News Bruce Vaughn Returns to Disney as Co-Lead of Walt Disney Imagineering

[Comped]

WDI moving to FL would have been a major win for quality and common sense. Losing “Imagineers” trained in the UC ecosystem wasn’t a bug, it was a feature. Also, when WDI is in CA and not where their bread is buttered (WDW), you wind up with parks like DAK which are extremely hot with little AC and lands like TSI which likewise lack AC and shade.

I'm very surprised that Orlando and the county didn't try and bribe Disney more to keep the deal, as the ramifications of it going through would have been massive in the long term. But you aren't wrong...

 

[DarkMetroid567]

It’s funny how projects people think were designed by out of touch Californians actually had significant design work done by teams based in Florida. If anything, it’s the Floridians thinking things will be fine.

Yup. Universal Creative being based in Orlando didn’t save Epic from being devoid of shade!

 

[EricsBiscuit]

Yup. Universal Creative being based in Orlando didn’t save Epic from being devoid of shade!

Actually it made a big difference. Take the Mario Kart ride. In Hollywood, the queue has a long portion outdoors and hot as can be, even on pleasant days. It would have been insufferable in Florida. At EU, it’s indoors. Huge difference.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

WDI moving to FL would have been a major win for quality and common sense. Losing “Imagineers” trained in the UC ecosystem wasn’t a bug, it was a feature. Also, when WDI is in CA and not where their bread is buttered (WDW), you wind up with parks like DAK which are extremely hot with little AC and lands like TSI which likewise lack AC and shade.

Completely disagree…I didn’t like anything about that on a variety of levels

 

[Dranth]

Actually it made a big difference. Take the Mario Kart ride. In Hollywood, the queue has a long portion outdoors and hot as can be, even on pleasant days. It would have been insufferable in Florida. At EU, it’s indoors. Huge difference.

Yet they failed to comprehend the impact of rain and thunderstorms?

 

[Disstevefan1]

I may have been hearing things wrong, but I thought I heard that Bruce said in an interview he is bringing back some former Imagineers as advisors and do some "reverse mentoring"!!!!!!?????!!!

I hate to think the new Imagineers will be showing the former Imagineers how to install in ground lighting!!!!!!

Former Imagineers brought in as as advisors for "reverse mentoring"!!!!!!?????!!!... Holy Cr@p.

I really hope I mis heard this.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I may have been hearing things wrong, but I thought I heard that Bruce said in an interview he is bringing back some former Imagineers as advisors and do some "reverse mentoring"!!!!!!?????!!!

I hate to think the new Imagineers will be showing the former Imagineers how to install in ground lighting!!!!!!

Former Imagineers brought in as as advisors for "reverse mentoring"!!!!!!?????!!!... Holy Cr@p.

I really hope I mis heard this.

You're making things up and then becoming hysterical over the thing you made up.

Stop.

 

[Disstevefan1]

You're making things up and then becoming hysterical over the thing you made up.

Stop.

I am not hysterical over anything Disney does. Nothing Disney does surprises me at all anymore.

"Reverse Mentoring" is laughable!!

So glad I mis head this!!! Thanks for the correction!!!

 

[DarkMetroid567]

Actually it made a big difference. Take the Mario Kart ride. In Hollywood, the queue has a long portion outdoors and hot as can be, even on pleasant days. It would have been insufferable in Florida. At EU, it’s indoors. Huge difference.

They built it that way because that’s how the original was built in Japan. The USH version is the modification, and we know how bad the space limitation is there.

 

[DisneyHead123]

I may have been hearing things wrong, but I thought I heard that Bruce said in an interview he is bringing back some former Imagineers as advisors and do some "reverse mentoring"!!!!!!?????!!!

I hate to think the new Imagineers will be showing the former Imagineers how to install in ground lighting!!!!!!

Former Imagineers brought in as as advisors for "reverse mentoring"!!!!!!?????!!!... Holy Cr@p.

I really hope I mis heard this.

So out of curiosity I found the interview clip I think you're talking about, from an interview with Lou Mongello about a week ago. The clip itself is very uncontroversial - all Bruce says (this is my interpretation / summary, not verbatim) is that there are benefits to listening to young people and seeing things through fresh eyes. I don't think anybody debates that - it's good to stay up on current trends, it's easy to miss new opportunities if you've been somewhere for a long time and get used to "the way we've always done things", sometimes young people bring youthful enthusiasm and new ideas, etc.

Looking at a bit of YouTube commentary on that interview, I think the reason those comments were controversial is more the surrounding context of many seasoned Imagineers having recently been forced out or laid off, within the past five years. It's not so much that the idea of revere mentoring is bad - like many things, I think it's common sense with some slick packaging so that someone can sell the concept in a training seminar. Yes, listen to young people's ideas, that's a good thing. I think the issue is that some in the Disney-sphere feel it's not the time to bring it up - like they just lost much of their seasoned workforce, now that a few of them are back in consulting roles jumping to "But really let's listen to the recent college grads as well, let's not forget to do that!" is probably not the most salient message for this exact moment.

Interestingly, this does make me curious regarding where Bruce is coming from here. Like what is the backstory that makes him feel it's important to keep a focus on younger, newer Imagineers even as mentors are being brought back? Are we talking complaints on GS surveys? Budget concerns? Investor concerns about staying cool - wait, wait, sorry, I mean "sigma" - and relevant? That part is interesting.

 

[flyerjab]

I may have been hearing things wrong, but I thought I heard that Bruce said in an interview he is bringing back some former Imagineers as advisors and do some "reverse mentoring"!!!!!!?????!!!

I hate to think the new Imagineers will be showing the former Imagineers how to install in ground lighting!!!!!!

Former Imagineers brought in as as advisors for "reverse mentoring"!!!!!!?????!!!... Holy Cr@p.

I really hope I mis heard this.

This is an unserious comment.

As someone who works for a large corporation, we also have mentoring and reverse mentoring programs. To assume that young people can’t add value to some degree is a mistake in today’s evolving technological world. It is truly a combination of young and old that can yield the best results. The older folks being experience and wisdom, while the younger people bring energy and new ideas. It is an effective model.

 

[flyerjab]

For the record, I too have listened to the now infamous interview by Lou Mongello. It is very good interview. Bruce is very open and honest in it. I like some of the ideas that he presented in it: bringing back retired Imagineers as mentors, bringing back the animator from the 90’s to help with Villian’s Land. You can tell that he has organizational vision. It was evident with how he course corrected the replacement for Dinoland. Instead of random IPs, there is now an anchor land based off of a specific climactic area of the world to provide cohesion within the land, as well as to balance it with the other lands. He was in Imagineering long enough to know how to effectively run this organization into the future. I think we are in good hands.

 

[Disstevefan1]

So out of curiosity I found the interview clip I think you're talking about, from an interview with Lou Mongello about a week ago. The clip itself is very uncontroversial - all Bruce says (this is my interpretation / summary, not verbatim) is that there are benefits to listening to young people and seeing things through fresh eyes. I don't think anybody debates that - it's good to stay up on current trends, it's easy to miss new opportunities if you've been somewhere for a long time and get used to "the way we've always done things", sometimes young people bring youthful enthusiasm and new ideas, etc.

Looking at a bit of YouTube commentary on that interview, I think the reason those comments were controversial is more the surrounding context of many seasoned Imagineers having recently been forced out or laid off, within the past five years. It's not so much that the idea of revere mentoring is bad - like many things, I think it's common sense with some slick packaging so that someone can sell the concept in a training seminar. Yes, listen to young people's ideas, that's a good thing. I think the issue is that some in the Disney-sphere feel it's not the time to bring it up - like they just lost much of their seasoned workforce, now that a few of them are back in consulting roles jumping to "But really let's listen to the recent college grads as well, let's not forget to do that!" is probably not the most salient message for this exact moment.

Interestingly, this does make me curious regarding where Bruce is coming from here. Like what is the backstory that makes him feel it's important to keep a focus on younger, newer Imagineers even as mentors are being brought back? Are we talking complaints on GS surveys? Budget concerns? Investor concerns about staying cool - wait, wait, sorry, I mean "sigma" - and relevant? That part is interesting.

I thought I heard "reverse mentoring". Thanks for confirming.

Well for better or worse, Disney needs the younger Imagineers to replace the older ones.

My hope as part of this "reverse mentoring" more institutional knowledge gets transferred from the old Imagineers to the young ones.

I would hope the younger Imagineers would want to get as much institutional knowledge as they could get from the older Imagineers.

 

[Epcot82Guy]

For the record, I too have listened to the now infamous interview by Lou Mongello. It is very good interview. Bruce is very open and honest in it. I like some of the ideas that he presented in it: bringing back retired Imagineers as mentors, bringing back the animator from the 90’s to help with Villian’s Land. You can tell that he has organizational vision. It was evident with how he course corrected the replacement for Dinoland. Instead of random IPs, there is now an anchor land based off of a specific climactic area of the world to provide cohesion within the land, as well as to balance it with the other lands. He was in Imagineering long enough to know how to effectively run this organization into the future. I think we are in good hands.

I think that's a fair assessment. Now if those good hands could be significantly unshackled from corporate influence... we might just have something!

 

[DisneyHead123]

I thought I heard "reverse mentoring". Thanks for confirming.

Well for better or worse, Disney needs the younger Imagineers to replace the older ones.

My hope as part of this "reverse mentoring" more institutional knowledge gets transferred from the old Imagineers to the young ones.

I would hope the younger Imagineers would want to get as much institutional knowledge as they could get from the older Imagineers.

I haven’t listened to the entire interview but looking at some of the commentary I get the idea there is some sort of culture clash between younger and older Imagineers. No idea if that’s true though.

 

[Ayla]

I haven’t listened to the entire interview but looking at some of the commentary I get the idea there is some sort of culture clash between younger and older Imagineers. No idea if that’s true though.

There is a huge culture clash between older and younger workers everywhere, in every single industry.

 

[Tha Realest]

I haven’t listened to the entire interview but looking at some of the commentary I get the idea there is some sort of culture clash between younger and older Imagineers. No idea if that’s true though.

Yeah, I think it’s better framed as a clash between 1) those hired within the last five years (most of the existing workforce) clashing with 2) the decades of institutional that left just before and after the pandemic. You really get the sense there was a tremendous amount of institutional knowledge and experience that just completely disappeared, and suddenly.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Yeah, I think it’s better framed as a clash between 1) those hired within the last five years (most of the existing workforce) clashing with 2) the decades of institutional that left just before and after the pandemic. You really get the sense there was a tremendous amount of institutional knowledge and experience that just completely disappeared, and suddenly.

One thing I notice about their Instagram reels is that the Imagineers featured often look very young. I’ve wondered if that’s who is willing to be on social media, or if it’s just representative of the average age.

 

[HMF]

As long as the IP mandate exists WDI will be nothing but an extension of the marketing department.

 

[DrStarlander]

One thing I notice about their Instagram reels is that the Imagineers featured often look very young. I’ve wondered if that’s who is willing to be on social media, or if it’s just representative of the average age.

Agree, many seem like intern-age and they look to be running projects at, arguably, the most elite creative institution on the planet. Weird.

But hardly ever seeing Imagineers in their 50s or 60s, it's creepy and off-putting to me, and it evokes Ageism. How can an organization that's over 70 years old not have people in their 50s or 60s working there in the mix?