Rumor Dropping the "Walt" from "Walt Disney World"

VJ

VJ

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Let me just start out by saying this is a rumor from Jim Hill's Disney Dish podcast and should be taken with a very big spoonful of salt (that doesn't help the medicine go down at all).

If this rumor is to be believed, Bob Chapek and Josh D'Amaro plan to announce that "Walt Disney World" will become "Disney World" at D23 Expo next month.
 
VJ

VJ

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
dreday3 said:
What would even be the purpose? Did the author of article say?

I mean, imagine all the hassle with just updating merchandise...
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I honestly cannot find the source of the rumor besides it's in a Disney Dish podcast, I don't usually listen to the podcast so I'm not sure which episode it'd be in or where.

Here's the Tweet I found that mentions it:
 
wdwmagic

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
VJ said:
Let me just start out by saying this is a rumor from Jim Hill's Disney Dish podcast and should be taken with a very big spoonful of salt (that doesn't help the medicine go down at all).

If this rumor is to be believed, Bob Chapek and Josh D'Amaro plan to announce that "Walt Disney World" will become "Disney World" at D23 Expo next month.
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I see no upside, and a lot of downside.
 
Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
dreday3 said:
What would even be the purpose?
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Presumably, it would have something to do with branding.

Possibly because they feel the Walt connection is unnecessary, irrelevant and/or problematic. They may like "Disney World" for the sake of simplicity and feel it better represents the company in its current media-conglomerate state, vs a representation or tribute to its founder, and want the parks to reflect that.

Dropping the "Walt" from various products has been happening for many years now. The box art of more recent releases of his movies simply have the "Disney" logo and no longer say "Walt Disney's" or "Walt Disney Presents"

Contrast old VHS tapes:

1659043717987.png


With Blu-rays from the last decade or so:

1659043765903.png


1659043788813.png
 
Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
dreday3 said:
They just refurbished the statue of him at MK! And aren't they adding one to Epcot?
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Not putting a statue into EPCOT would actually be the easy part.

Think about all the media (physical, print or digital) that would have to be updated to reflect this. Road signs, park maps, apps, websites, books, training manuals, restaurant menus, announcements, video and TV displays, plaques (maybe?), the list goes on and on.

It would be a major pain for something that doesn't change much about the actual resort. It's why when the greater effort to remove possessives ("Walt Disney's", "Disney's") from various names started they kind of just stopped and only sporadically continued. As of this month "Disney's Sequoia Lodge" in DLP is now "Disney Sequoia Lodge". Does that really accomplish anything? No, but corporate has had weird obsessions.
 
D

dreday3

Well-Known Member
They'd have to redo all the audio that says Walt Disney World too.

Doesn't the monorail say it?

I mean, I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to fix audio, but that's just the start.
Just seems like something that's going to cause a lot of trouble and dissent for little gain.
I can't imagine they would be expecting a good reaction to this announcement at D23. 😂
 

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