Today's O-Town Sentinel ...

[CBOMB]

There is absolutely no way the O Sentinel would allow Jason Garcia to write a piece on the reduced value of a Walt Disney World vacation, and I don't think we should expect him to. The tourist industry as well as Orlando, and the surrounding area depend on tourist dollars. You don't bite the hand that feeds you, and Disney is about four fingers of that hand. I can only imagine the number of letters that would be piling up on the editors desk from the Florida Tourisim Industy, every Chamber of Commerce in Osceola, and Orange Counties, as well as from the advertisers on the Sentinel.

However, they might allow an outside source to post a piece in the editorial section. Even that is an iffy proposition at best.

 

[WildcatDen]

Thank you, Jason, for the clarification.

So - Jason comes in and states that there was no covert action from commandos to remove the article from the web? Could the Spirit have jumped to the wrong conclusion? Could it really be possible? Nah, I think we just took it out of context. . .

 

[Mouse Detective]

No offense to Jason (again), but O-Sent is a local paper and locals don't really seem interested in the theme parks down the road (anecdotal experience from living there). If they were, wouldn't they have more than one reporter covering Disney?

The Sentinel does have Theme Park Troopers who are reporters that cover Orlando's theme parks from a guest perspective. By this I mean visits to new rides and attractions and articles about them. Jason Garcia's role at the Sentinel is to report about the theme parks from a business perspective.

Many Disney articles are only posted on the Sentinel's "The Daily Disney" on-line blog:
http://www.thedailydisney.com

 

[menamechris]

Lots of bad press happening for Disney right now. I wouldn't be pleased if I worked for them. Within just a few days, the Sentinel has reported on the reduction of EMH, lower bookings for The Fantasy, and reduction of tourists using the Magical Express. All the while...the praise is piling on for Universal, as well as a pretty steady stream of articles about their construction progress, future openings (and rumors), and announcements for Halloween Horror Nights. This would never have happened even 5 years ago. Tides are changing...

 

[COProgressFan]

Lots of bad press happening for Disney right now. I wouldn't be pleased if I worked for them. Within just a few days, the Sentinel has reported on the reduction of EMH, lower bookings for The Fantasy, and reduction of tourists using the Magical Express. All the while...the praise is piling on for Universal, as well as a pretty steady stream of articles about their construction progress, future openings (and rumors), and announcements for Halloween Horror Nights. This would never have happened even 5 years ago. Tides are changing...

What's weird though, is that for all that press (which isn't really that negative to begin with...but certainly not positive) they never seem to learn their lesson or change anything. I'm thinking big stuff, from things like the monorail incident, to little things like the roofline lights at the GF.

They are just too ignorant/arrogant to even care at all, really. Based on that record, I'm not sure tides are changing, though I certainly hope they are.

 

[Master Yoda]

To what effect is all of this though?

No offense to Jason (again), but O-Sent is a local paper and locals don't really seem interested in the theme parks down the road (anecdotal experience from living there). If they were, wouldn't they have more than one reporter covering Disney?

I mean have at it everyone. I'm not trying to minimize anyone's efforts, but I just wonder what is trying to be accomplished.

While I do believe that the uber-fans tend to make mountains out of mole hills, there is no question that attention to detail, daring to dream, and impeccable maintenance standards, the things that made Disney what it is/was, are taking a back seat to quarterly profit reports. If WDW was operating close to the red I could see this, but they are still using dump trucks to make cash deposits. I have a feeling that this way of mortgaging the future for the sake of the present is going to eventually blow up in Disney's face like a variable rate mortgage.

All of this is pretty much old news to us, but most of WDW's core customer base is completely ignorant to it. Because of this, WDW can get away with cutting every corner possible and the masses are none the wiser. The only way that this will stop is to educate WDW core customer base. The best way we have to do that is through the media.

The sad reality is that people like dirty laundry and toppling a giant stories more than any other. A series of well done, well sourced stories in a local paper about a giant falling from grace can grow into a wild fire of negative, but accurate, press that will make it to the eyes and ears of the regular Joe. When that regular Joe starts taking notice and starts spending his vacation dollar elsewhere WDW will either have to change or it will die.

My hope is it that it will not have to come to "topple a giant" proportions. Maybe, just maybe, a series of articles that get national attention will make right people wake up and realize that they have gone too far and will right the ship.

To call back to the previous analogy, it would be nice if we could get WDW to refinance that variable rate mortgage into a fixed rate before it is too late. That is what I would like to see come out of this.

 

[c-one]

What's weird though, is that for all that press (which isn't really that negative to begin with...but certainly not positive) they never seem to learn their lesson or change anything. I'm thinking big stuff, from things like the monorail incident, to little things like the roofline lights at the GF.

They are just too ignorant/arrogant to even care at all, really. Based on that record, I'm not sure tides are changing, though I certainly hope they are.

Sure, but it's bad press in the local paper. How many people in Disney's current target market do you think read the Orlando Sentinel?

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Sure, but it's bad press in the local paper. How many people in Disney's current target market do you think read the Orlando Sentinel?

Beyond locals, very few. When I think about how the LA Times attacks on DL were successful, it's important to note two things 1)LA Times is both a influential Local and National paper and 2)Execs in Burbank read it. Also keep in mind that LA is a substantially larger media market, in influence and total audience, than Orlando. If attacks on the current management are to be successful, they need to come from a national paper i.e. NY Times, Wall St. Journal. If a scathing tell all came out of a paper like that, they would have to do something.

 

[Horizonsfan]

Lots of bad press happening for Disney right now. I wouldn't be pleased if I worked for them. Within just a few days, the Sentinel has reported on the reduction of EMH, lower bookings for The Fantasy, and reduction of tourists using the Magical Express. All the while...the praise is piling on for Universal, as well as a pretty steady stream of articles about their construction progress, future openings (and rumors), and announcements for Halloween Horror Nights. This would never have happened even 5 years ago. Tides are changing...

You can add to the bad press with this new sentinel report. Health officials are now investigating after Wild Africa Trek participants contracted an illness

Certainly a bad time to be TDO's PR department.

 

[menamechris]

You can add to the bad press with this new sentinel report. Health officials are now investigating after Wild Africa Trek participants contracted an illness

Certainly a bad time to be TDO's PR department.

I agree. And not too much except the tired Fantasyland talking points to counter the bad press with...

 

[WDW1974]

Jason,

Thanks so much for your candor in explaining your side of things. It was kind of enlightening to see exactly what transpired, from your point of view.

As the OP, I also appreciate Jason Garcia posting his understanding of what happened as it relates to the story I started this thread searching for (and found). While we want and likely expect more, which is a good thing when speaking of the media regardless of your position as information should always be welcome, everyone understands that like all reporters working any given beat Jason has limitations placed upon him (budget, space, time, editors who don't agree with story ideas etc).

It was very odd to see the story played up so big by the sister Sun Sentinel in print, but not be able to find it online (even on the S-S's website) or anywhere in the O-Sentinel and website.

My concern is for openness, and, when the story did not appear online but in the print version of a large circulation daily in a major (OK, semi-major) market, that sends up the flags and warrants inquiring as to the 'why' ... the search for that answer is usually one of the driving forces of most folks in journalism circles.

Again though, it is a very welcome sight to see Jason here and to confirm that he is one more of our regular readers.

Many of us (myself included) believe that you and the Sentinel are not critical enough of Disney, or don't dig deep enough, and perhaps you don't want to make waves. That said, I certainly applaud your interest in covering how corporations like Disney make efforts to influence politics both locally and nationally. It is not surprising that they do so, but like you, I think it is important that people are made aware and can draw whatever conclusions they wish.

That last part sums up the role of the journalist rather well. And, yeah, I could not agree more with this point. Regardless of where you stand, what you think, or what you want from Jason or any person in the media. Give people the information, let them draw that conclusion -- or those conclusions, and see where it leads us all.[/quote]

 

[WDW1974]

This is a very good idea and actually something I've been kicking around recently. Here's a request: Could you -- or others here who feel strongly about this -- provide examples of these type of cuts? The key here is to be as specific as possible, both about what was cut and when it happened.

I'm not sure a list exists that wouldn't simply confuse, confound or (leave with) contempt, someone who wasn't a Disney fan to begin with. ... Because you do have issues from small and odd (plain napkins) to large and serious (why is DAK falling apart and what is Disney's response to it).

But there are many things that you don't have to be a Disney Dweeb (yeah, shoutout to Jim Hill who made that all the rage a decade ago) to understand that are not the way they're supposed to be. Things like pulling up to the Grand Flo at night and seeing 2/3rds of the lights that rim the building dead (no, I don't care they will likley be replaced a year after the DVC addition opens ... people are paying an average of well over $500 a night for a standard hotel room and everything should be damn near perfect ... that might be a great cover shot on 1A on a Sunday, doncha think?) ... things like pieces falling off the Tree of Life and Disney's response is none to the media (who is asking the questions? no one) or 'dead' Animatronics are things that certainly affect everyone's value when visiting.

There are huge examples of WDW leaving facilities to sit and decay (and even, in the case of River Country and Discovery Island, be potentially dangerous) and all it would take would be spending a weekend walking the world to see and document these things.

Honestly, your own eyes would be far better to see what's wrong (just don't take a Disney publicist with you!) then a list of fanboi complaints, however accurate and damning.

 

[WDW1974]

To what effect is all of this though?

No offense to Jason (again), but O-Sent is a local paper and locals don't really seem interested in the theme parks down the road (anecdotal experience from living there). If they were, wouldn't they have more than one reporter covering Disney?

I mean have at it everyone. I'm not trying to minimize anyone's efforts, but I just wonder what is trying to be accomplished.

Hopefully, to do the one and only thing that WILL bring about change at WDW without a cleaning out of management (even though that will happen at TDO when Iger steps down): embarrassment. Disney cares about its image more than anything and if you show that they're talking the talk but ignoring the walk, CHANGE can happen.

As to Jason's role and the Sentinel's, WDW is the largest employer in the state of Florida, they are a part of our No. 1 industry (I prefer business as there's no industry involved in selling Mouse ears and burger baskets and overpriced theme park tickets and timeshares), they are a very important part of one of the world's largest and most valuable (and well known) media companies. Frankly, the fact that Jack Smith in Winderemere hates that the Mouse is his neighbor and doesn't want to read stories about it, is of no import to writing about the company. The Sentinel is also part of the Tribune Co (or what's left of it) and that includes the LA Times, which means Jason's work can help feed the larger coverage of The Walt Disney Company. So, yeah, it is kinda important.

Oh, and besides since Disney really doesn't care much for the locals, why should the Sentinel be much different (yeah, low blow, but true enough)!

 

[HMF]

Hopefully, to do the one and only thing that WILL bring about change at WDW without a cleaning out of management (even though that will happen at TDO when Iger steps down): embarrassment.

Iger's done in 2015 (Hypothetically) right?

 

[Horizonsfan]

Iger's done in 2015 (Hypothetically) right?

Right, though some have said he'll be gone before that.

 

[JWG]

I'm sure Disney will take action on the Magical Express article. They'll simply reduce service hours, increase wait times, charge a fee, etc.

 

[flynnibus]

The DME article really isn't about DME service... but is more a indicator of WDW performance since the DME crowd represents WDW's core audience. It's about getting a peek into Disney's upcoming numbers.

 

[WEDway1975]

Right, though some have said he'll be gone before that.

Really? Hmmmm.... Intersecting. Hopefully you're right!

 

[Horizonsfan]

Really? Hmmmm.... Intersecting. Hopefully you're right!

If he really does want to run for public office, the major elections are going to be 2014 & 2016.

I don't pretend to know, beyond having heard from insiders, that he's going to leave as soon as the political opportunity opens up. In fact I think it was the Spirit who said this.

 

[Clever Name]

Current speculation is that Iger may run for governor of California or mayor of either Los Angeles or New York.