What I Learned this Weekend

[SarafinaPink]

So, I am new to the area (about 6 months now) and went on my first business trip for the jewelry company I work for in Orange this weekend with several coworkers. I have been teased a bit by some of them for the number of times I go to Disney (still very new to me, been about 7 times since first visit in April), so I kind of thought every one at work knew that I was a big time fan.

Well, I got to talking to my roommate and company sales and marketing director this weekend and found out not only did she work for Disney for many many years, that she is an Imagineer!

So I started talking about my experiences at the park and how I fell in love and have started to really become interested in the history of the park and just thirst for knowledge of all the magical details that the average visitor doesn't know about.

So I find out so many cool things about her time at Disney (worked for Tony Baxter and still keeps in close contact with him and other Disney members). She worked on lots of new classic rides (Big Thunder, Splash Mountain) and lots of fun projects (Tree house conversion to Tarzan and Frontierland repaving) and has so many stories about what it's like to work there.

She still is in contact with many former colleges and lots of them will get together often and talk about old times. She said a number of years ago Tony found a bunch of old tapes of marketing and random b-roll footage that spanned from the building of the park all the way through the 70's. Disney told him to just throw it away, but he knew it was way too valuable, so he secretly saved them and converted them into 200 dvds and now they get together on Friday nights to pick out a mystery disc and watch. How cool would that be to see what it was like back then!!!

I even asked her about Al Lutz and she just laughed and said he was a very observant third party, but for certain doesn't know all that happens behind the scenes. Apparently Disney employees all know about him and are banned from communicating with him in any form unless they want to be let go!

She also mentioned that not only did she keep in contact with lots of old colleges, she still works part time with Disney and is currently working on the building of the Carthay Circle Pavillion! I didn't want to pump her too much for info, but needless to say, she has close ties with all the current projects in DCA and one future one in FL.

Anyways, all of this was a total surprise to me and we spent HOURS talking about the park, the stories, and the magic that is DL and it was so fun. It's so nice to see that there are Imagineers that feel that magic after living with and working with the park for decades. It makes me love DL so much more!

 

[JH87]

Wow what a neat surprise! That's very interesting stuff. I just graduated with my degree in marketing and I really wanna work for Disney someday. It would be so cool and interesting to see all that footage. Thanks for sharing your little story

 

[skiingfast]

Just a tiny bit better than being with people who ask why you talk about DL so much.

 

[Caseystigger]

How cool! What a great way to spend a business trip.

 

[DisSarahK]

Wow, what a fun surprise! It sounds like a fascinating conversation--I would have loved to be a "fly on the wall" for your conversation.

 

[tinkermomma]

What fun! I'm so excited for you that you have such a neat connection like that. I would love to talk to an imagineer.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[SarafinaPink]

Well I forsee many more talks in the future, so hopefully I have more stories to share. She did tell me about how Disney wanted to take down Swiss Family Treehouse and they were able to save it by converting it in time for the Tarzan movie. She also mentioned an amazing Little Mermaid dark ride that was scrapped back in the late 90s. Tony Baxter talks about it in the newest version of Little Mermaid DVDs.

She is really happy with all the work going into DCA right now. She said she was always disapointed in how it turned out, and owed it to the fact that Disney wanted a cheap park that would bring in the thrill seekers. She said it's the only time in company history that they bought off the shelf rides, and it showed in the quality of the park. They also didn't learn from Walt's brilliance and decided to go away from the tried and tested park layout that included a hub, which is why DCA doesn't have the flow the other parks do, including dead ends and overcrowded walkways. She mentioned them not having a berm really killed all the disney magic, since you were not transported into a different world, but rather still in the middle of the city.

 

[tinkermomma]

That's really cool info. She's so right. I have always felt the same way. Like DCA just literally went against a lot of Walt's philosophies and it seemed so ironic. Not that I don't some parts of it are pretty cool, but still...

I'm so glad their really fixing it up now, I love to hear how exciting that is for her

 

[Jazziered]

That is really cool. Everyone tolerates my Disneyland love, but doesn't really understand it. So it must be cool to have a friend to talk to about it.

That is one thing about DCA that I didn't like, I felt like I was walking and walking and walking and never got anywhere. I couldn't wait to get out of that park.

 

[SarafinaPink]

That is really cool. Everyone tolerates my Disneyland love, but doesn't really understand it. So it must be cool to have a friend to talk to about it.

My boyfriend is most excited about this part. He loves the park but he doesn't really care as much about the history and the stories and little things. I'm pretty sure he's tired of hearing me talk about all the things I learn on here. As much fun as I have on here, it's nothing like having a three hour convo with someone who loves DL too.