Walt Disney Imagineering make significant appointment for upcoming Walt Disney World projects

[Lee]

Eric and Joe's roles are unchanged - they are both more on the creative side of things.

Exactly.
Kathy is just another layer of buerocracy, in a sense, between the creatives and management. From what I hear, though, she'll be a good advocate for the creative side in the battle with the suits.

 

[El Grupo]

I am pretty new to the forums , but love the inside baseball information that a few actually possess on this site. WDW1974 and others , cannot remember them all at this time. How many actually are excited about any new projected announced to date? fantasyland will be cool til you realize its a new dark ride , restaurant, and some meet and greets.

Avatar land (Pandora), come on, the money it would take to do it right, the mediocrity of the movie itself. I just cant see it coming out good. its more like a setup for failure.

I love WDW , been going for 30 years, took my honeymoon there and go 4 times a year. things have fallen off and annual prices have gone way up.

A belated welcome! I agree that it is a treat to get this info here.

Though I haven't made the treks to the parks as much lately, I've had the pleasure of visiting both DLR and WDW several times in the last 15 years. Though much of the talk about additional upgrades is speculative, I must admit this is the most excited I have been in a while about the potential with Disney. Sounds like some fun things are in store for both coasts.

Would I prefer something else besides Pandora? Without a doubt. But, I'll withhold judgement until plans are introduced. If it is done well, I suspect any theme could be a big draw. I'll just wait to see if they truly move ahead with the plans.

 

[Lee]

They never intended to stay with the "status quo". Never.

They've embraced the status quo for years in TDO. Some of the most risk averse people you'll ever meet.
If they could have kept running on promotions and selling memories for another decade, they likely would.
But they now see that they can't, and to get out of the hole they've dug they now have to reverse course. Some of us have been warning of such for years now. Time to pay the piper.

And, no, this wasn't all some master plan of Iger's. He is very hands-off with the parks, preferring to let others handle all but the biggers decisions for the division.

 

[Brewmaster]

So the pendulum has a name and it is "Kathy". I like it.

I'm pretty sure women don't like to be referred to as a "pendulum", it's not very flattering and could get you slapped

 

[HMF]

I would like to be excited but Kathy Mangum was in charge of butchering the Living Seas.

 

[BryceM]

What is with the hate on Nemo? My 3 year old sister's face was pure happiness when she saw Nemo, Dory and the other characters. Being so young, other rides scared her. But she loved The Seas with Nemo and Friends. I even really enjoyed the ride! I approve.

Besides, I heard it was completely dull and boring before.

 

[ellie-badge]

I'm pretty sure women don't like to be referred to as a "pendulum", it's not very flattering and could get you slapped

I'm pretty sure most anything he says could get him slapped.

 

[ellie-badge]

I would like to be excited but Kathy Mangum was in charge of butchering the Living Seas.

As mentioned on a previous thread (or even earlier in this one, if I remember reading correctly), she saved a pavilion that'd have otherwise been left for dead.

 

[HMF]

As mentioned on a previous thread (or even earlier in this one, if I remember reading correctly), she saved a pavilion that'd have otherwise been left for dead.

and/or gave it a fate worse than death in my view.

 

[HMF]

What is with the hate on Nemo? My 3 year old sister's face was pure happiness when she saw Nemo, Dory and the other characters. Being so young, other rides scared her. But she loved The Seas with Nemo and Friends. I even really enjoyed the ride! I approve.

Besides, I heard it was completely dull and boring before.

Look up what Epcot is supposed to stand for and you will see how Nemo is thematically inappropriate.

 

[ellie-badge]

and/or gave it a fate worse than death in my view.

Meh, to each their own.

 

[menamechris]

and/or gave it a fate worse than death in my view.

The animals and researchers in said pavilion would probably disagree. I think the Living Seas is fine. Everyone is given the option to ride the clammobile or not. Usually I don't. Take the side entrance and just enjoy the animals if you hate Nemo... I am willing to overlook the theme issue if it means getting some young people in there who otherwise would have no interest.

 

[BryceM]

Look up what Epcot is supposed to stand for and you will see how Nemo is thematically inappropriate.

And before Nemo, Epcot almost offered nothing for kids.

I remember hating Epcot as I walked forever in the heat behind my parents as they shopped and drank in the World Showcase. Epcot was so boring to me and I couldn't wait to leave.

 

[monothingie]

Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic...

 

[Patricia Melton]

I have not seen anyone do this in this thread (and I tried looking in the archives for a post that would contain this information but could not find one) but I think it would be EXTREMELY helpful for us non-Disney-insiders to get a breakdown of who each of these people are and what their skill set could mean for an assemblage of their talent at TDO.

The article mentions the following people:

* Kathy Magnum =
* Jack Blitch (what an unfortunate name for what I assume to be a very nice man) =
* Bruce Vaughn =
* Meg Crofton =
* Joe Rhode =
* Eric Jacobson =

I've heard of some of these people, but I am not familiar enough with any of their work to know what I really think of any of them. I'd love to see a few paragraphs from someone out there who knows their work enough to be able to analyze what these staffing decisions mean and what we might expect from them.

For instance, I would know immediately what to expect from a movie if you told me that the Director was going to be Clint Eastwood and the stars were going to be Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Viola Davis, Glenn Close, and Jude Law. Without even telling me the plot or general storyline, I could sort of picture that movie because I am very familiar with all these people's work. If you told me that a new movie would be directed by Michael Bay and would star Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Will Smith, Zac Efron, and Cameron Diaz, I'd have a totally different movie in mind.

I just don't know what a project with Magnum, Blitch, Vaughn, Rhode, and Jacobson would look like and what I could expect from it.

Anyone out there able to do a good analysis of this for those of us who are not in the know?

 

[Patricia Melton]

Have to wonder if this is the first in several prescribed changes for Orlando from the "Doctor". Nothing more than an opinion, but if the folks in Burbank are potentially acknowledging the issues at WDW, more shuffling could be around the corner.

Is "the Doctor" John Lasseter?

 

[HMF]

And before Nemo, Epcot almost offered nothing for kids.

I remember hating Epcot as I walked forever in the heat behind my parents as they shopped and drank in the World Showcase. Epcot was so boring to me and I couldn't wait to leave.

I was 9 when I first went to Epcot and loved it. It literally changed my life

 

[Patricia Melton]

Maybe shes going to spearhead the DHS makeover, carsland or no carsland etc.

I really, really, really think this is what's coming and will be TDO's answer to Potterland at Universal: a longterm, big budget, well-detained and expertly themed reinvention of DHS into a park that people clamor to get into.

 

[Patricia Melton]

As much as I like Carsland, I hope it remains exclusive to DCA. It would be nice to see each of the parks have at least one major unique attraction/land.

With that said, I would like to see DHS get an immersive environment with rides equal to or better that what is offered in Carsland.

It appears WDI has plenty of ideas. Its just a matter of Disney approving the budget.

I think the Cars characters could be in DHS, but not Radiator Springs. Leave that in California (and the Cars wing of the Art of Animation Resort).

I'd love to see them do an international race Cars-area based on Cars 2. Even though that movie was not all that great, I liked the race around the world setting. DHS could get this and have it themed to be a behind the scenes look at a race around the world movie starring the Cars characters. It could include a version of the RSR but set in an international race setting with scenes depicting different countries....and also it could have a Go-Kart course that would give people the experience they want on the Speedway so that the Speedway could eventually be removed from MK and free up land in Tomorrowland.

 

[Patricia Melton]

The animals and researchers in said pavilion would probably disagree. I think the Living Seas is fine. Everyone is given the option to ride the clammobile or not. Usually I don't. Take the side entrance and just enjoy the animals if you hate Nemo... I am willing to overlook the theme issue if it means getting some young people in there who otherwise would have no interest.

I agree with this 100%. Nemo is there if you want to see Nemo. Little kids love Nemo. I personally find it a little irksome when at an aquarium and I hear little kids squealing "Nemo! Nemo! Nemo!" at the clown fish outside of any Disney park, but Nemo is exciting for little kids. Let them have the Nemo area at EPCOT...and allow people to bypass it if they just want to see the animals without the Nemo additions.

I'd actually like to see a Nemo ride at DAK if they ever build the Australia area that was once on the drawing board. Nemo is set around the Great Barrier Reef and Sydney. The other Disney movie featuring Australia is Rescuers Down Under. I'd like to see both of them represented in a DAK Australia expansion someday.