Orlando Becoming East Coast Headquarters for Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
Hawaii has that? What do do they do? Throw rotten coconuts at you or flaming wreaths of flowers? Well there is tossing people in the volcano but Im not certain that is very common.....these days. It does make me wonder about alaska. Do they still use knives for shanks or just use an icicle instead.
Walk the beach late night in Waikiki by the Hyatt Regency and you will see things that you don't see in the travel brochures and probably run back to your hotel.
 

bcoachable

Well-Known Member
Thats what she said. In all honesty its not that much of a stretch. There are a couple areas in florida so bad that many people who know these areas just try to pretend they are not in existence but they know they are there. Its sort of like when a tourist asks a local about places to visit in california they quickly change the conversation as soon as that person asks about visiting oakland. Its just places you do not want to visit nor do you advise others to do the same.
Florida Project much?
That movie just sticks with me- cause I know it’s pretty close to the truth…
 

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
Florida Project much?
That movie just sticks with me- cause I know it’s pretty close to the truth…
That movie with actor Wilem Dafoe was filmed just a few traffic lights on 192 from Celebration. When you get out of Celebration and venture into Kissimmee it is a very different atmosphere. The movie really brought home that point.
 
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bcoachable

Well-Known Member
That movie with actor Wilem Dafoe was filmed just a few traffic lights on 192 from Celebration. When you get out of Celebration and venture into Kissimmee it is a very different atmosphere. The movie really brought home that point.
Really hit home when we were checking out the area, and drove by the hotel- and everyone in the car went: “wait, what???”
 

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
Really hit home when we were checking out the area, and drove by the hotel- and everyone in the car went: “wait, what???”
Reading the online reviews for the Magic Castle Inn and Suites is interesting as you wonder who is checking into the Florida Project motel and is then shocked at how terrible it is. Some people obviously live very low-information lives.
 

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
Reading the online reviews for the Magic Castle Inn and Suites is interesting as you wonder who is checking into the Florida Project motel and is then shocked at how terrible it is. Some people obviously live very low-information lives.
Midweek the Magic Castle Inn in Kissimmee is $38 per night and some may have a weird curiosity to stay in the same location where the Florida Project was filmed. Occupants to include the homeless, drug addicts, ladies of the evening and some just living week to week surviving just a few miles from WDW and a few traffic lights from Celebration. The Magic Castle is just one of the number of hotels that are on the 192 Kissimmee tourist corridor that house an diverse group of occupants and not only tourists on vacation.
 

tanc

Well-Known Member
Seriously considering applying to stuff that shows up. Seems like a golden opportunity to do it, sounds like a pretty huge facility being built.
 

skypilot2922

Well-Known Member
Thats what she said. In all honesty its not that much of a stretch. There are a couple areas in florida so bad that many people who know these areas just try to pretend they are not in existence but they know they are there. Its sort of like when a tourist asks a local about places to visit in california they quickly change the conversation as soon as that person asks about visiting oakland. Its just places you do not want to visit nor do you advise others to do the same.

Translation - most of downtown Orlando, there is a data center in vegas in a area so bad all employees are issued firearms. Its an odd feeling being in a place where everyone is packing heat
 

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
Translation - most of downtown Orlando, there is a data center in vegas in a area so bad all employees are issued firearms. Its an odd feeling being in a place where everyone is packing heat
If any of the CA creative cast are going to relocate to downtown Orlando it may be a good idea to rent for a year to see what it is like . They are surely going to see if they are going to like it or not. I used to work with a guy from security who used to work in Las Vegas. He said that his hotel casino he had worked for advised him never to wear his security uniform outside of work so he changed into his uniform in the hotel locker room. He was advised that CA street gangs moving into Las Vegas had initiation rites of new members to seek out locals in security uniform for assasination.
 

scottb411

Well-Known Member
Lake Eola is in the heart of downtown Orlando where many condos and apartments are available to purchase or rent. A one bedroom 721 sq ft apartment starts at $1,900/month with three bedroom apartments in the $3,400/month range at the Camden Lake Eola Apartments:

 

el_super

Well-Known Member
Seriously considering applying to stuff that shows up. Seems like a golden opportunity to do it, sounds like a pretty huge facility being built.

Has anything interesting showed up yet?

I haven't had much of an update from any friends of mine but it sounds like whatever group they told a couple weeks ago has been the only one(s), and they are working to determine if more are going (which seems pretty suspect since they supposedly had 2 years to figure this out).

Wording is being changed, and it seems like either thru the bad roll out or thru the bad reaction Disney is backtracking a little on this and now suggesting it's "optional" and that they will work with people who don't want to relocate.
 

el_super

Well-Known Member
Brief update from Twitter:

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For what it's worth, the main 1401 Building has become more of a tour destination/museum piece than a real working facility. There's a large auditorium and art display space along with some of the showpiece attractions (like the Monorail wall). There were still some teams assigned to this building and of course executive offices, but a lot of work had moved out for ... honestly better spaces.

It is starting to sound like this move might be fizzling out.
 

el_super

Well-Known Member
I don't think so. The plan was not to move the entirety of WDI. Like you said they use this building for tours and essentially as an archive these days. Some will stay and keep this as their home. Many will move as well.

They can keep the building and still move WDI. You don't have to be an imagineer in order to give a tour of 1401.

If they keep ANY part of WDI in the building, they will still be bifurcating teams. If the executive leadership (Weis/Bouza/et al) stay in Glendale, and ship the lower level folks out to Florida, that new campus won't solve any of the communication problems they laid out as their reasoning for moving. Certainly, if a team stays behind in California, that team will just keep growing and growing overtime as the "real" WDI while the team in Florida languishes.

I'm starting to fall into the camp of thinking this was a layoff/reduction disguised as a relocation effort.
 

Rteetz

Well-Known Member
I'm starting to fall into the camp of thinking this was a layoff/reduction disguised as a relocation effort.
It is some of that yes. Its also not the worst thing for WDI either. In many ways it could and should help WDW. There still will be some of WDI in CA. It won't be a lot but they aren't just abandoning CA either.
 

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
They can keep the building and still move WDI. You don't have to be an imagineer in order to give a tour of 1401.

If they keep ANY part of WDI in the building, they will still be bifurcating teams. If the executive leadership (Weis/Bouza/et al) stay in Glendale, and ship the lower level folks out to Florida, that new campus won't solve any of the communication problems they laid out as their reasoning for moving. Certainly, if a team stays behind in California, that team will just keep growing and growing overtime as the "real" WDI while the team in Florida languishes.

I'm starting to fall into the camp of thinking this was a layoff/reduction disguised as a relocation effort.
Why is it a given that a local team would grow? Why hasn’t this happened with Universal Creative?
 

rogerrabbitfan9

Active Member
Has anything interesting showed up yet?

I haven't had much of an update from any friends of mine but it sounds like whatever group they told a couple weeks ago has been the only one(s), and they are working to determine if more are going (which seems pretty suspect since they supposedly had 2 years to figure this out).

Wording is being changed, and it seems like either thru the bad roll out or thru the bad reaction Disney is backtracking a little on this and now suggesting it's "optional" and that they will work with people who don't want to relocate.
I haven’t seen any jobs on the engineering side get posted that are any different from the ones Disney was posting a few years ago when I last looked.
 

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