Hey George Kalagridis Clean up this mess!

[zulemara]

I did not have any part of the recent Carsland at DHS announcement rumor. It took me as much by surprise as everyone else because I hadn't heard of anything being greenlit.

The background behind the cleaning woman comment, as I understand it, is that Matt Ouimet(a fan favorite and rightly so) was in line to take over as President of WDW. However, Rusulo wanted a puppet to do whatever he wanted. Meg Crofton, VP of HR, was given the position Matt Ouimet should have had by all accounts. Why on earth would you put the VP of HR in charge of the #1 vacation destination in the world? The fans refer to her this way because her background in HR suggests "cleaning up" management which didn't agree with Rusulo's way of thinking. Therefore, she gets the nickname as the cleaning woman.

Regarding the replacement, sources suggest it's possible the resorts will again be separated because the "One Disney" idea isn't working out as well as they thought. It's not clear what's happening to her other than stepping down. I'm assuming(and hoping) she leaves the company.

Regarding Iger/Staggs there are politics within the company which are supposed to lead to Iger leaving prior to his announced departure. It involves a lot of bad blood with John Lasseter and despite Iger technically being the boss, Lasseter holds a lot of unspoken power right now within the company.

Lastly my comment about the maingates is really part of an overall theme of cutting back CM perks out of nothing more than greed. I really don't want to turn this thread into a CM argument, but in the last 8 years I've seen a continual reduction in CM perks and it's really pissing me off. Disney is supposed to be a company known for treating its cast well and that reputation USED to be deserved. That's no longer the case. My specific qualm is them blocking out maingates for 2 solid months during the traditionally slower period. There's no justification for this as they will not be hitting phased closings in January and February. It's just the latest in a long string of cuts to CM benefits. As far as posting on the internet being tacky, my response is to A) get used to it, there are FAR worse people than me and B) if they didn't treat CMs like crap people wouldn't be complaining(or at least not in large numbers as they do currently)

And I'm not a CM anymore anyway

As always, anything posted is subject to change regarding the rumors. One day Spectro is coming back, the next they decide it's not. One day it's a CBJ refurb, the next they cut half the frickin show. One day FOTLK is closing in January, the next they renew contracts and suddenly it's not. Things are always in flux, but the source is extremely reliable on the Crofton info and George was seen with the FL governor parading around FLE. Now why would the President of DL be schmoozing with the FL governor? Isn't that Meg's job? Not for long...

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

Zulmera, that was a good post but really you do not have to justify your posts to 99% of the posters on this site.. Thanks!

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Zulmera, that was a good post but really you do not have to justify your posts to 99% of the posters on this site.. Thanks!

I guess that I'm part of the 1%, in this thread at least, that Zulmera addressed with this post.

That said, I really appreciate Zulmera's explanation of the basis for the rumors about executive changes at the top of the WDW org chart and why Pete Werner refers to Meg Crofton as "the cleaning woman."

I'm still not convinced that the "bad blood" between Bob Iger and John Lasseter is anything more than an Internet story that various bloggers and forum posters have copied from each other. John Lasseter owes his Chief Creative Officer position to Bob Iger, and the company (Iger) has put a lot money into Lasseter's ideas. Lasseter is a very creative guy, a great filmmaker, and a someone who really seems to understand theme parks. But Iger is at the top of the executive pyramid and ultimately controls all budgets, all executive assignments, and all major decisions. Lasseter has real, official power based on his assignment from Iger, but I'm baffled that Lasseter somehow "holds a lot of unspoken power" that will lead to an early departure for Iger.

To anyone who thinks I'm attacking Zulmera, please understand that's not the case. I'm just engaging in a discussion on discussion board.

 

[CanadianGuy]

In any given employment situation.. there are those who can lead and due solely to who they are, what they have accomplished and how they are perceived; they can elicit efforts from underlings and staff that others cannot.

I believe this is the kind of 'unspoken' power that Lasseter has.

Loyalty, trust, confidence.. soft, loose, unmeasureable things in the corporate world, traditionally can and definitely do have an effect on the bottom line.

To over explain this, there have been managers in my life for whom, I would do anything. I would stay late, come in early, get up at 2am and arrive at work simply because I had been called and asked to do so for the good of the company.

And there are others for whom any of those things would be near impossible to pull off.

Think of it like 'Voluntary Capital' .. some people can mine it like gold to great effect.

And others may only get silver, bronze or in Iger's case, copper and tin.

 

[Eeyore's-tail-tack]

This is sounding a lot like politics.

 

[Robbi]

I know that Pete Werner is fond of referring to Meg Crofton as "the cleaning lady" on the DIS Unplugged podcasts, but I'm not really sure why.

Crofton is a well-educated business executive, with an MBA from Florida State University. She began her WDW career as a marketing manager at a WDW subsidiary and worked her way up.

Possibly, "the cleaning lady" is a reference to one of Meg Crofton's executive positions at Walt Disney World. Although being a General Manager at a hotel or serving as the Senior VP of Human Resources for WDW means having responsibility for housekeepers and janitors, I fail to see how that makes Cofton "the cleaning lady."

When Pete calls Crofton "the cleaning lady," it must mean something to him. Unfortunately, it inaccurately characterizes Crofton, while simultaneously coming across as demeaning the hardworking people who clean for others.

There are legitimate reasons to complain about some aspects of the operations at Walt Disney World, while praising others. In her current role as president of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts in the United States and France (and previous high-level roles at WDW), Crofton ultimately can be blamed (or praised) for things that have happened under her direction and budgets.

But if Crofton is supposed to get "back to her roots," it would mean getting back to telecommunications marketing, not to cleaning.

Meg Crofton certainly does not live up to her nickname, the cleaning lady. The parks and resorts have not looked this bad in the 40 years we've been going to Disney World.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Meg Crofton certainly does not live up to her nickname, the cleaning lady. The parks and resorts have not looked this bad in the 40 years we've been going to Disney World.

Complete agreement on this. The resorts are downright shameful in places and the parks?

Well.. let's just say that I saw that Splash Mountain was going down for a 6 week refurb coming right up and my first thought was "Oh the one that it REALLY needed when I was on it last June is finally getting done.."

Pitiful.

 

[zulemara]

Time to bump it up! Just got word Meg will be overseeing things as they are currently, however George K will be taking over as President of WDW and will be reporting to Meg. Trying to find out who will take over DLR
edit: this will be made public VERY soon
edit 2: and my source on the Bob Iger Vs JL feud is the same as was for the Meg Crofton/George K changes. Take it for what you will