I'll give Iger credit for the DCA redo, although his comment in regards to the redo's success, which amounted to "Uh, gee, I guess people want Disney stuff in Disney parks" was just a little too revealing of his mindset for my comfort. Yes, he's no Walt, and nobody else ever will be, and yes, he's a good CEO - at least as far as the stockholders are concerned. But to let a ride like Everest sit with a huge broken AA inside of it for so long, and to keep cutting corners on new attractions, and to view Walt's company as primarily a conglomerate of brands (Roy Disney insisted "Disney is not a brand!") and to buy up stuff like Marvel and Star Wars and plan to incorporate them into the parks instead of using Disney-adapted/created stuff that's still in the vault (why not the Pride Lands in AK instead of Avatar Land???) just shows a level of shallowness and utter lack of creative spirit that's very hard to support in someone who's in charge of the Walt Disney Company. Just sayin'. I'll never be a fan of the man. Done and done.
And I partially agree (especially the unique IP parts when it comes to Parks)...
But, he's not the be all end all Devil. He's certainly not the lifeblood end of Disney.
The issue with Disney is that, imho, is that we, as theme park fans, look at the company from a very different view than the media centric base that is most if the overall income.
We say..."Hey, Iger, pay attention to the parks", and then get indirectly offended when he doesn't.
The reality is, park experiences are a reflection of mass media, not vice versa. Even Walt knew this, and that's part of why there was a Disneyland show. It's easily arguable that had Walt not run the Disneyland show, Disneyland would have flopped. Walt was one thing, a master marketer.
He was many other things, but on that respect I think we can all agree.
We can lament, heck, I'll lament, but change is necessary. I still won't back down that I think EPCOT and Frozen are a bad mix, but I do understand why they did it. And I agree, as most fans do, it was a cheap overlay, regardless.
The one concern I have are the people in WDI who feel as we do (and there is little doubt from Baxter's exit letter that the mantra exists)...
There will come a point where WDI, who is no longer valued, will lose their value to the company.
And when that point comes (and I think it's coming soon if it has not already)...the theme parks are screwed in their classical sense. Rather we'll get more of what we've already seen...populist chum (as in shark bait).
Not that Eisner or even Walt era was above that...
Furthermore, the younger generation, the ones who are entering their late 20s and early 30s and don't remember typewriters and rotary phones...don't care.
Over and over again you can read about how amazed they are and how "smart" they think they are that they can use a technological device to do something...without understanding it and why and how it works (something which was core to the original message of EPCOT...and probably why purists like me despise what is being done).
They are not marketing to us. Our kids are growing older, and our want to take them to WDW unless you are some sort of fanatic (which I am) are diminishing.
They are not planning for us.
They are preparing for them, and their young kids.
And their young kids want to see Frozen, and they don't care about themes not fitting, and they surely don't give a flip about "edutainment".
Two sides of vastly different coins.
Take Universal. Why do people think it's doing so well right now?
I have my own opinions based on my last trip, and I'll have some more based on my upcoming one...but, what I think the senior brass doesn't see is that they really enjoy what they are doing.
At Disney, I don't get that feeling. More and more at WDW I feel like I am chattel. So, I'd rather peel off more of my vacation to spend time over there. That said, I'm still doing 6 days at Disney vs 3 days at Uni. And the difference is made up with...a Disney Cruise.
They'll lose us, we'll move onto other ventures. The hard core will pay their overpriced "Disney Experience" stuff overseas, or move to to DCL (until they realize they can get more for less with Royal Caribbean...that's next for me, I'm going on DCL for one reason, the kiddo is 10, and by the time we do this sort of trip again, she will be a teen, and won't care that she saw Goofy anymore, so I want one last experience...and they KNOW that)...
But, they are losing us, and not marketing to us. They are marketing to the next wave of young parents. That is their cycle (for WDW).
Disney Mgmt however isn't stupid. As much as we'd love to believe they are. We may disagree with their decisions, but that doesn't immediately invalidate them.
