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What Has Bob Iger Done That You Really Like?
- Thread starter Chef Mickey
- Start date
sshindel
The Epcot Manifesto
Or, he's decided to invest his money in places that people feel could have been spent better elsewhere, which is a perfectly valid opinion to have.
He's invested multiple billions (what's the current estimate?) in NextGen. He's invested 400-500 million in FLE. A similar budget is going into Avatarland. Since we know nothing official about what is going on a DHS, it's hard to give an estimate to that. I'm struggling to remember the budget for Disney Springs, but it is quite large for what I remember. Many smaller additions and expansions have been made as well.
What he hasn't done is invest in something that made the big splash that Potter did. He has let Epcot rot. But, he has invested multiple billions of dollars into the WDW resort as a whole.
jakeman
Well-Known Member
Current estimate is all the moneys.
Hey, all of those food trucks aren't free!
Yep. It's definitly hurting. You can tell by the attendance numbers. Only about 60% of the people I work with have trips planned this year. Down from 50% last year.
EnergyKing
Well-Known Member
Resign.
Sorry, dreaming out loud.
Sorry, dreaming out loud.
Too true. I'm the one always saying Disney attendance keeps growing and is destroying competition, including Universal.
It's just too bad the only thing that will wake this management is a hit to the bottom line. The product is secondary.
It's not all doom and gloom. I still love the parks but feel Iger hasn't done a enough to really invest in the future.
This thread is kind of proving my point. It's hard for people to point to something Iger has done to improve WDW's park experience.
To the countless people who have retirement accounts funded with Disney stock, tens of thousands of employees, owners and employees of businesses related/attached to Disney, and the vast majority of people who are Disney customers/guests Iger is doing a great job. It's the x% of the minuscule number of people who take Disney admiration to the next level that seem to have a problem with him.
No doubt. Still, I have quite a bit of DIS stock and I'm still upset about the parks.
And you are part of that x% of a minuscule number of people.
I have been going to WDW since 1978. Even lived in Orlando for years, and have been to the MK and EPCOT literally hundreds of times. I am definitely a true fan. Heck, I'm a DVC member as well!
Everyone talks about the ROI of NextGen, but I for one don't think that is the only reason they implemented it. I for one have been extremely happy with it, and it has worked great for us. Who says it is a misstep? Some people on a message board who don't happen to agree with it? That is the only place I see it. How about we wait 3-5 more years, and see what else Disney has up their sleeve with the new technology. There were hints in the Wired article that they are more things coming down the pike for it, so why not wait and see.
Also, are you and lots of other people so jaded that you cannot see that maybe, just maybe, Disney is doing this to enhance the experience, and not as a complete money grab? I mean, exactly what kind of money are you talking about? Increased spending at restaurants? Shops? Heck, it was almost as easy to pay with my room key, and having a MB has not increased my spending one dime, and I'll bet that's true of the majority of people. The only increased spending I can see is the stuff people add to the MBs, plus the custom ones that they are coming out with. While that may generate some income, it will never rise to more than a few thousandths of a percentage point of over-all guest spending. Certainly no ROI there.
So, do I agree with everything they have done in the last decade? No, of course not. It isn't all good, but I do think that in the last 6-7 years that they are starting to turn it around and make a difference. They have completely remodeled the entire Main Street section of MK in the last few years. The pictures I see of the new hub area look great. People need to get OVER IT. IT WILL NEVER BE THE WAY THAT IT WAS! If you don't like it - DON'T GO THERE!
There are people here that think FLE is a sucky area not worthy. I disagree. I think it is a highly themed area that harks back to the olden days when the theming was extensive. They just finished a short modification to the Ariel ride,and people are saying that the changes are excellent.
So there will be dissent among the D&G crowd who say that NOTHING that Disney does lately is good enough for them. Well, fine. Stay away and that's one less person in line ahead of us. If you think that ANYTHING is going to change in the near future (meaning next 10 years or so), you are smoking some serious stuff, because the board of directors has to approve any major spending, and they aren't changing them out anytime in the near future. Iger resigning isn't going to change the BoD one whit. Any new CEO will still have to deal with them for major spending.
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The Empress Lilly
Well-Known Member
Took down the BAH
Took down the Wand
Turned DCA into a Disney park worthy of the name
Turns DAK into a Disney park worthy of the name
Turns Downtown Disney from a tourist trap / locals ghetto into a proper food and shopping section
Repaired later Eisner's mess in a million other ways
Implemented a vast new layer of technology over the WDW experience, restoring a Spirit of EPCOT.
Tackled the Detroitification of the MK - vast areas of nothingness where there once was greatness, such as the two Skyway stations and the empty plains of 20K.
Took down the Wand
Turned DCA into a Disney park worthy of the name
Turns DAK into a Disney park worthy of the name
Turns Downtown Disney from a tourist trap / locals ghetto into a proper food and shopping section
Repaired later Eisner's mess in a million other ways
Implemented a vast new layer of technology over the WDW experience, restoring a Spirit of EPCOT.
Tackled the Detroitification of the MK - vast areas of nothingness where there once was greatness, such as the two Skyway stations and the empty plains of 20K.
THEMEPARKPIONEER
Well-Known Member
Now i'm not a fan of Iger's marketing in the least bit when it comes to pricing but theres more to the parks then what we see and experience. Theres electrical, plumbing, utilities all over the Disney property that we don't see that need servicing and upgrades and millions worth of it. Sometimes things like that come first because without all those utilities theres no Disney experience. We might see a cutback of an attraction or a half A** refurbishment but what we don't see is what would happen if they just left the attraction alone to fall apart. Sometimes they need to spend more money on the building or backstage utilities to keep the attraction running.
Back in the 80's and 90's they built all these great attractions and spent allot of money but who know what they let fall apart behind the scenes to pay for all this. You can run expensive parades like Spectromagic and attractions like journey into imagination but if theres no plumbing, power or utilities that keep the park running theres no show at all. My wishful and logical thinking tells me that maybe someday we will see great improvements but in an old park theres probably allot that needs to be done behind the scenes to keep these shows and what we see on the show grounds running and up to par.
Its like picking between a new night parade and the new hub, of course a new night parade would have the higher vote but they needed the hub much more and maybe someday when work like that is done they can start advancing the attractions again. For all we know these cutbacks in the last 15 years and price hikes could have saved the parks. We all would like to see some new attractions but keeping the monorails safe and keeping up the hotels is more important. There are many spending priorities in the parks that we cant even see to keep them running.
Back in the 80's and 90's they built all these great attractions and spent allot of money but who know what they let fall apart behind the scenes to pay for all this. You can run expensive parades like Spectromagic and attractions like journey into imagination but if theres no plumbing, power or utilities that keep the park running theres no show at all. My wishful and logical thinking tells me that maybe someday we will see great improvements but in an old park theres probably allot that needs to be done behind the scenes to keep these shows and what we see on the show grounds running and up to par.
Its like picking between a new night parade and the new hub, of course a new night parade would have the higher vote but they needed the hub much more and maybe someday when work like that is done they can start advancing the attractions again. For all we know these cutbacks in the last 15 years and price hikes could have saved the parks. We all would like to see some new attractions but keeping the monorails safe and keeping up the hotels is more important. There are many spending priorities in the parks that we cant even see to keep them running.
copcarguyp71
Well-Known Member
The Empress Lilly
Well-Known Member
Disney Parks and Resorts turns a healthy and hefty profit. There is enough money to keep the resorts in great shape.
Iger's 35% raise in bonuses and stock this year would go a long way to making that monorail safe.
Agree...the profit turned should be invested into improvements for the future. I just don't feel like he's moved fast enough on improvements for the future.
cheezbat
Well-Known Member
What do I like that's been done at WDW since he took over?
Star Tours II
Test Track 2.0
And removal of the BAH.
That's it. I could take everything else and toss it. WDW has been severely neglected the past decade and it disgusts me seeing as how it's the biggest moneymaking resort in the company. I'm sorry but I never asked for any of the Nextgen crap. Spending a billion plus on it was ridiculous. I would much rather have gotten a new E ticket for Epcot, one for Animal Kingdom, and a handful of new rides for DHS instead. Heck, they couldve done all that for about $800 million, even with WDI's bloated budgets!
Star Tours II
Test Track 2.0
And removal of the BAH.
That's it. I could take everything else and toss it. WDW has been severely neglected the past decade and it disgusts me seeing as how it's the biggest moneymaking resort in the company. I'm sorry but I never asked for any of the Nextgen crap. Spending a billion plus on it was ridiculous. I would much rather have gotten a new E ticket for Epcot, one for Animal Kingdom, and a handful of new rides for DHS instead. Heck, they couldve done all that for about $800 million, even with WDI's bloated budgets!