The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...

PhotoDave219

Well-Known Member
He'll be fine as long as he remembers he is a brandcaster and not a broadcaster.

I wish them well… I just really don't care.

What's between him and the mouse is between him and the mouse. If he wants to risk that, not my business.

I've just never seen a blogger think they are somehow more important then a multibillion dollar media empire… it amuses me. Because when it comes to these things, the mouse does not have a sense of humor.
 

COProgressFan

Well-Known Member
Didn't Birmbaum sell out to Disney?

Not the Disney, but they sold out couple years ago.

I was supposed to do some work for them and got yanked the last minute.

Disney puchased the Birnbaum guides in late 2001. At that point Birnbaum was owned by Hearst and no longer produced travel guides for anything else but WDW and Disneyland.

Disney has been been publishing the guides themselves since that point.
 

ParentsOf4

Well-Known Member
He's not wrong. But relative to what Disney is doing, they are continuing to produce movies and have several HUGE movies coming out in the next few years. I don't think the two companies are in the same boat.
As you suggest, IBM and Disney make for poor comparisons.

In addition to what you mention, theme parks, resort hotels, & cruise ships (almost one-third of company revenue) have long shelf lives.

Compared to its competition or even its own past, Disney's Parks & Resorts has been coasting for a decade with the primary financial consequences merely being slower growth and reduced margins. Certainly no reason for a CEO who doesn't understand the theme park business to worry or even pay much attention. :(

Theme park growth initiatives take patience. Except for rare exceptions like Hogsmeade, it's years before they go into the black.

Ten years from now, Disney management likely will wish WDW had a 5th Gate because they'd be reaping the rewards of prior management's investment. However, Iger & co. would rather dump today's cash into stock buybacks.

It has an immediate effect on their own stock options. :greedy:
 

Mike S

Well-Known Member
As you suggest, IBM and Disney make for poor comparisons.

In addition to what you mention, theme parks, resort hotels, & cruise ships (almost one-third of company revenue) have long shelf lives.

Compared to its competition or even its own past, Disney's Parks & Resorts has been coasting for a decade with the primary financial consequences merely being slower growth and reduced margins. Certainly no reason for a CEO who doesn't understand the theme park business to worry or even pay much attention. :(

Theme park growth initiatives take patience. Except for rare exceptions like Hogsmeade, it's years before they go into the black.

Ten years from now, Disney management likely will wish WDW had a 5th Gate because they'd be reaping the rewards of prior management's investment. However, Iger & co. would rather dump today's cash into stock buybacks.

It has an immediate effect on their own stock options. :greedy:
I'm thinking what happened with Hogsmeade will probably also happen to Disney with Star Wars. They just have to really put effort into it and make something that will get people very excited. If they pull it off there will be people from two fan bases bursting through the gates to see it as well as the general public.
 

TeriofTerror

Well-Known Member
Apparently I am in a time machine today. Steve just put out there that animal kingdom is closing at six today. Studios is closing at seven. Epcot is it's normal 9 o'clock and Magic Kingdom has a party so it also closes at seven.

What is this, 2004? Guest attendance is pretty heavy the past couple weeks… There's nothing to justify closing the parks this early.
Dave is right; the parks are quite busy. I've been doing rather a lot of park hopping, and Touring Plans' recommended parks to visit appear to be spot on. The parks are closing early, but I honestly haven't been too fussed. I find myself much preferring to come back to my savannah-view room at AKL-KV to watch the animals, as opposed to fighting them in the parks! :)
 

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
Someone posted a video to the opening day TV special for Captain EO in another thread and it got me thinking more about the way Disney used to market things and how much better Eisner was at this than Iger.

Would Eisner have let "the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history" launch with just a 10 minute castle stage show? No, he'd have a gala TV premiere on ABC's prime time with all kinds of celebrities hyping the thing. He wouldn't leave that job to blogger videos on youtube and morning talk show snippets. Instead, it'd be an hour-long TV "event" dedicated entirely to the project. He'd show behind-the-scenes clips to have you appreciate it more. He himself, would be shown on the rides with people like Jodi Benson talking about how the Mermaid ride furthers the "Disney legacy" of the film, and walk off with a cup of the tavern's brew in his hand. Would it all be fluff? Sure, but it would be slickly produced in such a way as to make you pick up the phone and call Disney reservations before the 60 minute mark.

Think about the premiers for movies like Pocahontas, Hunchback and Hercules. Now think about what was done for Princess and the Frog and Tangled. What does that say about his attitude to the product?

Remember when even simple things like home video re-issues where hyped as best as they could? Contrast Sleeping Beauty's 1997 release with the one from this year. Did you even know it's out on Blu-ray again?

In comparison, Iger seems to have no sense of pride of show. It didn't matter how lackluster the product truly was, Eisner would promote it to the best of the company's ability, even putting himself on camera to sell it.

Will Shanghai Disney (a brand new Disney resort) even get a TV special on par with MGM Studio's opening?
 
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Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member


Exactly. Now try to picture Iger doing the same thing at the 30 second mark.

Better yet, picture this:

It's Sunday night, you're sitting at home in front of the TV. You turn on ABC at 8:00pm to see the Sunday Night Movie and there on the screen you see Bob Iger himself. He's dressed in a cowboy outfit, surrounded by a frontier set, here to tell you about tonight's movie - Old Yeller. How it's both a great Disney classic and something that would be wonderful for the family to watch together. Close to two hours later, he comes back to explain that he'll see us next week for Dumbo and to wish us good night.

Can you picture all of that in your mind? No, because you can't get past the mental image of Iger in cowboy boots, let alone see the cabin hearth in the background.

Does the CEO of Disney really have to be a ham actor? No, I'm just trying to illustrate an amusing contrast between the two. However, it would be nice if Iger tried to be a little more visible and personal (though he did show up on The View once).
 

Mike S

Well-Known Member
Someone posted a video to the opening day TV special for Captain EO in another thread and it got me thinking more about the way Disney used to market things and how much better Eisner was at this than Iger.

Would Eisner have let "the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history" launch with just a 10 minute castle stage show? No, he'd have a gala TV premiere on ABC's prime time with all kinds of celebrities hyping the thing. He wouldn't leave that job to blogger videos on youtube and morning talk show snippets. Instead, it'd be an hour-long TV "event" dedicated entirely to the project. He'd show behind-the-scenes clips to have you appreciate it more. He himself, would be shown on the rides with people like Jodi Benson talking about how the Mermaid ride furthers the "Disney legacy" of the film, and walk off with a cup of the tavern's brew in his hand. Would it all be fluff? Sure, but it would be slickly produced in such a way as to make you pick up the phone and call Disney reservations before the 60 minute mark.

Think about the premiers for movies like Pocahontas, Hunchback and Hercules. Now think about what was done for Princess and the Frog and Tangled. What does that say about his attitude to the product?

Remember whe even simple things like home video re-issues where hyped as best as they could? Contrast Sleeping Beauty's 1997 release with the one from this year. Did you even know it's out on Blu-ray again?

In comparison, Iger seems to have no sense of pride of show. It didn't matter how lackluster the product truly was, Eisner would promote it to the best of the company's ability, even putting himself on camera to sell it.

Will Shanghai Disney (a brand new Disney resort) even get a TV special on par with MGM Studio's opening?
Like what Universal did with Diagon Alley?

We probably would've also gotten the longer version of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Maybe an E Ticket between Everest and Avatar instead of this horrendous and inexcusable 11 year gap. Oh and if he was in charge with the mega success of Frozen we probably would've gotten something much more substantial than Frostrom. But you know what they say.......
image.jpg
 

BrerJon

Well-Known Member
I loved seeing the old Walt tv show on Disney channel late and night and it was always fun to see Eisner follow in his footsteps in regards to that. It made it look like the people in charge actually cared about their fan base...it's a shame Iger never went this route...

If Iger did this he could have gone back to his roots and started every episode with a weather report. "And the weather for Walt Disney World this week will be doomy and gloomy!"
 

stevehousse

Well-Known Member
I'm hoping if they find anyone willing to give it another go that they go the "Return to Oz" route and just continue onward with Gods of Mars.
It still amazes me that Return to OZ is a Disney film. It was one of my favorites as a kid! The wheelers still send shivers down my spine!!!
 

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