Ed Who and Pompus Jay

[hobie16]

From MiceAge

And while all of that is going on, this winter will also see the usual refurbishments and upkeep schedule that has become the hallmark of Senior Vice President Greg Emmer. The last bit of 50th gold is being removed from the Main Street lamp posts as you read this, and work begins on repainting the Castle next week with paint tarps covering it in sections through February.

It might be good to remind folks that just a couple short years ago out in Florida, Greg Emmer was a standard Vice President with a reputation for traditional Disney standards and Ed Grier was one of his underlings at the Director level. Greg got a promotion to Senior Vice President and a move out to Disneyland to be Matt Ouimet’s operations expert, and in the meantime Ed Grier was plucked from lower executive obscurity to be a figurehead in Tokyo and then got a big promotion to the President of Disneyland. Ed hasn’t made any executive changes inside TDA, primarily because until just recently he himself was reporting up to the Vice President level himself and in Jay Rasulo’s new "global" structure the spider web of executive responsibility is so confusing now between Orlando and Anaheim that no one can really keep it straight anyway.

In the last two weeks Ed has been making a concerted effort to get out and walk the parks, with a few hours spent wandering around on Christmas Eve and on New Years Eve. It was a nice thought, but came only after his Human Resources handlers heard the grumblings about the invisible Ed loud and clear. It’s going to take a whole lot more shoe leather to approach the level of face time Matt Ouimet established with the Cast Members in just his first 90 days.

Ed now has a lot on his administrative plate, and not much of it is appetizing. He can rubber stamp Jay Rasulo’s plans for Anaheim for eternity, but he still has to deal with turnover rates for hourly Cast Members that have spiraled out of control, and a worsening morale problem for those CMs that have stuck around for more than a year. In addition to the hourly woes, Ed watches over downtrodden and overworked management that get e-mailed endless press releases from Jay Rasulo about the hundreds of millions of dollars in profit the theme parks make each year while they get the same measly 3.5% annual pay raise they’ve been getting for the last five years. That’s yet another example of how out-of-touch and pompous Rasulo comes across to most folks in the parks, as he touts record profits quarter after quarter but hasn’t done anything of any real substance to thank the front line management and their troops who made it all possible.

What worries senior managers who have worked at Disneyland for 20 years or more is that the office of the presidency at Disneyland now looks to be an increasingly meaningless position that will be occupied by the latest corporate climber for a year or two before being replaced by the next suit in line. While you’ve got a facility like Disneyland that has been in business for over 50 years and has to plan for the very long term if it is to succeed, the very nature of this new corporate structure Jay Rasulo has created only lends itself to executive leaders who think in the here and now.

Ed arrived this past fall, just as the new fiscal year had started and inherited an agenda set by his predecessor. It will be a year before Ed can craft his own fiscal priorities, after he figures them out of course, and by the time those priorities show up in the parks he may have moved on to Disney Consumer Products, Procter & Gamble or General Electric and his successor may have no interest in shepherding them to reality. Couple that with a soulless new division called "Disney Parks" that tries to snuff out any local charm or individuality at each property, and you have a recipe for some very interesting times ahead.

The one wild card in all of this, of course, is John Lasseter. His incessant drive for traditional Disney quality and his deep passion for Disneyland specifically is the one light at the end of this corporate tunnel. Lasseter has been crawling around the submarine ride more and more lately, and his recent field trip dragging along Ed to go ride Space Mountain and California Screamin’ with him is typical of his boyish charm. That both he and Ed share a distaste for most of the current offerings inside DCA is also a good sign, and it at least bodes well that Ed Grier feels DCA in its current form is simply not up to modern Disney standards. (He’s of course looking at DCA through a Tokyo DisneySea prism, but that can only be good for DCA’s future.)

For now though, Ed remains largely the photogenic executive ready to stand off to the side at the next Jay Rasulo media event. You’ll see him doing just that in a few weeks as Rasulo blusteringly announces rides and projects any Disneyland fan with an Internet connection already knows about.

[BirdMom]

In Jay Rasulo's defense, I did hear some exceptionally good comments about him a few years ago from an industry designer whose wife is still an R/O in Anaheim. According to this guy it was Jay telling the corporate suits in Burbank that the company needed to spend money on the eastside of DL, that it looked like hell and that there was less and less for the guests to do in Tomorrowland. This was when the 50th plans were still blank pages on a drawing board. As for what they do now, I have issues with some of the new construction, including the little chalet by the Matterhorn and the entrance to Tarzan's Treehouse. Whatever genius deciding those things should be in the middle of high traffic areas should have been fired. Adventureland and Fantasyland were congested enough without those stupid large items being planted in the middle of pedestrian avenues!!!

Frankly, I still get miffed that the company spends boatloads of profits on upgrading everything in Florida, and California is the poor step-child, despite being the original park. The company needs to do some serious upgrading on backstage facilities, clean house of the minimum-work people who could not care less that they are being paid to help guests and upgrade pay and the help. That includes upgrading Mr. Ed's attitude toward his CM's. If the front line people are unhappy, how are they going to make the guests happy???

[hobie16]

Frankly, I still get miffed that the company spends boatloads of profits on upgrading everything in Florida, and California is the poor step-child, despite being the original park. The company needs to do some serious upgrading on backstage facilities, clean house of the minimum-work people who could not care less that they are being paid to help guests and upgrade pay and the help.

If you read all of MiceAge today it looks like the Florida facilities are really worn out.

http://www.miceage.com/allutz/al010907a.htm

[dazyhill]

[quote="hobie16"]From MiceAge


That both he and Ed share a distaste for most of the current offerings inside DCA is also a good sign, and it at least bodes well that Ed Grier feels DCA in its current form is simply not up to modern Disney standards. (He’s of course looking at DCA through a Tokyo DisneySea prism, but that can only be good for DCA’s future.)

If they can revamp DCA to the beauty that is Tokyo Disney Sea then that is a good sign. Tokyo Disney Sea is what DCA should have been.

[darph nader]

Aaaahh, corporate double speak,gotta love it. ;)

[Wizard69]

I actually got to see the nonexistant Ed in person on Tuesday at the Disney on Ice show.

You know what? That's the FIRST time I have ever seen him in person. And, once again, it shows that it has to be a public Disney event to drive that idiot out of the woodwork and show his face.

Needless to say, I'm STILL not impressed.

[BRWombat]

Why, oh why, does all this talk about Ed Grier bring to mind this poem I learned as a child?
[INDENT]Yesterday upon the stair
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today
Oh how I wish he'd go away.[/INDENT]

[BirdMom]

Why, oh why did they let Matt Ouimett get away?????????

[Main Streeter]

I actually got to see the nonexistant Ed in person on Tuesday at the Disney on Ice show.
You know what? That's the FIRST time I have ever seen him in person. And, once again, it shows that it has to be a public Disney event to drive that idiot out of the woodwork and show his face.

Was Nowhere introduced or did you just recognize him at Disney on Ice? Attending an off property event & sitting in assigned seat pretty much assures him he'll not have to come in contact with working CMs. If he was introduced this was another Disney PR thing. His personality probably has more ice then the show. Hope you used those free tickets DLR offered us Wizard. Liked your poem BRWom. Fit very well.

[Wizard69]

Was Nowhere introduced or did you just recognize him at Disney on Ice? Attending an off property event & sitting in assigned seat pretty much assures him he'll not have to come in contact with working CMs. If he was introduced this was another Disney PR thing. His personality probably has more ice then the show. Hope you used those free tickets DLR offered us Wizard. Liked your poem BRWom. Fit very well.

He got up and made a speech so I saw him from afar on a podium. The performance was ALL cast members and their families.

The show was pretty good. It was better than I thought it was gonna be. The lighting and effects were good....especially the Haunted Mansion part and the end. Oh, and the skating was good too :)