Jan26

Blame the management, not the Imagineers

08:53 am on Jan 26th 2008 Josh

EPCOT Central has a great post reflecting on the issues that surround EPCOT, its themes, and its direction especially as it relates to EPCOT Central’s coverage. Read it here:

EPCOT Central: Every Post Critical Or Trenchant?

What I really appreciate about this post is who EPCOT Central places the blame on for what they perceive as mistakes – the upper management. The core ideal around EPCOT was that it would be constantly evolving – you could say that is a core ideal for all the parks and I would agree with you. EPCOT was to be a playground of change around a single theme, Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.

But as management’s job is to make money – and not just revenue, but profit – they have gotten scared to take risks. It’s far easier to slap a Nemo themed ride into EPCOT then it is to think about what might make up the community of tomorrow. Nemo has had success. People will pay to see Nemo. Blah, Blah, Blah.

I have no issue with making money. However, as with all business, taking risks is critical to moving forward and avoiding stagnating and complacency. 

I don’t want my blog to be a blog that criticizes Disney. There are plenty of other blogs that do that well. I appreciate them and when appropriate, want to highlight them. 

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  • Thanks for your post, Josh. You know, it is rather astounding what 41 years of perspective does. You'd THINK it would highlight the fact that Walt Disney was, above all, a consummate businessman who proved that the right risks net the right rewards ... and those rewards are far greater than anyone ever imagined. Instead, those years seem to have turned Walt into some kindly old man who just got lucky. Today, we neglect to teach MBA students the "Walt Way," perhaps because it's so damned difficult and impossible to calculate -- it DID require luck, but also immense skill and business acumen. To be able to turn on a dime, to change his entire company's direction over and over (from Mickey to animated features, from features to live action, from live action to TV, from TV to theme parks, from theme parks to ... who knows where it would have gone?!) took more skill than all of today's management at Disney collectively has. It required a vision. That's something in short supply these days.
  • Epcot82,
    Thanks for the comment. You are very articulate with the core issue here.
  • PUNK
    EPCOT KIND OF SUCKS ANYWAY
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