Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Interesting news here that has been leaking out of Disney and was announced today. Got more to say as to what this means, but no time ... so enjoy the read. <a href="http://thedailydisney.com/blog/2009/12/former-epcot-chief-tapped-to-oversee-all-disney-world-park-operations-and-next-generation-experience/" target="_blank">http://thedailydisney.com/blog...erience/</a>
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA I may have mentioned this in another post, but Jim MacPhee was my Supervisor when I was in Magic Kingdom Guest Relations back in 1988-89. Good guy. Very dedicated. Congrats to him.
Originally Posted By mousermerf Spirit, he's now directly between Meg and the 4 park VP's in terms of hierarchy. She can keep going to luncheons, he can dictate the direction of new offerings without being hindered by those figurehead responsibilities. I suspected something like this was coming when he was taken off Epcot (a job he was known for being very good at) and shifted laterally to an entirely new position. Especially when they replaced him at Epcot with someone very young/inexperienced. No way he was going to ever report to that person.
Originally Posted By mousermerf Side note: Was reading the article - doesn't his dual reporting duties (to Meg and Nick) essentially parallel him to Meg if needed? And word on the street is that Meg would be responsible for putting him in this role, so that's a plus for someone we usually see touted as not doing much/figurehead.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I'm glad to see that someone who actually seems to enjoy the parks is being promoted, but I just can't help but wonder about the purpose of this new role. They've been putting new technology into the parks for years, so why do they suddenly need to add a VP for it now?
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 I keep hearing that the four VPs will report to him, but that doesn't leave him in control. Erin Wallace is Sr. VP of OPs ... she runs the resort on a daily basis, so unless something is going down with her (and I'd love to see her go spend more time with family), Jim is still below her on the TDO totem pole. Now, Jim will have power, but it does appear that his power is focused on New Tech and integrating that into the entire WDW vacation experience ... that covers everything from getting FP when you check into your magical WDW resort to virtual queues to attractions that interact with guests based on chips in their card keys etc ... It is a lot of responsibility and I am glad to see Jim in the position, but I don't think it affects general OPs situations in the individual parks on a daily basis. I am sure Leemac would know more, but he has apparently been placed on Santa's Naughty List by Team Disney! Oh, and I wonder where the February 'steal Potter's thunder' press event and announcement of a USA (or DVC as I call it) AP for both WDW and DL factors into Jim's new position (which isn't really new so much as just announced officially) and the curious timing of it ... as many things are leaking out and it appears Disney wants to get the word out before some Spirits do.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Now what do I do with my DL and WDW AP's then?>> I'm wondering how they'll account for all sorts of things from people who are say SoCal Select holders or PAPs to FLA DVCs and folks like myself who are WDW charters etc ... it seems very problematic and not worth the trouble. I was shocked to hear that this time it's really happening and not fanboi wishful thinking. But the fact remains most of the people who wanted an 'all parks AP' really wanted a world-wide one and they're a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, tiny minority. From what I ws told this is something The Weatherman wanted.
Originally Posted By mousermerf Oo, maybe it's a sort of jedi mind trick to get DLR AP's to goto WDW. Like it'll be rolled out that premium AP's at DLR are now valid for admission to WDW parks or vice versa - or atleast the new passes will be near the normal premium AP price points. They don't really have to worry about WDW AP's flooding DLR, but think of all the DLR AP's who would consider going to WDW.
Originally Posted By mousermerf About being the minority - if you assume this forum is already a small minority of people who visit the parks (which it is) and then count the number of folks with multiple APs (you, me, TDLFan - and a few others) it doesn't make much marketing sense. Then again, the people in that little list are the fairly loud mouthed and influential ones.. maybe that's the plan?
Originally Posted By mousermerf Spirit - whyfor you tell magical people more then you tell us peoples?
