Originally Posted By jonvn "Anyone still complaining about the direction of DCA is simply going to complain no matter what" It has no direction.
Originally Posted By Brown Monkey >>It has no direction. << Actually, it travels east with the rest of the world's rotation.
Originally Posted By BigJim89 Came across this on miceage: <<Sigh, after all the good news we had in Tuesday's Disneyland update, there may now be some that may not be so good. We'll fill you in as we dig into what is going on. It's times like this that I wish the Disneyland Resort had a real president instead of a figurehead. - Al Lutz>> If anyone can elaborate on this please share. Thanks.
Originally Posted By Britain I'm assuming it's referring to events surrounding Greg Emmer's departure.
Originally Posted By PetesDraggin I get the impression that it has more to do with the upgrades to DCA. But I could be wrong...
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "I don't know why that would be odd at all." I didn't say it was odd. I said it was interesting.
Originally Posted By Schmitty Good Vibes I'm not happy about all the cartooning, but I'll reserve my bellyaching until I see it.
Originally Posted By bartholomewneff BigJim89 said: "If anyone can elaborate on this please share. Thanks." No, Al wasn't referring to Greg Emmer. He's actually one of the best people over at TDA and it will be sad to see him go. He was referring to Ed Grier, the current President of the Disneyland Resort whom is thought by many to be a parrot for Jay's ideas and was simply put there as a yes man.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "He was referring to Ed Grier, the current President of the Disneyland Resort whom is thought by many to be a parrot for Jay's ideas and was simply put there as a yes man." Well, he is just a middle manager. That's generally the role that those types play. It should be no surprise that he's simply there to oversee the plans handed down from on top.
Originally Posted By jonvn It really betrays a serious ignorance regarding how a large company is run when people expect a mid level manager to operate with total freedom have complete control. It really is stupid. When people complain about Grier, or whatever, it shows they truly know basically nothing.
Originally Posted By bartholomewneff The president of the Disneyland Resort is NOT middle management. Many executives under him are, but not the head of the entire resort. You think the head of WDW is middle management? The head of Disneyland Paris? How about the head of Walt Disney Studios? None of these people are middle management and to say so shows you know nothing, however, unlike you jonvn, I won't stoop to calling you stupid. I'll settle for ignorant. If you want to see trough, effective leadership at the resort then look at the couple years that Matt Ouimett ran it. He was no cog in the machine and he certainly wasn't middle management.. then again, neither is Ed Grier. Although he does act like he's a middle manager.
Originally Posted By bean "DCA has a lot to catch up with ... with it's sister park with so many Christmas related things to do ... while DCA for the last 7 years has really had diddly." Yes this is true. There are several reasons why DCA fell so behind on the Holiday offerings. At one time management had thought about going all out on DCA with its decorations. When the push to expand and change DCA image started all those ideas were basically put on hold. Small additons made the cut like the santa beach blast and the FFF christmas ornaments. no one wanted spend money on decorations that could become obsolete once the transformation took place. The look and feel of the decorations that would had been used would never fit the new look and feel of the park once it was changed. Of course something had to be done so that the park did not feel like it was beign ignored during the Holidays so DCA was set up to be the park for the Halloween events. The evnt was so popular that eventually it was decided that it would also be part of Disneyland and DCA would basically host the ticketed event. Once DCA gets its facelift there are ideas to expand both Holidays. One thing that DCA is being considered to offer is Holiday versions of WOC both for Halloween and Christmas. If all things go as planned by 2011 both Disneyland and DCA will have expanded entertainment offerings for the whole year as well as the Holidays. DCA is due to get its new DAY parade this March. Meanwhile disneyland will continue with POD till 2010. In 2010 it will receive its new 55th anniversary parade. DCA of course will see its new WOC and if things go as planned themed water shows for Christmas and Halloween. In 2011 it will also receive its Brand new nighttime parade. DEP will finally be put to rest and replaced with a more elaborate and advanced nightime parade.
Originally Posted By jonvn "The president of the Disneyland Resort is NOT middle management." In a company the size of Disney? Yes, he is. The head of WDW is in charge of a lot larger thing, but still, reports to upper management. "unlike you jonvn, I won't stoop to calling you stupid. I'll settle for ignorant." I have worked in very large companies, with tens of thousands of employees. The head of Disneyland is middle management, implementing policy that has been handed to him. " look at the couple years that Matt Ouimett " Oh for pity sake. You don't know what he did or did not do, what was or was not his idea, or what was told to him to do or not to do. Don't tell me to look at something when you have not clue one as to what his job actually is.
Originally Posted By bartholomewneff jonvn said: "Don't tell me to look at something when you have not clue one as to what his job actually is." When you don't know what my job actually is I would have to say you don't have a clue, jonvn. I know exactly what Matt Ouimett did. I know it VERY well, which is why I'm commenting on it. And no, in a company the size of Disney, Ed Grier is not middle management. Neither is Greg Emmer.. these are head exectutves, not middle management considering I've worked for "large" companies as well as you, I mean. The head of a resort that reports to Jay Rasulo is the same an executive at Walt Disney Studios that reports to Dick Cook. Brad Bird has actually spoken on this before where he discusses middle managers screwing up a project. I don't think he'd agree with you that John Lasseter or Ed Catmull would be middle management. They run a division just like Ed does. But believe whatever you want.
Originally Posted By Bob Paris Bartholomew - I don't know if you're new around here(if so, welcome!)but I would like to take this opportunity to tell you something. Arguing with the delightful Mr. jonvn is like banging your head against a brick wall. He is ALWAYS right and even when he's wrong I get the impression he actually enjoys arguing. No matter WHAT you say, he will ALWAYS come back with the wonderful and delightful jonvn spin that leaves you shaking your head, wondering when you drowned his kitten or kicked his grandmother in the shins. I realized this a LONG time ago and since gave up on this particular poster(who has quite a bad rep at Disney sites)a long way back as a recalcitrant old troublemaker. Just wanted to save you the time and effort.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << I don't think he'd agree with you that John Lasseter or Ed Catmull would be middle management. They run a division just like Ed does. >> DL is not a "division" of the Walt Disney Co -- so not on the same plain of business as Pixar. DL is an operating segment for the Disney Parks & Resorts division. Also, Mr. Lasseter is an officer in the Walt Disney Company, which places him in an executive position that Disney reports to the SEC. Mr. Grier is in no such executive position. I agree that the leadership positions at DLR are mid-level management in the overall leadership structure for the Disney Parks & Resort organization.
Originally Posted By dshyates I believe a lot of the control that the Disneyland Resort president had disappeared after Paul Pressler left. He did have a fair amount of control, and used questionable practices to be able to turn in impressive numbers to the corporate heads. He did this by not maintaining the park resulting in several injuries. He policy of "run it until it breaks" policy was simply dangerous. Disney really can't allow middle ,amagers to institute policies that kill people. (cleat to the head)
Originally Posted By dshyates ,amagers- managers I relly don't know what happened there. It should also be "His policy...", not "He policy..."
Originally Posted By danyoung >I didn't say it was odd. I said it was interesting.< Seemed to me that the way your worded your statement, when you said interesting you thought it was odd, or strange. But it seemed to me that this was kinda like looking at a long neglected structure finally being painted and saying "isn't it interesting now that they're finally painting this building that no one's complaining anymore about it not being painted?" No biggie. As to my buddy jonvn's latest round, I think it's very clear to those of us who closely watch the Disney company that the president of DL does indeed have great power to implement change, either positive or negative. Pressler and Harriss - negative. Ouimet - incredibly positive. Now we have Grier, who isn't doing much in either direction. And I base my opinion on reading many comments over many years from people who I trust that are indeed much more in the know than either myself or jon.
Originally Posted By dshyates But Disney doesn't consider them mid-managers. The presidents of the resorts are part of the executive team for the Theme Parks and Resorts division. This team is headed by Lasseter with the presidents of each of the world wide resorts and the head of WDI. The presidents of the resorts do have a fair amount of control, but they do have to answer to higher ups. But lots of executives have to answer to higher ups and you don't have to be an operations officer to be an executive. Where you really get into middle manager territory is when you get to the heads of each park. People like Phil Holmes.
