| # | Author | Message |
61
| jonvn
Sat 10/13/2007 7:23a | I've heard that quite a number of people were more than happy to see Katzenburg leave. |
62
| 2001DLFan
Sat 10/13/2007 9:40p | <<Skellington88:
>>I think most people weren't even alive when Walt Disney was. Most people online don't even know what it was like before Eisner came along.
What they really like is the way Eisner did it before EDL did its damage. That's what people like.<<
This is true for me...although it wasnt just EDL that did the damage...it was the compound effect with the Death of Frank Wells and the departure of people like Katzenberg.>>
It was a mix of the above and then some. The improvements made by Eisner and Wells in the ten years before Wells' death were impressive. Eisner on his own was a loose cannon that failed to exhibit the creativity he claimed and wasn't capable of the insight that Wells provided.
The politics and lack of creative support under Eisner is the cause of the talent loss throughout the company's various business units and the deterioration of the parks due to the focus on bottom line returns.
As for EDL, the park itself was an outstanding success considering the hostility of the French press and totally screwed up marketing they did in Europe. The financial problems the resort suffered was due to Eisner's unbalanced attraction to ‘name' architects. In his zeal to include said architects, he pushed unreasonable hotel building that the park wouldn't be able to support for several years.
|
63
| Hans Reinhardt
Mon 10/15/2007 1:31p | What? |
64
| jonvn
Mon 10/15/2007 1:33p | I know. DCA is a failure, but EDL, which was hours away of being shut down was a success.
Orwell lives. |
65
| DlandDug
Mon 10/15/2007 1:41p | I have no real first hand knowledge of the EDL near-death, but I believe I understand where 2001DLF is coming from.
This theory is that the lion's share of the financial loss at EDL was due to the over building of hotels. Certainly, critics were harsh about the park itself. But the numbers of bodies through the gates is what really matters in the end.
DCA was both harshly criticized AND couldn't get numbers through the gates. Thankfully, Disney didn't build a series of over-priced designer hotels in the immediate vicinity. |
66
| jonvn
Mon 10/15/2007 1:53p | "I have no real first hand knowledge of the EDL near-death"
I kind of do. It's not exactly first hand, but a close friend of mine was in the corporate offices at the time, and he was telling me what was happening, and it really was a few hours away from having its plug pulled.
According to him he had his tickets to Paris already and an action plan. It might have just been hardball on the part of Disney, but it was really very close.
The thing is with the hotels that is hard for me to believe is that they were in so very much debt that it is more than just the hotels. People didn't like the souvenirs, they didn't like the food options, the employees didn't like what they were paid, people were not staying at all.
And, not the least of which was the collapse of the real estate market after the park opened. They had planned on recouping a lot of the costs through building offices and other buildings that could be leased. That was not able to be done. A huge revenue stream that was counted on just evaporated.
All sorts of things, not just the simple too many hotels idea. |
67
| Sport Goofy
Mon 10/15/2007 2:12p | << All sorts of things, not just the simple too many hotels idea. >>
Complex things are hard for people to grasp, which is why the explanations most people default to are the most simple -- even if they aren't the correct cause and effect relationship. |
68
| jonvn
Mon 10/15/2007 3:32p | I think the idea of "too many hotels" excuses a lot of poor planning for the place on the part of Disney. I think the poor execution for all of EDL was not just this one factor, and that it was far worse than just that.
|
69
| Sport Goofy
Mon 10/15/2007 3:48p | << I think the poor execution for all of EDL was not just this one factor, and that it was far worse than just that. >>
Not to mention that it wasn't build in what you might call the best "resort" climate. There were a number of sites on the Mediterranean coast that exhibited much better climate characteristics and essentially the same ability to draw guests from across Europe. In the end, Disney didn't follow the market research, and put too much faith in all of the economic concessions that the French government was provding to get them to choose the site near Paris.
No one seems to remember that there were other sites in the running for EDL before the Paris location was chosen.
|
70
| jonvn
Mon 10/15/2007 4:11p | Oh boy, if they had put this in spain, it would have been fabulous. Spain would have really been grateful and the Spanish people would have not have behaved like the French at all. |
