What would WD DO???

[future_imagineer]

1) Fire anyone on the board, including Iger, who was loyal to Eisner.
2) Make Stanley P. Gold CEO, Roy Edward Chairman of the Board, and himself President and COO (similar to the way he and Roy Oliver shared power).
3) Stop the Pixarization of Disney - keep Pixar, and let Jobs and Lasseter have influence, but separate WDFA & Pixar.
4) Let Pixar create excellent digitally animated films, and let WDFA make excellent traditionally animated films.
5) End what is left of the tensions between the Walt and Roy sides of the family.
6) Let the Imagineers do what they are there to do, and invest in their amazing ideas!
7) Replace the current monetary ideology of The Walt Disney Company (invest almost nothing in new films, parks, et cetera, but hope people won't care and they'll still bring in $$$) with his and Roy's (invest large amounts of money on such projects and get a large payback in return). For a while, Eisner successfully merged the two, in my opinion, returning in the four best Disney animated films since Walt died (Little Mermaid, Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast), which all brought in huge amounts of cash.
8) Bring more monorails to WDW!
9) Realize the original vision of EPCOT, and try to merge it with the excellent park at WDW, Epcot.

I guess these are actually my wishes for TWDC more than Walt's per se, but I guess I can wish.

[bradk]

those are definitely your wishes more than Walt's would have been .. for starters, Walt was definitely not a fan of his nephew. they notoriously used to call him an idiot and Walt even hand picked his son-in-law, Ron Miller over his nephew. Roy was also arguably the whole reason the animation department originally ran into the ground. The Black Cauldron, anyone? and when he had no respect from his own team, he whined incessently about it. and remember, he had already quit the company in 1977. the only positive thing he ever had going for him was that he looked like Walt, but nobody seemed to care about that when the business was going to pot I suppose. and i guess integrity is an asset for the next guy? because he was so gung ho on suing disney over the appointment of iger, but as soon as iger threw him an empty title, he was right on board and dropped the lawsuit.

i shudder to think what life might be like with roy e in control.

and without Eisner, Disney undoubtedly wouldn't exist today... but i digress and save that for a topic i'm not going to get involved in.

and i also beg to argue that the rebirth period of animation as you remember, which happened under Eisner rule, was due to a lethal combination of katzenberg and ashman, which Eisner receives partial credit for (both the creation and inevitable destruction).

i guess the moral of the story is sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down, and sometimes you just wallow in your own self-pity and realize your silver spoon is made of aluminum.

[future_imagineer]

I guess you're probably right (with Card Walker's nickname for Roy E., "the idiot nephew"), although in general I think that Walt would advocate for what Roy E. did in the SaveDisney battle (and Diane Disney Miller agreed with): the return of quality to Disney.

I'm not saying that Roy E. is perfect. And also, what Eisner did earlier in his tenure, especially before 1994 when Frank Wells died, was mostly good, and yes, he saved Disney. However, especially post-2000, Eisner's micromanagement of the company really began to hurt it, and thus I side(d) with Roy E. In general, I agree with Diane's assessment of Eisner: "I think it's time for you to go. You've done some wonderful things, but it's time."

The more I think about it, the more my stance is that Disney really needs a completely new type of leadership... somewhat of a combination of Walt, Roy O., and Eisner.

[bradk]

if the Disney in Save Disney didn't stand for Roy E and if Roy's backbone wasn't being held in place by Stanley Gold, perhaps. (by the way, I made some additions to my original response which you may not have read).

[battle beast]

Disneyland/World wouldn't be all about the money!

[CaptainSad]

He would have slapped the guys who have closed the old rides for the kids. He would have shot the ones who put COP on seasonal. Wasn't that his favorite? Eisner may have jump started the company when he took over, but in the long run he hurt WDW. Over expansion was way to much. Mr. Disney would not have let McDonald's get their foot in the park. I could go on, but I don't enough time.
I hope it turns around. I have always enjoyed WDW. I miss the old stuff I saw over the years. Some of the new that replaced old I didn't get to see because they replaced the replaced. Go figure.

[mttafire]

Disneyland/World wouldn't be all about the money!

I respectfully disagree. It WAS always about the money...ANY Businessman and that is what Walt was,Is not going to buy an amazingly large amount of land in Florida under a "false name" to not make a HUGE amount of money. the one thing about Walt(if you read about his life) was that he was very smart in business. I know we all want it to be about the kids and "Magic" but make no mistake it was and is about making a profit. NOW, Walt DID want to do things BETTER that the rest obviously and i think by FAR Disney is better than the rest. I personally think its better than ever. P.S. Battlebeast..I understand your point though.

[bradk]

why would walt not let mcdonald's in? from day one, he was all about sponsorship and subsidizing costs.

it certainly couldn't be for the benefit of the kids' health. afterall, disneyland opened with a tobacco shop and a lingerie shop right on main street.

[WDW1985]

I respectfully disagree. It WAS always about the money...ANY Businessman and that is what Walt was,Is not going to buy an amazingly large amount of land in Florida under a "false name" to not make a HUGE amount of money. the one thing about Walt(if you read about his life) was that he was very smart in business. I know we all want it to be about the kids and "Magic" but make no mistake it was and is about making a profit. NOW, Walt DID want to do things BETTER that the rest obviously and i think by FAR Disney is better than the rest. I personally think its better than ever. P.S. Battlebeast..I understand your point though.

Walt Disney wasn't a fool even though some would say he had his head too far into the clouds of imagination. You can't have "magic" without money and usually that means A TON of money when it comes to making Disney "magic." But I can see how some people would say that Disney at times has the appearance of being money hungry. For example many people have exressed that feeling on Intercot's forums about the DVC.

[Jeff G]

This doesn't apply to WDW but Walt would stop all the movie sequels of the classics that are be released straight to video. Walt was once quoted as saying " I've never believed in doing sequels. I didn't want to waste the time I have doing a sequel; I'd rather be using that time doing something new and different". This is a practice that the corporation is doing that goes directly against Walt's principles.

Sorry this was no related to the parks...

[WDW1985]

This doesn't apply to WDW but Walt would stop all the movie sequels of the classics that are be released straight to video. Walt was once quoted as saying " I've never believed in doing sequels. I didn't want to waste the time I have doing a sequel; I'd rather be using that time doing something new and different". This is a practice that the corporation is doing that goes directly against Walt's principles.

Sorry this was no related to the parks...

I agree. I've always thought the sequels were kind of second rate and made just so the poor parents would HAVE to buy it for their little one who just couldn't live without it - even though they entirely forgot about it 5 minutes after watching it for the first time!

[Donald A]

I am always told that Mr. Disney liked progress. EPCOT was a dream he never saw come to life. I think it would be different if he ran it. I mean, EPCOT, means experimental prototype community of tomorrow. Short of the house of the future in the innovations concourse and The Land ride, I don't see much futuristic stuff there. OK, maybe Mission: Space would qualify too. I love EPCOT, but I just don't think it is what Walt had in mind.

I am almost positive that all this PIXAR nonsense would have no place in his World either.

[bradk]

because he was anti-technology?

i probably disagree on pixar too. first, i think he'd be mad as heck that disney wasn't the one pioneering CGI and he may not have passed on pixar the first time it was brought to disney as a possibility.