Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <Pretty good - a nice bundle of stock options and cash from Disney and Gap - and he is now a partner at a prestigious private equity firm (Clayton Dubilier & Rice). Plus he is a director of Opentable and Avon.> Amazing about these corporate executive types like Pressler. They enter these companies -- create a shambles -- walk out with millions (billions?) -- and don't blink an eye. They really seem to abide by the 'it's not personal, it's business' adage. How they sleep at night is beyond me.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA As far as the OP quote from Pressler. It's all just press release type of BS anyway. Anyone could have read it. He just happened to be near by with his name tag in his pocket and his reading glasses.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost >>>How they sleep at night is beyond me.<<< They sleep well on a mattress made of $100.00 bills. I could do it if someone gave me half a chance.
Originally Posted By disneysharks2 >>I, on the other hand, STILL think the place sucks, and will continue to suck with all the supposed 'improvements'.<< Boy, you must be a joy to be around! I like DCA, but I look for the fun in everything when I'm there. You need to find some sun in your life Mr X.
Originally Posted By Longhorn12 >Boy, you must be a joy to be around! < O NOES HE AMZ HAVE OPINION DIFRNT DEN ME!
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "I like DCA, but I look for the fun in everything when I'm there" I look for the fun in life too, but I didn't find much in DCA. For someone who isn't into characters and rides based on Pixar movies, DCA 2.0 may be an improvement overall, but now for that particular person.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***Amazing about these corporate executive types like Pressler. They enter these companies -- create a shambles -- walk out with millions (billions?) -- and don't blink an eye*** Pressler is small beans. He didn't actually kill the company, he just mismanaged the crap out of it for a while. In the crash, I read about morgage company guys and bankers who shamelessly lied and drove their companies into the ground, and the demanded added compensation DURING THE BANKRUPTCY HEARINGS. Shameless is the best way to put it. These guys really do have no sense of shame whatsoever. Makes me wish hell wasn't a silly make believe notion, because they certainly do deserve to rot there!
Originally Posted By Mr X ***You need to find some sun in your life Mr X*** Oh, don't you worry about me Mr. Sockpuppet trying not to get banned. I've got my sun right here beside me, she's called Little X, and the Mrs X is right in the other room. As far as theme park "sun" is concerned, I could walk to Tokyo DisneySea right now if I felt like it.
Originally Posted By danyoung jonvn's problem wasn't with his opinions, most of which were quite valid. It was in his attitude that if you didn't agree with him you were an idiot.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***jonvn's problem wasn't with his opinions, most of which were quite valid. It was in his attitude that if you didn't agree with him you were an idiot*** In many cases, he was right. Sometimes people really ARE idiots with stupid opinions. It's ridiculous to say you have to be nice to all of them and respect them for their foolish commentary. Yes, sometimes he did take things pretty far, but often he simply called people out for their foolishness. I respect that.
Originally Posted By danyoung There's a way to disagree with someone and a way not to, even online. If I called you an idiot for what you just posted that would be needlessly offensive. If I simply disagreed with you and expressed my opinion about it, that would be proper. I don't think we all need to hold hand and sing Kum-Bay-Ya. But being mean just to be mean is simply not cool.
Originally Posted By Mr X I do agree with you to a point, Dan...however at times I do find it refreshing when someone speaks their mind without worrying about social convention, particularly when the opinion on the receiving end is a particularly dumb one.
Originally Posted By TP2000 I've always thought the downfall of jonvn wasn't so much his abrasive personality, as it was his entire shtick as the online antagonist to Al Lutz. You have to remember that back in early '07 Al Lutz began talking about this massive proposal to spend a Billion dollars over a few years to radically remake DCA into a different kind of park. By late summer of '07 Al, who had spent most of the decade being gloomy and grumpy about TDA executives, had changed his tune entirely and was gushing about all this amazing, even unbelievable, stuff about to happen to DCA. jonvn, along with many others, couldn't believe Al was right. (I was skeptical it would happen too) Then in October of '07 Al announced that the following week on a certain day the big public announcement would be made, and we all waited anxiously to see what Al had been talking about... And the DCA Extreme Makeover was announced with amazing details and mind-blowing major surgery to come for DCA. And jonvn still couldn't handle the news. His reply here on LP in the Fall of '07?.... "They do this to all their parks" -jonvn No, nonvn, actually they don't. And with additional public admissions by top Disney executives about DCA's past and what the 1.2 Billion is designed to fix, it turns out that Al was more right than wrong all those years. With more details coming out, and an entirely new Al Lutz outlook on the world, jonvn tried to stick to his usual patter and shtick through the winter of '08 with more "they do this to all their parks" attitude. No one was buying it, and it just seemed more bizarre by the day. jonvn was gone shortly thereafter. His online act worked in '03, but by '08 it had either been disproved by public executive statements or it just was out of step with the reality happening in Anaheim.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 jonvn made some good points about DCA (and the parks in general, especially the over-tooning). What got him banned, IIRC, was actually his lack of respect for people on the WE boards. A lot of people here never venture there, but basically jon was telling people of various faiths that they all believed in fairy tales and was quite abrasive about it. And when asked to be a bit more respectful by the mods, he retrenched and basically said "why should I?" which of course shows no respect for the mods either, and that was the last straw. If you think he was abrasive over here, you should have seen him over there. I'm pretty sure that's what got him banned. His opinions on the parks were often right on the money.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 And I should have added... and it was okay for him to have those opinions, and for others to disagree. It was the abrasiveness that did him in, and it was far worse on WE than it ever was here.
Originally Posted By TP2000 Dabob2, then are you also of the opinion that the 1.2 Billion dollar DCA makeover project of 2009-12 is something that Disney does to all of their parks? Do you feel that the makeover project is not exceptional in any meaningful way, and in no way means that Pressler's version of DCA was unsuccesful?
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "And I should have added... and it was okay for him to have those opinions, and for others to disagree." That Disney pumps 1.2 billion into their parks because they are failing to attract the forecast number of guests is unprecedented. It's not an opinion that Disney does it for all of their parks, it's a fact that they don't actually do that. It is a complete overhaul of the spirit of the park so soon after its opening. It's not just an expansion, but a last-ditch effort to save a creatively bankrupt park. Be careful not to confuse opinions with fact.
