Originally Posted By crapshoot <<. . . but he definitely is right about WDI rarely asking Operations for their thoughts or wishes.>> That wasn't my experience working at the WDI Design Studio at D/L. There wasn't a day that I wasn't in TDA meetings with D/L Project Management regarding one project or another. And many of those meetings were held on site at the attraction, shop, restaurant or area being developed. Represented at the onsite meetings would be WDI, D/L Opps, Saftey, and representatives of which ever division's facility was being worked on. Many times the head lead from the facility would be in attendance and would certainly be able to participate in the conversations. Also however, a day wouldn't go by where one well meaning D/L castmember would come up and hang close by to the meeting too. But it was always someone from D/L who would shoo the person away. But to say that WDI rarely asks D/L Opps for their thoughts and wishes just isn't the case. As for Imagineers being snobbish, my experience is that people in those positions usually are, no matter which company they work for.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<As for Imagineers being snobbish, my experience is that people in those positions usually are, no matter which company they work for.>> I know exactly what you mean. I have several friends who've worked at Pixar since the Richmond days, who are incredibly pleasant and helpful to everyone in the company, no matter which dept they work in. They tell stories about some of the college interns, who act as though they're god's gift to animation, treating non-creative Pixar personnel like dirt. And they're just interns! Given what's been written in this thread and elsewhere on the net with regard to Al's comments, I'm now of the belief that this is generational. The twentysomethings and thirtysomethings seem to be the jerks who have high opinions of themselves that are far from reality. I see this attitude all the time in my residence complex. The older residents are polite and pleasant and don't trash up the building or have zero consideration for their neighbors like the younger tenants do. The under 40 crowd mostly act like spoiled brats. I get the sense this stretches out across all aspects of our society now, and not just in the workplace, be it Disney or another company.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <It's understandable that Disneylanders would be put off by the dismissive attitude of a rude Imagineer, however some of what I'm reading here and in Al's latest post is verging on pettiness.> That's really my major beef with Al (well, that and his writing style). He's tends to put everyone in a black hat or a white hat, hero or villain, full stop. When one of his designated villains does something good, he can't admit it. When one of his designated heroes does something bad (or mediocre), it wasn't his fault - there will be some other person or circumstance to blame.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt <It's understandable that Disneylanders would be put off by the dismissive attitude of a rude Imagineer, however some of what I'm reading here and in Al's latest post is verging on pettiness.> Where did my post go?
Originally Posted By crapshoot And then giving a little back to the Imagineers and what they go through on a daily basis simply interacting within the parks: Cast Members and guests alike, have a tendency to flag down any Imagineer that they see and strike up a conversation with them. The two subjects are usually:"How can I become an Imagineer?" or (and my favorite) "I really feel that you should move the Matterhorn over 5 feet to the left." (True story) Anytime I went to Home Depot with a WDI Purchase Order, I would get either one of those two comments. Anytime I sat and ate a chili dog at Carnation, I would get one of those two comments. I had even been approached in the men's restroom on Main St. So yes, there is certainly a right way to deflect those types of comments without offending the person. But everyone with a WDI ID continually gets approached.
Originally Posted By Yookeroo "Given what's been written in this thread and elsewhere on the net with regard to Al's comments, I'm now of the belief that this is generational. The twentysomethings and thirtysomethings seem to be the jerks who have high opinions of themselves that are far from reality. I see this attitude all the time in my residence complex. The older residents are polite and pleasant and don't trash up the building or have zero consideration for their neighbors like the younger tenants do. The under 40 crowd mostly act like spoiled brats." Do you yell at them to get off of your lawn?
Originally Posted By crapshoot <<Do you yell at them to get off of your lawn?>> My wife works at Knott's and tells them that the Bumper Cars is calling them. Pretty much the same thing.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt To me it's no different than a camera man from Good Morning America being expected to chum it up with a cast member running Mr. Toad just because they both happen to work for Disney. Or some front desk clerk at the Animal Kingdom hotel expecting Barbara Walters to rub shoulders with them for the same reason. Disney is a big , big multinational entertainment conglomerate. The company's employee pool reflects an incredibly diverse range of disciplines, talents, skills, and notoriety.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>That's really my major beef with Al (well, that and his writing style). He's tends to put everyone in a black hat or a white hat, hero or villain, full stop. When one of his designated villains does something good, he can't admit it. When one of his designated heroes does something bad (or mediocre), it wasn't his fault - there will be some other person or circumstance to blame.<< Dabob2's got Al's number. And yeah, his writing is awful. Like the information, hate the writing.
Originally Posted By DBitz2 >>As for the name of the restuarant, I'm glad that they tried to go for something a little (very very little) less self referrential.<< There used to be a restaurant called Tangaroa Terrace at the Poly Resort at WDW, now closed, that we discovered when I was at WDW back in March. They more than likely just recycled that. I will have to compare my photos of the marquee sign from it to the DLH Tangaroa Terrace when it opens and see if it is they recycled that, too!
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<Do you yell at them to get off of your lawn?>> Nope. But I do remind them that their Axe body spray won't hide the stench of their pot smoke from their corporate masters if my ancient schnoz can smell it.
Originally Posted By Bob Paris 1 "That's really my major beef with Al (well, that and his writing style)." Really?!? Try Jim Hill - Last Friday becomes, "Remember WAAAAYYYYYY back to last Friday...." Makes me think of Waylon Jennings doing the voiceover for "The Dukes of Hazzard" - all homespun and folksy. Makes me want to puke!
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <<"That's really my major beef with Al (well, that and his writing style).">> <Really?!? Try Jim Hill - Last Friday becomes, "Remember WAAAAYYYYYY back to last Friday...."> And that's why I haven't read Jim Hill in a long time. Al's style is annoying, Jim's is even more annoying. (Especially the overuse of "folks" and "why for.")
Originally Posted By Yookeroo "Nope. But I do remind them that their Axe body spray won't hide the stench of their pot smoke from their corporate masters if my ancient schnoz can smell it." Their corporate masters probably smoke as much pot as the kids.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox ^^ Of course they do. But their hypocritical arses will still fire the kids for doing so.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>To me it's no different than a camera man from Good Morning America being expected to chum it up with a cast member running Mr. Toad just because they both happen to work for Disney. Or some front desk clerk at the Animal Kingdom hotel expecting Barbara Walters to rub shoulders with them for the same reason. Disney is a big , big multinational entertainment conglomerate. The company's employee pool reflects an incredibly diverse range of disciplines, talents, skills, and notoriety. <<< Funny, I was always taught to treat people the way I would want to be treated. No excuse, I was in the top 200 leaders of a 32,000 employee business in th Uk (240,000 globally), and I would still be courtious to cleaners, catering staff, security guards, and graduates. It is the right thing to do. It didn't matter whether you were the cleaner or the CEO, or the Prime Minister, when I encountered each of them, I would act the same.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 I have worked with Imagineering on several projects over the years including a 2 year stint for the Disney-MGM Studios project and I have always found them fairly friendly. Even today when I run into them they are always very pleasant. Most recently I was involved in a project and I was the Ops person assigned and on numerous occasions Imagineering asked what I thought and what I would do differently saying "You're the one that is going to run it after we are gone, tell us what will work." Anytime I have met an Imagineer that is less than friendly I have always chalked it up to them being too busy/preoccupied/preoccupied on what they are working on. Maybe I am more used to it having worked in the theater over the years where there are lots of divas. Imagineering has always had their problems with design and such. I could give a whole list of projects that I was involved in that when things were installed or we began running them were completely wrong. On numerous occasions I scratched my head wondering how they didnt think about this or that initially. I could write a book about Norway or The Great Movie Ride and the problems that each of them had including boats that were too heavy to float or a ride vehicle that didnt fit into load.
Originally Posted By Christi22222 >>Funny, I was always taught to treat people the way I would want to be treated. No excuse, I was in the top 200 leaders of a 32,000 employee business in th Uk (240,000 globally), and I would still be courtious to cleaners, catering staff, security guards, and graduates. It is the right thing to do. It didn't matter whether you were the cleaner or the CEO, or the Prime Minister, when I encountered each of them, I would act the same.<< This, I believe, is what Skinnerbox is getting at the younger generations missing. And certainly it doesn't apply to all of them, but it's a fairly commonly recognized generalization for the younger set right now. You are no better than anyone else. Period. You have a different story, that is all. Treat people well, and don't take it personally if you aren't gushed upon by a busy, distracted person. Is it really that hard? It would definitley appear from all that has been said in this thread that Disney suffers the same classism that is affecting much of this country. Honestly, it's embarassing.
