News, no longer rumor - WDW layoffs

[Mouseaholic!!!]

Wow - How foolish of me! I'm a sensible person who took time to express thoughts and observations relating something we all seem to have some level of interest in....How un-sensible of me! What a fool I am!

Are you really that intolerant that you cannot hear a different opinon or view, or just narrowminded?

After you remove the happy ears and inject the truth serum, go ahead and tell me that your Disney experience is equal to, or greater than it was 5-10 years ago. Seriously. I am a tolerant person, and you may say that your experience is better, which is clearly subjective, and I appreciate and respect your opinion (without deeming you sensible or unsensible).

I also speak for several people that I converse with each week. I'm an airline pilot. I am based out of Orlando. I have the privilege of speaking with folks each week in the airport, and I love to hear about theme park adventures, and great times. I want people to have a great time. I need people to have a great time. It is good for my livelihood. Hell I own a home in a town that Disney developed. For years I never heard an ill-word towards Disney. I will tell you now that I hear more and more people complain about high prices and a diminished experience at the end of their vacation. This is reality. You call it unsensible. I call it exposing a farce that I hope a groundswell can overcome. I know that Disney managment monitors this and other boards. I have been told this by people who know. This is the only reason I am here. I don't have time for pro-bono work, and I have no interest in following web blogs unless it is one that tells me how to be healthier, fly an airplane better, or make more money.

But again, I am not sensible.

Please tell me you are upper-management at WDW - I'll understand your comment much better.

Keep flying!

Perhaps people are hoping for the "Royal Caribbean" treatment. I saw this in USA Today this morning.


Is Royal Caribbean manipulating message boards at cruise websites?


Can you trust what you read about Royal Caribbean at online message boards?

That's the question some vacationers are asking this week in the wake of stories suggesting the cruise operator has been manipulating online discussions for more than a year.

Veteran industry watcher Anita Dunham-Potter of ExpertCruiser.com first broke the story last week, reporting that Royal Caribbean has been rewarding a small group of fans who post positive comments about the line at sites such as Cruise Critic with free cruises and other perks.

Dunham-Potter's story, which since has been followed by several blogs and news outlets including The Consumerist, notes that the group -- called the Royal Champions -- has been active since 2007.

Dunham-Potter cites a talk by a Royal Caribbean executive at a recent marketing conference in which the executive touted the subversive nature of the effort.


"The key to success in viral marketing is to subtly influence the influencers without them overtly realizing they are being influenced," Royal Caribbean's manager for loyalty marketing, Rachel Hannock, told the audience, according to a blog on loyalty marketing written by the Customer Insight Group.

The Customer Insight Group blog quotes Hannock as saying the Royal Champions "are regularly leveraged for ongoing marketing initiatives" and "produce ample word of mouth and exert sufficient influence to make the investment worthwhile."

The blog also quotes Hannock as saying online posts from Royal Champions "are carefully monitored during events and on a regular basis to ensure that posts remain positive and frequent."

In an interview with USA TODAY this week, Royal Caribbean associate vice president Bill Hayden acknowledged that the Royal Champions exist and have been getting perks from the line including invitations to free, two-night preview cruises. But he strongly denies that Royal Caribbean has asked them to talk up the line at online sites in return.

In short, he says, there's no quid pro quo. Hannock's comments at the conference were "a poor choice of words . . . we have never in any way indicated what they should write."

While Hayden says it's true Royal Caribbean has kept an eye on what the Royal Champions are posting at online sites, it's only so that the line can get feedback on how it's doing. In that sense, he says, the Royal Champions are like a focus group.

Hayden says the Royal Champions, of which there currently are about 75, were chosen because they were highly active posters at Cruise Critic and a few other sites and passionate about cruising. So far they have been invited on two short free cruises, and clearly the line expected that they would post about the experiences at Cruise Critic and elsewhere. But Hayden stresses they were free to write whatever they felt about the ships, good or bad. No Royal Champion has been asked to leave the program because he or she was too negative in posts, he adds.

Hayden also says the line never meant the program to be secretive. Indeed, Cruise Critic was aware of the program, he says, as Royal Caribbean had gotten the site's help early on to track down Cruise Critic members that the line wanted to invite into the group.

 

[MercyMe]

March 25, 2009 Master sommelier John Blazon among those in Walt Disney World layoffs; v.p. Rosemary Rose gone too

"John Blazon, who spearheaded Walt Disney World's drive to have more wine-savvy restaurant workers on staff than any other company in the world, is among those laid off by the company this week.

Blazon is one of the area's four master sommeliers, the pinnacle of wine experts certified by the Court of Master Sommeliers. There are only 100 master sommeliers in the United States and North America.

Blazon had been with the company 13 years, beginning as general manager at Victoria & Albert's. He symbolically ended his tenure with the company today by choosing to hand over the "keys to the World" at the Grand Floridian. "Thirteen years was a good run," he told me today. "I'm leaving in a good place; it's a good thing."

After moving from Victoria & Albert's to open Citricos, Blazon began to develop the company's wine program, which had the ambitious goal of educating any restaurant server who wished to learn more about wine. Ironically, the introductory course and test were conducted by Blazon and other master sommeliers at California Grill earlier this week. With the number of cast members who passed the test on Tuesday, Blazon says a total of 750 cast members had reached that goal over the years. He did not know how many of those were still with the company, but several have gone on to strive for higher certification.

Also in this week's layoffs is Rosemary Rose, vice president of food and beverage and merchandise.

"It's going to be a much different company," Blazon said. But he added he hopes they will continue to offer the wine education programs.

Among Blazon's accomplishmenst was the wine cellar at Jiko --The Cooking Place, which boasts the largest collection of South African wines in North America, and the more recently opened Wave, which features a wine list made up almost entirely of wines with Stelvin, or screwcap, closures, a popular feature among conservationists."

 

[PatriciaH]

Yes, whole teams were let go yesterday- many in resorts and guest services in the parks. Very sad. Today marketing hears.

 

[Backstage_Gal]

FYI, I heard that Rosemary Rose got a great offer at another compan, so not related to layoffs.

Hubby and I both survived

 

[cmash95]

while the timing of the reorginizing stinks, it was way past due. Look at what has been going on all over the company since iger came in. First he reworked the movie studios, then he moved to abc and the music labels. etc. EVery company under the disney umbrella has been redone but the parks. It's just bad timing. Eisner was famous for rewarding his minions with " managment" titles and the number of managers in the parks division has swelled. too many layers of people having to sign off on a project, no wonder little gets done. of course there are some park vp's i would love to see get a pink slip as well as a certain president or two

 

[WDSearcher]

FYI, I heard that Rosemary Rose got a great offer at another compan, so not related to layoffs.

Hubby and I both survived

Congrats!

True, re: Rosemary Rose. She resigned and will be going to work in the education sector.

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

Disney has carefully gone through each division this quarter. ABC apparently was one of the first. They were ruthless there - DH survived his first (hopefully his last) buyout letter so we are not at all surprised it has moved to other areas under Disney's umbrella.

Not to say this will continue.....but if this next quarter is not strong....who will be next? How will this affect fellow castmembers who remain?

ABC folks struggle to cover stories now - conversations sound like this....Hey, let's let "______" cover this....he's right there......he's cheep.............he was laid off last month. Silence.

All of those laid off are people - with families - lives - dreams - little league or bridge clubs to face. My heart goes out to each of them.

It's emotionally tough for those left behind too.

I said this somewhere else......lets put together a commitment to "be kind to your castmember". What do you think? Take some time on your next trip to our magic place to give back a little magic to the castmembers - make them smile! They need a little pat on the back right now.

 

[CanadianGuy]

It's happening all over ...

Here in Canada, my Walt Disney Pictures contact for marketing & publicity was just 'restructured '.....

Too bad she was a great employee and a wonderful person to work with.

Knox

 

[Backstage_Gal]

We lost a lot of people here in Orlando this week. The paper said one estimate was 450, I think that may be low. It's very said, people I knew, that have been with Disney for many years. Thankfully DH and I survived. DH's area of responsibilty has trippled, spanning 1/3 of the property. He is in Horticulture, so that involves a lot of travel. I am in Finance. We are still waiting to hear how the new segment and Liine of Business organizations will be working and hen align how to best support them. We shall see ....

 

[DisDreaminMom]

I think I found the thread with the smart people on it. Airline Pilot guy and all the CM's, you are so interesting. Sorry for everyone who lost jobs. Stupid economy.

 

[WDSearcher]

We lost a lot of people here in Orlando this week. The paper said one estimate was 450, I think that may be low. It's very said, people I knew, that have been with Disney for many years. Thankfully DH and I survived. DH's area of responsibilty has trippled, spanning 1/3 of the property. He is in Horticulture, so that involves a lot of travel. I am in Finance. We are still waiting to hear how the new segment and Liine of Business organizations will be working and hen align how to best support them. We shall see ....

I think 450 might be a bit high. In my area, there were a lot of people who were redeployed, offered TAs (temp assignments) and even offered demotions, in lieu of their current jobs. Pretty much everyone took the offers. The number actually jobless was less than I'd expected. I think numbers like 450 may refer to the number of roles cut, but not necessarily people. All the Cast Services jobs were eliminated, for example, but most of the people were redeployed elsewhere. Not true in every area of course, and still ... even if it's "only" 375 or 400 instead of 450, that's still a lot of people out of work. But it's hard putting a firm number on it, because you dont' know if they're talking roles or people.

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

ABC's buyouts included entire departments - staff re-hired as contract labor......ie: less $$$ and no benefits.

DH survived his first buyout letter. It was horribly stressful and heartbreaking as he watched those who did not.

I'm thrilled to see those here who are still employed and I wish I had the right words of sympathy for those who did not.

These are truly challenging times to have a mouse on your paycheck.

Good luck to all!

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

ABC's buyouts included entire departments - staff re-hired as contract labor......ie: less $$$ and no benefits.

DH survived his first buyout letter. It was horribly stressful and heartbreaking as he watched those who did not.

I'm thrilled to see those here who are still employed and I wish I had the right words of sympathy for those who did not.

These are truly challenging times to have a mouse on your paycheck.

Good luck to all!

You'd like to think the 'mouse on your paycheck' would actually mean something ... But sadly for you folks it means nothing more that a Walmart or Home Depot symbol.

How a mighty, one of a kind, model corporation could fall so far is simply unacceptable. The BOD and past BOD's should be personally ashamed of themselves for their utter transgressions.

Iger's a slug.

 

[scooter15]

They just started out here at Disneyland from what the paper reported. Friends of mine that work there are so stressed because they've heard that it won't end mid april as it was rumored. Apparently they will continue as the company sees fit. Really sucks because my friends are so busy with work on a normal basis and its not like their role is actually going to go away...just added to someone else's plate and more work for those that have remained.

 

[WDSearcher]

You'd like to think the 'mouse on your paycheck' would actually mean something ... But sadly for you folks it means nothing more that a Walmart or Home Depot symbol.

How a mighty, one of a kind, model corporation could fall so far is simply unacceptable. The BOD and past BOD's should be personally ashamed of themselves for their utter transgressions.

Iger's a slug.

That's not fair. The 'mouse on your paycheck' (actually, there isn't a mouse anywhere on the paycheck, particularly at ABC, where there's an ABC on your paycheck, but that's neither here nor there) means a lot. But even the mouse (nor Iger the slug) can stop some things from happening. When the housing market goes bust and the automakers flip upside-down, and a large amount of TV ad revenues come from real estate and auto companies, it's not like ABC can just turn around and say, "OK ... let's get those millions in ad dollars from ... travel companies!" Um ... no. How about mass market retailers! Hmm ... they're down too. Microsoft! Nope ... laying off.

This exact same thing -- recession, layoffs, financial crisis, etc -- happened in the late 80s and no one was slamming the BOD for laying people off. Of course ... the internet didn't really exist then and so no one really knew. There were no blogs of people reporting how all their friends were let go. After 9/11 when all sorts of jobs were cut, no one suggested that the BOD was to blame and that they should all lose their bonuses so that the line workers could stay on. And no one now is even suggesting that perhaps the union workers -- who are guaranteed hours and jobs and benefits by their contracts -- could maybe take a concession or two to help keep non-union managers at work. Nope. It's all Iger's fault. What a cop-out. Blame the guy on top and don't even consider that maybe there are a lot of other reasons why this is happening and that maybe a lot of those "utter transgressions" happened in administrations he wasn't even responsible for and is trying to fix. It's like the Republicans who are currently blaming Pres. Obama for the financial crisis while conveniently forgetting that it was 8 years of Republican admin that helped cause it.

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

It's no cop out and if you've reead my recent posts here you'll see I'm not blaming it all on Iger (the slug) but rather saying he is bringing nothing (has brought nothing) that "Disney" needs to the table. If he were the Walmart CEO we wouldn't be having this conversation because I expect nothing more than that money grubbing MBA BS attitude from the likes of them and their ilk. I still see Disney as different and I guess I shouldn't.

I understand that no one was ready for this breakdown in the economy but for goodness sakes what were these BOD's doing? I'll tell you, they were taking profits, reducing business plans to quarterly number crunching and doing absolutely nothing to solidify their position for the bad times that are always sure to come. It's not just Disney that dropped the ball to be sure but Disney was in a place where they could have saved for a rainy day (as I was taught as a Kid) but Eisner and Iger and more importantly the lame BOD's who saw no profit in REAL long term strategic planning.

Iger's a slug.

 

[CentFLCruiser]

We lost a lot of people here in Orlando this week. The paper said one estimate was 450, I think that may be low. It's very said, people I knew, that have been with Disney for many years. Thankfully DH and I survived. DH's area of responsibilty has trippled, spanning 1/3 of the property. He is in Horticulture, so that involves a lot of travel. I am in Finance. We are still waiting to hear how the new segment and Liine of Business organizations will be working and hen align how to best support them. We shall see ....

Backstage Gal;
I'm glad you and your husband both survived the cuts! I know several people in Finance (my old area) who were hit and some of the cuts were very surprising. My area was just done Friday and I'm glad I'm still here, but feel so badly for those who didn't make it.
Best of luck to you!

 

[WDSearcher]

It's no cop out and if you've reead my recent posts here you'll see I'm not blaming it all on Iger (the slug) but rather saying he is bringing nothing (has brought nothing) that "Disney" needs to the table. If he were the Walmart CEO we wouldn't be having this conversation because I expect nothing more than that money grubbing MBA BS attitude from the likes of them and their ilk. I still see Disney as different and I guess I shouldn't.

I understand that no one was ready for this breakdown in the economy but for goodness sakes what were these BOD's doing? I'll tell you, they were taking profits, reducing business plans to quarterly number crunching and doing absolutely nothing to solidify their position for the bad times that are always sure to come. It's not just Disney that dropped the ball to be sure but Disney was in a place where they could have saved for a rainy day (as I was taught as a Kid) but Eisner and Iger and more importantly the lame BOD's who saw no profit in REAL long term strategic planning.

Iger's a slug.

Yeah, well calling him Iger (the slug) every time you refer to him certainly doesn't help you look like an objective poster. Sorry.

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

Yeah, well calling him Iger (the slug) every time you refer to him certainly doesn't help you look like an objective poster. Sorry.

Well, I'm not trying to sound like an objective poster. I'm a pissed off fan of what Disney stood for once upon a time. I have no desire to be confused with some fanboy who thinks it's OK for Disney to emulate the Walmart's of the world because they can sell garbage to the masses and because the wall st. quarterly numbers must be made. I'd prefer they stick to producing and selling QUALITY for the going rate that it will fetch. Pixar proved it can still be done in today's world.

Disney used to stand for something and so did Disney fans. Iger (the slug) is no Disney fan I can tell you that and I'm sorry that my little joke doesn't amuse you...It does me.

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

Well, I'm not trying to sound like an objective poster. I'm a pissed off fan of what Disney stood for once upon a time. I have no desire to be confused with some fanboy who thinks it's OK for Disney to emulate the Walmart's of the world because they can sell garbage to the masses and because the wall st. quarterly numbers must be made. I'd prefer they stick to producing and selling QUALITY for the going rate that it will fetch. Pixar proved it can still be done in today's world.

Disney used to stand for something and so did Disney fans. Iger (the slug) is no Disney fan I can tell you that and I'm sorry that my little joke doesn't amuse you...It does me.

DH and I agree with your assessment about Disney and am not at all ashamed to share your opinion.

There are those who do not share our opinions and that is OK....I even envy their ability to look the other way when areas no longer are up to Disney standards.

What rubs me about Iger is he took a tidy little bonus at the end of 2008 -- just before he began to lay off Disney staff. Oh well, he must be one of the "entitled".