Rivers of Light opening delayed

[cmash95]

lassiter was the man responsible for the dca makeover and not only did he get the work done on time but also did it on budget. He could come over to Fl and crack the whip and make sure that the work was done on time and on budget. also there are problems with the way WDI is budgeted. their work is charged per project so basically one department is paying another

 

[rteetz]

lassiter was the man responsible for the dca makeover and not only did he get the work done on time but also did it on budget. He could come over to Fl and crack the whip and make sure that the work was done on time and on budget. also there are problems with the way WDI is budgeted. their work is charged per project so basically one department is paying another

He was not responsible for it. Sure yes he had input but that's because they were putting his properties into that park. Kathy Magnum was the lead Imagineer on the project. John Lasseter has been spotted a few times with imagineers in Florida. Likely it was for toy story land though. WDI had Toy Story Land costing $500 million so that's why they had to trim things down now it should be around $400 million. Look at avatar that thing will cost a billion when all is said and done.

 

[Eoghann]

He was not responsible for it. Sure yes he had input but that's because they were putting his properties into that park. Kathy Magnum was the lead Imagineer on the project. John Lasseter has been spotted a few times with imagineers in Florida. Likely it was for toy story land though. WDI had Toy Story Land costing $500 million so that's why they had to trim things down now it should be around $400 million. Look at avatar that thing will cost a billion when all is said and done.

If rumor is to be believed Lasseter used some of his influence to ensure that Cars Land didn't get slashed like other projects have, but he certainly wasn't in charge of the project in any fashion.

The figure I read for Cars Land's budget was $600 million so we certainly can't point to it as an example of keeping budgets under control. And it had a 5-6 year timespan between initial concept art and opening (3 years for actual construction) so it's not really an example of quick development. At least it is good by all accounts though so I think we could be happy if the end results were similar.

But if RoL has experienced unanticipated technical difficulties due to working with new technology, there is no magic Project Manager who could have made that not happen. Their only mistake was to announce a start date before final testing had happened. The delay would still have been there, it would just have been invisible to the outside world.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

lassiter was the man responsible for the dca makeover and not only did he get the work done on time but also did it on budget. He could come over to Fl and crack the whip and make sure that the work was done on time and on budget. also there are problems with the way WDI is budgeted. their work is charged per project so basically one department is paying another

This is a complete mischaracterization of both the events and the person

Believe whatever makes you happy...I guess

 

[Disneymom1126]

I don't agree with the idea that this issue signifies mismanagement of the project. I'm confident that at the time the April 22nd opening (plus confirmed scheduled preview shows) was announced there was no reason to believe the project wouldn't be finished. If there was, they would have continued to just say "coming Spring 2016" like they are doing with the many other projects happening right now. Something that was working must've stopped working and it was likely unanticipated. Hindsight is 20/20...they wouldn't have announced a date and advertised all the additional night-time activities without being convinced they would make that opening date IMO.

 

[midaroco]

I just think it's ridiculous overall that Disney, in general, can't seem to stay on target and open an attraction on time. Yet, Universal time and again continues to nail their opening dates, which are reasonable and not three years out.

 

[rteetz]

I just think it's ridiculous overall that Disney, in general, can't seem to stay on target and open an attraction on time. Yet, Universal time and again continues to nail their opening dates, which are reasonable and not three years out.

Disney doesn't usually miss target dates. They do however purposely build slower to spread out the costs.

 

[jade1]

Eerily quit around the finished ROL lagoon this am. Lots of path viewing it appears.

 

[rteetz]

Eerily quit around the finished ROL lagoon this am. Lots of path viewing it appears.

I doubt they allow those paths to be completely used for standing room though. They need room for people to get through and for emergencies.

 

[midaroco]

Disney doesn't usually miss target dates. They do however purposely build slower to spread out the costs.

They do miss target dates though, Universal has yet to miss a date. That's got to sting. Taking 3 years to build SDMT to "spread out costs", while spending one billion on a band designed to move crowds to less popular rides and into stores seem somewhat counter productive to me. Especially when Universal manages to build entire lands in as little as 14 -18 months.

 

[rteetz]

They do miss target dates though, Universal has yet to miss a date. That's got to sting. Taking 3 years to build SDMT to "spread out costs", while spending one billion on a band designed to move crowds to less popular rides and into stores seem somewhat counter productive to me. Especially when Universal manages to build entire lands in as little as 14 -18 months.

I don't know of any other time that Disney has announced a date and then missed it.

 

[LSLS]

I'll check back here in 3 months. If Disney's stock has dropped by 40%, Iger is gone, and Disney has ended all announcements of opening dates, I will admit that this is a giant public embarrassment on the level of Blackfish. They are losing some revenue (though debatable about how much and how significant), but once again if that revenue was not written into budgets to begin on that date (or more importantly if it will prevent AK from reaching it's budgeted yearly goal), then nobody bats an eye at it.

And add me on as one of those that would have no idea about the delay aside from these boards. In fact my wife had no clue. I know people with annual passes and DVC memberships that did not know it was delayed. And of the ones that did, none of them are saying they are cancelling trips (let alone that they are done with WDW). I know a ton that are done with Seaworld.

 

[imaginepeace]

I don't know of any other time that Disney has announced a date and then missed it.

Not theme park related, but Disney's first cruise ship was delayed twice in 1998, I remember this because I had booked an April cruise with the family that got cancelled. Ended up at Animal Kingdom's Opening Day instead...

 

[adam.adbe]

I don't know of any other time that Disney has announced a date and then missed it.

Just opting to never announce dates doesn't really count though.

ETA: Frozen isn't "late" be any legal definition, but clearly internal deadlines were missed by a massive margin.

 

[rteetz]

Just opting to never announce dates, doesn't really count though.

Exactly.

 

[Eoghann]

Just opting to never announce dates doesn't really count though.

ETA: Frozen isn't "late" be any legal definition, but clearly internal deadlines were missed by a massive margin.

Yes and no. If the comparison is with Universal (which it was earlier) then I think it's a fair point because Universal very obviously holds back on public release dates until the last moment thus avoiding "being late."

But really... find me a construction project that doesn't run late? Certainly not the roads around here...

 

[adam.adbe]

Yes and no. If the comparison is with Universal (which it was earlier) then I think it's a fair point because Universal very obviously holds back on public release dates until the last moment thus avoiding "being late."

But really... find me a construction project that doesn't run late? Certainly not the roads around here...

Well that's a fair point. Really I think this gets back to the common issue of Disney spreading costs over too many years. If Uni plan a big expansion and aim to hit completion in 18 months, then no-one really notices (or is even aware) when it overshoots by six months. Disney look at a project of the same scope, spread it out over 36 months, then miss the target by six months, and people are rightly going to be just a little "what the heck?" about the whole deal.

Also, people see something that looks like it should be open in six months, and the forums fill up with people guessing an imminent-ish opening, forgetting of course that a fiscal year cross-over lies between now and then. Disney didn't miss a deadline, but they missed customer expectations, and for better or worse, that's essentially the same thing.

 

[Eoghann]

Also, people see something that looks like it should be open in six months, and the forums fill up with people guessing an imminent-ish opening, forgetting of course that a fiscal year cross-over lies between now and then. Disney didn't miss a deadline, but they missed customer expectations, and for better or worse, that's essentially the same thing.

Yes, for a small portion of their customers. I think we have to accept that the vast majority of Disney visitors (i.e. the ones Disney seem to care about) are completely oblivious to the whole thing. Also there's a point when you have to acknowledge your expectations are not in line with reality.

RoL is a special case in my mind because Disney actually put a date on it, so some people may have booked anticipating the show. Booking stuff on the assumption that say Frozen will be open on June 17th because... "someone on a forum thinks did some building work once and doesn't see why it would take longer than that and hey didn't Universal throw up a simulator ride in like 3 days that one time?" That's folly.

Expectations should be based at least in part on what has come before.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

I don't agree with the idea that this issue signifies mismanagement of the project

1) Alas, I do think it signifies mismanagement.
2) I have built nine manufacturing plants in four countries, and ALL came in on-time, and all but one within-budget.
. . . they had to
. . . if they were delayed, I missed deadlines at auto assembly plants
. . . and the penalty was $35,000 per minute for line stoppages
. . . the only non-budget plant was due to government interference (and, our customer reimbursed us for the added costs)
3) You don't have to be a genius to bring projects in on-time, just aware and involved.

 

[dcibrando]

1) Alas, I do think it signifies mismanagement.
2) I have built nine manufacturing plants in four countries, and ALL came in on-time, and all but one within-budget.
. . . they had to
. . . if they were delayed, I missed deadlines at auto assembly plants
. . . and the penalty was $35,000 per minute for line stoppages
. . . the only non-budget plant was due to government interference (and, our customer reimbursed us for the added costs)
3) You don't have to be a genius to bring projects in on-time, just aware and involved.

AMEN!