Disney park reorganization includes merging "operating infrastructure" at DLR and WDW

[MasterGracey]

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the corporate streamlining in Disney's US theme park division will result in numerous layoffs (which was expected) and the merging of "back-office operations at Walt Disney World and Disneyland."

Disney plans resorts reorganization, layoffs

The Walt Disney Co. announced a sweeping corporate overhaul Wednesday at its domestic resorts, with plans to combine back-office operations at Walt Disney World and Disneyland and eliminate an unknown number of jobs.

In a memo to employees at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, division Chairman Jay Rasulo said the corporate streamlining -- which will include merging "operating infrastructure" at Disney World and Disneyland under the leadership of Al Weiss, president of worldwide operations for Parks and Resorts -- has been accelerated by the nation's troubled economy.

"The long-term success of Parks and Resorts depends upon our ability to continue to adapt and innovate, to respond to ever-changing guest preferences, and to implement an organization and cost structure that meet today's economic realities," Rasulo said. "We must accelerate the evolution of our business and further refine our work structure to work in a more integrated and effective manner."

Disney, which employs about 62,000 people in Central Florida, would not say how many jobs will be eliminated by the move.

"Organization changes require difficult decisions, including the elimination of some roles," Rasulo said. "These decisions were not made lightly and we know this will be a challenging transition. These people are our friends and colleagues, and they have made valuable contributions."

[Burnt Toast]

Ugh... life would have been better if this was an alternate reality where Matt Ouimet's name is where Al Weiss' name is in that article.

[MasterGracey]

The merging of operating infrastructure could potentially mean bad news for theme park upkeep and maintenance. (bold mine)

Disney to restructure domestic theme park operations: WSJ

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Walt Disney Co. (DIS) plans to restructure its domestic theme-park operations, including an unspecified number of layoffs, due to declining attendance and reduced operating income, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition Wednesday. As a part of this effort, Disney is consolidating many of its behind-the-scenes operations into one unit such as combining the units in charge of maintenance at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. into a single entity, the newspaper said.

[MasterGracey]

The Disney press release on the corporate reorganizing. The press release mentions that Walt Disney Imagineering will be "reorganized into a single practice merging resort development with attractions and entertainment development to bring the creativity of Disney storytelling to the design and delivery of products at all Disney destinations." While details are vague, this begs the question: will we be seeing more cloned attractions at the parks as part of this restructuring?

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Reorganizes to Create a "One-Disney" Experience
Restructuring will Consolidate U.S. Operations, Simplify and Streamline Product Delivery

BURBANK, Calif. - February 18, 2009 – Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, today announced organization changes to deliver a "one-Disney" experience by simplifying the Parks and Resorts operating structure, streamlining decision-making and eliminating redundancy.

"We know that our Guests want a 'one-Disney' experience and we must organize around that expectation," said Rasulo. "The long-term success of Parks and Resorts depends upon our ability to adapt and innovate and respond to Guest preferences. These changes are essential to maintaining our leadership position in family tourism and reflect today's economic realities."

Today's announcement accelerates the evolution of the Parks and Resorts management structure by creating seamless behind-the-scenes operations across domestic Parks and Resorts, while preserving the uniqueness, character and culture of our individual destinations.

In a memo to employees Rasulo explained: "In 2005, we announced a new Walt Disney Parks and Resorts operating structure. We transformed our organization to match consumers' expectations: 'one-Disney,' regardless of how or where they experience our products. We put in place a new leadership team, integrated key business functions and implemented a consistent set of best practices. This allowed us to more rapidly and efficiently roll out new creative projects and better anticipate changes in travel trends.

"We've already seen innumerable benefits. Prime examples of our successes are the establishment of many maintenance and safety practices, holiday castle lighting that began in Paris and expanded into our other theme parks, the speed with which we integrated the High School Musical shows into our parks around the world, and the simultaneous openings of Toy Story Mania at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney's California Adventure.

"We have made significant progress. However, the long-term success of Parks and Resorts depends upon our ability to continue to adapt and innovate, to respond to ever-changing Guest preferences, and to implement an organization and cost structure that meet today's economic realities. We must accelerate the evolution of our business and further refine our structure to work in a more integrated and effective manner.

"We know that our Guests want a 'one-Disney' experience and we must organize around that expectation. Our new structure will enhance our ability to Identify and Develop the next great Disney experience, Create and Build Disney destinations that incorporate our rich storytelling heritage and Operate them in a way that delivers a unique, memorable experience that transcends geography. Economic realities require that we do this in a simplified and streamlined manner that eliminates redundancies."

Organization Changes Announced Today
A new Global Business Development team led by Executive Vice President Nick Franklin will combine the existing development functions of business and real estate development. The team will be responsible for driving growth by working with existing businesses on their development strategies, while also exploring new business opportunities around the globe.

Walt Disney Imagineering under the leadership of Bruce Vaughn, EVP, Chief Creative Executive and Craig Russell, EVP, Chief Design and Project Delivery Executive, will be reorganized into a single practice merging resort development with attractions and entertainment development to bring the creativity of Disney storytelling to the design and delivery of products at all Disney destinations.

Al Weiss, President, Worldwide Operations, will lead the work of merging the operating infrastructure at Walt Disney World and the Disneyland Resort to create a single domestic organization and "back-of-house" operation.

In the coming weeks, other functions will review their organizations and make appropriate changes.

In his memo Rasulo acknowledged the challenges inherent in a large-scale reorganization: "Organization changes require difficult decisions, including the elimination of some roles. These decisions were not made lightly and we know this will be a challenging transition. The people affected are our friends and colleagues, and they have made valuable contributions."

The changes announced today are effective immediately.

[Coheteboy]

Why does this sound really... not good news? the "one disney" thing doesn't sound all that appealing to me.

[gmaletic]

The idea that customers want a "One Disney" experience is silly. 99% of customers could care less whether Disneyland is like Disney World, etc., because they don't visit both...or at least, certainly don't visit them in a close enough time period where they'd even recognize the similarities or differences. (The people who read this board are probably excluded.)

If they want to downsize, fine, but don't pass it off on a bogus customer need. Customers aren't asking for consistency, they're asking for quality and value.

[BassBone]

I don't want a One-Disney experience. If I'm going to travel from Los Angeles to Orlando I want a unique park, dammit.

[Dlandclub33]

So No one should get a job at Dland anytime soon! That stinks for some ppl! Wasn't someone on the boards moving to anaheim to get a job?

[Mr Wiggins]

We know that our Guests want a 'one-Disney' experience and we must organize around that expectation..."

Kindly stop insulting your customers' intelligence with this kind of 1990's PR-speak BS, Jay. You want to shove a "one-Disney experience" down your customers' throats because it increases your short term profits.

Turning Disneyland into a homogenized "Disney Park" will not profit your company in the long run.

Not that you have any plans to see it though the long run, any more than Eisner or Pressler did.

[gmaletic]

Originally Posted by Mr Wiggins

Turning Disneyland into a homogenized "Disney Park" will not profit your company in the long run.

I disagree with that only in that most customers don't know what a "homogenized Disney park" would be. They only see one. If they made Disneyland exactly the same as Disney World exactly the same as [name your Magic Kingdom park here], customers wouldn't care. (Again, customers on this board excluded, because people here visit all of the parks. People like that are in the tiny, tiny minority.)

Most people don't care if they're different any more than they care that they're the same. They care if they're good, and a good value. That's it.

[Coheteboy]

I agree with Mr. Wiggins, but if Jay is talking about the best Disney experience possible no matter where we go, then yah, I'm all for that.

Disney World needs a lot of work then.

[aaronpaulcustoms]

Originally Posted by bassbone

i don't want a one-disney experience. If i'm going to travel from los angeles to orlanda i want a unique park, dammit.

here here!

[Mr Wiggins]

Originally Posted by gmaletic

If they made Disneyland exactly the same as Disney World exactly the same as [name your Magic Kingdom park here], customers wouldn't care.

...Most people don't care if they're different any more than they care that they're the same.

The hysterical thing about those quotes and Jay's is how perfectly they parallel the "we give our customers what they love and they love what we give them" business philosophy of GM, Ford and Chrysler during the last 10 years.

[HMF]

Expect to see a lot more "Disney Parks" stuff.

[BassBone]

Originally Posted by aaronpaulcustoms

here here!

Why did you remove my capital letters?

Originally Posted by HMF

Expect to see a lot more "Disney Parks" stuff.

Yeah, because we all know how well those sold last time. WDPR is full of idiots.