Disneyland Pays the Price for Eisner's Obsession

First published May 13, 2004

By C. W. Oberleitner

Chuck Oberleitner takes a closer look at The Walt Disney Company's plans to mark Disneyland's 50^th Anniversary.

Two of my favorite entertainers are Penn & Teller. You know the quasi hip, in your face magicians known as much for de-bunking myth and stage magic as they are for the tricks they perform. For some odd reason I couldn't stop thinking about them all day Wednesday, May 5. The problem was that on that day I was at Disneyland covering the Walt Disney Company's big Disneyland 50^th Anniversary announcement event.

If a giant corporation could have a heart and soul, then surely Disneyland would be the very heart and soul of The Walt Disney Company. Thanks to a remarkable convergence of technology, dramatic social and economic change, Walt Disney's unparalleled vision, and his brother Roy's dedication, Disneyland arrived at exactly the right moment in time to become an integral part of the fabric of American life. In the years that have followed, it has become just as much a part of everyday life throughout the rest of the world.

In languages the world over, Disneyland has become synonymous with family, magic, and imagination. Tens of millions of people have experienced Walt Disney's original Magic Kingdom for themselves. Hundreds of millions more have visited from home, first through television and now via the Internet.

During its nearly fifty year history, Disneyland has revitalized the moribund amusement park business and seen it morph into the multibillion dollar theme park, resort, and cruise industries. Disneyland inspired designers of some of the country's first enclosed shopping malls and gave rise to experience and themed-based retailing. And, thanks to the weekly "Disneyland" television show, it may also have popularized the "infomercial."

After more than 48 years of parades, jungle cruises, grad nights, flights over London, swing dancing, bob sled rides, live shows, trips through inner and outer space, fireworks spectaculars, and so much more, is it any wonder that so many people the world over have been anxiously waiting to learn how the WDC plans on marking the 50^th Anniversary of this international treasure? Last Wednesday, the company put an end to that suspense with a nearly daylong press event that began at the foot of Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

Déjà vu All Over Again

When Disneyland first opened on Sunday, July 17, 1955, it was far from being completely ready for the public. Disney had been committed to the July 17 opening date by, among other things, a promise to ABC TV for a two-hour live opening day telecast.

After a year of start and stop construction—mostly due to bad weather and strikes—and rapidly dwindling funds, parts of the park still weren't fully operational. Tomorrowland, in particular, remained virtually unfinished with little more than the freeway simulation ride, "Autopia," barely ready for guests. Walt reluctantly ordered that Tomorrowland be covered up "with balloons and pennants."

Fifty years later, on Sunday, July 17, 2005, under Michael Eisner's leadership, guests will find much of present-day Tomorrowland either closed off or covered up by plywood construction fences.

Disneyland's 18 month long 50^th Anniversary celebration, "The Happiest Homecoming on Earth," starts exactly one year from last week's kick off event on May 5, 2005. As part of that celebration, the former CircleVision theatre building will house the new "Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters" attraction.

Neither Walt Disney Imagineering nor WDC management will speculate as to when the Disneyland copy of the popular Walt Disney World Buzz Lightyear attraction will actually open. Privately, sources within WDI say that it may be late summer of 2005 before Space Rangers can shoot up the universe in Anaheim. Until then, this portion of Tomorrowland will begin the anniversary celebration boarded up.

Also late to the party will be the newly "Re-Imagineered for the 21^st Century" return of Space Mountain.

"We're preserving the underlying storyline and visual style of the attraction to stay true to the many loyal fans of Space Mountain." Said Barry Braverman, senior vice president of WDI. By which, he means it will have exactly the same track layout it had before. He does, however, go on to say that there will be new rocket vehicles, an upgraded sound system, and that the boarding area will feature a new "hi-tech" launch port and vehicle probe.

What Mr. Braverman did not say is when Space Mountain is expected to reopen. It too will remain shuttered until months after Disneyland's anniversary date of July 17, 2005.

Conspicuously absent from the hoopla was any mention of the fallow areas of Tomorrowland. Nothing at all was discussed about the future of either the long-dormant Submarine Lagoon or former People Mover turned Rocket Rods rides.

JHM has learned that Imagineers at WDI have created a Finding Nemo overlay for the Submarine Lagoon ride that could be operational in 10 to 12 months for as little as 30 to 50 million dollars. And, that they have been cautioned against proposing this, or any other idea that has not been previously approved, to WDC corporate management for the remainder of the fiscal year. When asked about this, WDC and park officials declined comment or referred all such questions to WDC Theme Parks and Resorts President Jay Rasulo. Mr. Rasulo was unavailable for comment.

Nor would anyone from the company, that I spoke with, comment on how park managers plan to accommodate record-breaking crowds with only two aged monorail trains and no plans to replace them or add to the fleet. Likewise, company spokespeople had nothing to say about the shortage of trains—caused by two separate accidents—on The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster.

In addition to the Buzz Lightyear attraction and Space Mountain restoration, millions of dollars will be spent on Disneyland's 50^th Anniversary celebration. Sleeping Beauty's Castle will be festively decorated, there will be a new amazing fireworks display, and two performances a day of the new streetacular, "Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams." These offerings, while sure to delight and astound the expected throngs of guests, aren't without controversy either.

The Parade of Dreams should be one of the most visually stunning and thoroughly entertaining spectacles ever to grace Disneyland's parade route. Featuring beautifully designed floats, the parade units will include such things as "jumping fountains, confetti blasts, wafting bubbles, and elaborate puppetry." Each of these elaborate floats will be themed around classic Disney characters and films. They just won't feature anything about Disneyland or its history.

This elaborate parade will easily fit in any Disney theme park anywhere in the world. In fact, that's the primary intent behind the design of The Parade of Dreams, to able to be relocate it and reuse it in other Disney parks for years to come.

Déjà vu All Over Again, Part 2

The Disneyland 50^th Anniversary celebration, The Happiest Homecoming on Earth, will be celebrated by Disney theme parks around the world. Judging by the amount of money being spent on "E-ticket" and other attractions to celebrate this milestone event, the WDC wants us to travel to Orlando, Florida, to celebrate Disneyland's 50^th Anniversary.

In much the same way it chose to honor the 100^th anniversary of Walt Disney's birth, WDW—which has taken longer than Disneyland and other U.S. theme parks to recover from the downturn in travel that followed the events of September 11—is to receive the lion's share of the money being spent to honor Disneyland. WDW will get not one, not two, but three new E-ticket attractions, all, according to last Wednesday's press event, timed to participate in the worldwide celebration of Disneyland's 50^th Anniversary.

The three new major new attractions, "Soarin," the "Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show," and "Expedition Everest," arrive on the heels of last fall's opening of EPCOT's new E-ticket ride, "Mission Space." MS arrived too early to be considered part of The Happiest Celebration on Earth. In remarks made to the financial press earlier this year, Mr. Rasulo stated that following the opening of "Twilight Zone Hollywood Hotel Tower of Terror" (ToT) at Disney's California Adventure (DCA), there are no plans for any future E-ticket rides at the Disneyland Resort.

Rather than celebrating Disneyland's long-standing tradition of introducing creative, imaginative new rides and attractions, two of the new WDW attractions are copies of established attractions from other Disney parks. "Soarin," currently under construction at EPCOT, will be an exact duplicate of the very popular DCA attraction "Soarin Over California" right down to the faux orange, pine, and surf scents sprayed in front of riders.

The "Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show" will be nearly identical to its French counterpart at Disney Studios Paris. In a permanent facility being built at Disney-MGM Studios, that will seat 5,000, the American version of this "behind the scenes look at movie mayhem" will, according to WDI senior vice president creative, Eric Jacobson, only have "some of the French dialog of the Disneyland Paris version instead of dual French and English translations of the entire show." Other than that, according to Mr. Jacobson, it will be the same show.

"Expedition Everest," a previously announced all new thrill ride currently under construction, will debut late in 2005 or early 2006 at Disney's Animal Kingdom (DAK) at WDW, and is now considered part of The Happiest Celebration on Earth.

Also new to DAK's Dinoland U.S.A., along with being part of Disneyland's 50^th Anniversary celebration, will be daily appearances by Lucky the dinosaur. Lucky is the first "free-roaming" Audio-Animatronics character in WDI history.

Prior to the opening of ToT, Lucky's "play testing" appearances at DCA were that park's most popular new attraction. Lucky was a big hit among DCA guests, many of whom were saddened to learn that their favorite laughing, sneezing, autograph signing dinosaur was moving to Florida to celebrate Disneyland's 50^th Anniversary.

When asked if Lucky had any siblings or cousins who might take up residence at Disneyland during the 50^th Anniversary celebration, WDI spokespeople referred all such questions to WDC Theme Parks and Resorts President Jay Rasulo. Mr. Rasulo was unavailable for comment.

The Magic Kingdom at WDW will get a carbon copy of Tokyo Disneyland's popular live-action, princess coronation show, Cinderellabration. And, EPCOT will host a sneak peak at Hong Kong Disneyland: "An enormous and intricate scale model and never-before-seen renderings will showcase the park, scheduled to open in December 2005." "Or," as one Team Disney Burbank executive said later that day, "early 2006."

Interestingly enough, while the exact size and dimensions of the HKD sneak peak were not available, Disney went out of its way to emphasize the exhibit's grand scale. This left more than one observer wondering if the EPCOT HKD display wasn't going to be larger than the scaled down version of the "Disneyland - The First 50 Years" exhibit. The Disneyland history exhibit was originally slated to fill Tomorrowland's underperforming Innoventions building, but was later scaled back and is now planned to be housed in the lobby of Disneyland's Main Street Opera House.

The News from Team Disney Burbank

Why would the WDC leave whole sections of Disneyland out of service prior to what promises to be one of the busiest years in the park's history? Why spend 50 million dollars promoting a flop like The Alamo and not spend an equal amount to reopen the Submarine ride themed to a box office hit like Finding Nemo?

To paraphrase Garrison Keillor, the host of Public Radio's "A Prairie Home Companion," Michael Eisner has a remarkably uncanny ability to look reality right in the eye and deny it.

The plans and budgets for both the release of The Alamo and Disneyland's 50^th Anniversary celebration were set before Mr. Eisner's current spate of public problems. Spending the millions of dollars needed to restore Disneyland's full glory, increase the park's capacity, and ensure its ability to host the millions of people expected during the celebration now would jeopardize his goal of achieving a 40% increase in operating income this year.

Reopening the Submarine ride and Rocket Rods and installing a crowd-pleasing show in Innoventions won't bring more free spending guests to Disneyland. It will only provide a richer, more Disney like experience for those already planning to visit the park during the 50^th Anniversary celebration. That makes this type of spending an expense rather than an investment. Mr. Eisner has made it very clear that he will not tolerate expenses that do not directly feed the bottom-line. Good will and customer satisfaction be damned.

Several weeks ago, Matt Ouimet, the newly appointed president of the DLR, and his boss, Jay Rasulo, walked WDC President and COO Robert Iger through Disneyland. They were making the case to increase spending at Disneyland for deferred maintenance and refurbishment. Following the tour, Mr. Iger returned to Team Disney Burbank and conferred with Mr. Eisner.

Mssrs. Iger and Eisner agreed Disneyland did need to step up its refurbishment schedule and spending. Their response to Ouimet and Rasulo was to increase the resort's operational income by moving up the now annual increase in the price of admissions and annual passes and to raise the price of parking before the very busy spring break and Easter Holiday season. In other words, the guests could pay to restore Disneyland to the level of quality and appearance they already expect from Disney.

Whether in the next few months or the end of his contract in 2006, Mr. Eisner is reaching the end of his time at the helm of the WDC. He is making it increasingly clear that he wants to be remembered not for carrying on the Disney traditions of vision, imagination, and high standards of customer satisfaction but, rather, for the amount of money the company takes in from its customers during his last days.

Quick!... what was GE's return on investment the day Jack Welch retired? How rich was Thomas Edison? What do you most remember about the Disney company the day Walt died?

C'ya real soon!