Walt Disney Talks His Business Philosophy

The following interview with Walt Disney was conducted by NBC in 1966. On the surface, in his highly informal, friendly way, Walt's business philosophy seems relatively simplistic. Translated, however, it provides an understanding as to why he was so highly rated by the business world.

NBC: Walt, why did you pick Anaheim as the site for Disneyland?

WALT: The Disneyland concept kept growing and growing and it finally ended up where I felt I needed two-three hundred acres. So, I wanted it in the Southern California area, there were certain things that I felt that I needed, such as flat land, because I wanted to make my own hills. I didn't want it near the ocean, I wanted it sort of inland, 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 because the price of the acreage was right. But there was more to it than that. And that is that Anaheim was sort of a growing area. The freeway projection was such that we could see that the freeway would set Anaheim as sort of a hub. Well, that's how we selected Anaheim.

NBC: Do you feel Anaheim has lived up to expectations?

WALT: In every way, the city fathers have been wonderful. They've given us wonderful cooperation right from the start and they are still cooperating.

NBC: What has been your biggest problem?

WALT: Well, I'd say it's been my biggest problem all my life - it's money. It takes a lot of money to make these dreams come true. From the very start it was a problem of getting the money to open Disneyland. About 17 million dollars it took. We had everything mortgaged, including my family. We were able to get it open and for ten or eleven years now we've been pouring more money back in. In other words, like the old farmer, you've got to pour it back into the ground if you want to get it out. That's been my brother's philosophy and mine too.

NBC: What plans for the future do you have at Disneyland?

WALT: There's a little plaque out there that says, "As long as there is imagination left in the world, Disneyland will never be complete." We have big plans. This year, we finished over $20 million in new things. Next June, I hope, we'll have a new Tomorrowland; and starting from the ground up, building a whole new Tomorrowland. And it's going to run about $20 million bucks.

NBC: What steps have you taken to see that Disneyland will always be good, family entertainment?

WALT: Well, by this time, my staff, my young group of executives are convinced that Walt is right, that quality will win out, and so I think they will stay with this policy because it's proven it's a good business policy. Give the public everything you can give them, keep the place as clean as you can keep it, keep it friendly - I think they're convinced and I think they'll hang on after - as you say, "after Disney."


Thus, in the space of a brief, four-minute interview, Walt Disney covered no less than eight business considerations which went into the decision making process affecting Disneyland. Masterplanning... analyzing alternatives... evaluating costs... growth potential... working with government... taking risks... looking at investments and re-investment... up-grading, continually improving the product.

There is an old adage in the film industry... "You're only as good as your last picture." Actually, in business anywhere today, the standard is even tougher: "you're only as good as next year's results." Success today is not a vaccine for future economic ills. Many great businesses at one time or another, practically institutions and permanent fixtures on the American scene, have fallen by the wayside. Ironically, among the publishing giants on hand in 1955 as Disneyland struggled through its "Black Sunday" press opening were Look magazine, Collier's, The Saturday Evening Post, and Life. And among the cars in the parking lot were new Hudsons, Studebakers, Packards, and DeSotos. In 1955, they all had a vital, thriving part in the American scene. By 1975 they were all gone... along with dozens of other companies with long histories and great traditions.

Realistically speaking, what guarantee does the Disney organization have that some competition, perhaps not even in existence as we know it today, doesn't surpass us or worse yet... gain control of our organization? Walt Disney developed his own guarantee. He always said that we could never stand still. He had to explore, innovate and experiment and he was never satisfied with his work.

"If any of you starts to rest on your laurels, forget it," he told his staff. That was his guarantee for the future.

(The above was an archival article originally published in the mid-1970's).

To Kill a Tiki Bird

The Decline of the River

Once upon a time along Disneyland’s Rivers of America guests could truly feel as if they’d been transported to another time and place. Along the waterfront beside New Orleans Square and across the busy waterway every last detail added to the impression of a somewhere totally removed from the present day. This was easily one of the most beautiful and charming vistas in the entire park.

Across the river was Tom Sawyer Island, its dense foliage draped paths snaking along the shore beckoning explorers to discover their hidden secrets. Against the backdrop of majestic Cascade Falls the Mark Twain Steamboat or Columbia could be seen coming 'round the bend. On the southernmost tip of the island sat 'Ol Harper's Mill, half covered in creeping vines, its waterwheel slowly spinning through another lazy summer's afternoon.

At night the riverfront was never more lovely; as romantic and evocative as could ever be imagined: the sound of a jazz band drifting from the alleys of New Orleans Square, the Mark Twain, trimmed in thousands of tiny lights, churning peacefully beneath the stars, the old fashioned gas lamps flickering along the water's edge, the moon hovering over a stately southern mansion as it peeked from behind the trees.

Over the last fifteen years, however, so many changes have been made to the area that the illusion of being back in Frontier America has been severely compromised. Today Disneyland’s Rivers of America is looking far more like the Rivers of Marriot's Great America than the very special place it once was.

Cascade Falls was torn down some time ago due to age and neglect and the Keel boats are history too. Fort Wilderness is still there on the back of the island but it’s long been shuttered and is currently rotting away.

By far the biggest changes to the area were done to accommodate the Fantasmic show. Walkways in front of New Orleans square were re-graded and built up into a series of tiered amphitheater levels, giant metal planks were thrown down along walkways near the river’s edge to hide the show’s gargantuan lighting rigs and the once charming home of the ‘Ol Mill was turned into what appears to be some sort of bizarre overblown plastic grade school playland.


It’s time to bring the Disneyland river front back to it’s original glory.

• Time to move Fantasmic over to the DCA lagoon where it’s badly needed.

• Time to repair and reopen the fort with perhaps some new and exciting show elements.

• Time to bring back another impressive waterfall, one with integrity and authenticity.

• And most importantly, time to redesign the front of Tom Sawyer Island so that it looks like something you might actually see along a 1850’s American river.

Here’s hoping there's a bright new frontier on the horizon for Imagineering.

It's Fun To Be A Freeway

It’s no secret that Disney has sought out and enjoyed company sponsorship of its many shows and attractions ever since Crane Plumbing touted a new toilet at Disneyland during the parks earliest years. Companies got top drawer Disney showmanship to help sell the company ethos and Disney got much needed funds to jumpstart the park.

But with guest satisfaction being goal number one, Walt drove a hard bargain with incoming corporate sponsorship, making sure that visitors never became victims of the hard sell. Carny barkers, hucksters and shills had no place in Disneyland and he made this clear to the companies that helped bankroll his new park.

This tradition of the corporate soft sell at the Disney Parks has enjoyed a successful run for well over four decades. From Adventure Thru Inner Space and the Carousel of Progress to Spaceship Earth and Ellen’s Energy Adventure, guests enjoyed a singularly transporting experience while companies enjoyed the assurance that their brand became synonymous with all that was warm, wonderful and Walt Disney.

But as the Disney Company slowly morphed into the corporate monster it once insulated itself from that protective wall between the guests and the corporate sponsors started to show signs of erosion.

Current case in point is General Motors Test Track at Epcot Center. Initially GM’s presence at Epcot was by way of ‘World of Motion’, an extravagant and whimsical ride through the history of transportation, from foot and animal power to planes, trains and automobiles. With a cast of 188 animatronic figures performing on 24 elaborate stage sets, a catchy theme song written by X. Atencio of Pirates and Mansion fame and the wry humor of veteran animator Ward Kimball this was an attraction seeped in the rich traditions of Disney Imagineering at it’s finest.

But somewhere between 1995 when the attraction closed for renovation and 1999 when it reopened as ‘Test Track’, GM somehow had found a way to storm the castle and turn World of Motion into the World of General Motors.

Where once the pavilion was a simple sleek circular statement in perfect harmony with the five other Future World buildings, now the outer shell was festooned with miles of cheap steel girding, plastic canvassing and rows of urban city streetlights. It was as if a hurricane had dropped the tangled remains of a Home Depot right on top of World of Motion.

Inside the pre-show queue visitors are ‘transported’ to a GM testing facility, a giant room full of exposed wires, corrogated tin and wire mesh cages filled to the brim with the detritus of auto wrecking yards. Testing labs throughout buzz, slam and pound around us, all in the glare of harsh white lights while overhead speakers hammer out a musical cacophony of clanking metal pipes. Never before in Disney theme park history was a room so singularly dedicated to the unbridaled joy of the migraine.


Eventually guests are loaded into test cars to embark on a skidding, braking, jittery slog over bumpy pavement, around orange traffic cones and past robotic auto spray painters, culminating in a 65 mph drive on a faithfully recreated freeway.

Yes, the very experience guests had driving into Walt Disney World is the one GM was confident would make a thrilling climax to their very own Test Track. So much for not being reminded of the real world while in a Disney Park.


The artists, designers and storytellers at Imagineering can stand to learn important lessons from the gargantuan anomaly that is Test Track. For all the bankloads of money dropped on this endeavor, for all the state of the art engineering and technology that were employed in its creation, no resource can save an ill-conceived idea.

An idea with little interest in the Disney ‘guest’ and every interest in the General Motors ‘customer’. An idea with aspirations no higher than to transport the public from a GM testing facility back to the freeway where they came from.

Once apon a time it was indeed fun to be free.

Escape to Paradise

From the earliest days, Disneyland sought to create a convincing place-of-being for the guest. You became the “star” of a specific story - - or a visitor to exotic environments of another time and place.

The first Fantasyland rides cast each guest as the lead character. Snow White, Peter Pan, Mr. Toad and Alice were not seen in the original versions of the rides so you could take their place in the adventure. Likewise, walk-through set pieces like Captain Hook’s Pirate Ship, Tom Sawyer Island and the House of the Future, to name just a few, were meant to be experienced as complete virtual environments, not just “themed” modern attractions.

One of the most elaborate and lasting examples of this approach was the Swiss Family Treehouse.

For Christmas 1960, Walt Disney released one of his biggest motion picture blockbusters, an elaborate reinvention of the literary classic Swiss Family Robinson. The Panavision spectacular is noted for being shot nearly entirely on location, the then-remote Caribbean island of Tobago. Built in a real tree and fitted with “modern” conveniences scavenged from the remains of their ship, the Robinson treehouse was the film’s signature set, conceived from the sort of clever cartoon conventions on which the studio was founded.

In 1962, the Robinsons found a permanent home at Disneyland when their treehouse was recreated as an artificial “Disneydendron” looming high above the Jungle Cruise as Adventureland’s biggest “weenie.”

All of the amazing inventions of the clever castaways were built into this working model for the delight of Disneyland guests. A water wheel carried running water from a stream up to the main floors of the treehouse, a sunroof allowed the master bedroom to greet the skies, there were magnificent vistas of the jungle below, a fully equipped tropical kitchen and a library complete with an organ playing Buddy Baker’s catchy Swisskapolka. Heard throughout Adventureland and Frontierland (and beyond), the Robinson’s pumping pipe organ became one of the signature sounds of Disneyland.

Best of all, the treehouse was built as a you-are-there experience. With no figures or character representations to be seen, it was as if the guest had stepped into the Robinson home, into that other time and place, to find the house just as they left it. You were the star.

One felt as if the family were out battling pirates for the day and might return at any time. We were to momentarily take their place, making ourselves at home to appreciate their craft and ingenuity, their ability to survive – and thrive – through sheer imagination, resolve and stick-to-it-ivity. We could imagine ourselves living in their balmy world for just a few moments. This was truly an escape to paradise. Anaheim and the 20th Century were places far, far away.


The Swiss Family Treehouse became a staple of Disney parks around the world and all was well for the Robinson clan until the cost-cutting, brand harvesting management of the 1990’s, when much of Disneyland fell into disrepair for lack of maintenance reinvestment (via an executive apathy toward the historic treasures of Walt’s era). Since Swiss Family Robinson was not part of a contemporary merchandising scheme it was felt to be passé.

It was way past time for a major rehab. Limbs of the “Disneydendron” began to fall from neglect.

Ironically, the tree itself may have been saved by a synergistic opportunity. It would be reborn as a marketing tie-in to the upcoming animated feature Tarzan. With a corporate agenda to be serviced, a budget became available to makeover the attraction and the Robinsons were evicted from their treetop home.

But it wasn’t just the theme that changed, it was the very experience. When Tarzan’s Treehouse reopened to the public, it still had the same floor plan, but was now inhabited by stiff Disney Store-like mannequins posed in unmoving representational set pieces as seen in the Tarzan film. This changed the guest experience from a personal adventure on location to an observational viewpoint more akin to a wax museum.

The charming inventions of Walt and the Robinsons had been stripped-away, now replaced by children’s museum gimmicks like video projections and trick mirrors, tasked to sell a diorama story of Tarzan and his friends. The water wheel, ropes and pulleys were gone.... It was no longer a convincing walk-through, but a themed walk-past. We remained firmly grounded in the modern world of Southern California.

The once joyous Swisskapolka was now but a whisper, confined to a scratchy record in the trashed base camp as an homage to fans.

While Tarzan, as a new property, was certainly more familiar to young children, the original Swiss Family Treehouse never required a familiarity with the film or story to succeed in its illusion. All we needed to know was that a castaway family built a home in a tree. The new treehouse story was tied directly to Tarzan's marketable characters and scenes.

While we can be grateful that this maneuver may have spared the tree from extinction during Disneyland’s Dark Ages, we’ll have to echo the ennui of star James MacArthur who lamented, “It’s not every man who outlives his own monument,” at a screening of Swiss Family Robinson soon after the renovation.

As you read this, Disney’s big budget remake of Swiss Family Robinson is underway, with location shooting in Australia planned for later this year. Wouldn’t this be the perfect time to reconnect Disneyland’s past with its future, to again provide guests with a tropical home-away-from-home; to let them be the star of their own exotic island adventure?

Just say Swisskapolka!

Tarzan photo by Jeff Keller: http://lostworld.pair.com/disneyland/index.html

When Birds Attack!

When Walt Disney World’s version of Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room got a head to tail makeover in 1998 as ‘Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management’ little did those involved with the rewrite realize they were actually creating a potent metaphor for the management style of the entire Walt Disney Company.


It was from within this corporate culture of greed, cynicism and condescension that management stopped making any effort to understand the true Disney audience and instead kowtowed to those who actually despised those corny animatronic birds, indeed the entire Disney brand, as much as they did.


Enter Lion King’s Zazu and Aladdin’s Iago into the Tiki Room to actively trumpet the new corporate cynicism. Where the original was all charm and harmony, this once warm tropical oasis now became the setting of an ugly animatronic cock fight.


Iago doesn’t waste a moment to tow the new corporate line.

“If you’re gonna keep your jobs ya gotta get hip!” he shrieks down from his perch. “You are boring, Tiki Birds. That’s why I’m gonna change your show!”

“Can you birds sing in punk or rap?” he continues. “Can ya rock and roll? It’s a whole new world so you better get hip or your audience will disappear!”

One can easily imagine a similar speech at any Disney executive retreat.

Dutifully the birds in attendance get in lock step behind their new mandate. The now ‘down and funky’ Zazu introduces the, ‘pop idols of Polynesia’, the lady birds of the bird-mobile do the conga and the tiki chorus rap like good urban birds are supposed to rap.

It’s difficult to express the feelings of violation audiences who witness this bastardization of one of their favorite Disney classics feel as they exit. It’s not just that they’ve seen the heart and soul of this extraordinary show stomped on before their eyes, it’s that their very respect for the original has been dismissed; that they’re somehow second class citizens of the Magic Kingdom because their opinions are out of step with the Hip New Disney. Guests don’t come to the Disney parks to be lectured on how un-cool they are.

Surely even the most revered attractions at the Disney Parks are going to see dwindling numbers over time and difficult decisions will have to be made. But it’s at times like this that Imagineers need to take a deep breath, remove themselves from the corporate cacophony and then take careful stock of what it was about the original that enraptured audiences once upon a time before placating solely to the lowest common denominator. In staying true to the tone and spirit of the original vision Imagineers will not only embrace the faithful audiences that came before but garner new loyal converts to the Disney brand honestly and with all due respect.

For those wondering what venerable E-ticket attraction at Disney World might be next in line for a pop culture injection of cynicism and self mockery you may not need to look any further than Iago’s send off line in ‘Under New Management’:

“Boy, I’m tired! I think I’ll head over to The Hall of Presidents and take a nap.”

Walt's Idealism - The Big Concept

I received this email from Tim Halbur last week and I think it has some excellent thoughts in it - and I think it's very relevant to what we’ve been blogging about here. Here it is:

Hi-

Love the Re-Imagineering blog. I've got an idea for a post for you guys, if you're interested. I'm writing a project about Disneyland right now, and I've been thinking a lot about Disney's opening speech:

"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 which have created America...with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world."

We've been hearing it a lot lately, but I don't think people have been really hearing it all. It's not just about escapism, or the power of myth. He wanted it to be about joy AND inspiration. By starting with Lincoln and Main St. America and moving into Frontierland, he was illustrating the ideals of America, the best ideas of progress at the time (think about the unbuilt Edison Square, the cutting edge of the day).

And then into Tomorrowland, where the idea wasn't to show aliens and lightsabers and fantasy in the stars. Walt was showing the bright future that wasn't too far away with the Carousel of Progress, Progress City, and Monsanto's House of the Future. Tomorrowland was supposed to inspire the world to be better, use innovative public transportation, really get people interested in building "a great big beautiful tomorrow"!

So the BIG, BIG step back to Disney's ideas would be to start rebuilding that idealism. Reopen the Carousel of Progress with TODAY'S big ideas for the future. I'm in school for urban planning right now, and there are exciting ideas happening that could radically change the way we live. People need a warm, guiding hand like Walt's to usher them into that phase and make it exciting.

Yes, Walt relied a lot on the corporate world and technology to save the day. Imagineers don't have to do that all over again. We know now that technology won't save us, it has to be used in innovative ways. Back when the Imagineers were developing Tomorrowland they visited NASA and Bell Labs and talked to the thinkers of the time about what the future would look like. They should do that again, although this time include people like William McDonough, the green innovator of construction, or Andres Duany, the persuasive New Urbanist.

I'll stop now, but I'd be curious to hear what everyone would think of this. I know it would be a push, because today people want escapism, not ideas. But I was listening to the Progress City track on A Musical History of Disneyland and thinking, what if?

Best, Tim Halbur

About Tim:

Tim Halbur cried on the Pirates of the Caribbean when he was 2. He has spent the majority of his professional career writing and producing audio tours for museums and historic sites, including Johnson Space Center and Madame Tussaud's in Las Vegas. Currently he is finishing a masters degree in urban planning and has the distinct pleasure to be writing the audio tour for the Behind the Magic: 50 Years of Disneyland exhibit at the Oakland Museum of Art.

Audio-Anachronistics

Criticizing ‘Ellen’s Energy Adventure’ at Epcot Center is a tricky proposition. It can easily be argued that when Ellen Degeneres became the host of Exxon’s Universe of Energy in 1996 (both on film and as an Audio Animatronic figure) the original show got a vital dose of pure entertainment value that was sorely missed. Sturm und Drang was replaced with levity and laughs, science fact was replaced with science light and the brooding orchestral score was replaced with, well, the theme song from Jeopardy.

But in their efforts to lighten the tone of the original show Imagineers perpetuated a dangerous trend that if continually embraced in further attractions will threaten to topple one of the company’s greatest legacies- its ability to create timeless entertainment.

From Snow White to Pirates of the Caribbean one of the hallmarks of the Disney brand was its ability to transcend the here and now and take us to worlds of universal appeal populated by characters not threatened by the passage of time or changes in fashion. Classic Disney storytellers deliberately shunned all things anachronistic, keeping a careful eye on any material that threatened to remind audiences of the real world they lived in.

But now with ‘Ellen’s Energy Adventure’ we have Ellen Degeneres playing Ellen Degeneres, Bill Nye playing Bill Nye and Alex Trebek playing Alex Trebek, all of it grounded firmly in 1996 with nowhere to go but stale. You can bet that in a span of time far shorter than the 14 years the original Universe of Energy played we will have long forgotten who Bill Nye was.

If we haven’t already.

Collective wisdom has it that it was Disney’s Aladdin that shattered the timeless taboo when Robin William’s Genie actually impersonated Arsenio Hall. Disney Theme Parks wasted no time in following the trend, with a robotic Regis Philbin, Drew Carrey and Whoopi Goldberg popping out amongst the scenery in DCA’s Superstar Limo, Animatronic Vegetables belting out contemporary rock tunes in Epcot’s Food Rocks and The Tiki Birds rapping like the birdies rap in ‘Under New Management’ back at the Magic Kingdom. Hopefully the fact that only one of these attractions still survives today is lesson enough.

Imagineers are at their best when they refuse to settle for the here and now and instead shoot for the stars. In chasing the hip and trendy they degrade the Disney Brand, cheapen the guest experience and lose out on the far more satisfying reward of creating something truly original, truly profound, truly timeless.


ADDENDUM: For those readers who have taken a certain glee in listing the many anachronistic moments in Disney film and theme park classics, from Pinocchio and Sword in the Stone to the Haunted Mansion and The Tiki Room, we implore you to see the message through the trees. As one reader succinctly put it, "It's a pay me now, pay me later sort of thing. You can invest in undated treasures and have something that lasts a long time, or you can climb on the back of a pop reference and have something that turns over in a few years."

Keep the guests moving!

The Imagineers of the 60’s attempted to keep park guests on the move with huge and innovative new ride systems. As we think about Re-Imagineering Disneyland it would be good to take a look back at this phenomenon, not just for nostalgia's sake, but with the idea of improving today’s guest experience.

Part of the old magic of Disneyland was that, as a park guest, you felt you were constantly being masterfully moved throughout the park. Old Tomorrowland was probably the best example of how designers were able to keep park guests on the move. With the Carousel of Progress, Peoplemover, Adventure through Inner Space, Subs, Skyway, Monorail and Circlevision Theater all running at the same time – it had more capacity than any other land in the park! Today Pirates, Haunted Mansion and Small World still showcase some of the best capacity conscious ride systems ever designed, and they continue to successfully cycle thousands of guests per hour, day after day, year after year.

Recently, new additions have been smaller capacity attractions, like Pooh and Buzz Lightyear. At the same time Disneyland continues to get more crowded and attraction queue lines get longer. Personally, as a guest, I would much rather wait in a large queue line if I can see that it is moving fast.

As new attractions are developed today, it would be great to see much more emphasis on developing clever new ways to move people through them on a grand scale. New innovations such as motion bases, speed accelerators and the like are terrific additions, but I think capacity should be the primary concern for overall park guest satisfaction.

Even a return to some of those classic tried and true high capacity ride systems would be appreciated by park guests today.

A Matter of Character

“Until a character becomes a personality it cannot be believed. Without personality, the character may do funny or interesting things, but unless people are able to identify themselves with the character, its actions will seem unreal. And without personality, a story cannot ring true to the audience.” - - Walt Disney


Onscreen or at the parks, the Walt Disney hallmark has always been specificity of character.

The most popular animated icons have lasted in the popular imagination through the decades by virtue of their indelible personalities. They aren’t just drawn or generated images; they are as real, as complete (in a cartoonish, caricatured way) as you or I.

Donald and Goofy are two separate and distinct personality types - - the quick-tempered loser and the dimwitted fool, respectively - - their thinking, their reactions, their mannerisms unique and identifiable in any situation.

The Seven Dwarfs, while virtually all the same height and weight, were individuals, not a faceless collective, each with a specific personality represented in their names and a distinct way of behaving thanks to skillful story, design, character animation and voice characterization. For example, we all know Doc has an absent-minded stutter and Dopey is a mute clown.

TinkerBell is a naughty minx. Snow White is a twinkly, dreamy airhead. Mickey is a spunky hero. This is why we love them. We know them and their ticks instantly.

One senses immediately when one of the Disney characters is “out-of-character” - - behaving in a manner inconsistent with their established quirks and mannerisms. Immediately they cease to be believable… or funny.

With the development of Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Disney on Parade, Disney on Ice and other live theatrical presentations, the notion of character consistency and personality became as important to the flesh-and-fur versions of the Disney characters as their animated personas.

Disneyland became the place where these characters “lived” in the popular imagination. For years, all was well, with former animation talent guiding much of the design and storytelling of park attractions and shows. The characters were the old cartoon friends we all grew up with. They never changed.

But in recent years, attempts to “update” characterizations, to make shows more “relevant and compelling” - - to make the Disney characters reflect the times or the interpreter’s own social message, have led to huge changes and disconnects in characterization. And the entertainment factor has suffered as a result, with audiences failing to recognize the personality they know from the classic films.

Instead, reinterpreted storylines and mannerisms and intentions and tone have often left the characters floundering like merchandising mannequins with no relatable persona… or found them coming across as condescending mimes in a Disney themed character suit.


One of the worst examples of this trend could be seen in the “Snow White: An Enchanting Musical” show at Disneyland (now on hiatus).

Snow White “reinvented” the well-loved personalities and thematic subtext of the familiar Walt Disney version to accommodate a politically correct "children's theatre" vision.

Instead of a two-dimensional vain and jealous Queen fearing sexual competition and replacement by the budding adolescent beauty (an archetypal theme for the ages), she became a one-dimensional harpy trying to stop love from blooming in her kingdom.

This change is more resonant... how?

Not only had her motivations changed, but the Wicked Queen now acted like the Wicked Witch of the West, cackling and shrieking, waving her arms and hamming it up, running around the stage... totally out-of-character. Everyone knows the real Queen simmers and smolders with understated power, cunning and narcissistic self-absorption.

And the dwarfs? An announcement before the show said “Hello, this is Doc…” and went on to give the usual show spiel and audience instruction, but in plain dry formal English, no stuttering, no malapropisms… Hey, that wasn’t “Doc” at all - - it was just a fella. Where was the comedy? Why even say the announcer was “Doc”?

As a group, the dwarfs no longer expressed their exaggerated personalities much, but seem to be a faceless line-up of communal workers.

And Snow White? She was no longer the sparkly, corn-fed, overstated Shirley Templish caricature of Hollywood and Disney myth, but a preachy mommy with a normal voice and self-awareness of her childhood abuse and lack-of-trust-issues. She orders her animal helpers to take a “time out!”

Did the creators of this show even lower themselves to watch the movie? In the press, they certainly boasted that they had improved on the original and added depth and layering. Meaning: they made it more politically correct. One can detect more-than-a-whiff of contempt for both the root material and the intended audience. Charming.

But the proof is to be found in the audience’s pudding of reaction: Except for the very youngest of tots, the show sits there on the Videopolis stage like a poisoned apple pie. No laughing, no joy, no charm. This can't be “Walt Disney’s” Snow White at all.

While there is always room for artistic interpretation in style and presentation, the characters themselves need no help from the analysts. We already know who they are and what they do. We come to Disneyland to visit these old cartoon friends in person, not to become reacquainted with progressive doppelgangers who stayed too long in therapy.

While this unfortunate trend has also been seen in the animated sequels and videos (Goofy depressed and self-reflective?), the parks have really dropped the ball. Poor Donald hardly ever loses his temper anymore. Can that be gloomy ol' Eyore doing a sprightly jig? (Well, this IS the age of Prozac).

And what's up with Mickey and Minnie? They express an almost drug-addled nervous-giggling-and-energy-projection habit. They appear all-keyed-up, jangly, jittery and neurotic. It's a long, long way from the farmhouse or the band concert.

Everyone seems to be talking-oh-so-carefully (or contrarywise, shrieking) down at us… spelling out the gags… patronizing the public.

By and large, the walkaround characters do a much better job of staying in-character than those in the scripted shows, where higher powers with a disregard for characterization hold sway. The low-paid walkaround actors seem to have better personal instincts for who the characters are than the Theatrical Entertainment department honchos.

Where, oh where, are our cool and funny old friends, so confident, corny and casual in their quirks?

We loved them. We miss them.

Tiki, tiki, tiki!

Thirty one years of guest memories plus a renewed interest in retro-tiki culture could add up to a win-win situation for Disney and guests alike if Adventureland’s Tahitian Terrace restaurant and dinner show could be revived. Earlier guests to this wonderful oasis hideaway are still talking about how magical it was and what fond memories they have of it. Hula dancers, firewalkers, and the best island ribs west of Tahiti were featured.

The Tahitian Terrace originally opened in 1962 and ran until 1993 to make way for the Aladdin’s Oasis dinner show, which ran for two seasons. Aside from some storytelling venues, this prime little piece of real estate and been vacant for over a decade now.

It would be great to get a little more romance of the islands back into Adventureland!

Brushing Up On The Classics

Ask current guests of the Disney Parks what their favorite couple attractions are and you’ll almost always hear Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion. It’s as if they’ve always belonged in the same sentence.

Both are nearing their 40th birthday and both have yet to be topped at any theme park anywhere in the world for their sheer audacity, artistry and showmanship. Will modern audiences ever see new original attractions that even begin to compare? More importantly what do these two attractions have in their DNA that hasn’t been as successfully replicated since their debut?

The answer is elusive yet at the core very simple.

As both attractions were designed and built by people with long and illustrious careers in film, these first generation imagineers shared a storytelling philosophy that deeply informed these shows. As far as they were concerned Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion were three act plays obligated to unfold much like great motion pictures do. Screenwriters, directors and cinematographers still bandy about the same buzzwords these early imagineers were all too familiar with; spine, structure, premise, thru-line.

Though not stories in the traditional sense (and this cannot be stressed enough; these were NOT literal narratives and were not burdened by plotting), these E-ticket experiences still share an underlying structure that informs the very best storytelling. Both start with a first act proposal and continue to play out a carefully choreographed climax and resolution, with every last show detail, from lighting, to costumes, music and animation at the service of a carefully crafted progression of events.

With Pirates the proposal is that we better keep a ‘ruddy eye open’ because ‘there be plundering pirates lurking in every cove.’ Act 1 serves as a sort of warning with the skeletal remains of past treasure seekers scattered throughout a cavern and the promise that ‘dead men tell no tales’, then turns course with our inadvertent discovery of that ‘cursed treasure’. Act 2 begins with the arrival of a pirate galleon at the forts of a port city intent on finding that treasure. Tension mounts as we witness the marauders sell off the town’s women, get drunk, pillage loot and, in the third act climax, burn up the city.

In Haunted Mansion the proposal is that if we remain quietly seated we might very well see a ghost. Act 1 and we only sense their presence as rooms stretch, candelabras float and doors knock by themselves. Act 2 and the spirit world seems ready to make an entrance, but only fleetingly. Act 3 and an entire graveyard of ghouls throw caution to the wind and partake in an outrageous party to die for, now so comfortable with our presence that they promise to haunt us until we return.

With imagineers fully understanding the classic traditions of storytelling it’s no accident that both of these attractions start with quiet and end with mayhem, begin in small intimate spaces and climax inside giant show buildings, weave several variations of a musical theme throughout, showcase running gags and characters, employ set-ups and payoffs, tensions and release. Was it any wonder these theme park attractions inspired actual motion pictures 35 years after they opened?

Arguably Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye was the last stateside attraction that came close to usurping the crown in 1995 but take a more critical look and you’ll realize that when it comes to visual storytelling (at least in the actual ride thru- the queue is spectacular) there’s no comparison. Though rich in detail and full-up of state of the art technology, the tone is singular, the context confusing and its set pieces rarely interested in informing and building upon the last. In the end it’s all sound and fury signifying very little; a somewhat empty thrill.

If Imagineers are to reclaim the glory of these earlier E-tickets it’s best they take a long hard look at what truly sets Pirates and Mansion apart. It’s not rocket science. It’s just visual storytelling.

And in this time of change at the Mouse House there’s no harm in brushing up on the classics.

Disneyland is Escapism

While reading a review of Peter Jackson's "King Kong" remake a few months back, a quote resonated.

About Merian Cooper's classic 1933 movie, Jackson said: "The original Kong is a wonderful blend - probably the most perfect blend - of escapism and adventure, mystery and romance. It does everything an escapist movie should do: it takes you places you are never going to see and gives you experiences you are never going to have."

This definition of escapism could also fit Disneyland (and the whole classic Walt Disney experience) like a glove.

Lack of escapism is one reason the public has rejected Disney's California Adventure while still embracing good ol' Disneyland in its 50th year.

The Walt Disney Company marketers have become so fixated on mirroring the current consumer marketplace and lifestyle ("hip 'n' edgy, "relevant and compelling"), that they have forgotten that Disney's primary commercial niche has always been to transcend the dullness of reality with escapism and adventure, mystery and romance... idealism, sentiment, futurism and nostalgia.

Since the 40's, Disney has rarely been "relevant" to contemporary society- - but was often seen by trendsetters as corny, nostalgic and out of touch. But that didn't mean it was held in a lower commercial regard than "of-the-moment" programming and experiences like Nickelodeon or GameWorks. In fact, this timeless nature allowed the material to transcend trend, to bond generations through emotion, idealism and common aspirations, to carve a niche in the heart. It was indeed relevant, but to the wisdom of the ages, not the times.

It was "Disney" - - it was the premium brand, unlike anything else, beyond reality, beyond popular - - Disney was the part of our hopes and fantasies that lived in the stars, in another time and on the other side of the Earth somewhere, not at the mall, in the home, the office cubicle or the bank account.

We paid Disney good money to be transported to other worlds - - and even more to take home a souvenier of the experience to remind and reassure - to brighten our own dull workaday niche.

Imagineering must once again take us somewhere else, somewhere we didn't dream we could go, to an experience beyond expectation. We don't want to be reminded of the dull, competitive reality we are stuck with everyday. That is the world of soap marketers, not dreamers, entertainers, adventurers, time-travellers and futurists.

Imagineering must once again focus more on possibility than limitation.

The people will follow the dream.

"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." - - Walt Disney

Restoring Walt Disney’s Disneyland: The Golden Horseshoe Revue

There are many differences in today’s Disneyland experience from that of Walt’s classic Magic Kingdom. And it’s not just a matter of old rides that are missing or replaced, but of a different tone and texture.

There was a time when the environments of Disneyland were more like a time-machine: the frontier, the turn-of-the-century, the future - - all these lavish sets were meant to transport the guest to that idealized time and place, to sort-of a living movie-lot - - not just a modern day “themed” experience, like Las Vegas or Solvang or Outback Steakhouse.

Part of that immersive show was the live entertainment that evoked the times portrayed, whether it was the Dapper Dans singing barbershop on Main Street or a wild saloon show in the old west.

Slue Foot Sue’s Golden Horseshoe Revue was the showplace of Frontierland from opening day clean through to the Eisner era, when it closed as the longest-running stage show of the day.

A passionate vaudevillian at heart, Walt Disney proudly presented a full-bodied, over-the-top, corn-fed interactive burlesque show right out of the history books, and audiences ate it up with a silver spoon.

With a saloon madam, her dancing girls, an Irish tenor and a cowboy comedian (and their band), The Golden Horseshoe Revue didn’t try to be relevant to the times in any way, but transported guests back into another era of entertainment; to the days before movies and television when seltzer and pantaloons reigned supreme.

Wally Boag, Betty Taylor and company made the show fresh for close to thirty years. During times of amazing political and social change and upheaval in the real world, the show continued to shoot from the hip. Despite the onset of several wars, civil rights, feminism, hippies, disco and rap, the girls of the Golden Horseshoe kept kicking their heels to the delight of the most diverse audiences…

Into the 80’s, Pecos Bill was still spitting teeth, the girls were still posing for the Police Gazette and Sue was still looking for her Big City Beau. Audiences never seemed to tire of the show.

Even though history had marched on, the old west remained the same – and so did the burlesque. It was, after all, supposed to represent another era. As spectators and participants, we learned about what that era may have been like. We didn’t look for our own social reflections and moog synthesizers in their frontier antics.

But the coming of political correctness and entertainment expense cutbacks (as well as the retirement of the original cast) finally called a halt to the old time fun.

Sadly, Frontierland has gone from boomtown to ghost town in the process. The Golden Horseshoe was the gold-digging, gunslinging heart of Walt’s old west. Now Frontierland more evokes Boot Hill.

The Revue’s replacements have been less ambitious and uniformly less-successful: from children’s shows (Woody’s Round-Up) to hillbilly bands (Billy Hill) to Seven Brides for Seven Brothers-style cabaret shows (Golden Horseshoe Jubilee), some had charm, but none captured the wild & wooly west of Hollywood and Disney lore like Slue Foot Sue and her spirited Can-Can girls.


So why have those saloon girls stayed away so long? Even a stripped down cast of just the madam and her girls would fill the bill if costs of a large cast were an issue (and surely a well-heeled backer could again be found - - the Revue was historically sponsored by Pepsico).

But one suspects that PC is the real issue – and perhaps marketers who want Disneyland to reflect the “relevant and compelling” world of the modern consumer. They think this sort of entertainment is “quaint.” After all, what kids today would relate to that stuff? Who would line-up to see it?

Well, guess what? That sort of entertainment was way out of date in the 1960’s too – - As kids, we didn’t relate to it either, or get the timely gags - - we just thought it was cool! We loved being able to go to another time and place. And those girls were great dancers with a contagious joie-de-vivre!

The spicy, sexy (but totally wholesome) doings at The Golden Horseshoe helped to make Disneyland an experience for the entire family, not just the parents and tots of today’s targeting. After all, Disneyland’s charms can naturally lean a bit too heavily toward Mom, Princess, Kitten and Uncle Arthur, rather than to Dad and Bud.

But The Golden Horseshoe’s shapely Can-Can girls, along with the hula dancers at Tahitian Terrace and the go-go girls of Tomorrowland… and those crop spanking Disneyland ambassadors… provided some eye candy and entertainment that men’s men of all ages could appreciate with a wink and a smile to their wives and girlfriends (and significant others).

What’s so wrong with that? Sex appeal is a whole level of the Disneyland dream that has vanished over time - - and perhaps not coincidentally, those demos have grown weaker.

Again, old Walt knew what he was doing.

That this celebrated aspect of Disneyland's history did not return for the 50th anniversary is a travesty of executive planning. I hope one day we Can-Can go back again to kick up our heels at Slue Foot Sue’s.

The stage awaits their return – and ours.

Sometime Dreams Do Come True

A dream is a wish your heart makes, so long as the sugar shock doesn't put you into cardiac arrest. Thankfully the millions of guests who wished this gargantuan exercise in bad taste was only temporary had only to wait till the 25th Anniversary of Walt Disney World was over.

Cutting a line...

Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney MGM in Orlando is a masterpiece of imagineering, bringing the best technology, theming and visual storytelling to the table. And it all starts when you hop in line.

Moss covered oaks, fog shrouded hillsides, ornate columns suffocated by vine growth, a bone dry fountain cracked at its foundation. And somewhere in the distance, perhaps only in our imagination, the haunting sounds of a 1930's ballroom orchestra echo through the courtyard. Before we even enter the decrepit sad remains of The Hollywood Tower Hotel a powerful mood has been masterfully created.


So when the faltering California Adventure ordered up its own version of this attraction you'd have thought that at the very least this Tower of Terror would live up to the original.

And you would have been wrong.

Gone the ornate pre-show entry, gone the ethereal music and even worse, gone the jaw dropping ride OUT of the elevator shaft and into the surreal fifth dimension setpiece, a moment so genuinely unexpected and seemingly impossible that the effect threatens to make the actual freefall an anti-climax.

Don't believe me? Well, go ahead, get in line.


Imagineers are almost always afforded the opportunity to re-jigger and plus attractions that are ordered up at other parks and often the results are spectacular. Later editions of Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Star Tours, Big Thunder and arguably Pirates in Disneyland Paris are all superior versions of the originals. But cost-cutting and corporate greed made sure that any blue sky aspirations current imagineers had for spinning California's own Tower of Terror to an even higher level of showmanship remained forever in the Twilight Zone.

The result of Research and Development

Back in the old days of WED Imagineering there was no separate Research and Development department. You know why? The whole place was one big R and D department!

Imagineers back then were a different breed of animal. They were allowed to multi task and provide whatever they could based on their individual talents. Sure there were separate departments then too; the model shop, MAPO, sculptors, designers, engineers, production specialists and more. But the working atmosphere was a lot more casual and Imagineers had much more freedom to experiment with different ideas. Each department consisted of individuals that were considered masters of their craft, and they were encouraged to advance their art.

About a dozen years ago or so an outside source convinced Disney Corporate that they needed a separate R and D department. So a crew of new inventors were hired and put into a new separate building with lock tight security. And no ordinary Imagineers were allowed in as a rule, only some of the top creative designers and executives.

At the same time Imagineering began to be run as more of a production shop, with every hour of the employee’s day to be strictly accounted for by job and task. After all, research and development was now a separately funded entity, so regular Imagineers no longer had any business wasting time on special projects or new ideas. Managerial hierarchies evolved to keep track of everyone’s time, and big new planning and scheduling departments were created to calculate exactly how it was being spent. Charts and graphs were created that assigned every required job a separate number, and every number was allotted a certain amount of hours. Every Imagineer’s work day needed to be accounted for by one of those numbers. Even today, they use that job number system and if a woe Imagineer goes for a little while without a number on their time sheet – they’re out. (Truthfully, long careers have and can be had by those that excel at obtaining job numbers to prove to management that they are always busy.)

Meanwhile, the R and D department flourished in their own world. They were well funded and answered to Corporate at the studio, totally separate from the rest of Imagineering. The interface they had with the rest of Imagineering over the years has been awkward at best. Although well meaning, it has not been a practical relationship, and they function as more like two separate companies.

I think it would be a good idea to try to merge the R and D department back into WDI, and get some more creativity back into the entire place.

Disneyland doesn't have an 'R' in it.

After a 46 year history without it, in 2001 the marketing geniuses that gave us DCA decreed that any use of the word ‘Disneyland’ in any media from that point on would have to carry the ‘R’ registered trademark symbol.

Gone were the days when Disneyland was indeed a special and unique magical little park that stood alone. Now it’s just another brand name – not that it wasn’t before – but now it is proclaimed as such to all, and the little ‘R’ follows its name just like the Disneyland Resort and the California Adventure Park. It serves to remind us that it is just another part of the holdings of a giant corporation, just in case we forget.

Guess what folks, it doesn’t need it and never did. Lose the ‘R’ and get a little piece of the magic back.

Finding Walt’s DCA

Legend holds that Disney’s California Adventure was conceived on an executive retreat as a rebranding initiative that would alter the 50-year-old perception and meaning of the iconic “Disney” brand in the theme park marketplace. The usual MBA buzzwords, like “relevant and compelling” and “hip ‘n’ edgy” were bandied about in its creation, construction and marketing, a cynical attempt to create a second Anaheim gate that would appeal to people who didn’t much like Disney entertainment (such as the participating executives and their wives).

As we all know, the resulting DCA was stillborn, rejected by the general public, Disney fans, and even the anti-Disney elitists by and for which it was conceived. Poor Wolfgang Puck and Mondavi sat waiting for well-heeled patrons who never arrived - - as there was nothing much for them to see by any measure.

Neither truly inventive or risky, nor in any way traditionally warm and escapist Disney, the new park fell into a no-man’s land of marketing irrelevance, a generic Edsel merrily on its way to no where in particular. Tourists and locals alike went out of their way to avoid Disneyland’s ugly stepsister.

As the park was being planned, all efforts were focused on rejecting the “Walt” in Walt Disney. Hard won lessons of theme park design and layout - - sightlines and immersion, weenies and scenic vistas, art-direction and future planning, theme and detail, breakthrough technology and storytelling, surprise and wonder, even simple expressions of quality and beauty - - were left out of the equation. Such Imagineering notions were thrown out by change-agent executives as “old hat,” “traditionalist,” “purist”, unnecessary, irrelevant leftovers of a founder’s eccentric vision. There was nothing to be found in the “Disney difference” that would reflect current tastes or the retailing wisdom of Ivy League theory.

In DCA's charter vision, there would be no characters, no cartoons, no fantasy, no idealism, no screening out of the real world, and no escape from the commercial world of the now. DCA was a scheme for high return on investment, nothing more.

Traditional Imagineers issued warnings that throwing out the Walt would lead to DCA’s destruction - - but they may as well have been Jor-El confronting the Council during the death throes of the Planet Krypton. The traditionalists were ousted from the process. Creativity was not needed here.

Neither was Walt himself wanted. The film Golden Dreams tells the story of Californians who created state industry by honoring a pioneering filmmaker: Louis B. Mayer… not Walt Disney! The movie backlot is named for the colorless “Hollywood Pictures” instead of “Walt Disney Studios”!

The sharp-pencil boys would have to find out the hard way that indeed, old Walt was right. And so were his acolytes.

Five years later, much has changed. DCA is finally poised to embrace the Walt Disney traditions from which it was so tragically separated in infancy. Talk abounds of “placemaking,” redesigned entranceways and hubs, thrilling new attractions and scenic areas of beauty and relaxation, perhaps even weenies at the end of the streets.

But what is the central theme that binds these ideas into a greater whole? How does one integrate Walter Elias Disney, the man and the myth, into a rambling concept after-the-fact?


As new creators ruminate on how to recast the new DCA, they might do well to turn to the man who was rejected in its conception: Walt Disney.

The entire concept of DCA could be changed with the addition of a single signature building in the hub, one potent symbol that would compliment the 20th Century California and Hollywood themes and bring the spirit of Walt Disney home to Disneyland’s companion park.

Why not place a recreation of Walt Disney’s iconic Hyperion Studios at the hub of DCA?

With it’s classic Spanish-revival architecture and iconic neon Mickey Mouse/Silly Symphonies sign, the Hyperion building compliments the existing environment, and would herald to the public that Walt was finally invited to the party, that this park would now become a creative place where anything could happen, a magical studio from which to escape the dreary workaday world.

Maybe even Diane Disney Miller’s museum devoted to her father (currently planned for the Presidio in San Francisco) might find a more appropriate home in Anaheim, housed in this recreation of the Hyperion Studio. Even if this proved impractical, Walt’s offices, The Walt Disney Story, the now-Julie-Andrews-hosted One Man’s Dream film from WDW, all could find a permanent home at the center of a new Disney/Pixar Studios park.

And maybe Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit, now returned to the Disney fold, could be the new DCA mascot to Disneyland's Mickey.

DCA could use Walt's DNA to find its heart and soul.

Mission Aborted

Yet another tear down to make room for something vastly inferior.

How can you compare Epcot's Horizon's pavilion with the recent replacement? Horizons, though showing a little kitsch around the edges shortly before it was bulldozed, was a return to the golden age of imagineering when it opened in 1983; a full fifteen minute ride thru showcasing how visionaries imagined the future, how current technologies were dreaming about it and what it all was going to look and feel like when it all came true. It was Epcot's theme show, an incredibly entertaining summation of the ideas that inspired Epcot and Future World from the get go. It was also the first ride in theme park history that both dangled you in front of an Imax film frame (years before DCA's Soarin') and let the rider call out their own ending to the attraction. As for everything else, it was all pure class, from set dressing to lighting to show writing to music. Everything worked.

But somehow Disney pencil pushers decided guests were tired of fully immersive theatrical environments and wanted more thrills, ignoring the fact that The Haunted Mansion and Pirates were still raking them in even after 40 years. In it's place, yet another threat to keeping lunch down in a park that was supposed to be about ideas, the one shot wonder 'Mission Space'.

Granted, this was an interesting step towards innovative new theme park technology as this sort of centrifuge simulator had never been seen before. But once guests squeeze into their tiny simulator pods and experience the feeling of an invisible buddha sitting on their face while watching low rez video it's doubtful they'll turn heel and get back in line. Either that same day or years later. And of course who'd want to suffer through Gary Sinise obviously reading from cue cards in the opening pre-show again anyway?

With virtually no re-rideabilty value whatsoever it's little consolation that the onboard motion sickness bags double as free souvenirs. But go ahead and take one anyway.

15 minutes of immersive theatrical bliss replaced by 5 minutes of chest pain and nausea. You do the math.

Synergy, shmymergy!

Something to be aware of: Disneyland is becoming one big Toon Town. The original themed lands were representations of different times and places and the attractions in them were geared more toward the land themes than anything else. Disney characters, aside from an occasional appearance, resided in Fantasyland – and then in Toon Town.

Lately most new attractions across the park are based on whatever latest movie is out. The result is that you have cartoon Tarzan taking over the Swiss Family Treehouse, Buzz Lightyear in Tomorrowland, soon to be Finding Nemo replacing the sub rides and Pooh over in the far corner of Frontierland.

To further clarify the point; for instance, a Frontierland with permanent features like the Golden Horseshoe, the Mark Twain and western buildings can really take you back in time, as if you were magically transported to that time and place. An occasional appearance by a Disney character that fits in with the theme comes as a pleasant surprise and reminds you of where you really are.

But it is quite a different thing to be in a Frontierland with permanent features maybe more like Woody and Jesse’s Shoot’em Up Saloon, Pluto’s Western Bounce House and Nemo’s Explorer Canoes. You aren’t really being transported back to that place and time anymore – you know you’re in an amusement park, and actually more of a kiddy park.

I don’t think this has come about as the result of conscious overall creative design, but rather the result of a company structure with business managers at the top and creative people under them, scrambling to give the managers what they want – synergy. Synergy is a good thing in small doses, but this strategy will never give us another Pirate ride or Haunted Mansion. The system needs to be reversed, with the creative leaders deciding what attractions would really enhance an area in an amazing way, with the business managers there to support them and turn the projects into reality. Duh.

Lincoln's Second Assassination

Imagineers are certainly allowed to revisit earlier attractions at the parks to reassess their relevance with current audiences but with every additional touch-up of Disneyland's 'Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln' it seems the very heart and soul of this stirring stage presentation gets another bullet to the head.

A more sophisticated Audio Animatronic figure arriving in the 80's was initially a cause for celebration, but when the animators got hold of Lincoln they were more fixated on the technology than the performance, making Abe flap around like Richard Simmons on speed.

And then its latest incarnation, opening several years ago, appeared to be the final death rattle. For some reason the show wasn't about Lincoln's timeless and inspiring words anymore but a showcase for a 3-D sound system that was getting all the Imagineering Audiophiles panties in a bunch, a system by which guests could hear realistic dimensional sound all around them via lightweight headsets.

So now, just before the curtains come up on Abe, you can hear in excruciating detail the imaginary grandfather clock in the far right corner of the room, scissors clip at your hair and, in what might be the most cringe inducing experience in theme park history, the breathy effete voice of Abe Lincoln whispering softly in your ear, each syllable sending a soft burst of air into your skull. In one fleeting instant our great moment with Lincoln has turned into something that feels like a prelude to bad touch; something unwelcome and dirty.

Once the curtains open it's apparent that all hallmarks of quality and class have been stripped from the stage. No more the regal red carpet, the high sheen oak furniture, the ghostly image of the Capital in the background. Now it's all grey, funereal and bone cold. And instead of Lincoln sharing his timeless thoughts on liberty, equality and freedom as he once did (in a speech cleverly cobbled together from several of his writings) this go-round he speaks to gathered dignitaries at the consecration of a cemetary. Yes, it's the Gettysburg Address.

And while the Gettysburg Address is perhaps the finest speech a President ever made, it is utterly and completely inappropriate for this show's grand vision. An audience unaware of the context of the Gettysburg Address will hear nothing but high-minded jabber. The earlier monologue, on the other hand, played as a proud stand-alone discourse on American values and, in our post 9-11 world, is more eerily relevant and potent than it's ever been before.

The Gettysburg Address and its relevance to world events today? Not so much.

Oh, to imagine Lincoln back at Disneyland doing what he did best; inspiring guests to once again feel proud to be part of the American Experience.

Restoring Walt Disney’s Disneyland: The Pirate Ship and Skull Rock

Fantasyland was given a beautiful makeover back in 1984, but one of the central weenies of Walt’s childish fancy was an unfortunate victim of fate: Captain Hook’s Pirate Ship and Skull Rock.

The Jolly Roger, a colorful pirate galleon right out of Neverland, doubled as a snack stand - - home to tuna sandwiches and other seafood treats (your host: Chicken of the Sea). It premiered along with the park itself in 1955. The lush lagoon and fountains of Skull Rock were added as a backdrop a few years later.

Located where Dumbo is now, Hook's ship was a thrilling setpiece. Kids could reenact swordplay and derring-do on its ornate decks, while adults could have a relaxing bite or two in the tropical gardens below.

While cavorting on Hook's ship, a lost boy could feel the happy thoughts carry him away toward that Second Star to the Right. And talk about the perfect meet-and-greet location for Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee... Hook used to chase kids around the rocks, behind the falls and through the small caves of Skull Rock seeking revenge (and a photo op).

Flying directly above the galleon’s billowing sails and decks, the Skyway gave an even closer view of the ship's complex riggings.

The waterfalls of Skull Rock also added immeasurably to the atmosphere of Fantasyland. In fact, waterfalls used to be a far more prominent atmospheric element throughout the park, contributing a serenity that has been missing since Fantasyland's Skull Rock, Frontierland's Cascade Peak and other iconic falling waters of Disneyland ran dry.

Originally slated to be moved around near the StorybookLand entrance during the 1984 redesign of New Fantasyland, the pirate ship proved too delicate and crumbled when the cranes came. This was an unforeseen, unintended disaster. Sadly, no one ever budgeted to rebuild it!

Captain Hook's Pirate Ship and Skull Rock should return to the center of Fantasyland as Walt designed it - - Dumbo could easily make the transition over by Small World or StorybookLand. Or at the very least, the ship should be rebuilt at the new location intended in 1984 (on Small World Way).

The Pirate Ship was a central symbol of Walt’s recurring theme of remembering childhood and the spirit of youth (“I’ve seen that ship before… a long, long time ago when I was very young,” said Mr. Darling at the emotional resolution to “Peter Pan”). It seemed to underscore the point and complete the vision of Fantasyland. It was a fitting centerpiece to Walt's own park.

Disneyland has seemed less timeless; less the Never-Neverland it once was, without this beautiful oasis, one of most photogenic locales in the park.

We can't fly without the pixie-dust, fellas...

Hub Bub?

At one time, the hub at Disneyland was more like a grand finale to Main Street. It had the elegant Plaza Inn and Plaza Gardens restaurants flanking the exit and the Carnation Gardens over on the far left side. When you were in the hub, you had the feeling that you were not only still in the turn of the century small town, but had entered into a little park of the era, with magical paths around the perimeter that showed glimpses of other worlds that gently drew you in. It provided a comfortable transition to the other lands and also had a sense of place.

Over the last ten years or so, the theme has been compromised, and the well planned magical little vistas that used to draw one smoothly into the various lands are slowly degrading. For instance; when the old Carnation Gardens restaurant was torn out a few years back, it was replaced with a practical expanse of walkway and some generic ‘back of western type building’ facades to hide the newly exposed backs of the Frontierland buildings. Now we are presented with a view there of what looks like a functional backstage break area, and the single magical little path that was the main entrance into Frontierland now has a cheaper twin. Cha-ching! Another little piece of the magic is gone. A better solution would have been to put some tall trees there to mask the building backs. Or better still why wasn’t it replaced with an even nicer Victorian Pavilion type eatery or attraction?

When you exited Main Street into the hub over the last few years and turned left, a sign in front of the vacant Plaza Pavilion proclaimed it as the “Annual Passport Processing Pavilion”. So a guest might think, “Oh, I’ve left Main Street now; here is an old building that used to be part of it somehow, but now they’re selling passports there.” So right away the smooth continuity of the theme is broken and it jogs the guest back into the world of today, leaving them impressed with the notion that Disney would rather use a themed building to sell things than to keep it integral to the story they were once telling. Cha-ching! Another piece of the magic is gone. Solution: Sell annual passports out at the front gate. Can’t we find a use for that beautiful old building or replace it with something better that fits the theme?

The placement of the Astro-Orbiter at the edge of the hub has already been written about, but to reiterate, the vista and view into the world of tomorrow that used to draw you in is gone. Instead you have this dark looming hulk of a thing bordering the hub almost repelling you back. Cha-ching! Another little piece of the magic is gone – another smooth transition lost. Solution: Nuke it!

The Partners statue of Walt and Mickey and the surrounding bronzes of other Disney characters at the very center of the hub are also out of place if we want to maintain the theme of the area. Although a wonderful tribute for the 50th anniversary, they pull the observer out of any sense they might have had of being in that small town park, and back into the present day again. Would these statues be better off somewhere else? One could argue that maybe they could fit in as something you might see in a turn of the century park and particularly in a Disney version of one - but maybe not.

These hub area theme issues are a good example of the kind of questions you need to constantly be asking and resolving in every part of every land in the park as you go about Re-Imagineering Disneyland.