Walt Disney World Stock Up/Down with Listener Shamus; Chapek Book Thoughts; Long/Short-Term Philosophy; Wine & Dine 5K - BOGP 2973

Be Our Guest WDW Podcast

The episode features host Mike Rallman and listener co-host Seamus discussing recent Walt Disney World trends, leadership changes, and upcoming events. They dive

Key takeaways

• Seamus critiques Bob Chapek's new book intro, noting a lack of self-awareness and accountability while praising his narration.
• Mike and Seamus emphasize long-term guest loyalty over short-term revenue, citing Disney's past parking fee backlash as an example of poor financial prioritization.

Main topics

• Bob Chapek memoir review
• Disney leadership philosophy vs. financials

Notable quotes

Stock is way down on Bob Chapek's self-awareness.

Conclusion

The episode offers listeners actionable Disney planning advice while c

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) Happy Monday, everybody. Thank you so much for downloading or streaming the Be Our Guest podcast. Today is going to be a little bit different because we had a last minute cancellation for our trip report, but no fear. I opened up the phone lines and Seamus from Florida called in. It's so good to hear from our friend down in the Sunshine State. And we played a little stock up, stock down. And Seamus has been listening to JPEG's new book. Just got through the introduction and had some thoughts there. So we talked about that. He gave his stock up and stock down, which started the conversation. I gave mine. So we had a great conversation with that. It also talked about a few other topics going on. So hope you enjoy the next hour as we really got in a lot of fun Disney talk. So a little bit different show on a Monday, but I hope it is just as enjoyable for you. Don't forget the podcast always brought to you by the magic for less travel. We're standing by to help you plan amazing Disney adventures for no additional cost to you. Check out all the details today over at the magic for less.com. Please also use our Amazon affiliate link. When you shop online, be our guest podcast.com slash Amazon. And thank you so very much to our Patreon supporters. You're the folks that keep this show going. We can't do it without your support. You can support us as well, just $5 a month. And when you do that, you get a bonus show called Mike in the Midwest. Come over this week. We'd sure love to have you. Patreon.com slash Be Our Guest Podcast. Speaker 1 (1:28) Ready to take a trip to the world? You found the Be Our Guest Walt Disney World Trip Planning Podcast. This is where your memories come front and center on our podcast stage. Speaker 3 (1:42) Well, hey, everybody, welcome to the B.O.G.P. Open Line, which is also serving as episode 2973 here on a Monday. I know it's both. I'm Mike Rallman, host of the Be Our Guest podcast. You can find me at BeOurGuestPodcast.com. One of the senior agents over at the Magic for Less Travel. I know you're confused. Why are you here in the studio band on a Monday? Well, I'll tell you, we're doing things a little different to start October here because we had a last minute cancellation for our trip report. So we're just going to have an open line to start the week. It's going to be maybe many trip reports, maybe listener questions. And I have some other topics to bring to the table to start the week. No problem. If we had a cancellation, it's not a big deal. So what we're going to do over the next hour. is open the phone lines at 407-584-7173. Again, that's 407-584-7173. So if you want to call in, talk about Disney news. I know JPEG's biography came out. Maybe you're reading that book. Maybe you're listening to the audio book and you have a take on that. You can call in and talk about that. We have, you know, other Disney news. Maybe you're just back from a Walt Disney World vacation. Maybe you just went to Disneyland. Maybe you just sailed with Disney Cruise Line. You want to give a mini trip report. That would be awesome. Maybe you have a list or question. We could talk about that. I have some topics to bring to the table as well. So over the next hour, I'm going to leave the phone lines open. So you want to jump in and interrupt me. You want to co-host a podcast for 10 or 15 minutes. I would love to have three or four different co-hosts. People that have been on the show many times, maybe some new voices today. That would be great because this show is always going to be about you guys. It's the Be Our Guest podcast. We bring guests to the microphone. We bring guests to our show. That's what we've been doing since 2008. So what I'm going to do here is go ahead and open up the phone lines right now so that while I'm talking, if anybody wants to come on and be a part of the show, tonight is your night. And it's just me. Scotty G is not here. Because, again, like I said, last minute cancellation. I said, you know what? I just want to talk to our listeners and have some fun. I love open lines. This is what. Speaker 3 (4:04) And my wife asked me, she's like, you know, maybe, maybe don't do the Sunday night shows when they're, cause sometimes we don't have a lot of calls. And I tell her that I go upstairs. I'm like, Oh, we only have one or two calls. She's like, well, you know, maybe people are too busy on Sunday nights and, you know, just maybe don't do the Sunday night shows and just watch football or whatever. I do kind of like. Like the Sunday night shows the best in a way because when I was a kid I loved talk radio. That was kind of my big thing. And this is as close as I can ever get to doing talk radio is when I can call and talk to our listeners live on the air. So I hope that you'll give me a call tonight at 407-584-7173. Talk about what's on your mind. We have the wine and dine race weekend coming up down at Walt Disney World. I wish I was going to be there. It's parents weekend at Mizzou that weekend. So when I saw those two. We're the same weekend. I couldn't sign up for the races. I just couldn't. Mallory's a freshman. So I have to be at Mizzou that weekend. I don't have to be. I get to be at Mizzou that weekend. So it's going to be awesome. But they're doing something different at Mizzou this weekend, which is killing me. And I have no idea why they're doing this. And I'm probably going to say something that's going to get me in trouble. But for the first time ever, and again, we've been going to Mizzou games since before Mallory was born. We've been season ticket holders at Mizzou for football, right? So we've been season ticket holders for nearly 20 years. Most of those years just sitting on grass, not even having seats, but just sitting on the grass on what was called the hill, which isn't there anymore. But. Speaker 3 (5:40) Because basically you just paid $15 times how many games there were that year, usually eight or nine, and that was your season ticket. And you got a little tab to redeem for each game to get you in the gate and just sat wherever you wanted on the hill. That was kind of our season tickets. But... For the first time ever. Speaker 3 (5:59) Parents weekend is on a weekend where there's no football game. And I'm like, what? Because the whole draw of parents weekend. as long as we've been going for the last 20 years. And as long as I've known, I mean, beyond that, I'm sure it was like that in the seventies and eighties, you know, when I was in little kid Speaker 2 (6:17) and in Speaker 3 (6:17) high school Speaker 2 (6:18) and Speaker 3 (6:18) stuff, Speaker 2 (6:18) I, cause I wasn't going then, Speaker 3 (6:19) but. Speaker 3 (6:23) You know, parents weekend, like the parents would come to the weekend. You know, you get to kind of see what your kid's up to. Maybe tour the campus if you're from out of town. You know, we know Mizzou pretty well because Paige went there. Obviously, you know, she worked with the basketball program. We know the campus pretty well. But you go get to hang out with your kid for a weekend. Get to go see where, you know, Shakespeare's in Columbia, all that place, get some pizza. We go a lot. So it's a little bit different for us. But you get to go see your kid for a weekend and hang out, right? But. One of the big things that you always did with your kids, you went to the football game. That was what you did on Saturday. And so I just assumed, and it was always not against like a big rival. They always did on a weekend where there wasn't a lot of, they needed to sell tickets. So it'd be against a, you know, a small team that you're going to crush. It wouldn't be against Florida. It wouldn't be against Alabama or Texas or anything. It'd be against, you know, Arkansas Pine Bluff or, you know, Troy or somebody like that, you know, small team, but it was always a football weekend. So at least you got to go to a football game. This year, they're like, nope, not doing it during football game. I'm like, what? How is parents weekend out on a football weekend? And apparently, because my wife even emailed and said, I think you got the dates wrong. There's no football game that weekend. We found out because we had to get, obviously everybody books hotels and they all sell out because Columbia's not huge. All the hotel rooms sell out right away. So we're booking our hotel and we're like, it can't be the right weekend. There's no football game. We have our tickets. There's no game that weekend. It can't be parents weekend. And I'm like, it's wine and dine race weekend. So make sure you get it right. Cause if it's not, I want to sign up for the race. We're trying to line everything up. So. Come to find out, no, they emailed us back. That is the correct weekend. And it was so Disney in their answer. Their answer was so Disney. And so what they told us was due to parental feedback, we've decided to move parents weekend to a weekend without a football game because parents said that campus and the city of Columbia was too busy on a football weekend. It was too hard to get into restaurants. It was too hard to park around campus. It was too overwhelming to get to tour the campus and do all the activities with a football game going on. With, you know, 65,000 people at the football game on Saturday. So... Speaker 3 (8:36) Hmm. So I was like, well. Speaker 3 (8:40) That's interesting. So we are still going to go. Here's the thing. We might still do Parents Weekend, but we might not now. We were just talking to Mallory last weekend because, like, the thing is, we see her. Like, we're going to be there for Homecoming this weekend. Obviously, when this show comes out, it was this past weekend. Speaker 3 (9:01) We see her at all the, because we still have season tickets. We go to all the home games. We've been there. We're there this past weekend. We'll be there again this next Saturday against Texas A &M. So we see her a lot during football season. So that weekend, there's no football game. She might just come home and spend the weekend here at our house. And a lot of her friends go home too. And just, there's nothing, there's no football game. So there's not a whole lot going on there. So why mess around with it? So I think it's going to backfire. But it was so Disney in the fact that there's a dude to. parent feedback we've decided to make this terrible choice and have parents weekend on Speaker 2 (9:37) a weekend without a football game because Speaker 3 (9:39) i thought it brought everybody together and like you saw you know all the parents you know going to the football game with their kids and everybody had a good time and you know they recognized everybody at the game oh this is me i'm a football fan so that was me anyway so Speaker 3 (9:52) Tonight, getting to the Disney topics, 407-584-7173. I'm waiting for everybody to jump in. I'd love to talk to you. I see that Seamus has tuned in with us. Seamus, appreciate you. Hope you're doing well. He's a Gator fan, so I'm pretty sure he's having a good Monday. I'll just say that. I bet you are. Hope my Tigers pulled it off. I'm always going to be a Tiger fan no matter what, no matter how big of an underdog we are. I've been a Tiger fan, and we used to get crushed by Nebraska 77-0. I never gave up on my Tigers, and I never will. And I'll be there Saturday screaming my head off, and that's just how it is. But I like how people root for their teams, and that's how it should be. So I bet you Seamus is pretty happy down there in Florida. But who knows? We have a good quarterback, Austin Simmons. Speaker 3 (10:42) If you have a chance, give me a call tonight because I'd rather not talk for an hour. And I know you'd rather not hear me talk for an hour, but one of the things I thought we'd talk about do that we do here on the podcast that I do with Scott, Pam and Ricky from time to time is stock up in stock down. All right. We have our first call. So thank you for calling. Let me jump, grab this call. Hey caller, who's there? Speaker 2 (11:06) Hey, it's World's Most Excited Gator Fan. Talking to World's Most Excited Tigers Fan. Speaker 3 (11:12) Is Speaker 1 (11:12) it Seamus? It's Seamus. It's Seamus, man. Speaker 2 (11:15) How you doing? Speaker 3 (11:15) Let me give you one. Hang on. Speaker 2 (11:23) Sorry, Speaker 3 (11:24) I don't have Tim Tebow on the board for you, or else I'd give you one. I Speaker 2 (11:27) can't remember the last time there was this much national attention on UF and Mizzou. I'm pumped, dude. Speaker 3 (11:34) Well, Speaker 2 (11:34) you Speaker 3 (11:34) know, this isn't Sports Open Line, and people, please forgive that we do talk sports occasionally here on the podcast, because I am a huge football fan and Disney fan. There's a lot of intersection there. But the thing is, if we're playing in the swamp, we're smoked. But the thing is, like, you guys have a little voodoo when you come to Columbia. So that's my only hope. That's my only hope that the voodoo continues. Speaker 2 (11:53) We talked about that, like, three months ago. It's like, it has been kryptonite for us. But I am super excited. And, you know, by the time this comes out, I'm either very happy or very sad. But we're still good friends. So that's what matters. Absolutely. Yeah, I like that. Speaker 3 (12:06) There's kind of a cool thing, too, that I've noticed, like, with Big Ten, SEC especially, those two conferences, and Disney fans, right? They're passionate about their teams. They like to wear their colors on Disney vacations. You really see it during football season. You'll Speaker 2 (12:20) see the Ohio State fans. You'll see the Michigan fans. You'll see the LSU fans. Speaker 3 (12:24) You know, like there's certain schools you'll see super represented in the parks, but it's like your tribe. Like you get to see them. You know, if I see a rare M.I. you know, Mizzou jersey in the parks or something, it's so cool to give an M.I.Z. to somebody and they give me back a Z.O.U. That makes your Disney trips even better. Speaker 2 (12:40) That's right. It's, you know, ultimately it's all about the same stuff is right. Like Disney and sports. It's all about inspiration, camaraderie. It's the same kind of feelings that you get. So we, we love it for sure. Speaker 3 (12:51) Absolutely. So what I was saying, and I'm Speaker 2 (12:53) going Speaker 3 (12:53) to get your, what you want to say, what I wanted to bring to the table tonight was stock up, stock down seriously. Like things that you see are moving in the right direction and maybe things you see are moving in the wrong direction. And if you had one. Lay it on us. And if not, I can give you a couple of things I was thinking, but you could start if you like. Speaker 2 (13:11) Yeah, I'll tell you what, this is, this is. Relevant for me because I just started this yesterday. But I am, stock is way down on Bob Chapek's self-awareness. Speaker 3 (13:25) I Speaker 2 (13:25) don't know if you see it. So his book just came out and you can get it on audio. I do a lot of time in the car with the community, but I started listening to it yesterday after work. And at least how Audible has it laid out, the first three chapters are essentially the intro. So we're not even at part one yet. And it is a culmination of at least 20 minutes. And he is narrating this whole thing, which just makes it just way better. Speaker 1 (13:59) It Speaker 2 (14:00) is at least 20 minutes of woe is me. You know, I was ripped off. I worked so hard my whole life to earn this job. And he did. Like, I'm sure that, I'm sure we're going to go through the entire thing. And he's incredibly intelligent, obviously deserved to be where he was. But he could not have made it more obvious in the first 15 minutes of this personal reflection on what happened that he does not align. with the basic fundamentals of what makes Disney different from a park standpoint, from a company. It was... It almost seemed intentional. So I am nervously excited to get to the rest of it. I think it's always so important to listen to opinions that aren't yours and to try not to reinforce your own opinions or stereotypes all the time just by, you know. filling your feeds and stuff with things that you care about. So I am excited to hear his side of the story, but I was. almost comically disappointed with the introduction as far as just zero. Speaker 2 (15:17) you know, accountability of any of the negatives that happened and just a completely victimized version of events. So I'll keep, I'll keep the clubhouse posted as, as we dive in further. It was, it was crazy. Well, Speaker 3 (15:33) see, that's interesting because obviously I haven't read it yet. I read Iger's book when it came out, um, his biography and, or, you know, the, what it's called, like, uh, let's write something with ride in it. It's on my bookshelf in there. Um, And I thought it was interesting, but the thing is, you know, and I haven't, obviously I haven't had a chance to get at that yet. I'll probably get at it. You know, the problem is once football starts, man, Speaker 2 (15:55) by Speaker 3 (15:57) the way, today is we're recording last day without football until December 1st. Like, that's