Suppose Chapek was fired, and YOU were named CEO…

[Kbrb]

1. Restore ME. I cant stress this enough as an international guest its a total nightmare.
2. Id like to go back to the old FP system but i cant really judge as i have never used genie so i will end the paid LL single ride dump it all on genie
3. Offer guests of lesser hotels more perks than hey get up at 7 am and beat the crowd.
4. Mass skyliner expansion plans
5. Get epcot to look something like what we where shown in the art work.
6. End the all the nickle and dime plans that im sure we have no idea about
7. Free parking at your resort.

 

[dixonyy18]

1. Magic express back, even if paid,
2. Better and more creative DVC exclusives
3. Not so scary back
4. Fast pass tiers, free and paid options
5. MAGIC!

 

[Lehuaann]

Rehire and/or increase emergency services staff

https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/...visitors-could-be-in-danger-over-the-holidays
https://insidethemagic.net/2021/12/disney-guest-death-danger-mc1/

 

[bsmcneil]

There are things I'd enjoy and I get that this wasn't the point of your post; but, I'd recognize I'm not cut out for the job, stick to where I would succeed, and want someone else to take over. The next rung isn't always the best option for people and sometimes climbing it just to do it/out of ambition really sucks (for the employee, the employers, and any consumers they might have). And that's what it feels like here - Bob Chapek made sense (having ticked a number of boxes and having some other options not pan out as planned). But, it doesn't really seem as though CEO of TWDC is a great fit in the way that I (personally) felt Bob Iger was (I felt like Iger had a wide vision that wasn't too focused on any division - media, theme parks, etc - and also carried forth a decent balance of business/creativity). I feel like Bob Chapek is pretty hyper focused on data and analytics and misses out on some of the intangibles - which is super hard. I have been the guy that has ticked the boxes and should have been a good fit for something for which I wasn't, and it sucks - and it's important to recognize when something isn't the right fit.

But if it's fantasy we're after ...

1a) I think I'd hyper focus on US parks (and WDW as I'm less familiar with DLR) in a way that Shanghai and Tokyo seem to have become great successes. It often feels like upkeep of attractions is way off the radar and I would do everything in my power to keep Imagineering as a Blue Sky sort of place. I'd probably do just about whatever it takes to have Joe Rohde run the ship and developing (or "training" though I don't think I or JR would prefer that term) really strong leadership.

1b) I'd generally halt expansion and seek to really fine-tune existing offerings, whether updates (I think it was AllEars that recently pointed out that MuppetVision 3D is 30 years old) or taking down something to build in its place. Mostly, I'd seek to update World Showcase (EP) and DinoLand (AK) - if possible, I'd uproot the WS concept of 11 countries or whatever to be the continents as outward facing and then they could open up to be more representative of their diverse lands (this would be the only real expansion that I think makes sense at WDW). In some way, this would make the lagoon the hub with continents more or less being the lands akin to MK. I'd also consider uprooting Future World (or whatever it is now) to integrate into WS. The other possibility here is uprooting the WS as it currently is to regularly change (every 5 years) to alternate the countries present (I know I have 11 stuck in my head and it might be wrong - but as Aaron Sorkin once wrote, "207 sovereign states in the world" - maybe we could showcase more than 11 of them?!).

1c) I'd hire someone to design a unified transportation system for WDW and then spend money hand over fist to make it right. This isn't about relying on only one system (buses or rail) - I'd keep variety of some form/various forms. But I definitely want it planned out in a more unified way.

2) I'd focus on more tightly integrating existing IP with current media forms and pull back some/slightly on introducing new concepts. So, maybe Disney animation has a major new release each year and focuses on re-introducing a classic IP (either through re-release or basically re-releasing but with updated music provided by the LA Philarhamonic or a 21st century retelling). I thought I hated the live-action releases of things like The Lion King; and, I super appreciated that they tried. And I found I loved Aladdin and realize that things are hit or miss and work for some and not for others. But the rate of creation and finding successes (especially since streaming allows us to mine things that were cult hits) feels like we don't always have to churn out new stuff.

3) I'd be clear to shareholders that our value comes not just from making a financial profit - but also making our company a place people want to work. And so, dividends and stock prices might go down so we could pay more than we "have to" - but eventually might show up as profit as people find our company and talent to be the leading edge of excellent service and quality.

 

[Mystify]

Cancel Genie +
Get rid of Park Reservations,
improve Customer Service
Hire more operators to answer the phone lines
Bring Back nighttime shows At HS and AK

 

[Disturbia]

1. MDE changes: Get rid of Genie+/LL and offer limited after hours events instead. Keep mobile waitlists for hard to get ADRs
2. Customer Service: Focus on Guest Experience vs $$$$ - when something goes wrong, go above and beyond and offer to correct the situation/disappointment. Only let experienced members in positions that involve customer interaction; give wheelchair access; we don’t have anyone with disability but it ruins the Disney magic to see a person in a wheelchair maneuvering the ropes/lines; Magical Express improves customer experience as I want to be in the bubble and have my bags arrive in my room magically and reinstate airport check in
3. Food: Improve the food quality or don’t charge an arm and a leg for places like Ohana, Space 220, Tiffins, Topolinos etc; add food (snack) booths at MK; Bring back GF pastry chefs (current chefs overcharging and lack creativity, cut corners)
4. IT: Hire better IT staff who offer solutions to current problems vs six sigma innovative cost cutting and profit improving at the cost of destroying the Disney magic felt by long term fans - ok now I’m just pissed-my account has never been fixed in years
5. Employees: See employees as a long term asset vs short term expense; Reward the employees who go above and beyond and offer incentives to do so; lack of creativity is permeating everything from clothes, to interactive areas for younger kids; offer interactive banshees/direhorse meet/greet for instance

There were many great CMs-shoutout to the dancing CM at the Caribbean beach Gondola loading area; the bus drivers who go the distance and remind us there is still magic left

 

[Illinois76]

Cancel Genie +
Get rid of Park Reservations,
improve Customer Service
Hire more operators to answer the phone lines
Bring Back nighttime shows At HS and AK

This has been all of them.

Still love that all the plans are cut revenue and raise expense.

The question is what would you do as CEO, not what would you do as a Disney fanatic that doesn’t have to answer to anybody.

 

[Disturbia]

This has been all of them.

Still love that all the plans are cut revenue and raise expense.

The question is what would you do as CEO, not what would you do as a Disney fanatic that doesn’t have to answer to anybody.

The thing is if your competitive advantage is related to customer experience and banking on the return of loyal customers who will buy up your merchandise (don’t forget same loyal fans spend outrageous amounts for mediocre lodging, no housekeeping and food) and influence the next generation of customers to love Disney, then you need to invest in your Brand Lotalty/Goodwill. If you keep drawing on the old Goodwill or move away from your competitive advantage (vs Universal), you loose customers short term and long term AND $$$$

Real visionaries spend to innovate and give customers what they want.

Treating employees like expenses (six sigma cost cutting) is what is getting all our companies to move operations overseas and then the people who are left behind to supervise spend half of their time correcting errors (you do get what you pay for, cheap labor means less skilled unfortunately).

When you drain the spirit out of employees by overworking them you loose innovation. This country (and company) was based on innovation.

 

[Illinois76]

The thing is if your competitive advantage is related to customer experience and banking on the return of loyal customers who will buy up your merchandise (don’t forget same loyal fans spend outrageous amounts for mediocre lodging, no housekeeping and food) and influence the next generation of customers to love Disney, then you need to invest in your Brand Lotalty/Goodwill. If you keep drawing on the old Goodwill or move away from your competitive advantage (vs Universal), you loose customers short term and long term AND $$$$

Real visionaries spend to innovate and give customers what they want.

Treating employees like expenses (six sigma cost cutting) is what is getting all our companies to move operations overseas and then the people who are left behind to supervise spend half of their time correcting errors (you do get what you pay for, cheap labor means less skilled unfortunately).

When you drain the spirit out of employees by overworking them you loose innovation. This country (and company) was based on innovation.

You make excellent points.

It doesn’t change the fact that CEOs balance spending and revenue.

Nearly every suggestion is spend more and make less.

Which would lead to fired CEOs.

 

[Disturbia]

Reminds me of Starbucks when they ventured into the sandwich industry for profits and lost a lot of money. They eventually had to return to their core competency.

https://www.foodnewsnews.com/starbucks/core-competencies-starbucks-example/

 

[WeatherLights]

1. Have someone develop a new Star Wars trilogy. Insist that the plot points raised in the first movie are coherently resolved in the later movie before production begins.

LOL!!!

Everyone wants that perfect Disney vacation... What would you be willing to pay for that? Even if it was only once in a lifetime?
***
1) I’d look into what the crowd capacity would be to guarantee every guest a magical day of short (30 min or less) lines and great service and raise the ticket prices to ensure demand would not be higher than that capacity. This means no need for genie+ or ILL$

I'd love to know what the ticket price would be for something like that! You'd need to account not only for lost revenue from high-volume park ticket sales and in-park food, etc. but also for loss of revenue from fewer hotel rooms being used and...so many other things. But interesting concept!

I would add a soaring ride to every country in Epcot, Soaring over that country.

This would be very cool! You could eat AND SOAR around the world.

... I have been the guy that has ticked the boxes and should have been a good fit for something for which I wasn't, and it sucks - and it's important to recognize when something isn't the right fit.

As someone who often wonders if the job I'm in is really a good fit, I'm curious about this. I'm guessing you don't want to share details here but if you did, I'd read them

 

[bsmcneil]

As someone who often wonders if the job I'm in is really a good fit, I'm curious about this. I'm guessing you don't want to share details here but if you did, I'd read them

Always happy to talk more in depth if you want to PM. The couple of things that I think make sense to say here:

-Just like with everything, your mileage may vary. I am under no illusion that my experience is the normal one and we all have different personalities. And I'm not even sure where I completely fall down on this
-Generally speaking, after year 3 of my job, and my wondering (openly, audibly to my partner and therapist and everyone) if this is what I'm meant to do/where I was meant to be. And I think that for some people, if you keep having that question, it may be a sign that you're not in the right spot.
-But, it could also be a major case of imposter syndrome, right? And nothing is perfect; so we have to figure out where the line is between general dissatisfaction or ambition and a sense of, "No, this actually isn't meant to be."
-This, for me, has extended far beyond work. For instance, a long time ago, my best friend and I had a series of heart-to-hearts about whether we felt we'd ever find someone to be passionately in love with, or if we should be okay with "this is comfortable but relatively neutral." We both had grown up in turbulent households and didn't want that anymore, so there was a sense of "Let's settle into something calm." On one hand, I think that makes sense and I love all of the memes and FB posts about how love doesn't have to run hot or cold. On the other hand, I think about a recent episode of Ted Lasso where a character is asked their opinion of someone's potential partner and their response is (paraphrasing), "They're fine. But you deserve more than someone who just feels fine - don't settle."

- and I see points to both of those.
-Back to work - there was a moment a few years ago where the "best" job in my field/area was within reach but I had a few months to wrestle with whether or not I wanted it. For a while I didn't, which made me wonder if I wasn't as good as others. And then I did because maybe my style was just what was needed. At the end of the day (and six months), I realized that I was mostly looking to take it out of ego and prestige and not whether or not it was a good fit (and this is something I still explore in therapy - there's a part of me that backs off of the spotlight - and is that because I'm better suited for the background or because I limit myself). Another tv reference - this time it's The West Wing. President Josiah 'Jed' Bartlet: [to Josh] "You know what the difference is between you and me? I want to be the guy. You want to be the guy the guy counts on." And at the end of the day, I much prefer to be the stage manager or the guy that the [person] counts on.

OK, plenty of rambling. Let me just reiterate as someone who sort of gave advice for a living - don't take other people's advice to heart too much. I can't count the times that I shared a story of my own experience and someone heard it and thought, "This is a sign!" when the truth is that our lives are all different and what works for me doesn't necessarily work for you. It's good to consider stories that feel pertinent - but only you know your life and circumstances (not that I think you would - but I always feel like that caveat is useful).

 

[old lady]

Bring back Eisner.

 

[Norton figment]

Pretty much all the suggestions are fantastic and are ones that I would agree with here’s one I didn’t see.


Put backs on all benches in every theatre! If I’m comfortable watching a show I’m going to stay longer, maybe spend more money and will be happier. When guests are happy they aren’t going to be complaining to CMsAnd will be much more pleasant to people in general.

Bring back cushions on said benches if it’s not fully outdoors like at the theatre where beauty and the beast is. They added cushions for the Pixar symphony and it was amazing I was comfortable I was happy.

More benches or seating.

Add more old contacts on Disney+ every Sunday drop wonderful world of Disney with Walt Disney And others introducingThe movie or the star of the movie having a little blurb.

Also I am a stock owner I’m OK if I get a tiny little bit less if it means the park experience is that much better! If the experience is better that means more people are going to spend money and in the end stock prices will go up as well my dividend common sense should prevail.

 

[LadyDiznee123]

1. RAISES for all CM's

2. DISCONTINUE STORYBOOK CIRCUS and return TOONTOWN.

3. Park closing times at 12 Midnight (ALL parks) - Expressly for rides and just a handful of food / souvenir venues. To allow for guests with shorter stays to visit a park and not be forced to miss a ride. I have never missed getting on a ride because my stays are long. But I can't think of anything worse than spending Disney prices for a park visit only to find out it's sold out - or you have to wait 3 hours in a line. Should never happen.

4. A WDW Operated MAGICAL EXPRESS bus service.

5. A FITFTH GATE - WORLD OF COLOR (CHARACTER PARK)- to quell crowding ( Many rare characters that you can never find. - but will include the Sensational Six as well). Will include meet and greets with Prince charming, Naveem, and Marie the cat, Cheshire Cat, The SEVEN DWARFS (not at special party events - but every day), etc.
A Wakanda thrill coaster, and Marie the cat or Chip kiddie coaster. You meet the characters nearby the rides. Broken down into lands - whatever one could think of... perhaps a land for small children, a Villain's land, Princesses and Princes land, animal characters land ( like KEVIN and BALOO), etc.... , The 5th park should be chock full of character meet and greets. With more popular characters (like Mickey or Cinderella) to be found at more than one location. You could even charge extra for some meet and greets... whatever. This park needs to be HUGE, and include parades, shows, and fireworks. Build it and the people will come with their wallets in tow, and will skip other parks to do it.

 

[jimmymc]

Trying to keep things realistic, which means that if profits drop off too much, the board will fire me and immediately reverse all the changes I make.

1. Overhaul Genie+ so it returns to an old Fastpass-like system while raising ticket prices $10 across the board. You can start making FP reservations when you scan into the park, unless you're staying on-property, then it's 7 am. All of the ILL rides go back under the FP system except Rise, which keeps boarding groups that you have to reserve once you get into the park. More boarding groups are held back so people can try and get them later in the day. Price increases to offset the Genie+ lost income.

2. Reorganize how we do construction projects. No more shutting down half of a theme park for a long time. We do smaller, faster refurbs and have both day and night shifts. More expensive, but less impact to guests. With this, prioritize reopening Futureworld.

3. Return housekeeping to pre-covid status, reducing capacity and raising resort prices as needed until we can hire enough cast members to get back to full capacity.

4. Hire back B’Lou and Shadow, because who the hell fires a dog?

5. Less upper management on food service, allowing chefs more freedom to make their own menus and source their own ingredients.

Bonus 6th one, add a paid option for DME directly through Disney.

 

[Miffy]

Just because I didn't see this mentioned elsewhere: restore bounceback offers at resorts. Nothing makes a WDW devotee happier than knowing there'll be another trip in the future--and that it's discounted.

 

[IndyToThere]

- Have Customer Service Mgmt tell me what are some quick wins that can be moved to the App/Website that aren't available right now and have Devs implement them... aka, cut down on phone wait times. (ex. not being able to access prior expired ticket credit, or not being able to update a Child ticket to an Adult ticket)

- Hire some Consultants to walk the Parks and report back on experiences that can be fixed/find out what things are being overlooked. Anything from minor details to major shortcomings. ex Where are bottlenecks occurring in traffic flow, or What experiences are lessened because we forgot to add this.

- Add more Food Servicing options. There seems to be a very obvious lack of food options, especially at lunch times/noon-time. Themed restaurants are great and all, but sometimes all you really need is a quick fast food burger and the current Quick Service options aren't enough.

- Maybe this is pipe dream, but see if there is way to de-congest the walking areas... by utilizing some vertical space? I don't know if that's an option, but shifting some park attendees to a 2nd level walking area might be cheaper than new attractions and let people enjoy the ambience of the parks a bit more (when you're not having to focus on people dodging).

- Assuming the financial projections support it, seriously look at adding a 5th Park to help with park demand.

 

[whiporee]

If it were totally up to me, I'd do this:

I'd make the parks resort guests only M-Th and include them in the room rates. I'd focus on making sure the reports were full at all times. Doing that justifies bringing the staff back to full strength, and maximizes the potential of the properties we already own. it gives an obvious, real benefit to resort guests that will make their newly inflated rates worthwhile.

I've leave the weekends for the off site people and the locals. The reduced days will make it a moire premium and increase attendance there, and it would still be available to resort guests, but they'd quickly see the benefits of staying onsite.

 

[jimmymc]

If it were totally up to me, I'd do this:

I'd make the parks resort guests only M-Th and include them in the room rates. I'd focus on making sure the reports were full at all times. Doing that justifies bringing the staff back to full strength, and maximizes the potential of the properties we already own. it gives an obvious, real benefit to resort guests that will make their newly inflated rates worthwhile.

I've leave the weekends for the off site people and the locals. The reduced days will make it a moire premium and increase attendance there, and it would still be available to resort guests, but they'd quickly see the benefits of staying onsite.

That is a very interesting concept. The parks would almost be empty during the week, which I'm sure means the resorts would cost an insane amount of money. I would only support it if they had solo deals, since I'm not going to pay for two people just to visit the park on my own.