The Mouse is an open book...
It's almost the anniversary of
Michael Eisner's retraction from creativity...
That's right,
DCA turns ten next week and I think it's time for a little perspective. It's important to take a look at what has been built since that fateful error, um, I mean era. And important to look at what the
Walt Disney Company has done in response to the reaction to those projects. Nothing is perfect, nor will it ever be. Even in the Disney world. But we as fans and guests always expect Disney, particularly the creative side (mainly
WDAS and
WDI), to strive towards it. I don't expect everything to be exactly what I want, but I do expect high standards when I look at something the Mouse creates.
So let's examine the past while focusing on the present and future. When Eisner and his Burbank cohorts started coming up with ideas for turning the Disney park into the
Disneyland Resort, the sky was the limit. And the result of that wide eyed search for profits meant that Imagineers could dream to their hearts desire. Word has it when the Imagineers asked Michael what he was looking for, he responded with: "Amaze Me." And amaze they did. The results of this was the wonderful (but cloned)
WestCOT park and the off shoot of capitalistic competition known as
Port Disney. We all know that park featured the seed known as
DisneySea that became the flower that is
Tokyo DisneySEA. These were massive projects with levels of detail unseen in even Disney's park history, with the exception of
EPCOT. And even that project only took into account the park and not building an entire resort around it. It was to be an unprecedented move of artistic creation and an example of what could be accomplished as a merging of entertainment and business.
And then
Euro Disneyland opened...
And all that came after would be lacking, to put it mildly. Gone was the first version of WestCOT, with a smaller less expensive WestCOT 2.0 that lost a bit of the charm and grandiose of the original. Then
Port Disney was canceled, after which we got an even more scaled back West COT 3.0 which shortly got the axe itself. Then it was back to the drawing board which led to that dreaded Aspen retreat that led to
He Who Should Not Be Named coming up with a park in California
about California. This was misguided and with a room filled with Yes Men and soulless bean counter, there was no countering voice to say: "No. This is wrong. Stop. Rethink. Redo." It just didn't happen. To make matters worse, even after the bad reception and confused response of the public to this announcement, the powers-that-be felt they had such a sure fire hit that they didn't believe they would have to ensure that it was very themed. It could be as average as any other park, but the Disney name would make them come in droves. So they cut the budget for it. By a third.
And now we have to live with the results. And now we make lemonade from lemons.
For the longest time the Suits and soulless bean counters tried to explain the reaction to the opening away with every excuse possible. It was rainy. Summer will be better. 911 kept it from succeeding, ect. and on and on. The truth which they knew, they didn't dare say. They screwed up. The problem was that by this time, there were already two parks in construction under this model.
Walt Disney Studios in Paris and
Disney's Animal Kingdom in
Walt Disney World. The park in Paris was being built simply to secure the land, which would be lost if a park wasn't created by a certain date. The park in Florida was simply an addition to expand the opportunities in that golden island of Disney just below Orlando. The flaw in that park, wasn't its design, it was in its implementation and by that I mean, what it left out:
Beastley Kingdomme. While Paris is a park that still needs drastic work, Animal Kingdom is a park that is like a great stool, but missing one of its powerful legs.
By the time the mistake was realized a third park was planned under this model,
Hong Kong Disneyland. To be fair, this park, like DAK, was designed quite well, but also like DAK, was underbuilt. Eisner had got out of the problem of theming, but had refused to address the problem of scale. He gave both park's guest a great meal, but didn't give them a proper portion to eat.
Much has happened since then. First, many of the Suits that were in power then are no longer there; either having quit or fired over the past decade (Michael Eisner and Paul Pressler aren't the only ones with blood on their hands). Second, the current members of Disney's Board as well as many, but not all, of the executives are of the opinion that the project was a failure and the park was a disappointment. This is something that you couldn't get anyone in the Team Disney Building to mention the first couple of years after California Adventure opened up. Thirdly, the rise of the Internet has changed how we deal with the parks and how information is given/gotten. We see this with all the information about
Tokyo DisneySEA that wasn't available in such great quantity while that gate was being built. Access to information is a powerful thing. Lastly, the competition has gotten better. Part of this is the fact that many of the companies that do contract work now are headed by former Imagineers and thus the quality of their projects are greatly higher quality than in the late 80's/early 90's. The chief among these is the new
Harry Potter attractions in
IOA that have Disney Suits looking over their shoulders. That, as I've always said, is a good thing. Competition is great. It brings out better work and the consumer/guest will be the one to benefit.
So as we look forward to Shanghai and the next Magic Kingdom styled park, or a second or third or fifth gate at some other resort, we know that Disney will not be able to get away with the creation of another DCA. Will the next park be perfect? Doubtful, but it won't/shouldn't have the faults that DCA or WDS has. The heads of the Walt Disney Company aren't perfect and sometimes make decisions that fans might hate, but they know that the parks created after the last decade can't rely on coasting by with the Disney name on them. They have to actually have the Disney quality that we've come to expect; that those former Disney Suits had somehow forgotten, or never really knew. The next collection of parks shouldn't be hampered by the restrictions placed on
Barry Braverman when he was put in charge of Disneyland's Second Gate. Instead they'll be burdened by the knowledge that fans know what they're capable of with DisneySEA. It's amazing that during this period the parks produced both the worst and best examples of what a park bearing the Disney name could be. The current crop in Burbank know that there is no fooling us with a simple moniker above the title.
And that is a positive, unintended consequence to a dark decade of the Mouse forgetting where it came from, but more importantly where it's going...