A little background info on that WDW Airport article
Hey, guys
Jim Hill here.
Yes, that Jim Hill.
Given that a number of people here at WDWMagic seem to be wondering about the origins of that WDW Airport article that unkadug posted yesterday ... Well, I thought that I should let you all know that I was one who actually wrote this piece back in 1999.
Mind you, that was back when I first started writing for the Web. Of course, back then, I used to work under the pseudonym of J. Thaddeus Weasel.
Anyway ... I wrote this story for Arlen Miller's old Dreamfinder website. With the hope that it might then drive a little more traffic Arlen's way. Over the year or so that I regularly contributed pieces to Miller's website, I also wrote articles about "Blue Sky" projects like Fire Mountain, Villain Mountain as well as those never ending rumors about Disney buying up land in Texas to build ... something.
Eventually, Arlen & I parted ways. I then started contributing articles to MousePlanet. Which then led to my gig at LaughingPlace, DCACentral and -- finally -- JimHillMedia.
Anywho ... Given that I don't seem to have all that many fans here at WDWMagic, I'm going to assume that -- now that I've actually owned up to being the author of this WDW Airport article -- that some people here are now going to automatically discount this piece. Given that if a story comes from Jim Hill, it then (All together now) " ... has to be taken with a huge grain of salt."
Which honestly is okay with me. After all, everyone's entitled to their own opinion. And I've long since resigned myself to the fact that -- no matter what how many outside sources that I link back to and/or how many stories that I publish on JHM that eventually turn out to be true -- that there are still going to people who I insist that I make stuff up.
As for this WDW Airport story ... All I can tell you is that -- back in 1998 -- I was lucky enough to be able to sit down with a senior Disney official who then walked me through all of the company's plans for "Project Omega." Which (back then, anyway) seemed like a "Go" project.
But then 9/11 happened. And -- as a direct result of the impact that that terrorist act had on on-property occupancy rates at WDW -- Disney executives lost their nerve. Which is why the company then radically scaled back its plans for "Project Omega." Dumbing the whole thing down until what we were eventually left with was "Disney's Magical Express." Which (you'll have to admit) has accomplished many of the same goals that the more ambitious version of this plan originally sought to achieve.
Anyhow ... That's a bit more background on the story that unkadug posted yesterday. Who wrote it. More importantly, who my original source was (And -- no -- I can't name the exec. Why For? Because he still works for the Mouse. Trust me. You'd know his name if I mentioned it.)
Please forgive my interruption. Given that I'm fairly certain that a Jim Hill bashing session is about to get underway, I should probably be on my way anyway.
Thanks for your time,
j