Bob Iger: "‘We’ve got some pretty exciting things that we’ll be announcing over the next few months"

[TP2000]

There's been no evidence of this, though. No mention of anything like that during conversations about WDW.

Like @lazyboy97o said, I think people are desperate to connect Walt Disney to WDW like he was connected to Disneyland. It's unfortunate he passed before he could even begin his Florida project, but the truth is he did.

I've heard one of the Magic Kingdom tours gives bogus/made up info about Walt Disney and WDW. I think it was @TP2000 who mentioned something about this.

Yup.

I'm a great student of Walt Disney and Disney theme park history. I'm not an expert by a long shot, but I've read every book on the subject and watched every great presentation by aging Imagineers that's available on YouTube. And there's just no evidence of any sort of involvement of Walt Disney with Magic Kingdom Park during the 1965-66 timeframe when Walt was still alive.

Even in 1967, within a year of Walt's death, there's not evidence that any real work was underway on what Magic Kingdom Park would look like. Not until the calendar flips to '68 do you start to see the first and most vague models or sketches of a Magic Kingdom Park, but it's all still without detail or nuance. By 1969 the WDI sketches are coming into clearer focus and bulldozers arrive to start grading the swamps.

And I've also been on the "backstage" tours at WDW, and heard the 20 year old tour guide mix up all the dates and the facts about Walt in order to string together a fake narrative about how he helped design and build Magic Kingdom Park. He didn't. Because he'd been dead for years. And cremated. And did I mention dead?

But there is a desperation within the WDW organization to string together some connection to Walt Disney. And if they could find one shred of evidence from 1966, salvaged from the cutting room floor from Walt's EPCOT '66 film he made 7 weeks before he died, or a hazy sketch made on a cocktail napkin one evening down at the Tam O' Shanter, or the minutes from a 1966 meeting (which are all archived, by the way) where Walt said one word about the Magic Kingdom Park, then that would be used publicly and proudly to cement that connection.

But that connection doesn't exist. There's nothing in the archives, and nothing has ever been found, and no one ever remembers Walt planning anything other than EPCOT in the fall of '66 when he'd already had one lung removed and was fading fast. And then he died. And by late '67 the Company picked itself up and tried to move on with Florida planning without him. And that's about the time that Dick Nunis showed up at the meeting and said that before they do anything else they need to make every walkway in the new park twice as wide as the walkways at Disneyland. And the rest is history made long after Walt's death.

 

[FrankLapidus]

We got the most beautiful park in the US built after Wells had passed on.

We also got California Adventure further down the line at a time where things at Disney were getting increasingly worse.

Like I said, I don't think there is any way to know for sure what would have happened at the parks had Eisner remained in charge. I don't disagree with you that he probably would have spent to compete with Universal if he were still in charge now, I just have doubts that he would have spent wisely based on what we saw in his final few years at Disney but that's a personal view. There's no question that he has far, far better creative instincts than those in charge at the company now, he just needed good business minds around him to help him channel that creativity. When he had that, WDW thrived in a way that we haven't seen for years and could have done so again.

 

[Big C 73]

We also got California Adventure further down the line at a time where things at Disney were getting increasingly worse.

Like I said, I don't think there is any way to know for sure what would have happened at the parks had Eisner remained in charge. I don't disagree with you that he probably would have spent to compete with Universal if he were still in charge now, I just have doubts that he would have spent wisely based on what we saw in his final few years at Disney but that's a personal view. There's no question that he has far, far better creative instincts than those in charge at the company now, he just needed good business minds around him to help him channel that creativity. When he had that, WDW thrived in a way that we haven't seen for years and could have done so again.

I agree with this 100%. Eisner did great things, even though he had his faults he cared for the company. The Disney decade will be a time we probably won't see again. That was when Disney really was king.

 

[PeterAlt]

Peter... Walt Disney had nothing to do with the design of Magic Kingdom in Florida.

This is actually what I originally thought years ago when I thought Eisner was the best thing to happen to Disney since Walt and Roy (I still do but there's really no comparison). Then, I read all those blogs and thought I was mistaken. There's that one bit about how Roy didn't really get the whole EPCOT thing, but still wanted his younger brother's dream built. The legend has it that he tried to set things up within the company so that a future CEO that gets the whole EPCOT thing would be in a better position and would be able to carry it through. For example, he viewed the construction at LBV as a way for the company to learn real estate, because he wisely understood EPCOT as a giant real estate venture, and, before the company could take on such an enterprise, it had to learn the business, thus LBV was real estate training wheels in preparation for the big one. Any way, the legend says that Roy felt he could fullfill at least Phase I of what Walt planned for the property during his (Roy's) lifetime. After a period of mourning, he (so they say) give the order to everyone to continue everything they were working on during the days leading up to his death. Making a long story short, according to the legend, Roy sacrified his planned retirement and his own health to see to it that the Phase I - Magic Kingdom and the resorts - part of his younger brother's dream were realized and he (Roy) was able to live and see it through, while also setting the stage for Phase II - EPCOT (city). The tired old man saw it through and Walt's spirit look down from the heavens (drama) and was proud what Roy - the uncreatuve one - did. (More drama ahead...) And the spirit of Walt reached down through the clouds of heaven and extended his hand out for Roy to grab a hold of it and taken to heaven. Okay, I made that last part up, but you can see how easy it is to start thinking that's what happened...

 

[lazyboy97o]

I have faith that Monstropolis will turn out very well. Look at their recent track record with Cars Land and Buena Vista Street, and even the more modest Paradise Pier remodel. Their recent work is fabulous.

And that Hollywood Backlot corner of DCA is currently the most forlorn, most pathetic, most under-utilized corner of any Disney theme park in North America. It's a collection of Paul Pressler's hip n' edgy stucco warehouses, with forgotten facilities and empty shells where failed and/or temporary concepts used to be. It's so bad they can leave a giant Alice In Wonderland themed nightly dance party set up all day and no one cares. Bring on Monstropolis and a Door Coaster!

It doesn't matter how good it looks individually. Monstropolis pulls away from the park experience that was reinforced over the past few years. It breaks down the greater experience.

I've heard one of the Magic Kingdom tours gives bogus/made up info about Walt Disney and WDW. I think it was @TP2000 who mentioned something about this.

During the Happiest Celebration on Earth the famous black and white photo of Walt walking alone down Main Street, USA was edited to include Cinderella Castle and sold on merchandise.

 

[Californian Elitist]

During the Happiest Celebration on Earth the famous black and white photo of Walt walking alone down Main Street, USA was edited to include Cinderella Castle and sold on merchandise.

Ha. Wow. I'd love to see that.

 

[cheezbat]

Ha. Wow. I'd love to see that.

I have...and while I get why they do it, it really annoys me.

The things they do to sell merchandise.

 

[cheezbat]

Like I said, I don't think there is any way to know for sure what would have happened at the parks had Eisner remained in charge. I don't disagree with you that he probably would have spent to compete with Universal if he were still in charge now, I just have doubts that he would have spent wisely based on what we saw in his final few years at Disney but that's a personal view. There's no question that he has far, far better creative instincts than those in charge at the company now, he just needed good business minds around him to help him channel that creativity. When he had that, WDW thrived in a way that we haven't seen for years and could have done so again.

The guy supposedly greenlit Fire Mountain for the MK...

Fire Mountain. Magic Kingdom would've gotten its first E ticket in well over a decade.

I really would like to have seen the state of WDW today if he was still in charge.

 

[lazyboy97o]

The guy supposedly greenlit Fire Mountain for the MK...

Fire Mountain. Magic Kingdom would've gotten its first E ticket in well over a decade.

I really would like to have seen the state of WDW today if he was still in charge.

Would it be that much different? He'd still be listening to Staggs.

 

[FrankLapidus]

The guy supposedly greenlit Fire Mountain for the MK...

Fire Mountain. Magic Kingdom would've gotten its first E ticket in well over a decade.

I really would like to have seen the state of WDW today if he was still in charge.

So why wasn't it build?

I would like to have seen the state of WDW if pre-1996 Michael Eisner was in charge. I don't have a lot of faith in the judgement of the Michael Eisner we saw after that based on what actually happened.

 

[Ralphlaw]

If I'm not mistaken, I think Walt himself had the idea for the Utilidors because he didn't want to see cowboys walking through Tomorrowland. Obviously Walt was all excited about the EPCOT City of Tomorrow when it came to the Florida project, but there must have been some indications somewhere that a bigger version of Disneyland was going to be part of the Florida Project while Walt was alive. I don't recall reading that Roy made an utterly autonomous decision to build the Magic Kingdom, but I imagine that's possible. Instead, I assume Walt had told some people somewhere that a new Disneyland should also be included within the 40 square miles of the Florida Project, if for no other reason than that it would bring in huge money to fuel the cutting-edge EPCOT project.

In short, Walt had constant ideas about how to improve Disneyland, and many of those ideas were well documented. Roy and the gang then took those ideas, as well as a bunch of other people's ideas, and incorporated them into the Magic Kingdom after Walt died. No, I don't think there are any artifacts about Walt's specific plans for the Magic Kingdom, but I assume he would have had plenty of ideas once it started getting built, and I certainly think that a new Disneyland was always going to be part of the Florida Project so that people east of the Mississippi River would have a closer Disneyland-type park that was so tremendously successful on the west coast.

Walt's major focus constantly shifted in his career. He was always moving on to the next thing while the old things provided the money to keep the overall organization going through the new frontier. Mickey and Donald made the money to fund Snow White, that then led to the later movies. Those movies then provided the money and characters to fill Disneyland. Disneyland and a few more choice movies like Mary Poppins then provided the money to fund the Florida Project. Throughout all of that later stuff, corporate sponsors at Worlds Fairs provided the opportunities and knowledge for the audio-animatronics and story-telling that permeate all of the parks.

Yet even after he moved on to completely new things, he still kept an eye on the old. During and after Snow White, he still had some involvement in the shorts. During and after Disneyland, he still had some involvement in the movies. During and after the World's Fair animatronics, he still had interest in the movies and Disneyland. During and after Epcot, he would still have had some involvement in the other things, including "Disneyland East", aka, The Magic Kingdom. Remember, during that last broadcast, Walt says that Epcot was "the most exciting part" of the Florida Project, not the entirety of it.

Indeed, had Walt not died, there assuredly would have been a Florida Magic Kingdom that incorporated parts of his Disneyland improvement lists, and his vision would have been all over it.

 

[Goofyernmost]

If I'm not mistaken, I think Walt himself had the idea for the Utilidors because he didn't want to see cowboys walking through Tomorrowland. Obviously Walt was all excited about the EPCOT City of Tomorrow when it came to the Florida project, but there must have been some indications somewhere that a bigger version of Disneyland was going to be part of the Florida Project while Walt was alive. I don't recall reading that Roy made an utterly autonomous decision to build the Magic Kingdom, but I imagine that's possible. Instead, I assume Walt had told some people somewhere that a new Disneyland should also be included within the 40 square miles of the Florida Project, if for no other reason than that it would bring in huge money to fuel the cutting-edge EPCOT project.

In short, Walt had constant ideas about how to improve Disneyland, and many of those ideas were well documented. Roy and the gang then took those ideas, as well as a bunch of other people's ideas, and incorporated them into the Magic Kingdom after Walt died. No, I don't think there are any artifacts about Walt's specific plans for the Magic Kingdom, but I assume he would have had plenty of ideas once it started getting built, and I certainly think that a new Disneyland was always going to be part of the Florida Project so that people east of the Mississippi River would have a closer Disneyland-type park that was so tremendously successful on the west coast.

Walt's major focus constantly shifted in his career. He was always moving on to the next thing while the old things provided the money to keep the overall organization going through the new frontier. Mickey and Donald made the money to fund Snow White, that then led to the later movies. Those movies then provided the money and characters to fill Disneyland. Disneyland and a few more choice movies like Mary Poppins then provided the money to fund the Florida Project. Throughout all of that later stuff, corporate sponsors at Worlds Fairs provided the opportunities and knowledge for the audio-animatronics and story-telling that permeate all of the parks.

Yet even after he moved on to completely new things, he still kept an eye on the old. During and after Snow White, he still had some involvement in the shorts. During and after Disneyland, he still had some involvement in the movies. During and after the World's Fair animatronics, he still had interest in the movies and Disneyland. During and after Epcot, he would still have had some involvement in the other things, including "Disneyland East", aka, The Magic Kingdom. Remember, during that last broadcast, Walt says that Epcot was "the most exciting part" of the Florida Project, not the entirety of it.

Indeed, had Walt not died, there assuredly would have been a Florida Magic Kingdom that incorporated parts of his Disneyland improvement lists, and his vision would have been all over it.

In his earliest press conference, he said that there would be a Magic Kingdom (don't think it was named then) and I'm sure that he had mentioned to Roy or someone how much he thought that CM's in the wrong lands was a bad thing, I really cannot believe that he spent one moment of time considering what MK would look like or contain. In his mind it was going to be similar, in a lot of ways, to Disneyland, but with more room and some new things. These are his words not mine. He had a staff that he trusted to design and plan MK. He had no interest in that at all. His focus was on EPCOT. If he had lived to see it created, I'm sure he would have had the final approval on what MK would be, but at that point in his life, it was very low on his priority list and a secondary thought at best.

 

[Ralphlaw]

I agree. His focus at that time was primarily on Epcot and his own mortality, possibly even in that order. Of course, once they got going, I imagine some of his time and focus would have been on the new Magic Kingdom as an even better version of Disneyland, and deciding what good things from Disneyland should be replicated, what mediocre things should not, and what utterly new and improved things would be contained within it.

I just got back from Disneyland, and I am delighted with how much more compact it is until the crowds roll in around mid morning. Walt wanted more space to insulate Disney property from the surrounding Anaheim neon blight, but he also apparently stated that wider spaces within the parks was necessary. On a crowded day, I really can't stand more than a couple hours at Disneyland before I'm hiding in a restaurant or pool. I can tolerate bigger crowds far longer at WDW because it's far less compact. Walt, I'm sure, knew that, and thus let his ideas be made known.

These, and many more ideas and critiques of Disneyland, were assuredly used by Roy and the gang. "Our next Disneyland will have . . ." I can't imagine such thoughts were never said by him.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I agree. His focus at that time was primarily on Epcot and his own mortality, possibly even in that order. Of course, once they got going, I imagine some of his time and focus would have been on the new Magic Kingdom as an even better version of Disneyland, and deciding what good things from Disneyland should be replicated, what mediocre things should not, and what utterly new and improved things would be contained within it.

I just got back from Disneyland, and I am delighted with how much more compact it is until the crowds roll in around mid morning. Walt wanted more space to insulate Disney property from the surrounding Anaheim neon blight, but he also apparently stated that wider spaces within the parks was necessary. On a crowded day, I really can't stand more than a couple hours at Disneyland before I'm hiding in a restaurant or pool. I can tolerate bigger crowds far longer at WDW because it's far less compact. Walt, I'm sure, knew that, and thus let his ideas be made known.

These, and many more ideas and critiques of Disneyland, were assuredly used by Roy and the gang. "Our next Disneyland will have . . ." I can't imagine such thoughts were never said by him.

Yup, he might have said..."our next Disneyland will have a Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow nearby", but, that would be the extent of his concern at the time.

 

[Tony Perkis]

Just the opposite. Eisner was negotiating the price for Pixar. Iger ended up paying a premium for Pixar because of the antics by the dumb nephew.

Very much incorrect.

http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_c...sney-s-acquisition-of-pixar.aspx#.Ug6GGRacTHM

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/feb/02/business/fi-titans2

 

[TP2000]

Indeed, had Walt not died, there assuredly would have been a Florida Magic Kingdom that incorporated parts of his Disneyland improvement lists, and his vision would have been all over it.

I don't think anyone has suggested that had Walt not died in 1966 he would not have been involved in Magic Kingdom Park planning when it got going in earnest by 1968. And he would have remained involved as those plans progressed in '69 and once construction began in 1970.

But he died several years before that theme park planning got underway. And basically nothing else he had planned for the Florida property in 1966 was ever built. Nothing on this master plan circa 1966 actually got built in the 1970's, or thereafter.

The Florida Project! Oops, just kidding.

He made that EPCOT '66 film in October, 1966 as a sales pitch for future corporate investors and sponsors. And when that film was made in October he'd already had one lung removed earlier in '66 (most of his staff had no idea) and Walt's health was fading fast, and those close to Walt in '66 have commented that he knew he was dying and wanted to get that film completed to live on after his death to help sell the EPCOT concept. Walt died seven weeks after that photo above was taken.

What I was talking about, and what others have commented on, is how the organization in central Florida that keeps WDW going has created an unofficially-official revisionist history where they pretend that Walt Disney was somehow involved in the planning and construction of Magic Kingdom Park. Because the Disneyland-style theme park is the only concept from Walt's original Florida vision that actually got built.

And you only hear or see that in Walt Disney World. It doesn't come from the corporate team in Burbank, it seems to spring forth organically from various teams in Orlando. From the perky tour guides who get the facts all wrong and weave half-truths into a fake narrative about Walt being involved in the planning for the Utilidors or the type of materials used in the construction of the Castle. To the merchandise teams that come up with photoshopped images like this that pretend that Walt dreamed of a giant Castle and double-wide walkways and mens restrooms that have triple the number of urinals over their Disneyland counterparts.

Not only is it completely faked, it's kind of creepy.

But for 21st century fans who hang on every word their perky tour guide says on the Backstage Magic Tour, it must have actually happened.
It didn't.

 

[Captain Neo]

We got the most beautiful park in the US built after Wells had passed on.

Animal Kingdom began planning and development in the early 90s it was probably even greenlit and construction began when Wells was still alive. DAK also had the benefit of having a very talented imagineer speerheading the project. However despite all that while the park looks beautiful it was a victim of Eisner era budget slashing and a major portion of the park (fantasy creatures) which was promised as part of the park on opening day in Disney Magazines was cut entirely, Countdown to Extinction and really the whole dinoland USA area came out half baked, and the Discovery River Boats closed in a year because again the budget was cut so no AA dragon menacing guests, the dragon rocks which were supposed to breath fire ended up not working and the one audio animatronic dinosaur was pulled out after it broke.

After Frank Wells died we got California Adventure and HKDL and nothing needs to be said about those "built on the cheap" parks. Took countless investments to even make them tolerable ten years later.

 

[Ralphlaw]

I agree that he may never have sweated the details or even the overview of Magic Kingdom. Creepy or not, I like the VISION poster because a visionary doesn't necessarily envision all the details of his legacy. I raise my 14 year old and 6 year old children with a vision of them being hard-working good people, but my vision does not include them being in specific lines of work, raising a certain number of children, or living in a certain kind of house. I have vision for them, but I don't micro-manage that vision, or take specific credit for everything they end up doing in their lives. Yet would a poster of me after I die, with background pictures of my children and grandchildren as successful and good people, be hypocritical? I don't think so.

Apparently there's no evidence that Walt specifically envisioned Magic Kingdom, just as I am not specifically envisioning my grandchildren, or (to go Old Testament on this), that Abraham envisioned Jacob, 12 Tribes, King David, or Israel. Similarly, Walt DID envision cartoon features with castles, and sweated details in Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty (including, probably, Cinderella's castle in the movie). He DID build the first theme park with a castle at the hub. He DID spearhead the land-buying in Florida that resulted from his tremendous risks and successes. And he DID see constant necessary improvements for the "Disneyland" that would assuredly have been put into the Magic Kingdom.

The poster, well, it's art. Vision is a pretty vague concept. I find nothing wrong with it. But if tour guides imply more micro-managing than Walt provided, so be it. Maybe they're wrong, maybe not, but what's the big deal? As I understand it, Walt constantly sought improvements in Disneyland. Some may have dealt with wider streets, bathrooms, or whatever. So what?

But I like the poster; it hangs in my house. And none of us, absolutely 100% none of us, can know what Walt was or was not envisioning when he walked around that Florida swampland. Given his decade long history with Disneyland, I would be utterly surprised if no vision of a castle entered through that creative and quick mind. Quite honestly, anybody who buys land has visions of what could be there, and Walt almost almost almost almost certainly had at least a fleeting vision of a fairy tale castle rising from the swampland. Even with an aging brain full of Epcot, that vision must have been there as well, and I doubt if it would have been a mere duplicate of Disneyland's Snow White castle, but was instead instead something grander.

 

[Clever Name]

Very much incorrect.

http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_c...sney-s-acquisition-of-pixar.aspx#.Ug6GGRacTHM

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/feb/02/business/fi-titans2

Actually it is correct. TWDC ended up paying more for Pixar due directly to the interference created by Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold. Let's not forget that the Comcast hostile takeover attempt was inspired by the idiot nephew as well.

Twenty years earlier Gold and Disney used the same playbook to get rid of Ron Miller and install Eisner. TWDC had to pay greenmail to Saul Steinberg but Roy E. Disney conveniently had resigned from the Disney BoD . Only eleven days after the greenmail was given to Steinberg, the idiot nephew rejoins the Disney BoD.

Roy E. Disney followed in the footsteps of his Uncle Walt in that they both drained as much money from the shareholders as they could. Perhaps Roy wasn't such an idiot nephew after all!

 

[cheezbat]

So why wasn't it build?

I think it was supposedly greenlit after Everest...and for whatever reason got pulled shortly after. Of course right around this time was the end of the Eisner era.