Originally Posted By avimagine I know that was the point I was making heh. That if Walt was thawed out today with todays corporate mindset they'd probably waste his vision. Of course if he was thawed out I think he'd need a bit of time to see what the state of Disney (Not just the theme parks are), where the competition is and where technology is (3D, Imax, etc) He'd also need to make the Sherman Brothers teach a whole new generation of fun happy musicians. See where the current talent is. Maybe uh get more wholesome children (Like the old days), get rid of the pot heads etc. Maybe diversify filming in an ideal world so you might have say a Georgia studio and an Iowa studio and a Michigan studio just to more accurately represent the US. (Accents, localisms etc). We'd also need him to open up the Americas park, and all those wonderful theme parks all across North America to encourage travel and so you don't drain local talent pools completely and end up with mediocre CMs. Say 12 parks coast to coast, and maybe 12 more international parks that aren't just clones of Disneyland. Have Spaceport, and Villains and Beastly Kingdom and the countless others. The Imagineers have come up with so many good attraction ideas, and there are so many good scripts waiting to be produced. To bad reality (economic concern etc) wouldn't allow all these ideas to be envisioned. Just think of what the Vaults hold, and what can be dreamed up under visionaries if the world wasn't profit oriented. Darn idealism.
Originally Posted By avimagine Oh I also meant he was thawed out for some of those wonderful attractions Tokyo got that we didn't. Then afterwards they used him to control the pots, since we didn't take him to do stuff here. I'm sure he'd want an updated Horizons, and World of Motion etc Oh and operable Sea Cabs, and a new Mine Train through Natures Wonderland, and more streetmosphere entertainment and
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 ***At one time there were plans to build a third monorail system from EPCOT to the Disney Village*** <<Hadn't heard about that one, but I did see a concept poster (which was old and faded by the time I glanced at it, not to mention cast off into a corner in a storage space somewhere deep in the bowels of WDW), which clearly indicated a line running from Epcot to MGM.>> I absolutely don't recall plans for an EPCOT to DD rail route. I do recall seeing a model back in the 70s (yeah, they really existed!) for a monorail extension. It showed it going just near the Disney Shopping Village and onto what was then the LBV resort (with a stop near what was the Club Lake Villa Conference Center). From what I was told, there's something in the Saratoga Springs DVC contracts that says something to the effect that a monorail 'could' be built thru the resort (but we all know it won't happen). What I do know was DEFINITELY planned was a route connecting EPCOT to the Disney-MGM Studios and the EPCOT Resorts. This was planned in the late 80s when they were still thinking big. I even have a picture somewhere of the early 90s masterplan for the resort that showed the above (it was in fact displayed at Communicore for years) ... the route was basically a double station at EPCOT with the new route traveling off behind FW and to a resort (only one stop) stop basically across from the Yacht Club CC (a location that was deemed convenient to all four EPCOT resorts of the time -- BW hadn't been built yet). From what I have been told, monorail expansion was considered such a given that concrete footers for the pilons were buried along the route ... but we all know what happened. Magical buses for all!!!
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 "The often quoted $1million a mile cost comes from that expansion." <<I work on a lot of rail projects, and I can say that Disney would be pretty lucky to get a price like that for any sort of transportation improvements these days. It does help that they already own all the land, but development of these sorts of projects is really getting up there in price. Granted, the price per mile of a train, monorail, streetcar, or anything else is still far less than the price per mile of any other attraction that Disney would build. Looking longterm toward WDW's future, something like this needs to be done. They can only get by with what they have for so much longer, and that clock has been ticking for quite a while.>> If it only cost $1 million a mile, then you'd all be seeing monorails beamway going up everywhere at WDW. I've heard various numbers, but they start at $10 million a mile and go on up to MANY multiples, which I frankly find a bit crazy.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Everyone always wants what they once had. It's always amazing how memory remembers the good and not the bad.>> No, I think that's a very simplistic way of trying to dismiss those who say many things were better in the 70s and 80s. They were. No one says there weren't bad things, but so many things were better in the recent past ... not just at WDW, but in the USA. <<But going back to the past is not the answer. Moving constructively ahead is. Be grounded in the past, but move solidly forward.>> That much, I certainly agree with.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 There can't be a lot of posters here who had visited Disneyland before Walt died, can there? ---- except people like me who were there first the year it opened and then a number of times while Walt was absolutely still walking around.. excuse me while I adjust my trifocals , make a trip to the bathroom and refocus so I can finish typing this...
Originally Posted By vbdad55 and that also means COMPLIMENTING the company and the execs on what they do RIGHT, which is still a heck of a lot even today!). ---- standing and applauding you X for this post.. this is the part some just don't get or don't appreciate at all. And yes I agree no need to abandon what Walt stood for and I don't think all have. I am hoping that people like Lasseter who seems to drive quality can do so in a larger role. However we also have to remember Walt is Walt for one reason, there are no more like him..some of that brilliance will not be recaptured by anyone.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 If it only cost $1 million a mile, then you'd all be seeing monorails beamway going up everywhere at WDW. I've heard various numbers, but they start at $10 million a mile and go on up to MANY multiples, which I frankly find a bit crazy. ------ agreed I remember reading an article about Vegas when they were set to go monorail nuts- and those who wanted them said $1M / mile was a pipe dream- couldn't be done for anywhere near that.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>except people like me who were there first the year it opened and then a number of times while Walt was absolutely still walking around..<< That's awesome. Ever get to see him in person? I know someone who did at the WF64.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 Let me clarify some of my statments. The EPCOT Center/Disney Village monorail plans were back in the early 80's pre-Eisner time. The pillon bases were poured inside EPCOT for the expansion. I was lent for a brief time from monorails to Disney Transportation Co to help in presentations to cities across the country when Disney thought it could sell monorails and wedway's as alternative transportations. Somewhere in my files I have the glossy booklet that Disney gave to cities that were interested in Disney transporation. The monorai to the Disney Village heated up in 1983 and was a hot topic of discussion at meetings for several months then it just went away. The $1million a mile quote that you have heard aloth thru the years was the number being kicked around in the early 80's. Sometime in th 1990's when Disney was adding its own hotels across property the relationship between Disney and the hotel plaza resorts began to deteriorate. The hotels were angry that Disney was adding resorts and became vocal about what they percieved as Disney trying to undermine their business. My mind might be cloudy on this point but I think that Disney was providing buses to the parks from the hotels and at some point Disney told them they would no longer do that. I do remember sitting in a meeting when Wonders of Life was being designed and the question of the monorail pillon bases was raised. Someone at that meeting said that the Disney Village loop would never happen and the bases would be removed. There was serious talk about a monorail from EPCOT to the EPCOT resorts and the Studios. Obviously the decision was to utilize trams from the EPCOT resorts and boats to the resorts and Studios. The trams (which were Swan/Dolphin pink and green) were eventually retired when it became obvious that the paths could not safely handle trams and guests walking. Shades of the double decker buses around World Showcase Lagoon.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper The idea that there is a clause in the Saratoga Springs contract that a monorail might run through there one day rang a bell with me. I've heard tell of the idea that at some point the warehouse area out by 535 could one day be the location of a new gated park. I know there has been some discussion about moving facilities like the laundry, communications, etc in addition to those massive warehouses to make that work. (At one time I think they were talking about going as far away as Haines City with some of those "back of the house operations.) If they did end up putting a gated park back that direction then a line through Saratoga would actually make a little bit of sense.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 I am not sure why there would be a clause in the contract since Saratoga Springs is a Disney hotel.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper I think it might be a clause in the ownership contract...so that Vacation Club buyers were aware it COULD happen some day.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 That's awesome. Ever get to see him in person? I know someone who did at the WF64 ---- I wish I could say I did, but I didn't. Have an uncle who shook his hand while in the park..as close as I can get
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I think it might be a clause in the ownership contract...so that Vacation Club buyers were aware it COULD happen some day. ---- I'll check my sisters contract -- but that is not uncommon. The house I owned before this one was built in a subdivision where they had to tell us an interstate extension could run thru approx 300 feet to the west of the subdivision,, and lo and behold it eventually did. I believe the plat surveys must show potential thoroughfares as that land would belong to someone other than homeowners - rights of way etc.
Originally Posted By New Orleans lady In my opinion; eisners departure was the greatest loss at Disney.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper I think Wells' death was the greatest loss at Disney. It spiked the fall of Eisner.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer You know, Walt and Roy kind of being dead was a bad thing, too... LOL
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>In my opinion; eisners departure was the greatest loss at Disney.<<< By the time he left? Nope. He was going down the wrong path. ...But I would rather have his vision, than Iger's!
