3. "Custom rides will never work... besides, the public doesn't know the difference or care."
Though the industry of amusement rides looked very different in the '50s, there were still tried-and-true classic ride manufacturers and off-the-shelf ride models that vendors could pick out of catalogues and have installed on-site. Don't misunderstand – Disneyland did have plenty of that! (See Fantasyland's spinners and dark rides, whose ride systems were all "off-the-shelf.")
But rides like the Jungle Cruise and the Riverboat and Rocket to the Moon were custom creations completely... And obviously, those are the rides that Disney is known for. Sure, today there are dozens and dozens of ride manufacturers whose "off-the-shelf" offerings are essential components of ride lineups at parks around the globe, including Disney's! But likely with Disneyland as the impetus, hundreds of companies exist to furnish "custom rides", not the least of which being Walt Disney Imagineering and Universal Creative. Those firms, in turn, contract with countless others, creating an entire industry and economy based around theme parks, experiential attraction, museums, and more.
Put another way, "custom rides" turned out to be a smart business, and it turns out that people do notice and care.
4. "Things like the castle and pirate ship are cute, but that aren't rides so there's no economic reason to build them."
Here, Walt's detractors are exactly right. There's no direct, economic reason to build a castle, or a pirate ship, or the Cadillac Range or floating mountains. By all accounts, these are superfluous. Space Mountain, one could argue, could just as easily be placed in a big ole' box and it wouldn't make a difference to the ride experience.
But of course, as Walt's early designers knew and as we all know now, there's so much more to Disney Parks than the ride experience alone. It all goes back to that idea of a park built not by vendors or "carnies" or amusement park folks, but by filmmakers and storytellers and artists. So sure, there are definitely folks who could walk through Frontierland today and say "Yeah, yeah, yeah, but where's the roller coaster?" For them, there are dozens and dozens of perfectly wonderful amusement parks across the country to scratch that itch. Disney Parks, though, were able to be something else entirely, and it's because of things like castles and mountains and pirate ships.
It's almost funny to hear Walt's contemporaries suggest that Disneyland's castle is merely "cute" but has no economic incentive... it's because the icon of a multi-billion-dollar entertainment company! The question we've got to ask is – if The Walt Disney Company were building its first theme park today, would it bother to build a castle as the park's center? Or would current leadership agree that there's no economic reason to do so?
5. "Walt's screwy ideas about cleanliness and great landscape maintenance are economic suicide...
...He will lose his shirt by overspending on things the customer never really notices."
As Disney legend goes, initial plans drawn up for the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland were of a tattered, mossy old home on the edge of town; a ramshackle mansion of shattered windows and tattered curtains. It made sense. One would expect a Haunted Mansion to be dirty and desolate and rundown, right? The ride's outside would help communicate what was inside.
But Walt rejected the idea, famously insisting that "We'll take care of the outside, and let the ghosts take care of the inside." It may sound silly, but even in the '60s, Walt still kept to that idea that he had a lot to prove. He didn't want any part of his park to look overgrown or unkempt, even if the company could find an "excuse" to do so. (One of the original Haunted Mansion designers famously said of Disneyland Paris' Modern Marvel: Phantom Manor and its aged, overgrown exterior, "Walt never would've approved.")
Walt even went so far as to ban sales of gum in his park, having seen how dropped and trampled gum had ruined the pathways at other amusemement parks, and how stepping in a freshly-chewed wad of it could so quickly turn a day sour. (To this day, gum is not sold in Disney Parks.)
And in some ways, the "screwy" idea of changing out planters for each season, keeping the park immaculately painted and weeded and mowed, and making trash cans plentiful and routinely emptied is still revolutionary among parks. It's not that Disney always gets it right. (Check Twitter and you'll find plenty of photos of overflowing trash cans.) But the mere idea that fans continue to expect such a high standard from Disney Parks is important, and points to just how much customers really do notice...
The Disney Difference
Seventy years ago, Walt faced an uphill battle in communicating his ideas of what Disneyland could be. Today, the foundations, concepts, and standards of a Disney theme park are so well known that the objections of Walt's 1950s peers look hilariously out-of-touch.
But it's important to remember ourselves (and to remind today's executives) that what made Disney so unique then is something we still need to strive for today. In an era of slashed perks and new upcharges, a "franchise-focus" that seemingly prohibits any custom ideas or Imagineer-made IPs, lowered standards for things like cleanliness, upkeep, and maintenance in the name of per capita spending, and rising competition from Universal, there's no guaruntee that Disney Parks will be on top forever.
Somewhere in these laughable pieces of "advice" Walt's competitors gave him in the 1950s, there's a question of what will keep Disney Parks special in the 2050s... What advice would you give today's executives when it comes to the care and operations of Disney Parks?
Comments
If I had to give one piece of advice to the Disney executives, it would be this:
Disney made movies and built theme parts with the idea of: make it good quality and entertaining, and the people and money will come.
But today's executives seem to think: people are coming an income is flowing, so why spend money on things like good quality and entertaining attractions? Stop with the idea of slapping a Marvel label on a half-decent ride and people will ride it simply for the name.