Chapek out - Iger back

[MouseEarsMom33]

One of the articles says Chepek was taking away financial control from other executives. I wonder if this is why we saw "Blue Sky" ideas at D23. Like executives are pushing for this but weren't getting financial approval. So they went public with the ideas to help push it through. Nothing was official, so they wouldn't get in trouble. It sounds like discontent started in the summer, before D23.

I think announcing park expansions would be something Iger would be interested in. Officially announcing those would fall under his legacy.

As a side note, Tron construction lasted longer than Chapek did in the top role.

 

[irlandaise]

Very few people these days spring for the extra hopping option, except for AP holders, and they have considerably thinned out that herd at this point.

Are you talking about WDW? It's hard for me to believe that very few people visiting Disneyland spring for hoppers. DL and DCA are so easy to walk between that I would expect a majority of visitors to buy hopper tickets.

 

[DonMacGregor]

Iger is on a legacy mission in a short time frame. He will weigh in where he thinks he should (as he always has—new Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom, Pandora at Animal Kingdom and Galaxy's Edge) and one of those places may be a response to Epic Universe. I also expect he will have something to say about Disneyland Paris. Supposedly, they've cancelled Galaxy's Edge there.

The lack of solid future plans for D23 was morale crushing for the company. He's not going to leave the parks untouched.

Precisely.

 

[starlite_]

Hopefully common sense will return to the company. I shouldn't have to get up at 7 am to buy Genie+ and book my first ride. Just let people pay and book rides 30 or 60 days out.

Literally anything but this. I do not want to have to choose what to ride and when 60 days out. ADRs are more than enough thank you.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

Literally anything but this. I do not want to have to choose what to ride and when 60 days out. ADRs are more than enough thank you.

Choosing the hardest 3 rides months in advance isn’t a problem for me. The time frame can get annoying but I’d rather not wait online for rides than pick 60 days out.

Personally getting up 7am everyday of my trip is the true annoyance for me

Not everyone rope drops

 

[Liquidice]

How often do Park Passes "sell out"?

Other than during holidays, most of the time park passes are available for all parks, so is it truly bringing any value for those days where it isn't sold out?

The parks are also not in the best shape post pandemic. This is partially because of staffing issues, but also because Disney is trying to limit staffing. If Disney would instead properly staff the parks, they could do away with park passes, allow park hopping anytime and not have to worry. They've done this pre-pandemic, so I don't see why they can't. do it now.

To help with the staffing issues, Disney could also pay its CMs more.

They're already charging an arm and a leg, they need to run it like a premium experience.

Iger was a believer in raising the minimum wage and even said he regretted not raising Disney's minimum wage sooner, so its feasible he could raise CM's pay. Paying CMs more would attract more hires and improve staffing issues at the parks, which could in turn alleviate the need for park passes and allow for park hopping.

 

[Jrb1979]

How often do Park Passes "sell out"?

Other than during holidays, most of the time park passes are available for all parks, so is it truly bringing any value for those days where it isn't sold out?

The parks are also not in the best shape post pandemic. This is partially because of staffing issues, but also because Disney is trying to limit staffing. If Disney would instead properly staff the parks, they could do away with park passes, allow park hopping anytime and not have to worry. They've done this pre-pandemic, so I don't see why they can't. do it now.

To help with the staffing issues, Disney could also pay its CMs more.

They're already charging an arm and a leg, they need to run it like a premium experience.

Iger was a believer in raising the minimum wage and even said he regretted not raising Disney's minimum wage sooner, so its feasible he could raise CM's pay. Paying CMs more would attract more hires and improve staffing issues at the parks, which could in turn alleviate the need for park passes and allow for park hopping.

The park pass is not for guest satisfaction it's for Disneys satisfaction. It's also to make all parks feel crowded, not just MK

 

[fatmanatee]

How often do Park Passes "sell out"?

I don’t recall the last time it sold out this year but looking ahead MK is fully booked all of this week and all of Christmas week. Sort of expected given the holidays.

 

[Liquidice]

The park pass is not for guest satisfaction it's for Disneys satisfaction. It's also to make all parks feel crowded, not just MK

I get it, but when park passes don't "sell out" 90% of the time, how is it really serving its purpose for Disney?

I understand that it helps the 10% of times where a park sells out, but that doesn't regularly happen.

Still think Disney needs to rethink this strategy of trying to get away with doing the bare minimum. Its paid dividends in the short term, but long term I don't see how this will pan out - guest satisfaction is down and guests wanting to return again also seems lower.

Park pass seems to be a great one for Chapek who loved using data to make decisions while Iger prefers to use instinct and business judgement. While Iger's concern will primarily be on studios and Disney+, I'm not sure he completely ignores the parks.

In Q4 earnings, Disney parks missed on operating income target, $815M vs an expected $919M. (Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/08/disney-dis-earnings-q4-2022.html )

While Chapek made it sound like everything was fine, and streaming had the biggest miss - the parks are starting to slow down in terms of growth. It will always be crowded during the holidays, but I'm not sure in the long term that the nickel and dime'ing and unpopular (with customer) policies like Park Pass and 7am Genie+ will continue to allow Disney parks to grow, especially with the recession.

 

[Lilsia]

Exactly this. Not sure how much iger will change from a fans prospective. Park reservations aren’t going anywhere, G+ isn’t going anywhere, ILL purchases aren’t going anywhere, dining plan’s not coming back, magical express is not coming back. And it’s for sure going to continue to become more and more expensive. All that being said as long as I can keep renewing my AP I’ll keep going

They have to make SOME changes otherwise what is the point of getting rid of Chapek? Nobody liked him and people complained because of all of these things that you listed. Do you think that just getting rid of Chapek, but keeping all of these things that we hate, is going to make people happy? That everyone is going to stop complaining now? So far, everything is exactly the same and I don't think that just changing CEOs is going to bring everyone back. Something has to change.

 

[NotUrsula]

Are you talking about WDW? It's hard for me to believe that very few people visiting Disneyland spring for hoppers. DL and DCA are so easy to walk between that I would expect a majority of visitors to buy hopper tickets.

Yes, I'm talking about WDW. It's *much* cheaper there to forego park-hopping, and most vacationers do so.

I personally feel that the current crowding at the MK can be traced pretty directly to the end of free park hopping on all tickets. In the old days, crowding at the MK tended to naturally even itself out on most days, as people took the littles to Fantasyland in the morning, but left MK for other parks when the crowds got thick, but these days it stays packed like a sardine can until the last firework fades. (I have never understood why, [pre-reservation system] WDW didn't use the tactic of declaring a "free hopping day" on occasion when MK got too crowded. With the app it would be no problem to do it on the day of.)

DLR is, of course, a different animal, which has historically had a LOT more local traffic and thus a lot more AP holders (even too many AP holders, perhaps. On both my trips to DLR I clearly remember carloads of middle-schoolers being dropped off on summer mornings and later saw them gathering near the entrance plaza waiting for rides at about 5:00 pm. You really don't see much of that at WDW.)

 

[Aprilshack]

Literally anything but this. I do not want to have to choose what to ride and when 60 days out. ADRs are more than enough thank you.

So you are happy having to be up at 7am on your hard earned holiday? They need to think of something else besides people battling it out at 7am, it's ridiculous. If you are a resort guest you get to pick a couple of rides and pre book say a week before your holiday for each day? Something needs to happen to make your holiday less stressful each day. Open to ideas.

 

[sndral]

Honestly the part pass reservation systems isn't all bad. In a way fast pass + was a mini version of it since it forced you to pick at least part of where you will be ahead of time, since while you could switch sometimes last min you often couldn't get the top fast passes. The pass reservation system is the only way I would ever consider going on New Years Eve since you know for sure whenever you want to enter the park you can get it , and can leave and still get back in.

The parks are not nearly as crowded as they were in 2019/early 2020. We don't see 5-6 hour waits for FOP or 3-4 for soarin or test track.

I will say I wish park hopping was more like noon or 1pm and not 2.

To me the WDW parks felt more crowded in 2021, what I would call second tier rides consistently had longer lines than I’ve ever experienced. We were there 10 days & it was brutal. We’re returning next week for our annual trip w/ the thought that we’re giving it another chance, but if it’s as bad as last year maybe we’ll need to reconsider going forward.
At DL you can hop at 1 pm & it’s nice if you decide to have a sleep in, slower morning you can just head to the park you planned to hop to w/out ‘tagging in’ at your reserved park.

One difference is that Iger does tend to let his managers manage - though he may change who some of them are. If Josh is seen as too close to Chapek, he may be on the way out too. It's hard to know at this point.

I kinda hope Iger can bring back Alan Horn. If you want to fix the studio, he's the guy!

I keep reading that the changes we’ve been subjected to started during Iger’s first stint as CEO - but the guy in charge of the parks while Iger was CEO was Chapek. If Iger gave Chapek free reign w/ the parks then isn’t it possible that the mess w/ parks is thanks to Chapek starting when he was in charge of parks & getting worse when he was promoted to CEO?

 

[Leigh L]

Choosing the hardest 3 rides months in advance isn’t a problem for me. The time frame can get annoying but I’d rather not wait online for rides than pick 60 days out.

Personally getting up 7am everyday of my trip is the true annoyance for me

Not everyone rope drops

We are rope droppers (I'm mostly up anyway lol) but hate dealing with VQs and won't do G+ or $ILL at that hour because it is annoying. Over the course of 2 trips, I did $ILL 2x once in the 10 am hour and the other after 2.

 

[Liquidice]

The park pass is not for guest satisfaction it's for Disneys satisfaction. It's also to make all parks feel crowded, not just MK

Weird, I made a post but it isn't showing up - didn't have any numbers at the end like others had reported was causing issues earlier either.

Anyway - park passes don't sell out 90% of the time - so not sure how it is making the parks feel crowded or directing someone to Animal Kingdom if Magic Kingdom park passes are still available. It only helps on the days where it is going to be very crowded like for Thanksgiving or Christmas or other holidays (or special events).

The parks are also slowing down in their growth. In Q4, parks brought in $815M in operating income while analysts expected $919M - so over $100M off expectations. Parks are healthy yes, but the slower growth suggests that the pandemic revenge travel is slowing down -- and I suspect returning guests are down a lot after they experienced the "new Disney".

Parks and Experiences make up 1/3 of Disney's revenue stream - and while Iger's attention may be on the other 2/3's - if they completely ignore it, with the recession just starting they're going to find that 1/3 healthy revenue stream is going to dry up quickly.

 

[Disney Bobby]

So you are happy having to be up at 7am on your hard earned holiday? They need to think of something else besides people battling it out at 7am, it's ridiculous. If you are a resort guest you get to pick a couple of rides and pre book say a week before your holiday for each day? Something needs to happen to make your holiday less stressful each day. Open to ideas.

I agree. Whoever thought that up is possibly the dumbest person in Disney history. I'm up at 5am every morning anyway, but it is still insane to force that kind of planning on people EVERY DAY of their vacation. I much prefer the 60 days planning. Get all the stress of scheduling out of the way and over with months before, and just show up and enjoy your vacation.

For the last 20+ years, we have gone to Disney on average about 4 times a year. Out of state. Not DVC. Always deluxe and spent a ridiculously stupid amount of money to the point it is almost embarrassing to think about. We haven't been back since the reopening, and we won't return until these things are fixed. Disney will always be a special place for us, but this isn't the same Disney we enjoyed for so many years. We can and have found other special places to fill the void. Didn't think I'd ever feel that way, but I do. If Disney is ok with that, then I am too.

 

[Jrb1979]

Weird, I made a post but it isn't showing up - didn't have any numbers at the end like others had reported was causing issues earlier either.

Anyway - park passes don't sell out 90% of the time - so not sure how it is making the parks feel crowded or directing someone to Animal Kingdom if Magic Kingdom park passes are still available. It only helps on the days where it is going to be very crowded like for Thanksgiving or Christmas or other holidays (or special events).

The parks are also slowing down in their growth. In Q4, parks brought in $815M in operating income while analysts expected $919M - so over $100M off expectations. Parks are healthy yes, but the slower growth suggests that the pandemic revenge travel is slowing down -- and I suspect returning guests are down a lot after they experienced the "new Disney".

Parks and Experiences make up 1/3 of Disney's revenue stream - and while Iger's attention may be on the other 2/3's - if they completely ignore it, with the recession just starting they're going to find that 1/3 healthy revenue stream is going to dry up quickly.

I don't think they will ignore it. I don't expect major changes. While Chapek wasn't great a lot the changes were already planned under Iger.

 

[Disney Bobby]

Everyone that thought it was a good idea to extend his contract for 3 years should be carted out too. He didn't even make it to Feb 2023, his original contract expiration date. Now he will walk out with tens of millions for NOTHING while they are laying off others. Lots of leadership failures all around.

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

Get rid of the stupid reservation system, and let us park hop when we feel like it since we paid extra for the damn tickets. Genie+ should at least allow you to ride your favourite Lightning Lane attractions more than once per day if you want to. In other words, go back to the old Fastpass type system. If they stopped charging for it, better still.

Absolutely agree on this point. We always get hoppers but we found it less useful on our last trip. Part of that was just the phase we're in as a family with little kids, but a big part of it was that things are far less flexible. We sprung for them for our upcoming spring trip, but we're also looking at a trip around the 2023 holidays and I'm leaning toward just regular tickets, especially considering the recent hikes.

 

[starlite_]

Choosing the hardest 3 rides months in advance isn’t a problem for me. The time frame can get annoying but I’d rather not wait online for rides than pick 60 days out.

Personally getting up 7am everyday of my trip is the true annoyance for me

Not everyone rope drops

That my friend is a WDW problem. Here at DLR, you cannot choose until you are inside the park. Much more fair imo.