Eisner's New Year Resolutions

[poco]

Roy Disney is helping out Eisner with his New Year's Resolutions. These came from the www.savedisney.com website.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

“To be effective, executives must be organized, keep their desks clean, answer their mail, return their calls, and remain sufficiently clam to put out each day’s small fires before they spread.” - - Michael Eisner

This being New Year’s Eve, we at savedisney.com thought to offer some New Year’s Resolutions for our favorite CEO.:

20) Get in Shape: Remember its quality, not quantity that counts.

19) Save Something for a Rainy Day: The Disney image.

18) Lose Weight: Sell ABC.

17) Cut Back on Junk Food: No more sequels to animated classics.

16) Try a Make-Over: Transform ABC Family into a Disney Classics Channel.

15) Create: Thrilling new E-Ticket rides.

14) Nurture the Soul: Feature Animation and Imagineering.

13) Relax: Who needs micromanagement? Trust. Defer and delegate.

12) Restore: Disneyland for its 50th anniversary. Get those subs open!

11) Renew: Don’t defer maintenance at the parks.

10) Reduce: Executive bonus compensation.

9) Rebuild: Consumer confidence.

Revitalize: Shareholder value.

7) Keep it Clean: "Look to the name Walt Disney for the finest in Family Entertainment."

6) Be More Giving: Make a fair deal with Pixar. Settle with the Pooh heirs. Set Miramax free (if they come back they are truly yours, if not they never were…).

5) Be More Considerate: Treat all employees as you would management.

4) Be More Spiritual: What Would Walt Do?

3) Embrace the Future: Name a successor.

2) Let Go of Past Grudges: Reinstate Roy and Stanley to the Board of Directors.

1) Start Fresh: Retire! Take that Sabbatical. Backpack across Europe . Join the Peace Corps. Tour the lecture circuit. Write another volume of memoirs. Take a cruise on the Disney Wonder!

I like them all. Some may get a kick out of Eating Less Junk Food!

[Uncle Remus]

are you sure this is Eisner's New Year Resolutions or is this Bill Clinton's New Year Resolutions?

[pinkrenata]

All of those we great! So true about Disneyland too. They need to focus more on the original park and less on DCA.

[Maerj]

EINSTER LYES!

[Jack]

20) Get in Shape: Remember its quality, not quantity that counts.

19) Save Something for a Rainy Day: The Disney image.

18) Lose Weight: Sell ABC.

17) Cut Back on Junk Food: No more sequels to animated classics.

[Joe Carioca]

That was darn funny... Really creative!
If only it was true...

[MickeyMousePal]

These New Year's Resolutions won't work.

ABC is doing so badly in the last 3 years.
Fox Family becomes ABC family with reruns of 7th heaven, Family matters, Full house and Step by Step.
Disney channel is so lame except for Kim Possible and Stitch the series
Toon Disney has to many new shows and talking out old shows like Gummi Bears.

Too many sequels. STOP with the Sequels

Disneyland and California Adventures need to be changed.
Many rides are out of order.
Fantasmic is the only best thing at Disneyland while; California Adventure the best thing is The Electric Parade.
Disney movies are not cutting it while; Pixar is the only thing keeping Disney alive with big bucks.

Meanwhile the New Year's Resolutions is very funny to read.

[Kim Olav Svines]

No need to start throwing crap at Mr. Eisner. And this is coming from Roy Disney himself. Very childish, and if his plan to restore Disney is making fun of Eisner, it doesn't look good.

I'm not a huge fan of Eisner either, but still...

[Kram Nebuer]

I really like the idea of a Disney Classics channel or maybe even a Vault Disney Channel! I mean what's abc Family anyway? It still seems like fox family to me. ANyhow, a Disney channel with all the old television shows that USED to be on late on Disney channel is a really good idea!

[Prince Adam]

Has anyone noticed that they're now calling it "The NEW DisneyLand Park"?

This makes me mad. They've also changed the logo (yes, the one that Walt designed himself). I can't believe they're doing that to Walt's Park! Do whatever you want to DCA, or WDW, or Tokyo and Paris and Hong Kong, but leave Disneyland alone!

[ddave]

I sent an e-mail to RD through the savedisney site befour xmas, wishing him luck in his quest to do something about the mess that's been made of his father's and uncle's legacy. I've also just signed up to the petition . These resolutions are just about the funniest thing i've seen for a long time let's hope at least some of them come true or this great thing we call Disney may just fade away into history.

[2099net]

Not very constuctive If Roy wants to be taken seriously he needs to propose a viable business plan as well as an - for want of a better word - "emotional" plan. If Roy wants his way to be the alternative to Eisner's way he needs to make sure it's a creditable alternative.

20. Get in Shape: Remember its quality, not quantity that counts.
A fair enough point.

19. Save Something for a Rainy Day: The Disney image.
How?

18. Lose Weight: Sell ABC.
How? Who to? Who want's an "underperforming" network? Should Disney not try to build it up before selling?

17. Cut Back on Junk Food: No more sequels to animated classics.
I know this points back to point 19, but what's going to replace the siginificant income from the animated sequels? How will they fund new original animated films without this income? (I believe between them the sequels have generated over $8bn in turnover (not profit) worldwide!)

16. Try a Make-Over: Transform ABC Family into a Disney Classics Channel.
Aren't you selling ABC? I know this is a spin-off channel, but why sell the actual Network channel and keep the spin-off? Does Roy want Disney to embrace television or simply live on past glories? As for Disney Classics, I can only assume this doesn't work, given the dropping of the Vault Disney programming.

15. Create: Thrilling new E-Ticket rides.
From what? He's reduced the company's turnover by scrapping the sequels?

14. Nurture the Soul: Feature Animation and Imagineering.
I agree with this. Animation could easily produce a nunmber of shorts as distintive experimental works or learning aids and easily get the money back from theatrical and home video releases. As for Imagineering, sure why not? Not everything needs to be an E-Ride.

13. Relax: Who needs micromanagement? Trust. Defer and delegate.
I agree.

12. Restore: Disneyland for its 50th anniversary. Get those subs open!
I'm not sure what this means. Subs? Restore or reinvent? Doesn't he want more E-Ticket rides?

11. Renew: Don’t defer maintenance at the parks.
Common sense.

9. Rebuild: Consumer confidence.
How?

8. Revitalize: Shareholder value.
I don't think this needs doing. Either way, nothing Roy has suggested so far will convince shareholders they'll be getting better value.

7. Keep it Clean: "Look to the name Walt Disney for the finest in Family Entertainment."
They do don't they? Apart from the odd fart joke. Didn't seem to hurt The Lion King.

6. Be More Giving: Make a fair deal with Pixar. Settle with the Pooh heirs. Set Miramax free (if they come back they are truly yours, if not they never were…).
Personally I think getting rid of Miramax will be a bigger mistake than if Pixar leave. Pixar are damaging to the Disney Company's reputation. A clean break may be in the best interest of both parties. As for Miramax, most people don't know it has anything to do with Disney. Miramax produce good, worthwhile artistic films (as well as some... stinkers... I'll admit)

5. Be More Considerate: Treat all employees as you would management.
Not that Walt ever did...

4. Be More Spiritual: What Would Walt Do?
Newsflash. Nobody knows. Based on past record, he wouldn't do number 5.

3. Embrace the Future: Name a successor.
Depending on when Eisner wants to retire, sure why not?

2. Let Go of Past Grudges: Reinstate Roy and Stanley to the Board of Directors.
Uh-huh?

1. Start Fresh: Retire! Take that Sabbatical. Backpack across Europe . Join the Peace Corps. Tour the lecture circuit. Write another volume of memoirs. Take a cruise on the Disney Wonder!
Sure. I agree. 20 years (almost) is too long. Eisner has too much and cannot loose it. Fresh blood, if choosen correctly will invigorate Disney.

All-in-all though, it's not much of a business plan. No viable alternatives are suggested for any of the points raised really. I don't know if this is just a bit of New Year's fun or a "real" call for arms, but either way I think it's failed and damaged Roy's position.

Eisner only has one New Year's Resolution. To make as much money over the coming quarter as possible. You may not like it, but it's business. It what makes sure Disney has enough money to take chances on expensive films like Pirates of the Caribbean in the first place. Under Roy's stewardship, I doubt Disney could afford to gamble as much money on a single film.

[Sethp]

"12. Restore: Disneyland for its 50th anniversary. Get those subs open"

Can he be refering to Walt Disneys Submarine-fleet?

Found a page about the subject aswell:

http://www.perrific.com/disney/subs/subs.html

[goofystitch]

When I was in Disneyland for my first time last April, all of the employees were talking about how for the parks 50th anniversary, they were going to put some of it's guests favorite attractions back in the park. Some things that were mentioned were "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea," to move "Carosell of Progress" back to Disneyland, and put the skyline (the thing that's like a ski lift) back in. Employees were also saying that "Space Mountain" was closed to improve it for the aniversary. I've been to Disney World every year since I was three and most things I hear from employees usually turn out to be true. In Disney World, some of the more recent things I've been told is that Nemo is being added to the "Living Seas" ride at Epcot and "Soarin' Over Florida is comeing. At Animal Kingdome, an employee once told me thar rhey were installing the "Matterhorn," wich was close. The rollercoaster being built is in a snowy mountain, but makes the "Matterhorn" look very tame.