Disneyland General
Topic: Jul 23 Reliving Fond Memories

#	Author	Message
11	WDW1974 Mon 7/26/2004 12:13a	Totally agree with post No. 9 ... I've been saying that for months on the WDW boards.
12	Captain Jack Sparrow Mon 7/26/2004 12:43a	Tomorrowland used to be the most exciting land, and everytime I see pictures of the old Tomorrowland I feel a little bit of that excitement come back... a kind of total recall..thanx for the memories.....o.k. now add 10 more rides, bring back the white paint, blast a hole thru the Matterhorn(for Skyway)and bring back the rock bands and orignal retaurants!
13	Captain Jack Sparrow Mon 7/26/2004 12:47a	<< orignal retaurants >> 12:43 am and starting to sound like Inspector Clouseau!!
14	danyoung Mon 7/26/2004 12:34p	There was a spot on the railing of the sub lagoon, with the Matterhorn behind you, that you could see a veritable cacophony of movement - subs, monorails, people movers, cars, sky buckets. It was a poetry of motion, and I could have stood there for hours enjoying the view. Now all you see is the cars and the occasional monorail, and a whole bunch of rusting, unused tracks. It just makes you want to cry......
15	JimG Mon 7/26/2004 1:53p	Raze Tomorrowland & rebuild!! In 1966, Walt Disney tore out most of the then-old Tomorrowland in preparation for the terrific 1967 "World On The Move" version. Michael Eisner was/is simply just too cheap to do a proper renovation of Tomorrowland. Instead, he insisted that the '98 renovation recycle the existing infrastructure. As a result, we got Rocket Rods trying to negotiate an incompatible (non-banked) track, and other elements that had to utilize outdated facilities. The redo of Space Mountain and the addition of Buzz Lightyear will help things but certainly will not restore Tomorrowland nor create a cohesive futuristic environment. Tomorrowland needs a serious reconstruction, something the current Disney management has no stomach (or budget) for. :-(
16	gmaletic Mon 7/26/2004 4:58p	Good article. If anyone's interested in reliving more about the old Tomorrowlands, I wrote an article for LaughingPlace a couple of years ago. It's here: http://www.laughingplace.com/N ews-ID160020.asp Thanks.
17	markedward Mon 7/26/2004 7:22p	Part of the success of Disneyland was its original design. Many people turned left and worked their way around the loop. Others turned right into Tomorrowland. Others, especially younger children, ran past the castle into Fantasyland. Fans of cowboys and indians might have made for Frontierland. This spread the crowds out throughout the park. Now Tomorrowland is half-empty and struggling to define itself; Frontierland has shrunk to next to nothing; and Main Street USA is one big specialty store. This means families with young ones race to Fantasyland, and everyone else starts the Indiana Jones-Pirates-Haunted Mansion-Splash Mountain-Winnie the Pooh marathon. Instead of a full park with something for everyone, Disneyland has been allowed to become to great but crowded and over-worked areas that segregate visitors by age. Exactly what Walt Disney meant to get away from.
18	usmclass Wed 7/28/2004 12:03a	WHY oh WHY won't Disney (the Corporation, not the family) Set down and LISTEN to us....the ones that truly LOVE the park and have it's success and best interests as our focus??? WE think a lot like Walt did......because WALT didn't really think about what things COST... but about how things would FEEL. He said something like "if you please the guests, the money will take care of it'self!"... and that is SO true! TL is a sad experience... one that was "re-designed" NOT to be an inspiration or an adventure, but to be a venue to bring in dividends for shareholders. Cut the cleaning and repair funds, shut down the subs... the most POPULAR ride in the park... because it ran on disele so it was expensive (ever heard of switching to electric? Or how about a rEAL innovation...hydrogen fuel cells??) anything to pull a buck from the parks and put it into bonuses for the bigshots! If Disney would set down with some of us... when we come to the park... and take an hour or so at a time to chat with us... yeah, I KNOw I would have to sign a stack of legal forms so they don't have to pay me (I dont care).. we could share our ideas with them, about rides, products, shows, ANYTHING that would bring the park back to it's old brilliance! The BOARD only cares about the BOARD. The "EXPERTS"...? Didn't the EXPERTS tell Walt not to start this thing in the FIRST PLACE? Just like they did with SNOW WHITE....thank god that he ignored them both times! But WALT passed that dream of his, and the mind-set, on to a slew of US... who were impressionable little kids when the park was just getting started. HE thought like WE did back then...and now WE remember the magic and the true fcus that Walt used to make Disneyland not only a Success, but one of the TOP THREE Customer Service Companies in the WORLD for a couple of decades. It is time that Disney and Co find a way to have someone who will actually PAY ATTENTION to us and meet with us individually to sift through all the things we think might improve the place. Some of Walt's best "touches" to attractions like the Pirates Bayou came from the Janitors. We can do just as much. I'm willing.... if They are.
19	danyoung Wed 7/28/2004 6:30a	^^ The problem with the above is that, for every 100 people you'd sit down with, you'd get 100 different solutions. How do you weed out the occasional guest from the experienced park stormer? I think the execs at Disney would learn a great deal if they'd spend more time in the park, just casually chatting with folks, seeing first hand the graveyard that TL has become. It was nice to hear about Eisner visiting the park last week. It's a really good sign. I've never bought the argument that Disney execs are evil, and trying to destroy Walt's legacy. They've got a big company to run, and the parks are just one division (albeit a big one). They look at a spreadsheet, see what they're spending vs what's coming in, and move on to the next crisis. I truly believe that most of them (possibly Eisner included) just don't know how bad things became. Finally we have Ouimet and Emmer to hold out for quality, and are gradually returning DL to its former glory. And after last week's meet with Eisner, perhaps they were successful at bringing him on board. We'll see over the next year or so as the new budgets come out.
20	usmclass Wed 7/28/2004 3:05p	>> The problem with the above is that, for every 100 people you'd sit down with, you'd get 100 different solutions. How do you weed out the occasional guest from the experienced park stormer?>>> Well, for one thing, they would ASK in casual conversation in the first minutes how often you visit and how long you have "had your ears". For another, you are not looking for ONE guest that has all the answers....HECK, if SHE TURNS UP then HIRE her (ok, maybe him)!!... but out of the 100 guests you bother to meet with by appointment you SHOULD get at LEAST 100 usable ideas (no, NOT one from each guest...we are talking law of averages) and ONE of those (or more) MIGHT just be what is needed. I have product ideas, I wrote a new show script for CBJ back when there was a chance in hades of saving the site from pooh (it even had Jessica Rabbit as a guest star!) and like most of you, I remember what the magic actually FELT like! I don't have all the answers, but I bet I have several ideas that would actually make money and breathe some "pixie dust" back into the park. And YEs, I KNOW they have a big company to run....... that is part of the PROBLEM. Like the Roman Empire, they have expanded SO big that running it all is over-taxing the whole. Just like when a human body is injured or facing crisis, the body pulls blood away from the extremities and moves it to the core, where the heart and vital organs are. Unfortunately, it seems that disney animation and parks ( at lest Disneyland) are no longer consideered the CORE. So when things go bad they starve or cut off the park and animation division. I feel that we have TOO MANY "Disneylands". They should have stopped having Disney THEMED parks after WDW. If they wanted to own other parks that opperated like DL and WDW they could have dont them WITHOUT the DL name and theming. I also feel that the sports teams,and other unrelated kinds of companies are a major stressor on what I consider to be the CORE of the Disney Empire... DL WDW, Disney Animation, Disney Films, Music, and Marketing. In short.... KISS....Keep It SIMPLE STUPID! AS for products.... what do you think of a Die-cast Mark I and/or Mark III Monorail about 12 inches long?? What would you be willing to pay for THAT?? I would give quite a LOT if the detail was there! The 5oth should have products that reflect the history and nostalgia of the ORIGINAL park, and collectibles of retired attractions would be hot movers.

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