Mouse Extra

On April 30, 1989 Disney gathered a team of stars and dignitaries for a television event to commemorate a great milestone in Disney World history.  The broadcast was a success, and the next day the Disney-MGM Studios opened its doors to a hungry and excited public.

Walt Disney had always had the idea of making a studio tour at the California film studio location, but never went through with it.  So I guess in some way, like Epcot before it, building a movie studio based park was a sort-of fulfillment of another of Walt’s inspirations.  But when it opened, many fans had to question whether or not Walt would have done it this way.

Disney-MGM Studios opened with a very limited offering of attractions and things to do, unlike any of the Disney theme parks that came earlier.  It was because of this that people began to first question Michael Eisner’s motivations for building the park.  Did he think this was the best they could do?  Or did he only want to beat Universal to the punch?  But Imagineers soon began adding to the park and building some of Disney World’s best thrill rides.

Now, as the Studios continues to evolve, things are very different from the days of Walt and those who worked along side him.  It is also very different from how it looked on May 1, 1989.  The theme is often jumbled and somewhat stretched.  The rides are great, but the total immersive experience achieved at Disneyland is often not present here.  Is this the representation of the modern Disney theme park?  Only time will tell.

The Disney-MGM Studios was, and still is, the first example of the Eisner-era at Walt Disney World.  It also marked the beginning of a huge expansion at the Florida resort.  I have always adored this park, so please don’t think they I am trying to be negative.  It has evolved wonderfully to suit my taste.  But upon its opening, it meant something historic if not completely positive to Disney World.  Now, as time marches on it will be even more different.

What is Disney’s best kept secret?  Well if you ask them, it is the Disney Vacation Club.  But when the doors to the Vacation Club Resort, now called Old Key West, opened on October 1, 1991 few could predict the impact this new timeshare property would have on Walt Disney World.  It was a milestone that gets bigger and bigger each year.

Sixteen years later it seems nearly everything that Disney World produces is tied into the Vacation Club in some way, shape or form.  Deluxe hotels get their DVC wing, new attractions get a DVC members only preview and you can’t walk twenty yards without seeing a booth manned by salespeople.  Two huge resorts, to aforementioned Old Key West and the new Saratoga Springs, have been built by the club and wings filled with vacation villas have been added to four of Disney World’s best resorts all to give more possibilities to sell property.

And if you still think the Disney Vacation Club is a secret and not a milestone, just give it some time.  All reports suggest there is a giant new building going up next to the Contemporary Resort dedicated to more villas for the club.  When that is complete, for better or for worse, the DVC will become the focus of Walt Disney World again…some secret!

As a member of the club myself, it is also a personal milestone for me and my wife.  At the risk of sounding like a cheap commercial, the DVC has made it possible for me to write this blog and has given me more than I could have ever expected, a lifetime of great trips to the Mouse.  It makes me laugh when they say “welcome home” upon arrival.  I feel like saying, “Home?  This is much nice than home!”

One main initiative of Walt Disney World’s marketing and planning over the last twenty years has been to try and appeal more to adults and not just those with small children.  Disney World had gained a reputation as a place to stay away from if you didn’t like the sound of screaming kids and the company didn’t like that much at all.  It was time to tap into a broader market.  On May 1, 1989 they took the first and most drastic step towards ending that impression with potential tourists.  They opened Pleasure Island.

For a place where alcohol was pretty scare 10 years earlier, opening bar-central was quite a leap of faith.  Sure, Epcot Center had offered adult beverages and the hotel lounges did as well, but those things were somewhat subtle.  Nothing, and I mean nothing, about Pleasure Island was subtle.  It was an in-your-face drink-fest with people selling mixed drinks of all sizes and colors on the streets and a New Year’s Eve party every night.  There were comedy clubs, dance clubs and more.  You couldn’t walk ten feet into a club without someone offering you some sort of unidentifiable alcoholic beverage that was probably glowing neon colors.  It was a fantasyland of a whole new kind.

Now guests had something to do after dark.  While families were going back to the hotel exhausted, and their feet burning, to put the kids to bed, other adults were getting ready for the fun to begin.  This was something entirely different at Walt Disney World and it made the experience an exhaustibly long but raucously fun time.  The only problem was if you had too much fun at Pleasure Island, riding Space Mountain the next day could be a whole new adventure…ouch!

When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, the Disney Company operated two hotels on property.  They were incredibly beautiful places, but they were also incredibly expensive.  Most families had to stay outside Walt Disney World in one of Orlando’s or Kissimmee’s many unimpressive chain motels.  Driving back and forth to the theme parks really took away from the feeling of being inside a magical place.  Only the lucky few could afford to stay “in the bubble”.   On October 1, 1988 that all began to change as the Caribbean Resort opened its doors.

The first of Disney’s moderately priced resorts, the Caribbean Beach is a huge complex with buildings sprawling all over lush grounds.  Different areas are themed to islands in the Caribbean and all surround a gorgeous little lake called Barefoot Bay.  The center of it is Old Port Royale and it offers a tropical themed market, restaurant, and a pool that looks like an old Spanish fort.  Imagineers had worked the kind of magic we all came to love.  It was a far cry from those off-site motels.

But what made it so special was that it was only a short bus ride from the gates of Epcot Center and the Magic Kingdom.  We were in the bubble and it didn’t cost a life’s savings to be there.  For many families it was the first time they could afford to stay in the bubble, and now they wouldn’t want to do it any other way.  If Disney wanted to keep people on Disney property and not be tempted by the competition, this was the key.  An affordable way to stay at the Mouse was all we ever needed.

What followed was a flood of hotels on Disney property for budgets of all sizes.  Staying in the bubble was once a dream and now many of us fans can’t imagine how we did it any other way.  That is a huge part of the Walt Disney World experience and it took off when the Caribbean Beach Resort opened.

September 22, 1984 was the date of another of Walt Disney World’s greatest milestones.  It was the day Michael Eisner became the company’s chief executive office and thus began a period of unprecedented growth in all areas of the company including the Florida theme parks.

Though whether or not Eisner’s impact was in the end a positive one is a debatable subject, few can deny how great the impact was.  When he began his reign Walt Disney World consisted largely of two theme parks and a couple of hotels.  Under Eisner, Disney began pushing the limits of the Florida property and began growing at a dizzying rate.   Many of his decisions were ill-conceived and politically controversial, and many times he would cut budgets in mid-stream making the final product something much less exciting then the concepts.  But during those twenty-plus years he led the way on an expansion that included some remarkably brilliant additions.

To the purist, Eisner is a four letter word.  It is a word that means a change from creative-driven ideas to marketing-driven ideas.  Many believe that Eisner removed Disney’s theme parks from Walt’s belief in making the best possible product regardless of cost to a much more corporate and unimaginative direction.  To some extent this is true.  However, most of what is in Walt Disney World now was built under Eisner’s reign and we all still love to go there.

Would things have been better under a more creative executive?  Would we have seen more of Imagineering’s amazing plans that were so often cut by Eisner for budget purposes?  Perhaps, but no one can ever say for certain.  What we can say, however, is that no single man has had a greater impact on the development of the Walt Disney World we see today…for better or for worse.

Last year I spent eight paragraphs talking about how terribly unwatchable the Christmas Day Parade from Walt Disney broadcast was.  This year I just assumed it would be just as bad, and feared it may be even worse…if that is possible.  But I must be fair.  Even though it still was tough to watch at times, some noticeable improvements were made.

The biggest improvement was that the producers finally realized that even though they want to use this for one giant promotional stunt, people are hoping to see the parade when they tune in.  This was my biggest complaint last year.  It seemed in 2006 that they forgot there was even a parade to show and instead filled as much time as they could with poorly produced Year of a Million Dreams promotions chock full of old, canned footage.  This year, especially for the first hour, the parade and performances seemed to be the focus.  Disney was showing off their talent, and that was why we were watching.

If they could only get rid of Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa things may really get good.  But even these two were toned down from their over-the-top nonsense from past years.  Don’t get me wrong though.  They still were very tough to watch.  Sometimes they are so bad that it almost seems like they are doing a parody of themselves.  They really feel like they are just forcing it all the time and are plain terrible at reading copy.  However, Ryan Seacrest who hosted from Disneyland seemed very good at this.  Now, I am sure most of you have seen this guy a lot more than I. I never watch American Idol so I know nothing about him.  But compared to Regis and Kelly, he seems like a terrific option.

There are still some shameless and silly segments, like a piece they did from London with an actor from National Treasure 2.  This not only had nothing to do with the parade or a Disney theme park. It didn’t even have the slightest relevance to the holidays at all.  It was just a poorly done promo for the movie.  The difference from last year to this, however, is that last year had more of this stuff than the parade, or so it seemed.

All in all, I found myself enjoying this more than wishing to turn it off.   Seeing the Magic Kingdom on Christmas morning is a treat for all of us.  But if they could only concentrate on producing something worthy of a true Christmas tradition, people would be looking forward to watching every year.