Don't Fence Me In

First published March 16, 2004

By C. W. Oberleitner

Spurred on by comments made by Michael Eisner and retiring Disney director Ray Watson, C. W. Oberleitner traveled to Anaheim last weekend to take a look at the Happiest Place on Earth.

During this month's marathon Walt Disney Company annual shareholders' meeting two the company's long time directors formally retired from the board. One of those directors was Ray Watson. Watson, in addition to being a longtime Disney director, was President and Vice Chairman of the Irvine Company. The Irvine Company is best known for the "balanced, sustainable communities" it planned and built on the former Irvine Ranch located in Orange County, California.

Following his opening remarks, in which he sang Michael Eisner's praises in the exact same middle school pep-club prose that would later be echoed by every division head of the Mouse House, Mr. Watson proceeded to tell the audience about his coming 50^th wedding anniversary. Watson said his entire family, "wife, children and grandchildren," were all looking forward to celebrating this great event together aboard one of the ships of the Disney Cruise Line (DCL).

Mr. Watson went on to say whenever his family got together the children and grandchildren always wanted to go to Disneyland. He dismissed out of hand any criticism of Walt's original theme park. He said it remained a symbol of quality family entertainment, unique and original as ever. He went on to say how much he enjoyed walking the park with his grandkids.

Later that afternoon during the Q & A portion of the meeting a shareholder, critical of the current state of Disney theme parks, asked Michael Eisner if he, like Mr. Watson, ever visited and walked the parks. Eisner replied that he regularly visits all the Disney parks and that he had just, the week before, been to Disneyland for the premiere of Snow White an Enchanting New Musical.

The question should not have been "if" Eisner ever visited the Disney theme parks but rather "how" he visits them. For it is highly unlikely that either Michael Eisner or Ray Watson ever enter a Disney theme park by first standing in line while their bags are searched and then waiting in long lines to pass through a turnstile. It's equally unlikely that either of them has ever rushed around Disneyland to grab a FastPass then stood in line waiting for food and drink or even longer in the standby line of another attraction.

Sailing into Anaheim

This past Saturday, I decided to take a trip to Disneyland and see for myself what type of experience Ray Watson and his family would have if they took a day trip to the Magic Kingdom. And, what that experience would be like if they entered and enjoyed the park like average guests.

I found it somewhat ironic that Watson chose to single out Disneyland, following his praise of the DCL. Of all the divisions of the WDC that have come under fire for reducing or abandoning Disney Magic and the Disney experience the DCL remains one of the Mouse House's most highly respected divisions.

The man widely credited for establishing and maintaining the DCL's high standards and levels of guest satisfaction is Matt Ouimet. Ouimet is the former President of the DCL. This past fall he was named President of the Disneyland Resort (DLR), replacing Paul Pressler's handpicked successor Cynthia Harriss.

The Pressler/Harriss years are among some of the most controversial in Disneyland's nearly 50 year history. During the past three years Team Disney Anaheim (TDA)—the management group responsible for operating and maintaining the DLR's two theme parks, retail and entertainment district, Downtown Disney, and three hotels—has come under increasing criticism for a host of cost cutting initiatives and profit boosting schemes. All deemed to be at the guests' expense. Last summer a Consumers Report survey of theme park customer satisfaction ranked Disneyland below Sea World and Universal's Islands of Adventure.

Ouimet has done much since taking the top spot at TDA to win the begrudging respect of Disneyland's critics. The first thing he and his new management team did was to attack the look and feel of the park. After nearly a decade of deferred maintenance, Walt's original theme park was showing visible signs of neglect. Paint was peeling off buildings, burnt out light bulbs, which were once replaced before they could burn out, were so numerous as to make the facades they outlined look like toothless poor relations of their counter parts on reruns of the various Disney TV shows.

Good News, Bad News

The first thing the Watson clan would have noticed, had they joined me at the DLR last Saturday, was the expanded security area on either side of the Esplanade, the large paved open space between the main gates of Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure (DCA). The package checkpoints, once in front of the entry gates, have been reduced in number and relocated just beyond the ticket booths near the tram stops.

If the idea behind relocating the security checkpoints was to make getting into the parks faster and easier it wasn't working. It took the checkpoint CMs only a few minutes to check my camera bag. It took almost fifteen minutes more for throngs of guests and myself to pass through the gates into the park.

Once inside Disneyland evidence of TDA's new emphasis on attention to detail was everywhere. City Hall was closed and completely shrouded in scaffolding and tarps as it undergoes a much-needed renovation and remodeling.

While still open for business the Annual Passholder business center located in the Plaza Pavilion is also being renovated.

On this particular Saturday Disneyland was awash with projects. Whether as a part of regularly scheduled off season refurbishment or maintenance work that just simply could not be put off any longer huge swaths of the park's walkways were wrapped in plywood fencing.

Despite Matt Ouimet and TDA's efforts to restore Disney Magic to Disneyland, capacity still remains a big problem for the park. Even on an ordinary Saturday in the middle of March thousands of guests clog it's walkways because many attractions are still out of service.

Despite all of the cleaning up and fixing up going on at Disneyland the Enchanted Tiki Room still remains, in Disney speak, the best example of "bad show" on stage at the Magic Kingdom.

Safety First?

Over the objections of the family, of the second guest in Disneyland history killed through no fault of his own, Disneyland this past week reopened the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad rollercoaster. Following an extensive investigation state investigators determined that faulty maintenance procedures and poor training caused the accident that cost 22-year-old Marcelo Torres of Gardena his life and injured 10 others.

Safety at the Disney parks was also an issue at this year's shareholders' meeting. Michael Eisner, presenting the company's reasons to vote NO on a shareholder proposal to increase safety measures in the parks, told the assembled crowd that guest safety is and always will be the company's primary concern.

Those comments came to mind as I walked past the construction fencing between the Monorail and Autopia. To do this you have to traverse a narrow corridor behind the hydraulic stage in Club Buzz, also known as Tomorrowland Terrace.

Guests are usually separated from the back side of the mechanized stage, which is raised and lowered throughout the day for the children's show "Calling All Space Scouts," by rows of tables and chairs. The tables and chairs have been removed and guests moving from one side of Tomorrowland to the other squeeze by others who have stopped at either end of the stage to get a close up look at the show.

During two separate performances of "Calling All Space Scouts" I watched as children and teenagers stuck their arms and heads into the path of the descending stage to wave goodbye to Buzz. I asked the operating CM on the right rear side of the stage if the over hanging steel and concrete roof that lowers to cover the stage had sensors to stop it if it encountered any type of resistance. He appeared to be very annoyed by my question.

"We have three people watching all the time." He said tersely. "One on either side of the stage and a camera."

He moved off quickly and I didn't get the chance to tell him that this was the second performance I had seen that day. At both performances the CM on the left rear side of the stage had gone out among the audience in front of the stage while the mechanism was still descending. Neither CM has a clear field of vision around the rear of the stage. By abandoning this position to line kids up for autographs the CM at the left rear side of the stage leaves this end of stage completely unguarded.

I never saw a camera anywhere. It didn't matter that much. Even as the CM operating the mechanism was lowering the stage a boy of 12 or 13, not three feet away from him, was leaning over the railing—directly in the path of the descending roof—to wave to Buzz Lightyear. Neither the CM operating the descending stage mechanism nor anyone else made any effort to stop him.

I wonder if this is how Ray Watson's grandchildren are treated when they visit Disneyland?

C’ya real soon!