Scott Meyer

How to Keep Pace With Societal Change

Added 2024-09-09 07:00:03 +0000 UTC

It’s true, the Disney corporation is finally building the long prophesied Mecha-Disney.

It’s also true that Walt was adamant that he never wanted so much as a statue of him in his parks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partners_(statue)

He also never wanted a Ferris wheel in his parks. We know how that worked out.

And this is how it should be. You can’t make decisions based on what you suspect a dead person would do. You have to do what you believe is right, based on the information you have, not your imagined opinions of what a totally different person might do in your place. If Disney only made decisions for their parks based on direct evidence of Walt’s wishes, they’d be making rides based on That Darned Cat.

They say Steve Jobs hated the idea that after he died, Apple would turn into a calcified monument to him. Michael Piller, the head writer for Star Trek: The Next Generation, had a bust of Gene Roddenberry, which he kept blindfolded. They both, in my opinion, had the right idea.

I’m in favor of Robo-Walt. I hope they make viral video clips of it telling fan-boys to shut up and stop worrying about what Walt would have wanted.

Once, as part of a submission package for a writing job for Disney Parks, I suggested a promotion where every morning one child would be selected as “Walt for the Day.” They would be put in a little gray suit, and given a little fake mustache (yes, even the girls), and then they and their family would be given a VIP “Site Inspection” tour of all the rides and several of the restaurants, where the child would be encouraged to boss grownups around.

I did not get the job.