News Walt Disney Imagineering Leaving California, Moving To Florida... EDIT: Never Mind!

[britain]

I would hope that part of this proposal to move WDI out of California is that they get a really stunning place to work in and to create in. They've got a blank slate here. It should be something entirely unlike all the usual suburban office parks out there in America.

They could go really mod, really wow. With pavilions for different design disciplines and business centers for different teams built around that lagoon. Literally a modern dream factory.

 

[Sailor310]

...or they could build a real EPCOT-include housing.

 

[TP2000]

...or they could build a real EPCOT-include housing.

Well, I don't know that they can go that big.

But honestly, a brand new WDI campus built-from-scratch is something that only happens... well, it's never happened. The Glendale campus is a rag-tag collection of generic 1960's office buildings and warehouses, that weren't even designed for WDI but taken over by WDI later on.

This Lake Nona campus will be different. Or, at least, it should be different. I just hope they don't go cheap and build some bland suburban office park.

Here's the Disney office campus on the other side of town, in Celebration. It's a boring, generic, treeless, charmless collection of buildings. No humans to be seen on the streets or plazas. Inside of these boring buildings an army of cubicle drones sits and quietly has their souls and personality sucked into the HVAC system for 8 hours a day. Then they get in their grey Camry and drive home.

Occasionally on a Friday, or if it's Carol's birthday, things get really wild and the 4th floor TPS Reporting Team will shuffle over to the Applebee's in the equally charmless shopping center across this giant roadway.

Mandatory Fun Event! Team Lunch for Carol at Applebee's! 3.8 Stars!

This is obviously not the type of office environment where dreams are created. It's the type of environment where (career) dreams go to die.

My hope is that whatever they come up with for the WDI Campus in Lake Nona is something special, something that fosters a community of incredible creativity. Without an Applebee's.

 

[TP2000]

As a few examples of what truly innovative corporate architecture is like in the 21st century....

Amazon's headquarters in downtown Seattle are architecturally stunning and purposely invite people to play and visit. This is NOT a humanless and charmless Celebration office park with an Applebee's.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

In my limited understanding, the hotbeds for design and creativity are in New York and LA. Orlando is a long way. This move may limit the talent you get there.

Probably still true to a certain extent but I don’t think any industry is localized like it used to be. Movie and tv production used to be almost exclusively a CA and NY occupation, now it’s scattered all over the world. Austin is quickly becoming the next US tech hub. No reason Orlando can’t become the next creative hub.

Loved to visit Cocoa Beach (about an hour east of Orlando) for a month at a time for launches during my working days, but the humidity and all the bugs, especially mosquitoes when you're trying to have dinner outdoors, made me happy to be back in California when the launch was over. I thought about retiring there for no state income tax, but decided I rather pay state income tax and live in California.
I imagine many imagineers will come to the same conclusion.

Just depends on the person, you couldn’t pay me enough to move to LA because it’s too crowded and it’s impossible to get anywhere conveniently… but I’d move to Orlando tomorrow if my job offered to pay for it. I’ve lived in Las Vegas for a couple decades with access to just about every store, restaurant, and nightlife opportunity in the world but unless thats your thing all that doesn’t really matter, when I first moved here I loved all those things, after 20 years I rarely ever go near the strip anymore. Moving to Florida and going to Applebees wouldn’t be that different from my life in Vegas.

Some imagineers that love what LA offers are sure to stay behind, those looking for a quieter life or a change of scenery will probably welcome the move though, moving closes some doors and opens up others.

I don’t think state taxes would even factor in financially compared to cost of living and housing. Selling your home for a million + in CA and buying an equivalent home while putting $500k in the bank has to be appealing.

 

[lazyboy97o]

No reason Orlando can’t become the next creative hub.

It already has started to become the hub for themed entertainment and attractions. Universal Creative moved to Orlando years ago. Universal Studios Beijing and Epic Universe were both designed in Orlando and plenty of people relocated for those projects. IAAPA relocated to Orlando just recently years after the IAAPA Attractions Expo became permanently based in Orlando. A variety of vendors are either based in Orlando or are opening offices in the area.

 

[Sailor310]

As a few examples of what truly innovative corporate architecture is like in the 21st century....

Amazon's headquarters in downtown Seattle are architecturally stunning and purposely invite people to play and visit. This is NOT a humanless and charmless Celebration office park with an Applebee's.

I HATE to ask, but what are those dogs doing??

 

[TP2000]

I HATE to ask, but what are those dogs doing??

I zoomed in just to double check. I think they are just being dogs.

It appears the German Shepherd is wrestling with the Malamute. The Husky is doing that typical "Whatever, You Guys" Husky thing, while the Boxer puppy cheers them on and the... Labradoodle? Snickerdoodle? Lovable Mut? wags a tail large enough to sail a boat with.

Amazon employees have long been allowed to bring their dogs to the office with them every day, and this appears to be some Amazon folks taking a break with their dogs outside the office. Their downtown Seattle corporate campus was designed with lots of dog parks and animal-friendly spaces.

This might surprise people since I'm usually the one harumping about Disneyland Presidents wearing skinny jeans and lowering standards... , but I think Disney should embrace this type of modern corporate culture. Amazon is just one of many hip, modern companies that allow their employees to lighten up a bit, bring their Malamute to work with them, have a glass of wine in the conference room at the end of the day, etc., etc.

Disney's corporate world of cubicle armies in suburban office parks just seems so... boring.

FYI, that streetview was taken on a weekday. The parking lots on the backside of these buildings are crammed full of cars. It's just not an environment that encourages people to leave the building, if you are even allowed to? Much less go walk a dog, or grab a coffee from a sidewalk cart, or wander through a living forest.

This Disney office park is exactly the type of workplace that would create KiteTails and think it's fine.

 

[SSG]

Occasionally on a Friday, or if it's Carol's birthday, things get really wild and the 4th floor TPS Reporting Team will shuffle over to the Applebee's in the equally charmless shopping center across this giant roadway.

Mandatory Fun Event! Team Lunch for Carol at Applebee's! 3.8 Stars!

View attachment 599172

This is obviously not the type of office environment where dreams are created. It's the type of environment where (career) dreams go to die.

My hope is that whatever they come up with for the WDI Campus in Lake Nona is something special, something that fosters a community of incredible creativity. Without an Applebee's.

The food at Applebee's is what I imagine Evil tastes like.

 

[TP2000]

The food at Applebee's is what I imagine Evil tastes like.

When I lived back east, I actually liked a croissant chicken sandwich they had. Somehow I remember it decades later. But I think the last time I ate at an Applebee's was during the Clinton administration, in a mid-Atlantic state, in the suburbs.

I don't mean to pick on Applebee's specifically. I mean, we've all gone to those chain restaurants in suburban shopping centers before. But it's just... such a perfect example of the mediocre and bland environment Disney sets up thousands of its employees in. It's literally 3.8 stars out of 5.

Look at those streetview shots of Celebration above, and realize those are weekdays when thousands of people are at work there. And yet it's completely sterile, completely devoid of pedestrians and life and charm and humanity. And the big thrill for the week is when your director declares the team is going to Applebee's across the parking lot for Carol's birthday!

Gawd... it just makes me want to slit my wrists from boredom and depression. No wonder they're puking up crap like KiteTails and Harmonious and Genie+. They have no idea they are in the storytelling business, or the magic business, or any business that is even a whiff different than car insurance or mortgage refinancing.

 

[celluloid]

When I lived back east, I actually liked a croissant chicken sandwich they had. Somehow I remember it decades later. But I think the last time I ate at an Applebee's was during the Clinton administration, in a mid-Atlantic state, in the suburbs.

I don't mean to pick on Applebee's specifically. I mean, we've all gone to those chain restaurants in suburban shopping centers before. But it's just... such a perfect example of the mediocre and bland environment Disney sets up thousands of its employees in. It's literally 3.8 stars out of 5.

Look at those streetview shots of Celebration above, and realize those are weekdays when thousands of people are at work there. And yet it's completely sterile, completely void of pedestrians and life and charm and humanity. And the big thrill for the week is when your director declares the team is going to Applebee's across the parking lot for Carol's birthday!

Gawd... it just makes me want to slit my wrists from boredom and depression. No wonder they're puking up crap like KiteTails and Harmonious and Genie+. They have no idea they are in the storytelling business, or the magic business, or any business that is even a whiff different than car insurance or mortgage refinancing.

I get the importance of design and think it is neat and helps to reflect something cool, but at the end of the day I care way more about the resources put into the people and the buildings then what people driving by may see. Ultimately it would be cool to have both.

To compare animation, Mermaid and Beauty and The Beast were essentially pumped out of cubicles and trailers. If it comes down to it I would rather that focus go into the work of the park.

Disney's greatest came from boring buildings on the outside of Glendale's but great model work and talent given budget and creative prompts from within.

 

[britain]

The problem is those groundbreaking Silicon Valley office designs are for EXPANDING businesses that are disrupting industries and reinventing the world. Or at least they aspire to.

Disney is doing this because they are CONSOLIDATING their businesses and deliberately thinking SMALLER. “Don’t waste money developing a new kind of city, or how to incorporate education into vacationing. Help us sell more popcorn buckets!”

 

[lazyboy97o]

I get the importance of design and think it is neat and helps to reflect something cool, but at the end of the day I care way more about the resources put into the people and the buildings then what people driving by may see. Ultimately it would be cool to have both.

To compare animation, Mermaid and Beauty and The Beast were essentially pumped out of cubicles and trailers. If it comes down to it I would rather that focus go into the work of the park.

Disney's greatest came from boring buildings on the outside of Glendale's but great model work and talent given budget and creative prompts from within.

You don’t really want creative people in expensive places. They become precious and can’t be touched. Warehouses and generic offices can be customized, ripped apart and rebuilt as needed. Nobody’s going to bat an eye if people decorate on their own if it is goes a cheap wall, but they will if it’s some expensive finish.

 

[Lil Copter Cap]

Team Disney in Burbank is built in the same postmodern architecture styling. Although Burbank’s has the significance of Michael Graves as designer, the Celebration Point campus by Aldo Rossi is still incredibly inspirational.

I have to disagree. If an office space is required, I’d happily take this design. And for the time, it aligned with much of the other postmodern flair that existed in the Disney bubble: Swan/Dolphin, Casting Center building, Disney Animation, etc.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

It already has started to become the hub for themed entertainment and attractions. Universal Creative moved to Orlando years ago. Universal Studios Beijing and Epic Universe were both designed in Orlando and plenty of people relocated for those projects. IAAPA relocated to Orlando just recently years after the IAAPA Attractions Expo became permanently based in Orlando. A variety of vendors are either based in Orlando or are opening offices in the area.

You mean Disney Imagineering is following Universal Creative’s lead by moving to Orlando?

 

[TP2000]

the Celebration Point campus by Aldo Rossi is still incredibly inspirational.

Sure. It's a cute little housing community, the Orlando version of Ladera Ranch, or Newport Coast, or any number of planned communities in SoCal and other Sun Belt suburbs.

But Disney doesn't have a meaningful employment presence in Celebration Pointe.

The cubicle CM's all got put out at Celebration Place, in the bland and generic office buildings across a pedestrian-free roadway from the Applebee's. This is not only not inspirational, it seems soul-sucking and like a factory for mediocrity. Or the place where TPS Reports go to die.

Meanwhile, in Seattle...

 

[DrAlice]

I mean.... there's not even Mickey ears or the Disney font. How would you know this is Disney if you drove by? You wouldn't. Are they trying to hide?

 

[TP2000]

The problem is those groundbreaking Silicon Valley office designs are for EXPANDING businesses that are disrupting industries and reinventing the world. Or at least they aspire to.

Disney is doing this because they are CONSOLIDATING their businesses and deliberately thinking SMALLER. “Don’t waste money developing a new kind of city, or how to incorporate education into vacationing. Help us sell more popcorn buckets!”

Well, that's a good point. And it may be the case here with this Lake Nona move.

Maybe they'll just stack 'em up like they do in Celebration in bland, boring, cheap cubicle warehouses. With a Starbucks cart in the lobby, a Panera Bread across the street, and an Applebee's or TGIFriday's nearby in reserve for really big team-building events like Carol's birthday or the release of new cover sheets for the TPS Reports. All surrounded by acres of parking for acres of Camrys.

But I hope for at least the Imagineering campus built from scratch, that they do something at least on par with modern corporate America. Or perhaps take inspiration from some of America's leading museums and cultural campuses.

Like The Getty Museum in west LA (that apparently even has a hidden Mickey)...

Or just a campus of glassy and modern pavilions, like the Apple Park visitor's center?

Portland is redoing its entire airport, and when it opens in two years it will have the largest wood-framed roof in the world, using native Oregon timber. With giant skylights in it, and native trees beneath it. It's hyper-local and meaningful to locals, but also impressive on a grand scale to global travelers.

Or the soon to open Lucas Museum in west LA...

There's a 21st century world out there of cutting edge architecture and inspiring man-made environments.

WDI's new campus does not have to be another boring, cheaply built office park next to an Applebee's.

 

[TP2000]

I mean.... there's not even Mickey ears or the Disney font. How would you know this is Disney if you drove by? You wouldn't. Are they trying to hide?

Yeah, it's kind of weird. I imagine because it's such a mundane and basic complex that they knew they shouldn't brag about it. But you'd think there'd at least be a sign or something.

Although, when you sit and look at it, this Disney office complex in Celebration kind of looks like a really nice low-security prison that they tried to disguise as an office building. Like where parents who bought their talentless child's way into USC (Go Trojans!) spend 3 or 4 months in semi-confinement for their crime. They can't plant trees because it makes it easier to hide behind if they try to escape.

Yes, this is actually the main entrance and front door to the complex. Stay Off The Grass!

 

[lazyboy97o]

You mean Disney Imagineering is following Universal Creative’s lead by moving to Orlando?

Yes.