Executive Committee for Theme Parks

[cellarhound]

OK, I just posted the news story regarding the executive committee that was formed by Iger to give more power to the Theme Parkes internally...

I find it interesting that the news came out about this now, and not earlier...

But I thought you might be interested in talking about it here...

Full Story - Disney theme park unit adds executive committee

[MasterGracey]

That's interesting. Rasulo is a seemingly bad pick though - it doesnt seem like he does much for WDW at all - unlike Ouimet at DLR. Too bad Ouimet wasnt part of this "executive committee."

Nevertheless, here's hoping this brings in more E-Tickets, better shows, more projects, and leads to overall better Disney Theme Park experiences!

[BlueSkyDriveBy]

OK, I just posted the news story regarding the executive committee that was formed by Iger to give more power to the Theme Parkes internally... I find it interesting that the news came out about this now, and not earlier...

I got the impression from the article that this was just recently formed. Do you know otherwise? Was this committee formed right after October 1?


Well, it certainly ties in with what Marcie was saying over on the MI boards, about the Placemaking Project being driven by someone other than Matt. Sounds to me like Rasulo is the one pushing for the quick-n-dirty "theming enhancement" instead of putting in three major attractions asap, to open in three years or less. Which is exactly what DCA needs. And yesterday.

I wouldn't be surprised if the quiet rumors on other sites about a "WDI massacre" layoff materialize in the near future. This would be the group of individuals to put together such a major "reorganizing" of the WDC theme park landscape.

BTW... notice how no one on this committee is from any of the "creative" groups? Marty is Principal Creative Executive, and Vice Chairman of WDI. Yet, he is quite obviously missing from the lineup.

That right there, speaks volumes.

[KevinYee]

I noticed that.

This is a beancounter committee. Almost certainly designed to keep costs reined in by all the theme parks worldwide. Which could bode poorly for Matt and Disneyland.

[speederscout]

No... say it aint so! And after things have been looking so promising...

[Wotan]

It's interesting that not only has WDI been brought in under this arrangement, but Jim Hunt, who's CFO for the parks division (read bean counter here) is also now in charge of technology.

If there's a cheaper way to do it, I'm sure he'll insist on it.

[BlueSkyDriveBy]

It's interesting that not only has WDI been brought in under this arrangement, but Jim Hunt, who's CFO for the parks division (read bean counter here) is also now in charge of technology. If there's a cheaper way to do it, I'm sure he'll insist on it.

Can you say, "robocoaster technology"?


Jim can't.

[BlueSkyDriveBy]

From the article:

"The new parks structure is aimed at letting the group rapidly roll out new projects and increase consistency of business practices throughout the unit, Disney said."

"Increase consistency of business practices"??

I sincerely hope this doesn't mean, "one clone fits all" for future attractions.

I just don't see enough positives from all of this executive shuffling and reorganization to offset the potential negatives. Cookie-cutter business practices rarely lead to unique experiences and leading edge product offerings.

[Pete]

I hope everyone takes note of who Jay Rasulo put on the committee. No creative people, no Matt Ouimet.

Think back to when Matt Ouimet was promoted to President of DLR. When Jay Rasulo introduced Disneyland to “its new management” he introduced two people...Matt Ouimet and Michael Mendenhall.

Mendenhall was put into that position to watch Ouimet. Rasulo never trusted Ouimet. Rasulo and Mendenhall are a team. They both think money should go into marketing first. Ouimet and Emmer are of a different philosophy. They think money should go into the park first.

Rasulo is just like Pressler. He ruined Paris the same way Pressler ruined Disneyland--complete with a lame 2nd gate that drags down the whole resort (financially and creatively). Now he has come up with an odd scheme that allows him to promote his friends and gain greater control over the creative people. Rasulo is not now, nor has he ever been, a good guy.

[thejoshualee]

From the article:

"The new parks structure is aimed at letting the group rapidly roll out new projects and increase consistency of business practices throughout the unit, Disney said."

"Increase consistency of business practices"??

I sincerely hope this doesn't mean, "one clone fits all" for future attractions.

.

I don't think that's what it means. Consistency of Business Practices, in this case, means that the quality will be the same from one theme park to the next. Is that what's coming for real? Only time can tell.

The basic idea of this is not a bad one at all. Give the parks to the park people and don't force it to go through a micro-managing CEO. The history of the current members of the committee not withstanding, matter very little, I feel, for the long term future of this project. If we have committee members now who want to slash costs and build on the cheap, they will eventually be replaced by others. CM Matt will be a shoe in when it is shown how well he is doing in California.

While the short term consequences have some questions, I think this is a fantastic idea for the betterment of the Theme parks.

[cellarhound]

The basic idea of this is not a bad one at all. Give the parks to the park people and don't force it to go through a micro-managing CEO. The history of the current members of the committee not withstanding, matter very little, I feel, for the long term future of this project.

I question, again how this was implemented... and yet again it shows how WDW centric the Parks and Resorts devision has become...

These folks are bean counters, this is true, but we are going to have to live with these folks for a while, I gather...

What I am really tick off about is that this recentralizes power, away from a CEO, but directly on Raselo, and further more takes power away from Matt Ouimet...

It was a crude power play... Ouimet may not see it like that, of course... He may be comfortable where he is at the moment... However when he has a project in mind he will have to fly these guys in and present the idea, just like he always has... And these folks are thinking in WDW scale.

Who knows what they really are going to do... But my first question to them is do they recognize that each market is differant and there for has differant needs, and that these needs must be addressed in an independant fashion? Or are they going to just create off the shelf ideas and distribute them like cards in a power game?

Well, time will tell.

[PragmaticIdealist]

Consistency of business practices is what led to most of the business unit's problems over the last decade.