Walt Disney Imagineering reshuffles creative leadership at Walt Disney World

[BlueSkyDriveBy]

For what it's worth, a few days ago Lee Macdonald (well known Disney insider) said that Kathy Magnum has been very good at playing the politics game at WDI so this doesn't surprise me at all.

Kathy is amazingly good at it, almost as good as Baxter. I doubt she would have made it this far inside Glendale if she weren't.

Tom Morris, Imagineering Designer Extraordinaire, pretty much saved her hide on Carsland at DCA. It was a big mess before Morris set things right. Should be interesting to see which remaining senior Imagineer(s) will need to bail her out of hot water next time.

 

[Captain Neo]

If EPCOT gets Pixarized, to heck with Central Florida entirely - I'm planning our next trip to somewhere else.

This is how I feel. Nemo was a bit much and then the 3 caballeros thing replaced the Mexican boat ride that's where I said "I give up" and haven't been back since. It was a totally unnecessary tie in, they did a lousy job wi it, they replaced the finale set with just a big video screen instead of making a new set with AAs and took the messsage off Mexico. I was terrible all around,

 

[Captain Neo]

Kathy is amazingly good at it, almost as good as Baxter. I doubt she would have made it this far inside Glendale if she weren't.

Tom Morris, Imagineering Designer Extraordinaire, pretty much saved her hide on Carsland at DCA. It was a big mess before Morris set things right. Should be interesting to see which remaining senior Imagineer(s) will need to bail her out of hot water next time.

What was kevin raffertys role on Cars Land was he just like an assistant designer or what?

 

[BlueSkyDriveBy]

Have been a fan of her as well....And she redid Imagination with a horrible budget, yes I know not what anyone wanted still, but she sure made it better than its first redo. If shes on board again there I think its a good thing because shes familair with it, and maybe this time will have a much better budget. It was probably not what she really wanted to do either back then, but had no choice with the budget given in 01 or whenever it was etc. So now maybe she can really go at it.........Jacobsen, eh really? Another higher ranking for him? and yet Holmes still stays on as a money pincher? Not impressed.

Time to set the record straight on the Imagination redo.

Kathy was not in charge of the refurbishment in 2001/2002. It was David Mumford's project from the start. David returned from his stint on leading Mermaid Lagoon at DisneySea in the summer of 2001, and was given the Imagination redo instead of a pink slip like Steve Kirk and other Imagineers.

Unfortunately, David became very ill just 3 months before Imagination was completed in the spring of 2002. Kathy took over the project at that time, even though 90% of the work was finished. So all she knew of the redo was what David and his team had begun the year before. She was not responsible for the final design decisions that were incorporated.

 

[BlueSkyDriveBy]

What was kevin raffertys role on Cars Land was he just like an assistant designer or what?

You should ask Eddie Sotto. He's more familiar with that situation than I am.

 

[disneylandfan95]

What was kevin raffertys role on Cars Land was he just like an assistant designer or what?

Rafferty was a show writer. He was very heavily involved with the blue sky and creative processes, but did very little actual design work.

 

[Captain Neo]

You should ask Eddie Sotto. He's more familiar with that situation than I am.

But Eddie Sotto hasn't been with disney for well over a decade how would he know what was going on with cars land unless all the imagineers tell him everything

 

[Captain Neo]

Interesting bit of gossip I digged up. Turns out Kathy mangum can't stand Tony Baxter and there was a constant power struggle on r finding nemo sub voyage because it was originally tony and Bruce Gordon's project who were trying to bring back the subs for years. Tony wanted to keep many of the classical elements of the attraction like the sea serpent, Atlantis ruins, etc. but mangum was more of the "lets replace everything with video projections" type

If she is now in charge of Epcot then I hope to God she is willing to accept that Tony's original version of the attraction was superior and should be used as the model of any future revisions. A full dark ride with alot of heart and lots of richly detailed sets with audio animatronics.

 

[emcclay]

No. You can only see them at an Executive Breakfast. I believe Crystal Palace just ended its Pooh character breakfast in favor of an Executive Breakfast.

Wouldn't it be cool if you did the Dine with an Imagineer program and instead of getting some nobody who worked on the Rapunzel urinals you got someone like Kathy or Eric or Theron? I'd be afraid to dine with Rohde...dreading the inevitable ear piercing course of the meal.

You had to go for the ears, didn't you? I would have preferred the "fountain dip" course..

 

[vinnya1726]

I agree to a certain extent that keeping Pixar and such out of Epcot is a good idea, but I do understand Disney's logic if they go in that direction. Everything today is about marketing, Disney wants to sell plushes, backbacks, and other garbage with characters. They can do that in the imagination pavilion with what they have, Figment, if marketed correctly could be huge with kids...but the kids who come to the parks they do not know figment, that is Disney's fault...but they do know Nemo, they do know Donald Duck. I think they could create a show for Disney Junior with Dreamfinder and Figment and it could be more popular that the Princess Sofia and Jake and the Neverland Pirates...then going back to the original vision would be great. Anyway the entire pavilion needs to be redone, actually with the exception of Test Track ,Soarin, and Mission Space all of Future world needs a reboot. We should pray for a miracle.

 

[Clowd Nyne]

 

[HMF]

I agree. Pixar belongs in DHS or (in appropriate areas of) the MK.

Fixed that for you.

 

[unkadug]

If EPCOT gets Pixarized, to heck with Central Florida entirely - I'm planning our next trip to somewhere else.

But Pixar IS Disney.

 

[HMF]

What was kevin raffertys role on Cars Land was he just like an assistant designer or what?

Show Writer/Director

 

[HMF]

Interesting bit of gossip I digged up. Turns out Kathy mangum can't stand Tony Baxter and there was a constant power struggle on r finding nemo sub voyage because it was originally tony and Bruce Gordon's project who were trying to bring back the subs for years. Tony wanted to keep many of the classical elements of the attraction like the sea serpent, Atlantis ruins, etc. but mangum was more of the "lets replace everything with video projections" type
.

That is quite concerning.

 

[pixargal]

This is how I feel. Nemo was a bit much and then the 3 caballeros thing replaced the Mexican boat ride that's where I said "I give up" and haven't been back since. It was a totally unnecessary tie in, they did a lousy job wi it, they replaced the finale set with just a big video screen instead of making a new set with AAs and took the messsage off Mexico. I was terrible all around,

I agree. I was looking forward to a new film to showcase the beauty and culture of Mexico, like they did with the inside of the pavilion. Instead, they dumbed it down to bring in characters. What made Epcot so great was that is wasn't MK. My family always rode el Rio del Tiempo, now I have to bribe, and or threaten them, to get them to ride with me.

 

[manutdfan1]

Kathy is good for getting the most bang for her buck. She redid the seas on a horrible budget. So if the DHS budget is 600 million she should do some neat stuff with it.

According to Wikipedia, the WWoHP's budget was only $200m. Why is everyone so skeptical about what we can get for $600m at DHS?

 

[HMF]

I agree. I was looking forward to a new film to showcase the beauty and culture of Mexico, like they did with the inside of the pavilion. Instead, they dumbed it down to bring in characters. What made Epcot so great was that is wasn't MK. My family always rode el Rio del Tiempo, now I have to bribe, and or threaten them, to get them to ride with me.

The worst part is that now the "Mexico" Ride is hosted by an American, a Brazilian and only 1 actual Mexican. Unless they just re-dub Mexico as "Latin America" the current setup does not make much sense.

 

[aladdin2007]

The worst part is that now the "Mexico" Ride is hosted by an American, a Brazilian and only 1 actual Mexican. Unless they just re-dub Mexico as "Latin America" the current setup does not make much sense.

That ride makes me cringe now sadly, it just seems junky and thrown together. The bright spot lights are awful, the entrance tunnel is all lit and ugly, no more fog and the list goes on etc.

 

[RSoxNo1]

According to Wikipedia, the WWoHP's budget was only $200m. Why is everyone so skeptical about what we can get for $600m at DHS?

Because Universal is substantially more efficient at spending money than Disney.