FYI: More Cuts Coming

[mom2rtk]

The DIS doom and gloom threads.....blech.

If you don't like those threads, why would you click on a thread titled "More Cuts Coming"?

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

If you don't like those threads, why would you click on a thread titled "More Cuts Coming"?

Not answering for PP, but for me... every now and then, I can't help myself, apparently...

 

[mom2rtk]

Not answering for PP, but for me... every now and then, I can't help myself, apparently...

I do my share of that as well. But I don't then complain about what I opened being exactly what the title said it would be.

 

[jenrose66]

I don't think that Universal can quite compete with Disney though. I love Universal, and it would be hard to go to Orlando and not visit. However, I would not go to Orlando and not visit Disney, but I might skip Universal. Plus, we always spend about twice the amount of time at Disney as Universal. I could go to Southern California and not even go to Universal Hollywood, but I doubt I would miss Disneyland. There's still just more to do at Disney, and there's the nostalgia and childhood memories. That's harder for Universal to tap into right now.

See we did our first universal trip last year and skipped Disney after a decade of Disney only trips. We are skipping Disney again this year without a second thought which would have been incomprehensible to me 2 years ago.

 

[rteetz]

Ahhhhh I had not heard that! I must admit, it sounds awful!!! LOL. I can't see that happening, but who knows.

Nothing would surprise me at this point.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Yesterday, the Orlando Sentinel reported on the layoff of 100 Disney painters:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-disney-layoffs-hours-cut-20160216-story.html

 

[rteetz]

More news on cuts.

The majority of efficiency positions will be cut. Those posiotions are people who are stationed at the start of lines, and on load and unload docks.

A reduction in back of house kitchen staff across property.

Loss of register staff.

And more cuts to hours to come.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

More news on cuts.

The majority of efficiency positions will be cut. Those posiotions are people who are stationed at the start of lines, and on load and unload docks.

A reduction in back of house kitchen staff across property.

Loss of register staff.

And more cuts to hours to come.

Just so I understand, are these officially announced at this point?

 

[rteetz]

Just so I understand, are these officially announced at this point?

Disney isn't going officially announce this in a press release or anything this stuff comes from CMs. This particular post comes from wdwmagic.com.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Disney isn't going officially announce this in a press release or anything this stuff comes from CMs. This particular post comes from wdwmagic.com.

I just read the Sentinel article; they're certainly not denying makes changes/"tweaks" to things like schedules, etc. I wasn't expecting something on the order of a press release unless there are major layoffs -- they need to say something about that. This isn't the case here.

 

[rteetz]

I just read the Sentinel article; they're certainly not denying makes changes/"tweaks" to things like schedules, etc. I wasn't expecting something on the order of a press release unless there are major layoffs -- they need to say something about that. This isn't the case here.

The Disney comments in the sentinel article is typical Disney spokesperson fluff work. They won't deny but they also aren't confirming.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

The Disney comments in the sentinel article is typical Disney spokesperson fluff work. They won't deny but they also aren't confirming.

Yup. Sounds like how any company's PR arm handles such things.

 

[keaster]

Usually when a company makes a press statement about massive layoffs it comes after an announcement of financial losses and poor economic performance.

Disney just reported its Q1 earnings...parks and resorts revenue was up by 9 percent to 4.3 billion dollars. It would take some PR magic to say "Disney to cut xxxx jobs after posting an increase in revenue."

So I don't expect any kind of Disney announcement about job cuts. They will just quietly cut back on hours and staff positions without any fan fare about it.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Usually when a company makes a press statement about massive layoffs it comes after an announcement of financial losses and poor economic performance.

Disney just reported its Q1 earnings...parks and resorts revenue was up by 9 percent to 4.3 billion dollars. It would take some PR magic to say "Disney to cut xxxx jobs after posting an increase in revenue."

So I don't expect any kind of Disney announcement about job cuts. They will just quietly cut back on hours and staff positions without any fan fare about it.

Agreed! They said all they needed to for me in the Sentinel article by not dismissing out of hand. Basically a confirmation in this type of situation.

 

[starjazz]

If you don't like those threads, why would you click on a thread titled "More Cuts Coming"?

Because I wanted to see the source and exactly what the news was. That title is somewhat ambiguous without reading further.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Every time stuff like this happens, I am SOOOOO curious... I always wish I could take a look at their detailed financials... how much $$ saved in "efficiency" cuts... carry that forward... what's the bottom line impact... I'm so curious... Will never know!! Can't get to ANY of that kind of info from even the detailed financial analysis of their public financials, obviously.

 

[larryz]

Usually when a company makes a press statement about massive layoffs it comes after an announcement of financial losses and poor economic performance.

Disney just reported its Q1 earnings...parks and resorts revenue was up by 9 percent to 4.3 billion dollars. It would take some PR magic to say "Disney to cut xxxx jobs after posting an increase in revenue."

So I don't expect any kind of Disney announcement about job cuts. They will just quietly cut back on hours and staff positions without any fan fare about it.

Hate to say it, but it just makes them look greedy.

 

[JimmyV]

I think they aren't theoretically immune from making a MAJOR error that results in decline.

This. The company is run by humans. Humans are fallible. Despite the fact that we are led to believe that "The Magic is Real!", the reality is that this is a Fortune 50 company that is run by regular, mortal humans who don't always get things right. Indeed, many of the top level people at the company worked their way up from street sweeper over a 30 year career. Not that this is a bad thing. But let's not fool ourselves that all decisions derive from Wharton or Harvard Business School grads. Major errors are inevitable.

Now, I'm not an MBA. But logic tells me that if you are consistently reporting an increase in park and resort attendance, then staffing needs to increase and not decrease (unless some technological leap intervenes that allows for the elimination of jobs.) But let's look at painting, since that was mentioned in this thread and cannot be supplanted by technology. More people in the parks means more people rubbing their hands on painted surfaces. More people rubbing their hands on painted surfaces means more erosion. More erosion means a greater need for repainting (assuming that you want to keep painted surfaces in that "perfect" Disney condition that sets WDW apart from its competitors.) So a greater need for repainting means a need for more painters. So what does Disney do? Eliminate over 100 painters. Even if they kept the number static, you would see deterioration. But reducing the upkeep staff while simultaneously seeing 5%-10% annual attendance growth? There is no way that this will not reveal itself.

Take a more simple example. 50 people wait in line at two different popcorn carts. Each line averages 25 people. Long, but manageable. Now, increase attendance so that 60 people are in line at any one time for popcorn, and then cut your staff so that there is only one popcorn cart. You now have 60 people in one line instead of 25 people each in two different lines. All of a sudden you have 60 really ticked off people. The very fact that they are eliminating people who hold the title of "efficiency managers" drips with irony and portends problems. At some point in time, someone decided that employees at line entrances helped make things move more smoothly. So when you remove them, you remove the "smoothness" that they brought to the park. Now add 10% more people in the park while simultaneously reducing efficiency and you have trouble with a capital "T" which rhymes with "D" which stands for disappearing magic, (or, as the quote above suggests, "decline".)

 

[epcotty]

Right, and it's not a bad thing to be upset and still go to Disney. Like you said, no company is perfect, and it's okay to be upset about the changes, closures, ticket increases etc. I guess I just feel like nothing will change for Disney in terms of attendance. People will still go and spend their money there. Disney will continue to change and evolve. Some will like it, some wont but there will always be people who will go back again and again because of the things they DO like about Disney. I guess my point is that Disney will continue to prosper no matter what. And that is not a bad thing.

I do think if Disney presses their luck too much with stuff they want to do with pricing and cutbacks there will be less and less diehard fans coming back. People really will put their money where their mouth is and go elsewhere. Just because they haven't quite reached that point yet doesn't mean they won't.

As for the digital ticket book rumor, the ticket prices are already heavily inflated from what they should be now factoring in inflation from prices from even about 10 years ago. This would make things even more ridiculous. I really think both this and/or tiered pricing would be the straw that breaks the camel's back for a lot of people and then they would NOT come back, and in either or both cases the amount of people lost would definitely not be replaced anywhere near as much by new people.

 

[Jennasis]

Digital ticket books might make us sell off our DVC.