TDA Firing Line (One Down, More To Come)
TC...@webtv.net
very suddenly last week, and that there's more executive bloodshed to
come on TDA's 4th floor. Cynthia's quick and quiet departure hasn't left
her old executive team with many friends, and Matt Ouimet seems like
he's got an entirely new army that will march to his new drum. And Randy
Baumberger was the first casualty.
Randy Baumberger was the Senior VP of pretty much everything that "T"
Irby or Marilyn Alexander weren't the Senior VP's of; specifically Randy
had the Resort's Stores, Foods, Downtown Disney, Resort Hotels,
Marketing and Special Events. Randy gave no notice and just disappeared
suddenly last week, with a quick sentence in an email the next day
announcing his replacement from Florida. Everyone in TDA was shocked,
since the conventional wisdom was that the idiotic and charmless T Irby
was going to be the first Cynthia VP to get the boot.
But suddenly Randy is gone, and a new guy named Greg swooped in from WDW
and took a few key departments from T Irby in the process. It looks like
Greg just took Attractions, Guest Services and Custodial from T, which
only leaves T with Security, Costuming, Facilities, and a bunch of
Disneyland nurses.
The other juicy rumor I heard was that Randy was greasing the wheels and
doling out lots of freebies for a few fan website's in order to get a
positive spin on the doings at the Resort, unlike a few other website's
that take a more critical and bitchy tone without the TDA freebies and
reserved seats at Candlelight. Supposedly the new guy Greg doesn't think
too highly of courting and schmoozing Disney geeks on the Internet, and
the Cynthia Harriss sanctioned gravy train may be coming to an end for
those websites not attached to a legitimate media outlet like the Times,
the Register, or the networks. But that's a whole other story, isn't it?
;-)
This new guy Matt Ouimet sure is shaking things up in just his first few
weeks! The Cynthia era inside TDA is ending a whole lot faster than
anyone thought it would, and with more dramatic bloodshed than many
thought possible.
I wonder how much longer it takes before T Irby gets walked out to his
car and all of his military buddies he hired as Directors and VP's
rethink joining their decision not to join the Reserves?
Worlds Apart...
Hmm.. I think we all have guesses as to which websites were being
courted by TDA. Payola or not.. I think a couple of those websites
weren't necessarily spinning anything (purposely or not, but I could be
wrong) .. but were just actual positive and didn't wanna over-dwell on
things like chipped paint and random bushes and trees missing here and
there.. but were just telling the news/happenings and not thrilled by
the dirt or potential scandal. I think many online websites are valid
news sources and legitimate media outlets.. many are not. If TDA
completely turns on them .. I don't think thats a smart idea or a
logical thing for Disney to do to people that try to be legit news
sources and are not being paid to provide news to Disney fans and freely
promote the parks/company they love. if MAtt hates net geeks... he is
hating a large group of hardcore fans .. who join the masses and spend
much on Disney offerings. But Disney(under Eisner) may not really care
at all anymore what anyone or fans think .. killing all the Animation
depts and doing 7 out of every 10 things they do really illogically
unintelligently as they have been.
> This new guy Matt Ouimet sure is shaking things up in just his first few
> weeks! The Cynthia era inside TDA is ending a whole lot faster than
> anyone thought it would, and with more dramatic bloodshed than many
> thought possible.
>
> I wonder how much longer it takes before T Irby gets walked out to his
> car and all of his military buddies he hired as Directors and VP's
> rethink joining their decision not to join the Reserves?
Personally I would have canned Irby first.
Randy at least seemed like a nice person, understood the collective
magic of Disney and cared about Guests concerns, likes/dislikes/feelings
... and wasn't a completely mis-assigned narrow-minded putz like Irby ..
who should have been gone years ago IMO. But I have said that a million
or so times before.
FabulousDisneyBabe.com
>Randy at least seemed like a nice person, understood the collective
>magic of Disney and cared about Guests concerns, likes/dislikes/feelings
>... and wasn't a completely mis-assigned narrow-minded putz like Irby ..
>who should have been gone years ago IMO. But I have said that a million
>or so times before.
>
>
went on hiatus and there was no successor for a few days. By the time someone
could veto the decision, the work was started.
Randy started out as a Jungle Cruise skipper. He knew Disneyland and how it
worked like the back of his hand. It's a terrible loss for the company if it's
true.
Fab
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Sternen
don't you? Your website is pathetic and your opinions meaningless.
Lay off Al! Just because you were once his right hand and then were
dumped doesn't mean you have to bad mouth his website and articles.
Leave it in the past! No one cares what he may said to you or your
daughter.
discov...@aol.comstipated (FabulousDisneyBabe.com) wrote in message news:<20031123222501...@mb-m01.aol.com>...
TC...@webtv.net
Marilyn Alexander, the Senior Vice President of Finance for the
Disneyland Resort also suddenly "resigned to spend time with family".
Marilyn was good friends with Cynthia, and would often do things
socially with Cynthia and friends outside of the normal executive social
life scene. Marilyn was often spotted dining with Cynthia and other gal
pal's in Laguna Beach's trendiest restaurants. She was definitely one of
Cynthia's biggest fans, was incredibly loyal to Cynthia, and she is now
gone.
Howard Pickett, Cynthia's hand picked Senior Vice President of
Marketing, is also now gone. This one was a funny one though, as he
didn't do the usual "resigning to spend more time with my family" BS.
And he also didn't allow himself to be walked out to his car by a 9
dollar an hour Security Host. Howard just happened to have had a
vacation planned after Cynthia suddenly disappeared and was instantly
replaced with Matt. So Howard went on his vacation, but he never came
back. He simply phoned his office and said "I'm not coming back, I quit.
Could you please send the pictures on my desk to my home?" You got to
give him credit for seeing the writing on the wall and bailing on his
own terms.
So that's two more Senior Vice President's from the Cynthia era that are
gone. That just leaves T Irby, who actually may stick around for awhile
now that he's been stripped of all of the departments he knew nothing
about and was screwing up royally. I say let 'ol DeWitt keep Facilities
and Engineering. Now that they stripped him of Entertainment, Custodial,
Guest Services and Attractions, he's actually in charge of stuff he
knows something about.
But, what's really becoming fun to watch is how the remaining VP's and
Directors from Cynthia's era try to scramble to the new marching orders.
The new Senior Vice President, Greg Emmer, is a grizzled old Attractions
Host from the Eastside circa '72, and he is PISSED at what he currently
sees in Disneyland.
He's pissed that there's triple the number of ODV carts there used to be
and they're allowed to clog up the walkways. He's pissed at the ugly and
sloppy looking Hosts/Hostesses shlepping around the Park in costumes two
sizes too big and not smiling at anyone. He's pissed at rides that
aren't running at full capacity on Saturday afternoon with extra ride
vehicles sitting back in their storage areas. He's pissed at ODV
umbrella's left up and abandoned hours after the sun has set and the
cart has been rolled away. He's pissed there's a little tiny sign on a
stick that no one can see announcing that Space Mountain is closed for
two more years. He's pissed Cynthia and her old TDA crew didn't have the
balls or the intelligence to get another E Ticket for DCA into a 5 year
plan yet. He's even pissed they let Cast Cutters die.
And all of the mid-level execs and senior managers from the Cynthia era
have NO CLUE what the hell he's talking about because none of them
actually ever worked at Disneyland and they only know things that show
up on emails and in PowerPoint shows in a conference room. They have no
idea what's really going on out in the Park, and they have no idea why
it's a bad thing that there are ODV carts selling glow wands in the
middle of Main Street at the end of the night.
Things are changing extremely fast in TDA, and now a whole lot of
Cynthia's troops are trying to keep up and learn how to "operate"
Disneyland. And apparently all of these new execs coming from Florida
had been making fun of Cynthia and her gang for several years, and
really thought it was a shame how she was leading Disneyland down a
dead-end street and letting the place deteriorate in the Guests eyes.
They salivated at the potential Disneyland has, and they lobbied Jay
Rasulo hard to let a core group of them head out to California and turn
the place in a whole new direction operationally. And they are moving
quickly to remove any Cynthia supporter or ally that might stand in the
way they want to go.
FabulousDisneyBabe.com
was Cynthia holding a gun to his head and making him ruin Disneyland just
because she's evil. Thanks for the enlightenment.
I'm glad they got rid of the clueless never worked at Disneyland types like
Randall Baumberger. Oh, wait...
Fab
(but I am grateful for the updates - just not the Lutzy flavoring)
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Paul Antonissen
discov...@aol.comstipated (FabulousDisneyBabe.com) wrote:
> (but I am grateful for the updates - just not the Lutzy flavoring)
Does Bertie Bott have a lutzy flavor? Wonder what it tastes like...a
cross between bile & sour grapes?
--
Reverend Paul
Zorak: That lady mantis... wasn't really a lady.
Space Ghost: Not really a lady? Huh? Then she must have been... Wait!
You were digging on a dude?
Zorak: It's not what you think. Carl is part of a male mantis
resistance movement that intercedes at the moment when the
urge is the worst. He lured me back to his nest, where we ate
barbeque and talked sports until the urge had passed. He...
saved my life, and for that, I will always be grateful.
Space Ghost: What a remarkable story! I wonder who owns the movie rights.
Zorak: Ted Turner.
FabulousDisneyBabe.com
>
>Does Bertie Bott have a lutzy flavor? Wonder what it tastes like...a
>cross between bile & sour grapes?
>
Damn, Rev, you're like, brilliant and stuff!
Fab
Paul Antonissen
discov...@aol.comstipated (FabulousDisneyBabe.com) wrote:
> >> (but I am grateful for the updates - just not the Lutzy flavoring)
> >
> >Does Bertie Bott have a lutzy flavor? Wonder what it tastes like...a
> >cross between bile & sour grapes?
> >
>
> Damn, Rev, you're like, brilliant and stuff!
Thanks :-). Occasionally an inspiration particle strikes the ol' noggin.
Sternen
"Fabulous!". Who are you going to brown-nose now? idiot.
discov...@aol.comstipated (FabulousDisneyBabe.com) wrote in message news:<20031127020909...@mb-m07.aol.com>...