News Round Up 2016

[rteetz]

I heard they are not seriously worried about it.

From? Disney isn't going to flat out tell the media oh we don't think this park will preform well. If they did that their stock would fall and they would have PR problems. A company doesn't act like this unless they are worried.

 

[rteetz]

WDW1974 has an agenda, and is good at phrasing things to make them read like a bigger deal than they are; especially over on WDWMagic, where there's a bit of a cult of personality thing going on. There are plenty of signs that the mouse is losing the plot, but this is probably not one of them.

Of course he has an agenda but I completely believe him in this China project. Disney has had a lot of problems and has out a lot of money into a bad Chinese Economy where the Chinese government has all of the say. This project is now affecting the US parks. He hates Iger more than anyone which is whe he loses some people including me.

 

[pork]

From? Disney isn't going to flat out tell the media oh we don't think this park will preform well. If they did that their stock would fall and they would have PR problems. A company doesn't act like this unless they are worried.

Im sure they've got some worry going on. It hasn't ever seemed like a smart idea to me.

Some of the budget cut stuff seems a little overblown though. Like spirits rumor that they were cutting back on portions and ingredient quality. I spent a few years as a manager in the food service industry and I can't think of a day where I wasn't looking for cheaper prices and telling the staff to watch portion control.

This latest cut seems just like a giant corporation realizing a department was unneeded and reassigning people to more useful areas. I'm sure Disney has all kinds of areas that are outdated. It's just nearly impossible to manage a company that size efficiently.

Until I start noticing a quality change on my vacations I'll take some minor cut backs. Especially if they keep park improvements coming at the pace they are now.

 

[Eoghann]

Yes. They're a Fortune 500, they have an HR department. While it'd certainly be better if they had local on-hand support services for CMs (who may well be college kids, or young foreigners looking for a chance to see a bit of the world), I'm going to reserve judgement until something actually changes. It may even be that WDW is drifting away from having so many short term positions, as cutting staff hours across the board just creates a lot of ill-will. A slightly smaller, but properly full-time workforce is better than what they're currently doing.

WDW1974 has an agenda, and is good at phrasing things to make them read like a bigger deal than they are; especially over on WDWMagic, where there's a bit of a cult of personality thing going on. There are plenty of signs that the mouse is losing the plot, but this is probably not one of them.

I'd agree. I've been pretty critical of the budget cuts, but this one mostly sounds like modernization rather than cuts. Though god help the poor souls who have a problem that the FAQs don't cover and call the centralized HR line. Those are generally useless.

 

[rteetz]

Im sure they've got some worry going on. It hasn't ever seemed like a smart idea to me.

Some of the budget cut stuff seems a little overblown though. Like spirits rumor that they were cutting back on portions and ingredient quality. I spent a few years as a manager in the food service industry and I can't think of a day where I wasn't looking for cheaper prices and telling the staff to watch portion control.

This latest cut seems just like a giant corporation realizing a department was unneeded and reassigning people to more useful areas. I'm sure Disney has all kinds of areas that are outdated. It's just nearly impossible to manage a company that size efficiently.

Until I start noticing a quality change on my vacations I'll take some minor cut backs. Especially if they keep park improvements coming at the pace they are now.

I don't disagree. I just think that there is something to this Shanghai project that's not good.

 

[SureAsLiz]

Budget cuts...

"Effective this Sunday, all of the Cast Service Centers across property will be eliminating all the cast (who will be moved to other positions).

The Cast Service Centers are there to support cast with things like paycheck assistance, language learning, health insurance info etc.

The service centers will remain in operation for now, unmanned, with a few books to help the cast in place of the humans.

To further underline just how desperate things are this time, the service center CMs survived the 9/11 and 2008 cuts."

This comes from wdwmagic

I'm pretty sure this has been coming for a while, but happened to materialize at a less-than-opportune time
They have been doing some major back end work for things like this over the past year. And while I'm sure it's not ideal for cast who work in that area and need assistance right then, the system is pretty decent for regular issues

 

[pork]

I don't disagree. I just think that there is something to this Shanghai project that's not good.

I completely agree there. I'm sure they signed up in part to protect their copyrights but I imagine they're regretting the deal.

 

[soniam]

Disney is seriously worried about this park.

I think the executives are just worried about their pockets. I don't know if they are specifically worried about Shanghai. I think they are worried about it, but I think there may be other things they are worried about. Ultimately though, they just want to get as much as they can. Typical corporate behavior.

 

[rteetz]

I completely agree there. I'm sure they signed up in part to protect their copyrights but I imagine they're regretting the deal.

Disney is actually very new or no as recognizable in Shanghai as it is here in the states. Everyone knows who or what Disney is here. There maybe a few knowledgable people do.

 

[rteetz]

I think the executives are just worried about their pockets. I don't know if they are specifically worried about Shanghai. I think they are worried about it, but I think there may be other things they are worried about. Ultimately though, they just want to get as much as they can. Typical corporate behavior.

I think they are mainly worried about how this will affect the stock. They are going to sell this as a home run for as long as they can even if it isn't so the stock doesn't drop. The Chinese economy is not very good right now.

 

[rteetz]

News

Jungle Book sand sculpture coming to AK

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2016/03/jungle-book-sand-sculpture-coming-to.html

 

[rteetz]

New

The Oasis Pool and bar are now fully open to guests at the poly

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2016/03/new-pool-and-bar-officially-open-at.html

 

[Budshark]

I guess some of these things are Disney Rorschach Tests. When someone tells me a department is eliminated and those folks are moved somewhere else, I don't see it as a budget cut. Especially when we're talking about a call-center for HR, that seems very out of place in 2016.

Disney has 100s of job openings at any time. What they do is eliminate a department of 50 and offer them one of the open positions. A good portion of the time the person doesn't take it (customer service person offered a midnight food prep job for example). Person says no and quits. Boom. Now it's not a layoff.

In the end 50 jobs lost. 10 people transferred. Then Disney closes the 40 positions the previous employees turned down and says you haven't filled them in 6 months you don't need them. They eliminate 90 jobs... Transfer 10 people and get to claim it was a reorg and not a layoff.

So yes. It's a budget cut and staffing reduction. Dressed up to make it look all nice. It's lipstick on a pig.

 

[pork]

Disney is actually very new or no as recognizable in Shanghai as it is here in the states. Everyone knows who or what Disney is here. There maybe a few knowledgable people do.

It's not well know yet there but I'm just imagining the Chinese government decided they wanted a Disney park and basically forced it. It probably came down to them saying this is happening with or without your support. Kind of like the World of Warcraft theme park. In that situation it's either allow the knock off or join in and try to make it profitable.

 

[luisov]

I'd say Shanghai is right up there on their list of concerns. Sure, Hong Kong and Paris are not having their best moments right now, but Shanghai is definitely risky business. A 5 billion dollar investment that Disney can't really control in an unstable Chinese economy? US parks are doing great, Disney studios is having record profits and their other divisions are pretty strong. Right now ESPN and Shanghai are probably the hot topics at the boardrooms.

 

[Budshark]

By the way - as others pointed out about the books. This should be online. The fact it isn't tells us a lot.

This wasn't planned. It's a scramble. Disney is in a desperate money grab right now. $150 nights $70 mornings. Shuttering departments with no plan.

Think. What do we know? Shanghai is coming soon. But it's behind 1/2 of Main Street store fronts not painted is what I think I read? So what is Dinsey doing? The only thing they can now. You can't delay anymore. You can't open half done. So you spend on overtime and push. But that means even more money going out. So you react.

The signs aren't good. Long term they are fine. But they are looking penny wise and pound foolish now.

 

[pork]

By the way - as others pointed out about the books. This should be online. The fact it isn't tells us a lot.

This wasn't planned. It's a scramble. Disney is in a desperate money grab right now. $150 nights $70 mornings. Shuttering departments with no plan.

Think. What do we know? Shanghai is coming soon. But it's behind 1/2 of Main Street store fronts not painted is what I think I read? So what is Dinsey doing? The only thing they can now. You can't delay anymore. You can't open half done. So you spend on overtime and push. But that means even more money going out. So you react.

The signs aren't good. Long term they are fine. But they are looking penny wise and pound foolish now.

Yeah I don't think this is a long term issue. I think the fear is it's going to effect stock prices until they can recover. Fear of wall street causes all kinds of stupid moves that ultimately weaken a company.

It won't kill the mouse but Iger wants to go out with Disney at record highs. It makes him way more marketable for the future if he continues on.

 

[jade1]

I don't disagree. I just think that there is something to this Shanghai project that's not good.

There's something to every project that's not good.

 

[jade1]

New

The Oasis Pool and bar are now fully open to guests at the poly

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2016/03/new-pool-and-bar-officially-open-at.html

Only certain hours of the day, and rumored to be available to DVC pool hopping.

 

[jade1]

News

Jungle Book sand sculpture coming to AK

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2016/03/jungle-book-sand-sculpture-coming-to.html

It's already in EPCOT.