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

[grandad to 4]

Well, they did do that whole thing where they dropped the "The" from "The Disney Channel" and later "The Disney Store."

They also dropped the the from the The Magic Kingdom!

 

[SoFloMagic]

Walt Disney World's "Disneyland Orlando" anyone?

Sounds like an abbot and Costello sketch...

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Adventureland.

Maybe.

 

[Vacationeer]

When you go on the WDW website to book a $10k 4-day vacation, it already only says disneyworld.disney.go.com

I think officially… name needs to stay Walt Disney World

 

[MisterPenguin]

When you go on the WDW website to book a $10k 4-day vacation, it already only says disneyworld.disney.go.com

I think officially… name needs to stay Walt Disney World

An url is not an official name. When you click on that link, you are brought to a website that declares itself as being for Walt Disney World.

Thinking an url is an official name would be like thinking every time we abbreviate the resort as "WDW" we are intentionally removing "Walt" from the name... and "Disney" from the name... and "World" from the name.

WDW isn't losing "Walt."

 

[larryz]

I hear they are changing the name to Olivia Rodrigo World

Do you need a driver's license to get in?

 

[TrojanUSC]

Jim Hill has almost never been right about anything. Also what would the point of this endeavor be? It would cost them tens of millions of dollars in re-branding and see little to no ROI.

 

[GustoGummi]

Jim Hill has almost never been right about anything. Also what would the point of this endeavor be? It would cost them tens of millions of dollars in re-branding and see little to no ROI.

I feel like a lot of the stuff Jim Hill posts is all blue sky stuff that was tossed around, but never actually saw the light of day. This would be the nail in the coffin for a lot of fans and guests.

 

[LittleBuford]

I feel like a lot of the stuff Jim Hill posts is all blue sky stuff that was tossed around, but never actually saw the light of day. This would be the nail in the coffin for a lot of fans and guests.

Fans might care, but I doubt ordinary guests would. Most of them probably refer to it as Disney World even now.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

This would be the nail in the coffin for a lot of fans and guests.

I seriously doubt that. Sure, people (myself included) wouldn’t necessarily be warm to the idea.

But we’re not cancelling a trip because it becomes Disney World. I hope it doesn’t happen - but if it does - they’ll lose me more for the lack of quality, value, and experience more so than the name.

 

[mightynine]

My guess is that they’ve talked about rebranding with an updated logo (possibly retro-inspired like EPCOT’s), to finally get past the current/throwback double logo use at WDW right now.

And as with any logo system, there could be alternate marks for just “Disney World” and “WDW”.

Or maybe it is just as simple as updating branding guidelines to allow for the use of “Disney World” in company communications.

Or it’s all lies

 

[crazy4disney]

Jim Hill has almost never been right about anything. Also what would the point of this endeavor be? It would cost them tens of millions of dollars in re-branding and see little to no ROI.

Wasting … i mean spending a ton more redoing Splash & gonna see no real ROI there either considering how popular yhe current ride is….

 

[Minthorne]

Who is Jim Hill?

 

[Mat Cauthon]

This may have been mentioned already but the super bowl winner has always just said “I’m going to Disney World!” I don’t think dropping the Walt is a new thing and maybe saying it is just a die hard fan thing? We have been going for roughly 10 years and I think we’ve always just called it Disney World.

 

[couchpotatooo]

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:

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With Blu-rays from the last decade or so:

View attachment 656190

View attachment 656191

This is terrible but those DVD's do say Walt Disney collection in the lower right corner.

 

[Goofyernmost]

This may have been mentioned already but the super bowl winner has always just said “I’m going to Disney World!” I don’t think dropping the Walt is a new thing and maybe saying it is just a die hard fan thing? We have been going for roughly 10 years and I think we’ve always just called it Disney World.

If there hadn't been a Walt Disney there would be no Walt Disney World. End of discussion. It is the name of the place just like Disneyland is the name of that place. Changing it would alter nothing except an unknown reason to eliminate history and stop the ending of the ability to ride on "Walt's coat-tails. It distinguishes the two different resorts that happened because of one man who had the vision to create something that 50 and 60 years later still brings in people by the thousands. Nobody in the front office right now would have had the ability to create what we all are drawn to now.

That said, I don't think they are going to change it. And your wrong, die hard fans call it Disney World, but we all know what the name is and why. If the name ever changes it is going to be something like Six Flags Mickey Mouse Resort. When fans are speaking they are speaking to people that know the difference between Disney World and Disneyland. With todays intellectual levels of the public, it would just cause more confusion.

 

[LittleBuford]

If there hadn't been a Walt Disney there would be no Walt Disney World. End of discussion. It is the name of the place just like Disneyland is the name of that place. Changing it would alter nothing except an unknown reason to eliminate history and stop the ending of the ability to ride on "Walt's coat-tails. It distinguishes the two different resorts that happened because of one man who had the vision to create something that 50 and 60 years later still brings in people by the thousands. Nobody in the front office right now would have had the ability to create what we all are drawn to now.

That said, I don't think they are going to change it. And your wrong, die hard fans call it Disney World, but we all know what the name is and why. If the name ever changes it is going to be something like Six Flags Mickey Mouse Resort. When fans are speaking they are speaking to people that know the difference between Disney World and Disneyland. With todays intellectual levels of the public, it would just cause more confusion.

Are you saying that without the “Walt”, non-fans would confuse the Florida resort with Disneyland?

 

[Californian Elitist]

Are you saying that without the “Walt”, non-fans would confuse the Florida resort with Disneyland?

This is already happening. When I worked at DL, a family paid for a WDW vacation and flew to California.

 

[LittleBuford]

This is already happening. When I worked at DL, a family paid for a WDW vacation and flew to California.

That’s kind of what I was getting at! Non-fans (and I daresay many fans) already refer to it as Disney World. The presence or absence of “Walt” isn’t going to change whether people confuse the resort with Disneyland.

 

[Californian Elitist]

That’s kind of what I was getting at! Non-fans (and I daresay many fans) already refer to it as Disney World. The presence or absence of “Walt” isn’t going to change whether people confuse the resort with Disneyland.

I agree!