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Is it Eisner's Fault?

Hey Mr DisDuck, you may have identified a solution!

We the people of the DIS boards need to form a more perfect company by gaining control of it!

Anybody have a spare $25B? Or does anyone have a Christmas card list of 25M people that each have $1000? :-)

There's only one way to replace a CEO who has a 'friendly' board. Control half of the stock and vote him out.
 
Friday May 31, 12:48 am Eastern Time
Disney Board Calls on Chief Eisner to Reverse Company's Slide

Walt Disney Co . Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Eisner is facing increasing calls from several members of the company's board to improve Disney's faltering performance and better plan for the future, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.

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The Disney board has long been derided for cutting Mr. Eisner too much slack, both in good times and bad. But these days, a string of corporate scandals has put directors themselves under pressure to be more diligent about their oversight role. In that environment, according to people familiar with the board, a small number of important Disney directors has during recent months gotten more assertive with Mr. Eisner in hopes of reversing the entertainment company's slide.

It is a similar scenario to what is being played out at underperforming or downright troubled companies across the U.S. After the collapse of Enron Corp. and the subsequent severe problems faced by companies ranging from Global Crossing Ltd. to Adelphia Communications (NasdaqNM: ADLAC - News) Corp., board members have been widely blamed for being asleep at the wheel.

Greater director activism has spread quickly to the entertainment business. As companies such as Vivendi Universal SA and AOL Time Warner Inc. (TWX - News) have difficulty meeting their stated performance goals, directors at those firms have become more demanding of executives to make sure they don't over-promise and under- deliver.

At Disney, the board members aren't looking to replace Mr. Eisner, 60 years old, whose current contract runs out in September 2006 , these people suggest. Rather, the directors are trying to prod Mr. Eisner by working in consultation with him, a process he has welcomed. Specifically, they want him to intensify efforts to turn the ABC television network around, to build up the company's executive ranks, depleted during recent years by defections, and to come up with a more systematic succession process, something Mr. Eisner has long resisted.

Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter Bruce Orwall contributed to this report.
 


thedscoop- i will admit that i rarely proof read or spell check my posts like I should do and type too fast while still putting together my thoughts.
But i would say my posts are as logical/articulate/rational as your posts are!!!!!!!!!!(FOR YOUR BENEFIT) At work i have to make sure all the T's are crossed and I's are doted on my numerous reports so i do slack here.
It will be hard to fire Eisner when he has the board under his control. Only a massive downturn in the stock price would cause his departure.
 
I wanted to back up for a second, cause this got lost while I was looking for popcorn pictures

quote:
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Already in just a little over a year at California Adventure, the catalog-purchased ‘California Screaming’ and ‘Mulhuland Madness’ coasters are experiencing major structural and maintenance problems.
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Really?! Who 'provided' them - and are they still in business? DCA hasn't had that many people through it yet. If I were a prospective customer for a thrill ride and the guys who sold Disney those rides gave me a pitch - I'd laugh them out of the room...

From what I've heard elsewhere, and hoping Another Voice can either confirm or deny, is that the manufacturer has a variety of parts rated for different stress levels/life cycles, etc. Disney ran the calculations and figured out what minimum part would work, but recommendations from the engineers and manufacturer was for a more heavy duty part. Of course those more heavy duty parts are more costly and the increase in budget required approval, which was denied because the less heavy-duty part work theoretically work. Manufacturer did what they were paid to do and installed what they were told to do. However as engineers well know, theory & practice are too different things...

So the stresses turned out to be higher in some places, so the parts wore out faster, which meant they were running throught the budgeted replacements faster than normal, which mean they needed more replacements but budget couldn't get approved because of unanticipated maintence work needed on other attractions. So Screamin' has had to wait, which only exasperated the situation there, and now they have a big mess on their hands.

Hopefully between the structural damage fiasco called Rocket Rods, and the messes in DCA someone will learn something, but who knows.

And both of these cases highlight a problem that I really think is affecting Imagineering. In all of the stuff I've ready about the early days of DL the "engineers" or the Roger Broggie's and Bob Gurr's of the company had a strong voice as well as the artist types like Marc Davis & Claude Coats. But these days, it's really only the "artists" that I hear about. And I wonder how many true "engineers" are left and what kind of voice they still have.
 
Originally posted by Bob O
thedscoop- i will admit that i rarely proof read or spell check my posts like I should do and type too fast while still putting together my thoughts.
But i would say my posts are as logical/articulate/rational as your posts are!!!!!!!!!!(FOR YOUR BENEFIT)

BobO, don't sell yourself so short...yours are far more logical, etc....I think I figured out why thedscoop has that name---that is the sound you hear at the parks when horses--t is expelled..."Thud---scoop." :p :p :D :D :) :) :p
 


PKS44, we all have differing opinions on this board and tend to disagree quite often. But, one thing we all agree on is treating one another with respect.
 
Ah yes BobO, could it be the beginning of the end? Like the tiny snowball at the top of the hill starting its' journey down.
 
Originally posted by gcurling
PKS44, we all have differing opinions on this board and tend to disagree quite often. But, one thing we all agree on is treating one another with respect.

Agreed Greg...
 
Anyway……

Yes, the coasters at California Adventure were valued-engineered in their design phase. It’s even rumored that the Mad Mouse coaster is actually the traveling version of the ride, built lighter and less resilient than the “permanent” version offered by the same company. All to save money upfront, the cause of an expense six month long rehab and fix to the ride later.

Disney basically said that its superior maintenance would make the cheaper versions work in year-round operational environment in Anaheim. Naturally, maintenance was the first thing cut at California Adventure – and now the rides are in horrendous shape. ‘Screaming’ is running at less than half capacity even on the busiest summer days to reduce wear on the tracks and to avoid maintenance on the trains. For a while stress fractures in the track were reparied nightly and rumors indicate entire sections may need to be replaced. All of the seven trains have already been cycled through overhauls in Switzerland (yes, the country way, way over there). Much like airplanes, maintenance is based on the number of hours in service. So to reduce maintenance, Disney is running each individual train as few hours as possible. A ride the can handle six trains at once is usually running only two (and generating 60+ minute waits even when less than 10,000 people are in the park).

These are similar maintenance issues to ‘Rocket Rods’. The solution there was simply to remove the ride rather than to spend money on a permanent fix. And that solution was also suggested for ‘Screaming’ and ‘Madness’. There are rumors of some very heated exchanges between Disney and the attraction’s makers – arguments where Disney had to back down because it was shown the rides themselves were working as expected given to conditions that actually existed – as opposed to the conditions that Disney created to make the budget work. So now Disney’s in for a very long and very expense rehab session if they want to keep the rides working.
 
Originally posted by gcurling
PKS44, we all have differing opinions on this board and tend to disagree quite often. But, one thing we all agree on is treating one another with respect.


Well since no one objected when thedscoop posted this disrepectful bit about BobO's posts, I don't see where my comments should draw any more of an objection...

Originally posted by thedscoopBob, as a whole, your posts are the most illogical, inarticulate, and irrational posts since the dearly departed Johare...but, at the same time, they are really hilarious to read in their own odd way. I'll admit it.[/B]
 
Well the good news is that at least the coaster situation illustrates that management can't really be driven by profits...there is no possible way to make a profit by buying major chunks of hardware that aren't even capable of handling less than half of the predicted capacity :-)

I understood the Rocket Rods situation was caused by trying to retrofit a high-speed vehicle into a low-speed track. I really enjoyed the Rocket Rods, but I did wonder how the stresses caused by the constant accel/decel cycles would be dealt with.

So who will replace PP when copies of the contracts for the coasters with his signature are leaked? I mean if I was the pm for a project that was so obviously going to go down in flames I would have made bloody well sure that I had copies of all the paperwork in my safety deposit box. ;-)
 
There's a very important part of that post you didn't capture in your quote:

my friend
Chad's just funnin' Bob. (and Bob knows it)

I realize that you are new to the Rumors and News board. Despite our differences in opinion, most of us are pretty tight around here. Heck, many of us have gone out of our way to meet each other in person on a few occasions.

I understand that by reading Chad's "shot" at BobO one could surmise that it was an attack, without realizing that they actually like each other.

So, when you read LandBaron telling Peter Pirate that he's misguided and doesn't know what he's talking about, know that the two have shared a few beers and laughed together in the past.

Not sure why you are so upset with Chad, but I wish you wouldn't be so inflamatory in your posts. Things sometimes get a little heated around here, but we're not RADP. (Thank Heavens).

We're all a bunch of buddies around here. And we really enjoy welcoming others all the time.
 
If what AV is saying is correct(and i dont doubt him) that is a major indictment against the disney company to build attractions in such a careless manner where it will cost more on all the upkeep costs rather than doing it right the first time. And could you imagine the critiscm we would be giving to Universal if they had build Hulk/DD to the same cheap standards. But of course some will chime in that i would perfer a attraction that breaks down because it was built cheap rather than have no attraction at all.
And i would agree that we are friends here and even though we disagree alot, sometimes heatedly, we do get along well and try to do it in a good hearted nature, even if we arent always successful.
And i assumed that thedscoop was to be funny with his post, but i wouldnt have posted in a similiar manner.
 
Rocket Rods used a new track for the ride, but it was built on the existing support columns. The initial call had been for a replacement of most of the PeopleMover infrastructure. That was cut to a new track and some modification to the some sections of the support (the infamous banked turns) – but that was further cut down to a flat track fastened to the existing supports without any modification. So instead of a Test Track high-speed tour through Tomorrowland, Rocket Rods became something more like a 15-year old’s first lesson driving a stick shift. Everyone involved with the project knew it wasn’t going to work – but there were deadlines, budgets, and a career-ending penalty for saying “negative” things about projects.

As for Paul, a series of people involved with California Adventure are already “spending more time with their families” and PP himself isn’t exactly the shinning star about the lot these days. In fact, while he was all over the place for the opening of DCA, he’s been oddly absent from any of the DisneySea and Walt 100 celebrations.

The big but in all of this is Michael Eisner (oh, the puns….). He’s already developed a reputation for driving away top management and now the board’s gone public with their displeasure as well. This is not a time to dump the head of Disney’s only working division. It’s also the same pressure keeping that shoe guy ruining Consumer Products into the ground. In an interesting turn around, Eisner has dumped so many good managers he’s in a position where he can’t remove the bad ones either.

And besides, given ABC, the failed revamp of the stores, the Pooh lawsuit, lack of franchise picture and all the other problems – the fate of a roller coaster ain’t even a footnote.
 
Thank you Mr. Scoop - I'm extremely pleased to be here. Especially happy that I can learn all matter of things from gentlebeings like Mr. Voice. For a Disney fanatic like myself it's almost as good as being an Imagineer!

The discussion about Rocket Rods (and the new DCA Coasters) is frankly amazing me. Typically I've found the senior management (not at Disney) that I've come in contact with over the years to wear a serious pair of 'rose colored glasses' when it comes to any new project, but rarely have they been antagonistic to basic physics problems...and they always hated being surprised more than anything else.

It seems that PP needs to get back to what he's good at - especially now that the stores and consumer products arenas need some help. Which would of course get him out of an area where he hasn't shown any particular capability. Who's on deck to take over Parks/Resorts?

My 'rose colored glasses' may be turned up a notch too strong but Television Networks seem to rise and fall with such regularity that I figure ABC will take care of itself, and at worst Pooh shouldn't cost any more at the bottom line than the JK settlement. So that just leaves finding a couple of good scripts for AV to pick from to finish the turn around :-)
 
Thedscoop im not offended in the least. And because of the great group we have here this is always the first site i come too. We may agree or disagree but its always fun bantering with each other!!!! I would love to try the flying coaster at SFOG, escpecially because its a B & M .
I wish i could be as hopeful as bstanley, but little lately has done much to inspire confidence from the disney braintrust.
 
Glad to see things are returning to a calmer tone around these parts (and my own welcome to Mr. Bstanley – I think you’ll find this is by far the most interesting spot for Disney-fanatics on the ‘net).

I don’t think the Attractions management issues are really so much about rose-colored glasses and physics as it’s the other corporate – trying to make an impression. The entire Attractions group has always been rather independent of Burbank and Paul Pressler is the first true corporate type to run the division. The corporate and other business units always considered the parks & resorts to be old fashioned, stubborn and prone to do things way over the top.

So in walks PP, all determined to make his mark. Out go the “old ways” and in comes “the new”. Well, not really the new as such (since that’s reinventing the wheel), so you find a bunch of consultants from business that are like the parks – retail, live entertainment, Six Flags – that kind of thing. I think there are macros in Power Point that automatically type out buzz words like “best practices”, “industry standards”, and “fresh look at our business”.

For California Adventure, the idea became to simply contract out everything but some elements of show design. Disney has always used contractors and outside manufacturers, but always under strict supervision under a large internal staff. That costs money and the engineering staffs at both WDI and the parks have been cut many times over the last several years. By the time DCA rolled around, the goal was to literally buy completed rides and then decorate them to “Disney standards”.

The end result is that Disney doesn’t have the internal knowledge to deeply understand the engineering aspects of an attraction, internal pressure to show that the new crew can do it cheaper and faster than the old crew, and a bunch of outside vendors that don’t understand the unique environments of the Disney parks. No other amusement park in the world has the attendance levels and the uptime requirements of a Disney park. So at DCA is they now have a coaster that would be perfectly happy at Magic Funland, but is expected to perform up to the standards of the custom designed ‘Space Mountain’.

As our science advisor would say – “like well….DUH!!!!!”


The problem with the Pooh lawsuit isn’t the damages; it’s the loss of the license itself. The California law was written by the entertainment industry and they assumed that they would always be the ones selling the licenses. They wanted an easy way to pull back the rights if someone got out of line. Certainly Disney never expected to be on the other end.
 
Thank you Mr. Voice. I agree - this little piece o' the net is 'The Boss'! (as my Salutatorian son would say - yeah I'm proud! :-)

Your description of the 'Attractions' management situation sounds all too typical frankly, except that after the first 'backfire' (say - Rocket Rods) I would have expected PP to have started paying more attention to what he was being told by the people that had pointed out the potential for problems. Bringing in consultants is one of the first classes taught at a modern business school :-) But most people seem to learn whose judgement should really be trusted after the first time they get burned. Perhaps SUNY-Oneonta didn't offer the second class in the 'consultant' series - the one where you learn how to measure their success/failure?

There is certainly an impression being made. But I don't think it's the kind that gets one promoted...

AV - I know I'm the one that posted the quote from the 'Pooh' Judge (sounds vaguely scatalogical) about the possibility of The Schlesingers pulling the Pooh license, but I can't believe that they would do it - not because Disney may not deserve it - simply because Disney has the best chance to make the most money on the franchise. I mean it's all business, right? Or has it gone beyond that?

P.S. There's nothing wrong with consultants - as long as they 'work' for Disney. Like I do. I work all year so that I can go to WDW for a couple of weeks. :-)
 

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