The 6% Letter

Dear Bob Iger,



You will never read this. You will never see this. You won’t acknowledge this. And that’s fine, that’s acceptable and expected considering how many layers of the hierarchy separates us. I will safely assume that this letter will get thrown to the side and will be forgotten. Nonetheless, this has to be said: you’ve neglected Walt Disney World for a very long time, and the latest round of labor and product cuts provides nothing more than frustration to the amazing cast that has helped make Lake Buena Vista one of the top vacation destinations in the entire world.

We can be honest: Hollywood Studios has been mostly abandoned for an eternity, Epcot has become dated, the water parks hasn’t seen any major updates in years (please don’t reply with the MagicBands...), and Magic Kingdom has now become the only park with a parade, and the only park with an actual expansion within the past decade. Still no South America or Australia in Animal Kingdom, still no new pavilions in Epcot, Hollywood Studios is a fraction of what it used to be, and we’ve reached a point in which Magic Kingdom has become the only park worth visiting.

The numbers can back this up: Magic Kingdom’s attendance continues to increase at a higher rate than the other parks. The nearly 20 million that visit Magic Kingdom trickles down to 11 million for Epcot and worse for the others. And while this sounds gloomy, all four parks at Walt Disney World rank in the top 10 in worldwide attendance. You can argue it’s because of location in Florida---but Sea World can debate that. You can argue it’s because of the actual quality of the parks---but the THEA and Golden Ticket Awards have different opinions. Side-Note: Europa-Park, a park influenced heavily by Disney World, ironically has now been surpassing the master by becoming the park voted the best in the planet. The real reason why people keep coming back is the service: which boils down to the awesome cast members.

Cast members keeps this place afloat. The millions of fun and inspiring stories within the confides of Lake Buena Vista spreads through the news, the internet, and other outlets and keeps the guests and soon-to-be vacationers intrigued enough to return. The diversity, the freedom to create nice moments, and the plethora of people that go through blood, sweat, and tears to keep the dreams possible are major components to why guests pay the hefty prices to vacation here. For every bad incident someone might complain about at Disney, there are dozens of delightful magical moments that will pop up left and right. From the moment you step into the Magical Express to the cast members saying good-bye to you as you leave the resort, you will witness hundreds of smiles throughout your vacation. Go ahead and count them. Universal can keep piling on the great attractions and expansions (Nintendo is on the horizon, that should be fun). So for Disney to cut back on labor on top of everything else in Orlando is quite sad.

Yes, we are aware of the 6% goal. We are aware that Shanghai Disneyland is absorbing more money and resources than originally anticipated. And yes, on a business sense it makes sense to do some cuts. But to see part-timers have their hours reduced to nothing around the same time as Disney announcing in its parks that Florida received 102 million visitors in 2015 is pretty much a contradiction. We have become the victims of our own success---because the reputation is so high and people are more likely to show up regardless of what major (and subtle cutbacks) we might be making. We have become too big to fail, and the only victims of this revelation are the cast members in the front lines witnessing major cutbacks in their weekly hours, and who knows for how long.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has revived the Star Wars brand and has made $920 million in the United States box office alone, with 2.5 billion worldwide a possibility---and I’m not even including the merchandise and video game sales. Marvel’s Deadpool has now earned $500 million and although it’s not all going to you, I bet you all my money that this is wonderful momentum leading up to the next Marvel movie: Captain America: Civil War. That will probably net you at least $800 million. Of course we can’t forget Zootopia and Finding Dory coming out within the next six months, which will also give you at least another billion dollars to count when the dust settles. None of these are industry secrets; I am just bringing up the movie department, I haven’t even touched upon merchandise, licensing, media sales, and other sources of income. Disney is watching money flying from every direction imaginable, yet in the next couple weeks we won’t be selling any specialty pretzels because of the 6% cutback.

So despite the constant upswing and outpouring of money, we are seeing less characters in the parks, fewer entertainment options, fewer merchandise locations open within the resorts, less types of food being offered (only regular pretzels in the park now), fewer available cast members to help and greet you, and just overall a less friendly and engaging experience in the Resort. All this to save 6% of money that you will probably earn regardless as soon as Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Disney Springs, Shanghai Disneyland, and Animal Kingdom receives their expansions?

Yes, everything I have said can be rebutted with one simple phrase: its business. And I may not be educated enough to know the ins and outs of American economics and business, but I do know that usually when one or two areas is suffering you need to slice back from other regions. But Disney doesn’t lose money (ever, seriously), they just sometimes don’t earn as much as they would like. We never operate at a loss, and will never operate at a loss—we are not Sea World or Six Flags. So why are we watering down so much of the Disney experience and complicating the lives of so many cast members over a loss that has not happened yet? Why are we willing to sacrifice the quality and reputation of the Walt Disney World resort over 6%? Why are we willing to mess around with thousands of lives over 6%?

Shanghai Disneyland might be a mess, but it won’t break Disney. As of now, nothing is going to break Disney (not even the silently-sinking ESPN). But you take enough hits to crack the shield, and eventually you won’t be able to protect yourself. We are built and maintained on reputation, and we shouldn’t afford to damage it to save pennies.

During the last round of labor cuts years ago, this incident actually happened at Magic Kingdom: an autistic adult that was huge fan of Disney was misinformed as to where his favorite princess was going to be at a specific time. The man had a breakdown as Snow White was not at the location. Full grown man, on the ground, crying hysterically because his world had been shattered. The coordinators had tried desperately to calm him down, but nothing was working. They called the coordinator in charge of Snow White, begging for her to come out to greet the man and end the sad scene. Keeping with the magic, let’s just say she never left the enchanted forest behind the park because of lack of availability. The poor man’s day was ruined, and will remain a dark mark on his life.

If you are perfectly fine with more incidents like the one I just described to continue happening, then by all means keep doing what you are doing. Keep the profit margin high, and the cast member quantity rate low. But if you want to prevent awful moments like this from happening, we need to keep Walt Disney World constantly running with the correct amount of cast members. Attendance constantly increasing and worker numbers constantly shrinking will lead to some major breakdowns and problems, no matter how well you run Walt Disney World.

I’m not going to stand outside holding anti-Disney signs, I’m not going on strike, I’m not really going to do much of anything besides this letter. I will still work for your company, and will scrap around for some hours until the situation in Shanghai is more subdued. I will continue to try to make guests in the Hollywood Studios feel welcome and feel satisfied that they picked Orlando as their destination. My demeanor within the parks will not suddenly drop. But I will point out my disappointment and frustration over cuts that I feel are unnecessary. I will be using this platform as my first and only request that you, your stockholders, and your other bosses reconsider all the scaling back being unfairly done in Disney World—the largest, most successful, and highest-rated theme park link in the Disney parks chain.





6% to you and the company is gratuitous weight that needs to be cut off.

6% to us is a part of our lifelines—whether we are clocked in or not.



Sincerely,

Tired and Worried Cast Member

Deadpool: 7/10

Finally we have a decent X-Men origin story with plenty of heart, spirit, chemistry, and good connections with the original source. The baffling thing is that we receive this gift in the form of the most incoherent and random Marvel character in the entire universe. The character that least requires an explanation gets the most structured and most engaging Fox Marvel film since X-Men 2. But of course, the behind-the-scenes licensing drama and the infuriatingly small budget (compared to what the storyline demands) entangle the film quite a bit.

Ryan Reynolds might be the only man in the history of film to totally mess up a cinematic character, and then get a second chance at getting it right by starting entirely from scratch. With the rated R guaranteed and a looser approach to Deadpool, Reynolds knocks it out of the park with a much more accurate performance, and one with plenty of depth and sympathetic pull. His chemistry with the rest of the cast reminds you why he’s much better unhinged and uncut (Waiting, Adventureland).

Reynolds has actually been the main catalyst at making sure that he helped right the wrongs caused by X-Men Origins. He helped fight to keep the R rating, helped increase the (already small) budget to make this a reality, and has helped craft the flood of social media hype. The hard R rating was the biggest requirement in making this film work; the story and mannerisms of Deadpool are not for the faint of heart. Deadpool is far more in the realm of Spawn as opposed to Fantastic Four in terms of adult content.

The script is formulaic in nature, but fresh with crisp dialogue, great one-liners, constant shifts in timeline, and plenty of fun sidekicks to be entertained by. Sadly, because of obvious budget constraints, we are treated to only two major action sequences (the first one overshadows the finale by a long shot), not a single major X-Men cameo, throwaway villains, and most of the time being spent on the creating of Deadpool as opposed to the anarchy that follows. 10 years of production hell and dozens of re-writes could doom most screenplays, but Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick do a great job saving whatever was left.

The biggest achievement of Deadpool is how closely it resembles the source material and personality despite getting less money. If you enjoy Deadpool in the comics, you’ll enjoy him here as well---even if the eccentricity is toned down just slightly enough to keep the plot structured. The action is intense, the injuries are gruesome, the humor is dark and crude, and the movie never really takes itself seriously. Fourth walls go down, it reveals its own production setbacks within the film, and it has this kinetic comic book flavored energy that hardly ever slows.

It might be a case of less money = more freedom, but the lack of funding really tarnishes the movie. Part of the glee of Deadpool in the Marvel universe is his wild interactions with other characters, especially the X-Men. But to put Deadpool in the same supposed Marvel universe as the X-Men and then refuse to have any of the popular characters join in on the fun is baffling and infuriating. Even worse is that we have long-unused X-Men like Gambit (especially) and Cable available. In a tragic case of the production team having more faith than the studio itself, the limitations aren’t obvious but become apparent once the final act rolls in and you are left desiring more Deadpool chaos.

As a risqué, adult version of The Little Engine That Could, this was a comic book film that was supposedly doomed, expected to fail, and was released with minimal hope---only to be saved because of the strength of the Marvel brand, the incredible online/Reynolds marketing campaign, and a legitimate effort to stay true to the source. Great cast, great energy, and great humor is restricted because of Fox and the ridiculous guidelines everyone has been forced to follow since Disney purchased the property. Deadpool can become a successful franchise as long as they are willing to tie him closer to the rest of the X-Men and Marvel movies---and as long as we keep the same dedicated staff. Don’t expect pure unadulterated crazy here; but do expect a great blend of crazy, heart, and entertainment---wrapped together in a limited budget.

Most importantly, this is much, much better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine. 

Peyton Manning and the Laid Out Final Ride

Time to retire, Peyton Manning.



This will never happen again.



After the complete destruction that Denver faced in the hands of the Seahawks two years ago, I was convinced that the once-mighty Manning was no more. I thought he was too hurt, too washed up, and far too old to ever hold another championship trophy unless he was dishing high-fives from the bench all season. Instead John Elway and Friends had a new strategy: completely beef up the defense, ensure a great offensive line, and allow Peyton to ride out this wave and just keep the team in the matchup. The strategy would ensure a good regular season, but in the playoffs it would be a crapshoot.

After they got beat at home to the lowly Colts one year ago, my opinion on Manning remained true: excellent quarterback, Father Time has caught up, and it’s time to go before you embarrass yourself some more (Brett Favre anyone?).



Then the Broncos were handed a beautiful gift: the worst regular season in the history of the NFL.



I mean this from the bottom of my heart—after seeing all the ridiculous plays, cowardly moves, awful refereeing, questionable playcalling, mishandling of simple football fundamentals, and a total collective meltdown of defenses everywhere. We also saw tons of major injuries; ranging from the Patriots losing literally everybody, to the Cowboys losing an emerging Tony Romo, to the sneaky-good Bengals losing their quarterback at the very end of the season and forced to give up the top seed. Injuries, awful play (Thursday Night Football was abysmal to watch), and millions of wasted opportunities (as well as a dozen franchises at least making strange decisions) would open the door for the Denver Broncos to grab the top seed and have a direct path towards the championship.

Before any of you start screaming how I’m not giving any credit to the Denver defense, continue to hear me out. At no point did anyone feel like the Broncos were the best team in the NFL. The Steelers, Patriots, Bengals, Cardinals, Packers and (eventually) the Panthers throughout the season were considered superior teams before injuries crippled their quality. The Broncos peaked mainly in the playoffs when it most mattered, but a lot had to fall apart for them to pave the path to glory.

Even Manning himself got hurt and left for several weeks. This was far and beyond among his worst seasons (it might be the worst ever, truthfully), as his backup quarterback Brock Osweiler looked better in certain spurts. It feels so long ago that Manning had a near-negative quarterback rating as he even got pulled after throwing 4 ridiculous interceptions. Amazing how quickly people forget. If it wasn’t for Brock filling in during the injury/rest/mental recovery/relax until playoffs period, the Broncos would have been pushed out of the postseason entirely.

Injuries, terrible collapses, amazing Denver defense, and surprisingly competent backup quarterback was all the essential ingredients needed to give Manning this final chance at redemption and that long-eluded second Super Bowl ring. Too much had gone right for Denver to mess this up again, and I haven’t even mentioned how Oakland and San Diego within the same division weren’t even sure of their future during the season. And if you think that doesn't have much of an effect, look at the final seasons of any team that wound up relocating---including the St. Louis Rams.

Look, winning a Super Bowl does require much more skill and talent than luck, but can you honestly claim a team with less than 200 offense yards in its most important game deserves to be considered the best? What really happened is that underneath all the garbage that happened in 2015/2016, Denver rose up from the ashes emerging as the last team standing. The Steelers fell apart on a game they weren’t supposed to even be participating in (Bengals absolutely tanked the final two minutes of their Wild Card game), the Patriots’ offensive line was in shambles, and the Carolina Panthers got too cocky and may have underestimated the defense that was the main factor in Denver’s appearance in Santa Clara.

Peyton Manning, this is your peak, you will not be able to obtain this height again. You didn’t even play as a Top 10 quarterback in 2015. You are playing on house money and managed to win. But just like in Vegas, you can never push your luck in the NFL. The Broncos are a well-oiled machine on defense yet still looked shaky until it mattered the most. Retiring is the best option; for you, for your family, and for your legacy.





It has been a great ride. Don’t overdo it.

The Duo that has Shaken the 2016 Presidential Election

A tale of two radical presidential candidates conquering the headlines of the upcoming election.

On this corner, you have a successful northeastern entrepreneur that has held ties with WWE, NBC, and every facet of business you can think of. He has wealth far beyond the eye can see, and has used his connections solely to be able to make a good run towards a potential presidential nomination. With no political experience whatsoever, he has won over Midwestern America with his rock star persona, uncut approach, and inability to sound like the average politician. Most people with his personality would have stumbled out of the gate gunning for president, but his 15 minutes of political fame has seemingly been extended to 30.

On this corner we have a politician from Vermont who came out of practically nowhere and has split the Democratic field in half, while trampling everyone else not named Hillary along the way (Poor Martin O’Malley). Being neck and neck against a Clinton without major supporters but instead a rising army of millennials and 20-somethings is quite a daunting surprise, even more so that he is managing this without directly attacking any of the competitors.

Both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are making great strides, won’t be going away for a while, and this scares both political parties.

The Republicans know that if Trump wins, they will be destroyed in the main election, and it won’t even be close. There’s no chance he could win California, New York, Florida, or even Illinois. He has upset far too many groups, especially the Hispanic crowd (mainly the Mexicans, which dominate the Hispanic population in the U.S) and women overall. The Republican Party knows this, and would much rather roll the dice with Ted Cruz or even Rubio. That being said, the popular votes is still keeping Trump around. Trump would lose against Sanders, and would be destroyed by Clinton.

The Democrats have secretly been plumping up the Hillary Clinton campaign since the tailend of Obama’s second term. They have pretty much set all their sights on Clinton, as the Dems love that name almost as much as the Republicans love Reagan. They weren’t anticipating the youngster wave of support for Sanders, and weren’t anticipating the white democrat voters flocking to him as well. Sanders definitely has a long way to go, especially with minorities, but the damage has already been done. The momentum of Hillary that began under the Obama administration has grinded to a halt. And if Sanders takes the nomination, except a hellish fight with Wall Street and the 1% as he battles to try to improve the middle class.

Odds are, both Trump and Bernie will fade out as the races heat up. Hillary Clinton has far too much support from the Obama fans and people that remember the 90s (Honestly, that last name adds a lot of votes). And on the other side, there’s no way the rest of America can fall for the idiotic shtick of Trump. Ultimately the politics will even itself out.



But both parties are still quite, quite nervous.