Spirited Friday Afternoon Musings:
So, UNI is touting the HE ridership while WDW is telling people they can't even stand in line for attractions or to purchase crappy QS food. Yes, I do get why the UNI fanbois are crowing.
A quiet Friday in the dog days of summer (or as we Floridians call it -- Back to School and Football Pre-Season) and some folks want to have another Iger vs. Eisner discussion. Everyone knows my feelings on this, but since MDE has been sorta in my orbit this week, I feel like spreading some facts.
If you are a fan of the WDW of today ... of anything from DVC to DAK Lodge ... from BB to Stitch ... from DCL to ESPN ... from EE (with or without Disco Yeti) to Napa Rose ... from Soarin over California to the California Grill (either of them) ... from DLP to TDS ... from Port Orleans to Fantasmic in NoS ... well, you are a fan of Michael Eisner's or you should be.
Hell, he actually planned for monorail expansion multiple times!
The facts speak for themselves. Michael (and Frank and Roy and MANY talented folks under them) made the Disney that you love, the one that you might even have an unhealthy attachment to.
Bob Iger has not cleaned up most of the messes that Michael admittedly left behind. Indeed, he has bought into the worst of Michael's tenure and made it look pretty by becoming a Wall Street centerfold (yeah, that reference is going to be lost on fanbois in the iPhone era!)
It is very easy to purchase the talents and creations of others versus actually making things, creating art yourself. Pixar, I'll almost give a pass on since they have always been an extension of Disney and they didn't have the options some people think they did. But Marvel and Lucasfilm were simply Bob taking billions of dollars and saying ''We can't create, so we'll acquire.''
There's no arguing that some major flaws in P&R also started showing up under Eisner, certainly the destruction of EPCOT began with Test Track's debut (of course, most people here love that). And the decision to not invest in keeping PI and its clubs/venues fresh began under Michael. Shuttering RC and DI ... check.
But anyone looking at the Big Picture would be foolish to think that Iger has been some prince riding to the rescue of a kingdom in trouble.
And I do realize how endless and lame this whole discussion can become.
But the numbers that @ParentsOf4 has graciously (and tirelessly!
) come up with show just how poorly Iger has treated P&R. And WDW has seen the absolute worst of his business model. I could see someone in Anaheim or Hong Kong giving him some props, but at WDW? ***Note: To be fair, Iger had NO CHOICE about investing in DCA and HKDL, so don't give him too much credit there and he cut corners as much as possible.
The worst of MDE at WDW came after 9/11, but it was also the best. He allowed the resort to remain open daily and run. ... And as soon as the travel turnaround began, he had new product in the pipeline (of varying quality, but not the point).
When it comes to investing in the parks, Iger would rather buy billions of dollars of stock back.
There is NO faith in Disney's product (this isn't simply P&R, look at how unprepared they were for Frozen's success to tell you what they thought of that little film).
He is beyond a tease with fanbois over putting Star Wars (or anything -- see the 6 1/2 years Pandora is taking!) into the parks. There is no good reason why construction on various projects didn't start long, long ago.
NGE is the ultimate in Iger cynicism: it exists to extract more $$$ from existing guests/fans/chronics/addicts and first-timers because that is easier and less risky (short term) than what Comcast is doing with its parks.
Bob is ... a typical manager in 21st century Big Business ... that may be fine for Wall Street, but for a MAGIC factory like TWDC it is terrible. And most of that damage is long term and the kind that he'll be long gone when it has to be dealt with.
And if he gets his way and Rasulo or Staggs becomes the next head of the company, forget about anything getting much better. You'll look back at years like 1995 or1999 or even 2005 like they were a Golden Age.
So, UNI is touting the HE ridership while WDW is telling people they can't even stand in line for attractions or to purchase crappy QS food. Yes, I do get why the UNI fanbois are crowing.
A quiet Friday in the dog days of summer (or as we Floridians call it -- Back to School and Football Pre-Season) and some folks want to have another Iger vs. Eisner discussion. Everyone knows my feelings on this, but since MDE has been sorta in my orbit this week, I feel like spreading some facts.
If you are a fan of the WDW of today ... of anything from DVC to DAK Lodge ... from BB to Stitch ... from DCL to ESPN ... from EE (with or without Disco Yeti) to Napa Rose ... from Soarin over California to the California Grill (either of them) ... from DLP to TDS ... from Port Orleans to Fantasmic in NoS ... well, you are a fan of Michael Eisner's or you should be.
Hell, he actually planned for monorail expansion multiple times!
The facts speak for themselves. Michael (and Frank and Roy and MANY talented folks under them) made the Disney that you love, the one that you might even have an unhealthy attachment to.
Bob Iger has not cleaned up most of the messes that Michael admittedly left behind. Indeed, he has bought into the worst of Michael's tenure and made it look pretty by becoming a Wall Street centerfold (yeah, that reference is going to be lost on fanbois in the iPhone era!)
It is very easy to purchase the talents and creations of others versus actually making things, creating art yourself. Pixar, I'll almost give a pass on since they have always been an extension of Disney and they didn't have the options some people think they did. But Marvel and Lucasfilm were simply Bob taking billions of dollars and saying ''We can't create, so we'll acquire.''
There's no arguing that some major flaws in P&R also started showing up under Eisner, certainly the destruction of EPCOT began with Test Track's debut (of course, most people here love that). And the decision to not invest in keeping PI and its clubs/venues fresh began under Michael. Shuttering RC and DI ... check.
But anyone looking at the Big Picture would be foolish to think that Iger has been some prince riding to the rescue of a kingdom in trouble.
And I do realize how endless and lame this whole discussion can become.
But the numbers that @ParentsOf4 has graciously (and tirelessly!
) come up with show just how poorly Iger has treated P&R. And WDW has seen the absolute worst of his business model. I could see someone in Anaheim or Hong Kong giving him some props, but at WDW? ***Note: To be fair, Iger had NO CHOICE about investing in DCA and HKDL, so don't give him too much credit there and he cut corners as much as possible.The worst of MDE at WDW came after 9/11, but it was also the best. He allowed the resort to remain open daily and run. ... And as soon as the travel turnaround began, he had new product in the pipeline (of varying quality, but not the point).
When it comes to investing in the parks, Iger would rather buy billions of dollars of stock back.
There is NO faith in Disney's product (this isn't simply P&R, look at how unprepared they were for Frozen's success to tell you what they thought of that little film).
He is beyond a tease with fanbois over putting Star Wars (or anything -- see the 6 1/2 years Pandora is taking!) into the parks. There is no good reason why construction on various projects didn't start long, long ago.
NGE is the ultimate in Iger cynicism: it exists to extract more $$$ from existing guests/fans/chronics/addicts and first-timers because that is easier and less risky (short term) than what Comcast is doing with its parks.
Bob is ... a typical manager in 21st century Big Business ... that may be fine for Wall Street, but for a MAGIC factory like TWDC it is terrible. And most of that damage is long term and the kind that he'll be long gone when it has to be dealt with.
And if he gets his way and Rasulo or Staggs becomes the next head of the company, forget about anything getting much better. You'll look back at years like 1995 or1999 or even 2005 like they were a Golden Age.
