If a company similar to OLC in Japan was created and wanted to buy the Disney parks, would you embrace it?

ladybat2

Member
Walt was unique. I know nobody with his intuitive sense of what works for an audience. I think this sense got trained as a cartoonist, an animator. Everything must be conceived of, or it doesn't exist. And it is expensive to produce. So throughout you ask yourself if something works for your audience. An art which Walt perfected. I'm convinced he walked all of Disneyland in his head, as a guest, before any spade went into the ground.


But the golden age of Disney parks were the three decades after Walt's passing....
Yea he would have been proud of a lot of it I think. But still, for me personally, nothing tops that very special day as a child visiting Disney Land with my parents. It was only one day. But what a day. Never another in my life matched it. I've been trying to relive it ever since going to WDW every so many years. One such visit in 1993 did live up to that day. I took my little girl. We had the most amazing time. Rope drop was an art back then and what got ya on the rides first. The unoffical guide book touring suggestions along with it. We saw it all but back then there was no AK only Discovery Island. Spectro magic was the night parade that IMO no parade or night time entertainment has ever matched up to it ever since. Instead of Disney springs it was called Pleasure Island. There was a place there called "The Adventurers Club". OMG I loved that place! And the night entertainment they said "every night is new years eve" at pleasure island. Street singing and dancing everywhere. Wow it was sooooo much fun! In 93 we stayed at what was then called "Dixie Landings" now the Port Orleans River Side. I've been back a few times since 93 but have not been amazed and wowed as much as then. I'm going this Oct. Meeting my daughter there. She lives in Florida so she'll be driving. I'm flying in. We were last there in 2019. The year before every thing went to hell in a hand basket. I'm worried we have not given Disney enough time to recoop from all that. But I'm no spring chicken and don't get to see my daughter very often. And well, I'm hoping we make it in time to ride Splash one more time before they do God knows what to it.
 

ladybat2

Member
When he retired as CEO he was in his late 60s but he remained on the board into his 80s. When he died around 2005 he was in his mid 80s. He started working at Disney in the 1930s so he worked for Disney his whole life.
So he knew Walt then. No wonder he was so great with the parks. To bad we can't find another like him to run things.
 

Pepper's Ghost

Well-Known Member
World of motion! Thats right! I guess its a matter of perspective. Some of us are cerebral dark ride kind of people and some are fast paced thrill ride adrenaline spike kind of people.
I'm sure you don't mean to, but this is a very binary view of the kinds of people who enjoy rides. Obviously, many people and I'd venture to guess MOST people like some combination of dark rides and thrill rides. I'm a thrill ride junky who loves dark rides. I love Everest, Space Mountain, Test Track 1.0, RnRC, and ToT as much as I love Haunted Mansion, PotC, and earlier versions of Spaceship Earth.

Dark rides generally aren't cerebral at all. Some are, some aren't. Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Dinosaur, and a ton of other dark rides don't really qualify as cerebral. Spaceship Earth, Horizons, and WoM all would I guess. I too never rode Horizons and WoM and have watched video ride-throughs. The videos don't do much for me, but @yensidtlaw1969 is 100% right that an old video of a ride won't do it justice. When I watch videos of Spaceship Earth, it does nothing for me, but being on the ride in that cool geodesic sphere on a hot day is such a different experience than a video of it.

Back on topic tho, I'm torn between wanting Disney to keep the parks vs selling them. There is SOOO much corporate greed right now that I don't think another company will be any better. It's all about the bottom line for companies these days, quality be darned. Most companies that acquire a business with a big name do it only for the big name, and run it into the ground. Their crap product in the packaging of a big name. I think this would almost certainly be the case for Disney Parks because they're cash cows. Look at TWDC itself. They're milking people based on memories and history, but putting as minimal investment and effort in as possible. They don't make any decision because it's the right thing to do. It has to make fiscal sense. I'm not saying they should be happy losing money, but greed has made it so that they are not only making profits, but maximizing them to the detriment of quality. And why not? Even on these forums we have people literally say that nothing would keep them away from the parks. I pass no judgement at all on those Disney fans, but that's why any company that owns the parks (TWDC or otherwise) will milk it with maximum price for minimum investment. That's why we are where we are at this point.

I've given this example a while ago, but going to do it again. The Chicago Cubs didn't care about 108 years of mostly losing... 108 years without a World Series win. Chicagoans understand the reasoning for this more than most. They didn't actually start trying to improve the product on the field until Wrigley Field became a ghost town of mostly drunks and college students (I know these are the same thing 😁) not even paying attention to the game. It's the same reason that TWDC doesn't care to invest much in the parks at the moment. When people happily purchase a broken product, and are doing it en masse, there is ZERO reason or motivation to fix the product. If Apple made iPhones that didn't work for real cheap and everyone still bought it, why would they invest the money to make them work properly? They wouldn't. Why invest more in the product production than necessary if it doesn't increase total revenue? When nothing you do reduces revenue, you keep cutting costs until it affects your total revenue. When that happens, you spend more to fix whatever is reducing total revenue. I'm not saying this is a good business practice. It's just where the business world is right now. This isn't your grandfather's or even your father's economy anymore.

Btw, this is also why Disney increased prices significantly while still letting quality slide. People keep buying their product regardless of the quality or price. They just keep stuffing their pockets. It's understandable honestly. Why not charge more.
 

ladybat2

Member
I'm sure you don't mean to, but this is a very binary view of the kinds of people who enjoy rides. Obviously, many people and I'd venture to guess MOST people like some combination of dark rides and thrill rides. I'm a thrill ride junky who loves dark rides. I love Everest, Space Mountain, Test Track 1.0, RnRC, and ToT as much as I love Haunted Mansion, PotC, and earlier versions of Spaceship Earth.

Dark rides generally aren't cerebral at all. Some are, some aren't. Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Dinosaur, and a ton of other dark rides don't really qualify as cerebral. Spaceship Earth, Horizons, and WoM all would I guess. I too never rode Horizons and WoM and have watched video ride-throughs. The videos don't do much for me, but @yensidtlaw1969 is 100% right that an old video of a ride won't do it justice. When I watch videos of Spaceship Earth, it does nothing for me, but being on the ride in that cool geodesic sphere on a hot day is such a different experience than a video of it.

Back on topic tho, I'm torn between wanting Disney to keep the parks vs selling them. There is SOOO much corporate greed right now that I don'tI think another company will be any better. It's all about the bottom line for companies these days, quality be darned. Most companies that acquire a business with a big name do it only for the big name, and run it into the ground. Their crap product in the packaging of a big name. I think this would almost certainly be the case for Disney Parks because they're cash cows. Look at TWDC itself. They're milking people based on memories and history, but putting as minimal investment and effort in as possible. They don't make any decision because it's the right thing to do. It has to make fiscal sense. I'm not saying they should be happy losing money, but greed has made it so that they are not only making profits, but maximizing them to the detriment of quality. And why not? Even on these forums we have people literally say that nothing would keep them away from the parks. I pass no judgement at all on those Disney fans, but that's why any company that owns the parks (TWDC or otherwise) will milk it with maximum price for minimum investment. That's why we are where we are at this point.

I've given this example a while ago, but going to do it again. The Chicago Cubs didn't care about 108 years of mostly losing... 108 years without a World Series win. Chicagoans understand the reasoning for this more than most. They didn't actually start trying to improve the product on the field until Wrigley Field became a ghost town of mostly drunks and college students (I know these are the same thing 😁) not even paying attention to the game. It's the same reason that TWDC doesn't care to invest much in the parks at the moment. When people happily purchase a broken product, and are doing it en masse, there is ZERO reason or motivation to fix the product. If Apple made iPhones that didn't work for real cheap and everyone still bought it, why would they invest the money to make them work properly? They wouldn't. Why invest more in the product production than necessary if it doesn't increase total revenue? When nothing you do reduces revenue, you keep cutting costs until it affects your total revenue. When that happens, you spend more to fix whatever is reducing total revenue. I'm not saying this is a good business practice. It's just where the business world is right now. This isn't your grandfather's or even your father's economy anymore.

Btw, this is also why Disney increased prices significantly while still letting quality slide. People keep buying their product regardless of the quality or price. They just keep stuffing their pockets. It's understandable honestly. Why not charge more.
I agree that nothing is going to improve as long as the overwhelming majority of Disney fans keep spending their money going to the parks no matter what. Its like a drug almost. To bad Elon Musk doesn't open a resort theme park that would rival Disney. At least put a dent in Disney's pockets for a while. He could collect some of his rich friends to invest in it like he does his trips to space.
 

Mickey5150

Well-Known Member
Very interesting information thank you! What happened to Mr. Walker? Is he still around? So it was Eisner that chopped up Imagination and Universe of Energy and took away Horizons and World of Motion? Well for me he really ruined it. And it seems we never get any MORE or ADDED attractions. It seems they remove one then put another in its place but nothing actually more. But we do get more and more price increases. Nothing will change that unless the overwhelming majority of the human population collectively decides to stop going to Disney parks and resorts.
Ratatouille is an addition, Tron is an addition, Pandora gave us more then it took away. In Disneyland, Galaxy's Edge was an addition. Disney definitely likes to replace but we have been getting a fair amount of new attractions as well.
 

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
I also think Walt only succeeded because of Roy, Walt alone would have bankrupted the company long before DL was even a concept, the partnership of dreamer and realist seemed to be a major factor in their early success.
I think Walt was quoted

“I don’t make movies to make money, I make money to make more movies. “
 

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