Probably because she gets in for free, and was in town on business. And if you are from Orlando you probably think the only thing to do in other cities is go to theme parks. She should have gone to The Getty or LACMA or Laguna Beach or something actually different than a theme park, the poor dear.
Okay, I've brought this up years ago, but I'm about to do it again. I rarely mention her because I don't want to jeopardize a friendship, so I'll keep this purposely vague...
In my little neighborhood known for some very good cocktail and dinner parties, I have a neighbor who works in TDA. She has been working at Disneyland for over 30 years, and she worked her way up into middle management in TDA 20 years ago. Her husband is also a successful professional and a very nice guy but doesn't really get the "Disney" thing, so she and I always chat at parties and with my nerdish knowledge of Disney we can keep up with each other. On her second mojito she can tell the funniest stories about Disneyland!
But one of the broad themes she has run with is the strong dislike the Anaheim team has for the Orlando team. There is a natural rivalry there, as to be expected. But it goes beyond that. The Anaheim team feels strongly that the Orlando office has let the brand down and is "doing it wrong" ("It" being the operation of a Disney theme park). Their standards in Orlando are different, their entire focus is different, and their attitude is different. She claims they are all "
sooooo corporate and dull!" The Anaheim and Orlando teams are interacting more in the last 8 years thanks to Rasulo's "One Disney" corporate setup.
She has said many of her peers in Orlando are only concerned about their next job, and they seem to rotate and transfer within jobs out there every 12 to 24 months. Whereas the Anaheim team is much more stagnant in upper-middle management and lower exec ranks, with the exception of the DLR President who is replaced by Burbank every 3 years like clockwork. In Anaheim her peers routinely count their tenure in decades, and stay in the same departments for years and years and years. Her Anaheim peers are all experts in their field, with clearly defined standards.
She also talks derisively about the physical setup out in Orlando, where most middle and senior management is in business parks far removed from an actual theme park and they rarely enter a theme park or Guest area. TDA is 100 yards from Fantasyland, and she often goes into Disneyland or DCA to shop or have lunch with her coworkers, including executives.
The result of these differences,
in her opinion, is that the Anaheim team is more focused on making sure Disneyland remains Disneyland, instead of focusing on your next gig and updating your LinkedIn profile page every year. I'm summarizing, and leaving out some more telling details, but that's the gist of it.
From the discussion here about
@PeterAlt and the TDO woman he listened to in line at Indiana Jones Adventure, it seems my neighbor is right.
