New Jim Hill article

[Timmay]

I think some people have a false sense of self importance. It’s hard to believe someone from WDI actually wrote this, much less cares about the complaining coming from the same few folks over and over again.

See, those people at WDI are doing it…the complainers are just talking about it.

 

[wdwmagic]

Doesn't seem a very genuine article if you ask me.

 

[XaiChai]

All I have to say is; what would Walt do if he read that e-mail?? :lookaroun


No seriously I think he would be kinda ed.....

What would he do if he read most of the threads on this forum? That the people who "love" Disney the most are obsessed with complaining about every little detail of it.

 

[raven]

I have a hard time believing an Imagineer wrote an e-mail like that.

Disney is known for 'frowning on' CMs commenting outside the company and no-one, 'friend' of not of JH, would risk writing him such an e-mail. The writing style of the purported e-mail is quite similar to JH's.

:shrug:

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Iknewagirlnamed]

I side with the Imgaineers completely. While I agree that the sound coming from the ride vehicles should be gotten rid of if it can be, I do agree that some people whine waaaaaay too much about very mediocre things.

I can completely empathize with the imagineer who said this. He probably speaks for the majority of them in regards to how they basically put their blood, sweat and tears into a multi-million dollar project only for it to be nit-picked at over the smallest things. Give them a break- without them there would be no Disney parks.

One thing I disagree with, however, is the imagineers supposedly just catering to the tourists that go once in a blue moon VS the Disneyana folk. I think it's more so the corporation wanting to cater to these people and forget the Disneyana people, hence the big corporation steryotype where they forget the little guy.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Doesn't seem a very genuine article if you ask me.

I agree with Steve and the rest of you that feels this is not a genuine article. No Imagineer would ever to admit to making a mistake. Also, Jim is anti-Pixar, so, this falls right into his hatred of Pixar rants.... Where are the reports from all the CMs who have said nothing but positive things about the attraction?? JM is on an agenda to bash Pixar at every turn, and this is just another article in that agenda....

 

[DivineMadness7]

Doesn't seem a very genuine article if you ask me.

I've skimmed this thread and have yet to read the JHM article, but this was all I needed to hear...err read...:wave:

 

[ClemsonTigger]

It's just the nature of things, that negative actions or comments impact much more than positive ones. I'm sure if Steve had a rating system on this site, it would be at least 10:1, maybe 20:1 positive to negative. It's just that some of the negative is so inflammatory (and usually flames out) that it gets the most attention.

If people can't recognize that entering a chat room or website...they probably have no business visiting.

When it comes to criticism....I would say we are nothing to the self evaluation within WDI. I find it hard to believe that they would say....OK, you got 50 things right, but two items are bad.....good enough for me, lets let it go. No, they are constantly doing internal evaluations and corrections.
If you can't take feedback...you're probably in the wrong business.

 

[DivineMadness7]

Also, Jim is anti-Pixar, so, this falls right into his hatred of Pixar rants.....

I'm sorry, when I first read this, I swore it said "Pixar pants"....:ROFLOL: I giggled for a minute and then had to re-adjust my glasses.

But let's put this in perspective. JHM can be so anti-pixar and overly critical of Disney....yet we are supposed to believe this "letter from an Imagineer" about fans being overly critical was posted on HIS website? Pot? Kettle? Anyone?

 

[daliseurat]

We do complain to much. Our society loves to complain about everything. We forget to praise the efforts Imagineering goes to to make the parks great and jump all over every little thing that isn't perfect.

The Imagineer is right, they have to be far more concerned about the mass audience than the fans. We fans are important. But, in the business scheme of things Disney must worry about the biggest audience.

That said, whining about legitimate criticisms and slamming boards that are some of the best free publicity is childish. There have been several attractions over the past several years that smack of someone not thinking through an attraction. And the result being attractions that are not as good as they should be. Look at "NEW" Tomorrowland at Disneyland. They stuck a rotating ball in a maze fountain and never considered that people would actually TRY to get wet. The result was that it smelled like a sewar. Then they chlorinated it to sanatize it, but the material you walk on rotted because it wasn't meant to have chlorine on it. And people would get drenched and go sit on plush seats in HISTA. They install Rocket Rods, without realizing the stress the vehicals and track movement would cause to the buildings. All of DCA. Just attraction after attraction that should have been thought out better. And Imagineering isn't being helped out by Disney markets morons either. They over hype everything so it can't possibly live up to it. If the acoustics are really a problem, they should have figured that out a long time ago and done something about it. Something BEFORE they got this far. They managed to make SMALL WORLD work with all the different seasons. The test period is just that. Hopefully they can work these issues out. Honestly, TOY STORY MANIA never sounded like a homerun to me. It's sounds like a neat shooting gallery, but not much else. At least BUZZ feels like an adventure, and you are immersed in an actual 3D world. The photo's look like you just zoom past 3D flat screens. Now, I'm sure it looks amazing. I'm sure it's fun. I'm sure it's funny. But ultimately it's a 3D video game with out a story, or the sense that you are in another world. A nice little C-TICKET. But so much has been spent, we all expect a major E-TICKET. No one expected that much from BUZZ. So our expectations or rather our over-expectations aren't going to let us enjoy this attraction as much as we should. So if we don't like some of it, we're going to complain. And the Imagineers should take notes, and star think these things through better. They can do it. Just look at Expedition Everest, the HM upgrades and even the Pirate update of Tom Sawyers Island.

 

[RHeath2]

Doesn't seem a very genuine article if you ask me.

Agreed.

The only way I could see any of this being true is if the distrust and worry about jobs in Imagineering is true. There was something a while back about how shocked Pixar employees were at the Imagineering offices, that everyone seemed to be paranoid and more concerned about job security than creativity. If this was true, then I could see this letter taking a bit more credence.

 

[sanctumsolitude]

First of all, I know that if I ever wrote an email about one of my projects and that email ended up on some website, I would be fired before the day was over. Even if it didn't include who I was, it wouldn't be difficult to find out or suspect from those who knew me (and more importantly, those who knew my contributions). At the very least, my division would get a nice memo letting us know we were not to have any future communication with outside entities.

With that being said, the email sounds like Jim Hill. He either paraphrased it to keep the imagineer anonymous or he made it up. All I know is that WDI needs to stress to their imagineers that this type of communication will not be tolerated.

 

[Enderikari]

My thoughts?

Steve's right.

The "Imagineer" is right.

Jim Hill is worthless (so is Miceage/chat *zing*)

Toy Story Mania is fun.


That is all


*end of line*

 

[Stitchon]

There have been several attractions over the past several years that smack of someone not thinking through an attraction. And the result being attractions that are not as good as they should be. Look at "NEW" Tomorrowland at Disneyland. They stuck a rotating ball in a maze fountain and never considered that people would actually TRY to get wet. The result was that it smelled like a sewer. Then they chlorinated it to sanatize it, but the material you walk on rotted because it wasn't meant to have chlorine on it. And people would get drenched and go sit on plush seats in HISTA. They install Rocket Rods, without realizing the stress the vehicles and track movement would cause to the buildings. All of DCA. Just attraction after attraction that should have been thought out better.

With DCA and New Tomorrowland, the management is to blame, not Imagineering. Cynthia Harris and Paul Pressler were notorious for their massive budget cuts and over populating the parks with shops and dining. They slashed DCA's budget in half, resulting in it being a lackluster park, and refused to budget in banked turns and a new track for Rocket Rods. What does Disney do? They promote them. Pressler was president of Disney Parks for a while, and Harris took over Disneyland. They were soon fired (Or as they say, moved on) and went to The GAP, where they continued to mismanage. Don't blame imagineering for faults beyond their control. A lot of this has to do with management, so they truly are doing the best they can with restraints.

 

[Thiger]

Personally it just sounds like the writer of the email has worked very, very hard on a ride that took years to produce only to hear negative reviews. Of course they're going to take it personally. Imagine creating something you put your heart into for years only to have it slammed...it would be heart breaking.

On the other note, that same imagineer will feel better once s/he sees the countless families who'll wait 2 hours to ride the ride TSM and see the children screaming for their fav character. Heck, they should even be happy to see the positive reviews on youtube for the Mr. Potato Head AA. It blew me away seeing the footage, let alone experience it in reality.

While I have slammed a few rides in my day on WDW (Drew Carey, Stitch), the majority of new rides are unbelievably good (Soarin, EE, Dinosaur, etc.) and are in true Disney fashion. I know I can't wait to experience this ride and am glad that they're sprucing up this park.

 

[tirian]

Well, maybe not love. I don't know you people too well. Love in that sort of generalized John Lennon default kinda way, not that I'm undervalua..... y'know what? I'm just gonna go to sleep.

:ROFLOL:

I did the same thing when I realized I was repeating myself over and over.

I hope Steve's right. I hope the letter is a fake. But I suspect that these are several comments that Jim Hill is paraphrasing and re-writing in his own horrid style; if that's the case, the sentiments are true.

 

[tirian]

Personally it just sounds like the writer of the email has worked very, very hard on a ride that took years to produce only to hear negative reviews. Of course they're going to take it personally. Imagine creating something you put your heart into for years only to have it slammed...it would be heart breaking.

On the other note, that same imagineer will feel better once s/he sees the countless families who'll wait 2 hours to ride the ride TSM and see the children screaming for their fav character. Heck, they should even be happy to see the positive reviews on youtube for the Mr. Potato Head AA. It blew me away seeing the footage, let alone experience it in reality.

While I have slammed a few rides in my day on WDW (Drew Carey, Stitch), the majority of new rides are unbelievably good (Soarin, EE, Dinosaur, etc.) and are in true Disney fashion. I know I can't wait to experience this ride and am glad that they're sprucing up this park.

You're right, the Imagineer does have the right to be disappointed in fan outcry; but if the letter is 100% legit, writing something to be released online shows gross immaturity. She should know when to ignore superfluous complaints and when to seriously consider critiques. There's a difference.

I personally take issue with naming WDW Magic. Only one user significantly complained about the attraction, and everyone has the right to an opinion. The rest of us enjoyed it very much and accepted it for what it is. It's not supposed to be another Everest, and we know that. These are some of the most positive boards online, and that fact that this site was named makes me think the letter is either (1) somewhat true and mostly fake or (2) written by a whiny person with a chip on her shoulder.

 

[brucie]

I would just like to take this time to say thanks to all of the WDI who have made WDW the greatest place to visit in the world, I like everyone have things I don't love (SGE) but I still Love WDW. And I would like to sing praises to all of the WDI and everyone at WDW who makes each visit a unforgettable experience!!:sohappy::sohappy::sohappy:

 

[lpet11984]

It's just the nature of things, that negative actions or comments impact much more than positive ones. I'm sure if Steve had a rating system on this site, it would be at least 10:1, maybe 20:1 positive to negative. It's just that some of the negative is so inflammatory (and usually flames out) that it gets the most attention.

Very valid point. It's true-- all you have to do is look at the post count for most of the threads. The posts with some tie to controversy, news, etc. are usually the ones that are the highest number of replies. Look at how many replies this one has gotten in less than 24 hours...

Bottom line is that we all wouldn't be here unless we loved Disney and wanted to see it flourish. (OK, well maybe there are a few true haters out there that get a sick kick from posting, but regardless...) And although we can voice our opinions until the cows come home, a majority of us on here can do nothing but that. Feedback is a necessary component of growth. It's up to the recipient to sort out the personal feelings from the fact, and decide what is worthwhile and what isn't.

 

[hauntdmansion79]

Imagine how the Imagineers who designed and built the Wand must have felt.