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[Caldercup]

Originally Posted by bradk

Not going to start an Eisner debate. Eisner (who handpicked Iger) saved Disney. period. There'd be no Disney World without him.

Absolutely, Brad. I say this to people all the time.
Eileen

[lukeandbrookesmom]

Originally Posted by Dave Marx

There will almost undoubtedly be a Ratatouille attraction, perhaps a hotel restaurant? (It'd be sooo easy to convert Chef's de France/Bistro de Paris to Gusteau's, but it would clash with the authenticity of the World Showcase, which would be a very bad move in my opinion. World Showcase is a place that makes folks want to travel the world, and as a travel writer, I wouldn't want to lose that.) It is still way too early for a Ratatouille attraction. It's not a matter of box office (it certainly was not a flop - it just wasn't a record-breaking hit), but these things take time. A 3D film like Mickey's PhilharMagic, perhaps, with all the right scents and the dynamic "camera" moves they used in the film? Rather than a gift shop at the exit, there could be a dining room (counter service) serving bowls of Remy's soup, and the best vegetarian entree you could find anywhere. "Lightninged" mushrooms, anyone (battered and fried, I'd presume)? All sorts of carry-out foods at the counter to bring back to the old DVC villa... I might be in the minority here, but a really good cheese board would be welcome. That, however, might be a mistake at MK, since I couldn't get a nice glass of wine to go with it.

I'd say Dave has a good amount of Imagineering blood in him

[MattUGA]

You can give Eisner credit for saving it. You can also give him blame though for costing the company 100s of millions near the end. It is not an either or. You can be successful and then a bust.

[bradk]

(shrug) I guess I'm having trouble understanding facts I guess.

Disney has its quarterly reports posted going back to 2000 and by my count, every single one through the end of Eisner's reign reflects an increase in revenue / earnings per share except for 3 - 2 quarters showed a small decrease and 1 remained the same.

The Walt Disney Company and Affiliated Companies - Quarterly Earnings Releases

[HiddenMinnie68]

Originally Posted by Lori Jakiela

Toy story seems timeless to so many children. I know my older nephews loved it at the time and my son who is 5 just loves Buzz and Woody...in fact the highlight of his trip was the stamp from Buzz in his book. I would however, love to see more of the Cars characters. My son was so disappointed to go to DS to find he was at Luigi's for a tune up. I think they should have done a little more with that! I would love for my kid's sake to see a PIXAR parade at WDW. Well, we may have to go to Disneyland now....Oh, bother another trip to plan!

We Toy Story!!! - but wish there were more CARS attractions too. We are excited to see the new Block Party Bash parade, but are disappointed that Lightning and Tow-Mater won't be in the parade anymore. We will have to make a special trip to Disneyland too. Our boys absolutely love CARS - well Mom does too

[MattUGA]

Shrug.. but when the SEC starts investigating your misdeeds that's a sign. The board violated every possible rule of separation possible. That's why they split the chairman and the ceo position

Again..the Ovitz dealing. Eisner hired his best friend and then fired him 14 months later while giving him a $130,000,000 severance package. Here's a quote from a judge blasting Eisner.

Chandler blasted Eisner and the board for not exploring the Ovitz matter more diligently. "By virtue of his Machiavellian (and imperial) nature as CEO, and his control over Ovitz's hiring in particular, Eisner to a large extent is responsible for the failings in process that infected and handicapped the board's decision-making abilities," Chandler wrote.

"Eisner stacked his (and I intentionally write 'his' as opposed to 'the company's') board of directors with friends and other acquaintances who, though not necessarily beholden to him in a legal sense, were certainly more willing to accede to his wishes and support him unconditionally than independent directors."

The movie studios plummeted. Eisner personally choosing to overpay for the Family Channel by numbers no one can begin to comprehend. He chased away execs due to paranoia. The gross waste that Euro Disney (later Disneyland Paris) became. This was Eisner's choice. He refused to admit fault. He ignore European basic trends of income, travel, work crews, etc. It took a major financial restructering to keep the park open. Eisner thought Nemo would stink. He didn't want Lord of the Rings, etc. Without Katzenberg and Wells, it's hard to find anything that Eisner did that was amazing. By the way, Katzenberg deserves much of the credit for the return of the animation.

And Katzenberg. He had a valid contract and Eisner refused to honor it based totally on ego. Even Ovitz saw this and had reached a deal with Katzenberg to settle for about 80 million (which was much less than it was worth). Then Eisner said he wouldn't pay anything. Yes he did. He ended up having to give Katzenberg about $280,000,000. Thanks Michael. Your ego cost the company hundreds of millions.

You can look at those numbers if you want but the truth is he cost the company billions. He caused a shareholder revolt that has never been matched. The vote of no confidence was amazingly high. This isn't because people like Roy.

I just think since Eisner did so much to Save Disney from Ron Miller's and Card Walker's ineptness that people give him a free pass for being a terrible CEO in the last ten years. There is a lot of "Emperor has no clothes" thinking from supporters of his. I'll take Eisner every day of the week for what he did up until Wells' death and Katzenberg's departure. After that, it's failure after failure. It's also waste after waste and missed opportunity after missed opportunity.

[Caldercup]

Not that this is an Eisner-centric discussion....

I agree with Brad -- Eisner saved it. He made it profitable. He also made "cuts" that hurt -- both creatively, intellectually, and professionally -- not to mention what his actions did to hurt employee morale corporate-wide. However, without him... there would be no company - or, at least, not the way we know it now. He had to be a bit of a hatchet man and I can step back and applaud him for what he accomplished.

Do I like him personally -- not all that much. Am I glad he was there to step in -- absolutely. Am I glad he's gone -- yep and it seems that many of the creative staff feel the same way, not to mention that I've seen one heck of an improvement in the morale of the CMs in the parks (which is purely anedotal on my part, but feels very real nonetheless.)

I'm not a shareholder, but I still feel indebted to Eisner every time I step into a park and it's still there, still going strong, and still good.
Eileen

PS - just want to shout out to the people around Eisner, as he couldn't have done what he did without many of the people he hired, nurtured, lit fires under and let do their own thing (at times.) I also want to give praise to the many people who fought him, challenged him, stuck to "the Disney code" and did their darndest to keep things growing -- or just outlasted Eisner in the end. Seriously, it takes all types to make a world -- even a Disney World.

[Lori Jakiela]

Originally Posted by HiddenMinnie68

We Toy Story!!! - but wish there were more CARS attractions too. We are excited to see the new Block Party Bash parade, but are disappointed that Lightning and Tow-Mater won't be in the parade anymore. We will have to make a special trip to Disneyland too. Our boys absolutely love CARS - well Mom does too

I see you are going to Tokyo Disney...how awesome is that?

[PoohBearFreak32]

I think Toy Story is dispersed through the World pretty good. However, I loved Ratatouille and would like to see more of the rats. Of course I liked Finding Nemo too...

[julieb]

I love the Toy Story movies, and can't wait to go on Toy Story Mania at DHS. I don't think that there's too much Toy Story at all, but that may just be me. That being said, I'm glad that not every movie has its own attraction. There seems to be a nice mix of movie and non-movie related attractions.

[MdCaterer]

I have to agree with everyone else. We LOVE Toy Story and can never get too much of it. I am glad to see another Toy Story attraction. That movie and the characters were awesome!!!!!!!!

[papamouse]

Toy Story is a good movie, don't get me wrong, but come on, Buzz spin whatever and TSM are the EXACT same ride, just different theme. I just don't think we need Woody and Buzz EVERYWHERE.

[Caldercup]

See, now I perceive Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and Toy Story Midway Mania as *completely different.* Yes, they are both shoot-em-up "dark rides," but they have a totally different feel and ride mechanism.

Plus, BLSRS is *just* Buzz's world and includes Zurg and the little green aliens. TSMM has the whole Toy Story Gang.

The shooting mechanism is a very different experience. The targets are completely different in scale, execution, and practice. The ride vehicle is totally different and each have a very unique "feel."

While I can see and appreciate their similarities, I wouldn't say that they are the same or that one is "enough."

I think they are both home runs (although I prefer the Disneyland version of Buzz.)
Eileen

[papamouse]

Originally Posted by Caldercup

See, now I perceive Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and Toy Story Midway Mania as *completely different.* Yes, they are both shoot-em-up "dark rides," but they have a totally different feel and ride mechanism.

Plus, BLSRS is *just* Buzz's world and includes Zurg and the little green aliens. TSMM has the whole Toy Story Gang.

The shooting mechanism is a very different experience. The targets are completely different in scale, execution, and practice. The ride vehicle is totally different and each have a very unique "feel."

While I can see and appreciate their similarities, I wouldn't say that they are the same or that one is "enough."

I think they are both home runs (although I prefer the Disneyland version of Buzz.)
Eileen

What you just said makes my point, they are both EXACTLY the same, just different theme. One is just Buzz and the other is everyone. They are both still "shoot-em-up "dark rides,"". and both are still based from the same movie.


I just hate it when Disney takes ONE movie and or ONE character and over kills it. Like when they did Stich everywhere, Made me totally HATE Stich. If they keep this up, I have no problem hating TS too.

[RobDVC]

Ahhh... but although they may be the same type of ride, they are in two different parks, so there's not any overkill in my opinion.

Just like Six Flags has Superman coasters in a lot of their parks, Disney has a Toy-Story based target shooter in most of their parks.