WDI Layoffs

HauntedMansionFLA

HauntedMansionFLA

Well-Known Member
Rteetz said:
With him heading Star Wars I doubt it but who knows at this point.
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Once Disney released the Star Wars artwork, I kind of wished Rhode was heading up SWL. Just look at what he created over at DAK and Hawaii along with Avatar. The SWL looked like something up Rhode's alley.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
GhostHost1000 said:
So how will Disney recover from this moving forward? Call 1-800-rent-a-temp ?
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It depends. There are three possibilities.
1. This is the routine end-of-project layoffs and the masses brought on to get Shanghai Disney Resort and other projects done are leaving as always expected. Nothing really changes.
2. This is a purge with the intent to replace people with more "suitable" persons. Potential for a culture change or more business as usual.
3. This is a purge with the intent to adopt a learner, more Universal-styled model of depending more on contractors. Potentially a huge change. This was Weis' big promise that helped him get the Shanghai project.
 
Darth Sidious

Darth Sidious

Authentically Disney Distinctly Chinese
toolsnspools said:
I thought they were hoping Joe would leave on his own when they gave him GotG. He looked like he just swallowed a cat when he made that announcement. You can tell his enthusiasm for that overlay was near 0. I do follow him on Twitter though, and he posts about 4 airports a week that he's travelling through. I'm sure his travel budget is sky high. Eventually he'll have to learn how to be creative without living on an airplane.
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I doubt Disney minds paying for him to visit places. It's something very common in film making, since to capture the environments properly you need to see them firsthand. Pixar does a lot of travel for film research and you'd imagine someone bringing these places to life would need to go visit them to get inspiration. While the travel might be expensive so some of us here, to Disney it really isn't that bad. Heck Banks most certainly have worse T&E numbers.
 
Stripes

Stripes

Premium Member
lazyboy97o said:
It depends. There are three possibilities.
1. This is the routine end-of-project layoffs and the masses brought on to get Shanghai Disney Resort and other projects done are leaving as always expected. Nothing really changes.
2. This is a purge with the intent to replace people with more "suitable" persons. Potential for a culture change or more business as usual.
3. This is a purge with the intent to adopt a learner, more Universal-styled model of depending more on contractors. Potentially a huge change. This was Weis' big promise that helped him get the Shanghai project.
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It sounds like 1 or 3. Mostly 1, but there is some rumbling of 3.
 
Stripes

Stripes

Premium Member
GoofGoof said:
Wow. That's a lot of lost jobs. The LA business journal said 5 to 10% of their 1,700 employees worldwide but that's more like 25%. I feel bad for the little guys who didn't have a golden parachute.
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Just curious. Where'd you find the 1,700 figure?
 
Andrew C

Andrew C

You know what's funny?
Although sad for those who lost their jobs, this could be a good thing long term for WDI and the parks. And for parks fans. Depends on the reasoning behind this and how it will be executed I guess.

I guess we will see eventually...
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
DoubleJ21 said:
Gotcha. Don't know if I trust it though. The same 1,700 figure is quoted in the LA Times from 1994. We all know much has changed since then.
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I don't trust much in the mainstream media today. I wonder if anyone fact checks most of what they print. The Micechat number is likely to be more accurate since it comes from people who actually care about the topic and have inside info.

It makes sense that the WDI numbers would fluctuate a lot based on the number of projects being worked on but it sounds like this may be more than just a routine fluctuation.
 
Thanks phoenicians

Thanks phoenicians

Well-Known Member
Just saw the news today site started a rumor about joe rhode. They better not have let go of him I need to find out what happens to his ear will it ever rip?! In all seriousness though I always thought highly of him and am sure it's not true. Imo he's one of the best imagineers out there and would be sorely missed if true.
 
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PhotoDave219

PhotoDave219

Well-Known Member
clemmo said:
Just saw the news today site started a rumor about joe rhode. They better not have let go of him I need to find out what happens to his ear will it ever rip?! In all seriousness though I always thought highly of him and am sure it's not true. Imo he's one of the best imagineers out there and would be sorely missed if true.
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Joe Rhode has publicly stated that he was not laid off.

Please choose your Disney news sites carefully as not all Disney news sites are created equal.
 
BrianLo

BrianLo

Well-Known Member
ford91exploder said:
UNI is rubbing its hands together gleefully as Disney dumps more creatives who they will hire immediately. Any wonder UNI these days is looking like Disney of old it's because most of the old Imagineers are working for Uni these days.
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Everyone from @WDW1974 to @whylightbulb has pretty much said the opposite. Universal Creative is an even bigger mess than WDI, in different but worse ways. I think our OP @pheneix even referred to one of their projects as a flaming dumpster...

I know that doesn't support your doomsday narrative though.

Last I checked Disney was more than just Parks and Resorts. Is Universal about to be sold for parts because their year on year film slate is down over 50%? No...
 

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