Iger............friend or foe

[deej696]

I agree.... so again I say these threads remind me of a political campaign. "The current guy in office stinks, and here is everything they have done wrong. The only things that were done right were actually not their doing, but were actually stumbled upon with the help of others, who by the way are actually on our side."

 

[GrimGhost]

I agree.... so again I say these threads remind me of a political campaign. "The current guy in office stinks, and here is everything they have done wrong....."

I agree, which is why I posed the question "who could run it then".

Baron - I don't question your arguments on "foe". I believe you understand the heritage of this company. I think I do as well.

If you understand those basic principles, you could do it better than Igor. AV certain could. YoHo could. And most others on this board could....

I will concede that I have no idea who AV and YoHo or you are in reality and from reading posts over the years, I believe all of these people are intelligent, understand the company and it's history and loved what the Walt Disney Co was at one point in time. I don't think in reality however, the board of directors will just hand over the reigns to just any one. That is why I threw Lucas and Jobs and Lasseter out there. My real hope is Lasseter. When one of the nine old men calls him the "Walt of today" I find that compelling.

 

[Another Voice]

I don't think in reality however, the board of directors will just hand over the reigns to just any one. That is why I threw Lucas and Jobs and Lasseter out there. My real hope is Lasseter.

No one is capable of leading Disney because The Walt Disney Company is now nothing but a pile of unconnected bits and pieces. Can anyone explain who ESPN is "Disney" other than existing on the same balance sheet?

"Disney" is a specific type of entertainment made a specific of way. The kind of top-to-bottom care and talent that's required to make Snow White or a 'Haunted Mansion' is impossible in a large organization. Disney Animation died when it was forced to care less about the quality of the movie and more about the merchandising tie-ins. The parks grew worse when they become cash flow instruments funding ABC's collapse.

And the reason why Pixar was so successful was that everyone from the CEO on down to the cafeteria workers had a personal stake in the success or failure of each movie. There isn't a single person sitting at ABC in New York that gives a rat's fig about whether Wall•E or 'Toy Story Mania is popular. How can a CEO of the mess that Disney has become possibly keep up the standards that "Disney" represents?

Where I fault Iger is that he's accelerated the conglomeration of Disney to near hyper speed. We don't get movies anymore, we get franchises. We don't get stories any more, we get background for a multi-platform merchandise push. We don't get attractions anymore, we get product placements. Quality is the last thing the company cares about - from 'Caveman' the TV series to California Adventure.
I look to the CEO to be the person to define "this is who we are as a company and this is what we do". Iger hasn't been able to answer that question.

People really have to ask themselves whether they are a fan of Disney - of a certain style of entertainment, or fans of The Walt Disney Company, a corporation that can make money anyway they can.

 

[YoHo]

So, I was in DCA last night.
Golden Dreams is closed, but there are no construction Barriers up and no work being done. Nothing in fact. No work going on in Paradise Pier area either.


CEO's get judged by their failures, mainly because in Disney's case, most of those failures are executive level failures. It takes hundreds of people succeeding at their jobs to make a great movie, but it only takes one bonehead decision by Eisner or Iger to make success impossible. Further, the facts and rumors so often support a rather less than encouraging view of the CEO. The Makers of Lost and Desperate Housewives had to go over Iger's head to get those shows made. He didn't want to make them. So how can you call them his successes?

He HAD to buy pixar. Or at least, buying Pixar was the easiest solution to the problem. There's nothing to be impressed with there. And Lassieter made him pay a price for that.

There is not one single addition to any Disney park made since Iger took over that is any better than OK. Nothing great has happened.
Matt Ouimet saved Disneyland's 50th and promptly realized he didn't want to work for these boneheads any more and left.
And if you really think they're actually going to do everything they announced for DCA, well then, I have a bridge to sell you. That was nothing more than a snow job, because the city of Anaheim was about to tell Disney where they could stick it.
I'm sure will get a few bones are way, but no way will we get the full billion.

 

[YoHo]

Quoted for truth.

The CEO defines the company and Iger does a very piss poor job of it.

No one is capable of leading Disney because The Walt Disney Company is now nothing but a pile of unconnected bits and pieces. Can anyone explain who ESPN is "Disney" other than existing on the same balance sheet?

"Disney" is a specific type of entertainment made a specific of way. The kind of top-to-bottom care and talent that's required to make Snow White or a 'Haunted Mansion' is impossible in a large organization. Disney Animation died when it was forced to care less about the quality of the movie and more about the merchandising tie-ins. The parks grew worse when they become cash flow instruments funding ABC's collapse.

And the reason why Pixar was so successful was that everyone from the CEO on down to the cafeteria workers had a personal stake in the success or failure of each movie. There isn't a single person sitting at ABC in New York that gives a rat's fig about whether Wall•E or 'Toy Story Mania is popular. How can a CEO of the mess that Disney has become possibly keep up the standards that "Disney" represents?

Where I fault Iger is that he's accelerated the conglomeration of Disney to near hyper speed. We don't get movies anymore, we get franchises. We don't get stories any more, we get background for a multi-platform merchandise push. We don't get attractions anymore, we get product placements. Quality is the last thing the company cares about - from 'Caveman' the TV series to California Adventure.
I look to the CEO to be the person to define "this is who we are as a company and this is what we do". Iger hasn't been able to answer that question.

People really have to ask themselves whether they are a fan of Disney - of a certain style of entertainment, or fans of The Walt Disney Company, a corporation that can make money anyway they can.

 

[~Kik-Kik~]

No one is capable of leading Disney because The Walt Disney Company is now nothing but a pile of unconnected bits and pieces. Can anyone explain who ESPN is "Disney" other than existing on the same balance sheet?

"Disney" is a specific type of entertainment made a specific of way. The kind of top-to-bottom care and talent that's required to make Snow White or a 'Haunted Mansion' is impossible in a large organization. Disney Animation died when it was forced to care less about the quality of the movie and more about the merchandising tie-ins. The parks grew worse when they become cash flow instruments funding ABC's collapse.

And the reason why Pixar was so successful was that everyone from the CEO on down to the cafeteria workers had a personal stake in the success or failure of each movie. There isn't a single person sitting at ABC in New York that gives a rat's fig about whether Wall•E or 'Toy Story Mania is popular. How can a CEO of the mess that Disney has become possibly keep up the standards that "Disney" represents?

Where I fault Iger is that he's accelerated the conglomeration of Disney to near hyper speed. We don't get movies anymore, we get franchises. We don't get stories any more, we get background for a multi-platform merchandise push. We don't get attractions anymore, we get product placements. Quality is the last thing the company cares about - from 'Caveman' the TV series to California Adventure.
I look to the CEO to be the person to define "this is who we are as a company and this is what we do". Iger hasn't been able to answer that question.

People really have to ask themselves whether they are a fan of Disney - of a certain style of entertainment, or fans of The Walt Disney Company, a corporation that can make money anyway they can.

Ah, I see what your saying now. I think it will get better with time because of John Lassater but I do know what you mean. Iger said that there wont be rides that are just rides, or rides based on failure movies. I do think that's a shame. Splash Mountain is a perfect example of a movie that was a failure but is an amazing ride and Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise and Small World are amazing rides without any movie background.

I hope it gets better in the future, but I doubt it will get much better. John does seem to want to bring new things to the parks but that doesnt mean Iger will let it happen.

 

[rantnnravin]

I was doing some research for a class and stumbled upon this:
excerpted from How to Be Like Walt by Pat Williams:

Disney's post-war financial strain brought Walt and Roy into increasingly sharp conflict." Roy was aggravated by Walt's insistence on plussing at the expense of profits. Walt thought Roy's cost-conscious approach to film-making was short-sighted.
Another source of tension: Roy kept pestering Walt to attend stockholder meetings. Walt stubbornly refused. He hated stockholder meetings and considered them a waste of time. But Roy kept pressing, and Walt finally agreed.
Upon entering the room, Walt found himself facing a collection of sober-faced businessmen in black suits - the kind of grim-faced, tight fisted capitalist bosses he later satirized in Mary Poppins. Walt looked around the room with a sour-milk expression. then, he stood up and read a letter from a man in Florida who owned a few shares of Disney stock. The man said how much he enjoyed Disney movies, then added, "I don't care if I ever get any dividends. You just keep up the good work and keep making good pictures."
Walt put the letter down, looked around the room and said, "I wish this company had more shareholders like that one. He understands what Disney is all about. Now it's been very nice to see all of you, but if you don't mind, I've got a studio to run." And he walked out, leaving his stockholders in stunned silence.

 

[whodini]

I still need to get caught up on the whole thread, but I'll go out on a limb and say that I'm a fan of Iger. He made Pixar a priority even before he took office. The Disney interactive division has made some huge leaps and acquisitions under him that I think make total sense in the current Disney/Media environment. I've studied Disney as a business case study and I'm pretty impressed with a lot of things they do right. We need to realize that Disney is now a big media company that is very diversified and that parks & resorts is only about 20% of the total pie. The success of Disney's other interests can only help the parks & resorts division as Disney will be a much healthier company that can spend the cash that its bringing in. Many of the current parks & reports things that we do love were partially funded by things like ESPN being successful.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I would say that Iger's performance has been good so far....

but that is somewhat misleading.....as evil Mikey left things in kinda a lurch and his egomaniac trips had caused bigtime problems fro WDC that had obvious answers....

The feud with Steve Jobs being an obvious one......Iger calls up.....makes nice....buys Pixar.....we all live happily ever after....

ABC has done ok since Iger took over.....but it had been so bad for about 5 years before that any improvement looks like good management

As for the Disney franchise......they keep going to the Pixar well and raking in automatic bucks.....again....a no brainer

As for the parks and attractions segment.....they're coming off one of the best five year periods in history.....which is tied directly to the economic bubble that is slowly deflating.....

and they did what was painfully obvious and started a complete redo of California Adventure practically from square one....

I'm still waiting on WDW.....other than building timeshares.....I think priority #1 should still be to flesh out both the studios and animal kingdom to make them more "full day" gates....

and by "flesh out"...I mean:

Animal Kingdom:
-Add a mixture of at least 10 animal habitats/ attractions to animal kingdom....which should incorporate one or two new "lands"...as the park is obviously disjointed from a reduction in the original footprint of the park
-Add at least 2 more table service dining locations....as this was originally neglected

Studios:
-Add at least 5 new attractions....varying in type and age group
-Expand the footprint of the park....either by using more of the now defunct production facilitities area or expanding beyond Star Tours into the employee parking lots....the park seems "small"...and as such....doesn't provide the kind of all day patrons that a Disney park should.

 

[CathrynRose]

What was I thinking? After they closed 'The Wonders of Life' pavilion at Epcot and turned it into that...that new thing! And after they cancelled the Hunchback show at the Studios to present...that new thing! And at DCA when they shut down 'Millionaire' and put in...that new thing!

I've forgotten, Disney just never closes anything just because.



Yes, those plans for the Euro Disney version of 'Mermaid' are filed in the drawer right next to the plans for Discovery Bay from the 1970s. Did you enjoy your stay at the Buffalo Junction Resort recently. Did you have a good time riding 'Dick Tracy's Crime Stoppers'. And that great new restaurant over in the Russia pavilion - that ice vodka bar is enough to make one run right over to Swiss Pavilion for a nice cup of warm coca in the shadow of the Materhorn. But then, you've got to get up really early to get 'cause the lines at the Villain's Park are sooooo long.

And who here has already traded in their DVC points for that wonderful new place in Hawai'i!!! After visiting the DVC units in New York, Colorado, Texas and Paris, I know this new one is going to be even more magically magical!



Yes, my DVD shelf is stuffed with stunning winners like Pearl Harbor, Chicken Little and Bubble Boy. And I really liked "he made some of the best movies". It's so rare to find to find a CEO that can both run a company and write, direct, produce, film and star in his own films!


Yes, it's a side of Disneyland they hide from the public. Like the 'Shoot A Commie for Walt' Rifle Range in Adventureland. That 'Cuban Missile Crisis Rocket to the Moon' was one of my favorites as a kid, although my dad's favorite was the 'Autopia of Running Over Striking Union Members'. Ah, he got such a kick out of that one. Then there's "special" room under the castle....

Maybe one day they'll finally release all those stories about Walt's secret missions into East Germany on horrible missions of subversion - spreading such terrible and insane ideas like American Values. Thanks to Hollywood, we don't have to worry about pesky things like those anymore.



I discredit him because he's had over ten years of being President of ABC and we're still getting garbage like 'Caveman'.

Usually if one is so miserable and utterly incompetent at everything over such a long period of time - the only job you can get is Congressman.



No, he spent $7 billion in Chinese junk bond money to buy Pixar.

And since Rapunzel and Frog are both in the process of being remade (because the first iterations of both movies were so bad) - how do you know we're not looking more mega Chicken Little disasters?



That's why I go to Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. Real Disney lives there.

I dont think Ive ever agreed with a post as much as your sarcastic one, above. Brilliant.

 

[CathrynRose]

On a side note - Im assuming Im not the only one with the "Goodbye Michael, Bring Back Roy" bumper sticker from yearssssss ago?

 

[YoHo]

I had a Goodbye Michael and Roy, Bring back Ron one.

 

[k5thbeatle]

A "Caveman" show could actually have been a good idea...but it was so poorly written and in the form presented it was stoop-id for sure.