AMAZING Ray Bradbury Interview; Thoughts on Walt, Comparisons to Walt Disney World

[General Grizz]

If you don't have it yet, go out and buy your TOMORROWLAND Walt Disney Treasures DVD. It's an EXCELLENT buy, with wonderful (and still relevant!) presentations Walt made that definitely influenced the Space Industry. Also on it is the complete EPCOT film (which goes into the planning of the city), interviews with Marty Sklar, and a lot about the Carousel of Progress (in Walt's philosophy) and hints of Horizons, Living with the Land, and Spaceship Earth.

But today I watched the interview with Ray Bradbury, famous writer and thinker who produced such works as Farenheit 451 and worked on such Disney attractions as Spaceship Earth.

Here are two important excerpts that Mr. Bradbury relates back to Walt Disney and the concept of Disneyland; they explain why the Disney parks are so unique and special:

“I came back from Paris one time about ten years ago, went to Disneyland, and I looked at the side of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, and I called John Hench over at Imagineering, and I said, ‘I noticed something about Sleeping Beauty’s Castle: there’s a spire there that I saw last on top of Notre Dame in Paris! I said, ‘How long’s that been there, on Sleeping Beauty’s Castle?’ He said, ‘20 years.’ I said, ‘Who put it there?’ He said, ‘Walt did.’ And I said, ‘Why?’ ‘Because he loved it.’

I said, ‘Ah! That’s why I love Walt Disney.’ It cost $100,000 to build a spire you didn’t need! That’s the <I>secret</I> of Disney, is doing things you don’t need and doing them well, and then you realize you needed ‘em all along.”’

“Everything contributes. Everything adds to the whole.”

This is show. This is Disney detail. While we may not invest 100,000 dollars in a spire on Cinderella Castle, we can relate this idea to one of the most recent of what could be a cutback, the lack of motion of the Astro Orbiter and its planets (for over a year) and it effects on the aesthetics and beauty of New Tomorrowland.

The second idea is as follows:

Because he built Disneyland, because it was full of things we didn’t need but really needed, ‘We don’t need a lot of trees.’ You plant them. ‘We don’t need a lot of benches.’ You put ‘em down. ‘We don’t need a lot of flowers.’ You plant them.

So he built Disneyland as an example of a way of living – not just an entertainment center. You could go there and sit on a bench and people-watch because it’s a happy experience. Why? Because of the flowers, the trees, the fountains, all over and above all of the other elements.

This is the simplicty, the calm, that balances against the faced-paced nature of other attractions. This is why the serenity of the Land (which also has a nice fountain) and freshness of Wonders of Life are necessary breaks and centers from a hustle-bustle world. They are simple, they are profound, they are necessary.

Again, go out and buy this DVD if you haven't already. It's full of optimism, hope, and a hint of the genius of the great Mr. Disney.

 

[MissM]

We picked up the Tomorrowland one from Costco a month or so ago (our first of the Treasures and something we really enjoy!), but literally everywhere we look, they're completely sold out of them. At one point, our local Wal-Mart had them (no more), Costco had them (no more) and a few others. They weren't easy to find in retail locations to start with and now they seem to be gone.

So if you see it, grab it. Don't wait. We had planned to pick up some others but now we can't. I've really enjoyed the Tomorrowland set and find it so very interesting.
-m

 

[t3techcom18]

Wow. What Mr. Bradbury said is what exactly Disney parks should all do. They should always take the appreciation of Disney hand in hand, and put your work over and beyond the call of duty. That is what Disney is all about. Doing everything they possibly can to go over the job of recreating a land of a different place, while at the same time co-exsisting in another. And that co-exsisting is falling apart. The outside world is breaching the park's barrier of imagination and wonder, and transforming into a place where money and power reign supreme, where family fun, kid-friendly things, should be the top of the chain. Look at what's happening at Disney, for crying out loud! Damage is becoming noticable, hospitality is going down, and now the parks are getting hit by that, and the reputation is going down, all because of the head executive management that is on the other side of the US, saying it is a big deal whether or not to keep timeless classics alive and well, and being on the edge of becoming corrupt and cheap, to something that lots of people who have worked on all their lives, and ti is being thrown to waste. I shouldn't happen I say. We shouldn't go into somewhere that is going wrong, but something that cares about what they are doing.

Boy, I needed to say that. I needed to vent about what's happening here at Disney, or anywhere else. It just couldn't and shouldn't go down like that.

 

[General Grizz]

Wow. What Mr. Bradbury said is what exactly Disney parks should all do. They should always take the appreciation of Disney hand in hand, and put your work over and beyond the call of duty. That is what Disney is all about. Doing everything they possibly can to go over the job of recreating a land of a different place, while at the same time co-exsisting in another. And that co-exsisting is falling apart. The outside world is breaching the park's barrier of imagination and wonder, and transforming into a place where money and power reign supreme, where family fun, kid-friendly things, should be the top of the chain. Look at what's happening at Disney, for crying out loud! Damage is becoming noticable, hospitality is going down, and now the parks are getting hit by that, and the reputation is going down, all because of the head executive management that is on the other side of the US, saying it is a big deal whether or not to keep timeless classics alive and well, and being on the edge of becoming corrupt and cheap, to something that lots of people who have worked on all their lives, and ti is being thrown to waste. I shouldn't happen I say. We shouldn't go into somewhere that is going wrong, but something that cares about what they are doing.

Boy, I needed to say that. I needed to vent about what's happening here at Disney, or anywhere else. It just couldn't and shouldn't go down like that.

I am glad you said that. Probably the greatest post I've read here today.

 

[t3techcom18]

I am glad you said that. Probably the greatest post I've read here today.

Thanks! :wave:

 

[cherrynegra]

Thanks! :wave:

Yes, bravo!! Excellent post. I think you've captured what it is we all have become so dispondent about. The current state of affairs at Disney parks. I don't find it surprising that someone like Ray Bradbury would notice what really makes Disney tick.

 

[SirNim]

It's all in the detail. I watched the Bradbury interview when I first got the DVD (week they came out)... very profound and true what Ray said.

It's also true that some recent plans to alter/close/recreate certain WDW attractions go directly against the message of the interview.

 

[Thorphin]

It's also true that some recent plans to alter/close/recreate certain WDW attractions go directly against the message of the interview.

So who's got the cajones to rip the interview from the DVD and send it back to the customer complaints division at Disney?

 

[FamilyMan]

Obviously Disney no longer cares what they make... the management will do anything... even go against their own DVD Interviews... just to make a buck... and they don't even know how to make a buck. Too many things they do flop! I'm reminded at how Walt was never out to make money. Money to Walt was just a way to add more things. He never went into it for the money.

Yet, I imagine most of us wish we had enough money to buy back the company...

I'll bet that if enough Disney fans put enough money into the pot, we'd have enough money to buy back the company... and restore the foundation on which Disney was build on... the one that Walt and Roy created. God bless them.