Yes, they do. But, they also have some things most tourist railroads don't.

1) Cubic dollars for, well, everything except employee wages it would seem. Marketing, design, maintenance, improvements. All get top dollar.

2) They a destination know around the world. As much as we love it, while Strasburg is a leader in the industry, nobody's ever said "I'm going to Strasburg!" in the post Superbowl interview.

3) They're used to simply raising prices on everything and people pay. Go to any Disney forum, and you'll see two complaints. First "It's too expensive". Second "Everything's sold out, I can't get tickets, I can't get hotels!" Well, as long as the second is true, the first isn't an issue for Disney.


If you have a manager who's used to dealing with those factors, the transition to a different corporate environment may be challenging.

Or course I was not being serious.

Part of Mr. Gebbia's issues involved the COVID-related issues -- not a good time to have to be showing how to grow an organization.

However, 'not the best fit' implies that the corporate culture at Gebbia's former division of Disney did not match that at Strasburg. Possibly really didn't. That is far from saying either that Gebbia was somehow incompetent or wrong in what he planned to do as GM. Or that some aspects of Disney's SOPs might not have been workable.

As superheater noted about GM, there might be a question about what the 'crown jewel' of Strasburg is: a steam railroad as a tourist attraction, or a tourist attraction that happens to feature competent steam. (Of all the organizations running steam at tourist attractions, I'd think Disneyland would have some of the deepest and longest competence, so this isn't about exploitive methodology)

At any rate, I look forward to this perhaps turning into the next 50-year stint.

I backed my assertion with the precipitous decline in stock prices.

And then there's this:

https://allears.net/2022/05/25/disneys- ... -new-poll/

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/28/busi ... y-ceo.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/17/busi ... orida.html

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/were-he ... 08607.html

https://www.wsj.com/articles/disneys-ne ... 1661572819


How many shares you have? How much have you lost?

I'm up 9%.

Also who cares. The last guy didn't fit well at Strasburg, which is all that matters. Discussing Disney's stock price and perceived reputation is worthless.

Some people like to take every opportunity they can to pledge allegiance to their tribe.

If we're calling the people who are becoming negative about the Disney corporation's recent embraces, however deep or tepid they may be in the grand scheme of things, of "political correctness" and "wokeism" (or whatever we want to label it today) a "tribe,", then make no mistake about it: "Disney" itself and its followers/patrons are a cult. It's a "cult" little different from the loyal followers of Chik-Fik-A or Hobby Lobby, albeit for less easily-pigeonholed rationales. I've heard friends and classmates gush about their repeated visits to the "Magic Kingdom" in terms that thoroughly creep me out.

Tourism markets are not all alike. Vegas is different from Paris or San Francisco (and that's the entire point). Yellowstone is different from Branson. The Great Smoky Mountains are different from Lancaster County. And Disney World is, well, some giant mutant. And more importantly, the tourist train market of the 1960s in no way resembles the one today, even if one of the most noted ones today STILL has "Wild West shootouts" and "train robbers."

Any and every tourist railroad has to evolve with the times, and the pursuit of "new" and experienced management with a foundation in 21st century entertainment needs to be a part of that process. Anyone who pays attention to railroad corporate history will know how railroads got themselves in serious trouble by being too "conservative" to a fault. This is hardly the first time we've seen "outsiders" brought in to run rail attractions, and it had better not be the last.

Do you really have this little self-awareness?

I said nothing about Disney's politics-but for the record-it is a part of their problem.

It is true of course that SJW's always project.

Pro Tip: When analyzing the economic standing of a company; never let your personal affections or disaffections-or Jim Cramer or Suze Orman get in the way of your analysis, it's a recipe for poverty. Of course if you don't actually have the training to make this sort of analysis, you can mire yourself in politics.

Unless this pseudonym is a sock puppet account for CZ, I didn't ask you.

I also implicitly asked if the fawning public admiration was backed up with actual investment in DISNEY-and since it started the year at 155 and ended at 104ish today, anybody who bought it at the beginning of their year LOST money.

I hold no position. I don't short it, not because I don't think there's an opportunity; but because I'm trading with our money, not my money.

If you were dumpster diving equities in mid-March 2020, you would have picked up Disney for 98ish. Apart from having a post COVID run up and one last month, this is hardly gangbusters.

The reason Disney is relevant is because there is a question as to whether or not being affiliated with them provides the sort of experience and training that could be used at an operation such as the Strasburg Railroad.

There was a time when some corporations were thought to supply experience that made a participant a capable manager at anything. GE in the Jack Welch days had that reputation.

I've been trying to dance around this, but the fact is the the Board or the hiring committee made a mistake. They aren't unique, this is the same mistake Apple made in bringing on John Sculley-and I can imagine there was a certain amount of desperation operative after losing a 50 year incumbent on the wheel and then losing the replacement after six months.

Just as a conductor or engineer needs to be qualified on the rules and the territory, so must managers. While by necessity; the view of the company is "30 thousand feet" and technical details are handled by lower level managers and/or functional specialists; you have to have some familiarity with the territory. The idea that you can train a generic "manager" that can apply those skills anywhere; sans experience is one of the great persistent myths of corporate America. A precocious few will prosper in an unfamiliar territory; but they usually need the kind of training/experience one gets in an MBA program, major accounting or consulting firm.

One of the things that stands out here is the former occupant's claim on Linked In to have produced a 47% operating ratio. The fact is, an analytic (or KPI, key performance indicator) is irrelevant outside of comparison to a planned result or requirement, prior results or a relevant cohort. Think of it driving speed. Travelling at 65mph is great on a interstate on a clear dry day, not so good if there's ice or you are on a city street.

Hopefully, the experience with this individual shows that the core competency of Strasburg is the operation, rehabilitation and maintenance of vintage railroad equipment, from which all other activities devolve; not a visitor attraction that happens to run trains.

Mr. Anderson said it best.

Ross Rowland

Wah haha, sure, okay. Post a question on a forum without directly addressing the person you want to answer then get pissy when somebody else disproves your claim. It's fine. You can continue your slow spiral into irrelevance.

The Disney guy didn't fit at SRR. That's all there is to it. Not every person is a fit for every job. It's pretty simple.

Brevity is the soul of wit; it also provides less of a nuclear cross section for the slow neutrons to start a chain reaction.

Wah haha, sure, okay. Post a question on a forum without directly addressing the person you want to answer then get pissy when somebody else disproves your claim. It's fine. You can continue your slow spiral into irrelevance.

Please feel free to further my "slow side into irrelevance", whatever than means by not offering irrelevant responses.

Ah yes, while I watch the back and forth battle, I just sit and watch, silently hoping whatever they do they stay on track to have 31 running again at the beginning of 2023.

Who knows though, changes in management (even frequently sometimes) isn’t always a bad thing. Maybe we’ll end up seeing a fifth locomotive restored there after 90’s 1,472. My fingers are crossed for the unlikely return of a 4-4-2.

Not cool to post that on many different levels.

I reported the post and received notice that someone else had already done so. Most of this thread has gotten way too sketchy with character issues between posters and about staffing at SRR. And those are just the posts I can see - not including "foes."