How Disney operates...

[BRWombat]

Very interesting reading:

Oranges Are Good for You

[goofyjoe]

What a great article. Thanks for sharing!

I'm taking a Strategy course as part of my part-time MBA program. Based on what we've learned and the cases we've seen, it just seems to me like Disney is coasting along on momentum, trying to make it from one 10-Q to the next without making any momentous decisions. Look at their massive and disparate media holdings (movie studios, TV stations, etc.) and try to tell me if they have a coherent, company-wide strategy.

Ditto the theme parks - though I have always loved them and have so many fond memories of the parks and resorts, I too am disappointed in the (non)-evolution of Future World, and the lack of imagination at Imagination. I took the UnDISCOVERED Future World tour, and we went upstairs at the Imagination! pavilion. It was completely empty except for what hadn't been taken down since the late 1980s. The Rainbow Tunnel is still there, though it's now bathed in fluorescent light, which made walking through it really kind of depressing. Thankfully, they've kept the pin boards up there, so I could stick my hands underneath and watch the pins pop-up. (They are quite dusty, though.)

In my perception, they're sticking with what works and what's "safe", and as long as crowds at WDW keep increasing, they're OK with it. (Let's face it - there's virtually no "slow" time at WDW anymore, for better or for worse.) Even in the face of competition from Universal and Sea World (Wizarding World and Discovery Cove), their answer - expanding Fantasyland - isn't even done yet, and they'll be stuck playing catch-up. I think that WDW has reached the point of "law of diminishing returns" - a big investment in Future World, for example, would only marginally increase visitor counts over the already high numbers they have, so they don't do it.

I'm glad that the fan community is working to pressure Disney to be more creative and (gasp!) spend more money on things that will drive increased fan interest and (hopefully) profits. One win at a time!

[hobie16]

In MBA speak, would you view Wizarding World and Discovery Cove as disruptive technology? Being in Hawaii I've never seen either but the videos and word of mouth indicate they are.

Will Cars Land be Disney's reply?

[goofyjoe]

I'm not sure if it's necessarily "disruptive technology", since I don't think they're new pieces of technology that will change the entire industry. It's not like the replacement of the steam engine. However, I do see those projects as increasing consumer willingness-to-pay for those products versus Disney.

[Goofyernmost]

What I don't understand is why no major positive roar has been heard about the expansion of Fantasyland. Man, that is mega-bucks spent to upgrade and make a brand new section. It isn't parking meter money, folks. Yet, all you hear about is what hasn't been done and to hell with what has been done.

Under those evil villain clothes (the suits), lies a human or a bunch of humans that would like a little love about what they have accomplished. If they don't get it, you can bet that it will be a long time before they try again. In the words of the song from Mary Poppins (slightly altered)..."Though we adore Disney Fans individually, we agree that as a group they're rather stupid" :D:

[avengador1]

What I don't understand is why no major positive roar has been heard about the expansion of Fantasyland.

The response is restrained because most of it is not open yet. Once it is, I'm sure it will be packed by everyone looking to do something new at the Kingdom.

[shilohmm]

What a great article. Thanks for sharing!

Second that.

I'm taking a Strategy course as part of my part-time MBA program. Based on what we've learned and the cases we've seen, it just seems to me like Disney is coasting along on momentum, trying to make it from one 10-Q to the next without making any momentous decisions. Look at their massive and disparate media holdings (movie studios, TV stations, etc.) and try to tell me if they have a coherent, company-wide strategy.

I don't think it's had a coherent strategy since Walt died, although I think Roy O. did a better job than his successors, while Roy E. at least recognized when Disney corporate was heading in a very wrong direction. The company wasn't ideal even in the beginning -- Walt tended to chew up some creative people who didn't fit with his vision for whatever -- but Walt had enough creative vision of his own that he also inspired other creative people to great heights. The company never would have gotten where it did without Roy O. there for Walt to play off of -- Roy had the business sense Walt didn't, and he had a good grasp of when to turn a blind eye and let Walt run, and when to rein Walt in.

When Roy was still alive, there was a coherent strategy. When Walt was still alive, there was creative brilliance and innovation. But how do their successors recreate that brilliant balance? I do think Roy O., the Nine Old men, and a few others who knew Walt and Roy or who had somehow picked up that vision have all pulled the company back to center on occasion (I'm one who thinks Eisner didn't "get it"), but there's a huge difference between "that's not the right direction" and "this is the right direction," and the second one is a lot harder to do than the first.

One of the things I hold against Eisner is his impatience with the depth of Walt's vision of the parks -- pulling out all the cool shops and little things like that because they "weren't profitable enough" is one example, for me, of him "not getting it." I think of Hollywood Studios as being the "Eisner park" -- a lot of cool ideas there, but everything's sort of jumbled together and there's no "flow" from one area to another. The other parks, although you have distinct "lands" that sometimes connect (Adventureland to Frontierland to Liberty Square), at the same time they're distinct and what's in each makes sense.

Even Animal Kingdom feels much more coherent to me, I'm guessing because it reflects the vision of someone not Eisner (Joe Rhody?). I'd love to see them revive the "Beastly Kingdom" idea. Instead we're getting Avatarland?

But while I do think the Animal Kingdom park demonstrates creativity and a forward step without Walt, and there are other bits of brilliance that've come out of the company since Walt died, I don't expect the company to be consistently brilliant or innovative at all. (For that matter, people at the time didn't always think Walt was too bright -- Fantasia, although critically acclaimed for the most part, was a box-office flop. One negative reviewer even played the Nazi card. ) I'm more willing to forgive a lack of brilliance than I am someone who deliberately destroys some of what I think made the company great.

So, at minimum, I do expect them to honor Walt's vision in the sense of making the little things important, and this article makes me hopeful that someone somewhere is cluing in to the advantages of... I dunno what they'd call it in business school, but "niche marketing" is in the ball park. Disney fans are not a homogenous group (some of the most rabid fans are All About the Rides, and are entirely oblivious to the little stuff I so love), but I think it'd be great if corporate starts trying to cater to the Disney history crowd, or to the guys who raise cain about bringing back the little stuff that adds to the overall experience.

:soap: :soap: :soap: :whistlng:

[hobie16]

shilohmm, what are your thoughts on John Lasseter and what he brings to the table?

[ktulu]

shilohmm, what are your thoughts on John Lasseter and what he brings to the table?

If I may comment...

Based on some of the things Lasseter would not allow in Cars Land, I'll have to invoke Walt and say "He'll do."

[shilohmm]

shilohmm, what are your thoughts on John Lasseter and what he brings to the table?

I don't know much about him because I tend more toward reading Disney books rather than following blogs (although I do go on periodic blog-reading binges), so I'm always woefully out of date. I do know he appreciates Miyazaki and the Miyazaki English dubs he's supervised were much better than most anime dubs (although we watched them in Japanese anyhow :p: ). Plus he owns a steam locomotive. And he's fun when he gets all excited about Luigi's Flying Tires. :D: He seems to share Walt's enthusiasm for new techniques in animation, and his Pixar stuff is always competent and sometimes quite delights me (except for that grave lack of girls thing).

So I like what I know, but there's no real depth to that knowledge.