“Disneyland was a natural. It was so close to what we were doing in film. I thought of it a long time, but very few people believed in it at first. Now look at it.”“Disneyland is a thing that I can keep molding and shaping. It’s a three-dimensional thing to play with. But when I say, ‘play with it,’ I don’t mean that. Everything I do I keep a practical eye towards its appeal to the public.”
“Disneyland would be a world of Americans, past and present, seen through the eyes of my imagination – a place of warmth and nostalgia, of illusion and color and delight...”
“Physically, Disneyland would be a small world in itself – it would encompass the essence of the things that were good and true in American life. It would reflect the faith and challenge the future, the entertainment, the interest in intelligently presented facts, the stimulation of the imagination, the standards of health and achievement, and above all, a sense of strength, contentment and well-being.”
“A word may be said in regard to the concept and conduct of Disneyland’s operational tone. Although various sections will have the fun and flavor of a carnival or amusement park, there will be none of the ‘pitches,’ game wheels, sharp practices and devices designed to milk the visitor’s pocketbook.”
“Almost everyone warned us that Disneyland would be a Hollywood spectacular – a spectacular failure. But they were thinking about an amusement park, and we believed in our idea – a family park where parents and children would have fun – together.”
“When I started on Disneyland, my wife used to say, “But why do you want to build an amusement park? They’re so dirty.” I told her that was just the point – mine wouldn’t be.”
“Disneyland is like Alice stepping through the Looking Glass; to step through the portals of Disneyland will be like entering another world.”
“It came about when my daughters were very young and Saturday was always daddy’s day with the two daughters. So we’d start out and try to go someplace, you know, different things, and I’d take them to the merry-go-round and did all these things – sit on a bench, you know, eating peanuts – I felt that there should be something built where parents and the children could have fun together. So that’s how Disneyland started. Well, it took many year… it was a period of maybe 15 years developing. I started with many ideas, threw them away, started all over again. And eventually it evolved into what you see today at Disneyland. But it all started out from a daddy with two daughters wondering where he could take them where he could have a little fun with them, too.”
“Disneyland is like a piece of clay, if there is something I don’t like, I’m not stuck with it. I can reshape and revamp.”“Whenever I go on a ride, I’m always thinking of what’s wrong with the thing and how it can be improved.”
“It’s no secret that we were sticking just about every nickel we had on the chance that people would really be interested in something totally new and unique in the field of entertainment.”
“Disneyland is a work of love. We didn’t go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money.”
“We did it, in the knowledge that most of the people I talked to thought it would be a financial disaster – closed and forgotten within the first year.”
“The more I go to other amusement parks in all parts of the world, the more I am convinced of the wisdom of the original concepts of Disneyland. I mean, have a single entrance through which all the traffic would flow, then a hub off which the various areas were situated. That gives people a sense of orientation – they all know where they are at all times. And it saves a lot of walking.”
“The idea of Disneyland is a simple one. It will be a place for people to find happiness and knowledge. It will be a place for parents and children to share pleasant times in one another’s company; a place for teachers and pupils to discover greater ways of understanding and education. Here the older generation can recapture the nostalgia of days gone by, and the younger generation can savor the challenge of the future. Here will be the wonders of Nature and Man for all to see and understand. Disneyland will be based upon and dedicated to the ideals, the dream and hard facts that have created America. And it will be uniquely equipped to dramatize these dreams and facts and send them forth as a source of courage and inspiration to all the world. Disneyland will be sometimes a fair, an exhibition, a playground, a community center, a museum of living facts, and a showplace of beauty and magic. It will be filled with accomplishments, the joys and hopes of the world we live in. And it will remind us and show us how to make these wonders part of our own lives.”
“Disneyland will be the essence of America as we know it, the nostalgia of the past, with exciting glimpses into the future. It will give meaning to the pleasure of the children – and pleasure to the experience of adults. It will focus a new interest upon Southern California through the mediums of television and other exploitation. It will be a place for California to be at home, to bring its guests, to demonstrate its faith in the future. And, mostly as stated at the beginning – it will be a place for the people to find happiness and knowledge.”
“To all who come to this happy place: Welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here, age relives fond memories of the past... and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America… with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.”
“Disneyland is a show.”“I don’t want the public to see the world they live in while they’re in the park. I want them to feel they’re in another world.”
“Disneyland is not just another amusement park. It’s unique, and I want it kept that way. Besides, you don’t work for a dollar – you work to create and have fun.”
“In the wintertime you can go out there during the week and you won’t see any children. You’ll see the oldsters out there riding all these rides and having fun and everything. Summertime, of course, the average would drop down. But the overall, year-round average, its four adults to one child.”
"Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the children's approach to life. They're people who don't give a hang what the Jonses do. You see them at Disneyland everytime you go there. They are not afraid to be delighted with simple pleasures, and they have a degree of contentment with what life has brought - sometimes it isn't much, either."
“The idea for Disneyland lay dormant for several years. It came along when I was taking my kids around to these kiddie parks… I took them to zoos, I took them everywhere, and while they were on the merry-go-round riding 40 times or something, I’d be sitting there trying to figure what I could do. When I built the Studio I thought we ought to have a three-dimension thing that people could actually come and visit – they can’t visit our Studio because the rooms are small. So I had a little dream for Disneyland adjoining the Studio, but I couldn’t get anybody to go in with me because we were going through this depression. And whenever I’d go down and talk to my brother about it, why he’d always suddenly get busy with some figures so, I mean, I didn’t dare bring it up. But I kept working on it and I worked on it with my own money. Not the Studio’s money, but my own money.”
“Drawing up plans and dreaming of what I could do, everything. It was just something I kind of kept playing around with.”
“Here is adventure. Here is romance. Here is mystery. Tropical rivers – silently flowing into the unknown. The unbelievable splendor of exotic flowers… the eerie sound of the jungle… with eyes that are always watching. This is Adventureland.”
“Here is the world of imagination, hopes and dreams. In this timeless land of enchantment, the age of chivalry, magic and make-believe are reborn – and fairy tales come true. Fantasyland is dedicated to the young-in-heart – to those who believe that when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true.”
“Here we experience the story of our country’s past… the colorful drama of Frontier America in the exciting days of the covered wagon and the stagecoach… the advent of the railroad… and the romantic riverboat. Frontierland is a tribute to the faith, courage and ingenuity of the pioneers who blazed the trails across America.”
“A vista into a world of wondrous ideas, signifying man’s achievements… a step into the future, with predictions of constructive things to come. Tomorrow offers new frontiers in science, adventure and ideals: the Atomic Age… the challenge of outer space… and the hope for a peaceful and unified world.”
“Now, when we opened Disneyland, outer space was Buck Rogers. I did put in a trip to the moon. And I got Wernher von Braun to help me plan the thing. And, of course, we were going up to the moon long before Sputnik. And since then has come Sputnik and then has come our great program in outer space. So I had to tear down my Tomorrowland that I built 11 years ago and rebuild it to keep pace.”
“Everybody thinks that the Park is a gold mine – but we have had our problems. You’ve got to work it and know how to handle it. Even trying to keep that Park clean is a tremendous expense. And those sharp pencil guys will tell you, ‘Walt, if we cut down on maintenance, we’d save a lot of money.’ But I don’t believe in that – it’s like any other show on the road; it must be kept clean and fresh.”“To try to keep an operation like Disneyland going you have to pour it in there. It’s what I call ‘Keeping the show on the road.’ Not just new attractions, but keeping it staffed properly… you know, never letting your personnel get sloppy… never let them be unfriendly. That’s been our policy all or lives. My brother and I have done that and that is what has built our organization.”
“There are many ways that you can use those certain basic things and give them a new décor, a new treatment. I’ve been doing that with Disneyland. Some of my things I’ve redone as I’ve gone along, reshaped them.”
“The first year I leased out the parking concession, brought in the usual security guards – things like that – but soon realized my mistake. I couldn’t have outside help and still get over my idea of hospitality. So now we recruit and train every one of our employees. I tell the security police, for instance, that they are never to consider themselves cops. They are there to help people. The visitors are our guests. It’s like running a fine restaurant. Once you get the policy growing, it grows.”
“The Era We Are Living In Today Is A Dream Come True.”
“Disneyland will always be building and growing and adding new things… new ways of having fun, of learning things and sharing the many exciting adventures which may be experienced here in the company of family and friends.”
“When we were planning Disneyland, we hoped that we could build something that would command the respect of the community and after 10 years, I feel that we’ve accomplished that, not only the community but the country as a whole.”
“It’s something that will never be finished. Something that I can keep developing, keep plussing and adding to. It’s alive. It will be a live, breathing thing that will need change. A picture is a thing, once you wrap it up and turn it over to Technicolor you’re through. Snow White is a dead issue with me. A live picture I just finished, the one I wrapped up a few weeks ago, it’s gone. I can’t touch it. There’s things in it I don’t like; I can’t do anything about it. I wanted something alive, something that could grow, something I could keep plussing with ideas; the Park is that. Not only can I add things, but even the trees will keep growing.” The things will get more beautiful each year. And as I find out what the public doesn’t like, I can’t change it, it’s finished, but I can change the Park, because it’s alive. That is why I wanted that Park.”
“It has that thing – the imagination, and the feeling of happy excitement – I knew when I was a kid.”“You can’t live on things made for children – or for critics. I’ve never made films for either of them. Disneyland is not just for children. I don’t play down.”
“To make the dreams of Disneyland come true took the combined skills and talents of hundreds of artisans, carpenters, engineers, scientists and craftsmen. The dream that they built now become your heritage. It is you who will make Disneyland truly a magic kingdom and a happy place for millions of guests who will visit us now and in the future.”
“A lot of people don’t realize that we have some very serious problems here, keepin’ this thing going and getting’ it started. I remember when we opened, if anybody recalls, we didn’t have enough money to finish the landscaping and I had Bill Evans go out and put Latin tags on all the weeds.”
“I had different cost estimates; one time it was three and a half million and when I kept fooling around a little more with it and it got up to seven and a half million and I kept fooling around a little more and pretty soon it was twelve and a half and I think when we opened Disneyland it was seventeen million dollars.”
“Disneyland is the star. Everything else is in the supporting role.”
“Here You Leave Today – And Visit The Worlds of Yesterday, Tomorrow and Fantasy.”
“Disneyland is often called a Magic Kingdom because it combines fantasy and history, adventure and learning, together with every variety of recreation and fun designed to appeal to everyone.”
“I first saw the site for Disneyland back in 1953. In those days it was all flat land – no rivers, no mountains, no castle or rocket shops – just orange groves, and a few acres of walnut trees.”
“Well, it took many years. I started with many ideas, threw them away, started all over again. And eventually it evolved into what you see today at Disneyland.”
“Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.”
“Disneyland really began when my two daughters were very young. Saturday was always Daddy’s Day, and I would take them to the merry-go-round, and sit on a bench eating peanuts, while they rode. And sitting there alone, I felt there should be something built, some kind of family park where parents and children could have fun together.”
“Well, you know this Disneyland concept kept growing and growing and finally ended up where I felt like I needed two or three thousand acres. So I wanted it in the Southern California area; had certain things that I felt I needed, such as flat land because I wanted to make my own hills. So I had a survey group go out and hunt for areas that might be useful and they finally came back with several different areas and we settled on Anaheim. “The price was right but there was more to it than that, and that is that Anaheim was a sort of growing area and the freeway project was such that we could see that eventually the freeways would hit Anaheim as a sort of a hub so that’s how we selected Anaheim.”
“Anaheim was a town of 14,000 then, and if someone had mentioned that one year soon six million visitors would come to Disneyland, folks might have had second thoughts about inviting us. In fact, we might have had second thoughts about building a Disneyland!”
“I think what I want Disneyland to be most of all is a happy place – a place where adults and children can experience together some of the wonders of life, of adventure, and feel better because of it.”
“The way I see it, Disneyland will never be finished. It’s something we can keep developing and adding to. A motion picture is different. Once it’s wrapped up and sent out for processing, we’re through with it. If there are things that could be improved, we can’t do anything about them anymore. I’ve always wanted to work on something alive, something that keeps growing. We’ve got that in Disneyland.”
“I just want to leave you with this thought, that it’s just been sort of a dress rehearsal and we’re just getting started. So if any of you start resting on your laurels, I mean just forget it because… we are just getting started.”“Well, I think by this time my staff, my young group of executives, and everything else, are convinced that Walt is right. That quality will out. And so I think they’re going to stay with that policy because it’s proved that it’s a good business policy. Give the people everything you can give them. Keep the place as clean as you can keep it. Keep it friendly, you know. Make it a real fun place to be. I think they’re convinced and I think they’ll hang on after… as you say… well… after Disney.”
"I love the nostalgic myself. I hope we never lose some of the things of the past."
“The whole thing here is the organization. Whatever we accomplish belongs to our entire group, a tribute to our combined effort. Look at Disneyland. That was started because we had the talents to start it, the talents of the organization. And our World’s Fair shows – what we did was possible only because we already had the staff that had worked together for years, blending creative ideas with technical know-how.”
“Well WED is, you might call it my backyard laboratory, my workshop away from work. It served a purpose in that some of the things I was planning, like Disneyland for example… it’s pretty hard for banking minds to go with it… so I had to go ahead on my own and develop it to a point where they could begin to comprehend what I had on my mind.”
“There’s really no secret about our approach. We keep moving forward – opening up new doors and doing new things – because we’re curious. And curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. We’re always exploring and experimenting. At WED, we call it Imagineering – the blending of creative imagination with technical know-how.”
-WALT DISNEY
30 comments:
Thank you so much for posting the words of Mr. Disney, the company as a whole should really study these words. The executives should pay special heed to this post, there are many many very important paragraphs, but the one that seriously may need some of the most attention at this moment is this line "
“To try to keep an operation like Disneyland going you have to pour it in there. It’s what I call ‘Keeping the show on the road.’ Not just new attractions, but keeping it staffed properly… you know, never letting your personnel get sloppy… never let them be unfriendly. That’s been our policy all or lives. My brother and I have done that and that is what has built our organization.”"
Boy oh boy do we have some work to do to get the place "Staffed properly" again. "never letting your personnel get sloppy… never let them be unfriendly."
Of course there are many many other points that Mr. Disney speaks of in this collection posted here. I hope we learn from the words of the founder and inventor of Disneyland Mr. Walt Disney.
Thank you for the quotes!
And thank you for the post altogether, I was worried this blog might have died... :-(
Give it up, guys. Admit you've been placed on a short leash by management, or at the very least, confess that the well has run dry, and you're all fresh out of ideas for resurrecting WED. Then do the honorable deed as Epcot82 has done with Epcot Central, and close your blog.
Enough's enough.
>>...confess that the well has run dry, and you're all fresh out of ideas for resurrecting WED.<<
Walt's words are often the freshest of all! And always worth remembering while Re-Imagineering. : )
If he was so smart then why is he dead?
I think the time is right for Disney to be the big but enjoyable entertainment experience it was when I was growing up. Baby Boomers, like me, have kids nicknamed the Echo generation.
Having been at Disney World this past June after not being to Disney World in over 20 years, I thought it was great. There are some wonderful new attractions and many of the original attractions still working well. I staid at the resort area on site and it was excellent. But if Disney is going to thrive, that greatness can't be taken for granted. As we go into the 21st century I hope Disney incorporates Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other new technologies into it's attractions and services.
All of these Walt quotes must be required reading for every Disney executive starting with Bob Iger. And if any exec doesn't follow these priniples he should be dismissed. The company is too management heavy anyway!
“Well, I think by this time my staff, my young group of executives, and everything else, are convinced that Walt is right. That quality will out. And so I think they’re going to stay with that policy because it’s proved that it’s a good business policy. Give the people everything you can give them. Keep the place as clean as you can keep it. Keep it friendly, you know. Make it a real fun place to be. I think they’re convinced and I think they’ll hang on after… as you say… well… after Disney.”
Walt's philosophy behind the park seems so simple. It's all about quality. How could a company that bears his name ever stray from such a simple task? It would be refreshing to have a Disney company that was giving us everything they got.
Fantastic post!!!
Here's a few things that the current management needs a refresher on:
“A word may be said in regard to the concept and conduct of Disneyland’s operational tone. Although various sections will have the fun and flavor of a carnival or amusement park, there will be none of the ‘pitches,’ game wheels, sharp practices and devices designed to milk the visitor’s pocketbook.”
Mr. Iger...tear down this Hester & Chester Dino-Rama area.
“Well, I think by this time my staff, my young group of executives, and everything else, are convinced that Walt is right. That quality will out. And so I think they’re going to stay with that policy because it’s proved that it’s a good business policy. Give the people everything you can give them. Keep the place as clean as you can keep it. Keep it friendly, you know. Make it a real fun place to be. I think they’re convinced and I think they’ll hang on after… as you say… well… after Disney.”
Ohhh...if only this were still the case.
Keep up the great work!!!
POST MOAR
"It would reflect the faith and challenge the future, the entertainment, the interest in intelligently presented facts, the stimulation of the imagination, the standards of health and achievement, and above all, a sense of strength, contentment and well-being."
Does Disneyland of today represent all of these things? I don't think so. Did it ever? I think it came very close to it.
Clearly Walt was a visionary and an idealist. He seems to have constantly strove for excellence and staying true to his ideals. Is Disneyland today nearly as idealistic and driven?
Wonderful post. Walt's words continue to be inspiring and should never be forgotten by his comapny or those that claim to be his fans.
FYI - - I added a few more quotes to the end of the article today - and will probably keep adding on as I run across relevant passages. So check back.
/bsdb said:
>>>Give it up, guys. Admit you've been placed on a short leash by management, or at the very least, confess that the well has run dry, and you're all fresh out of ideas for resurrecting WED. Then do the honorable deed as Epcot82 has done with Epcot Central, and close your blog.
Enough's enough.<<<
That's part of the problem. Too many people not listening to the past and just giving up. More was said in the way of these quotes then said in entire postings of this blog to date. That was the point. That there is a core philosophy that begin with this man, that people are shutting their ears to because for whatever reason, they don't want Walt Disney to have been right.
And with all due respect to Epcot32, there's nothing honorable in giving up.
Oh, and if Re-Imagineering were on such a short leash, I don't think posting a bunch of quotes that directly expose and contradict the business philosophies of modern day Disney would be in their favor.
Spokker, that was an asinine comment.
The man didn't really leave a strong long-term plan for the future before he died. He just thought that everybody was convinced that Walt was right and didn't leave any instructions.
After finishing those projects that Walt had a hand in, projects that went into the early 70s, the company had no clue what to do. It was floundering and it wasn't until Eisner stepped in and started reinvigorating the company that Disney became Disney again. Unfortunately those ideals didn't last long and the executives perverted what Walt stood for.
I'm sure there were some in the organization that were glad he was dead. I'm sure there are some now that are glad didn't live another 20 years, because if he did I'm confident that it would be a vastly different organization than it is now.
I wish Walt had foreseen what happened after his death. He had too much faith in the people whom he left his company to and those that would follow.
I heard a story that Walt had plans after his death. There was a screening at the Disney studio and the remaining management people were told to sit in certain seats. A film started and it was Walt telling everyone at this time I'm dead and here are your instructions. He would then point to certain people seated and tell them what they were suppose to do in the company. Did this ever happen or is it just a wild rumor?
“Whenever I go on a ride, I’m always thinking of what’s wrong with the thing and how it can be improved.”
Great quote.
How much more of a plan is there, then proving everyone wrong and consistently delivering until the day you can't give anymore, then setting an example that no one can deconstruct as faulty or lucky, that no one past or present could equal, much less surpass? Once your gone, it's up to individuals to carry on your legacy. Failure to do that falls squarely on the shoulders of those who should have bore the legacy, not the one who leaves it behind.
“The first year I leased out the parking concession, brought in the usual security guards – things like that – but soon realized my mistake. I couldn’t have outside help and still get over my idea of hospitality. So now we recruit and train every one of our employees. I tell the security police, for instance, that they are never to consider themselves cops. They are there to help people. The visitors are our guests. It’s like running a fine restaurant. Once you get the policy growing, it grows.”
Everytime I read this, I can't understand how the current trend of outsourcing (at least in FL, can't speak for anywhere else) is seen as being ok. It seems that now the bottom line is more important than quality control.
It also makes me crazy that the length of the Traditions classes keeps shrinking. And now we have "The Basics" and that's good enough?
Whatever.
“When we opened Disneyland, a lot of people got the impression that it was a get-rich thing, but they didn’t realize that behind Disneyland was this great organization that I built here at the Studio, and they all got into it and we were doing it because we loved to do it.”
Now if you love your job and you're passionate about Walt's original values you are seen as a troublemaker and are promptly terminated.
Okay, guys, grow up. And did you ever notice it's all guys on this blog?
Walt was a businessman. Sure, Disneyland was an innovative business concept, but it was a business.
Walt is not a religious figure. He never was. Yet, you guys seem to deify him.
Did he have some sound business ideas? Yes. But if he was so smart, how come he left an organization behind that was so moribound in the seventies and eighties?
It is 2007, times have changed. The parks do look good and are entertaining. They should be for the cost to get in.
But the Disney parks are not a church, religion, or a non-profit enterprise.
You boys might want to remember that.
Another one of those odd angry anonymous comments. For the record:
1. You spelled 'moribund' incorrectly.
2. Yes, we're all guys here last we checked. And your point?
3. The 70's and 80's brought us the wonders of Walt Disney World and Epcot Center. And these old-school imagineers who'd worked closely with Walt in the past knew their stuff. Moribund?
4. It's the Eisner era of delivering on the cheap that is the real issue here (as well as the hangers on from his posse still threatening to spoil the soup.) Eisnerites had completely discounted the business philosophy of Walt Disney and their cynical focus-grouped lack of imagination showed in everything they did.
5. When it comes to the Walt Disney company it can never hurt to hear from the founder. Do we deify him? Not at all. Do we study his words and actions? Absolutely. Is his philosophy something the Disney company should adhere to. Of course.
>>Okay, guys, grow up.<<
"Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the children's approach to life. They're people who don't give a hang what the Jonses do. You see them at Disneyland everytime you go there. They are not afraid to be delighted with simple pleasures, and they have a degree of contentment with what life has brought - sometimes it isn't much, either." - - Walt Disney
"You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway." -- Walt Disney
"Did he have some sound business ideas? Yes. But if he was so smart, how come he left an organization behind that was so moribound in the seventies and eighties?"
How does someone leave behind a park moribund in the 70's and 80's when he died in 1966. He had to be a pretty forward thinking man if he left a park to them that was 20 years in the future.
Is this a real quote?
"Money is something I understand only vaguely, and I think about it only when I don't have enough to finance my current enthusiasm, whatever it may be. All I know about money is that I have to have it to do things. I don't want to bank my dividends, I'd rather keep my money working.... Money — or, rather the lack of it to carry out my ideas — may worry me, but it does not excite me. Ideas excite me."
Hooray for Merlin Jones!
Post more stuff yay!
Anonymous:
>>>Okay, guys, grow up.<<<
What Merlin quoted Walt as saying. So, no.
>>>And did you ever notice it's all guys on this blog?<<<
And? Would it help if you knew that my wife reads this blog as well and has the same opinions and reservations as I? And if so, what would it help you do?
>>>Walt was a businessman. Sure, Disneyland was an innovative business concept, but it was a business.<<<
And this is new information to who? I've repeatedly stated, and this bog has repeatedly insinuated, if not outright stated, that Walt was the consummate businessman. Way to walk into an ice cream shop and tell everybody the ice cream is cold.
>>>Walt is not a religious figure. He never was. Yet, you guys seem to deify him.<<<
When will folks like you ever learn that admiration, respect and appreciation are not the same as deification? We know he was a good businessman. What we're trying to say, is that he was one hundred times better at it then the guys who run it now.
>>>Did he have some sound business ideas? Yes. But if he was so smart, how come he left an organization behind that was so moribound in the seventies and eighties?<<<
Hooray for making me look up a word! Now go look up the date of Walt's death and rethink that question.
>>>It is 2007, times have changed. The parks do look good and are entertaining. <<<
I'd be interested to know when you first started visiting the parks. Because compared to the previous century, the parks have okay sanitation, when-we-get-around-to-it/when-it's-in-the-budget-maintenance and a good number of rides that loose their appeal after a couple of years or less. The Disney I knew had folks seeking out the same rides decade after decade, sometimes generation after generation, on the spot maintenance that set the standard for parks around the world and a park so clean that people used to come back and rave about how clean the bathrooms were...
>>They should be for the cost to get in.<<<
...So now I have to pay more for less.
>>But the Disney parks are not a church, religion, or a non-profit enterprise.<<<
Right, it's not. No one said it was. What it is, is an entity. "It’s alive. It will be a live, breathing thing that will need change." But he meant for it to change for the better. It hasn't lately. So much so, that even a planter in Tomorrowland with some decent design sense seems like a milestone.
>>>You boys might want to remember that.<<<
About the only thing I'm going to remember about this post is "moribound". Maybe you might want to remember that folks don't want an antiquated Disney, what we want is a Disney at least as good as it once was. And the only people that don't see that are the ones that either never experienced Disney at it's finest, or who have a vested interest in keeping it the way it is.
Oh, shame on you for presuming that everyone on this blog is of one gender. And shame on you for insinuating that because we're all the same gender, it's somehow the reason your right and we're wrong. That's not only presumptuous, but equally sexist and egregious. Hooray for big words!
I don't know who you are, Mr. Digital Jedi, but everyone at Re-Imagineering loves you. I should actually start posting some of your comments on the main page.
Anonymous said...
“Okay, guys, grow up. And did you ever notice it's all guys on this blog?
Walt was a businessman. Sure, Disneyland was an innovative business concept, but it was a business.
Walt is not a religious figure. He never was. Yet, you guys seem to deify him.
Did he have some sound business ideas? Yes. But if he was so smart, how come he left an organization behind that was so moribound in the seventies and eighties?
It is 2007, times have changed. The parks do look good and are entertaining. They should be for the cost to get in.
But the Disney parks are not a church, religion, or a non-profit enterprise.
You boys might want to remember that.”
Clearly, Mr. Anonymous thinks the rest of us have too much enthusiasm for the philosophy of Walt Disney. But Mr. Anonymous has enough enthusiasm for Disney to visit this blog a post a comment. He must read this blog often enough to feel qualified to criticize it; so, he does have some enthusiasm for things Disney.
But, you see, the difference between him and us is that he has the RIGHT amount of enthusiasm. He’s like the porridge Goldilocks chose--not too cold, not too hot, just right. The rest of us should take a valium and enter Anonymous’ non-threatening milquetoast vanilla world of mild enthusiasm. If all the passionate people of the world could just do that, then we could insure that nothing will ever change.
...oh and “milquetoast” is my entry into the my-word-is-bigger-than-your-word contest.
Thank you so much for this post. I'm new here...just having found this site tonight...and while it's always a little sad to see behind the curtain, it's a much happier thing to see that there are a lot of people back there who care about maintaining the mystery, aura and magic.
I have a lot of reading to do...
What some Imagineers are saying according to Jim Hill:
I just read an article on Jim Hill Media talking about how some Imagineers think that some Disney parks might have too much Disneyana attached to it. Could this be true?
I have heard some theme park goers say that they don't like some rides because they are too nostalgic or too Walt Disney.
If they don't like Disney then why are they going to a Disney theme park? There are other parks they can go to if they just want to ride roller coasters and play video arcade games.
That's like going to a Rolling Stones concert and expecting to hear rap music and then saying, "There is no rap here, I am never going to a Stones concert again." And you don't go to a Picasso
exhibit and expect to see comic book art.
People go to a Disney theme park because they are Disney fans and want to see Disney attractions and hear Disney music so why would some Imagineers now want to make theme parks for non Disney fans who don't care about anything Disney?
If park goers don't like Disney can't they go to Magic Mountain instead? Is the Disney Company going to tear down everything Disney just to please the non Disney fans?
I never understood the, "Let's not put Disney in a Disney theme park." Do you? To those non Disney fans - Disney still puts on a good show and if you don't like Disney this is not the show for you. Go to a rap concert instead.
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