Eisner at Epcot on NYE

[Bill]

Oh, I know. I'm just saying I didn't see him. Just cause I didn't see him doesn't mean he wasn't there.

 

[PeterAlt]

Originally posted by grizzlyhall
I'm not sure about Eisner's intentions with Celebration. If I can recall correctly, Walt Disney World had to have a city based on contract in order to keep its exclusive Reedy Creek emergency facilities.

I don't know whether Eisner built Celebration in honor of Walt or based on this rule - but based on his near anti-Walt standards, and the cheap quality of many of the homes in Celebration, I think it was to save the Disney property. What CEO wouldn't do this?

In one of the books I read about Eisner, it said that the FIRST thing Eisner did as CEO of Disney was for the archivers to find everything they could find about Walt's plans for EPCOT, including the movie he produced revealing the plans shortly before his death, to his office. According to the book, Eisner watched the movie, from his office, over and over again, trying to figure out how he could realize Walt's dream.

As a result, Walt's dream inspired an Eisner dream: Celebrations, an entirely new idea, but inspired by Walt's original idea.

 

[PeterAlt]

Originally posted by grizzlyhall
I'm not sure how it will make a difference.

Atlantis and Treasure Planet were Burbank films that miserably failed. Brother Bear, Lilo and Stitch, and Mulan were three hits made here at Orlando. If anything, allow Orlando to keep making films while Burbank can hit the gold mine. It's not like the Animators are being moved to Burbank, are they? :lookaroun

Any word if any of the Florida animators will be relocated to Burbank?

Also, I have this feeling that the closure of the Florida studio and the failures of the Burbank films has something to do with the Roy/Eisner fued that lead up to the current drama.

 

[PeterAlt]

Originally posted by DisneyFan 2000
Oh realy? The company spended BILLIONS of dollars to make that project be as true to Walt's dream as possible!!! It was far from being about the bottom line!!! DCA is about the bottom line!!!

What Post-Walt (Pre-Eisner) management did with EPCOT is really DISGRACEFUL. I was a kid when EPCOT Center opened and the years before it opened. I remember clearly a movie they showed on Main Street previewing EPCOT Center.

The movie claimed that EPCOT Center was Walt's last dream, using clips of Walt's movie he produced before he died, when he announced EPCOT. Post-Walt management, in this film, deliberately misquoted Walt to make it seem like Walt wanted to build a permanent World's Fair, not a city of the future. The way they took clips from Walt's EPCOT movie out of contest is really disgraceful. They used quotes from Walt, talking about something ENTIRELY different, an entirely different dream, to sell visitors THEIR creation -- a second WDW theme park.

And they had the nerve to claim that EPCOT Center was Walt's LAST dream, while in reality EPCOT (the city) was his last dream. I remember that the public wasn't entirely fooled. many remembered seeing Walt's film about EPCOT in the 60's and said "That's not what I remember EPCOT is supposed to be!"

So the billions they spent on EPCOT was indeed because of the bottomline. They did not see how a city of the future could generate income, but they saw how theme parks could generate income, thus EPCOT Center, the theme park was created -- to create income, at the expense of claiming this as Walt's dream.

How sad!

 

[General Grizz]

True, but this was part of the CITY (which does have fairs) - not the park. Disneyland was a totally different matter. And thus, the CITY was not built. . . and his parks were.

Very debatable - and it's good you brought it up for a new twist!

 

[prberk]

Originally posted by PeterAlt
What Post-Walt (Pre-Eisner) management did with EPCOT is really DISGRACEFUL. I was a kid when EPCOT Center opened and the years before it opened. I remember clearly a movie they showed on Main Street previewing EPCOT Center.

The movie claimed that EPCOT Center was Walt's last dream, using clips of Walt's movie he produced before he died, when he announced EPCOT. Post-Walt management, in this film, deliberately misquoted Walt to make it seem like Walt wanted to build a permanent World's Fair, not a city of the future. The way they took clips from Walt's EPCOT movie out of contest is really disgraceful. They used quotes from Walt, talking about something ENTIRELY different, an entirely different dream, to sell visitors THEIR creation -- a second WDW theme park.

And they had the nerve to claim that EPCOT Center was Walt's LAST dream, while in reality EPCOT (the city) was his last dream. I remember that the public wasn't entirely fooled. many remembered seeing Walt's film about EPCOT in the 60's and said "That's not what I remember EPCOT is supposed to be!"

So the billions they spent on EPCOT was indeed because of the bottomline. They did not see how a city of the future could generate income, but they saw how theme parks could generate income, thus EPCOT Center, the theme park was created -- to create income, at the expense of claiming this as Walt's dream.

How sad!

Well, actually I think that they tried. This is why it was called EPCOT "Center": it was the next step in building his plan, at least as they thought they could afford at the time. I think that they spent about as much money as they could afford, thinking that this "center" project would fuel the rest, as the larger EPCOT city developed around it.

But mostly I think they just tried to do what they could with limited resources and sketchy plans from Walt. I think that their decisions could be questioned, but I do think that they tried to keep what portion of Walt's goals that they felt they knew how to do.....

And, they did follow strategies, such as corporate sponsorship and "pavilions" that Walt himself had done for the 1964 World's Fair just two years before his death (and which he told company people at the time was useful to gauge East Coast acceptance of his form of projects....)

Personally, in 1982 I thought EPCOT exhibits were already too permanent-looking for what had been presented for years as Walt's dream in the Main Street film you cited above (which, by the way, was The Walt Disney Story, which is available on video today for comparison).

But overall, I think that they tried, as debatable as their results may be.

 

[wdwjmp239]

Originally posted by grizzlyhall
Happy Near Year, Steve!

What if the park hits capacity first?? :animwink:

HAHAHAH!! That would be funny to see the cast members at the front gate not allowing Eisner in because the park is at capacity! LOL