Has Disney forgotten what the "dreams" are?

[Morrigoon]

Disney loves to make reference to "dreams", but do they even know what they're talking about anymore?

When Disneyland first opened, it was the fulfillment of children's "dreams" in that they could experience, firsthand, worlds which they'd previously only read about in books or seen on the screen. In other words, the "dreams" were things like a real-life castle, riding an elephant, a stagecoach, a tour through the jungle. These dreams had meat to them, they had something tangible behind the abstract term, "dream". "Dreams come true" meant a little girl being able to walk across a castle drawbridge, a little boy experiencing the wild west, seeing things in "real life" that they otherwise would never be able to lay their own eyes on.

Today, references are made to "dreams" with no meat behind them... it has become little more than a corporate buzzword whose use is expected to increase revenues by 15%* every time it's used. This becomes particularly annoying during the dialog parts of the fireworks shows. Even the people using the word "dreams" (corporate types, much?) don't seem to understand that that word has meaning behind it, and it comes across that way... as just another word to fluff up their meaningless speeches, like "paradigm" and "synergy". All these words HAVE meanings, but their overuse by people who don't understand the concepts behind them, who don't understand what those words really mean and represent, has led to a weakening of the weight they carry when they are used.

If Disney wants to keep referring to "dreams", they need to start referring to something specific. Is it dreams of flying in space? Dreams of princes and castles? Dreams of adventure (not the vacant term adventures, but actual, swaskbuckling, fighting-for-your-life adventures)? Which dreams?

And "all of them" isn't going to cut it anymore.

[Alan]

The dreams ended with the death of Walt. He was a self made man that looked at dreams as a tangible. Today with all the MBAs running around, there is no dreaming, just progit/loss. Our world has become so money driven, dreams are disregarded as a fools errand. As a country, we have lost that ability to dream.

[BigThunder]

You can't have dreams without dreamers. You can't have magic without magicians. You can't make wonderful animated films without wonderful animators. You can't build great attractions without great imagineers.

Today it seems as if all of the dreamers have been downsized out of the company. Maybe Iger thinks that they can outsource for dreams and save a bit on the bottom line.

If he believes that... he's dreaming.

[Tom Chaney]

It's hard to have dreams unless you have a dreamer. KoH knows that. Disneyland and WDW, animation and certain films were more than just a business for Walt Disney... they were a personal passion. Oh yeah, he was a savvy businessman but he was also a dreamer, a gambler, and a visionary. Many of the projects he championed just didn't make real good business sense... but that did not stop him. Several times he literally bet the studio or his house or his life insurance policy on a "dream." I don't think The Haunted Mansion, The Matterhorn, Pirates or even the 1937 animated classic Snow White were created because they made great business sense. They were created because Walt wanted them... and he was in charge. As it turned out, he was right. It's hard for the current keepers of the realm to do that... to take those huge risks. Frankly, the case could be made that Eisner tried to do it. Perhaps he understood the necessity for a single guiding light. Unfortunately, he just didn't have the talent for that facet of his position. Not to say that there aren't people out there today who can't imagine and dream like Walt could... they're just not currently in charge of Disney. It's a different era. Things have changed. Those in charge now must necessarily focus on profits, stockholders and bottom lines. Walt didn't have to care about those things if he didn't want to. Who was going to fire Walt Disney for making a mistake? So an enterprise that was once the personal playground for a creative genius has evolved into a corporate entertainment conglomerate bun by capable MBAs who can turn a profit. In the meantime, the corporation trades as best it can on its legacy. Perhaps, someday, another genius will rise to the top. I hope so.

[Tom Chaney]

(fascinating... Big Thunder and I apparently were posting at the exact same time... and thinking the exact same thoughts!)

[Morrigoon]

I'm not referring to the creative "brain drain" in the company itself... I'm actually referring to the use of the word "dream" in Disney entertainment as well as company speeches. When things like fireworks soundtracks talk about dreams coming true, it's always this sort of generic "dream" with nothing behind it. I get the feeling that the people writing that dreck have no idea what the "dreams" are, it just sounds nice to say that they come true. What is a dream coming true? I don't think they even know. If you asked them, they'd probably give some fluffy generic speech about happiness, or the smile on a kid's face with no actual understanding of how it got to be there.

[BigThunder]

(fascinating... Big Thunder and I apparently were posting at the exact same time... and thinking the exact same thoughts!)

Great minds think alike

[DisneyDaniel]

Interesting thoughts, Morrigoon. So, what's your take on the latest Disneyland parade being called: "Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams" and using both the word "Dreams" and Walt's name?

[dizzydisneydee]

The reason why NO ONE would be able to answer that is because to each of us, our dreams are different. My dream is not and will not be the same of someone else's 'greatest dream'.

So how do you know if someone's dream came true? Normally they are extremely happy and can't help but express it "I can't believe my dream came true....".

[Morrigoon]

Daniel: actually, I'm not entirely upset by it. I still think it's a generic use of the word, "dreams", however, look at the content of the parade. The title suggests that each of the stories featured in the parade represents someone's dreams, which is entirely likely. So I'm okay with it. It's more the use of "dreams" in songs and dialog (such as the opening moments of Believe! There's Magic in the Stars, that song the lady sings just after the kid stops talking). It just keeps generically referring to dreams this, dreams that, with no content. (Not knocking the song, musically I like it a lot, but lyrically I have issues with it).

DDD: True, however, whenever they use the phrase, it always comes off as empty, as if there are no dreams behind it.

[dizzydisneydee]

It may come off across as empty, but to put a definition of a dream of someone elses would be wrong. When Walt made DL, this was a representation of HIS dream. For the sucessors of Walt, the ones who would know what Walt would want represented that would be so hard job to decipher what they think Walt would want. He had a 'method to his madness'. I guess the question should be "Whose dream should DL represent now since Walt is no longer with us?"