When looking over our original message to you, I realized that perhaps I should have said “... by-in-large on target from the perspective of a fan of Disney.”
In this context, two additional things occurred to me that may be of interest to you as a planner:
1) The perspective of the opposition to Disney’s America:
There were three strong views held by those in opposition:
A. Haymarket was the WRONG SubRegional location REGARDLESS of how valuable Disney’s America might be from an economic (or even educational) perspective.
B. Disney could not be trusted to interpret the history of the US of A, especially right next to ‘the real thing.’
C. All mass ‘Enterprise Entertainment’ is just bad.
The MainStream Media tried to sniff out B. The overall leadership of the Anti-Disney effort recognized that this would be spun as elitism by the pro-Disney side and so B. was as deeply buried as possible.
Our firm (SYNERGY/Planning, Inc.) did a total of four key studies for the core “Anti-Disney’s America IN THAT LOCATION” effort cited in the “Chasing Out the Mouse” item to which we provided a link.
2) The Lessons to be learned from Disney
I will admit that for three generations our Household has been receptive to position C. noted above. However, after visiting Disney Land, Disney World and Euro Disney as part of the research for the above noted studies, we came away with a different perspective.
When you are done with Disney’s America you might look at Chapter 9 of our most recent book TRILO-G. The chapter is titled “Learning From Recreation and Entertainment Venues – Where Costs and Impact of Cars Are Considered.” This is in PART THREE – THE PROBLEM WITH CARS and a draft was published as “Learning From the Mouse” on 25 February 2008 on the same blog as you found the other item.
We had visited Disney World in the 80s to research the way Disney handled the pedestrian vehicle interface and other aspects of Mobility and Access infrastructure.
It was the Regional and SubRegional location of Euro Disney and the fact that Disney pulled the plug on Disney’s American when they saw that Prince William County could not be trusted to restrain themselves from creating the same problems Disney faces in both Anaheim and Orlando that we decided to take a second look at Disney in the context of our effort to define a path to functional human settlement pattern and a sustainable trajectory for civilization.
Great article. I modified the final installment and I am directing my readers to your site so they can see what happened after Disney left. Thanks for reading.
Sam G.
ReplyDeleteI noted your series on Disney's America in Planetizen and checked out the first five installments. They are by in large on target.
Our firm authored the study of alternative sites that Sen Warner requested and which set in motion the organized opposition.
Thought you might be interested in our view of what has happened in decade after Disney pulled the plug.
The easiest path is to Google 'Chasing out the mouse Bacons Rebellion.' Scroll down the index to 4 Oct 2004.
Keep up the good work...
EMR
Thank you for the link. I may have to reopen the last installment now. Great information. Glad to see the research lead me down the right path.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome.
ReplyDeleteWhen looking over our original message to you, I realized that perhaps I should have said “... by-in-large on target from the perspective of a fan of Disney.”
In this context, two additional things occurred to me that may be of interest to you as a planner:
1) The perspective of the opposition to Disney’s America:
There were three strong views held by those in opposition:
A. Haymarket was the WRONG SubRegional location REGARDLESS of how valuable Disney’s America might be from an economic (or even educational) perspective.
B. Disney could not be trusted to interpret the history of the US of A, especially right next to ‘the real thing.’
C. All mass ‘Enterprise Entertainment’ is just bad.
The MainStream Media tried to sniff out B. The overall leadership of the Anti-Disney effort recognized that this would be spun as elitism by the pro-Disney side and so B. was as deeply buried as possible.
Our firm (SYNERGY/Planning, Inc.) did a total of four key studies for the core “Anti-Disney’s America IN THAT LOCATION” effort cited in the “Chasing Out the Mouse” item to which we provided a link.
2) The Lessons to be learned from Disney
I will admit that for three generations our Household has been receptive to position C. noted above. However, after visiting Disney Land, Disney World and Euro Disney as part of the research for the above noted studies, we came away with a different perspective.
When you are done with Disney’s America you might look at Chapter 9 of our most recent book TRILO-G. The chapter is titled “Learning From Recreation and Entertainment Venues – Where Costs and Impact of Cars Are Considered.” This is in PART THREE – THE PROBLEM WITH CARS and a draft was published as “Learning From the Mouse” on 25 February 2008 on the same blog as you found the other item.
We had visited Disney World in the 80s to research the way Disney handled the pedestrian vehicle interface and other aspects of Mobility and Access infrastructure.
It was the Regional and SubRegional location of Euro Disney and the fact that Disney pulled the plug on Disney’s American when they saw that Prince William County could not be trusted to restrain themselves from creating the same problems Disney faces in both Anaheim and Orlando that we decided to take a second look at Disney in the context of our effort to define a path to functional human settlement pattern and a sustainable trajectory for civilization.
Keep up the good work.
EMR
Great article. I modified the final installment and I am directing my readers to your site so they can see what happened after Disney left. Thanks for reading.
ReplyDelete