In Defense of Bob Chapek

[NYDisGuy]

I'm still willing to give Disney a pass on staffing until the cultural exchange program comes back next month and they are able to shift some of their other staff around the parks. Finding people is still incredibly difficult, and Disney had/has to staff four theme parks, multiple hotels, restaurants, transportation etc. and they are probably now getting a decent response through the college program since people were hesitant to do it last year.

 

[dvc lover 1970]

I appreciate interested your view, but respectfully disagree. Under chapeck we have pay for FP, increased ticket prices, no APs. But to put it in perspective I was not a fan of Iger either. Under Iger we saw the no expiration tickets disappear, tiered ticket pricing, and the shift in disney animated films from the female and male lead characters learning and growing together ( princess and the frog, tangled, even enchanted) to the male being reverted to the old disney princess roles of the 1950s ( latest frozen 2).
Agree chapeck took the helm at the worst possible time. But I feel he changed Hollywood studios. I feel disney should have opened a 5th gate for marvel and star wars but just my opinion.

 

[wabbott]

I honestly can't comment much on Don Tatum or Card Walker, i dont know enough about their times as CEOs of the company to form an opinion.

Kinda lackluster. They kept the fight going between the Roy side and the Walt side, imo to keep their positions solidified. And to be fair, EPCOT put a strain on the bottom line during the 70s and early 80s. The movie side wasn't very producing any hits. Someone asked "How many times can we redo The Love Bug?"

Ron Miller had some fire - he started the Disney Channel and pushed Splash and Roger Rabbit - but when the big 1984 shakeup happened, he got swept out. He and Roy Edward just didn't get along at all.

 

[Liquidice]

And perhaps I'm wrong, but I don't hear a lot of chatter from people behind the scenes suggesting Chapek is difficult or boorish in any way. And frankly, in the interviews I've seen with the guy he comes off as pretty affable.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/20/disney-ceo-chapek-iger-falling-out.html

Not necessarily difficult or boorish - but this article talks about Chapek.

"Chapek, meanwhile, has a harder exterior and at times, according to colleagues, struggles with emotional intelligence — which happens to be Iger’s strength."

The article also talks about how Chapek has removed decision making powers from many organizations and centralized that to a very small group of his closest confidants including Kareem Daniel (who has P&L control for all movie, TV, film distribution, advertising, sales and technology) and CFO Christine McCarthy. Peter Rice's firing likely has something to do with this as well as he didn't agree with the org changes.

As he has centralized most decision making power - he's upset a lot of people within the company who have left and taken years of experience with them.

 

[bakenatj]

The worrying part is they have a competitor in Orlando that is building a huge new theme park. While Disney continues to make things more complex for guests, cut perks and raise prices - Universal has overall kept the experience the same. Sure they have raised prices and they most certainly will raise them again when Epic Universe opens, but if Disney continues to turn off guests from returning and Universal attracts them instead, will the guests come back if Disney turns back on the perks? To some extent yes, I'm sure. But could people just make Disney a short stay while they spend most of their time at Universal? If Disney isn't careful, Universal could easily surpass them and Disney could find themselves behind. If that were to happen - would Chapek be a good CEO?

I agree with you because of my love affair with Disney parks, but at the same time as consumers, this might be a benefit to us. Competition is always a good thing in a free market. If you slack as a business someone else will come along and pick it up and pass you. Maybe Disney needs a good wake-up call. All giants fall eventually, and if the product or service that follows is better, then we the consumer win. Just a different viewpoint I was considering.

I admit that Chapek was not my favorite person at first. But in a company that size, it takes time to make things happen. I think we need to give him three more years and if he can't improve where they are going then, by all means, get him out. Two years with what happened in his first 18 months isn't a fair shake IMO.

 

[Moliphino]

I admit that Chapek was not my favorite person at first. But in a company that size, it takes time to make things happen. I think we need to give him three more years and if he can't improve where they are going then, by all means, get him out. Two years with what happened in his first 18 months isn't a fair shake IMO.

I don't know. When in those 18 months you completely kill previously loyal visitors' desire to go to your parks you're doing something really wrong.

 

[Liquidice]

I agree with you because of my love affair with Disney parks, but at the same time as consumers, this might be a benefit to us. Competition is always a good thing in a free market. If you slack as a business someone else will come along and pick it up and pass you. Maybe Disney needs a good wake-up call. All giants fall eventually, and if the product or service that follows is better, then we the consumer win. Just a different viewpoint I was considering.

I admit that Chapek was not my favorite person at first. But in a company that size, it takes time to make things happen. I think we need to give him three more years and if he can't improve where they are going then, by all means, get him out. Two years with what happened in his first 18 months isn't a fair shake IMO.

You're right, I agree that competition is a good thing - and would benefit us as consumers. Even if you never step foot in a Universal theme park you should want them to do well because it would put pressure on Disney to do more for its guests.

On the question of is Chapek a good CEO though - if Disney loses their lead in marketshare in the theme park business to Universal, I would have to say he isn't a good CEO. That isn't decided yet of course - and I do hope that things may change for the better.

 

[Jonfw2]

I don't know. When in those 18 months you completely kill previously loyal visitors' desire to go to your parks you're doing something really wrong.

He didn’t do that though. Parks have had record traffic since Covid.

 

[bakenatj]

You're right, I agree that competition is a good thing - and would benefit us as consumers. Even if you never step foot in a Universal theme park you should want them to do well because it would put pressure on Disney to do more for its guests.

On the question of is Chapek a good CEO though - if Disney loses their lead in marketshare in the theme park business to Universal, I would have to say he isn't a good CEO. That isn't decided yet of course - and I do hope that things may change for the better.

Yes and no . He has more on his plate than the parks. Now the parks are their money tree, but we are talking about a media giant here. I think where they might hurt the most is in their bet on streaming services and how to grow income through that than anything else. I haven't been a huge fan of their movies in the past either. My opinion is the last really good animated film was Tangled, and it isn't even close. Chapek has to make the right call on a lot of things to pull his critic's opinion of him up. Not sure he will or that I am even routing for him, I just think we are calling for the pitchforks and torches a bit premature.

 

[BrianL]

That is because companies aren't having the right person be the face of the company. That should be someone else's job. I want someone who is focused on where the company is going and how are we going to get there. Not out shaking hands and kissing babies. Leadership has been....well dumbed down in my opinion.

You can be good at building relationships and still not be bubbly. Honest, genuine, good character and steadfastness are more important to me. If you have those characteristics people will respect you and want to be led by you.

Well, it's not strictly necessary to be likeable to get respect, but it sure helps! There are plenty of people who can do both, and they would make a better CEO. I don't think Chapek has the qualities you listed above either though, and he does not seem to have the respect a lot of the company staff.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I don't know who to blame but was not a fan of Genie + at all. It seems fast pass lane at universal was way better than genie idea so less complicated. And they have options where you can do fastpass once on each ride etc. for cheaper value. Geanie forces you into structure and stuff, but amusements parks really aren't made for structure. Especially when you have lines and delays to deal with.

I will go with whoever the person who started chain says I should blame cause I am not really up on who is in charge of what but was not a fan.

As for the staff shortages I did not notice any really issues, though I had a ridiculously long wait for someone to pick up my bags. The one thing that bothered me was the place where they push the vacation club always had 4 employees in it. For most time doing nothing and I was think that was not probably the best use of employees if you were mostly concerned about current vacationers stays. Left me a little bad taste in my mouth.

The best advancements in tech/app use I saw was the preorder of meals. Though experienced it at both at Disney and Universal. Both worked really well without a hitch and cut down on waiting forever to get meals.

 

[afan]

He didn’t do that though. Parks have had record traffic since Covid.

Are they though, or does it just look that way? They don't release numbers of capacity or how many park passes there are per day. They manipulate wait times and can staff based on the res so it always looks busy.

Looking busy and being busy are two different things. Is it possible to get picks of empty areas of WS or MK during the day outside of open and close? I don't know but before covid you could.

There's also a lot of first timers going now. I see more friends posting pics from wdw or dlr that have never gone in the past 6 to 8 months than I've seen friends going again. There's also plenty of people on the boards that aren't going any more.

Busy parks, to me, means nothing because they can make it look worse than it actually is. But Facebook and here tell a lot more.

 

[Jonfw2]

Are they though, or does it just look that way? They don't release numbers of capacity or how many park passes there are per day. They manipulate wait times and can staff based on the res so it always looks busy.

Looking busy and being busy are two different things. Is it possible to get picks of empty areas of WS or MK during the day outside of open and close? I don't know but before covid you could.

There's also a lot of first timers going now. I see more friends posting pics from wdw or dlr that have never gone in the past 6 to 8 months than I've seen friends going again. There's also plenty of people on the boards that aren't going any more.

Busy parks, to me, means nothing because they can make it look worse than it actually is. But Facebook and here tell a lot more.

You can't fake the hotels though. They've been packed.

 

[afan]

You can't fake the hotels though. They've been packed.

Except that's nothing new and doesn't really mean that much. The parks could be closer to empty and the resorts are still full. Resorts have never been an indication of how busy the parks will be.

People going on their first trip that are using a TA or just on their own are going to be more likely to stay on site. They don't know any better.

 

[Jonfw2]

Except that's nothing new and doesn't really mean that much. The parks could be closer to empty and the resorts are still full. Resorts have never been an indication of how busy the parks will be.

People going on their first trip that are using a TA or just on their own are going to be more likely to stay on site. They don't know any better.

Yeah. Nothing means anything. The parks are probably empty.

 

[afan]

Yeah. Nothing means anything. The parks are probably empty.

There aren't enough rooms on property to fill the parks. This has been discussed numerous times on these boards. It's why the resorts being sold out don't mean anything for park attendance.

If on site filled the resorts those huge parking lots wouldn't need to be that big and wouldn't fill up so much.

 

[RamblinWreck]

In the rare case that a reservation is not available you’d just have to suck it up and go to the first park.

Rare case? LOL

It will almost never be available.

 

[RamblinWreck]

I will give props in the sense that it took me a while to realize this was actually just a troll thread.

 

[Jonfw2]

I will give props in the sense that it took me a while to realize this was actually just a troll thread.

Thanks. It's not.

 

[RamblinWreck]

Thanks. It's not.

Well then I guess you're just not much of a people person