Joe Rohde announces retirement from WDI

[cookiee_munster]

i kind of fear that thats it now in regards to attractions based purely on story and will instead be completely IP based with a halfa**ed story shoe horned in.

dark days indeed...

 

[Dutch Inn '76]

The practical reality of this is likely pretty simple. He hit eligible retirement age and given Disney's financial crunch there are not likely to be a lot of new projects of a scale appropriate to his experience and skills in the next few years. By the time something like that comes around again he'd be in his late 60's and not likely want to jump on something huge again. So it seems an appropriate and reasonable time for him to retire from Disney and he can go work on some personal project(s) he might have been interested in. While disappointing to lose someone of his talent level it doesn't seem terribly nefarious at all.

Exactly. His retirement is the intersection of the travel/entertainment Covid-induced depression and age. Nothing more.

 

[SplashJacket]

No idea about current progress but the new cruise ships are still in the pipeline so Lighthouse Point should still be on the board.

The timeline of all three ships was shifted back by 6 months.

The Wish was scheduled to be delivered in January 2022, but Corona delayed it to summer 2022.

New ships 2 and 3 are scheduled for 2024 and 2025 respectively.

Source: https://disneycruiselineblog.com/2020/10/disney-wish-maiden-voyage-rescheduled-to-summer-2022/ and https://www.forbes.com/sites/megand...things-you-should-care-about/?sh=4b31bcf2863b

 

[doctornick]

The timeline of all three ships was shifted back by 6 months.

The Wish was scheduled to be delivered in January 2022, but Corona delayed it to summer 2022.

New ships 2 and 3 are scheduled for 2024 and 2025 respectively.

Source: https://disneycruiselineblog.com/2020/10/disney-wish-maiden-voyage-rescheduled-to-summer-2022/ and https://www.forbes.com/sites/megand...things-you-should-care-about/?sh=4b31bcf2863b

Right, but if the new ships are continuing as planned then the need and value for Lighthouse Point would still be there. Aren't they expanding to allow for 2 ships at a time at Port Canaveral? That could mean 4 ships at a time from there not to mention any from Miami. so plenty of opportunities to use Lighthouse Point in addition to Castaway Cay.

 

[rle4lunch]

Goodbye Captain Dangle.

 

[SplashJacket]

Right, but if the new ships are continuing as planned then the need and value for Lighthouse Point would still be there. Aren't they expanding to allow for 2 ships at a time at Port Canaveral? That could mean 4 ships at a time from there not to mention any from Miami. so plenty of opportunities to use Lighthouse Point in addition to Castaway Cay.

I do not believe Disney's Port Canaveral capacity will be able to have two ships in the main facility. They can borrow another facility to use, but the facility isn't distinctly for Disney.

The upgrades being done to Port Canaveral are for the bigger ships. The terminal was originally built for the Magic and Wonder and has received little attention ever since. Currently, half the fleet does not fit comfortably but once the three new ships 5/7ths of the fleet won't fit comfortably.

The upgrades are quite frankly long overdue. The main areas receiving attention are the drop-off system and the disembarkation process. If you've ever taken one of the big ships at PC the luggage room becomes insanely crowded and the line to get through customs takes way longer than it should. It is the bottleneck for disembarkation. They have to limit the number of people exiting the ship at any given time in order to prevent overcrowding in the luggage room, increasing the luggage room's capacity will make disembarkation a much smoother process.

The main terminal is getting aesthetic upgrades but is otherwise going to remain largely the same.

The boarding bridge is going to be swapped out with a new bridge, probably one that's a bit wider.

Lastly, the Wish and the two other Triton class ships are 5000 tons larger than the Dream class ships, which sounds like a lot, but it really isn't. The dream class ships are 130,000 gross tons and the Triton class is 135,000 tons. Both classes of ships have the same amount of passengers cabins, but the Wish is likely to have more 5 person and concierge staterooms. As a result of the added tonnage, the waterside of the port is getting some upgrades, personally, they seem a tad bit excessive which could be so that they don't have to upgrade it again if they build an even bigger class of ships.

DCL doesn't really need capacity for 2 ships at a time at PC. DCL was running 4 ships in the Caribbean in the winter where the Dream departed on Mondays and Fridays, the Fantasy on Saturdays, and the Wonder on Sundays. There were deviations to this schedule, but it is mostly followed. The Magic, however, hung out in Miami for Saturday departures.

Once the new ships come out, expect one ship to be in both the Mediterranean and on the West coast in the winter.

 

[WondersOfLife]

i kind of fear that thats it now in regards to attractions based purely on story and will instead be completely IP based with a halfa**ed story shoe horned in.

dark days indeed...

If they keep up the passion they put into Avatarland and Star Wars, then we should be fine.

It's sad that we have to move away from 100% original attractions... But as long as they're top notch, then I hope it'll all be okay.

 

[chriskbrown]

Must be in the minority. We found Guardians of the Galaxy a great ride. I thought it was well done Until the actual ride. We found ToT pre Gaurdians in DCA to be really overwhelming for sure.

 

[doctornick]

I do not believe Disney's Port Canaveral capacity will be able to have two ships in the main facility. They can borrow another facility to use, but the facility isn't distinctly for Disney.

I looked it up: Terminal 8 will continue to be used full time by DCL, but Terminal 10 will be used as well part of the time (shared with Norwegian). I don't really follow the cruises that closely, but I would think this means that they'll have two ships in port at times. Not for a while, of course, given that the additional ships have been delayed.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

Problem is there is zero blood in wdw...any power is confined to a couple of rooms in the dwarf house in Burbank

Wall Street is the imagineering now

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Wall Street is the imagineering now

Since big shot Bobby took over

 

[the.dreamfinder]

i kind of fear that thats it now in regards to attractions based purely on story and will instead be completely IP based with a halfa**ed story shoe horned in.

dark days indeed...

It’s been that way since Iger took over in ‘05. WDI just takes a long time getting around to things.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

I've seen a lot of people comparing this to Tony Baxter's retirement. I don't mean to derail the discussion, but what happened with Tony? I've never heard the story behind that.

When Tony left it was much more acrimonious. He did not like then current WDI management and was disgusted by the direction the company had taken, which is the course TWDC is still on.

Reread his retirement letter.

Tony Baxter's Letter of Resignation​

AN OPEN LETTER TO FELLOW IMAGINEERS

Decades ago, Imagineering had the bold notion to start the 21st century 18 years early by unveiling the "future" at Epcot in 1982. This positive look at tomorrow had a numbing effect on the bleak vistas depicted in George Orwell's dystopian novel, 1984. As a kid beginning my career at Disneyland in the mid 1960s, both of these "futures" were far off from a universe where Disneyland was the only Disney park, Mr. Lincoln was a state of the art attraction, and everything operated under Walt Disney's guidance.

Today, while there is a new set of "futures" to explore, the time has come for me to evolve my role at Walt Disney Imagineering. Beginning this February, I will be transitioning to a position as a part time advisor. While I will not be here on a regular basis, I will continue to be available to any and all of you as needs arise. Though my time will be limited, my passion for the magic WDI creates will be just as strong.

Since early last year, I have been thinking about what I would say to all of you when this time arrived. It has been a wondrous 47 years spanning the opening of Walt Disney World to Big Thunder and Star Tours … from Epcot's original Journey into Imagination to Disneyland Paris and Indiana Jones. The Imagineers I have known and shared these times with have provided invaluable experiences not to be found anywhere else on earth.

As one of the lucky second-generation Imagineers, I had the unique opportunity to experience firsthand the core philosophies of our company. I was fortunate enough to work with Claude Coats, Marc Davis, John Hench and the many others who built this industry alongside Walt Disney. I was able to soak up their wisdom and partner with them on creative projects. I have passed forward many of their key philosophies, and as our culture and scope have evolved, I have tried to balance my support of these foundations, with the business of charting "what's next." Now the 21st century brings a new reality … for the first time, the younger generation is master of the key technologies driving the future. While upcoming generations deal with tech tools that are evolving almost daily, many of Disney's keystone philosophies remain stable and relevant. These philosophies help define our creative edge to a world that is eager for aspirational content. With no particular order, here are five that continue to inspire me, and I think you may find useful in shaping "creative futures" for the years to come.

Creating Lasting Experiences - Legendary Imagineer Marc Davis once said, "We don't really have a story with a beginning, an end or a plot … It's more a series of experiences … building up to a climax." Guests still want to be astonished, and our best attractions deliver that wow factor with visions and emotions. I always start with the notion that it is the 20th repeat ride, not the first that is the most important. Park experiences are by nature less able to focus on linear stories and tangible feelings than motion pictures. Unlike a movie, what separates an OK attraction from a great one is that people find themselves "in" the great ones. They have been taken to a place they couldn't have imagined without Disney. How intriguingly we craft the level of guest engagement has direct bearing on desire for an umpteenth ride down the same track.

In Fantasyland, a simple line of dialogue heralds the beginning of one of the most aspirational ride experiences ever created; "Come on everybody … here we go!" After riding Peter Pan, futurist Ray Bradbury was moved to write; "Walt, I'll be eternally grateful that you made it possible for me to sail from a child's window, out over moonlit London in a galleon on its way to the stars!" Despite the fact that by today's standards Peter Pan's technology is dated, its mystique has remained unwavering. The WDI challenge is finding ways to ensure today's more sophisticated experiences have similar intangible qualities that provide groundwork for lasting appeal.

Sincerity - One of Walt Disney's ways of overcoming what sophisticates tended to see as corny or sentimental was his absolute belief in sincerity. Defending Disney's signature animation style in the movie Cinderella, Walt expressed what is to me a true hallmark of the Disney difference: "You have to believe in the honesty of Cinderella's world, or you will not believe in the magic as it unfolds around her either." The power of sincerity to win over an audience is "front and center" in the new Cars Land. Here, a truly believable environment fuses with the fantastic to give rise to new reality.

Valuable Mental Real Estate - Awhile back there was talk about the elusive "Disney Difference." What the "difference" is may be open to various interpretations, but I see it centered on cultivating "Valuable Mental Real Estate." Since the early days at the studio, Disney has excelled in focusing diverse talents on plussing core ideas. Enhanced value stems from something as simple as the emotional appeal of Epcot's Figment character in comparison to hundreds of other generic dragons. When the whole team undertakes a mission to make "our dragon" stand out in every way, mental real estate values go up.

At Imagineering, where we must deal with equal parts of controlled insanity and disciplined evaluation, this can be complicated. Years ago, who else could have come up with the crazy idea for Flying Saucers and then make the concept work! (Sort of). Piloting flying saucers is every kid's dream, and in spite of the ride's technical shortcomings, people will forever recall the Flying Saucers as an E ticket. This rides aspirational, "bucket list", once-in-a-lifetime intrigue, more than made up for any less than stellar performance.

Disney Hallmark Values - Current culture and the structure of our company are vastly different from the time when I began my career. Yet within that dynamic, hallmark values continue to add major appeal to today's more socially sensitive content. Disney's feature Beauty and the Beast shared many hallmarks with its ancestor Snow White, but it spoke to a vastly different audience with a finer tuned voice. Likewise, the more recent Tangled fuses traditional Disney values with relevancy aimed at a new generation.

Beyond the WDI walls, Pixar and Marvel achieve a consistency of success in their fast paced arenas. Each Pixar team is confident enough in their individual productions to freely reach out and tap into links that insure Pixar's hallmark differentiators are a part of every project. Marvel has taken a different route, tasking individual creative teams to bridge their storylines under an overarching and epic saga. Regardless of the diversity of deliverables, hallmark values are key to all Disney entities, and everyone needs to be alert to where they reside, and how and why to fuse them to the DNA of a project.

Mentoring - At both ends of a career one of the most important working relationships is achieved through mentoring. When you are in your 20s and 30s it critical to find a mentor you can admire and trust. What proved most valuable for me was a mentoring partnership that skipped a full generation. A wide age gap creates a cross-generational opportunity for two-way learning. A young mentee sees a mentor's still bright light as support for his or her own growing visibility, and the gap vanquishes the sense of competition. In a complementary way, a mentor's satisfaction is fueled by the growing knowledge and skills transferred to their younger partner. My mentor was Imagineering legend Claude Coats, nearly four decades my senior. For Pixar director Pete Docter, his mentors were animation giants Joe Grant and Ollie Johnson. Pete and I absorbed as much knowledge as we possibly could during a period of growth in our careers. I would like to think our esteemed mentors also drew inspiration from our curiosity and unexplored visions!

A mentorship is not a few hours of counseling every so often; it is pulling together on real projects, with business/creative goals and knowledge gains to be made by both sides. This is the partnership I had with Claude Coats, and we remained lifetime friends because of our shared working time together.

Going Forward - No company is perfect, and like any other corporation Disney has its own politics and challenges. We are artists, engineers, managers, filmmakers and musicians. But our company is unique; there is no place like it on earth. We are lucky. At the end of the day, it is my hope that this letter will add to the special culture that I have been privileged to grow in. I see the probability for that happening in my interactions with younger Imagineers like Michel, Josh, Zach, Dylan, Laura, Manuel, Vanessa and Brandon, which are beyond rewarding to me. At a time when "unlearning" is as critical as "learning," it's important to listen to the way these people think and enjoy the things they do. Creativity I have mined from their game-changing perspectives, now effectively influences my own design process. I hope that when their careers peak some decades from now, they will look back on our time together as I value the time I was able to spend with Claude Coats.

And now it comes down to the point at hand. I am not suggesting that I could be a mentor to you all, but that said, you should all have someone you can turn to in this manner. I do hope to be available to help support your ideas, give advice or even join a team whenever appropriate. My role will be one of supporting your visions in the best way I can, and encouraging you to maintain and build upon this already special place. I will have availability, and if you would like my assistance in any way, please e-mail Bruce Vaughn's office to request my time.

This is not a goodbye, but hopefully a letter of introduction to the many of you that I have not yet had the chance to meet personally …

Tony Baxter

Feb. 1, 2013

 

[aladdin2007]

i kind of fear that thats it now in regards to attractions based purely on story and will instead be completely IP based with a halfa**ed story shoe horned in.

dark days indeed...

was just thinking the same thing, they will now be able to IP the heck out of the place all they want and not have any disagreement from the likes of him. AK will probably become a very different place from here on out in its direction thanks to chapek and his burbank clueless minions. they (and some other individuals) are ruining Epcot, lets see how long till they wreck AK too. I dont trust Disney with anything very much anymore.

 

[cookiee_munster]

was just thinking the same thing, they will now be able to IP the heck out of the place all they want and not have any disagreement from the likes of him. AK will probably become a very different place from here on out in its direction thanks to chapek and his burbank clueless minions. they (and some other individuals) are ruining Epcot, lets see how long till they wreck AK too. I dont trust Disney with anything very much anymore.

That's exactly what i thought. it's only matter of time until Africa and Asia have all sorts of character crap associated with them. zootopia will be the next land to come. i fear it. BLEURGH!!!!

 

[Parker in NYC]

If they keep up the passion they put into Avatarland and Star Wars, then we should be fine.

It's sad that we have to move away from 100% original attractions... But as long as they're top notch, then I hope it'll all be okay.

Galaxy's Edge is not top notch. Rise would be if it operated on a consistent basis and had better capacity (in or out of COVID). But when you're dropping a couple grand and can't make it onto one of the pinnacles of modern Imagineering, I'd say it's a FAIL.

 

[Basil of Baker Street]

Galaxy's Edge is not top notch. Rise would be if it operated on a consistent basis and had better capacity (in or out of COVID). But when you're dropping a couple grand and can't make it onto one of the pinnacles of modern Imagineering, I'd say it's a FAIL.

I think its great they shoot for high immersion attractions but it needs to have a high output of people. There has to be a compromise.

 

[WondersOfLife]

Galaxy's Edge is not top notch. Rise would be if it operated on a consistent basis and had better capacity (in or out of COVID). But when you're dropping a couple grand and can't make it onto one of the pinnacles of modern Imagineering, I'd say it's a FAIL.

It's a SUCCESS.

Sadly, putting that word in all caps won't change your opinion. Nor will your scary cap word.

Every person I know that has gone to HS recently has been in awe of Galaxy's Edge, so I don't know what you're talking about... And this is coming from someone who absolutely hates Star Wars.

 

[Parker in NYC]

It's a SUCCESS.

Sadly, putting that word in all caps won't change your opinion. Nor will your scary cap word.

Every person I know that has gone to HS recently has been in awe of Galaxy's Edge, so I don't know what you're talking about... And this is coming from someone who absolutely hates Star Wars.

SUCCESS doesn't mean it isn't a fail when it comes to people spending thousands of dollars who ultimately cannot ride.

And Galaxy's Edge itself is a disappointment to most of my friends who have visited. Rise, on the other hand, for those who managed to navigate the ridiculous system, was dubbed a masterpiece.

 

[montyz81]

was just thinking the same thing, they will now be able to IP the heck out of the place all they want and not have any disagreement from the likes of him. AK will probably become a very different place from here on out in its direction thanks to chapek and his burbank clueless minions. they (and some other individuals) are ruining Epcot, lets see how long till they wreck AK too. I dont trust Disney with anything very much anymore.

I have been saying it for a long time. All Disney needs to do is build IP based rides that compete with Universal (Universal is all about IP). For Disney, this is a much cheaper proposition as compared to what Disney was known for. When Universal arrived on the scene, Disney was about 20 miles ahead of the competition. The cost for that 20 miles seems to be overkill. Now with Joe gone, there is for sure no need to spend the extra money to keep up with the competition. Add in the cost focus COVID has brought, the Disney we knew in the past is gone forever! I know, it is a bit of a downer view. Oh well.