Is Eisner a Changed Man? PLus MGM's Possible Overhaul Plans

[lrodk]

Reports are coming from MousePlanet that Disney is on the cusp of some major expansion plans at their theme parks in Disneyland/DCA and WDW, thanks in large part to a shift in philosophy regarding what does and doesn't bring back repeat visitors. With attendance sagging at both resorts, they seem to have no other recourse other than to build out and give us a reason to keep coming back.

The reports that Al Lutz has received come from several sources who state that it appears Eisner has taken an about face stance with regard to the parks' developement. From telling Paul Pressler in no uncertain terms recently to "fix it"(referring to DCA) or else, to putting into motion plans to make significant additions across the board. Here's an exerpt from MP regarding Eisner's new park-friendly mode, which should make all of us here who have been frustrated over the last year jump for joy, or in the least give us an added excuse to look forward to our future trips.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Last week's sad events apparently put a major damper on a planned press / media event for California Adventure. They were supposed to announce Tower of Terror (along with a few other additions, most probably for start sometime next year) to try and give some kind of major boost for the diminishing attendance. (Numbers had dropped back down after the end of the discount.)

As you can well imagine, any kind of attraction that deals with falling off a damaged / distressed building would be in poor taste to announce at this time. So as much as the Tower of Terror is needed in their minds (and frankly, I don't think it can salvage things - there are just too many other problems with this park), they will have to probably look at something else in the meantime.

This announcement apparently was the result of a conversation that Eisner had with Pressler, where he was told in no uncertain terms "to fix DCA." It was rather unpleasant from what I was told.


Eisner affected? - Doing the right thing

Since last week, I've heard some other interesting things about Eisner - thanks to one kind soul who alerted me to them, and then a few others who confirmed what had originally been passed on.

Eisner's supposed to have somewhat changed after the attack on the trade center. Apparently he's feeling more pride about the Disney company. He now wants to announce a third golden age - after a bit of a retrenchment for the next two years to gather forces. (This may already have been in effect, since the Japanese Disney Stores were already passed off to Oriental Land.)

But I do want to note one thing - as I mentioned before the Disney company did a lot right the last week for their customers at the parks. They did it all without any customer prodding, and in a first class manner.

Again, compliments to them. They showed an awful lot of class. This is more like the Disney Company I grew up with and admired so much."
------------------------------------------------------------------------

This latest rumor comes from Al as well, involving a possible overhaul of Disney's MGM Studios. Wait till you hear what Paul Pressler has been pushing for recently:

"Finally I keep hearing that Pressler's hot new idea is to redo the Disney MGM Studios into an Islands of Adventure type of "adventure / coaster park" - because a] any more new Walt Disney World parks would continue to cannibalize the current visitor base, b] they really do need something new (and cheap!) in a few years, and c] they want out of the studio business in Orlando.

The word from several folks is that they would demolish the studio portion, keep the Hollywood area, and build lots of cheap coasters / and put in lots of film type of attractions."

 

[JeffJewell]

There's the very real possibility that, by the time all this comes to pass, WWTBAM may be yesterday's flavor of the month. From what I understand, the television show's ratings have been falling off. Do we think WWTBAM-PI! has the legs to carry on after the show goes the way of Diff'rent Strokes?

I'm willing to take a wait-and-see attitude about the follow through around Eisner's comments (although the last time we did that we ended up with the Power Rangers. I can't seem to let go of that...), but isn't telling Pressler to fix the cheaply built park like asking the fox to fix the hole in the hen house? I was under the impression that Pressler was the leading advocate of the "profitability through budget cuts" business plan.

I'm disappointed with the "out of the stuido business in Orlando" bit; I always thought Disney Studios was a more grown up Magic Kingdom... with looks behind the curtain as a part of the fun. I agree that a fifth gate is a slug in the brain at this point, and that a different style of ride is necessary to keep the full family appeal of WDW (teens are family members, too).

Can you imagine a hypercoaster with old school Disney Standards dripping off of it? That's the kind of thing that, in and of itself, would prompt me to start planning my next trip...

Jeff

 

[YoHo]

A couple of thoughts some on topic, some off.

Did you see Eisner before and after the Walt Special last Sunday?
He looked like Death walking. Now He probably had family in New York and being head of one of the largest media companies in the World means he knew a good number of people that worked at WTC, but he also looked about as chunky as right before the Heart attack. This is not the vigorous man who captured my attention at the beginning of each wonderful world of Disney in the 80's. I'm worried about him as a human being.

2: As to Jeff's questioning of Putting Presslar in charge. Remember as I am often admonished. Presslar does what he's told. If Presslar is told to slash the budget, then he does it in whatever way possible. Paul Presslar has never been given the oppertunity to run these parks with a big budget. Not that that means he can do it right, only that we can't truely judge.

I won't miss the working studio aspect of the park one bit, at the same time, I don't see how off the shelf rollercoasters is a cheap expansion move. As I've admonished before, The oneupsmanship in that market dictates that you build a new one every year even with a classic like Beast, you still need to add Son of Beast eventually.
My thinking still is that MGM needs to be about Hollywood/Entertainment. A couple more coasters would be fine, but at some point you need to expand the dark ride style attractions too. Afterall, the best ride at IOA is Spiderman.

 

[isnkr]

First off.....

I thought WWTBAM was taking up two of the studio spaces.

What the heck is WWTBAM? Sorry my brain is not functioning today...throw me a bone.

Secondly...

The oneupsmanship in that market dictates that you build a new one every year even with a classic like Beast, you still need to add Son of Beast eventually.

Growing up in the central Ohio area - you are exactly correct. When I was a kid in late 70's King's Island was the place to go...in the early 80's the introduced new coasters almost every year (The Bat...a suspended ski-lift coaster, The Beast etc...) KI rapidly took over the park revenues and the crowds. Sure I went to Cedar Point but it was dirty and lacked the big name attractions. Then in the late 80's - early 90's....Cedar Point stepped up to the plate and has been on top since. King's Island tried to make a come back with Son of Beast - but it had problems the first year and didn't help regain the top spot in the second.

Why? Because they waited too long and attempted to rely on what they had. Just remember without change - there is no progress. Disney doesn't have to go hog wild with new thrill rides in every park but set up a parks for: thrill rides, nostalgia, creativity, and animal attractions. Wow, they are already 3/4 of the way there. If the studios disappear it wouldn't crush attendance - it could help. I can already spend a 1/2 day at MGM and partake in pretty much everything I want.

Give me some thrill rides!!!!! to mix into my Disney vacation

 

[Another Voice]

I think that all of Hollywood is a changed place. Two weeks ago the only politics in town dealt with the “stolen” election and patriotism was only a marketing angle for a certain overblown romance movie from early this summer. The horrific images on television and the roar of fighter jets circling the studios has, I feel, deeply changed many people and given a weight and importance to things. Issues that seemed so important a week ago now seem worse than trivial and the care-and-feeding of personal egos now seems shameful. I would not be surprised if these feelings are also affecting Mr. Eisner and I hope he really does change. The segment on the week’s events at the end of the Walt Disney television biography was as welcomed as it was out of character based on the company’s history for the last couple of years. Perhaps they are learning that not all in life needs to be a promotion for a product.

As for the other bits in the MP piece, everything will be on hold until the full situation becomes known. But there has been a long running debate within the company between the new school “go cheap” crowd and the old school “quality pays for itself” group since the opening of California Adventure. It became very clear this summer that DCA is a flat-out poorly conceived park and argument began to tilt in favor of the old school. Blame for the park’s failure is squarely on Pressler and Braverman (it’s a design problem) and not on Harris and Disneyland (it’s not an operational or marketing problem). The plans for Tower, Bug Town and State Fair were the new school’s last attempt at fixing their park and those plans are all but certain to be cancelled now. Fixes for DCA will probably come from WDI and local Disneyland management rather than from Pressler’s Attractions group.

The “studio” part of the Disney/MGM Studios referred to the actual production facilities – and they’ve been shut for several years. Production in Florida never really happened for either Disney or Universal, which both at one time had plans for feature film and television production on their lots. There is a lot of infrastructure that was built: soundstages, dubbing rooms, backlots, prop houses, etc., that Disney would like to use for profit-making activities. The Florida arm of Feature Animation will probably be closed as well – Disney just won’t be doing that much animation in the future and there are a lot of empty offices in the Animation Building in Burbank. The park will still have a “studio” theme, but it won’t be a real working studio. The off-the-shelf coasters angle came from the old plan for the fifth gate that was drawn up to counter ‘Islands of Adventure’. I think WDW’s willingness to follow Pressler down that road is very, very weak right now.

Other brief film news, both ‘Cinderella 2’ and ‘Hunchback 2’ will be coming straight to video. I think this is a comment on the quality of the films rather than a read of where the market is. A new trailer for ‘Peter Pan 2’ was released just before the attack. I haven’t heard officially if the trailer’s been pulled, but it’s a prolonged sequence where Captain Hook flies his ship into London, kidnaps Wendy’s daughter from her bedroom and then flees Nazi fighter planes (the movie takes place during the Blitz). The film is still scheduled for a theatrical release. The date for ‘Monsters, Inc.’ remains unchanged, but the film’s marketing campaign will be scaled back slightly (it was supposed to have been bigger than the campaign Disney created for ‘Pearl Harbor’). The buzz around town is that ‘Monsters’ is an okay film, but it will be swept aside by ‘Harry Potter’.

And lastly, if you want to see the film that ‘Pearl Harbor’ should have aspired to be, watch ‘Band of Brothers’ on HBO.

 

[DVC-Landbaron]

The segment on the week's events at the end of the Walt Disney television biography was as welcomed as it was out of character based on the company's history for the last couple of years. Perhaps they are learning that not all in life needs to be a promotion for a product.

One can only hope. I was very surprised that they aired it. Not so much dealing with the topic, they are of course doing a 100 year celebration, but by the content. The special really showed the way Walt (and therefore his company) strove for excellence and cutting edge 'stuff' (no matter in animation or theme parks). Also surprising was the bit about Walt flatly refusing to do a sequel for Snow White. I couldn't help thinking, with a fair amount of sadness, about our current state of affairs!

Now Mr. Voice. Can I infer from your post that the higher ups in Disney now fully realize that DCA is a failure on it's own merits and not because of the weather, the economy or those negative Ei$ner bashers on the internet? And they are finally placing the blame where it belongs? As in:

Blame for the park's failure is squarely on Pressler and Braverman (it's a design problem) and not on Harris and Disneyland (it's not an operational or marketing problem). The plans for Tower, Bug Town and State Fair were the new school's last attempt at fixing their park and those plans are all but certain to be cancelled now. Fixes for DCA will probably come from WDI and local Disneyland management rather than from Pressler's Attractions group.

If that is true then what is to become of Pre$$ler? Don't get me wrong. I only care in the context of him not screwing anything else up!! And, more importantly, does WDI have the personnel and creativity left in it to 'do the job right'?

And lastly, if you want to see the film that 'Pearl Harbor' should have aspired to be, watch 'Band of Brothers' on HBO.

I quite agree!! After only three episodes under my belt I think it's one of the best things I've ever seen.

 

[YoHo]

Landbaron, I can't remember IF I posted this, or just thought about posting it, but the most interesting (not the most poingent, but definatly the most interesting) clip of Walt they had in that special was
"I should have layed them off, it would have been better all around"

It was interesting, because its just not what you'd expect. Of course the circumstances were different (well they were until a weekago last tuesday) but it ws just the line that most struck me.


The fact that Presslar's plan has fallen out of favor is a factor I didn't have. He may be back with retail.
Oh, and AV, do I take it from your tone that the Animation situation has not had a turnaround due to this?
Also, I believe HOOK was a Touchstone movie, how can you have a sequel when you already have a sequel?

 

[DebbieB]

What the heck is WWTBAM? Sorry my brain is not functioning today...throw me a bone.

Who Wants To Be a Millionaire.

 

[YoHo]

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.....Play It

 

[Another Voice]

“Sheena” uses WDW as a filming location, but production offices and post-production work is out here in Hollywood. The last show truly based at Disney/MGM was (I believe) “Mortal Kombat” a while back. Neither Disney nor Universal ever had any luck convincing people to move from Hollywood to Orlando and using any of the studio overhead that was built.

Burbank knew the real reasons why California Adventure failed even before the park opened to the general public – it’s amazing what you can learn from marketing surveys. The hope had always been that marketing and The Brand would somehow pull it off (just like they tried with ‘Pearl Harbor’). There were, and still are, some people involved with the project that refuse to accept reality but the bottom line is too clear for them to listened to any more. Careful reading of statements from the major players involved will show you shifting positions and politics involved (e.g., dig out all those DisneySea press releases).

Paul Pressler changed the dynamics of how Disney Attractions and WDI operated & related to each other, mostly to bring more power to Pressler in Burbank. It’s an arrangement that NO ONE likes (except Mr. Pressler) and I expect things to get back to normal soon. How long it will take to recover from the damage is unknown. But I’m sure Mr. Pressler will enjoy great success producing for Broadway.

Walt’s “lay them off” comments were made in the very early forties as Europe was under German control and the United States was moving to a war economy. Disney was unique at the time in that it was the only Hollywood studio to earn a major portion of its revenues overseas. Walt and Roy (nor anyone else) knew how to manage a company during those times. Until last Tuesday, you could not make a good comparison between then and the condition Disney found itself in recently.

Animation is very far from a turnaround and things may get much worse very soon here. The relationship between Disney and Pixar exists on paper only. It’s been made very clear, according to rumors, that Pixar will deliver only those films the lawyers force them to and that Steve Job’s appointment book is filled with meetings with a lot of other people around town. The Catch-22 is that if ‘Monsters’ does well it proves that Pixar is powerful enough launch their own movies, but if ‘Monsters’ fails the fault will be placed on Disney’s marketing. Either way Disney comes out the looser, but that’s the dynamic of Hollywood. And ‘Hook’ was an Amblin (Steve Speilberg’s old company) and TriStar Pictures (now part of Sony) production.

And criticizing ‘Pearl Harbor’ is the easy, low fruit? No, I just find the difference between the utter cynicism behind ‘Pearl’ and the craftsmanship that created ‘Band of Brothers’ just points out how far off Disney’s mindset is from quality. I deeply hope this is another way in which Mr. Eisner has changed.

 

[YoHo]

AV I knew Walt's comments didn't apply until very recently, doeswn't change the fact that hearing him say it kind of stopped me for a minute.
Its a shame that Animation won't be recovering any time soon. One wonders however how pixar is doing in the face of the tragedy. Or for a company such as them that is relativly small and unimportant, is it buisness as usual.

Its quite possible that Pixar will learn what it loses when it gives up Disney. At the same time, If the Eisner revolution does go as far as we dare hope, Lasseter may change his mind too.

 

[hopemax]

Thanks for the insight, AV.

I had noticed a change in Eisner's style in his lead-in on Sunday from what I remember seeing of him in previous appearances and at the shareholder's meeting in Seattle a few years back. I was afraid though that I was reading what I wanted to see in the wake of 9-11. I had a hope that the "putting things in perspective" had reached to Hollywood, but I had no clue of what form it would take. Now I wonder how long will it last. This is going to be a tough time for any business small or large and I wonder how many will be forced into actions that they otherwise would not be comfortable with and I wonder how many of those will be for the worse in the short term that won't be fixed in the long term because everyone will be conditioned into thinking this is the way it is.

 

[d-r]

Originally posted by JeffJewell

I'm disappointed with the "out of the stuido business in Orlando" bit; I always thought Disney Studios was a more grown up Magic Kingdom... with looks behind the curtain as a part of the fun. I agree that a fifth gate is a slug in the brain at this point, and that a different style of ride is necessary to keep the full family appeal of WDW (teens are family members, too).

Can you imagine a hypercoaster with old school Disney Standards dripping off of it? That's the kind of thing that, in and of itself, would prompt me to start planning my next trip...

Jeff

I agree with this a whole lot.

I love disney world, boy do I ever. So does my wife, Melissa. For the past couple of years, we have been setting aside a day to have a beer in every country in world showcase, and we have a lot of friends here who find that intersting. So this January, about 10 other people are joining us for a drink around the world weekend, mostly young-ish dink-ish couples.

And then Melissa and I started to privately worry a bit. Some of these folks have never been to walt disney world, and if they have, it was only once when they were a kid. They don't have the nostalgia for jungle cruise and pirates and haunted mansion that we do. They might not think that space mountain is as totally nifty as I do if they can't remember running across the park to ride it when they were 12. Maybe Islands of Adventure is what they are looking for and they wouldn't be impressed with Disney or think it is hokey. Maybe they are going to keep looking for and asking about that spiderman or hulk ride that they keep hearing about.

Well, we just went for a short weekend, and I realized that they were all going to have a great time and think that Disney is a blast. But I would love for Disney to have some more "WOW" factor attractions, in addition to all of those wonderful things that we know and love.

(not that there aren't any wows on rnrc or tot or the safari etc etc).

DR

 

[larworth]

It was nice to hear the “new golden age” rumor, but the parks are probably in for a pretty rough year end. I’m sure this will put a damper on any grandiose plans, regardless of any newfound best intentions.

A minor point, but I was struck by the “two years” reference. A one year retrenchment is a no-brainer as there isn’t much new slated for 2002 as it is. But 2003 should be a different story.

They almost have to have a major new attraction ready for DCA by then, and I can’t see them delaying the opening of SPACE or Mickey’s 75th events at WDW. By default, 2003 should be a decent year for additions.

Follow this up with the opening of BK/Reign of Fire in 2004, a major lagoon E ticket for both MK’s in 2005, etc. and 2003 could sure serve as the kick-off year.

 

[Bob O]

I agree with jeffjewell, what could be a better addition to attract the teenage/young adult segment than a great coaster. Disney needs to team up with a company like B&M and create a great hypercoaster/floorless coaster with great disney theming, universal has done a great job with that company and created 2 world class rides which get them exposure from all the coaster enthusiats who wouldnt go to a disney park, except to ride a world class coaster and once their they will ahve a chance to enjoy a great park that is clean and unlike a six flags park. I also agree with yoho, a dark ride ala spiderman would be a great addition as would a truely interactive ride like MIB rather then rehabbing a old ride like what was done with the buzz ride in the MK. Disney needs to change with the times to a certain degreee if they want to attract teenagers who will shortly become paying adults. I know my 16yr old son likes universal alot more then disney because he wasnt brought up on disney and i think thats becoing more common with more kids watching nickeldon.

 

[larry_poppins]

Like everyone else on this Board I hope Mr. Eisner has seen the light and will stop producing mediocre attractions and movies. However, we still have not seen any proof except for patriotism and good will that there has been a change. An article on MousePlanet is not a corporate press release!

Larry

 

[HorizonsFan]

But I’m sure Mr. Pressler will enjoy great success producing for Broadway.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!