In Defense of Bob Chapek

[afan]

I mean, it looks fine to me. It was always a reskin of RnRC and it seems like they "did it up" enough. When you're going that fast, you can't really see the show scenes anyway. What exactly was expected here?

If it helps it's not a good ride anyway. When we rode it we thought it was more rough and worse than wdw's rnr. We did consider how tired we were from the jet lag but didn't consider it enough of a factor to ride it again another day.

But that area of the park needed help but you aren't seeing anything on that side just like you wouldn't on rnr. Too fast and tight turns.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

We've been conditioned as a society to polarize and argue and make everything a catastrophe with all sorts of hyperbole. We all fall for it. I personally think this is the master plan as the real power players in Washington and behind the scenes who pull the strings line their pockets and stay in power...but that's for another tin foil hat thread...

 

[Pickles516]

I would encourage you to search social media. I won't post links to the stories and tiktoks and such of what's happening in schools here. I'd also take a min and look up New Jersey's new "health" standards.

I mean…as an educator myself, I’d encourage you *not* to allow social media to overly influence what you believe is occurring in classrooms. Could you possibly specify what is, or what you believe is occurring in classrooms that renders what the other poster said untrue?

 

[Liquidice]

Well I take back my optimism.

Iron Man/Captain Marvel Flight Force at Disneyland Paris looks like a cheap, garbage ride. They spent all the budget on the building facelift and Iron Man animatronic.

Who approved this garbage? To be fair, the original wasn’t great either but what a missed opportunity.

Just leave everything alone at World, Chapek.

Don’t touch anything.

How much criticism did Disney take for eliminating the animatronics and not having enough physical set pieces for GoTG Cosmic Rewind?

I mean, I think we'd all prefer more animatronics and physical set pieces and a good ride overall - but I wonder if in today's world with budgets and all and you have to have a good ride overall or a "good" pre-show with animatronics, which would you prefer?

That said, this seems like the kind of ride I wouldn't judge unless I ride it myself or hear enough reviews from people who have rode it. imho Cosmic Rewind looks like crap on video - but it is amazingly fun. Yeah IP blah blah blah, I wish Epcot were like it was back in the 80's too - thats the Epcot I fell in love with and Cosmic Rewind doesn't really have the same edutainment that Epcot was founded on, but I still admit Cosmic Rewind is a really fun ride.

 

[Moliphino]

That's been a huge problem for a long time. Remember when the prequels came out? When we first saw The Phantom Menace, I and all of my friends thought it was great - we loved it! We saw it several times. It seemed plenty popular, despite critics not being on board. The fans were all excited about the movie and the merch etc. Then one day, everyone suddenly hates it - vehemently. It has ruined Star Wars and George Lucas is a joke! Why? Because some very long, intricate, and now infmaous video picked the movie apart bit by bit, criticizing every little thing about it and telling viewers why they are wrong to like it. And that was it - now it was cool to hate on it, and people have - relentlessly - for decades. The ST took some of the heat off the prequels finally and they are finally starting to get some respect!

I see that happening with the MCU now. Articles everywhere about how it's becoming terrible and directionless. I've enjoyed all of the recent movies and it's not like there weren't any lesser movies in the first three phases, too.

 

[Smugpugmug]

How much criticism did Disney take for eliminating the animatronics and not having enough physical set pieces for GoTG Cosmic Rewind?

I mean, I think we'd all prefer more animatronics and physical set pieces and a good ride overall - but I wonder if in today's world with budgets and all and you have to have a good ride overall or a "good" pre-show with animatronics, which would you prefer?

That said, this seems like the kind of ride I wouldn't judge unless I ride it myself or hear enough reviews from people who have rode it. imho Cosmic Rewind looks like crap on video - but it is amazingly fun. Yeah IP blah blah blah, I wish Epcot were like it was back in the 80's too - thats the Epcot I fell in love with and Cosmic Rewind doesn't really have the same edutainment that Epcot was founded on, but I still admit Cosmic Rewind is a really fun ride.

I rode Guardians during the AP preview and loved the actual ride, but was not impressed like a ton of it being screen based. Apparently there were going to be animatronics but were cut due to budget issues. I wish it did have more animatronics and physical sets like Hagrids at Universal (another fantastic ride) but I still enjoy the ride experience regardless. The Iron Man/Rockin Roller Coaster retheme looks bad but truthfully I was not expecting anything other than it being just screens.

 

[BrianL]

I see that happening with the MCU now. Articles everywhere about how it's becoming terrible and directionless. I've enjoyed all of the recent movies and it's not like there weren't any lesser movies in the first three phases, too.

People just want everything to be connected so tightly, but really my favorite movies from the earlier phases were the one-offs. Comics fans show this a lot - they only care about a story if it "matters" - they want it to be big, big, big! The thing is, there's nothing wrong with the BIG stories, but when you do them all the time, they lose their impact. If every story is BIG, then none of them really are. Then they start to try to TOP stuff, and that just never goes well at all.

 

[starlite_]

I'm trying my hardest not to be very specific and start a huge political debate - which is against the rules. I think I'd rather just leave it be rather than get in trouble with the mods

Lets get back to the topic at hand - which is why Chapek stinks ... or doesn't.

This just sounds like you don't wanna say what you really mean which is never a good thing imo, makes it seem like folks have something to hide Alas, def makes one think.

Chapek does stink btw.

 

[Liquidice]

This just sounds like you don't wanna say what you really mean which is never a good thing imo, makes it seem like folks have something to hide Alas, def makes one think.

Chapek does stink btw.

The rules are the rules though right? I don't want to continue beating a dead horse, but people seem to keep trying to goat me into it ...

https://www.wdwinfo.com/guidelines.htm are the rules.

This is the rule I'm referring to:

Because of the large number of complaints of personal attacks related to these subjects and inability for many people to keep a civilized conversation when discussing these hot-button topics, politics and religion will no longer be appropriate topics on our forums. Political or religion based posts or threads will be removed, and repeated violations of this rule can result in an infraction.

There is also this rule:

Each of the DIS boards focuses on a specific topic. Please look the choices over before posting on the wrong board. For instance, you don't want to ask about park hours on the Restaurants Board or tell everyone about your stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort on the Disney Cruise Line Board. It makes it easier for everyone to find what they're looking for when the boards stay on topic.

And we're pretty far off topic here.

I'll just say this, take it for what its worth ... I may dislike certain movies for one reason or another, but I don't hate anyone, except for maybe Bob Chapek I won't say I'm perfect, but as a minority who has experienced racism in my life I try my best to not be prejudice or discriminate against anyone for their beliefs and I try to teach my kids the same.

If you really are so interested in my personal beliefs though, you can feel free to PM me.

 

[Jonfw2]

This just sounds like you don't wanna say what you really mean which is never a good thing imo, makes it seem like folks have something to hide Alas, def makes one think.

Chapek does stink btw.

I think it's more that he doesn't want to get this whole thread shut down.

 

[BrightMorningStar]

I posted this a moment ago, but just realized I meant to comment here - not on that thread....


I am not defending Bob C, I do not care for him, but logically this is not all his fault. In the same way an Administration installs people and plans before the next Administration comes in, the same exists here. Much of what Bob C is being faulted for was started by Bob Iger and those in his "administration". In the same way it takes years to undo what a previous administration has done, be it to improve or destroy, the same will be with Disney Corp. I hope he does something good now that he has been given 3 more years. Will he? I admit I am not "hopeful" because of the overall decline of Disney, but perhaps he can do something good for the parks.

GENERAL COMMENT: PLEASE DO NOT MAKE THIS ABOUT POLITICS. That was NOT my point.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

I posted this a moment ago, but just realized I meant to comment here - not on that thread....


I am not defending Bob C, I do not care for him, but logically this is not all his fault. In the same way an Administration installs people and plans before the next Administration comes in, the same exists here. Much of what Bob C is being faulted for was started by Bob Iger and those in his "administration". In the same way it takes years to undo what a previous administration has done, be it to improve or destroy, the same will be with Disney Corp. I hope he does something good now that he has been given 3 more years. Will he? I admit I am not "hopeful" because of the overall decline of Disney, but perhaps he can do something good for the parks.

GENERAL COMMENT: PLEASE DO NOT MAKE THIS ABOUT POLITICS. That was NOT my point.

Can you define what you mean by "overall decline of Disney", is it a personal feeling, stock price, or something that you can point to directly.

 

[starlite_]

I think it's more that he doesn't want to get this whole thread shut down.

Then why bring up the subject in the first place like we are meant to understand what he means via *wink wink* or something? Vaguely mentioning an "agenda" like it's a quirky secret we are meant to understand and be against while at the same time implying that the "agenda" is something negative someone is doing behind the scenes to hurt ppl.

I agree about the rules, what I dislike is this vagueness about a subject that rules wise shouldn't have been brought up at all but when asked to clarify, folks are suddenly "the rules!". It screams red flags to me if I'm honest. That's the last I will say on the subject.

 

[Jonfw2]

Then why bring up the subject in the first place like we are meant to understand what he means via *wink wink* or something? Vaguely mentioning an "agenda" like it's a quirky secret we are meant to understand and be against while at the same time implying that the "agenda" is something negative someone is doing behind the scenes to hurt ppl.

I agree about the rules, what I dislike is this vagueness about a subject that rules wise shouldn't have been brought up at all but when asked to clarify, folks are suddenly "the rules!". It screams red flags to me if I'm honest. That's the last I will say on the subject.

ok

 

[GAN]

I mean…as an educator myself, I’d encourage you *not* to allow social media to overly influence what you believe is occurring in classrooms. Could you possibly specify what is, or what you believe is occurring in classrooms that renders what the other poster said untrue?

Yeah really... I mean, TikTok? Isn't that the app being blocked because of ties with China.

 

[GAN]

I posted this a moment ago, but just realized I meant to comment here - not on that thread....


I am not defending Bob C, I do not care for him, but logically this is not all his fault. In the same way an Administration installs people and plans before the next Administration comes in, the same exists here. Much of what Bob C is being faulted for was started by Bob Iger and those in his "administration". In the same way it takes years to undo what a previous administration has done, be it to improve or destroy, the same will be with Disney Corp. I hope he does something good now that he has been given 3 more years. Will he? I admit I am not "hopeful" because of the overall decline of Disney, but perhaps he can do something good for the parks.

GENERAL COMMENT: PLEASE DO NOT MAKE THIS ABOUT POLITICS. That was NOT my point.

I don't disagree at all, but a lot of it IS his fault. To people who look at stock price, the reason for the 50% drop was the pandemic combined with Iger leaving and Chapek stepping in. The market has almost no confidence in Chapek -they like CEO's that not only make numbers but can relate to the everyday person ..and Chapek can't do that. I haven't seen one appearance he's made where he has a good "presence." The other side of the coin is -Disney IS still strong. They hold a strong position in the entertainment industry, and there's no reason to think they won't continue to make strong moves with the IP that they(Iger) have acquired.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

I don't disagree at all, but a lot of it IS his fault. To people who look at stock price, the reason for the 50% drop was the pandemic combined with Iger leaving and Chapek stepping in. The market has almost no confidence in Chapek -they like CEO's that not only make numbers but can relate to the everyday person ..and Chapek can't do that. I haven't seen one appearance he's made where he has a good "presence." The other side of the coin is -Disney IS still strong. They hold a strong position in the entertainment industry, and there's no reason to think they won't continue to make strong moves with the IP that they(Iger) have acquired.

just curious where you are basing your logic on this one, sure there are charismatic CEO's out there like Musk, but there are plenty more that i wouldn't consider relatable, for instance Tim Cook. I would also say that the casual person didn't know a lot about Iger, and Eisner tried to be charismatic, but it blew up in his face when he tried. That just feels like a convenient argument to make because you don't like him personally

 

[Pickles516]

Then why bring up the subject in the first place like we are meant to understand what he means via *wink wink* or something? Vaguely mentioning an "agenda" like it's a quirky secret we are meant to understand and be against while at the same time implying that the "agenda" is something negative someone is doing behind the scenes to hurt ppl.

I agree about the rules, what I dislike is this vagueness about a subject that rules wise shouldn't have been brought up at all but when asked to clarify, folks are suddenly "the rules!". It screams red flags to me if I'm honest. That's the last I will say on the subject.

It’s a dog whistle. If discussing politics is against the rules, then I would think making statements that are meant to invoke particular political ideologies would also be frowned upon. Additionally, I’d think that lamenting Disney’s politics would also fall under that umbrella but for some reason does not.

 

[wkrainey]

Let's say you were handpicked by Bob Iger to choose his successor. Would you have picked the head of finance? Or the President of ESPN? Maybe someone from outside the company?

Or would you have chosen the head of Disney theme parks? Because that's who we have. Bob Chapek not only came to the CEO role from parks, he came into it with the arguably the best resume of anyone who ever held that position- he built Shanghai Disney. He oversaw both Galaxy Edges and Pandora. In fact, during his tenure, Disney spent more money on its parks than it did on Marvel, Pixar, and LucasFilms COMBINED. The NY Times even ran a piece specifically about how much influence Chapek had in getting Disney to allot its cash to his division. Was this all because Chapek is anti-park???

So why do we all hate him so much? One simple word: Covid. At almost the exact same time that Chapek took the reigns, the parks system was hit with its biggest crisis in history. Think about it- Disney World had never in its history been closed for more than a day at a time and right when Chapek took over, every park on earth was closed for months. No cruises. No movies. No television or sports. Every division of his new company was shuttered. What exactly did we expect at this point, folks? Then Iger came riding in on a white horse offering to help. But ask yourself honestly: what good did that do, exactly? Nothing changed. Neither Chapek nor Iger had a magic wand (or pixie dust) that would make all the Covid issues go away faster. They just had to be muddled through.

So in closing (because I'm suddenly on chapter 8 of a novel), let me address the two biggest specific complaints: cancelled projects and cost increases. Both of these issues come down to the same thing: supply and demand. For the same reasons your home project during covid took three times as long and cost four times as much so did Disney's. There simply wasn't- and still isn't- enough labor and supplies out there for Disney to do everything it's promised at this point. And yes- everything costs more now. And there are less benefits for what you pay. I don't like it either. But again- it's not because Chapek is a bad guy. EVERYTHING costs more now. Disney isn't making a terribly larger profit margin than they were previously. They're just passing on their cost increases to their customers exactly like grocery stores and every other industry is.

So there you have it. Chapek is in my opinion doing a perfectly acceptable job under the circumstances he (and we all) have to live under right now. It would be no different under Bob Iger or Walt himself.

I think the big issues are Bob Chapek's reign began with a necessary shift in Disney pricing that was long overdue. Everyone hates to hear it, but Disney's been underpriced since the 2001, and 2008 recessions, and was finally implementing long overdue price increases. What do we hear consistently "It's so crowded" "It's so expensive," these 2 phrases contradict each other in every economic sense. Disney is increasing prices to decrease the crowds. Price hasn't affected traffic enough to make it less crowded, so they continue to increase prices. This leads me to the second major issue I have with Chapek/Disney at the moment.

The parks have been severely neglected for 30yrs.

The new lands that were built have done nothing to expand the available space for guests nor have been spent in renovating the dated areas of the park that needed it most. Another issue to contend with is Imagineering failing to diversify areas accordingly. Why do we have both a "Future World" at Epcot, and "Tomorrowland" at Magic Kingdom. Even within both Disneyland and Hollywood Studios, StarTours is separated from Galaxy's Edge. Animal Kingdom's land of Pandora put everything into a single Film Franchise. We could've pulled out the original Beastly Kingdom layout that was scrapped due to cost and had a section of Pandora within it that carried over the film IP. We don't need a 5th park, we need to re-evaluate how to handle crowds and how to expand capacity in the existing parks in a way that doesn't make it a niche item that caters to a minimal group, or can't handle capacity.

 

[Pickles516]

I think the big issues are Bob Chapek's reign began with a necessary shift in Disney pricing that was long overdue. Everyone hates to hear it, but Disney's been underpriced since the 2001, and 2008 recessions, and was finally implementing long overdue price increases. What do we hear consistently "It's so crowded" "It's so expensive," these 2 phrases contradict each other in every economic sense. Disney is increasing prices to decrease the crowds. Price hasn't affected traffic enough to make it less crowded, so they continue to increase prices. This leads me to the second major issue I have with Chapek/Disney at the moment.

The parks have been severely neglected for 30yrs.

The new lands that were built have done nothing to expand the available space for guests nor have been spent in renovating the dated areas of the park that needed it most. Another issue to contend with is Imagineering failing to diversify areas accordingly. Why do we have both a "Future World" at Epcot, and "Tomorrowland" at Magic Kingdom. Even within both Disneyland and Hollywood Studios, StarTours is separated from Galaxy's Edge. Animal Kingdom's land of Pandora put everything into a single Film Franchise. We could've pulled out the original Beastly Kingdom layout that was scrapped due to cost and had a section of Pandora within it that carried over the film IP. We don't need a 5th park, we need to re-evaluate how to handle crowds and how to expand capacity in the existing parks in a way that doesn't make it a niche item that caters to a minimal group, or can't handle capacity.

I don’t agree that Disney’s motive for increasing prices is to thin crowds. I think they’re just trying to see what the market will tolerate, and to see how aggressively they can burn the candle at both ends(increasing price, maintaining stagnant wages and understaffing, and taking away from the experiences and amenities offered). I agree with everything else you’ve said though.