Bob Chapek Addresses Alienation Of Fans and If Disney Is Too Woke
Disney‘s controversial CEO is facing criticism head-on in his live interview with the Wall Street Journal. Bob Chapek addresses the alienation of fans and if Disney is too woke.
Bob Chapek
Whether you like or dislike the head of The Walt Disney Company, one thing’s for sure, he gets people talking! Chapek is a savvy businessman, and he’s not naive.
He knows exactly what people are saying behind his back, and how they feel about the changes he’s established at the Parks. Earlier this year, he rubbed fans the wrong way when he referred to Passholders as an “unfavorable attendance mix.”
WSJ Tech Live Conference
Today is the final day of the WSJ Tech Live conference. Disney aficionados have been looking forward to what Chapek would have to say at the event.
The interviewer wasted no time, cutting right to the chase, giving people the answers they have been longing to hear. Disney journalist Scott Gustin shared a clip from an interesting portion of the sit-down.
In the interview, Disney’s passionate fanbase was addressed. The interviewer referred to forums and communications in which people discuss every, single detail regarding changes to The Walt Disney Company, especially if it’s Park-related.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek talks about pricing/demand at its theme parks and avoiding alienating the company’s most passionate fans. pic.twitter.com/IB0oNTMd8J
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) October 26, 2022
Alienating Fans
Chapek, obviously completely aware of the controversy, shook his head in agreement. His response to alienating Disney fans was that the company wants to guarantee “a great Guest experience no matter when people come.”
He describes the dilemma Disney faces in this day and age, which leaves them with two options. Either they “let way too many people into the Park,” or “manage it by just turning people away at the gate.”
He went on to empathize with out-of-towners who will potentially miss out if the Parks are too full. Chapek referred to the implementation of the reservation system which was created to ensure that “people would know ahead of time whether they were going to get in or not.”
He referenced the workings of other businesses and companies that use the same types of systems. Chapek acknowledges that to some fans, his implementations are seen as “heresy.”
In his opinion, it’s just good business. In addition, he states that it, “protects the Guest experience so that when you get into the Park, you can have confidence it’s not going to be overcrowded.”
Is Disney Too Woke?
As for criticism that the Walt Disney Company has become too woke, Chapek says, “The world is a rich, diverse place, and we want our content to reflect that.”
It sounds like Chapek made things perfectly clear as he tried to spell it out for fans. So, what do you think?
Is it Chapek’s fault that Disney fans have become alienated? Is Disney too woke?
I’m sure that everybody has their own, very strong opinions on these matters. One thing’s for sure, it was an incredibly interesting discussion!
The pass system is here to stay. He’s said that plenty of times and realistically they don’t have other options. It’s how they are managing the passes and general capacity that’s the problem. They don’t refill the Annual pass holder “bucket” when they are finding that the general bucket is not as full as it was predicted to be. They don’t seem to even track what their estimates are compared to actual attendance yet they have all the data they need to for it. They also use the capacity number to cut way to close to the bone their staffing, trying to save on manpower. I get they don’t have the staff they used to, but then they outright need to offer more to hire more people period and start eating more of the costs of operating vs trying to shave every last $ for the next quarterly stock reports.
Interesting take, appreciate your comment, thank you for sharing!