"What's Next?" presentation December 7th

[StageFrenzy]

http://www.martinsvids.net/?p=708

And that is Martin

 

[Lee]

Thank you! I just want to clarify I'm not that young I know my beliefs make me sound 7 but I'm 15 Once again but, Thank You!

Ummm....15 is most certainly that young.

 

[WED99]

Ummm....15 is most certainly that young.

not necessarily. I'm not old enough to drink or drive but I am old enough to make the right decisions for my self. I know all about the "real world", I just choose to look at it from a different perspective. I ask that just because I have revealed my age you don't treat me as any less of a man. Odds are I could do everything you could that the law allows me to.

 

[danlb_2000]

Just want to point out I never said people were trying to kill my dreams....
And yes I know it's just a job, but I have always wanted to work for theme parks and may as well go for the best! I like strict jobs, it keeps me on track. I just want to experience what it's like to build something for years then watch as it makes millions happy!

You talk about the good part of being and Imagineer, but how would you feel about your job if you kept coming up with incredible innovative ideas that would make millions of guests happy, but were never allowed to build any of them, or were constantly told to build it but with half the money it requires?

If you dream enough it will happen. If you never give up then you always succeed, and the end result will always be rewarding.

This seems like a nice way to live you life, but unless you are realistic you are just setting yourself up for major disappointment. Yes, you should never give up, but you should also not live under the mistaken illusion that "you always succeed", because that's not the world we live in. As you get older you will understand.

 

[WED99]

You talk about the good part of being and Imagineer, but how would you feel about your job if you kept coming up with incredible innovative ideas that would make millions of guests happy, but were never allowed to build any of them, or were constantly told to build it but with half the money it requires?

Beats having a job where you never get any of your ideas out at all.

This seems like a nice way to live you life, but unless you are realistic you are just setting yourself up for major disappointment. Yes, you should never give up, but you should also not live under the mistaken illusion that "you always succeed", because that's not the world we live in. As you get older you will understand.

You won't always succeed, everyone has to fail before they get anywhere in life. But it's up to the person if they can pick them self up from that failure and keep trying or settle or a normal life. As I've said earlier, please don't judge me by my age. It's the reason I wanted to avoid stating it. I understand the real world. I know about bills and economy and how the odds of me ever being an imagineer are extremely slim! But that's no reason to give up. Life is as hard as you make it. I follow the same rules in life as I do when I design...


Nothing is hard when you think of it in a simple way.


And I promise you if you try that, it will solve all of your problems!

 

[danlb_2000]

Beats having a job where you never get any of your ideas out at all.!

I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. A negative work environment can very quickly kill any enjoyment you might get from your successes.

You won't always succeed, everyone has to fail before they get anywhere in life. But it's up to the person if they can pick them self up from that failure and keep trying or settle or a normal life. As I've said earlier, please don't judge me by my age. It's the reason I wanted to avoid stating it. I understand the real world. I know about bills and economy and how the odds of me ever being an imagineer are extremely slim! But that's no reason to give up. Life is as hard as you make it. I follow the same rules in life as I do when I design...

Nice platitude, but I hate to break it to you, how hard life is, is rarely under your control.

 

[BigThunderMatt]

Nothing is hard when you think of it in a simple way.

Ha! You're going to be eaten alive on day 1 at Disney if and when you ever get a job there.

Trust me I know firsthand...been there six years and I dash the hopes and dreams of newcomers like you before lunchtime on a near daily basis. Not because I enjoy it but because if you genuinely care about the well-being of someone you have to give them frequent reality checks.

 

[HMF]

This seems like a nice way to live you life, but unless you are realistic you are just setting yourself up for major disappointment. Yes, you should never give up, but you should also not live under the mistaken illusion that "you always succeed", because that's not the world we live in. As you get older you will understand.

^
This, Trust me, once you leave High School things become a LOT more complicated. Many things I thought I knew about life when I was younger turned out to be completely false.

 

[SirLink]

I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. I negative work environment can very quickly kill any enjoyment you might get from your successes.

This.

Especially when you prove ideas work and the management automatically reject it for silly focus testing.

 

[Disday]

Before I say anything, I know this is supposed to be "News and Rumors", but this is my concept ;
After Disney adds things and does everything to "fix" and spruce up stuff to amazing quality their current parks, I have an idea for a fifth park. Disney's Adventure Empire is sort of an ancient park with lands; The Mesopotamian City-State, Athens, Rome, The Queen's Kingdom, and Egypt.

I like this idea. I think a time period park is a great idea for a new park.

 

[danlb_2000]

But back to the main point of the argument... I believe that both Universal and Disney have equal access to all the skills needed to create incredible ground breaking attractions, so in the end it just comes down to who is more willing to spend the money and take the risk to do it. Disney used to that, but in recent years is looks like Universal and now Comcast are more willing. That's not to say things can't change, Disney could create groundbreaking attractions for Avatar, but that is yet to be seen. We know what Universal has planned for HP2 and we can see the dirt moving and steel rising, so I am giving them the benefit of the doubt at the moment and believing that they will deliver.

 

[BryceM]

Do they? I mean really, do they? They had 1 new land with 2 re-themed rides. Sure FJ was good and the KUKA arm is innovative, but thats all they've really done. The area is the highlight and sure is great, but just follows the guidelines created by Disney over 50 years ago. Spiderman and Transformers ride system was just Uni's version of the EMV system, an innovation designed by Disney.

Oh okay, one new land. A land that is probably one of the most detailed and immersive lands ever created. A land that hugely boosted Islands of Adventure's park attendance.

And I don't understand how you can say that about The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, a ride that helped re-define the definition of a ride with it's multi-range motions, 3-D technology, HD screens, special effects and amazing physical scenery that truly places you into the streets of New York.

And you've forgot to mention how they've added Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem, a new parade, re-painted all of Islands of Adventure, new night-time show at Universal Studios, already started construction of Potter expansion in Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios and began and announced construction of Transformers: The Ride all in a short time-span. All of this not long after they opened the amazing Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

 

[WED99]

Nice platitude, but I hate to break it to you, how hard life is, is rarely under your control.

No not really. Life's easy. If you tell yourself it's hard, you end up sad.
Honestly, just try it.

 

[WED99]

Ha! You're going to be eaten alive on day 1 at Disney if and when you ever get a job there.

Trust me I know firsthand...been there six years and I dash the hopes and dreams of newcomers like you before lunchtime on a near daily basis. Not because I enjoy it but because if you genuinely care about the well-being of someone you have to give them frequent reality checks.

You should be proud of that. No ones crushing my dreams, no point trying. Even if I'm broke and sleeping in a gutter I'll be waiting for that day I'm an Imagineer.

 

[danlb_2000]

No not really. Life's easy. If you tell yourself it's hard, you end up sad.
Honestly, just try it.

I feel really bad for you, you are in for a seriously rude awakening some day. Personally, I acknowledge that life is hard, enjoy the good times, prepare my self for the inevitable bad times and have had a pretty happy life so far.

 

[BryceM]

not necessarily. I'm not old enough to drink or drive but I am old enough to make the right decisions for my self. I know all about the "real world", I just choose to look at it from a different perspective. I ask that just because I have revealed my age you don't treat me as any less of a man. Odds are I could do everything you could that the law allows me to.

Yay, another teenager! I'm 16! I can drive though...

I also have dreams of being an Imagineer or working for Universal creative. I just am having trouble to find out what to major in. Since I live in Florida, I want to stay in state and preferably be near Orlando...

Ahhh, college stresses me out.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I strongly disagree with that. Spiderman and Forbidden Journey are very good rides but Disney attractions in recent years have topped them easily. Indiana Jones Adventure in my opinion is a lot more fun than spiderman! On my most recent trip I had the chance to ride the two newest and biggest rides, Transformers and Radiator Springs Racers. I can promise you right now I left Transformers saying "It was good, but not spectacular." I then walked off of RSR saying "That was amazing and exceeded my expectations!"

No matter how much people praise Universal, Disney will always be number one. While Uni is working on the biggest new e-ticket ride the Imagineers are working hard to create brand new entertainment. The Imagineers are Pioneers in their field, something Uni lacks very much.

I should clarify. Universal is outperforming Disney in Florida.

 

[RSoxNo1]

If you want mall shopping experience.. shop at the mega stores in the park I'm glad the environment continues into the shops...

The locker area suffers from being a dead-end but I didn't find it too off-putting. Just more of an example of how their locker system suffers when volume goes up. There needs to be a better way of handling the touch-screen away from the lockers themselves to improve that.

Edit: I don't remember if its a true dead-end, but does require a U turn to get to the ride which doesn't help traffic.

The locker area is integrated into the line itself but it has traffic coming from people going on the ride and people coming from the gift shop. It is a total disaster. The simple solution is to have the locker area outside of the castle, or at the very least, outside of the line.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Six Flags was used as an example. They use a lot of new ride systems but they don't compare to Disney. This is because the imagineers always introduce a new technology or use their existing technologies to tell stories better than anyone else! And it is not toxic, I refuse to believe that.

Six Flags, despite talking about operating theme parks, is in the amusement business. They don't count themselves amongst Disney and Universal. They may hire the same ride systems manufacturers, and operations people, but they do not get very involved in design. That is a known, and to toss their name around just makes you look silly. It's like saying Wrigley's chocolate isn't as good as Hershey's. Yes, they both make candies, but Wrigley doesn't make chocolate, so their is no real comparison.

Tower of Terror II is about 2 years old.... just pointing that out. You may be right about the others, as I said I'm not entirely sure.

Tower of Terror II is the current name, after upgrades, of Tower of Terror which opened in 1997.

What's wrong with living in a dream world? dreams are the happiest thing in the world, and a wise man taught me if you can dream it you can do it! That wise man then went on the create what we know today as Disneyland and the entire theme park industry!

How could you create such happy things in a toxic place? Most imagineers say they have the best job in the world, just the ones who get fired say it's toxic.

I'll tell you exactly what it's like in a few years when I'm running the place

There is a HUGE difference between living in a dream world (being delusional) and having a dream. Having a dream does not mean ignoring reality.

Do they? I mean really, do they? They had 1 new land with 2 re-themed rides. Sure FJ was good and the KUKA arm is innovative, but thats all they've really done. The area is the highlight and sure is great, but just follows the guidelines created by Disney over 50 years ago. Spiderman and Transformers ride system was just Uni's version of the EMV system, an innovation designed by Disney.

The ride system is from Oceaneering.

Many ex-WDI are working for UNI now ... the head creative of WWoHP (Thierry Coup) was once at 1401.

I find it amusing that people here drool over Eddie Sotto who hasn't worked for WDI since last century and has been involved largely in non-park work since and still consider him an Imagineer, but don't give that same respect to folks who are still putting top product into parks all over the globe.

It is an odd situation. He even admits that he left because he wanted to do things he could not at Disney. I guess because he never went to the competition he didn't become "evil."

Hulk's launch system was so advanced and the first of its kind that it required it's own power system or else it risked blowing the local systems.

There is a similar setup at the Disney-MGM Studios for Rock 'n Rollercoaster and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. If a launch and a drop were to occur at the same time, and they were plugged into the local system, it would create a massive problem in the area.

My age doesn't matter to this discussion so I'm not going to bother stating it, but Imagineer is my dream job. I will never stop trying until I am apart of their team! Your friends interested in a trade?

If you dream enough it will happen. If you never give up then you always succeed, and the end result will always be rewarding.

The simple reality is that you significantly reduce your chances by obsessing over Disney. Yes, you could be hired right out of school, but the chances of moving up the corporate ladder are even smaller. There is a good chance that at some point you will be let go, not because of poor performance but because that is just how the industry works. Now, if you're truly phenomenal and accomplished in your field it is possible you could go work for yourself or others and stay out of themed entertainment until Disney calls again. The more likely scenario is your going to want to continue building your career and portfolio, which means working for Universal, museums, and all of the others in the industry who are not Disney.

I know you think you're taking an optimistic, "go get 'em" attitude, but you are really hurting your dream. You will not succeed in any creative environment only looking to once source of inspiration. Part of what made that first generation of Imagineers to success is that they were curious and knowledgable about so many subjects. I am not saying this to be hurtful or knock you dream, I am being sincere as I take no pleasure in knocking people down. If you want to be an Imagineer you're going to have to open up your horizon. Take the time to go to Universal and see what they are doing and how they are doing it well. Take time to go to SeaWorld and see what they are doing and how they are doing it well. Take time to go to local museums and attractions that are incorporating themed entertainment and see what they are doing and how they are doing it well on their incredibly small budgets.

 

[flynnibus]

No, you stated your point. Unfortunately, someone with a lot more knowledge of the parks could give you a list triple the size of that for Disney innovations

Oh the irony... Are you aware of a company called Arrow Dynamics? You might want to lookup their history with Disney and rethink where you think all those great innovations actually came from... It wasn't until really post-MK that Disney did the majority of their actual ride work in-house. WDI focused on show production prior to that.

A recommended read would be "Roller Coasters, Flumes and Flying Saucers"