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

[MerlinTheGoat]

All comes back to CORN!

You call it corn, we call it maize. Guess it's a maizey joke then.

I certainly love Epcot now. I was just generalizing (which was wrong to do) that some kids may get bored. I'm sorry.

Plus, back then I never knew about Journey into Imagination. Probably because my mom said she has the song stuck in her head for eternity, hahaha! And I'm only 16 so I never really went (where I can actually remember) until the late 90's or early 2000's.

That's a shame you didn't get to go on it then. It's most certainly going to entertain kids. I love the song, catchy but great.

 

[maxairmike]

You call it corn, we call it maize. Guess it's a maizey joke then.

Oh come on, you all are hurting my ears!

 

[Kuhio]

All comes back to CORN!

There may be a kernel of truth to that statement.

 

[devoy1701]

This is a tough crowd today.

And I find it humorous that JT still tries to pass as someone who actually knows something about anything.

 

[sshindel]

This is a tough crowd today.

And I find it humorous that JT still tries to pass as someone who actually knows something about anything.

Hey, I spend my work days trying to pass as someone who knows something about anything. It's the people that actually believe it that's the problem...

 

[Patricia Melton]

Disney's Hollywood Studios (or Disney's MGM Studios, as I fondly remember it being called) used to be my favorite of the four parks... that is, while it still had the working studio gimmick going for it. My absolute favorite area of the park was The Magic of Disney Animation and actually getting to watch all of the animators work on the next upcoming animated feature, as being a Disney Animator has always been my dream since I was a little girl.

This is a very important comment because it strikes at something that I think Disney really needs to address: since no actual movie-making will most likely ever happen at DHS ever again, the whole mission statement and guiding principles of this park need to be re-imagined from the ground up. It no longer has a real purpose since the purpose of this park when it opened was to take guests behind the scenes of movie-making.

I think the new purpose should be something like "DHS is the park that celebrates your favorite movies and makes you feel like you are INSIDE your favorite movies".

No more behind the scenes of movie making...but instead make guests feel immerses in favorite movies like Potterland does. Bring the worlds of movies like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, the Muppets, the Incredibles, Roger Rabbit, etc. to life at DHS so that people feel like they are INSIDE the movies.

I think this park could be turned from pig's ear to silk purse, or at the very least a decent pleather handbag if the focus became "bringing the worlds of movies to life" instead of whatever randomness is happening there now.

 

[devoy1701]

This is a very important comment because it strikes at something that I think Disney really needs to address: since no actual movie-making will most likely ever happen at DHS ever again, the whole mission statement and guiding principles of this park need to be re-imagined from the ground up. It no longer has a real purpose since the purpose of this park when it opened was to take guests behind the scenes of movie-making.

I think the new purpose should be something like "DHS is the park that celebrates your favorite movies and makes you feel like you are INSIDE your favorite movies".

No more behind the scenes of movie making...but instead make guests feel immerses in favorite movies like Potterland does. Bring the worlds of movies like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, the Muppets, the Incredibles, Roger Rabbit, etc. to life at DHS so that people feel like they are INSIDE the movies.

I think this park could be turned from pig's ear to silk purse, or at the very least a decent pleather handbag if the focus became "bringing the worlds of movies to life" instead of whatever randomness is happening there now.

I thought this was the guiding principle of the park:
The World you have entered was created by The Walt Disney Company and is dedicated to Hollywood—not a place on a map, but a state of mind that exists wherever people dream and wonder and imagine, a place where illusion and reality are fused by technological magic. We welcome you to a Hollywood that never was—and always will be.”

Does the park actually have a mission and vision statement that differs from the dedication?

 

[Disneyhead'71]

This is a very important comment because it strikes at something that I think Disney really needs to address: since no actual movie-making will most likely ever happen at DHS ever again, the whole mission statement and guiding principles of this park need to be re-imagined from the ground up. It no longer has a real purpose since the purpose of this park when it opened was to take guests behind the scenes of movie-making.

I think the new purpose should be something like "DHS is the park that celebrates your favorite movies and makes you feel like you are INSIDE your favorite movies".

No more behind the scenes of movie making...but instead make guests feel immerses in favorite movies like Potterland does. Bring the worlds of movies like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, the Muppets, the Incredibles, Roger Rabbit, etc. to life at DHS so that people feel like they are INSIDE the movies.

I think this park could be turned from pig's ear to silk purse, or at the very least a decent pleather handbag if the focus became "bringing the worlds of movies to life" instead of whatever randomness is happening there now.

"Ride The Movies!"

Oh wait, that one is taken. Sorry, my bad.

 

[ToTBellHop]

This is a tough crowd today.

And I find it humorous that JT still tries to pass as someone who actually knows something about anything.

Yeah...it's funny.

It's very clear from behavior over the past decade or more that TDO doesn't care to update the parks and instead prefers to do the bare minimum to maintain a continuous "memories" campaign with projects forced through externally every now and again when someone out west says "hey, we haven't added anything to Florida in awhile. Let's do something." The difference is the folks running the other Disney properties will actually make the calls to get projects greenlit--TDO has projects forced on them b/c they are so risk averse. It appears (as the actual experts here have suggested) that a complete restructuring is being forced through at WDW because the status quo doesn't work. I'm sure it'll take awhile for actual change to occur, but if this change continues, 5 years from now might be a much more optimistic time in Florida.

 

[sshindel]

I thought this was the guiding principle of the park:
The World you have entered was created by The Walt Disney Company and is dedicated to Hollywood—not a place on a map, but a state of mind that exists wherever people dream and wonder and imagine, a place where illusion and reality are fused by technological magic. We welcome you to a Hollywood that never was—and always will be.”

Does the park actually have a mission and vision statement that differs from the dedication?

You know, I've seen that dedication before, but I cannot remember the last time that park made me feel anywhere close to that! Re-reading that first gave me chills, then it just made me sad. Now it's more like "a half day park kind of related to movies, and randomly Aerosmith".

 

[BryceM]

You know, I've seen that dedication before, but I cannot remember the last time that park made me feel anywhere close to that! Re-reading that first gave me chills, then it just made me sad. Now it's more like "a half day park kind of related to movies, and randomly Aerosmith".

Don't forget, music is a big part of Hollywood and entertainment. I think RnRC fits in quite well.

 

[Patricia Melton]

I thought this was the guiding principle of the park:
The World you have entered was created by The Walt Disney Company and is dedicated to Hollywood—not a place on a map, but a state of mind that exists wherever people dream and wonder and imagine, a place where illusion and reality are fused by technological magic. We welcome you to a Hollywood that never was—and always will be.”

Does the park actually have a mission and vision statement that differs from the dedication?

Guiding principles are actually more like rules that you can't break if you want to be successful. They're things like this:

* My business will always provide excellent customer service and resolve all problems within one work day.
* My employees will answer all emails within one hour from 8am to 4pm M-F.
* Every customer who comes through the door will be greeted with a smile.

Those are basic guiding principles. For DHS these could be:

* DHS will provide highly immersive, themed areas that make guests feel they are in the movies.
* DHS will have no fewer than 5 popular E-ticket rides and at least 15 rides total that people clamor to get on.
* DHS will rise above the competition by maintaing all its attractions and themed areas to the highest industry standards of upkeep.

So, guiding principles are very nuts and bolts. Mission Statements are the more flowery things...and Vision Statements are like gardens of flowers. A Mission Statement is typically one sentence (two max) and the Vision Statement can be more of a paragraph.

The dedication for DHS that you quoted could be seen as a Vision Statement, but unless TDO has specified that's what their VS was I would not assume it's what they've been using. Chances are it was put on that plaque and forgotten about.

Mission statements, visions statements, and guiding principles were drilled into people in the 90s and early 2000s and I read a lot of business books and took a lot of seminars on this stuff. It's part of my DNA now but I don't know if people just starting business careers or going to school now are even taught this stuff.

I've had my own business for about 30 years now and this is what I use to run it so it works for me. I taught my son and daughter to do it and now I teach my niece and nephew because I think it's a great way to keep whatever you are doing from going off the rails and losing your focus.

Like how DHS has gone off the rails and lost its focus...but it is certainly salvageable.

 

[devoy1701]

Guiding principles are actually more like rules that you can't break if you want to be successful. They're things like this:

* My business will always provide excellent customer service and resolve all problems within one work day.
* My employees will answer all emails within one hour from 8am to 4pm M-F.
* Every customer who comes through the door will be greeted with a smile.

Those are basic guiding principles. For DHS these could be:

* DHS will provide highly immersive, themed areas that make guests feel they are in the movies.
* DHS will have no fewer than 5 popular E-ticket rides and at least 15 rides total that people clamor to get on.
* DHS will rise above the competition by maintaing all its attractions and themed areas to the highest industry standards of upkeep.

So, guiding principles are very nuts and bolts. Mission Statements are the more flowery things...and Vision Statements are like gardens of flowers. A Mission Statement is typically one sentence (two max) and the Vision Statement can be more of a paragraph.

The dedication for DHS that you quoted could be seen as a Vision Statement, but unless TDO has specified that's what their VS was I would not assume it's what they've been using. Chances are it was put on that plaque and forgotten about.

Mission statements, visions statements, and guiding principles were drilled into people in the 90s and early 2000s and I read a lot of business books and took a lot of seminars on this stuff. It's part of my DNA now but I don't know if people just starting business careers or going to school now are even taught this stuff.

I've had my own business for about 30 years now and this is what I use to run it so it works for me. I taught my son and daughter to do it and now I teach my niece and nephew because I think it's a great way to keep whatever you are doing from going off the rails and losing your focus.

Like how DHS has gone off the rails and lost its focus...but it is certainly salvageable.

I was refering to your comment that the Mission and Guiding Principles of Hollywood Studios need to be reimagined from the ground up. But I don't know that the park (or any of the Disney Parks) actually have Mission statements. The way you had worded your post made it sound as though they did and you knew what they were. I wasn't aware that any of the parks had ideas to live by other than the quoted lines from their dedication speeches. And frankly I'm not sure if they need anything more than that. The departments within the parks should have mission statements to guide their Cast Members, but don't you find it silly that a park would have a principle such as "DHS would have no fewer than 5 popular e-tickets?" I mean something like that is out of Park Ops control if they can't get TDO to approve/build the projects. Just some thoughts.

 

[Patricia Melton]

I was refering to your comment that the Mission and Guiding Principles of Hollywood Studios need to be reimagined from the ground up. But I don't know that the park (or any of the Disney Parks) actually have Mission statements. The way you had worded your post made it sound as though they did and you knew what they were. I wasn't aware that any of the parks had ideas to live by other than the quoted lines from their dedication speeches. And frankly I'm not sure if they need anything more than that. The departments within the parks should have mission statements to guide their Cast Members, but don't you find it silly that a park would have a principle such as "DHS would have no fewer than 5 popular e-tickets?" I mean something like that is out of Park Ops control if they can't get TDO to approve/build the projects. Just some thoughts.

I think you are really missing my point.

I'm saying that DHS really needs the Mission Statement, Guiding Principles, and Vision Statement treatment to turn that place around. I have no idea what TDO's culture is like at the C-suite level, but I've seen a number of companies turn themselves around by bringing in "coaches" who sit down with the C-suite and develop solid Mission Statements, Guiding Principles, etc. to get the company back on track.

My husband was a restaurant franchisee for many years and this was a big part of the culture of the restaurant groups he was a part of. The Guiding Principles in particular are what keep a company on track because the executives bring them out at meetings when decisions are being made and it's forbidden to break the guiding principles if they want the project to succeed.

This is how you achieve your goals as a company: by identifying the end result you want to achieve for a project and then determining the things you can and can't do if you want to reach that goal. TDO must do this, but I have no idea what their Mission Statements and Guiding Principles are.

But based on my experience as a businesswoman and my time observing my husband's career I can tell you that if you have a failing company or a business that's just not doing as well as it could because your product is no longer desirable to people (like DHS in my opinion), then a good investment of time is to sit down and draft up a set of new Guiding Principles that will help you set up the rules you will live by to reach your goal.

 

[midwest_mice]

While I do agree a Carsland would be what it takes to get DHS up to par, I prefer to see it only in Anaheim. I am planning a trip there next summer, just to see the re-imagined California Adventure as I was there 5 years ago when construction was just starting on the re-theming of everything. But of course I will spend at least two days at Disneyland Park as you can't forget about all the classic rides that are still there and not torn down for meet n greets.

 

[RSoxNo1]

What a stellar job he has done.

I'm fairly certain I saw him on my last trip, but the guy changes his hair cut (what's left of it now) every 5 minutes so it was hard to tell.

 

[aladdin2007]

Regarding DHS, I would like to see better entertainment for one thing as a start. A decent parade is needed, and something better than all the annoying disneychannel rock stuff that occurs way too often.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Great things may be in the future, but I think the biggest thing this signals is CHANGE.

And a fundamental realization that the current status quo was going to, if continued, absolutely start to severely impact WDW Co's business going forward.

Burbank operates under the notion that WDW resorts will be between 85-90% full year round. They haven't been close to that this summer and much of the last few years.

Who would have thought all that over-expansion would hurt them?

"We need to raise capital..."
"Well let's build another DVC resort!"
"We haven't sold out of the last ones yet."
"Well then we won't tell people this one is coming"
"Don't we need to have something for them to do once they get here?"
"Nonsense, you're fired."

Did they learn anything from Paris?

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

She was in charge of doing something to make up for the years of neglect that The Seas had been getting. Sounds familiar to the current role she's being put in.

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

The edutainment model of EPCOT Center could not work today. The world has changed, in many ways as EPCOT Center predicted. The park was forced to evolve as our attention spans evolved.

The Seas with Nemo and Friends is a mediocre dark ride that serves the purpose of breathing life into a dying pavilion. The problem I see is that The Seas with Nemo and Friends is 100% about the plot of the movie and nothing about the backstory of The Seas. The Nemo characters could have been used in an educational role as they are used elsewhere in the pavilion (Some of the exhibits, and Turtle Talk).

I thought this was the guiding principle of the park:
The World you have entered was created by The Walt Disney Company and is dedicated to Hollywood—not a place on a map, but a state of mind that exists wherever people dream and wonder and imagine, a place where illusion and reality are fused by technological magic. We welcome you to a Hollywood that never was—and always will be.”

Does the park actually have a mission and vision statement that differs from the dedication?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I love the words on this dedication plaque.

 

[rudyjr13]

Well, that's still up for debate ... there are many cutbacks on the horizon and TDO is expecting the NEW, NEW, NEW, But not really Fantasyland will make people not notice shorter hours, attraction closures, transport cuts, entertainment cuts, dining cuts, EMH cuts etc ... but there's going to be an awful lot of pain before pleasure comes.

Understand WDW is having one of its worst summers in a decade ... and, no, please don't tell me (not you, anyone!) that since you waited two hours for Splash Mountain yesterday that I am crazy and wrong. I'm not.
It's why folks at Disney weren't happy with me yesterday/today ... and I feel terrible about that, truly awful (can you feel the sarcasm tonight?)

The bold part is fascinating to me. Able to share more of that story? Understand if not. And thanks for all the info...I am one that IS excited for the not really new FL but your info is even more exciting.

 

[twinnstar]

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 totally disagree, also. I happened to be a kid 20 years ago, and EPCOT was my favorite park in WDW. I dont even remember caring much about World Showcase - Future World was THE BEST in my youngster opinion. Now, we've got a few things that dont fit the theme, and whats left that does isnt very strong. I would have much rather they worked on the THEME and what was best for it. In my opinion, looking ahead to the future is a BIG part of what Disney means to me.