NYT - is Disney Magic Slipping?

[bicker]

Interesting point. Unions certainly don't have the power they once had. More and more you hear of big companies giving ultimatums to their union workers regarding wages and benefits.

The reason why unions no longer have power is specifically because most workers feel they can protect themselves more effectively and more efficiently than the superstructures that the unions have become.

They threaten chapter 11 and the unions don't seem to have a choice.

Unions always have a choice. Regardless, there hasn't been a company that has "threatened" Chapter 11 in order to secure agreement from a union to adopt unsafe or abusive working conditions. Rather, the companies "threatening" Chapter 11 are asking for financial considerations, typically to stave off bankruptcy. Let's keep to the issue: Unions fought against child labor, and unsafe working conditions. Those objectives are achived, and we're in no danger of back-sliding. Government has taken the place of the union movement in regard to these moral issues. All unions have left to concern themselves with is money (and benefits that cost money) and as such have lost the moral club they used to wield, that granted them the power they used have have.

 

[umbluegray]

Thanks, bicker. That was my point.

Unions definitely had their place and time, and the American worker benefited greatly.

Today is a different world. A job is not a right, it's a privilege. And it's up to me to be the most valuable employee I can be.

It seems that, in some instances, unions can hamper productivity.

 

[DeirdreTours]

Those are interesting points and I don't entirely disagree.

But....if you think that we are not in danger of backsliding, you aren't really tuned in to what it is like to be an hourly employee at a lot of companies these days. Many non-unionized workers are still routinely abused. Walmart has been repeatedly cited for, among other things: locking workers into store overnight to do stocking work (In the event of an emergency, these workers were trapped inside the building unable to escape), forcing workers to work additional unpaid hours "off the clock" and firing workers for attempting to organize. Tyson chicken has been repeatedly cited for many similar things. Hundreds of smaller companies just get away with it. The federal goverment (which should be enforcing the current laws) is currently very unintrested in the working poor.

The other thing I would like to point out is that the biggest reason that unions have lost the ability to negociate with management is that it is now so easy to just shift the work to some third world country where workers can be paid next to nothing and have no protections at all. This isn't something that can be easily solved and it will continue to drive down real wages for the forseeable future.

Thanks for tolerating this really off-topic ramble.... I promise I will now drop it and return to all Disney!

 

[baby_becky716]

20 year olds, have no sense of what proper attitudes should be in front of guest. They haven't gotten the whole idea of, "I don't care what kind of mood you're in, or what kind of mood a guest put you. You stick a smile on your face and be friendly."

I am 19 years old and I know plenty of young adults 19 - 29 that know and show "proper attitudes". This comment is a bit stereotypical and insulting. You cannot take a handful of people and judge the whole group based on this.

 

[King Triton]

Thanks to Michael Ei$ner, a lot of the magic is missing. Epcot has lost it's charm when they took out Horizons, World of Motion and the first Imagination ride. The top suits have lost touch with what makes Disney so magical. Look at the disaster of California Adventure. With Ei$ner leaving, there is hope for the future. It will take many years to undo the damage.

 

[bicker]

That's one perspective. Another is that Eisner is principally responsible for both the company still being in business, and it being considered one of the major players in the industry. There are a number of folks who greatly prefer Test Track to World of Motion, and consider Soarin' to be a great addition to Epcot. There are even a number of folks who don't have major concerns about older rides being retired, acknowledging the normal passage of time. And as someone mentioned in this thread, earlier, the magic is dependent on the guests as much as anything the company does.

Bob Iger will be lucky to have such positive impact on Disney as Eisner had. I have every confidence that Iger will work to achieve that.

Nice discussion, though.

 

[King Triton]

The old Epcot rides like Horizons, World of Motion and the original Imagination ride with Dream Finder had the Disney "magic." The top Disney suits who made the horrible mistake to take out these attractions also took out the charm from Epcot. Look...when you rode these old classics, the images and songs stayed in your mind. It opened up your imagination and wonderment. Ei$ner didn't get it...he was trying to appeal to teenagers by adding thrill rides. Big mistake. Even Walt had a formula to make all of his rides enjoyable for the entire family. Will you take your small child on Test Track or Mission Space?? enough said. Ei$ner just about killed Epcot. The Suits don't get it. True Disney fans "get" the magic. Disney is not about going fast around a track..it's about taking a journey into your imagination. HELLO.....can I get an "amen" out there? lol

 

[tjkraz]

Look...when you rode these old classics, the images and songs stayed in your mind. It opened up your imagination and wonderment.

And you're saying that rides like Mission: Space and Soarin have ZERO impact on your "imagination and wonderment?" How sad.

Ei$ner didn't get it...he was trying to appeal to teenagers by adding thrill rides.

Gee, been a long time since I've been accused of being a teenager.

Big mistake. Even Walt had a formula to make all of his rides enjoyable for the entire family. Will you take your small child on Test Track or Mission Space??

So you're telling me that Walt Disney, the man who dreamed of futuristic cities and created his own Tomorrowland, would have ignored 40+ years of technological advances if alive today?!?! He would have said "yes, we could make the single most realistic space flight simulator in the world, but we won't do it because it's too intense for a 6-month old."

Sorry, not the Walt I knew.

I'll concede that Walt may have taken a different approach to certain projects, perhaps insisting on greater integration between ride & story. But to say that Walt wouldn't have altered his own formula over four decades to accommodate a changing society and changing technology is ludicrous.

Ei$ner just about killed Epcot. The Suits don't get it. True Disney fans "get" the magic.

My, God, what an inappropriately agrrogant statement that is. As if guests at Epcot should swear allegiance to Horizons before they dare pass through the gates.

Reality check: People LIKE Test Track. People LIKE Mission: Space. People LIKE Soarin.

That fact alone doesn't make them any less worthy of enjoying the Disney "magic" than you are. Don't turn your nostalgia for a 20-year old (maximum speed: 4 mph) version of Epcot into someone else's character flaw.

Disney is not about going fast around a track..it's about taking a journey into your imagination.

Why, exactly, are the two mutually exclusive? Is it not possible to use one's imagination during a ride that takes you speeding around a track at 65 MPH, flying over the California coast or accellerating toward Mars?

 

[DancingBear]

Will you take your small child on Test Track or Mission Space?? enough said.

My then-3yo son loved Test Track.

 

[k5thbeatle]

...Also, my expectations are tied, in large part, to price. At $300 a night plus another $200 a day in food, plus ticket cost (for my family of 3 "adults", one "child" and one "infant"), my vacations expectactions are very high. Of course problems happen, but at these prices I expect those problems to resolved pretty quickly and with an apology for the inconvienience. In my opinion, it is in problem solving that Disney now frequently falls short. The polite guest who states calmly that they expect the room they booked, or that dried white gunk on the bathroom wall is not acceptable are pretty much ignored.

"In my opinion, it is in problem solving that Disney now frequently falls short"

This line imho, summarizes their greatest problem and change that I have seen since I statred going to WDW in '71