Walt Disney World General
Topic: Joe Rohde gets it!

#	Author	Message
11	Spirit of 74 Sun 5/11/2008 8:30p	<<I enjoy Joe's work, but I do think he is part of the problem Disney has with exorbitant cost and lengthy times to completion. Does he really need a six week expedition for 10 to Tibet to build a convincing roller coaster for an amusement park? I know Walt did it for "The Three Caballeros" but it was Walt's company. Joe I believe, while an extraordinary talent, is , shall we say, working the system. That, in the long run, is passed on to "me".>> I strongly disagree. While WDI pads expenses and Imagineers pad expense accounts, Joe is most certainly NOT in that group. The time Joe and his team spent abroad for research is why DAK is such an amazing and immersive park environment. The time Joe spent in the shadow of Everest was well-spent ... and let's not forget the Discovery Channel special that went along with Everest's opening that was a perfect example of what synergy should be. There's a lot of waste at WDI, but trying to pin it on Joe Rohde is misplaced.
12	mousermerf Sun 5/11/2008 8:47p	Placing it on folks who installed all those color changing LED's around SSE that are not being used is a much better way to approach the problem.
13	mickeyboy43 Sun 5/11/2008 10:28p	"I enjoy Joe's work, but I do think he is part of the problem Disney has with exorbitant cost and lengthy times to completion. Does he really need a six week expedition for 10 to Tibet to build a convincing roller coaster for an amusement park? I know Walt did it for "The Three Caballeros" but it was Walt's company. Joe I believe, while an extraordinary talent, is , shall we say, working the system. That, in the long run, is passed on to "me". Although I did hear that Universal's creatives are Summering in Hogsmeade to "capture the essence" of the wizarding world." I agree with the seeming stupidity of the trips. Maybe a one week visit to the mountain, but not 6 weeks. As far as money spent in actual production, I say spend as much as needed to make a good experience! hmm... Hogsmeade.
14	mickeyboy43 Sun 5/11/2008 10:31p	I do agree with Spirit, however, that blame cannot be placed on one person alone. Its like a snowball effect. When one person does it, they all do it, and with varying levels of success. The environment at DAk is very immersive now, while it was not as interesting a park when it first opened 10 years ago. I thought it was going to end up being a flop then, but I was wrong. Either way, I do like alot of the detail put into Everest, which I suppose wouldnt have been possible without a 10 person, 6 week hiatus/
15	MPierce Mon 5/12/2008 3:00p	The end justifies the means.
16	Kar2oonMan Mon 5/12/2008 3:07p	Animal Kingdom is truly an amazing park. Whatever time was spent traveling showed up in the final product. It is the type of place I believe Walt Disney would have loved. Please accept my application to the Joe Rohde fan club.
17	leemac Mon 5/12/2008 3:47p	<<I do agree with Spirit, however, that blame cannot be placed on one person alone. >> And arguably the credit can't also be leveled at one person. Joe didn't start out with a singular vision for this park - it took the input of that initial team including Kevin Brown, Zofia Kostyrko, Chris West, Tony Marando and Patsy Tillisch to get the foundations of the park ready for approval. Then you can add in the likes of show producer Ann Malmlund, John Shields (HUGELY influential on the overall layout and landscaping of the park), Paul Comstock (horticulture), show producer Kelley Forde and Disney's Mister Rock Skip Lange who helped shape the menu for Opening Day and beyond. Joe would be the first to say that he has been fortunate enough to be surrounded by a great WDI team. A lot of it was fortune - many of the folks that joined the team in '89 and the early '90s had spent years working on Eisner's regional entertainment portfolio and corporate workplace ideas (the first real out-of-the-berm stuff to be contemplated) before it was nixed. Joe had never led a project until DAK. It just goes to show what a great leader he is. He continues to lead the park and that is the key to DAK's success - someone capable of driving forward the five year plans and with the cumulative knowledge to know where the park has come from and where it is today. There isn't another portfolio exec who has the same length of service on any given project.
18	Members Only Mon 5/12/2008 5:00p	<<<I enjoy Joe's work, but I do think he is part of the problem Disney has with exorbitant cost and lengthy times to completion. Does he really need a six week expedition for 10 to Tibet to build a convincing roller coaster for an amusement park? I know Walt did it for "The Three Caballeros" but it was Walt's company. Joe I believe, while an extraordinary talent, is , shall we say, working the system. That, in the long run, is passed on to "me">>> I disagree also. What animation company regularly immerses its self in the essence of the film it is working on? Pixar. What animation company, by many, many miles produces, currently, the best animated films? Pixar. Capturing the essence of a time/place is vital to a creative project attempting to emulate said time/place; Pixar practices this, so does WDI, and so did Walt in his own way. The end product that is DAK, I feel more than justifies Joe's trips. <<< And arguably the credit can't also be leveled at one person.>>> Agreed, that is why I put Joe and his team ;)
19	Spirit of 74 Tue 5/13/2008 8:56p	<<And arguably the credit can't also be leveled at one person. Joe didn't start out with a singular vision for this park - it took the input of that initial team including Kevin Brown, Zofia Kostyrko, Chris West, Tony Marando and Patsy Tillisch to get the foundations of the park ready for approval. Then you can add in the likes of show producer Ann Malmlund, John Shields (HUGELY influential on the overall layout and landscaping of the park), Paul Comstock (horticulture), show producer Kelley Forde and Disney's Mister Rock Skip Lange who helped shape the menu for Opening Day and beyond.>> Great point, Lee. And I did say 'Joe and his team' above because you can't do anything, as even Walt showed, without a great team. Joe certainly had that. If you look at any of the parks that are regarded as being on another level by most, be it DAK, TDS, DLP or EPCOT, the one thing they all had in common was a great singular vision shared by an amazingly talented group of individuals. Then take the opposite ... DCA had some great individuals working on it ... dare I say one of the most talented guys at WDI today was responsible for one of the larger messes in the old parking lot ... but what DCA lacked was a clear singular vision, a great leadership ... and, yeah, funding too. But there's a reason why DAK has had a great first decade and is the only Florida park you enter nowadays and the message ... the story ... is clear.
20	Skellington88 Tue 5/13/2008 10:51p	"Then take the opposite ... DCA had some great individuals working on it ... dare I say one of the most talented guys at WDI today was responsible for one of the larger messes in the old parking lot" Yea Tim Delaney. Carnival rides? what was he thinking.

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