Suppose Chapek Gets Fired And You Are His Replacement

[micromind]

What would you do?

If it were me, I'd look hard into selling off everything the doesn't relate to the parks and use the proceeds to buy back stock and take the company private. This would remove the incentive to make huge profits at any cost and the company would be able to focus more on the overall guest experience.

I would also get rid of about half the executive management and there'd be some pretty serious compensation package cuts.

I would get rid of all AP type programs and go for some sort of a loyalty program.

I would do everything I could to ensure that the front-line CMs are treated with more dignity and respect than they are now. This would mean serious wage increases plus bringing back Disney U for training. Further, management would need to back the CMs as much as possible.

How about you?

[Eagleman]

Geeeeee
The Disney company really needs a big "OVERHAUL"
and dignity and respect,needs to part of.......in New Leadership
From the Company Board and down.
Also believe going take many years ,to see that goal !
IMO
Which ,I do not want be a part of that company in any form
The way it is today .
.......LOL

[merlinjones]

Refocus on Disney brand strengths.

Spin off ABC, ESPN, Hulu, and Fox (except for certain family friendly IP) into a separate company and get back to the business of being Disney (now loaded with cash to reinvest in parks, films, and animation). Consider taking the remaining company private.

Sell Marvel to WB/DC (or Sony or Universal) before the inevitable superhero crash and burn (All the good characters have been done except Fantastic 4 anyway).

Sell the cruise ships. Maybe license out Disney IP to new owner.

Give The Muppets (and library) back to the Hensons for a dollar (tax break). Sell The Simpsons back to Murdoch.

Cherry pick and purchase Disney-complementary legacy IP from rival conglomerates (Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka, Rodgers & Hammerstein, etc.). Keep LucasFilm but take Star Wars back to its classic, fun Flash Gordon roots.

Bring back all of Walt Disney’s film and TV and cartoon library to Disney+ and blu-ray. Reintroduce the founder and his persona/ideas/themes to new generations. Get rid of the warnings and edits. Elevate the classics back to their proper place (including SOTS).

Bring back the art of hand-drawn Disney animation (while Pixar does CG).

Stop with the remakes and sequels already. Back to original ideas.

Launch a digital broadcast channel for Vault Disney classic programming (like Me-TV for Walt).

Restore lost treasures to Disneyland as a tribute to Walt (Tomorrowland, Adventure Thru Inner Space, PeopleMover, Carousel of Progress, Swiss Family Treehouse, Country Bears, Mary Blair murals, etc.). Don’t alter existing classics except to upgrade tech.

Invest in thrilling, new and original attractions. Elevate disappointing recent additions.

Rebuild Walt’s Hyperion Studio with neon Mickey sign on original site as a public home for the Walt Disney Archives, Animation Research Library, and D23. Regular screenings and exhibits. Buy the Kingswell storefront and Walt storybook mansion as offsite/tour exhibits. Tie-in to Walt Disney Family Museum.

Restore the company as a vital creative hub with uncompromised vision and unique culture. Creativity first - the bottom line will follow. Talent first. People first. Respect traditions and institutional memory.

Possibly hire Oriental Land Company to operate the domestic parks until Disney relearns its business.

Leave Imagineering in Glendale where Walt walked the floor.

Abandon corporate sharp-pencil practices designed to pick pockets and maximize ROA. Abandon attempt to guide/control guest behavior through tech/apps. Abandon copycat corporate culture. Dump the data. Dump reservations, preordering, and virtual queues.

Rethink executive bonuses that strip assets.

Ensure cast-members have a living wage and job security.

Leave the real world, politics, and social engineering to others. Provide the inner child an escape from the everyday. Emphasize the ephemeral, the timeless, the reassuring and the optimistic. Bring back laughter and joy, art and beauty. Abandon attempts to be hip or relevant.

Respect the consumer and provide beyond-expectation experiences, service and products. Keep it friendly. Keep it simple. Give all that you can give.

Restore the name Walt Disney Productions to communicate creativity over corporation.

Make Disney Magic Again.

[JLee1226]

Well, about the only thing I agree with here is raising CM pay.

I definitely would not revert the park back to pre-1970's/1980's. That's a recipe for total irrelevance. Catering only to a small subset of park visitors who have nostalgia for a version of the park that has never existed for most guests visiting in 2021 is just not a sound idea.

Edit to add:

Things that are reasonably possible?

Boost CM pay across the board.

Green light Avengers E-ticket, Galaxy's Edge expansion (c-ticket ride, walk around characters/droids, etc)

move Star Tours to make it exit out through Galaxy's Edge.

double down on maintenance and restoration, general plus-ing. I am thinking of things like Indiana Jones queue (that 'bamboo' pole in the spike room looks like a wet noodle). And surely 26 years later we can come up with an alternative for the ice drop (like, I dunno, foam?)

Do that peoplemover as team replacement thing.

Electrify autopia.

[Jaygatzby]

merlinjones - Interesting idea of hiring OLC to run the domestic parks. Years (decades?) ago, that might have be sacrilege, but they really are a case of where the ‘student has become the master’. It would be great to see what the OLC could do with DLR and WDW.

At this point, restoring Disney post-Chapek would be like cleaning out my garage: long, painful, and feels like it would take forever.

As much as I would like a more scaled down Disney, it seems any such effort would just make Disney any easier acquisition for Apple, Amazon, or Netflix.

I would be content for just a couple ‘wishes’:

1.) Institute a 2:1 attraction ratio - for every one IP attraction built/reskinned, there needs to be at least two non-IP attractions built/reskinned

2.) Homer wish: Fix Tomorrowland - either return or remove the People Mover or something close, put the spinner jets back onto the PeopleMover structure, do a trackless and electric version of Autopia, and do something with the Innovations space (like a new audio animatronic show)

3.) Offer 1-2 days a week of Classic Mobile Free Magic - I get the feeling mobile phones will be the new ‘smoking / non-smoking section’ of the future. It would be nice to have just 1-2 days a week to visit Disney and enjoy the parks without mobile dependency and hyper advance reservation planning.

4.) Pay a higher wage for cast members, but also and equally, hold the cast members to a higher service standard. I had a close friend tell me she recently thought the customer experience was more constantly better at Costco than Disneyland. I would be for paying cast members a higher hourly wage and paying higher ticket/food/retail prices to contribute to those wages, but I would also like to see the DLR cast members service be more constantly the gold service standard.

Whoever follows Chapek, I hope they do amazing.

[Bob Weaver]

Drop the reservation system completely.

[Eagleman]

[USER="409"]

At this point, restoring Disney post-Chapek would be like cleaning out my garage: long, painful, and feels like it would take forever.

As much as I would like a more scaled down Disney, it seems any such effort would just make Disney any easier acquisition for Apple, Amazon, or Netflix.

LAUGHING-and I agree
Just way I feel- cleaning up after last few CEO would be like
cleaning out my garage: long, painful, and feels like it would take forever!

I been thinking....of a another comment you made as well.....
It like Chapek trying set ,Disney Parks Up,to be taken over by a 3rd party !/?

IMO...It sure look like it..........interesting point.
Just like TARGET did....from the former Disney Store's.

[Karalora]

I definitely would not revert the park back to pre-1970's/1980's. That's a recipe for total irrelevance. Catering only to a small subset of park visitors who have nostalgia for a version of the park that has never existed for most guests visiting in 2021 is just not a sound idea.

This, pretty much. The company cannot survive into the future if it stubbornly gets stuck in its own past. And this goes for the sociopolitical stuff as well--total indifference to the tastes of your present audience is not a formula for success. A sort of survivorship bias often affects discussions of media made in past decades--it's not that everything made back then was "timeless" while today's creators are falling into a trap of being relevant only for the current moment. Media creators have always striven to make works that will appeal to their contemporaries. Through serendipity, some will turn out to have staying power, and those will be the ones that, well, stay. And then once a work has lasted long enough to be considered a "classic," that status tends to be self-reinforcing. (If The Little Mermaid had been locked in a vault upon completion and were only now discovered and put in theaters, I suspect it would fail.)

That said, there are points to be made about how Disney no longer experiments with entertainment the way it used to, instead resting on its laurels--or worse, on the laurels of other creators whose IPs it has purchased. The company used to be a top-tier risk-taker and trendsetter, and the entertainment world was better for it. That needs to come back...and divesting all those acquired assets is an important step in making it happen. The company stopped taking risks once it had so many sure bets that it didn't have to anymore; do the math.

[Spongeocto4]

Drop the reservation system completely.

You're hired

[kjhorton25]

Focus heavily on theme park operations and put tons of money into the cast members that make the magic possible.

Pledge BILLIONS into development of the theme parks through Imagineering and spare no expense on projects they bring forward. If they can dream it, they can build it. Included in this is would also be a focus on entertainment being on the top of the priority list of returning items. Stage show back at Fantasyland/Hyperion Theater, WoC, Fantasmic and parades.

Mickey's Mix Magic, I despise it. Get rid of it and develop a new show for NIGHTLY fireworks, projections should add to the show not be the show.

[DisneySpaceAce]

Raise CM pay
Retool Galaxy's Edge so it's not awkwardly placed specifically in between Episodes VIII and IX, put money intro bringing attractions that had been cut from the land.
Total renovation of Tomorrowland. Sadly the land that has a high concentration of classic attractions has never quite worked the way it was intended. Make it LOOK like a futuristic city/spaceport instead of an outdoor mall.
After that, stage plussing of every other attraction with the aim of having a revitalized and renovated park with a brand new Tomorrowland ready for Disneyland's 75th bday in 2030.

[Flarson]

Drop the reservation system completely.

Only if there is no AP program what-so-ever. That way everyone there is in the same boat.

[Starcade]

Oh man There is so much it would be a post far too long and boring for anyone to read so I will just pick some bullet points off the top of my head in regards to the parks. ( even though the media and retail side needs help as well. )

- Bring back the extensive training for CM's and provide a pay and benefits increase.

- End Magic Key and revert back to the same AP's before Covid with very slight adjustments. Roll Magic keys onto this new program and allow them to opt out completely for a pro rated refund if they wish.

- Bring back the trams from M&F and add a subway style system ( working with the Boring company ) that bring guests in from Toy Story lot. A system similar to the Denver Airport would work well.

- End reservations except for on-site Hotel guests as this would allow them to come from afar without the worry of park selling out include this bucket in the daily max cap so even tourists arriving in the evening and staying on site would still be able to get into a sold out park if they wished.

- Make a section of the app that tracks the parks percentage of available entries so those thinking about going can check the app before making the drive. If the park is at 95% cap by the 4 pm then maybe not a good afternoon to try and go. But if it's only 60% full on an evening and you want to drop in go for it.

- End the Boarding pass program if somebody wants to wait in a 8hr line let them.

- End all Fast pass, max pass, Lightening lanes whatever let the lines find their own equilibrium as this is the most fair and and actually based on history creates the shortest overall lines.

- Require head of parks to work as a CM for at least 8 hours per month each time in a different land or attraction. If parks head has prior experience of a year or more as a CM than this can be reduced to 4hrs per month.

- Remove all mobile ordering. If you're not hungry enough to wait in a line then you do not need to delay it for those that are.

- Move Star Tours to SWGE, and add in the rumored E-ticket Marvel Campus.

- Move Rockets back to the top of the PM load area and build a new ATIS using todays technology and make it 4D.

- Get rid of the subs and put in a Frozen attraction that uses the water feature.

- Bring back the People Mover it will be costly but if done right would be one of the most popular and and largest people eaters with todays youth. Make it a ride that provides great photo ops.

- Put a Tron ride into the COP building. Not the Lighcycle ride that other parks have something different with less rider size and dissability restrictions.

- Bring a "Be Our Guest" style restaurant to the area across from IASW.

- Do not bring the Nightmare before Xmas layover to HM until the week after Halloween.

- Gut the backlot area of DCA and bring a proper dark ride there can be themed to Monsters or the Muppets but needs to be on a level above super star limo.

I have so much more but these are just off the top of my head.

[Mr Wiggins]

Sell control of DLR, WDW and WDI to the Oriental Land Company.

[Eagleman]

Sell control of DLR, WDW and WDI to the Oriental Land Company.

I do not know- if it would be, Oriental Land Company?
But sure look like ,this what Chapek try to do......sell control of the resorts to a 3 party
imo

[Dtimeisnow]

So where do I start? Let's keep the focus on the theme parks otherwise it'll go on too long.

First, I'd have an audit made through the theme park's division of pay to basically ensure the lowest tier cast members at least have a wage they can live on. No more living in their cars or having to live several counties away. Hence why we'd have to renegotiate with the higher executives about potential pay cuts in order to make that happen, hopefully convincing them it would at least make them look good by making that sacrifice.

Now having said that, my next move would be to reverse the employee attire guidelines so that tattoos had to be covered up, hair needed to be presentable, little to no makeup on everyone, and ensuring a professional look. A lot may not like the reversal, but being a cast member is essentially being the same as a concierge hotel employee. They need to look professional as well as be professional.

In order to help pay for the new employees and offset the needed cost to get the parks and imagineering back on track (as well as help pay the cast members), I would bring back the idea of companies sponsoring attractions. Tesla for Marvel, Goodyear for Cars, Southwest Airlines for Soarin, you know what I mean.

Of course, not only would I have maintenance immediately repair the current trams, but I would have imagineering look into developing new trams (potentially electric or natural gas run ones). But I'd also reopen the book in Anaheim to get the bridge project going again (a tall order, but it's worth a shot).

The Magic Key system would receive an immediate halt with all being refunded. Though this also means the AP program won't return either. Crowding has been too much an issue to return to the old way. It's time to fix that! I'd rather start a new program that instead of unlimited visits, would be a "punch card" style system where your allocated a certain number of visits. It would be small for those that may want 5 visits a year while hardcore fans could get in as many as 25 visits. Maybe they could get in a discount if they wanted to add more visits if they wanted. To compensate for a loss of unlimited visits, parking would be free for all "punch card members" (while regular parking would see a reduction in price)
While ticket price raising would be halted, the prices would stay the same. They need to reflect both the value of the park and current inflation models.

The park reservation system...GONE! The ticketing already serves as a reservation system.

Marketing would be severely altered. There would be less of a focus on the social media crowd, trying to be hip and cool in favor of putting the focus back on families; a place where the whole family can have fun. So instead of seeing ads where 20 somethings or celebrities like Billie Eilish enjoying the parks, it would put the focus back where it needs to be; children and their emersion into the fantasy. Adults would still be catered to, but it would be a families first, then those who like the Disney atmosphere.

Also, assuring it's family friendly atmosphere, Disney would cut all ties to any political or social causes. This is likely to spark the biggest backlash, but I believe that companies and corporations should not get involved in any capacity. This also means that while employees on their own are free to stand for their cause... they can only do so on their own time and CANNOT be representing Disney in any light. No ads featuring any politicians, no endorsements to any candidates, no calling out any social injustices on any social media post, nothing. Disney needs to put all of it's focus on entertainment and technology.

Ride and show ideas would take too long, but I'd want more focus on experiences everyone can do. So any ideas that involve microcharges (yes Spider-Man, I'm looking at you!) would no longer be allowed. Maintenance would gain an increase in budget in order to assure most if not all rides run smoothly. Plus I'd adapt the Universal model of "technical reversal" openings to not only give guests the chance to see the attraction before it opens, but at make the needed adjustments and changes so that it doesn't breakdown a million times in the first opening.

[Karalora]

I do not know- if it would be, Oriental Land Company?
But sure look like ,this what Chapek try to do......sell control of the resorts to a 3 party
imo

I don't think so. I think his medium to long-term plan is more along the lines of rebranding Disneyland (and maybe all the parks) as destinations for the elite, pricing average families out entirely. Ironically, they would probably make a little less money that way (since there are way more average families than rich ones), but the difference in prestige might be worth it to him. I really get the impression that he has contempt for most of what Disney produces because it's entertainment for the masses.

[Eagleman]

I don't think so. I think his medium to long-term plan is more along the lines of rebranding Disneyland (and maybe all the parks) as destinations for the elite, pricing average families out entirely. Ironically, they would probably make a little less money that way (since there are way more average families than rich ones), but the difference in prestige might be worth it to him. I really get the impression that he has contempt for most of what Disney produces because it's entertainment for the masses.

I do have to say....Chapek does use the Parks, as Advertisement Bill Board
and Agree-he pricing average families out entirely !

[disneywarcrafts]

Sell control of DLR, WDW and WDI to the Oriental Land Company.

I was going to post my own but this was funny and spot on.

[merlinjones]

What would Jiminy Cricket say?

Disney Openly Accepts Sports Betting as Part of Future Plans

https://www.gamblingnews.com/news/di...-future-plans/