WDI Out of the Loop

Originally Posted By Tiggirl

Yes, Jim... Why ARE you trying to defend this WDI person? LOL! Just kidding. I'm not saying this poor guy is an idiot, really.

I think it speaks more about the company and how they operate more than anything else. The company should make sure that cast members working on a new attraction (especially WDI) know about how what they're doing will effect other attractions. I mean the theme its self will be some what effected and the theme of all things in the river and island are intertwined.

Although I must say I find it flattering that you find my boyfriend attractive. And also disturbing. I've got my eye on you, Jim... LOL!

~Beth

 

Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA

<I think it speaks more about the company and how they operate more than anything else.>

Very true. I'm in a 'cut people a break' mode in my life right now. I feel like my tendency is to be a bit hard on people, so I'm trying to lighten up a bit.

<Although I must say I find it flattering that you find my boyfriend attractive. And also disturbing. I've got my eye on you, Jim... LOL!>

LOL! That was all for you Tiggirl! I've never seen him before.

 

Originally Posted By leemac

<<Pirate Island>>

He even got the name wrong. It will be announced tomorrow formally as Pirates Lair.

 

Originally Posted By LameMac

So there.

 

Originally Posted By Tiggirl

LOL! I don't know if that's what the WDI guy called it. (Though he may have) I was just using that name to reference what he was working on and why he was on the island. ;o)

~Beth

 

Originally Posted By Tiggirl

P.S. Jim... ok ok. You said it for me (and it is true by the way. LOL!) but I've still got my eye on you. <o> (Thats mu eye...)

~Beth

 

Originally Posted By Elderp

Good time Charlie?? I am guessing I don't really want to know.

 

Originally Posted By Skellington88

its fairly obvious that Walt Disney Imagineering is out of touch when you consider the only attractions made now adays are tie-ins to the latest hit movie or attractions built on the cheap depending mostly on video projection (rather then three dimensional audio animatronics and other practical special effects) and cringe inducing dialogue (Stich's Great Escape & Journey into your imagination).

Original attractions like Spaceship Earth, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Carosel of Progress, America Sings, or even more modern disney fare like Star Tours and Splash Mountain...just won't be built anymore because the current imagineers don't have it in them and they are ruled over by a marketing team that thinks Disneyland is just a big mall.

The only way to save WDI is if John Lasseter takes a full hands on approach and brings people like Wing Chao and Tony Baxter to the forefront and somehow strips people like jay rasolu of their power.

 

Originally Posted By ChurroMonster

The Canoes really have nothing to do at all with the Island. Why is this such a big deal?

 

Originally Posted By trekkeruss

<<its fairly obvious that Walt Disney Imagineering is out of touch when you consider the only attractions made now adays are tie-ins to the latest hit movie or attractions built on the cheap depending mostly on video projection...and cringe inducing dialogue>>>

I don't quite see the connection between WDI being out-of-touch and what methods they use to tell a story. As an example, Soarin' uses "cheap video projection," yet it's an incredibly successful attraction.

<<The only way to save WDI is if John Lasseter takes a full hands on approach>>

"Save me, Underdog, save me!"

 

Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA

<Good time Charlie?? I am guessing I don't really want to know.>

Maybe you do, maybe you don't, Elderp.

Everybody has varying degrees of knowledge of everything -- even if it's in their own industry.

Charlie Cartwright is a Southern California based pioneer in modern-day tattooing. In fact, his tattoo shop lives in just 5 miles from Disneyland -- 'Goodtime Charlie's Tattooland'

Not that you give a rip, but there it is.

 

Originally Posted By Nobody

In the spirit of Jim's 'cut people a break' mode, shouldn't we be happy that A) "Mr. WDI" was actuly on site, looking at the areas that surround his project and B) that he was taking the time to learn something that we think he should know?

 

Originally Posted By avromark

<<Everybody has varying degrees of knowledge of everything -- even if it's in their own industry.>> Even when you take into account basic guest knowledge, you cannot be an expert in everything. Everyone brings their own skillset, a person in Finance should specialize in money, they'll have a rough idea of similar jobs (For example they wouldn't be out of place in say planning), but would probably have no idea how to wire up an AA. Whereas we can expect a plumber to have a basic idea of carpentry but we wouldn't ask him to go to a shop and expect him to rebuild it. Even Walt probably didn't know 100% of how POTC was going to turn out, he'd delegate his trust to those who knew what they were doing, he'd say I want a pirate, but Marc Davis for example would bring it to life. As stated earlier I'm glad he's asking. You may have someone who looks like he knows what he's doing, not have a clue. I'd much rather have that person ask a question. If I'm in renal for example I'd ask someone in that department the recommended procedure before proceeding. I'd want to be cross trained if I ever worked Dialysis for example.

 

Originally Posted By Elderp

"Charlie Cartwright is a Southern California based pioneer in modern-day tattooing. In fact, his tattoo shop lives in just 5 miles from Disneyland -- 'Goodtime Charlie's Tattooland'"

Whew, for a second there he sounded like a drug dealer. Not that I am into tatoos but it is better than drugs. Its funny what peoples biases are sometimes.

 

Originally Posted By avromark

^^^ I'm shocked Jim knows who he is

 

Originally Posted By dresswhites

i am always leery of reading too much into a conversation that i did not directly hear. not saying the person is a liar(so please don't jump on me) i am just saying sometimes a conversation changes when told and retold. kind of like the game operator.
even if indeed true, i would cut the guy slack. maybe he is not high up in the chain. If Tony Baxter asked about the canoes, then i would be a bit more shocked.
while i think WDI is not as sharp as they used to be, i think they still can turn out good product. Tower of Terror, Soaring, Grizzly, the enhancements to pirates and mansion, and the upcoming finding nemo subs all seem to be wonderful additions.

 

Originally Posted By TP2000

So some WDI engineer goes over to a new project site on the Island.. (which surely isn't going to be a project at all because Al Lutz broke the story months ago and Disney's official spokesman denied it in the LA Times four months ago and we should all take anything Al Lutz says with a GIANT MOUNTAIN OF SALT)...

So anyway, this engineer is over on the island for an Imagineering project that only exists on Miceage and he vaguely remembers going on the canoes once as a kid, and that they kind of stopped running for a few years in the 90's, and they don't run at all in Florida anymore, and so he asks a CM if the canoes still run. Innocent question. But the CM is SHOCKED that this engineer doesn't know the current status of the canoes!

But if you went over to the canoe dock and asked one of the canoe guys how to rewire the electrical cables and data transmission lines running under the river and up to Fort Wilderness that this engineer is going to be working on next month, how many of those canoe guys would be able to do answer that question? And should the WDI engineer also be SHOCKED to learn that the 20 year old guys running the canoe ride don't know a thing about electrical engineering when there is soon going to be a major engineering project going on near their dock?

Now if this WDI guy worked at the fruit cart every day of his life up near the canoe dock, that would be one thing that he didn't know their current status. But if his office is in Glendale, and his trade specialty is electrical engineering, or maybe landscape architecture and tree surgery, or maybe masonry design, or perhaps costume design, then why should he know the status of the canoes off the top of his head?

Not everyone is an expert at every field. Not even people who wear nametags to work.

 

Originally Posted By Socrates

Does anybody else remember the Disneyana Convention at Disneyland(can't remember which one) when DL President Jack Lindquist (hope I spelled that right) invited everyone to go to DL after the banquet to see Fantasmic ... and it was down for rehab?

Socrates
"The unexamined life is not worth living."