flynnibus
Premium Member
it will be interesting if he tries to remove foot from mouth.. or just move onto his next tirade... I figure the latter.
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Spirited News & Observations II -- NGE/Baxter
- Thread starter WDW1974
- Start date
it will be interesting if he tries to remove foot from mouth.. or just move onto his next tirade... I figure the latter.
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
I have read (perhaps Realityland?) originally plans were to line the Seven Seas Lagoon with hotels. I believe these plans date all the way back to Roy Disney.
I also vaguely recall reading that Disney long ago gave up trying to maintain Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake as swimmable lakes. I'm pretty sure this dates back to the 1970s. I guess Florida swampland is a tough place to try to maintain a swimmable lake.
alphac2005
Well-Known Member
Interesting note at Magic+ Whatever (I give up with the names ) as my parents visited WDW last week and they had a wonderful failure event at The Studios. At opening (I'm not certain as to which day), the RFID ticketing system was completely on the fritz and they spent 40 minutes waiting to get into the park because it wasn't operating as IT was attempting to get it rebooted and corrected. How many of these incidents are guests going to have to incur on an on-going basis? Based on the history of tech at WDW, probably way too many times.
) as my parents visited WDW last week and they had a wonderful failure event at The Studios. At opening (I'm not certain as to which day), the RFID ticketing system was completely on the fritz and they spent 40 minutes waiting to get into the park because it wasn't operating as IT was attempting to get it rebooted and corrected. How many of these incidents are guests going to have to incur on an on-going basis? Based on the history of tech at WDW, probably way too many times.
Genie of the Lamp
Well-Known Member
As a now current college student, this is absolutely 100% true. When I filled out my college applications my senior year of hs last year, every single app. asked me for my SS#. They keep it on file and those schools then in turn send me info packets/brochures/pamphlets about their school. I don't like it, but I have to put up with it. And yeah, schools/colleges I didn't even know existed called my house phone and send me text messages I had no desire to respond to or read/listen.
Edit: (Speaking of the college I go to, our school on Tuesday night upset Kentucky in the NIT tourney which was held at our barely 4,000 undergrad school with a "ruckety" gym as ESPN classified it as. They're so biased and treated us like trash)
muteki
Well-Known Member
Just wait until you graduate and they sell off all your info to whoever wants it and you get spammed for the next 5 years.
Genie of the Lamp
Well-Known Member
While I agree with your statement, there is one exception I believe to be the case where WDI (more specifically Tony Baxter) has hired one of their Next Gen Imagineers/Baxters. And that is Michel Den Dulk (whom Tony referenced to in his letter and is a Tony Protege). I know he was given a modest project with Fantasy Faire, but I've seen some of his concept art he drew out to go along with the projects he was involved with when working for Efteling Park and Europa Park. After seeing them and hearing Eddie give him a vote of confidence, I think the sky's the limit for this guy. I truly believe that if he's given the proper time, resources, budget to complete a project assigned to him, he can do great things. I know one isn't much, but at least it's something.
Speaking of the transition of WDI, I keep this phrase in the back of my mind "Out with the old and in with the new". While you as a company are always striving to find the next gen or latest and greatest employees, you need to keep the oldies around to show them how to get things done the Disney way. I'll use the animation studios as an example if that's okay with you (since that's my favorite unit of the company). Back in the 70's when the nine old men were really non existant anymore, Eric Larson/Ollie Johnston/Frank Thomas knew and understood that in order for this animation studio to succeed in the long run, they had to persuade to management (at the time) that a hiring draft needed to occur in order for new animators and ideas could be brought forth to the table. Those 3 old men stook around and mentored/taught those new animators like Glen Keane and Andreas Deja about what it took to create a Disney Animated Film and draw an Disney animated character to perfection. It's that kind of mentoring/crowning of sorts I'd wish WDI would let Tony perform with folks like Michel (esp. when Tony wants to do it considering that he understands so after learning from Coats and others).
Anyhow, back to NG now.
Witchy Chick
Well-Known Member
Ohhhhhh, I don't have to worry about college for at least 10-12 years. My kiddos are only 4.5 and 3 right now.
That's kind of what I was referring to with "child ID theft"....very young children, whose parents likely wouldn't even consider ID theft as a "threat" due to their child(s) ages.But thanks for the heads up on the college info.
flynnibus
Premium Member
I have read (perhaps Realityland?) originally plans were to line the Seven Seas Lagoon with hotels. I believe these plans date all the way back to Roy Disney.
I also vaguely recall reading that Disney long ago gave up trying to maintain Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake as swimmable lakes. I'm pretty sure this dates back to the 1970s. I guess Florida swampland is a tough place to try to maintain a swimmable lake.
original plans had 2 more resorts.. GF replaced once of those.
They stopped swimming in the lakes in the late 90s.
nor'easter
Well-Known Member
muteki
Well-Known Member
COProgressFan
Well-Known Member
I swam in the Seven Seas Lagoon lots of times during the 1980s and probably into the early 1990s. At the Poly, for instance, there was a roped/buoyed off area (just next to the boat dock) that was lifeguarded, and they probably went in to maintain that area from time to time to get rid some of the muck that builds up on the bottom of a fresh water lake. I remember the swimming area having a mostly sandy bottom. So in that sense it was a little better than swimming in a regular lake. Just about as murky though.
The issue today is more about appearance and aesthetics than having a functional beach. The sandy areas should be maintained to look like pristine sandy beaches as they once were, not overgrown swamps (as they also once were
). Many of these areas have deteriorated due to lake of maintenance and landscaping.
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
Alligators.
Both would be great reasons not to swim in them.Flesh-eating bacteria
I suspect my northern bias was kicking in when I was younger. I recall being completely grossed out by the Seven Seas Lagoon on my first visit in 1978. Subconsciously, I probably was convinced it was full of alligators. You were brave souls to swim in it.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
I think what everyone needs to understand, at this point, is that current management doesn't in any way want to do things the "old" Disney Way. They know it to be antiquated in today's world and hit hard on the bottom line. They know nothing, in any real way, of how Disney got to be Disney, they only know that with today's technology doing anything the old way will not keep up with the times. They don't want anyone standing there looking over the shoulders of new "trainable" people and saying stuff like, "that's not the way we used to do it." The way they used to do it, to them, is costly and if the numbers of people that attend the parks is any indication, unnecessary to maintaining business. If you are going to stand around stale and not open to new things that you don't "think" Walt would approve of you will find yourself on the outside looking in.
It's not to say that the new kids aren't capable of doing some pretty spectacular things, it's just that they are going to do it in a more updated manner. If real talents like Tony, for example, are just going to make continued efforts to have it their way, it will, and did, mean the highway.
Another good example would be Joe and the Yeti folly. He spent a lot, and I mean a lot of money, to build Everest and include the largest AA ever and it was an epic failure. Whatever he did previous to that is lost in the world of that failure. He is probably, daily, speaking with people to spend more money to fix it, but I'll bet the only assurance he can come up with is that he "thinks this will work". He, rightfully or wrongfully, blew his ability to sell his thoughts and it stopped just like the Yeti did.
flynnibus
Premium Member
I only played on the poly beach a bit when young.. but we would do water ski'ing and river country a lot. It never stood out to me any different than swimming in any pond/lake around here. In fact, in general it was cleaner because the bottom on the beaches wasn't as muddy, but sand.
But water sking, we would do even from the lake shore (starts from the shore) and even in the natural areas it was pleasant. The water was just like pond water... but didn't have the big algea booms, etc you often see elsewhere.
Clever Name
Well-Known Member
Brain eating amoeba (Naegleria fowleri). It's rare, but once you're infected the mortality rate is 98%.Flesh-eating bacteria
Don't have MAGICal time today (or right now), but wanted to give props to 'pal' Merfie for taking apart Shel Holtz and Mark Ragan out in the Twitverse. Amazing how defensive they were and how quickly they shut up.
Of course, we all know that is the BRAND of social media they shill. A one way propaganda street and, let's face it, if people knew how much companies like Disney paid them for their self-created pseudo-science, they might not be so quick to believe a word these snake-oil salesmen are selling.
Someone long ago forgot that COMMUNICATION is all about a dialogue. Not a one-way street of PR.
Of course, we all know that is the BRAND of social media they shill. A one way propaganda street and, let's face it, if people knew how much companies like Disney paid them for their self-created pseudo-science, they might not be so quick to believe a word these snake-oil salesmen are selling.
Someone long ago forgot that COMMUNICATION is all about a dialogue. Not a one-way street of PR.
BlueSkyDriveBy
Well-Known Member
While Michel is a terrific designer and could be Imagineering's next rising star... there are two obstacles standing in his way:
1) He was hired by the guy who was just tossed out onto the street after 47 years in Glendale. As far as I know, there is no one left at WDI (at least no one with any power or authority) to champion Den Dulk's continued employment.
2) Michel is not a US citizen. He's here on a work visa, which are always temporary with expiration dates.
It's not difficult to do the math here. Once Den Dulk's visa expires, it will be up to the same leadership that kicked Baxter to the curb to keep Michel assigned to projects so his visa can be renewed. And I'm having a difficult time trying to imagine that happening.
