In keeping with Walts vision for the park

[Sorcerer's Apprentice]

I've been thinking about this for a long time.

Now, my understanding was/is that Walt never intended for the park to sustain itself with revenues generated there.

But rather the park was to be a place that was sustained by revenue he generated through other means and from the companies revenues from other ventures. E.G. Television, films, brand capital, etc.

Am I wrong?

I thought the park was primarliy a labor of love to "play" and "explore" his less structured and demanding creative personality.

Recreational creation, rather than the much needed business creation.

Discuss please.

[Sorcerer's Apprentice]

...did you ever feel all alone with a thought.

The echo in this thread is deafening!

[Bob Weaver]

When Walt was designing and building Disneyland, the naysayers were predicting that his little park would be out of business within a year. Now here it is 55 years later and 500 million visitors later, over 200 attractions during the history and about 21,000 employees now. So obviously Walt had a great deal of faith in his own vision. I can't say for sure but I think he envisioned it as a self-supporting business, not dependent on the studio and not as just a marketing technique for the studio. Some of the later executives have seen it that way though. I think Walt saw it as a self-supporting entity. He had trouble convincing the money men though, so he had to sell a stake in Disneyland to the ABC network, so for a while ABC was partial owner of Disneyland. Ironically now, though the Walt Disney Company owns the ABC network. How did that happen?

[Trevor]

The purchases that Disney has made such as ABC, Oswald and the like are great examples of a vision that was solid from the get-go. Others tried (even with characters Disney himself made) but the difference was the drive and demand for high quality that Disney had. Is there any greater sign of sucess than that?

[WestsideCM99]

The purchases that Disney has made such as ABC, Oswald and the like are great examples of a vision that was solid from the get-go. Others tried (even with characters Disney himself made) but the difference was the drive and demand for high quality that Disney had. Is there any greater sign of sucess than that?

So do you think that spirit is alive in today's Disney Co.?

[Sorcerer's Apprentice]

When Walt was designing and building Disneyland, the naysayers were predicting that his little park would be out of business within a year. Now here it is 55 years later and 500 million visitors later, over 200 attractions during the history and about 21,000 employees now. So obviously Walt had a great deal of faith in his own vision. I can't say for sure but I think he envisioned it as a self-supporting business, not dependent on the studio and not as just a marketing technique for the studio. Some of the later executives have seen it that way though. I think Walt saw it as a self-supporting entity. He had trouble convincing the money men though, so he had to sell a stake in Disneyland to the ABC network, so for a while ABC was partial owner of Disneyland. Ironically now, though the Walt Disney Company owns the ABC network. How did that happen?

I can see what you are saying about the self support, but
growing, changing, and improving the park; as Walt said he wanted to do from the get-go, costs a lot more than simply "maintaining" the park.

How could it be self-sustaining given this projected vision and the desire to keep the park afforable to all?

The purchases that Disney has made such as ABC, Oswald and the like are great examples of a vision that was solid from the get-go. Others tried (even with characters Disney himself made) but the difference was the drive and demand for high quality that Disney had. Is there any greater sign of sucess than that?

Walt was the quintessential visionary!

[GummiBears_Rock]

So do you think that spirit is alive in today's Disney Co.?

i personally think that the only place where Walt's spirit is at, is in the attractions that were around when he was, just my thoughts. it may also be a childhood thing

[Steve DeGaetano]

"Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money."

The phrasing "just with the idea of making money" suggests that making money was, in fact, one of Walt's reasons for building the Park.

[GummiBears_Rock]

wait i'm confused, so did Walt build Disneyland to make money or not?

[Steve DeGaetano]

Successful businessmen do not risk millions of dollars of their own money, and millions of dollars of other peoples' money, with the idea of not making a return.

Of course Disneyland was meant to make money. But that doesn't mean Walt or his guests couldn't have fun in the process.

[Bob Weaver]

As far as what I know of Walt, for him it was about more than just making a profit. It was a vision, a dream, an act of creation, a labor of love, all of that. But he realized in the reality of the business world there has to be a profit involved or it doesn't happen. Since Walt was a creative individual I don't think profit was his motivator. I think he was driven by his imagination, creativity and visions. But to make the vision become a reality brought along with it the ugly, cold fact that it had to make a profit in order to succeed and survive. I think he probably enjoyed the creation, design and development of the park and all its projects, and seeing the result in reality, probably more than he enjoyed the financial success.

[Steve DeGaetano]

That's a good way of putting it, Bob.

[WestsideCM99]

wait i'm confused, so did Walt build Disneyland to make money or not?

My interpretation of the quote is that Walt was no dummy. He knew that to some extent Disney would need to make money, even in the most juvenile sense Disneyland would have needed to make enough money to sustain itself as its own entity. Because of this elemental reality Walt knew that he had to charge people for the product, however he did it in a way that provided a balance between satisfying the money Gods but also satisfying his own intentions for the park which was to create a place for all to come and enjoy.

Walt was not in the business of using his brand as a tool to generate money but rather offered his talents to the world for which the world returned to him an overwhelming approval. It was this public response that essentially built the brand itself leaving Walt the task of ensuring that this level of standards would endure in all aspects of his company. This is a stark contrast to the post 80's corporate philosophy where nowadays everything and anything MUST make a profit.

[Sorcerer's Apprentice]

When a true artist paints a wonderful painting, they are not doing so with the intent of selling it to make a fortune. They do it because it's their passion, desire, and gift, and of course they realize they are actually painting to survive. Then when (if) the painting is a huge success, they of course reap the benefits.

[startours1]

alot of people give me confused looks when i tell them abc owned some of disneyland when it opened just another interesting disneyland fact i guess