In what has seemed to be long overdue to most Disney fans, Disney has parted ways after 3 years with Bob Chapek. His replacement - Bob Iger who previously served as CEO of Disney from 2005-2020 and as Disney's President for 5 years before that from 2000-2005.
Breaking Down the Change
To many Disney die-hards, Disney has lost it's "magic." You would be hard pressed to find any Disney fanatic that was happy with what Chapek was doing, for various different reasons. Disney's stock was down to a paltry $86 per share from a high of $197 in Feb 2021, not long after Chapek took the reigns. The Political Left was angry with his handling of Florida's Parental Rights in Education Bill, so much so that Chapek then angered the Political Right by openly opposing the Bill. Perhaps even worse though is that guests of Disneyland seem to be paying more at every turn and receiving far less in return.
It was time for a change. Iger knows Disney inside and out and he is a safe choice financially, seeing as he has led Disney to record profits during his tenure. But are record profits going to restore the "magic" to Disney?
Here are a few things Iger will need to do to get Disney back on track:
FastPass
One of the ways Iger can show that he is listening to the complaints of the Disney faithful and cares about guest experience is to make the "Fastpass" portion of Genie+ free again. This should be rather easy for him to do and make him look like a hero at the same time. It would be easy because it was implemented by his predecessor, Chapek, and because, due in part to the pandemic, Disney has experienced losses in revenues from attendance, lowering their profits. As attendance picks up, so will profits, meaning that getting rid of the revenue generating Genie+ will have less of a noticeable affect on the bottom line. I would actually rather see FastPass eliminated all together which would make all standby lines move twice as fast, but I'll settle for this baby step.
Magical Express
Another simple fix is to bring back the Magical Express service to Walt Disney World. Getting rid of this expense served no other reason than to cut costs as the expense of their guests. This was another Chapek blunder (although celebrated by most of the Board and Top Executives, I'd venture to say). This is another way for Iger to look like a hero, undoing the unfriendly guest policies of Chapek, and returning to Walt's philosophy of putting the guest first.
Park Hopping
Eliminate Park Hopping restrictions. Currently, guests can't park hop until after 1:00pm if they purchase the Park Hopper option on their ticket. Until 2 years ago when these restrictions were implemented, I had always paid the extra $60 or so per ticket for this option but now, with the after 1:00pm restrictions in place, I find no value in it. I'm sure I'm not the only one. This would be a simple way to increase revenue, which should be appealing to Iger, and create a better guest experience.
Monthly Payment Plans for Annual Passes
Here's where we'll see how serious Iger is about guest satisfaction. When Iger implemented monthly payment plans for annual passes, there was an immediate, noticeable difference in how congested Disneyland got. Perhaps this issue has been addressed by limiting the number of entrances allowed to annual passes per day with the reservation system and, if so, that's fine.
Bring Back the old Disney Cast Member Grooming Standards
There's really no other way to put it than Disneyland is starting to resemble the carnival atmosphere that Walt wanted to avoid when he built Disneyland. So many of the people closest to Walt asked him why he would want to build an amusement park because at that time they were all so dirty and the crew that ran them were covered in tattoos and not family friendly. Walt's response was, "Mine won't be like that." Well guess what, Disney? You have let Walt's park become what he didn't want. Make Cast Members cover their tattoos. They are incredibly distracting and take away from what Disneyland is supposed to be - a magical place where you get out of the real world. Make males have a clean-cut appearance and no distracting color to any hair. Doing these sorts of things will also help Cast Members start acting more professional as well - another thing that has deteriorated over the past few years.
Staying Clear of the Political Arena
This is an area that killed Bob Chapek and Disney during his tenure, particularly in regards to Florida's Parental Rights in Education Bill. Chapek managed to tick off both the political left and right with his clumsy intrusion into the topic. Disney has no business in politics.
Bring Back Wholesome Family Entertainment
Now on to the more difficult part...When I was growing up, parents could put on the Disney Channel or any Disney show in general and not have to wonder what I, or any other child, was being taught. Disney was different than the other cartoons. While other cartoons used crude humor to get cheap laughs, Disney told family friendly, heart warming stories that left you rooting for certain characters, anguishing with them when things didn't go their way, and laughing with them when accidents happened. Today when I turn on a show for my kids, I have to worry about what sort of alternative lifestyle is being taught to them in addition to other things. That's not what I or many other parents want to have to worry about when our kids are watching a Disney cartoon. Iger already fired Disney's top Content Distribution man, Kareem Daniel, but to really help right the ship, Iger will need to get rid of their top Executives of the Movie/Animation creative departments who are pushing their current fringe ideals.
Leave Splash Mountain Alone
I'll admit this one is more of a personal preference of mine (and of my kids). Disneyland has so many attractions in need of maintenance and even many "Lands" such as Tomorrowland and Hollywood Land, are in dire need of...something. When I was at Disneyland this summer with my family, 3 attractions broke down while we were on them in 3 days! I had never had more than one break down on me before in a trip and even that was rare. Three of the turn-table chase scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean were not functional, the Rolling Boulder scene in Indiana Jones hasn't worked for years, and many attractions had lighting issues that had a huge negative impact in the story telling aspect of the attraction. It seems like such a waste to spend money on fixing something that isn't broken in the first place. In fact, not only is Splash Mountain not broken, it is a fan favorite. The perception of this move is exactly why Disney's Image is being tarnished. It's a bad idea to change a popular attraction because a small number of people think that the movie it is based on is somehow racist rather than making improvements that everybody can agree with and will make the park better for everybody.
That last point is why Disney is moving in the wrong direction in general - trying to appease a small group of people rather than making quality wholesome entertainment that has been enjoyed by the masses over the years.
Disney, please bring back Walt's magic to your programming and your parks.
