Originally Posted By ReelJustice <<So it seems there is no more doubt as to wether or not Iger was there.>> What do you mean? Is there proof now?
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<The Music Producer Tweeter has a PR background and according to his LinkedIn Profile he was a Sales Intern for Walt Disney Events Group. <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ja.../b77/107>>" target="_blank">http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ja...>></a> Thanks for info. You certainly have been helpful. I have no idea what that internship may have led to the real world, but it certainly shows he had/has ties to Disney. This whole situation is strange, even by online Disney standards. But if I wanted to control the message or just create a smokescreen using the amazing social media that we have (can you feel that sarcasm coming through your screen?), this is ... this is ... well, not how I'd do it. Oh, one other point, but if there were a very important gathering of execs at WDW, I'd expect our own Leemac to be there. And even if he couldn't say anything as to the subject of why, I'm sure he'd be able to tell us 'Bob is at WDW' and leave it at that. Oh well ... this sure is more entertaining than TRON Legacy or most WDW attractions!
Originally Posted By dshyates I can tell you that everytime before when the CEO is in one of the parks not only does EVERY CM know he's there. They can tell you what he is wearing. That info blasts around the park via text message so fast it would make your head spin. So the lack of info is suspect at best.
Originally Posted By WDWVacationer ^Visual proof? No. But there's that photographer who lists his location as Orlando on Twitter claiming he was photographing Iger and a Saudi Prince. Now, you say, Disney has photographers, why don't they use their own. Well, I don't know. So then you say, this guy must be lying! He's just saying that so people say, "Wow! This guy must be good! Those are high profile people." But what good is it for him to say he has that assignment and never be able to produce evidence. So, I say that since this guy is claiming to be photographing Iger and there is nothing in it for him to lie, it must be true. I'm certaintly tempted to ask this guy if he was taking the photos in WDW.
Originally Posted By Pentacat Spirit: I just don't see these tweets, as hard as they are to believe, as being forced or manufactured in some way. They are just to casual and random. Most of the "Young People" I know either don't understand or don't care about the ramifications of a public forum like Twitter. They just look at it as a mass form of text messaging and the idea that someone that isn't following them can search/read their tweets just does not register. As to why no CMs are talking about the Iger/Staggs sightings....that seems very odd. I tried to track the whereabouts of Steve Jobs but found nothing for 6/28...Orlando or otherwise. Jobs has been notoriously careful about being tracked since his liver transplant in 2009. He has his own private jet for his exclusive use (G5 N2N for the sky nerds out there) but he has an ongoing location block on file with the FAA so his flight plans are not publicly available. Same applies for the Saudi Prince, he's got LOTS of jets that are also not available for public tracks.
Originally Posted By devoy1701 So this is a question for my friend Spirit. I've read MOST of this thread so I appologize if this has already been answered (and if it has please someone point me to the post #). EE has made a comment along the same lines... I want more than anything for the company to stay intact and TWDC to come back from their current extreme idea that they are nothing more than a distribution company and realize that not all ventures need to have an every increasing profit margin, and that steady business with a modest return is still fine. When I read the bios about Walt's feelings about having to take the company public, especially with the conversation he had with Henry Ford on the subject, I cringe when I read through this thread... That being said...what's the deal with this Saudi Prince? Is his interest based on the face that Disney represents the epitomy of American Culture and creativeness and his Western Education and his local wealth has given him a desire to acquire a piece of the western world as part of his collection? Or would his desire to own more stake in P&R be based on love for the idea of what P&R originally stood for back in the 50s? And if it's the latter case...I'm not so sure if it's such a bad thing at this point if WDW does change hands...or atleast partially. TWDC obviously doesn't care anymore, status quo, cost mitigation, and milking the cash cow is all they seem to care about...they're letting WDW rest on her laurels...and 20 years ago when saying that someone could do Disney better than Disney would have seemed to be blasphamy...I don't think that's true today...sadly. China on the other hand....
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Spirit: I just don't see these tweets, as hard as they are to believe, as being forced or manufactured in some way. They are just to casual and random.>> I really don't feel one way or the other about them, Pentacat. They 'appear' genuine, but if someone were trying to appear genuine then wouldn't they come off that way? Just circular logic, I guess. More important, again, than whether these folks were/are in Orlando is why they leaked the info the way they have ... and what is their agenda? Why is it all of this 'allegedly' happened so quietly? If they were there for some noble purpose, then you better believe you'd have heard about it. They weren't there to go over plans for the second Disney Decade and decide how to spend $15 billion at WDW alone going forward! So, that leaves all sorts of theories to fly around ... not the least of which being is Disney planning on dumping the parks? <<Most of the "Young People" I know either don't understand or don't care about the ramifications of a public forum like Twitter. They just look at it as a mass form of text messaging and the idea that someone that isn't following them can search/read their tweets just does not register. As to why no CMs are talking about the Iger/Staggs sightings....that seems very odd.>> Many young people (and older as well) are incredibly naive, ignorant and downright stupid about social networking. They don't 'get' that people can read, see and use against them what they believe are private communications. They are not. But that's a subject for my social media thread ... I've even heard that a Social Media rep (we'll call her 'Jenn') has been reaching out to the fanbois via Twitter. I wonder if she's been reading my comments ... I don't find the lack of CM comments surprising (to some degree) if they were warned their jobs were on the line and this was some 'top secret' visit etc. But I do find it shocking that not one fan/guest/blogger/OCD 'lives in the parks local' ... NOT ONE ... got a picture or pictures of or with the men in question. They are there for days in public places and no one snaps a photo ... how realistic does that sound to you? <<I tried to track the whereabouts of Steve Jobs but found nothing for 6/28...Orlando or otherwise. Jobs has been notoriously careful about being tracked since his liver transplant in 2009. He has his own private jet for his exclusive use (G5 N2N for the sky nerds out there) but he has an ongoing location block on file with the FAA so his flight plans are not publicly available. Same applies for the Saudi Prince, he's got LOTS of jets that are also not available for public tracks.>> I am sure that both individuals can keep themselves hidden when it comes to flights. I am also sure they can't keep themselves hidden walking around EPCOT.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<So this is a question for my friend Spirit. I've read MOST of this thread so I appologize if this has already been answered (and if it has please someone point me to the post #). EE has made a comment along the same lines... I want more than anything for the company to stay intact and TWDC to come back from their current extreme idea that they are nothing more than a distribution company and realize that not all ventures need to have an every increasing profit margin, and that steady business with a modest return is still fine. When I read the bios about Walt's feelings about having to take the company public, especially with the conversation he had with Henry Ford on the subject, I cringe when I read through this thread... That being said...what's the deal with this Saudi Prince? Is his interest based on the face that Disney represents the epitomy of American Culture and creativeness and his Western Education and his local wealth has given him a desire to acquire a piece of the western world as part of his collection? Or would his desire to own more stake in P&R be based on love for the idea of what P&R originally stood for back in the 50s?>> I don't know the Prince, although I have been in his company (REALLY!) before. I have no idea what motivates his decisions. I do know he helped ensure DLP's survival. I would guess, and that's all this ... that he has the 'trophy case' mentality that many billionaires possess. Now, clearly he does have some affinity for Disney. But to what degree, I can't say. He's not Walt dressed in Arabian garb ... <<And if it's the latter case...I'm not so sure if it's such a bad thing at this point if WDW does change hands...or atleast partially. TWDC obviously doesn't care anymore, status quo, cost mitigation, and milking the cash cow is all they seem to care about...they're letting WDW rest on her laurels...and 20 years ago when saying that someone could do Disney better than Disney would have seemed to be blasphamy...I don't think that's true today...sadly.>> All you have to do is take a flight to Japan and you will never view the Walmarted World of Disney the same again. As my good pal, TFLFAN says, WDW is ghetto in comparison. That's hyperbole, but not nearly to the degree you'd want or expect it to be. <<China on the other hand.... >> China has money to spend ... and much like billionaire Saudi princes, loves buying pieces of other countries and companies. Again, not saying that's a possibility here ... just that it could be.
Originally Posted By Pentacat Given the construction issues an corruption that have plagued the building of China's high speed rail system, what are the odds that the Shanghai park will be up to even WDW standards? Even if the Chinese dump a fortune into the project that seems to be no assurance of quality in their environment. Some would argue that they would never let something under so much scrutiny go awry but I would consider a nationwide high speed rail project to be pretty high profile. Since TWDC has a 47% interest in Shanghai does that mean that they are kicking a like portion of the construction cost?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros While there is plenty of corruption and other questionable issues with China's high-speed rail, the system is up and running as originally designed. I would assume that a Disney park in China would be similar. There may be all sorts of shady things ging on in the development process, but it will operate at high standards like the other parks (or likely even higher).
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 ''I will never hire a 'Social Media Expert,' and neither should you.'' Those aren't the Spirit's words. Those immortal words were 'tweeted' by none other than Judith Estrin,esteemed member of TWDC's BoD. And while those aren't The Spirit's words, as the 800-plus post on Social Media and Disney can attest, I certainly echo that. Soooo ... as my holiday weekend sandwich special digests on a rainy Florida evening, here we are and ... it would appear there they went ... Prince Ali Abab... oops, started doing Menken there (just like my good buddy Jay 'Showtunes' Rasulo) ... meant to just say the Saudi Prince included. Before logging off for the night, a fellow LPer (and expert researcher) sent me a single post on the DisBoards where a poster says she and her husband saw a group of people in the BW lobby Wednesday and the CM they were speaking with told them Bob Iger was one of them. She goes on to say that later that day she saw him in Italy with, again, a large group with escorts. No. Yet again, no one (apparently) has a photograph because no one takes pics with their iPhones today, right boys and girls? Having said that, I did some more research and located a tweet by someone who is known in the Disney Community because his name is familiar to me. I won't put it out here, but he is a concierge at the BW and about 11 hours ago he tweeted that the entire BoD were at WDW and either left last night or this morning. Again, no pics. And no info beyond 'they were here and now they're gone'. ... But a concierge wouldn't be releasing it unless he had the blessing of someone very high or didn't care if he kept his job or not. At this point, these are the images being framed here on the web by social media (BTW, funny how this is the talk of the fan community and there's no thread about this at all on other MAGICal sites: 1.) Bob Iger and the BoD were at WDW; 2.) the Saudi prince was at WDW; 3.) The BoD was needed to be there in order to discuss the sale of all or part of Disney P&R; 4.) Aware of how quickly things spread in social media (and that they don't control all of the fan sites, just most), Disney leaked an Iger at DAK story to a webmaster known for being a shill for the company; 5.) Many fanbois got excited and assumed this meant Disney was looking to invest in its ghetto FLA resort; 6.) The fact Disney has had no comment on any of this, again, does nothing BUT lend strong credence that Disney is indeed looking to drop either all or part of its ownership of its P&R division and that one of the top buyers might be the previously named prince. As to whether any of this or all of this is accurate, no one but the parties involved know right now. But you don't get a group like that together at last minute at WDW to pick out carpet and furnishings for the Art of Animation motel! ;-) I do know one thing for certain -- other than the FACT Disney has and apparently is shopping the parks/resorts -- the aforementioned is a 1A story for not just the O-Sentinel, but the NY Times, USA Today and the WSJ ... for starters. That's the media expert in me talking, we can drop the social part! Hey, wonder what Nikki Finke has heard ... I know I have her top secret number here somewhere
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 CONFIRMED. BoD was sequestered at WDW for much of this week. And they were NOT there discussing how to invest in WDW or fix anything either. It's pretty clear what the agenda was. So ... now we can all get back to the OP ... gee, is that Spirit one all (OK, almost all) knowing dude or what? Buyer beware ... you do get all those fanbois with the package! ;-)
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Oh ... and doncha wonder why no one is reporting this? Me too ... and with the holiday week what a convenient time to convene the board to discuss a possible HUGE AND CONTROVERSIAL move by the company ... guess everyone is busy with burgers and tater salad and hot dogs and baseball and sunburns etc ...
Originally Posted By ReelJustice Well, I for one welcome new ownership and hope they model themselves after the Oriental Land Company.
Originally Posted By Bob Paris 1 *Still chuckling at the mental image of homespun, fifties, mid-west, mustachioed Walt in Arabian garb*
Originally Posted By GOB If the BoD was at WDW, was there any truth to the Saudi prince being there, too?
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Again, to be clear, since my words are often twisted, I have no idea whether they were talking about selling all or just part of P&R and whether any agreement or final agreement was reached. But for something of this magnitude, you do indeed need the entire board and you need secrecy and you need to toss out BS (otherwise known as plausible deniability) reasons for why you are all there (which they didn't actually do as Bob touring DAK or walking EPCOT with Staggs doesn't count). But something is definitely up ... and at this point, the fanboi in me would love to see the parks run by someone else. It's obvious the current group has no clue how to do anything but destroy what was built by the greats who came before them.
