Is Bob Chapek ruining the Parks experience?

[Lsyves]

I don’t know where the blame should go either but I do know my upcoming trip this month is our last. Only reason we are going is because it’s on my oldest child’s bucket list before he goes to college. We are also going to the Maldives this year which will cost about the same as Disney for more days and at a full scale luxury resort. If Disney gave us more bang for our buck I wouldn’t be so adamant about not returning but I agree with the general sentiment that we are all paying a lot more for a lot less. Sad.

 

[dledger]

I think it’s funny to see everyone so quick to blame either (both) of the Bobs, and Josh D’Amaro make it out unscathed, despite being in a top position of the actual parks. Does he not need to bear some of the brunt of your issues? Yes he’s personable and out in front of the people more often - but do we really think he’s played no part?

 

[shawthorne44]

I disagree. People are going to try to save money some place else to compensate for the money grab currently happening at Disney. They'll stay off property and eat off property if they have to provide their own transportation from the airport. Guests are no longer going to be a captive audience. They will explore other options.

I agree with you. Once people get a rental car, the Disney bubble is burst. Once you have the car, it is better to drive your own car to all the non-MK parks. Driving to and from the parks it is easy to see other places you could eat, and other places to stay that are both 'offsite' and even closer.

 

[Leight19]

A lot of the items people complain about are essentially cost increases. Magic hours for deluxe only, magic express chasing to a paid Mears services, pay for rides, etc. I care less about those, that isn't changing the quality of the product, just charging more for it and in different ways.

What concerns me is the providing less service with no option to pay.

One of the most concerning thing is lack of room cleaning for me. It is just a basic of a hotel that they tidy your room, make your bed, and give you new towels every day.

I generally agree with premise of increase cost not being as bad as reduced offering but view these specific items different. If magic express became a paid add on I’d have been slightly annoyed but ultimately would gladly pay. It didn’t become a paid service, they cut ties and it is no longer Disney product. I had never heard of mears and assumed it was all Disney until it was cancelled. How easy the process was with luggage pickup and delivery combined with the “magic” of the ride id gladly pay for (sounds cheesy but I always felt we had arrived on vacation once the bus video started).

It’s similar to me for the paid fast pass, they didn’t just increase price but fundamentally changed what was offered (no reride, no preplanning). They also have created incentive for themselves to run the parks poorly and artificially inflate waits. Some will say Disney won’t do this but they already do to some extent by changing staffing levels and number of tracks they run on slow days.

 

[Disney0010]

This……..

The Corporate running of a publicly held company seems to be misunderstood. Either one of the Bob's remains there at the pleasure of the Board of Directors. It is fun, perhaps to put the blame on those individuals, but contrary to belief their power is projected from the BOD. They may be idea people or surround themselves with idea people, but for anything as big as Genie or billion dollar expenditures that is run by the BoD. Now either one, particularly Iger right now has considerable influence and by succession Chapek does as well. But, make no mistake about it, they don't make major decisions without the blessing of the Board. The Board, in turn, owes their cushy, big check positions to the stockholders. The Board will usually go with whatever the see as being the biggest return for the stockholders.

 

[Darcy03231]

I disagree. People are going to try to save money some place else to compensate for the money grab currently happening at Disney. They'll stay off property and eat off property if they have to provide their own transportation from the airport. Guests are no longer going to be a captive audience. They will explore other options.

This is us. My neighbor and I had plans to go to WDW in the fall of 2020 and ended up canceling due to COVID. Plan was for 10 days, on-site, meal plan, character meals daily, BBB, park hoppers, etc.

Although we haven't rebooked yet, new plan is still 10 days, but we'll be staying off-site and renting a car. We'll send up eating some meals in and some out, but will most likely be eating at off-site restaurants, with maybe some snacking in the parks. We're still on the fence about 10 day park tickets. We're considering 5-6 days for Disney and the rest for Seaworld/Discovery Cove. We probably won't do any character meals unless they go back to stopping at your table for an autograph/photo.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

Disney seems to be without the consumer experience guy to offset the bean counter guy (aka Chapek). Josh D'Amaro seems to be the future hope to realign consumer experience back to the front of the discussion. But unless he makes it higher in the leadership chain, he will have to follow Chapek's direction. Right now it feels like the top leader is sucking the magic out of the mouse.

I don’t know the guy, and he seems earnest enough in his social media outlets. But what exactly has he *done* to demonstrate that he cares about the customer experience above short-term, corporate profits? Not speaking about carefully orchestrated public displays of affection to CMs. Again, don’t know enough about his own decisions and implementations, but it seems odd that he escapes so much of the vitriol to the higher ups at Disney when he’s been one of the top lieutenants while these things have been implemented under his watch.

 

[SteveH]

Whether Chapek is to blame or not doesn't really matter. The Board could reverse course if they cared to do so, they haven't. The bottom line is Disney has become "DI$NEY - It's all about the Money" and that's where the problem lies.

We didn't use DME a lot as we often stayed at SwanDolphin, but it was a great service and a big benefit to starting your vacation and ending it without a big worry. Just dropping it and punting over to Mears who then charges for is the tip of the ice berg. If Disney would have left it in place and charged for it that would have probably gone over much better, but they didn't. The current DME is a shell of it's former self. If Disney was going to replace DME with something better they should have announced it by now. I don't see anything else coming. Brightline? So I get to schlep my luggage from the airport to a train, to something else? Hard Pass for me.

Genie? with the reputation of Disney's IT Department? Hell they've had months/years to solve the ADR problem and they haven't.

I could go on and on, we've all read it we know what's happening.

 

[wfjny]

So, I have said this before. I have a certain amount of money budgeted for entertainment. Disney gets the bulk of that money.

We all know this, and we are all comfortable with this. However, there is a set amount. For years, I have felt, the way we do Disney has been of great value. However, with many of the changes at Disney, that will eventually change.

What I think Disney does not quite understand:

Cancelling the Magical Express – While I do understand the saving, and yes, nobody is canceling the trip because they cannot get a free ride to/from the airport, they are losing their captive audience. When I lived in NY, Disney trips were an airplane ride away. While the free ride was great, the bigger thing was we were a captive audience. Every moment we were in Florida, we were at Disney. Every penny we spent was spent at Disney. Every meal was a Disney meal. Now, I do understand that Uber has changed the playing field a bit. But how many families will take an Uber to Olive Garden?

Price Increases - While nobody likes price increases, many of us understand that things do go up in price over time. However, Disney’s prices have increased much more that the standard cost of living. In addition, the lessening of certain discounts, or the elimination of some options the value (or bang for your buck) of Disney has decreased.

Disney has also hidden a lot of price increases. I look at it like I look at some of the hotel websites. They state a room is $100 a night, but when you click on the hotel to book it, you find out there is $18 in taxes, and a $32 a night resort or parking fee. Just show me the total price up front. Let me compare apples to apples. Disney could have just raised their price another $15 a day and included Genie+.

Substitution – back in the ‘80s when I worked my way thru school by working at a supermarket, I was taught about substitution. In essence, people are still going to eat, no matter what goes on with the economy. However, if times are tough, people will find something different to eat. Instead of Ribeye, they will purchase a cheaper steak. Instead of the cheaper steak, they will purchase chop meat. Instead of chicken, they will purchase pasta.

In our case, substitution has meant perhaps going to Olive Garden instead of Beirgarten, or Nathans instead of Casey’s. The point being, I can take my family of six for a $400 dinner at the Beirgarten, or spend under $200 at Olive Garden. The problem for Disney is that once some people go down that path, they will not come back. Which means these short term gains could lead to long term loss of sales. Our habits have changed. We now hit one park in the morning, hop in the car, go off-site for lunch, then arrive at the next park by 2:00.

Paying more for less – While I already made the point about the Price Increases, I think it is a double insult to charge people more while you are delivering less. Unlike the other points, yes, most of this is basically Covid related. However, some of it is also about the changes to park hours. Disney seems to be on a bit of a downward spiral. Less people, so close the parks earlier. Earlier closings leads people to believe the whole less value for your money ($150 for 15 hours is just $10 an hour, while $150 for only 10 hours makes your cost $15 and hour, a 50% increase).

Reservations – I know Disney purists hate when I say Disney is a theme park. And I agree, Disney is basically in a league of their own. But, there are theme parks all over the country, and the world. In the US, we have season passes to both Six Flags and to one of the Cedar Fare parks. No other park that I am aware of requires reservations at this point. For an out of state AP holder, the reservation system is the one thing that has completely changed how we “Do Disney”, and not for the better.

What Disney does not realize – As Annual Pass holders, many of us bring Disney more business. While we do take some long weekend trips with just the three or four of us (depending on school), Many of our trips included friends., in-laws, daughter and son-in-law, sister’s and their families, etc. Many people want to go with us. Case in point, this weekend. We will be there for the weekend, and my wife’s cousin and their family are going to join us on Sunday. There is another three one day tickets Disney is going to sell, and they had no plans in going to Disney until we said we would be there. Then we planned and got an ADR for the six of us Sunday afternoon. More money for Disney, because if it was just the three of us, we would probably have picked up something at Publix that night.

That is what they do not understand. They will probably do another $1,000 in business between park tickets, drinks and food on Sunday that they would have. That is one hundred percent because of me. If Disney loses my business, they will also lose that business.

I am not sure is Chapek is the correct one to blame for all of this, but the buck does stop with him.

 

[DianaMB333]

Isn’t D’Amaro the head of Parks?

I agree that Disney is changing and experiences are not necessarily improving in all areas … but I found hard to put the blame on one person on such a big organization… might be deeper issues are around?

Hopefully they are receiving the feedback and care to do something because there is a very large base of loyal customers eager for improvements

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

Not sure this is the place for this discussion, but I do think D+ is going to drastically change the company as it is. They’ve clearly bet big on this direction for the company, and it seems to be paying off for now (at least on Wall Street). It was clearly guided by Iger’s effort to make Disney perform (and be viewed) more like a tech company than one that offers bricks and mortar like experiences. You could argue that D+ successes so far have outpaced other behemoths such as Apple, WB, and ATT/NBC/Peacock.
But one thing tech companies do not like is unnecessary overhead or inefficiencies. I think we’re starting to see that in the way the parks are operating. They’ve cut ties with virtually ALL physical shopping and retail locations. What happens when the overhead and costs associated with the Parks operations are viewed as not as efficient or profitable as their digital offerings? Remember, Netflix (wisely) sold off its physical DVD segment when it was still profitable.
Alternatively, this pivot to putting all the eggs in D+ basket could prove dire for the company when the inevitable streaming bubble bursts (none of them have shown a profit to date), possibly leaving TWDC ripe for a takeover.
Anyhow, just general thoughts.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

To my point just now, see attached. Chapek and D’Amaro are dictated by the board, which is reactive to Wall Street. I see D+ becoming a thing that overwhelms every other aspect of the company, to the detriment of segments like the Parks.

 

[DianaMB333]

So the world is ruled by wall street analysts that are workholics with no time to enjoy parks or experiences detached from mobile devices…

crazy world.. but at least I hope that during my lifetime the parks and cruises will be still open

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

I think what we are seeing is just the perfect storm of covid, inflation, new management ect. As has been says before, Genie has been in the works for a long time. And a lot of the less offerings is still because of covid. But if you really get down to it, the cost if everything is going up right now. Gas, groceries, and yes, entertainment. It sucks when your budget doesn’t go as far as it did before. But it’s unreasonable to think that Disney prices would stay the same when almost everything else is increasing right now.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

Not sure this is the place for this discussion, but I do think D+ is going to drastically change the company as it is. They’ve clearly bet big on this direction for the company, and it seems to be paying off for now (at least on Wall Street). It was clearly guided by Iger’s effort to make Disney perform (and be viewed) more like a tech company than one that offers bricks and mortar like experiences. You could argue that D+ successes so far have outpaced other behemoths such as Apple, WB, and ATT/NBC/Peacock.
But one thing tech companies do not like is unnecessary overhead or inefficiencies. I think we’re starting to see that in the way the parks are operating. They’ve cut ties with virtually ALL physical shopping and retail locations. What happens when the overhead and costs associated with the Parks operations are viewed as not as efficient or profitable as their digital offerings? Remember, Netflix (wisely) sold off its physical DVD segment when it was still profitable.
Alternatively, this pivot to putting all the eggs in D+ basket could prove dire for the company when the inevitable streaming bubble bursts (none of them have shown a profit to date), possibly leaving TWDC ripe for a takeover.
Anyhow, just general thoughts.

You are correct. And you must be a shareholder as well? I'm reposting what I wrote in another thread to show my full agreement on your assessment of the situation concerning the dwindling support the company shows for the parks:

The answer to this and many of the other threads about Disney being too expensive...pricing out guests...lower quality...etc, can all be explained rather easily in my opinion and it all boils down to "they only care about Dis+".

Perhaps its because I've been a shareholder for a while and followed the stock for even longer and perhaps it's because most of my discussions on the internet about Disney revolve around their business and not the magic of the parks as is usually the topic of boards such as this, but I can say with utmost certainty that the growth of Dis+ is not only on the forefront of all the higher ups minds but is all they truly care about from a business perspective. (please don't mind the run on sentence)

In case you haven't noticed the streaming wars are very real. Disney is in an intense battle with the likes of Netflix and Apple and Viacom and many others. This is where the big money is. Do they not care about the parks at all? They care...a little. Do they only see them as a means of revenue to keep growing Dis+? Heck yeah. This is the Iger/Chapek regime's main goal. They don't care about your fireworks shows. They don't care that you want to ride that same ride that you rode every year for 15 years that made you feel those special feelings. They don't care that you looked forward to watching that poorly produced video on the magical express that the driver had a VHS tape of as you pulled into the various hotel stops and somehow yours was always the last darn hotel...but you didn't mind.

They. Don't. Care. I think once you understand that it's easier to say ok this is what I'm getting for my money and if I can live with it I'll keep paying it. If I think it stinks...I can keep paying for it and complain or just say I'll see ya when I see ya Mickey. The whole situation isn't ideal. But at least Dis+ will have hundreds of millions of subscribers...and that my friends is the new pixie dust.

 

[starstruck93]

Completely agree with everything you said. We purchased DVC in 2009..... I really can't believe how much has changed in the past year. It's very disappointing. I'm so grateful we can use our DVC points at places like Aulani, Hilton Head, Vero etc. We won't be visiting the parks much after our December trip this year. I changed our BLT trip in April to Aulani. People need to understand that as long as we tolerate this they will keep doing it.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

You are correct. And you must be a shareholder as well? I'm reposting what I wrote in another thread to show my full agreement on your assessment of the situation concerning the dwindling support the company shows for the parks:

The answer to this and many of the other threads about Disney being too expensive...pricing out guests...lower quality...etc, can all be explained rather easily in my opinion and it all boils down to "they only care about Dis+".

Perhaps its because I've been a shareholder for a while and followed the stock for even longer and perhaps it's because most of my discussions on the internet about Disney revolve around their business and not the magic of the parks as is usually the topic of boards such as this, but I can say with utmost certainty that the growth of Dis+ is not only on the forefront of all the higher ups minds but is all they truly care about from a business perspective. (please don't mind the run on sentence)

In case you haven't noticed the streaming wars are very real. Disney is in an intense battle with the likes of Netflix and Apple and Viacom and many others. This is where the big money is. Do they not care about the parks at all? They care...a little. Do they only see them as a means of revenue to keep growing Dis+? Heck yeah. This is the Iger/Chapek regime's main goal. They don't care about your fireworks shows. They don't care that you want to ride that same ride that you rode every year for 15 years that made you feel those special feelings. They don't care that you looked forward to watching that poorly produced video on the magical express that the driver had a VHS tape of as you pulled into the various hotel stops and somehow yours was always the last darn hotel...but you didn't mind.

They. Don't. Care. I think once you understand that it's easier to say ok this is what I'm getting for my money and if I can live with it I'll keep paying it. If I think it stinks...I can keep paying for it and complain or just say I'll see ya when I see ya Mickey. The whole situation isn't ideal. But at least Dis+ will have hundreds of millions of subscribers...and that my friends is the new pixie dust.

Thanks for your post! I am not a financial shareholder, but rather probably an emotional stakeholder. I just think people are underestimating the disruptive impact this can have on the company. Parks, DVC, and cruises are only 25% of total revenue and 13% of operating income. How Disney Makes Money: Media, Entertainment, Parks, and Experiences (investopedia.com) They've demonstrated they are willing to cannibalize a steady income stream (DVD/Blu-Ray sales) for growth in the streaming sector. They've cut off their physical store footprint, instead entering into an arrangement with Target.

Back to the point of this thread- Chapek is a person completely aligned with the prerogatives of the board of directors. He made himself look good by a laser focus on increasing productivity and profitability above all else. You can blame him all you want, but he was merely (very well, I might add) achieving what the board wanted of him. Is he more of a placeholder or seat warmer until a new, more permanent candidate emerges? Perhaps. But don't be surprised if it's someone more in the mold of a tech or streaming executive rather than someone that came up through Parks or consumer products.

 

[goofyernmost]

It all comes under his watch. He is the face of Disney right now.

That doesn't mean that he wasn't put in place to take the crap away from Iger who conveniently quit that position just before the Pandemic. Coincidence? I don't know, but on the surfaces seems unlikely especially with Bob #1 having so many contacts in China. I think, no proof, just a feeling, that Bob #2 is there as a scape goat. Time will tell.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

Speaking of Chapek, the whole point of Bob I. staying on was to shore up the “creative” side of things. That was 19 months ago and analysts are bashing D+ for not having a steady, compelling, or reliable flow of content. Doesnt Iger deserve the blame for that?

 

[tony67]

I think, no proof, just a feeling, that Bob #2 is there as a scape goat. Time will tell.

Yeah - I suspect the same - hard to know if they truly had a succession plan - maybe they just threw in Cheapek to fill the seat and keep it warm as Iger leaving did not seem well planned at all.

Id assume much of this stuff was already being thought about before Cheapek took over and COVID accelerated it.

Im sure he was involved in the discussions and planning of it all, but there were many others involved in it - he just takes the blame as he is an easy target.