Disney's Corporate Sponsors: A Creative Partnership

We are all well aware that corporate sponsorship goes hand in hand with Walt Disney Theme Parks (Coca-Cola is still going strong).  Creating an attraction is expensive, as is general maintenance and upkeep.  We saw the potential of it in Disneyland, with Monsanto sponsoring attractions such as "Adventures Thru Inner Space" and "The House Of The Future."  An equally parasitic relationship, with Monsanto wanting to put their name on an attraction so the world will know "Monsanto," and Disney going along with the ride to secure funding for said attraction.

I hear they're doing great things.

We view things differently today than people did 50 years ago, not surprising.  When we think of corporations today, we think of greed, dishonesty, lack of empathy, and a billion other negative adjectives.  50 years ago, the cynicism and distrust of corporations weren't at the level we have experienced now, so I would imagine that the average park guest at Disneyland who walks past "America The Beautiful," presented by AT&T, is not giving them the finger for being a large corporation.

Because we liked to see progress, back when AT&T meant progress.

Corporate sponsorship is more or less still existent in Disney Parks, not to the varying degree that it once was back in the 1960s all the way throughout the late 90s, but it is still there.  Siemens has a stake in attractions at Epcot and Disneyland (Spaceship Earth and It's A Small World, respectively) and Chevrolet is with Test Track, but the majority of attractions are without sponsors.  One might ask if this is a good or bad thing; do we really want to sully the image of a Disney attraction with a company plastering their corporate logo on every square inch of a ride they have a stake in?  Yes and no, but mostly yes.

I really don't mind it at all.

Corporate sponsors act as a "checks and balances" system for Disney.  Without them (in the early years of Walt Disney World) the rides would be cheap and uninteresting, as the Walt Disney Company was suffering financially in the 70s and early 80s.  They needed sponsors to help maintain the rides to keep them presentable for the public, and in the late 70s, were needed to develop new ideas and technologies to showcase in the burgeoning EPCOT Center.  It was also Walt's dream to partner with major industries and use their cooperation to help build his future city.  Under the direction of Card Walker, corporations like Exxon, Bell System, Sperry/Univac, Kodak, Kraft, United Technologies (to come later), GE, GM, American Express, and Coca-Cola were present to sponsor the rides, albeit with some input on showcasing their company to the public, but also keeping with the theme of forward thinking and new ideas, which we were ready for in the 80s.  In the era of a new way to space travel, and all the new ideas and innovations in energy, agriculture, communication and transportation, EPCOT Center embodies the ideals of truly remarkable thinking.

Disney and NASA partnership in the 80s?  Talk about an unstoppable force.

The ideas presented in these attractions were dry and outdated by today's standards, and as Disney has a penchant for entertainment, they were tied down to their corporate benefactors, who wanted to keep the tone informative, as well as entertaining.  Walking that fine line proved to be disastrous, as EPCOT Center suffered in its first few years.  The public wanted Mickey Mouse and his cadre of furry friends, not this so-called "info-tainment."  EPCOT Center became an example of class field trips and learning, and not until 1986 (after the Eisner inauguration) that we got any sort of E-Ticket attraction of any kind, in the form of Captain EO.

And what an E-Ticket that was.

EPCOT Center stayed on the straight and narrow path, retaining its wonder and excitement of what lies ahead in the future, and all the great things we are discovering.  Wonders of Life and Maelstrom gave us a reason to stay in the park, with attractions that are thrilling and fun, but the message EPCOT Center was sending out was pure hope.  Since the park was bound by their sponsors, it would be hard for Disney to change rides without consulting them.  As time and progress and technology progressed, or at least the rest of the world caught up with the technology EPCOT Center was producing, it became outdated quick.  Now it was time to ride out the clock until 1994, when the majority of the corporate sponsorship contracts were about to expire.  Seeing this as a way out of being bound by corporate restrictions, Disney and/or the sponsors did not renew the contracts, and in a way they were free.  The sponsors were not bound by obligation to Disney to help maintain the rides, and Disney was allowed to update attractions with their characters and ideas, instead of being bound by their sponsors.  And in some cases, the sponsors needed to know how to play ball with Disney and let them do whatever they wanted, but still have their name attached.

I doubt Nestle had any objections in letting Disney create the ride without any of their input.

As years passed on and rides became outdated and sponsors knew they needed to up the ante, so began the tumultuous 90s that paved the way for very lackluster and novelty attractions, using broad comedy strokes to paint the picture of the tone that the Walt Disney Theme Parks would adopt in the coming years.  Comedy and lightheartedness juxtaposed with a convoluted message vaguely tying in with the theme of the ride.  Universe of Energy moved to a lighthearted approach with popular entertainers of 1996, in an attempt to make energy fun, which lends itself to a contradiction of its intent.  The idea of the Universe of Energy is to understand where energy comes from, how we use it, and ways we can conserve or find new ways to harness other potential energy sources.  Ellen's Energy Adventure doesn't so much tell us of any new technologies or improvements in the search for new energy ideas, but rather tells us what's out there, how much we have left of it, and a cop out answer that supposedly solves the energy crisis, with brain power being the only energy source that will never run out.

If this ride didn't have air conditioning or being able to sit for 37 minutes, it'd be the worst ride at Epcot.

This is an example of the sponsor changing from Exxon to Exxon-Mobil and Disney wanting to go for more commercial appeal, and working together with this new sponsorship to change a great attraction.  Horizons, on the one hand, was destroyed because there was no sponsor to step in and say, "This ride is fine as is, it showcases our product, and an attraction refurb would be to costly."  Claiming structural issues (maybe), with Disney unchecked by GE, the ride was gone and so were the many dreams and memories of people all over the world.

As Disney came out of the economic slump of the 80s and back on top (especially now with the success of the animated films and owning the rights to our favorite childhood memories), corporate sponsorship wasn't as necessary as it once was.  Now with most contracts expired and Disney picking up the bill, there is no stopping their enterprise of synergy and cross-promotion.  Disney doesn't have to answer to any other higher authority.  They are not bound by their corporate benefactors anymore.  They have created a one-stop shop entertainment empire, fulfilling dreams and wishes for anyone who comes across them, and the need for satisfying a curious or intellectual craving we might have is now all but obsolete.  Just as the wonder of exploring the world of communication with SMRT-1 became outdated, so did their desire to make us wonder or dream anymore.  The grandeur and epic scope of Epcot is now laughable, and is indistinguishable from any other theme park.

These are different times, when the site of a space shuttle launch, or the sheer magnitude of a Circle-Vision 360 film wowed and dazzled us, now the general consensus is that we'd much rather see a Disney cartoon mascot or a Disney Princess than whet our appetites for the wanting to explore our lives and the world we live in, and try to make it better through advances in various fields.  There is so much yet to explore in our world and beyond, and yet we look to the television screen to see what's coming next to Disney World.

Why We Need Journey Into Imagination

In the wake of the massive changes being done around the Disney Parks, it is hard to ignore the massive outcry against these changes.  And in some circles, people welcome them with open arms.  Any die hard Disney fan knows that removing or even refurbishing an attraction is sacrilege, and changing it to fit the mold of a profitable Disney property is even more aggravating.  To the rest of the population who isn't obsessed with Disney Parks, they see it as something new and exciting to experience with their families, so they can keep up the family tradition with that annual trip to Disney World.

Except this.  No one is looking forward to this.

For better or worse, these changes will continue to exist.  Walt said it himself, "Disneyland will never be completed.  It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world."  So the core belief of Disney Parks is something we all don't want to see.  It's a contradictory nature, as these attractions are part of our identity, part of our lives, yet in order to believe in the concept of the Disney parks, we have to accept that they will always be changing.  Now we get into a quantity v. quality issue, where there isn't much thought put into decisions in terms of sustainability, but wholly based on profits and figures, so to speak.

Not pictured: Eisner dancing on Disney's grave.

With the closure and refurbishment of many classic attractions in the past 15 years, we catch a glimpse into the way EPCOT works.  It was the awkward but very bright and intelligent theme park that struggled, but impacted all of us on a whole other level.  Having a theme relating to technology is tricky, as technology advances faster than Imagineers can dream up new dreams.  Rides become outdated, the crowds dwindle, and the execs see that something needs to happen to keep the families spending money.  So you jazz it up, and don't look back at anyone who might be alienated by these decisions.  Soarin' has about as much to do with the Land as, well, the The Caballeros has to do with Mexico.

I suppose Mexico is close enough to South America.

At a certain point, Disney decides to take the ride in a new direction, and runs with it, the wrong way.  The need to update certain attractions makes sense: CommuniCore is technologically outdated, The Universe Of Energy & Symbiosis are very dry and heavy-handed (but still totally and utterly AMAZING), and World Of Motion was... I don't know, were there too many omni-mover attractions so they wanted to jazz it up with a fast thrill ride?  Maybe.  All you had was Body Wars and Maelstrom for a thrill, and they weren't even that thrilling.  Just jerky.

I blame this ride for my achy back.

Journey Into Imagination is a curious little attraction.  Delayed opening, yet it gave us Figment as a mascot for the park.  Since they initially tried to shy away from incorporating established characters from the Disney echelon, it was unique to see a separation of Disney characters.  If you wanted Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and the like, you had to go to Magic Kingdom.  If you wanted to drink around the world and hang out with the elderly, you went to EPCOT Center.

Turning World Showcase into a joke, one drink at a time.

Journey Into Imagination transcended all the rides at EPCOT Center, as it presented us with an abstract idea: imagination.  All other rides were based upon research and actual, physical things pertaining to their corresponding theme.  Topics of transportation, energy, communication, agriculture, and the colonization of new frontiers were more or less tangible and concrete ideas; they had a basis in reality.  Journey Into Imagination dealt with a topic that is very abstract, and putting those abstract ideas into a ride was certainly a challenge.

But they did it.  They succeeded.

When you recall the original attraction, it played out very nicely: setting you up with the Dreamfinder touching on several aspects of imagination, and then experiencing them in various sections of the ride.  There was no forced conflict or dilemma; it simply just explored imagination.  Of course, when something works at Disney, it means it needs to go through a change after fifteen years.  And its subsequent incarnations are nothing more than a downward shame spiral.  Instead of feeling inspired, you feel like you're stuck with a stuffy imagination professor and an overbearing purple dragon.  And the latter version does not make you feel inspired.  Just confused.

Why is he such a dick to Figment?

Since most attractions are getting face-lifts, persistent rumors emerge about Journey Into Imagination.  We've all heard them, so I won't venture down that avenue.  But in all our wishful thinking, we want to see a return to the original Journey Into Imagination.  Not only to fulfill and satisfy our own needs and desires of restoring a piece of our childhoods, but for a greater good.
  Journey Into Imagination, simply put, is timeless.  When you revisit it, there's nothing dated or old about it.  The ideas it presents are universal, therefor does not have a time limit on its ideas.  When you look at how rapidly technology and ideas change, imagination does not, and something from 30 years ago still feels as fresh and exciting.

Seeing your picture on the screen is still amazing.

The idea of refurbishing or re-purposing an attraction at Disney is, we all know, very costly and time-consuming.  It's got to be a hit, and they are not taking any chances.  Curiously, the thought of reinstating Journey Into Imagination isn't all too far-fetched in certain circumstances when you analyze certain evidence.  There has been an entire D23 exhibit based on recreating the ride through various forms of media, which looks like there is a consistent interest in the original attraction.  To a lesser extent, there was a campaign to bring back Figment in the second iteration of the ride, but we got a less than equitable compromise: more Figment in a ride that shouldn't have existed in the first place.

Stop teasing us.

"I don't think Figment is going anywhere any time soon, I promise." -Bob Iger

Hearing is not believing, obviously, as was the case with the Phineas & Ferb rumor circulating around, but it is known that the higher-ups at Disney know Figment is popular, and people young and old like him (we hope).  And let's not forget the resurrection of Captain EO and The Enchanted Tiki Room.  Granted, the former was due large in part to the public's overwhelming demand for Michael Jackson after his death, and it didn't take Disney too long (13 years or so) to realize that the latter was utterly awful and should never have been (or due to a fire, depending on who you ask).

Please let Disney not change it by inserting more characters from Aladdin and/or Lion King

So Disney has the capacity and the intentions of bringing back old rides that they deem popular enough to satisfy the masses, they've been hinting at it, and all signs seem to say, "We can bring back Journey Into Imagination," but I won't be holding my breath until then.  So make it snappy.

Wishful Thinking

Much to my surprise (well, not really) I received a wealth of responses to my last entry about a hypothetical situation in which I fantasized about updating several EPCOT attractions, and what I believed would be the best.  And when I mean "a wealth of responses," I really mean two.  And boy were they livid.  In the past I have been critical of many things that the Walt Disney Company has done in regards to their theme parks, such as the FastPass, the look of "new" Tomorrowland, and, of course, the current state of EPCOT.

There is nothing right about any of this.

Spanning the far reaches of the Internet are those who love Disney.  There's a lot of them out there.  On Tumblr you'll see re-post upon re-post of all things Disney, ranging from pictures to inexplicable memes to bizarre GIFs, but it is all for the sake of Disney.  As much flack as it gets as a corporation, people sure do love it.  And that all stems from one simple thing: nostalgia.  We all cherish these things because we grew up with it; it was part of our childhoods, and a part of our upbringing.  Simply put, they made us who we are.  Alan Menken said in an interview for some iteration of a Beauty & The Beast DVD release that high school kids thanked him for teaching them how to sing, from watching the films that he worked for Disney.

We all owe him and his mullet some serious gratitude.

 As we grew up with Disney, we tend to love it.  And some of us love it a lot.  Now when you get past the broad spectrum of Disney, seeping below the animated classic and contemporary animated films, you'll come across another layer of Disney fandom: theme parks.  The culture of Disney Theme Parks is equally as broad as the films, but not as accessible.  Still, Disneyland sort of remains a standout figure in this: it was the first Disney theme park, and obviously cherished by those young and old.  And since it was situated in Anaheim, mere miles from Los Angeles county, everyone flocked to those gates to witness the next evolution in amusement parks.  I see more obsession over Disneyland than Disney World in some instances, mostly because it is regarded as a classic.

Although I thought the castle was always a little too small.

Below the line of theme park obsession among Disney fans is Disney World, as it pains me to say.  I believe both are equally as popular, and I prefer Disney World to Disneyland, despite growing up in California.  But Disneyland is iconic and therefore more people are inclined to favor Disneyland, although Disney World has special meaning to people on the East Coast, as it was the closest Disney Park to them, and instead of driving from Pennsylvania to California to capture some of that Disney magic, you only had to drive to Florida.  Although it could be that since I grew up in Northern California, there was no real buzz for Disney World among those living here, as it was too far.  All the buzz was for Disneyland.  But I'm sure it's a different tale when you talk to someone from New York or surrounding areas.

Now after you have the Walt Disney World fans, then you get to my level, several layers below the surface of Disney love.  There is a small handful of people out there with the undying love and appreciation and obsession of EPCOT Center.  And when I say handful, I mean maybe a couple thousand?  It's hard to pinpoint out there in the world of those who are hopelessly obsessed with EPCOT.  And when I say hopelessly obsessed, I mean watching the YouTube videos of the rides and specials aired about EPCOT Center, you collect the Figment merchandise and the Kitchen Kabaret plush dolls, and any T-Shirt that bears the EPCOT name, only if it was made before 1993.

Ain't got time for this garbage.

And beyond that layer... I guess people who are really into MGM Studios?  I'm not going to go to that level... yet.  But on the whole, I'd wager that there are not too many EPCOT Center obsessed people, in comparison to those who are obsessed with Disneyland.  And if there are, you please let me know because I am always thrilled to find people who share the same level of enthusiasm as I do.

EPCOT Center holds a special place in all of our hearts, mostly due to the fact that:
A. It looked cool, especially the thing that looked like a golf ball.
B. Figment was awesome and so were the jumping fountains.
C. You kinda learned something, but didn't really know it.

Joking aside, EPCOT Center offered us a glimpse into the future, looked back at the past in humorous and/or spectacular ways, and challenged us to be better.  And for a lot of us, the principles and ideas stuck with us, and when you went every year, you grew to love it on a level beyond comprehension.  For those who grew up with it, like growing up with Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs and Sleeping Beauty, or in the later generations with The Little Mermaid and Beauty & The Beast, it becomes part of your childhood and, in a sense, "part of your... life."

You thought I was gonna say "part of your world."

The die-hard EPCOT fans know and love EPCOT from their earliest childhood memory of the park, so it makes sense that the majority of us are obsessed with the old EPCOT (1982-1993).  My earliest memory was probably in 1989, with the Universe Of Energy.  We all have similar memories, and we remember the park as it existed 25-30 years ago.  When we see how much it has changed in the past 30 years, some argue for the worst, it obviously incites a little anger in us.  It's like seeing someone demolish that slide you loved so much as a child, and then leave the pieces behind so you have nothing, and then maybe in a few years someone will re-purpose it into something new, but it won't be the same.  That's how we all feel about EPCOT.  It's not the same as we remember it.

As we get caught up in our emotions about how things have changed there, and how it's not the same, we also have to take a step back and examine the situation as a whole.  We fantasize about what we'd like to see done to the park to make it better, we wonder what things would be like if it had never changed, we say "just revert Journey Into Imagination to its original state and reopen the Image Works," but there's more to it than just our wishful thinking.  Obviously the old EPCOT was outdated, and turning it back to its original state is not only expensive and time consuming, but also impractical in terms of guest expectations.

To many, EPCOT is just another theme park you visit on your trip.  The message it extends is sort of lost in the void, and the shift has been to entertain, and maybe you'll get a little information out of it.  Nothing as serious or heavy as the original attractions, but you still get a little something out of it.  But when you recount how many die hard fans there are (maybe a few hundred to a few thousand more than those at the D23 expos?), there simply isn't enough of us to warrant a massive change, as it pains me to say.  Although there was an overwhelming outcry after the second iteration of Journey Into Imagination came into existence in 1999, and they revamped it to include more Figment, it remains doubtful that they would revert it to its original state.

We have had a glimmer of hope in other forms that might suggest that they'd resurrect the old Journey Into Imagination, in the form of bringing back the original Enchanted Tiki Room and bringing back Captain EO, so who knows; anything could happen.  The point I'm driving at is that as much as we want all of our old rides to come back because we miss them, we are but less than a fraction of the visitors to Walt Disney World, and the majority of those who visit the park aren't really interested in something that was popular in the 80s.  As much as I'd love to see kids get excited about SMRT-1 and hum "Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit" over and over, I looks doubtful that these things will make a comeback to today's youth.  Most guests are just there for the experience and fun and adventure, and are complacent about what they experience in the park (speaking VERY broadly, of course).  The average park guest doesn't sit around and study and obsess over Disney World.  If you're shelling out top dollar to do Disney World right, the last thing would be to know about the many different phases of Horizons or who filmed Symbiosis.  They want to just have a family vacation, and not be alienated by taking out rides that their kids were looking forward to and putting in old rides that we love.

Sadly, no one cares enough about any such thing except for a core audience of a few thousand or so, and I'm just estimating.  There could be more, there could be less.  But if EPCOT taught me anything, it's that you have to be optimistic.  And even though we'll never get the EPCOT we grew up with, we might get it in slightly different forms.  And Disney has been hinting at it for some time now.  They haven't forgotten their roots, they're just trying to make it appeal to everyone.  They've dropped little fun things like the old pavilion logos around the park, they hold expos and things for annual pass-holders.  And I believe in the future, we are going to get something that placates us all.  Just as long as they don't turn Wonders Of Life into a character meet & greet!

Disney Channel Magazine (Premiere Issue)