SAMLAND

The past week was spent touring around Central Florida. It has been an amazing experience and I want to thank everybody who came out for one of my talks in support of Walt and the Promise of Progress City. You saw the extended version of those talks in last week’s column: Walt Disney's Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow. I had a blast.

I also want to send a special shout out to all of the podcasters, ...

It's been a busy week for me. I was in Florida for a series of over 15 talks, podcasts and events. One of which I'd like to share with you today. On Saturday, I spoke to the Disneyana World Chapter Meeting about Walt Disney and how he changed the public's expectations with regards to the public realm.

In his early days, Walt forever changed animation, and animal documentaries, and television, ...

Time to cut to the chase as they say in Hollywood. The soon to officially open Transformers at Universal Studios Hollywood is a home run and one of the most exciting thrill ride additions to the Southern California theme park scene in years. The ride should drive record numbers of people to Universal the same way the addition of the King Kong experience on the tram tour did a couple of years ago. ...

In Persistence of Vision magazine, J.G. O'Boyle suggested that "a theme park is not ride-dependent. A theme park without rides is still a theme park. An amusement park without rides is a parking lot with popcorn." I am here to say that after my recent visit to Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, we still have a wonderful theme park and one that seems to be getting better and better under the new management ...

This week, I am going beyond the Disney theme parks to tell you about a pair of interesting things. First up, a very interesting talk and book about the planning history of Los Angeles. Then we'll take a look at the most expensive privately funded construction project in United States history - CityCenter in Las Vegas. Walt Disney thought that big. Does this project in the desert measure up?
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