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A conceptual rendering by Tim Delaney of Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris

Ominous news emerged last week that two long-time Imagineers had been dismissed from Walt Disney Imagineering. The departures of Executive Designer & Vice President Tim Delaney and head sculptor Valerie Edwards were the most shocking terminations in several years, and follow a period of […]

A Visit To EPCOT Center, 1980

Rendering of EPCOT Center, 1980 (Click to Enlarge)

Things have changed a bit since our last visit to early EPCOT; the park is now looking a lot more like the version we later would come to love. Horizons has arrived, but it’s still known as Future Probe. Spaceship Earth and Communicore have lost their golden […]

Grand Theft Coral

Here’s a weird one. From an internal Imagineering newsletter in 1981:

I wonder if they ever found it? I wonder what this “essential set-piece” was – “The Seas” still had no sponsor at this point and wouldn’t open for five more years. At the time this notice was written, the pavilion was intended to […]

Oh, Eisner – 1985 Edition

When last we met, a fresh-faced and ambitious young Michael Eisner and his laconic sidekick Frank Wells had rocketed to stardom, taking control of Walt Disney Productions after the ouster of its previous management. 1985 would mark the duo’s first full year in control of the company – how would it go? Would the […]

Oh, Eisner – 1984 Edition

This inaugurates a new series of posts entitled “Oh, Eisner…”, in which I will reproduce for you every single annual letter to Disney company stockholders that former CEO Michael Eisner ever wrote. Why? I have no idea. Because I can?

Actually, these old annual report letters can be pretty entertaining. There are fleeting mentions of […]