DCA, Future Expansion
Topic: Barry Braverman Interview

#	Author	Message
91	Park Hopper Thu 7/3/2008 12:51p	>>I don't like mediocrity. I think there's far too much of it. And that we've become far too tolerant of it in this country in the 21st century.<< Spirt, I agree with you. But if you look a little higher in your post, you'll see the rational a lot of people use for creating mediocrity: >>If your approach is for the truly impossible and not reasonable or rational, the chances for greatness are slim and none because you'll likely accomplish nothing at all.<<
92	Park Hopper Thu 7/3/2008 12:54p	Sorry, but I'm kind of on a roll here... >>If your approach is for the truly impossible and not reasonable or rational, the chances for greatness are slim and none because you'll likely accomplish nothing at all.<< Aim for the impossibel. You might not make it, but what you wind up with will more than likely be pretty impressive. Aim for the reasonable and it becomes your best case senerio. How often do people realize the best case senerio?
93	Hans Reinhardt Thu 7/3/2008 3:23p	The current mindset at Disney is more like, "We've got this bunch of characters over here, how can we best incorporate them into our theme parks?". Not the best environment for nurturing an 'aiming for the impossible' attitude.
94	Spirit of 74 Fri 7/4/2008 11:48a	Parkhopper, I think we agree on the essence of quality and of reaching for the top ... so I am even hesitant to add to this at the risk of sounding contrary. Walt's statement of trying to do the impossible was great PR, but that's it. He pushed the limits of current technologies and arts, but he didn't do things that just didn't make sense or he'd have built that Rock Candy Mountain attraction you see trotted out in coffee table books. He may have thought the future would have flying cars whizzing around highways in the sky, but he didn't try and build one, he took a (then) new technology of monorails and showcased them before most people had ever heard of them. In other words, Walt aimed for the resonable. DL was reasonable. Despite what the bankers told him. And amusement park operators. It was reasonable to assume that a quality, clean, family entertainment business that had his name behind it was going to be successful. It wasn't pie in the sky despite people talking about him mortgaging his home and the like. There's a difference between knowing there's a market out there for something that isn't being offered or offered in the way you intend to present it and 'building the impossible.' Walt's original concept for EPCOT was likely impossible and that's why it was never built. That said, again, I think people -- and companies -- should always shoot for top.
95	crapshoot Sun 7/6/2008 3:41p	<<In other words, Walt aimed for the resonable. DL was reasonable.>> I think that many of us are a bit jaded into comprehending just how impossible Disneyland actually was to concieve, plan, construct and eventualy operate. That Disney had the name and intellectual property, was a given. What he set out to initally accomplish with DL was a stunning achievement given it was the 1950's and many modern technologies and processes hadn't been developed yet. Today, we can design a darkride, create a themed envrionment and operate it without ever leaving the computer screen. That is not exactly how the Matterhorn was built or the steel tube trackway laid out. There isn't one themepark company in the world today that would tackle constructing selfcontained submarine attraction. Disney won't ever do that again. From the Columbia, Mark Twain, Monorail system, DL Railroad, Jungle Boats, Motor Boats, Viewliner, Omnimoover ridesystems, Audionanimatronics, analog to eventually digital ride control systems, etc., etc., etc, Walt was always pushing the limits of cutting edge of technology. In short, yes indeed he was always doing the impossible. That is, he was always doing the impossible for the times.
96	2001DLFan Sun 7/6/2008 8:02p	<<Park Hopper: Disney's history is filled with reasonable, realistic, practical people. That's how you get attractions like Stich's Great Escape and Monsters Inc. laugh form. It's the realistic imagineers that bend to the will of marketing and create them. What is really needed are people who are more interestd in doing a good job and less interested in internal politics. But that's not going to happen. The good people get fired and replaced by toadies that will do what ever marketing tells them to. >> Actually, it's the reasonable, realistic, practical Imagineers with IMAGINATION and PASSION for doing the "impossible" (to paraphrase Walt) that were able to create Disney's greatest attractions. Marketing had NO significant influence until recently. But now even those Imagineers are having a hard time countering the power that Disney has given the marketing forces. It was looking like things at Imagineering WOULD improve after Eisner left, but his sub cultures remained. Then after Pixar/Lasseter came on board, positive changes were expected, but the sub cultures remained. Again, after the recent management change at Imagineering, another chance? So far, no, the sub cultures still remain. Where the breakdown lies is still uncertain. Marketing's power must be accepted somewhere. Even the Parks appear to have excessive power over creative decisions. Will there ever be positive, corrective change?
97	2001DLFan Sun 7/6/2008 8:26p	<<Spirit of 74: Walt's statement of trying to do the impossible was great PR, but that's it. He pushed the limits of current technologies and arts, but he didn't do things that just didn't make sense or he'd have built that Rock Candy Mountain attraction you see trotted out in coffee table books. He may have thought the future would have flying cars whizzing around highways in the sky, but he didn't try and build one, he took a (then) new technology of monorails and showcased them before most people had ever heard of them.>> In the 50's, most everything Walt imagined for Disneyland WAS just as "impossible" as flying cars. It had never been done and EVERYONE who was "reasonable" claimed it was insanity and folly. <<DL was reasonable. Despite what the bankers told him. And amusement park operators. It was reasonable to assume that a quality, clean, family entertainment business that had his name behind it was going to be successful. It wasn't pie in the sky despite people talking about him mortgaging his home and the like.>> If "reasonable" people - bankers and amusement park operators - claimed that Walt's vision for Disneyland was folly, it was certainly not reasonable to go against all of that "reasonable" advice. Walt's idea flew in the face of EVERY reasonable and practical idea. It was Walt's impractical passion for an idea that he THOUGHT people would like that drove him on. His success was in SPITE of "reason".
98	Spirit of 74 Wed 7/9/2008 11:49a	<<I think that many of us are a bit jaded into comprehending just how impossible Disneyland actually was to concieve, plan, construct and eventualy operate.>> I disagree. Having a great idea that no one else has ever attempted before doesn't make it impossible. Visionary? Most definitely. But not impossible. <<That Disney had the name and intellectual property, was a given. What he set out to initally accomplish with DL was a stunning achievement given it was the 1950's and many modern technologies and processes hadn't been developed yet.>> It absolutely was a stunning achievement. But most of DL 1955 era wasn't exactly cutting edge technologically speaking. And even when things like the monorail and AAs debuted, they weren't 'impossible' ... they were simply taking available technology and using it in new creative ways. And, yes, creating things that didn't exist before sometimes along the way ... but again, that doesn't make them impossible. <<Today, we can design a darkride, create a themed envrionment and operate it without ever leaving the computer screen. That is not exactly how the Matterhorn was built or the steel tube trackway laid out. There isn't one themepark company in the world today that would tackle constructing selfcontained submarine attraction. Disney won't ever do that again. From the Columbia, Mark Twain, Monorail system, DL Railroad, Jungle Boats, Motor Boats, Viewliner, Omnimoover ridesystems, Audionanimatronics, analog to eventually digital ride control systems, etc., etc., etc, Walt was always pushing the limits of cutting edge of technology. In short, yes indeed he was always doing the impossible. That is, he was always doing the impossible for the times.>> I think we're just playing semantics here. Walt was always pushing ... always on the cutting edge of things ... I just take the word impossible literally ... and Walt didn't do the impossible as wonderfully cliched as it sounds.
99	Spirit of 74 Wed 7/9/2008 11:51a	<<If "reasonable" people - bankers and amusement park operators - claimed that Walt's vision for Disneyland was folly, it was certainly not reasonable to go against all of that "reasonable" advice. Walt's idea flew in the face of EVERY reasonable and practical idea. It was Walt's impractical passion for an idea that he THOUGHT people would like that drove him on. His success was in SPITE of "reason".>> Some might just say that the advice Walt was given was safe ... was conservative ... was even reasonable based upon said criteria. But you could also say that the fact DL was a smashing success from opening was because it made so much sense.
100	crapshoot Wed 7/9/2008 12:38p	<<I think we're just playing semantics here. Walt was always pushing ... always on the cutting edge of things ... I just take the word impossible literally ... and Walt didn't do the impossible as wonderfully cliched as it sounds.>> Semantics, yes. But then you don't literally "Kill the lights", "Push someone over the edge", or "Work outside the box". But for most of us, having both Walt's original vision and resources makes everything he did impossible to even consider. So pull it back a notch, get behind the spirit of Walt's original statement and have yourself a Disney Day!

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