Dear Walt

[GeorgeG]

I believe Walt was a really bad businessman, but an extraordinary visionary. Brother Roy had to handle the business end of the company, which he did fairly well for trying to keep up with Walt's visions.

All that aside, someone has made a mess of Walts visions in recent years. I don't think anyone intended to have gourmet food in the parks, but it doesn't hurt to have something for everyone. I'd rather see a lot of really good hot dogs and burgers and such than some of the inferior food they are currently passing off as "signature" dining. You can get better hot dogs from a cart on the streets of many cities than what they currently serve at WDW.

I agree that guests have become too demanding. A clean, comfortable room at a reasonable price should be sufficient for anyone. Personally, I think Disney went a little crazy building resorts in their frenzy to take that away from the competition in the area. I also think they have succeeded in driving more people out to the off-site resorts with their pricing. That leads to plans such as free dining just to fill the on-site resorts, which leads to a decline in the dining. Somewhere along the way they lost sight of the concept of realistic competition.

So, one thing leads to another, and another, and another and it eventually affects the cast members and guests to a point that WDW is rapidly becoming a huge, expensive dissappointmet to many, especially those who remember when every aspect was special. I believe another poster made the comment that WDW is just an amusement park. Unfortunately, that's becoming too true to argue.

 

[mhsjax]

Alas, imagination is no longer rewarded, I see. lol

For the record, I'm well aware that Walt is dead. I have gone other places but still enjoy visiting the World. I thought it more fun to pen a fluff piece about what I perceive to be shortcomings with the Disney experience rather than do the typical whining, moaning, and complaining piece. The post only seems long because as a collective whole our attention spans have decreased over the past three decades. I didn't intend this to be a zeitgeist piece that speaks for a disenfranchised mob (though it is amusing to see the use of exclamations to drive home a point! Granted, I'm hard of hearing). And while Disney himself would never have envisioned the greatness of his company as it exists today, I would humbly argue that greatness in this case has more to do with financial success than other more connotative meanings.

There, I think that just about covers it all.

FWIW, I totally agree with your letter. WDW is totally coin driven, yes it is a business but the prices keep going up and the service keeps going down. We have actually let our APs lapse. We are taking at least a 3 year break. When you go as much as we do, you notice these things. the past 2 times we have gone, there have been more rides and attractions broken than working. Sure for families that don't get to go much and for kids it is great, but for me I have had enough. We comment at least 3 times per visit that Walt is probably turning over in his grave.

 

[mhsjax]

I believe Walt was a really bad businessman, but an extraordinary visionary. Brother Roy had to handle the business end of the company, which he did fairly well for trying to keep up with Walt's visions.

All that aside, someone has made a mess of Walts visions in recent years. I don't think anyone intended to have gourmet food in the parks, but it doesn't hurt to have something for everyone. I'd rather see a lot of really good hot dogs and burgers and such than some of the inferior food they are currently passing off as "signature" dining. You can get better hot dogs from a cart on the streets of many cities than what they currently serve at WDW.

I agree that guests have become too demanding. A clean, comfortable room at a reasonable price should be sufficient for anyone. Personally, I think Disney went a little crazy building resorts in their frenzy to take that away from the competition in the area. I also think they have succeeded in driving more people out to the off-site resorts with their pricing. That leads to plans such as free dining just to fill the on-site resorts, which leads to a decline in the dining. Somewhere along the way they lost sight of the concept of realistic competition.

So, one thing leads to another, and another, and another and it eventually affects the cast members and guests to a point that WDW is rapidly becoming a huge, expensive dissappointmet to many, especially those who remember when every aspect was special. I believe another poster made the comment that WDW is just an amusement park. Unfortunately, that's becoming too true to argue.

don't even get me started on those so called buns they are now serving.

 

[bicker]

I don't mean this comment facetiously--I really don't understand the commentary as I neither insulted Walt nor tried to impose my personal view of the world on him (or any other soul, living or dead).

I'll take your word for it.

 

[FireDancer]

I believe Walt was a really bad businessman, but an extraordinary visionary. Brother Roy had to handle the business end of the company, which he did fairly well for trying to keep up with Walt's visions.

That was true at the beginning but by the time Disneyland came around Walt was a ruthless business man, sometimes at Roy's expense. I'd look into the creation of WED Enterprises and Retlaw and see if you still think Walt wasn't a very shrewd businessman. At one point the company even had to buy the rights to use the Disney name from WED.

Much of the urban myth of exactly who and what Walt was is not true. One quote directly from Walt:

I've worked my whole life to create the image of what "Walt Disney" is. It's not me. I smoke, and I drink, and all the things that we don't want the public to think about.

Walt was known to talk a lot about how the real Walt and the one people perceived were not the same, and this was while he was still alive. That gulf has only widened more since his death. I do admire Walt, but the real one. Not this made up saint that could do no wrong.