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By Michael - December 18th, 2011 For Disney fans of a critical bent, it used to be easy knowing where to channel one’s rage. Disneyland falling apart from neglect and mismanagement? Blame Paul Pressler and his gang of idiots. Key elements of Animal Kingdom’s master plan left out on opening day? Blame Eisner, or the “pencil pushers”. California Adventure? Blame everyone VP level or above. Once Disney began its long slide into mediocrity, beginning noticeably around 1994 and cratering out about ten years ago, the villain was remarkably consistent and easy to identify – cheapness. Penny pinching. Cutting corners. Basically, the refusal by management to commit the resources necessary to creating new things in the tradition that made Disney great.
A lot has changed since then. Management is different at the top, and in many places at the bottom as well. Eisner’s replacement, Bob Iger, seems much more willing to spend on projects that he finds worthwhile and he mended a number of bridges to the creative community that had been burned. John Lasseter of Pixar was brought in as a creative consultant to Imagineering, which many – including myself – thought simply had to be a good idea. Most importantly, money is being invested in the parks; a billion dollars has been poured into an effort to make California Adventure habitable, a long-needed overhaul of Florida’s Fantasyland is underway, and other projects wait in the wings – projects like the Avatar-themed area of Animal Kingdom that surprised everyone when it was announced earlier this year.
So, all is well… right?
Continue reading The Carsland Conundrum
By Michael - June 14th, 2011 If you looked closely, you'd see tiny, angular carnies
The official Disney blog has released new artwork for Florida’s Fantasyland remodel, and it shows a new and revised perspective on the Storybook Circus area which will be based on the film Dumbo.
This “mini-land”, which occupies the space formerly belonging to Mickey’s Toontown [...]
By Michael - January 28th, 2011  Now officially known as New Fantasyland, the expansion has seen many changes Ending months of online speculation, Disney took the opportunity of a recent Parks and Resorts press event to reveal a number of changes to the previously-announced expansion of the Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland area. Prompted by criticism of the earlier plan’s heavy focus on character “meet-and-greets”, the so-called “New Fantasyland” unveiled last week will incorporate a new attraction that hearkens back to Imagineering proposals predating the expansion’s announcement in September of 2009.
Continue reading Fantasyland 2.5
By Michael - October 8th, 2010 One of the highlights of the recent Destination D event was a great presentation by Imagineer Dave Fisher about the creation of Disneyland, with a focus on attractions that were planned but never built. This is always a rich topic for discussion, as could be seen in Fisher’s presentation; while some of these lost [...]
By Michael - August 19th, 2010 So, you’re watching C-SPAN, getting a taste of the NASA Information Technology Summit, and naturally there’s a presentation by Walt Disney Imagineering about the new Fantasyland project in Florida.
Naturally.
Jack Blitch, Vice President and General Manager of Walt Disney Imagineering – Florida, made an appearance at the NASA conference to discuss the use [...]
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Four Decades of Magic
Essays about the first forty years of Walt Disney World, including two pieces by yours truly. Available in print and for Kindle. |
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