I was reading an article about Knott's Berry Farm's "Voyage to the Iron Reef", which is essentially their version of Disney's Toy Story Midway Mania. I haven't ridden it myself, but from what I've seen and heard, it's very well done. Perhaps even superior, atleast technically, to Midway Mania. And although they haven't officially announced the cost to build it, rumor has it that it cost them around 5 million dollars. Midway Mania on the other hand had a build cost of 80 million. So why such a dramatic price difference?
I remember listening to a talk that Bob Gurr gave, talking about the old days of Disney and how they would create new amazing things so quickly. Of course nowadays there's tremendous government red tape and regulation that that exists that didn't back then. But even ignoring that, Disney has seemed to get very heavy and slow. How long have they been building Pandora in Disneyworld? Years and years. How long did it take to re-theme the dreaded Superstar Limo into Monsters inc? Years! How long did it take them to build Disneyland in 1955? A year.
Bob Gurr described that back then there were no project managers. No middle men. No rigid guidlines. It was a bunch of really talented people who wanted to be there, just talking to one another. When you had a question, you go ask that person. Could Disney's absurd cost to build their attractions and time it takes to do so have something to do with too many hands in the cookie jar? People having to report to people, to report to people, to report to people, until you end up in this miserable grind that you have to slog your way through. Where smaller companies like Knott's Has a small team of people who can think and act quickly and get the job done for a tenth of the price. Is Disney too heavy?
I remember listening to a talk that Bob Gurr gave, talking about the old days of Disney and how they would create new amazing things so quickly. Of course nowadays there's tremendous government red tape and regulation that that exists that didn't back then. But even ignoring that, Disney has seemed to get very heavy and slow. How long have they been building Pandora in Disneyworld? Years and years. How long did it take to re-theme the dreaded Superstar Limo into Monsters inc? Years! How long did it take them to build Disneyland in 1955? A year.
Bob Gurr described that back then there were no project managers. No middle men. No rigid guidlines. It was a bunch of really talented people who wanted to be there, just talking to one another. When you had a question, you go ask that person. Could Disney's absurd cost to build their attractions and time it takes to do so have something to do with too many hands in the cookie jar? People having to report to people, to report to people, to report to people, until you end up in this miserable grind that you have to slog your way through. Where smaller companies like Knott's Has a small team of people who can think and act quickly and get the job done for a tenth of the price. Is Disney too heavy?