Enchanted Tiki Secret

[General Grizz]

Did you know . . .

. . . that Walt Disney put his own money into creating and building the Enchanted Tiki Room (Disneyland)? It is the only attraction in Disneyland with Walt's name on it -- it's rare for an attraction to have such a distinction.

Disneyland actually had to buy it from WED Enterprises using money from the Tiki Room's first sponsor, United Airlines, the next year. The Enchanted Tiki Room is now sponsored by Dole Pineapple over on the West Coast.

 

[CoffeeJedi]

what was the relationship between WED Enterprises and the Disney Company? I thought WED was a wholly-owned division, so wouldn't they just need an asset-transfer for the Tiki Room? Or was WED owned by Walt himself and not included in the Disney Corporation?

 

[unkadug]

I don't know the answer but I had to reply so I could find out the answer.
You know ...curiosity...and all that!

 

[Woody13]

what was the relationship between WED Enterprises and the Disney Company? I thought WED was a wholly-owned division, so wouldn't they just need an asset-transfer for the Tiki Room? Or was WED owned by Walt himself and not included in the Disney Corporation?

WED was created by Walt on his own. It was not any part of the Walt Disney Company. Let's not forget that WED was a gold mine for Walt! The Walt Disney Company (publicly traded) had to pay WED (entirely owned by Walt) a princely sum for the work they did. Also, WED didn't have to do a competitive bid to get a contract because Walt would hire his own company (WED) to do the work! It would be considered highly illegal today to engage in such an activity! Walt knew how to get his money!

 

[WDW Kip]

That's really interesting. Thanks for the distinction on this. I never knew how separate Walt kept the Walt Disney Company and WED.

So what eventually happened to WED? I'm assuming that it evolved in to Walt Disney Imagineering, but do the company lines still exist the way they did? If so, who owns Imagineering?

Sorry for all the questions...I'm just curious.

 

[Woody13]

That's really interesting. Thanks for the distinction on this. I never knew how separate Walt kept the Walt Disney Company and WED.

So what eventually happened to WED? I'm assuming that it evolved in to Walt Disney Imagineering, but do the company lines still exist the way they did? If so, who owns Imagineering?

Sorry for all the questions...I'm just curious.

WED was founded by Walt Disney in December 1952 and they were located at the Disney Studio in Burbank, CA. Walt moved most of his talented artists and story men from Walt Disney Productions over to WED. The WED facilities moved to Glendale, CA in 1961. Walt and Roy had some serious disagreements about WED. Roy was sick and tired of paying the high prices charged by WED for its services. Roy wanted to go out for competitive bids on projects but Walt insisted on using WED (because Walt had total control and WED was making him a very rich man!). Finally at the insistence of Roy, Walt sold WED Enterprises to Walt Disney Productions in February 1965. It later became known as Walt Disney Imagineering about 1986.

 

[WDW Kip]

Very cool. Thanks again for the info.