Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704580304575600134000523928.html?mod=googlenews_wsj" target="_blank">http://online.wsj.com/article/...news_wsj</a> Interesting comments about DCA's transformation from Disney CEO Bob Iger in a recent Wall St Journal interview. >>WSJ: You're spending $1 billion to overhaul Disney California Adventure, Disneyland's less-famous neighbor. Why? Mr. Iger: [Apple CEO] Steve Jobs is fond of talking about brand deposits and brand withdrawals. Any time you do something mediocre with your brand, that's a withdrawal. California Adventure was a brand withdrawal. We debated, "Should we make it one park?" Raise the price at Disneyland, and suddenly one ticket buys you the whole thing. I even had Imagineers design that. [But] we would have had to put in transportation systems. It would have cost us so much money to put the monorail in. And to do other things to create one park. That didn't make sense. We all concluded that the only way we would improve returns on that park is if we made it better and we made it bigger. And we decided to put what is now [around] $1 billion into that.<< The most notable thing to me is that Iger refers to the original DCA project as mediocre. I'm I the only one surprised that he spoke so honestly?
Originally Posted By Ohana it is a little surprising Hans, but he did greenlight the big check, so its safe to be honest now since he is the #1 lessor of cranes in California.
Originally Posted By TP2000 I'm surprised he spoke that honestly Hans. It's rare to see that bluntness from a Disney exec in 2010. But bravo to him for having the guts to just admit it publicly to the Wall Street Journal, and fess up to something pretty much everyone but Cynthia Harriss and Jon Nadelberg were able to admit to for the past decade. My how times change! ;-)
Originally Posted By CuriouserConstance "We all concluded that the only way we would improve returns on that park is if we made it better and we made it bigger" Duh.
Originally Posted By DlandDug No surprise here. I now anxiously await the arrival of the "DCA-is-being-improved-because-it's-such-a-great-success" crew. I will be fascinated to see the spin this one gets! DCA was a failure. Period.
Originally Posted By gadzuux Weren't you one of the "moderate" voices about DCA back in the day, dug? Glass half full? It's been quite some time, and I could be wrong, but it seems you liked 'Eureka', 'Steps In Time', 'Blast', Animation exhibit, even the area entertainment such as Three Bags Full and Chance To Shine. I also seem to remember sunny endorsements of BVF, Seasons of the Vine, and a vigorous defense of 'seaside amusement pier' as a valid theme for a disney park. Maybe I'm misremembering it, but I'm surprised to see you taking such an adamant "far left" position on this now. At the time I had you pegged as closer to Jonvn's outlook on the park - as being 'pretty good' but needing more attractions.
Originally Posted By SuperDry So it wasn't the weather after all? Knock me over with a feather. P.S. - there's a joke to be made involving weatherman in here somewhere, but I won't stoop that low.
Originally Posted By DlandDug >>Weren't you one of the "moderate" voices about DCA back in the day, dug?<< My position has been quite consistent over the years: DCA was a failure. No value judgement, just a simple statement of fact, based on all available information. For this, I have been routinely villified for "simplifying" ths situation. Conversely, I have never been in the "DCA sucks!" crowd. I feel that that is a simplification. There is much I liked (your recollections are largely correct), but my personal preferences have nothing to do with an honest assessment of DCA's initial failure.
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Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "California Adventure was a brand withdrawal." He spoke the truth, but it's a little easier to be honest almost a decade after the fact. Would he be as honest about a current project that was turning out to be mediocre? I doubt it. The time to be honest was 2001 and the people who should have been honest were Eisner, Braverman, et al.
Originally Posted By Anatole69 ^^ It's easy for him to admit it because it isn't his failure, and WOC has improved attendance, so now he gets to be seen as the guy who was behind turning the park around. - Anatole
Originally Posted By Bob Paris 1 "and fess up to something pretty much everyone but Cynthia Harriss and Jon Nadelberg were able to admit to for the past decade. My how times change! ;-)" Sir........I would drink your bath water. ; ) Oh and since I would probably be banned if I typed publicly what I thought of him, I am telepathically sending you my thoughts of Jon Nadelberg. If you feel a sharp stabbing pain in your head in about eight hours just chalk that up to the distance between Perth, Western Australia and Southern California.
Originally Posted By Bob Paris 1 "I now anxiously await the arrival of the "DCA-is-being-improved-because-it's-such-a-great-success" crew. I will be fascinated to see the spin this one gets! DCA was a failure. Period." Yep. I think they have been FOREVER silenced with this.
Originally Posted By mstaft I think the time to admit the failure would have been in the 90s when the project was first considered!
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <I'm I the only one surprised that he spoke so honestly?> DCA wasn't his "baby," so this could also be read as a poke at his predecessor, and a passive-aggressive way of saying "I'm doing better than he did." Kind of like what Anatole was saying. But yes, the "DCA was a failure. Period" meme remains overly simplistic. Artistically it was a mixed bag. Commercially, no one argues that it drew the numbers intended, but on the arguably more important goal of changing the paradigm in Anaheim, it succeeded. And that was not a given. So that was a mixed bag too. The first incarnations of MGM and DCA had much in common. Both could be seen as mediocre parks artistically, with some good things, and some bad (or missing) things. The former drew even more than projected, because WDW had already established the paradigm of multi-parks and week-long stays, so even though it wasn't a great park, everyone already staying a week went to check it out anyway. The decision to open a similarly incomplete park as a SECOND gate in a place that had not established that paradigm was a major miscalculation, but not a fatal one. Ultimately it did change the paradigm. It's now impossible to think of Anaheim without it, and that will only become increasingly true.
Originally Posted By Manfried "The time to be honest was 2001 and the people who should have been honest were Eisner, Braverman, et al." Bravo Spokker, but let's add in some of those et al - Sklar, Fitzgerald. The last one bears mentioning as he was Sklar's heir, then banished to Euro and now he's back in charge of the Disneyland Resort portfolio. Now he has virtually nothing to do with the expansion since his "transfer" out of Sklar's job. But I would be very afraid.
Originally Posted By CuriouserConstance "But] we would have had to put in transportation systems. It would have cost us so much money to put the monorail in. And to do other things to create one park. That didn't make sense." I think we can take this comment to mean that there will not be any upgrades to their current lack of usable transportation at the resort anytime soon.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "It's easy for him to admit it because it isn't his failure, and WOC has improved attendance, so now he gets to be seen as the guy who was behind turning the park around" It may be easier, but it marks a distinct change in current Disney management attitude from it predecessors. I think it's unusual for a Disney CEO to offer such a candid opinion to a business rag about the quality of one of the company's parks. In light of his comment I wonder what Iger thinks about Disney Studios Paris. What about HKDL? How will the new Shanghai park be built? Will it be a return to the lavish type of Disney resort that WDW and DLP were when they first opened? "DCA was a failure. Period" I disagree with this. But that's another discussion that's been had a bazillion times already. Mediocre does not equal fail. Dabob pretty much nails it in post 16.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "I think we can take this comment to mean that there will not be any upgrades to their current lack of usable transportation at the resort anytime soon." Yep. I think Disney is crossing its fingers that Anaheim will finance some sort of larger comprehensive transportation plan linking DLR/Anaheim Resort with the new California High Speed rail terminal. On another note, I think its very telling that Iger refers to DCA in terms of branding. Am I the only one annoyed by this?
