Disney Renaissance 2/Disney Revival

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Re: Disney Renaissance 2/Disney Revival

Post by Ben » March 13th, 2022, 10:34 pm

And that’s before you even get close to the new Star Wars experience…! :shock:

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Re: Disney Renaissance 2/Disney Revival

Post by ShyViolet » March 14th, 2022, 5:28 am

I don’t want to harp too much on this, but The Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run is such a weird choice for a Disney Park ride! :shock:

I know things are different now and that you can’t relive the past. But Steve Jobs, with his drive and imagination, would have been such a great Disney CEO. If only he hadn’t died! :cry: :(

(Personally, I suspect he was actually seriously considered at one point during the SaveDisney days 20 years ago, that the whole Roy Disney/Stanley Gold agenda was for Apple and Disney to merge COMPLETELY and for Roy to be some kind of ceremonial CEO figurehead a la Walt while Jobs ran the company day-to-day. Just my theory though.)

Jobs wouldn’t have wasted time constantly buying other companies instead of developing and improving what he already had. . (My only concern would have been his wanting to shut down WDFA to make room for only Pixar. Well who knows, maybe he would have eventually changed his mind.)
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!

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Re: Disney Renaissance 2/Disney Revival

Post by Farerb » March 14th, 2022, 6:25 am

I don't think WDFA would have been shut down in those days, not with its legacy and certainly not after the Disney Renaissance. I believe Roy Disney wouldn't have allowed such a thing.

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Re: Disney Renaissance 2/Disney Revival

Post by EricJ » March 14th, 2022, 5:00 pm

ShyViolet wrote:
March 14th, 2022, 5:28 am
I don’t want to harp too much on this, but The Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run is such a weird choice for a Disney Park ride! :shock:
Why? It's just a SW overlay for Epcot's "Mission: Space".
(Except that you get to sit at the real holographic chess-table in the life-size Millennium Falcon set, and find the wall-panel corner where Han & Leia had their Empire kiss.)
I know things are different now and that you can’t relive the past. But Steve Jobs, with his drive and imagination, would have been such a great Disney CEO. If only he hadn’t died! :cry: :(
It was Steve Jobs who almost singlehandedly won the Blu-vs-HDDVD War, when he pushed Disney into promoting Blu-ray into the mainstream (while Sony was dropping the ball with embarrassing gamer-blitz titles), since Jobs couldn't afford to see Apple pushed out of the MP4 market if Microsoft's HDDVD coding became the new (sub)standard.

But if you're saying that Bob Chapek is making a pig's breakfast out of the current company, get in LINE behind the Parks fans.
And, like Smuggler's Run, it's a three-hour line. :x
droosan wrote:
March 13th, 2022, 9:24 pm
There was a story on National Public Radio recently in which it was calculated that the overall price for a northern-California family of four's roundtrip airfare to France, a stay for 1 week in a french hotel, and a weeklong pass to Disneyland Paris -- was actually less than the price for that same family's travel to Anaheim, and a comparable stay at Disneyland Hotel & weeklong passes to Disneyland/California Adventure. :!:
Yeah, but...nobody STAYS at Anaheim Disneyland hotels.
That's the one big cultural shock Parks fans have to counsel WDW fans on, that unlike Orlando's 15 variably-priced Disney hotels and five third-party "Good Neighbor" Marriotts and Holiday Inns in the middle of a hundred acres of wilderness, Disneyland is in the middle of a downtown city, and has three ultra-Deluxe priced Disney hotels and a dozen literally walking distance Good Neighbors, which are considered the default for most fans.

Yes, I'd like to stay at the DH or Grand Californian too, someday, just like I'd like to stay at the Polynesian or the Contemporary, but I haven't won the lottery yet.
But in Anaheim, the Maingate Inn did quite nicely, thank you. :)

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Re: Disney Renaissance 2/Disney Revival

Post by Daniel » July 15th, 2022, 2:22 pm

Bob Iger regrets selecting Bob Chapek as his successor. Article is behind a paywall, but here's what's posted:
Insider wrote:Bob Iger thought he would spend his final year as Disney's CEO on a global goodbye tour, bidding a personal adieu to the dignitaries and employees who helped create Shanghai Disney and theme parks from Tokyo to Paris.

Instead, according to several Disney sources and others familiar with Iger's thinking, the executive spent 2020 and 2021 watching COVID-19 devastate the company he had led for 15 years — and regretting what he has called one of his worst business decisions: the selection of Bob Chapek as his successor.

The company was facing an unprecedented crisis and had two men with their hands on the wheel steering in different directions. One of them had to prevail.

In the press release announcing Chapek's appointment, the company said the new CEO would report to Iger, now Disney's executive chairman, and the board (chaired by Iger). Iger's intention was to mentor his successor, especially as the COVID crisis deepened.

But the transition didn't roll out as Iger had planned and he remains unhappy with how it was handled, said one person closely familiar with his thinking.

Disney, known for its superb marketing and textbook public relations and investor relations, began stumbling. Chapek and Iger had different ideas about how to handle COVID, how the company should be structured, and where Disney's politics should be. They even had different corporate advisory teams, sometimes working against each other.

Even after finally wrapping his Disney story in December, Iger has found ways to register his disagreement with Chapek's decisions and his concern about the company's performance. From an ugly contract dispute with "Black Widow" star Scarlett Johansson to a battle over Florida's so-called "Don't Say Gay" legislation to the handling of top exec Peter Rice's exit, Chapek has made several prominent missteps — and Iger has indicated, privately and in one case on Twitter, his disagreement with his successor's choices.

Last week both men were spotted at Allen & Co.'s Sun Valley mogul retreat. The two exchanged a cordial greeting but that was it, according to a person who was there.

Why Iger moved up the timeline of his exit

Iger's fateful February 2020 handoff of the CEO role, while expected for years (and postponed multiple times), came as a surprise — with its "effective immediately" wording — to Wall Street and Hollywood. Paul McCartney even phoned his friend Iger to see if he was OK or possibly facing an illness.

The day of the announcement, the company's share price fell by more than 2%. The mastermind of huge acquisitions such as Pixar, Lucasfilm, and Fox, Iger had boosted Disney's stock to stratospheric heights, and the company's market capitalization rose 400 percent during his tenure. He'd been expected — and was contracted — to stay on as CEO through 2021.

"It was Bob Iger's desire to move the timeline up — and if COVID hadn't happened, none of the stuff between [him and Bob Chapek] would have transpired," said one Disney executive, referring to the friction that developed between the two men ahead of Iger's final exit. "The board was surprised; it was several months before his departure date."

"He got tired of all the things you have to do," added the Disney exec, who recalled going to Iger with day-to-day business issues in those final years — only to be told that the boss didn't want to engage. "He really wanted to play around with creative and not worry about all the business crap."

The person familiar with Iger's thinking disputed this, saying the CEO was still engaged and simply felt that with Disney+ successfully launched in 2019, the company was in good shape for a handoff.

In April 2020, just two months after Chapek was elevated, Iger told the New York Times he was still hands on. "A crisis of this magnitude, and its impact on Disney, would necessarily result in my actively helping Bob [Chapek] and the company contend with it, particularly since I ran the company for 15 years!" he wrote in an email to Ben Smith, then the paper's media columnist.

Iger's public assertion of power came as "a slap in the face" to Chapek, an executive familiar with Chapek's thinking previously told Insider. Iger was also lobbying the board, according to the Disney executive, to enforce the chain of command and keep him involved in decision making.

Three days after Smith's Times column ran, the board gave Chapek a director's seat, with lead independent director Susan Arnold and Iger both singing his praises. (Arnold would later take Iger's place as board chair.)

Two former Disney executives told Insider they are piqued at their former leader for stepping down when he did. They are powerless to do anything but wring their hands as the stock price and their 401(k) plans languish. One close associate of Iger's told Insider it still pains him to see Chapek stripping Disney of all that he built.

Iger's succession planning was 'a notable failure'

It was soon after the November 2019 launch of Disney+, which notched 10 million subscribers on its first day, when Iger broached the idea with Disney's board of speeding up the succession plan, said the person familiar with his thinking.

Iger's relationship with the board had been less than rosy in the years before he stepped down. "The board was harassing Bob about his succession plan and his planning was a notable failure," said a former Disney executive.

While Iger had been an extraordinarily capable CEO, it seems his blind spot was identifying the best person to follow him.

Iger had lined up a series of potential successors, most prominently CFO Jay Rasulo to COO Tom Staggs, but both departed Disney by 2016. One person close to the company said former Disney CEO Michael Eisner had made life difficult during Iger's own ascension, and Iger felt any successor ought to be suitably battle tested.

Three months after Chapek was elevated, Disney lost another exec who'd been considered a CEO candidate: head of streaming Kevin Mayer, who — after a brief stint at TikTok — partnered with Staggs to set up Blackstone-backed production acquisition vehicle Candle Media.

In late-2019 conversations with the board, according to the person familiar with his thinking, Iger pointed to the succession plan at Nike, where Mark Parker relinquished the CEO role and became executive chairman as a new CEO stepped in. (Parker has been a member of the Disney board since 2016.)

Iger proposed that he continue to ensure there was a pipeline of content for the company's multiple distribution platforms while Chapek stepped up to manage the other parts of Disney's business, according to the person familiar with Iger's thinking.

The board wasn't thrilled with Iger's proposal and suggested that he consider making Chapek a chief operating officer instead, with Iger remaining as CEO until he was ready to fully relinquish his operational duties.

The board and Iger continued to toss around multiple candidates. But Iger pushed for Chapek as CEO, said the person familiar with his thinking. Chapek, after all, had been in charge of two major units — parks and consumer products — and there was a belief in his integrity, this person said, and that "he wouldn't screw it up."

Chapek wasn't viewed as a "visionary," this person added, but nor was Iger at the beginning of his tenure.

The former Disney exec said that in the years leading up to his exit, Iger felt that the board had not fully appreciated his leadership. "He said he was tired of being harangued about [succession] and said, 'Fine, you guys have someone else run the business.'"

That was Iger's mindset when he proposed Chapek, this person said, adding, "He greatly regretted it as soon as COVID hit."

Disney board chair Susan Arnold and other board members referred questions to the company's internal PR executive.

The transition of power from Iger to Chapek 'wasn't smooth'

Iger began to have regrets about his decision to step down, insiders said, as it became clearer with each passing week in early 2020 that COVID would bring a wrecking ball to the company. He also questioned Chapek's restructure that would break the content business into two halves: "creative engines," said the company's announcement, and a centralized distribution group.

"If he had known and understood the scope of the pandemic, he never would have stepped down when he did," said a second former Disney executive, who cited the CEO's leadership qualities and high EQ.

The Disney board backed Chapek rather than enforcing the original agreement that Iger would guide and mentor his successor.

"It wasn't smooth," said the person familiar with Iger's thinking. After a 47-year run at the company, Bob Iger felt his final Disney years were a disappointment.

And the board's decision to renew Chapek in June — even after a series of communications missteps and amid an ongoing political battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — appears to be an attempt to put the Iger years firmly in the rearview mirror.

While morale is described as terrible among many content-side executives, Wall Street is giving Chapek the benefit of the doubt for now, counting on a rebound at the company's parks, where margins are expanding thanks to big price hikes. After hitting an all-time high of over $200 in March 2021, Disney's share price has fallen 41% year-to-date.

Iger meanwhile has continued to voice his regrets. He has said he did not know that Chapek was such a "novice" when it came to handling complex issues like talent management and political battles, and that Chapek was arrogant and uninterested in other people's opinions, said the former Disney exec. Chapek defenders say he has made bold moves in restructuring Disney and led huge capital spending projects at the parks. A Disney spokesman declined comment.

"For many of us who are deeply loyal to him," Iger's choice of Chapek was "confusing," this person said. "No one expected it to fall apart this fast."

These days, Iger's been sailing and cycling, including long rides around Santa Ynez and a cruise in the Panama canal. He has set up in a Los Angeles office at former Goldman Sachs banker Gerry Cardinale's RedBird Capital Partners and is investing in start-ups with his former Disney chief of staff, Nancy Lee. Despite entreaties to join private equity firms, he prefers to go it alone.

"He's still figuring it out," said the former Disney exec. "He's got plenty of money, he's got great skills. I expect him to do great things. I don't think he has to be in a rush."

Iger is still rooting for Disney to win, whoever is in charge, said the person familiar with his thinking — and friends say he is still giving notes on movies and still checks the Emmy nominations and talks to executives at the company.

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Re: Disney Renaissance 2/Disney Revival

Post by ShyViolet » July 15th, 2022, 5:04 pm

Interesting, Dan! Thanks for posting! :)
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!

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Re: Disney Renaissance 2/Disney Revival

Post by Ben » July 15th, 2022, 6:01 pm

Good to find a piece that cements all that was rumored. Our first reactions to Chapek don’t seem so far off after all… :(

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Re: Disney Renaissance 2/Disney Revival

Post by Daniel » July 15th, 2022, 8:29 pm

Iger the lesser of two evils... what a world! ;)

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Re: Disney Renaissance 2/Disney Revival

Post by EricJ » July 16th, 2022, 12:40 am

As I recall, that's how he started.
(We thought "Somebody Eisner handpicked?...Hoo-boy!", and then he negotiated the Oswald the Rabbit prisoner-exchange, and, "Okay, maybe this Iger guy will work out. :) "

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Re: Disney Renaissance 2/Disney Revival

Post by Ben » July 16th, 2022, 6:33 am

But…where's Chapek's Oswald…? ;)

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Re: Disney Renaissance 2/Disney Revival

Post by Daniel » July 16th, 2022, 1:38 pm

Iger was Eisner's choice, but don't believe he handpicked him, that was more down to the Disney board.

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Re: Disney Renaissance 2/Disney Revival

Post by EricJ » July 16th, 2022, 5:46 pm

Chapek's "Oswald", as far as the board was concerned, was reopening the Florida park, while Paris and Shanghai were still panicked and closed, and Anaheim was confining itself to state residents only.

In fact, the "He got the parks through the Pandemic!" seemed to have been the board's ONLY rationale for Chapek's electric-chair-reprieve, happily ignoring the fact that Iger stayed on as "consulting" manager for most of it.

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Re: Disney Renaissance 2/Disney Revival

Post by Ben » July 16th, 2022, 8:16 pm

No. Opening a park is not an Oswald legacy moment.

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Re: Disney Renaissance 2/Disney Revival

Post by ShyViolet » August 19th, 2022, 4:36 pm

More of prices going up: (Hulu and ad-free Disney +). Possibly the parks as well.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/11/disney- ... ation.html






"We read demand. We have no plans right now in terms of what we're going to do, but we operate with a surgical knife here," Chapek said. "It's all up to the consumer. If consumer demand keeps up, we'll act accordingly. If we see a softening, which we don't think we're going to see, then we can act accordingly as well."
Read: “It’s not our fault you all love Disney so much.”

:roll:
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!

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Re: Disney Renaissance 2/Disney Revival

Post by Ben » August 19th, 2022, 5:44 pm

:lol:

They’ve got us by the short and curlies!

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