V2, I22, November 19, 2019

A look at what Walt Disney would be thankful for if he could return to his company today.

What Would Walt be Thankful for and Dislike About HisCompany Today

There’s that old rumor that Walt Disney was frozen to be revived at a later date when technologywould allow it. That rumor is, of course, false. Walt’s remains were cremated. There is also a castmember refrain that I heard often during my Disney career, “Walt would be rolling over in hisgrave if he could see what the Walt Disney Company is doing now.”

Putting those two points together, and in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I wondered what Walt would

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be thankful for if he, some 50 years after we lost him, magically reappeared today. There are fourthings I think he would be especially thankful that his company has done.

The purchase of ABC – Walt had to obtain financing in order to build Disneyland. ABC provided aquarter of that funding in exchange for a Disney television show. I suspect Walt would enjoy thefact that an organization he had to get money from is now owned by his company.

Building Disney’s Animal Kingdom – When his team was designing Disneyland's Jungle Cruiseride, Walt wanted his guests to encounter live animals. Instead, he had to settle for Disney audioanimatronics. In Animal Kingdom, and especially the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride, Walt finally got whathe wanted. He would be very pleased.

Disney animation and characters – Walt would delight in the number of movies and charactersthat have been introduced since 1966. He would enjoy the Little Mermaid, the Lion King, TangledFrozen, Zootopia and many others. He also would also appreciate the great storytelling of thePixar, Marvel and Star Wars offerings.

The vast size of his company and its global reach – Walt loved travel. He visited Europe andespecially France several times. He would be astonished at the global reach of his companytoday. Expansions like the Paris and China theme parks, the Disney Cruise Line and theownership of 21st Century Fox would amaze him.

There are, however, four things I don’t think he would be pleased about.

Ticket prices – It is fashionable to say that the Disney parks are too expensive, but Walt excelledat making money: he recognized that it takes money to create new offerings. His opinion today ishard to determine. He did, however, say that he wanted Disneyland to be affordable and that, forinstance, he didn’t want to make a profit from food sales. It is therefore likely he would think pricesare too high.

Underbuilt offerings – Walt would be upset at the under-built parks like Disney's CaliforniaAdventure and Hong Kong Disneyland and he would identify all sorts of ways to improveeverything else the company currently does. Plussing things was his particular genius and hewould have plenty to focus on today.

Epcot – Although Epcot is a wonderful place, it’s not the city of tomorrow Walt wanted. It is likelythat, If he had remained alive, he would have ended up building something similar to what Epcotbecame, but a newly awakened Walt, plucked down today and without the benefit of the Epcotdevelopment journey, would be disappointed.

Finally, I did not list as a disappointment those Disney Company films that aren't Disney squeakyclean. Walt had one foot firmly planted in the past and the other just as firmly planted in the future.He was a man of his times and, whatever his 1950s era opinions, it is not hard to imagine amodern day Walt having different standards. His nephew, Rot E. Disney summed it up best. “Thething about Walt was that he did it different each time. To go around asking, ‘What would Walthave done?’ was contrary to the essence of Walt Disney’s genius and creativity.”

The lessons I take away from this exercise in thankfulness fantasy is that a leader with a clearvision can achieve amazing results ... even beyond his or her lifetime. Walt once described hisvision as “making inanimate objects move” to “tell a story” that “makes people happy.” Disney stilldoes that, and we are all the richer for it.

Will people be able to say that about you and your business in 50 years?

Happy Thanksgiving!

The MIC Key™ is a Disney-inspired service model explaining that Disney’s customer servicesucceeds because it has a clearly defined service MESSAGE, connects with its customersthrough personalized INTERACTIONS and presents its service in an emotionally engagingCONTEXT.

Material drawn from Care Like a Mouse: The Key to Delivering Disney Quality Service by LennMillbower, Theme Park Press, release date January, 2018.

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