What Is Disney World Missing

Would Walt Be Happy With Walt Disney World Today

  • Yes

    Votes: 66 61.1%
  • No

    Votes: 42 38.9%

  • Total voters
    108
  • Poll closed .

Goofy Kid

Member
Original Poster
Disney World was Walt's dream, and at least I feel that everyone who visits his park helps to keep his dream alive. Walt wanted Disney World to be a place were people could finally act as goofy and fun as they want to. The question that I present is, Do you think that there is anything missing at Disney World that Walt would have wanted include?
 

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
But seriously. I think a man with the vision of Walt would've understood that one can not govern 45 years over one's grave. I think Walt - if we were to dig him up from underneath the Castle and defrost him - would walk around WDW for a while, a bit bewildered, then withold judgement until he had had the opportunity to catch up with modern culture, movies, busines practices, tastes.

There is a lot Walt wouldn't like about modern WDW - from the point of view of himself in 1966. For one, Walt would disaprove of all those coloreds working in the parks.
Or would he? Maybe he would move with the times like everybody else. What Walt would've thought knowing what they knew in 1970, never mind what we know today, is almost complete speculation.
 

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
I voted yes - but thre IS one significant item that I think Walt would have wanted....

A modern mass transit system - ie, not diesel powered busses. Monorail was a good start, long ago... but it's just not scalable in 2012. I don't know what that system should be - but it should likely be as cutting edge as a monorail was in the '50s.
I think you are spot on. Walt's futurism was focused to no small degree on transportion.

Yet his massive new experiment in Florido could manage no better than busses? The transportation system of a century ago? :brick:
 

Goofy Kid

Member
Original Poster
There is no doubt that Walt would be astounded with Disney World today. I do, however think that he would be disappointed with the way EPCOT turned out. Especially considering the park has no significant relation to his original plans or even its name.
 

mrg1106

Member
In the Parks
No
Anybody voting no:

going_to_hate.jpg
 

Prototype82

Well-Known Member
a city...:lookaroun
This. Even though his EPCOT utopia was never built, I think he'd be thrilled at the idea of a World Expo park. That is, until he'd walk in to find a cartoon fish and Universe of Comedy. But the ground breaking things in the parks would astound him, I'm sure. The technology found in Mission: Space for one would be something he'd be proud to have in his parks. I think we can all agree he would love Animal Kingdom. And how could he not be impressed by Fantasyland: inspired by his original real-life fairy tale storytelling being expanded into the massive environment that it's going to be. That's huge. And even though there are those who would disagree, Walt would have so much fun with Avatar if he was given this project. So I vote yes.
 

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Disney World was Walt's dream, and at least I feel that everyone who visits his park helps to keep his dream alive. Walt wanted Disney World to be a place were people could finally act as goofy and fun as they want to. The question that I present is, Do you think that there is anything missing at Disney World that Walt would have wanted include?
The Disney World that Walt Disney knew what not a place "were [sic] people could finally act as goofy and fun as they want to" but a very serious place forging ahead to address issues through the use of proper foresight and technology.

Even if he did come to realize that EPCOT was impracticle, I think he would be upset how how the Company he created, the one that created themed entertainment as we know it today, has almost totally abandoned it as a creative medium. Parks and Resorts today is much like the Studio following Walt's death, it has become derivative and formulaic, stuck in a seeming rut that views the parks as something that is just expected of the Company, for which it is in turn simply going through the motions to turn out products that, while even quite nice, do nothing remarkable.
 

Magenta Panther

Well-Known Member
This. Even though his EPCOT utopia was never built, I think he'd be thrilled at the idea of a World Expo park. That is, until he'd walk in to find a cartoon fish and Universe of Comedy. But the ground breaking things in the parks would astound him, I'm sure. The technology found in Mission: Space for one would be something he'd be proud to have in his parks. I think we can all agree he would love Animal Kingdom.

Maybe...but I bet he'd insist on Beastly Kingdom being built.

Me, I doubt he'd be happy with Epcot. It is not at all what he envisioned, and he was pretty stubborn about getting things made his way (thank goodness). Maybe it would have been a financial impossibility in the end, but I think he would have found a way to make at least some aspect of the City possible. He had a way of making the impossible happen. :)
 

AEfx

Well-Known Member
Although I normally abhor questions about what a dead man would think (as most people who say such things really know little about the actual man), I voted no - largely because of minor maintenance issues that are rarely taken care of. I don't believe in speaking for the dead, generally, but in this case I think he'd deliver a "HELL NO!" to busted light bulbs, chipped paint, etc. - the very things that fanbois pretend don't matter.

I won't guess how he'd feel specifically about the larger issues - probably a mixture of being impressed and disgusted - although I think he'd take a look at some of the video screen attractions and say, "This is 2012, can't they get this at home?" and he'd be largely correct.
 

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
Hard to say really. Would probably depend on what you'd ask him about.

Magic Kingdom- He'd probably not dislike it too much in comparison to the way his Disneyland looked in his time. Though compared to how Disneyland looks today, or most of the other Disneyland parks around the world, he might not be impressed.

Epcot- I think he'd be extremely disappointed in the park at first. Perhaps after some thought he would at least appreciate the merits of the version we had from 1982-1994 or so. Don't think he'd like the current state of the park, especially if he knew what it once was. But i'd think initially he'd be royally p***ed off that he didn't get his real progress city. So he might not have even liked this at all considering they disregarded his dream. I can't really say.

MGM- Can't say about this. Maybe appreciate somewhat, but feel it's rather underdeveloped.

Animal Kingdom- I think he might have liked this one. I heard he wanted real animals for Jungle Cruise originally. I could see him liking the concept. But again, if he knew what the original plans were, he'd probably be rather furious they never went with through with it.

We do know enough about Mr Disney to know that he would be absolutely furious at the current state of maintenance at all the parks and resorts. Whether he would enjoy the merits of the parks or not. That's one thing we absolutely know about him. Based on comments from those that knew him, he would probably explode with fury over seeing broken effects in rides or even burned out light bulbs that plague all the parks. Proper maintenance was a point of pride with him and his company at one time. So we know pretty well how he'd feel about the current state of the parks.

So with WDW at this very moment in time, i'd say no he wouldn't like what he saw. Voted no.
 

pumpkin7

Well-Known Member
i think he would be happy about the scale of what WDW has become. 4 major theme parks, pulling in a hell of a lot of people per year.
i don't think he would be happy about the upkeep. the 'show' was one of the most important things to walt, because he never used to worry about costs, that was roy's job. keep the show top notch, worry about the finance later. i don't think he'd be happy about the broken animatronics that are put on show (ie splash), or the lack of general care about the parks.
but who would really know? he probably never imagined that his idea would grow to such a massive scale.
 

freakman

Member
It's missing me skipping through it checking my mickey mouse watch to see if its fast pass time all the while sipping a coke slushy and eating a mickey ears ice cream bar :ROFLOL:
 

powlessfamily4

Well-Known Member
We could play "what if" all day. For all we know Walt may have tried to dream to big to fast and bankrupted the Florida project, razed it rebuilt it and razed it again. It's hard to speculate on what he would be thinking now or how those changes would have impacted now.
I am just happy that we have a piece of the original idea because it is truly my happy place! :)
 

danpam1024

Well-Known Member
I voted yes - but thre IS one significant item that I think Walt would have wanted....

A modern mass transit system - ie, not diesel powered busses. Monorail was a good start, long ago... but it's just not scalable in 2012. I don't know what that system should be - but it should likely be as cutting edge as a monorail was in the '50s.

Watched a show called Mega Engineering, they were trying to solve transportation problems in places like DC. Anyway they have developed "pods" that were electric and completely run by computers. all i could think of is how they should put these things inWDW!
 

Banksy

New Member
Disney world is missing me! I should be there NOW!

I think it's kind of ignorant that some people think he wouldn't be happy with it...He created it and wanted it to change and expand and for the legacy to live on. Just because some people aren't happy with it doesn't mean he wouldn't. I think he would be proud of the passion people put into it. No matter what you think about disney, they try and appeal to the majority and make it a happier/more enjoyable place. People need to stop being disney snobs and be grateful that they have experienced disney, because some people will never get the chance too! :lookaroun
 

DisDadEddie

Active Member
I'd think he'd be disappointed with the lack of character representation. Before my time the character use to walk about freely in the parks. Even when I first started going to the parks there were more character available to meet. I would like to see more characters out for my kids to meet, this way when they see the older Disney movies they can connect with the characters they are seeing.
 

bgraham34

Well-Known Member
I'd think he'd be disappointed with the lack of character representation. Before my time the character use to walk about freely in the parks. Even when I first started going to the parks there were more character available to meet. I would like to see more characters out for my kids to meet, this way when they see the older Disney movies they can connect with the characters they are seeing.

I would agree with you somewhat but I just think it would be impossible in Disney World. There are so many first time quests that they really can't have the characters just walking around. People would run and push if there was not lines with character control.
 

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