which may explain why it has remained in such good shape. Generally the reason the other attractions I listed that are still in good shape is because they're either relatively new or recently came out of good refurbishments. And I suspect the good refurbs were probably followed through with at a higher level than his ability to interfere with. Though I have heard it stated that Phil has actually lobbied to compromise several of the refurbishments in recent years as well. It's said he had something to do with slashing Space Mountain's 2009 refurb budget (don't know if this is true). And recently I heard he attempted to screw up the current Pirates rehab by massively cutting the downtime period (though Martin has recently reported that they're now working hard on getting things fixed in spite of the relatively short rehab).

And i'll also give a special negative mention to general cleanliness around the park (including litter and spills/messes). Especially bathrooms.
 
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BigThunderMatt

Well-Known Member
Sage of Time said:
At least Holmes has been taking better care of the MK, lately.
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I doubt he had much of a hand in any of the changes that have been made recently. They likely only happened because he had no alternative. Unlike such blunders as the shortened refurb of Space Mountain which took it from over a year to just slightly over six months.
 
MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
BigThunderMatt said:
I doubt he had much of a hand in any of the changes that have been made recently. They likely only happened because he had no alternative. Unlike such blunders as the shortened refurb of Space Mountain which took it from over a year to just slightly over six months.
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Agreed. I'm no expert on this matter, but circumstances makes it seem like the maintenance improvements under his reign were largely done outside of his realm of control by higher ups. Either traced back to attractions simply being new enough that major deterioration hasn't hit them yet, or refurbs being approved and budgeted beyond his ability to interfere with.

As you stated, he reportedly had a hand in the Space Mountain 2009 debacle (the ride has gotten even worse in the past few years with the new brakes). And I believe @marni1971 said that he attempted to compromise the current ongoing Pirates rehab as well by shortening the amount of time it was down by several months (though Martin said more recently that the refurb is going to be quite substantial in spite of the short timeframe).
 
Sage of Time

Sage of Time

Well-Known Member
Good points, guys. Holmes is certainly problematic. But, I do have to say that MK does look much better than it did, say 5-10 years ago. Facades are brighter and cleaner, and the park just feels a bit more well kept, too.
MerlinTheGoat said:
Depends on the attraction, the quality of maintenance is pretty much hit or miss across the board at MK. Some attractions have improved in maintenance recently, others have remained in poor condition or deteriorated even further.

Attractions is decent to good condition now-
- Splash Mountain (usually a couple of animatronics having issues but otherwise good, overall decent)
- Peoplemover (last I rode the cars had new intact cushions, all lights above worked and seemed clean)
- Mine Train and Mermaid (still too new to make an assumption about upkeep)
- Haunted Mansion (generally remains in good shape with everything working)
- Main Street facades and lightbulbs (broken lightbulbs all over have improved)
- Hall of Presidents (not visited this one in a while, but it's commonly reported in good shape)
- Tiki Room (this was in amazingly good condition in May)
- Jungle Cruise (again just came out of a lot of extensive refurbs apparently)

Attractions/areas in mediocre to poor condition now-
- Space Mountain (awful awful awful)
- Carousel of Progress (some animatronics are starting to move sluggishly and other effects are messy)
- Big Thunder (lots of missing animals on my last ride, the third lift is also a joke)
- Peter Pan's Flight (old, outdated and dull/dirty paint), similar issues with Pooh
- Pirates of the Caribbean (under rehab finally but was in AWFUL condition prior, thankfully said to be getting some love now)

Small World is an oddball for me. It has been in poor shape in recent years, but recently become somewhat better in some respects. Mixed bag though. Last I rode it, the ride seemed much cleaner overall (though some of the carpets and walls still had stains), though it was missing a few figures. I'd still say it's in pretty poor shape though.

It is said that Phil likes Haunted Mansion (and Hall of Presidents I think?), which may explain why it has remained in such good shape. Generally the reason the other attractions I listed that are still in good shape is because they're either relatively new or recently came out of good refurbishments. And I suspect the good refurbs were probably followed through with at a higher level than his ability to interfere with. Though I have heard it stated that Phil has actually lobbied to compromise several of the refurbishments in recent years as well. It's said he had something to do with slashing Space Mountain's 2009 refurb budget (don't know if this is true). And recently I heard he attempted to screw up the current Pirates rehab by massively cutting the downtime period (though Martin has recently reported that they're now working hard on getting things fixed in spite of the relatively short rehab).

And i'll also give a special negative mention to general cleanliness around the park (including litter and spills/messes). Especially bathrooms.
Click to expand...

BigThunderMatt said:
I doubt he had much of a hand in any of the changes that have been made recently. They likely only happened because he had no alternative. Unlike such blunders as the shortened refurb of Space Mountain which took it from over a year to just slightly over six months.
Click to expand...
 

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