Those Darn Execs
Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 10:16 am
From MiceAge
Mister Ed
Meanwhile, as Anaheim girds for another round of updated attractions heading its way for 2007, Ed Grier has been trying to settle in as President of the Resort. He's been saddled with the two unenviable tasks of not only moving his wife and children across the ocean from Tokyo to Southern California, and also trying to fit into the very big shoes left behind by the beloved Matt Ouimet. Ed scored some points by inviting the Anaheim suits to a fancy cocktail party with an open bar over at the Disneyland Hotel last month, and he's shown up for a few rare meet n' greet appearance with the hourly CM's. But aside from those occasions, he's been sort of off the radar screen in Anaheim. He certainly hasn't been seen walking the resort incognito in jeans and a sweatshirt early on a weekend morning as Ouimet used to do regularly. Nor has Ed been seen much wandering around in business clothes and a nametag in the afternoons greeting customers and CM's alike, which was another Ouimet hallmark.
Ed may not realize it, but his honeymoon period is coming quickly to an end with many CM's up and down the totem pole in Anaheim. Ed Grier is certainly a personable and friendly enough person when you do talk to him, but he's not had nearly the exposure to the CM's in his first 90 days that Ouimet did and continued to build on in the all too brief years that followed. This growing perception has popped up on some TDA radar screens however, and you can bet there will be a marketing campaign in November to get Ed out and about amongst the CM's all over the Anaheim property and increase his exposure amongst the masses.
One of the few times Ed has been seen out with the CM's is when he's ridden in the new Cast Member limousine that is being used as part of the Year of a Million Dreams promotion with the CM's. The massive Cast Member parking lot located on Katella Avenue is a dreaded part of the workday for all who are unlucky enough to be relegated to park there. It's not so much the parking lot itself that is universally despised, as it is the fleet of creaky shuttle buses with dingy upholstery and broken air conditioning that force CM's to ride in standing room only steerage conditions for the trip up to the CM entrance off Harbor Blvd. So as part of the Year of a Million Dreams campaign the Cast Activities department has leased a big black limousine to occasionally pick up CM's waiting for the next broken down shuttle bus to come by. Ed Grier has spent a couple of trips riding in the limousine with the CM's and doing the typical executive meet n' greet shtick with the front line troops, with a company photographer conveniently on hand to capture the scripted moment for the employee newsletter.
The limo taking CM's to work is admittedly a clever gimmick, although out of the thousands of CM's who park in that lot each week only a tiny percentage have received a limo ride thus far. What Ed should also be doing is replacing the broken down shuttles for the short term, and in the long term demanding to know who let the entire system get that bad in the first place. With a turnover rate of hourly CM's that continues to spiral out of control, and seemingly no accountability placed on the recruitment department to hire someone who can remain on the job more than 90 days in the first place, the daily indignities and hassles that most hourly CM's have to go through just to get to their work location out in the parks somewhere really should be addressed immediately. Hopefully there will be more to Ed Grier's tenure than just pre-packaged photo ops with the front line employees in a rented limo.
Unfortunately, the buzz circling in both Anaheim and Burbank that Jay Rasulo is on very thin ice with Bob Iger hasn't helped Grier's tenuous start in Anaheim. There's been quite a few rumors amongst the executives and senior management that Rasulo will be gone before Christmas, and that obviously has many folks in Anaheim wondering what that means for Ed Grier. Ed was clearly picked for a meteoric rise up the executive totem pole by Jay Rasulo in the last three years, and there's no telling what would happen to someone so closely connected to Rasulo if Rasulo is handed a golden parachute sometime soon. Like most of those senior executive departures, we likely won't know more than those highly placed rumors until the Burbank press release comes out announcing Rasulo will be resigning suddenly to "spend more time with his family."
Mister Ed
Meanwhile, as Anaheim girds for another round of updated attractions heading its way for 2007, Ed Grier has been trying to settle in as President of the Resort. He's been saddled with the two unenviable tasks of not only moving his wife and children across the ocean from Tokyo to Southern California, and also trying to fit into the very big shoes left behind by the beloved Matt Ouimet. Ed scored some points by inviting the Anaheim suits to a fancy cocktail party with an open bar over at the Disneyland Hotel last month, and he's shown up for a few rare meet n' greet appearance with the hourly CM's. But aside from those occasions, he's been sort of off the radar screen in Anaheim. He certainly hasn't been seen walking the resort incognito in jeans and a sweatshirt early on a weekend morning as Ouimet used to do regularly. Nor has Ed been seen much wandering around in business clothes and a nametag in the afternoons greeting customers and CM's alike, which was another Ouimet hallmark.
Ed may not realize it, but his honeymoon period is coming quickly to an end with many CM's up and down the totem pole in Anaheim. Ed Grier is certainly a personable and friendly enough person when you do talk to him, but he's not had nearly the exposure to the CM's in his first 90 days that Ouimet did and continued to build on in the all too brief years that followed. This growing perception has popped up on some TDA radar screens however, and you can bet there will be a marketing campaign in November to get Ed out and about amongst the CM's all over the Anaheim property and increase his exposure amongst the masses.
One of the few times Ed has been seen out with the CM's is when he's ridden in the new Cast Member limousine that is being used as part of the Year of a Million Dreams promotion with the CM's. The massive Cast Member parking lot located on Katella Avenue is a dreaded part of the workday for all who are unlucky enough to be relegated to park there. It's not so much the parking lot itself that is universally despised, as it is the fleet of creaky shuttle buses with dingy upholstery and broken air conditioning that force CM's to ride in standing room only steerage conditions for the trip up to the CM entrance off Harbor Blvd. So as part of the Year of a Million Dreams campaign the Cast Activities department has leased a big black limousine to occasionally pick up CM's waiting for the next broken down shuttle bus to come by. Ed Grier has spent a couple of trips riding in the limousine with the CM's and doing the typical executive meet n' greet shtick with the front line troops, with a company photographer conveniently on hand to capture the scripted moment for the employee newsletter.
The limo taking CM's to work is admittedly a clever gimmick, although out of the thousands of CM's who park in that lot each week only a tiny percentage have received a limo ride thus far. What Ed should also be doing is replacing the broken down shuttles for the short term, and in the long term demanding to know who let the entire system get that bad in the first place. With a turnover rate of hourly CM's that continues to spiral out of control, and seemingly no accountability placed on the recruitment department to hire someone who can remain on the job more than 90 days in the first place, the daily indignities and hassles that most hourly CM's have to go through just to get to their work location out in the parks somewhere really should be addressed immediately. Hopefully there will be more to Ed Grier's tenure than just pre-packaged photo ops with the front line employees in a rented limo.
Unfortunately, the buzz circling in both Anaheim and Burbank that Jay Rasulo is on very thin ice with Bob Iger hasn't helped Grier's tenuous start in Anaheim. There's been quite a few rumors amongst the executives and senior management that Rasulo will be gone before Christmas, and that obviously has many folks in Anaheim wondering what that means for Ed Grier. Ed was clearly picked for a meteoric rise up the executive totem pole by Jay Rasulo in the last three years, and there's no telling what would happen to someone so closely connected to Rasulo if Rasulo is handed a golden parachute sometime soon. Like most of those senior executive departures, we likely won't know more than those highly placed rumors until the Burbank press release comes out announcing Rasulo will be resigning suddenly to "spend more time with his family."
