Anyone watch "The Imagineering Story" on Disney+?

[DisneySpaceAce]

First episode covered the birth of Disneyland the additions to the park and ended with Walt's passing. Nothing most if the people who post here didn't already know, but lots of color footage of the construction of Disneyland and the early days, which was really cool.

[sbk1234]

Haven’t seen it yet, but it was the first thing to put on my list of favorites. Hopefully tonight I’ll have a chance to sit down with it.

[vectrex]

The color footage was excellent and it was just awesome watching it. I am very excited for episode 2.

[WaltDisney'sAlec]

Great stuff in there. I love that it was kept in the Disney family with Ub Iwerks' granddaughter doing the documentary. Terribly moving to see the golden Imagineers in tears over Walt.

[BigThunda]

Looking forward to watching it tonight! (After we watch The Empire Strikes Back)

[Starcade]

It was the first thing I watched. Just re-enforced to me how sad it is that the original group that really seemed to care about the park has now been replaced by smiles in suits hunting like sharks for their bigger bonus with little care for the park, the IP's or the guests that enjoy them. Walt and his team had guests, Iger and his team have shareholders and customers. The difference in attitude is staggering.

[Stormy]

Oooh, thanks for the 'head's up'!!!! I'll add it to my watchlist.

[Eagleman]

sound cool........lke seeing old

footage

[BigThunda]

It was the first thing I watched. Just re-enforced to me how sad it is that the original group that really seemed to care about the park has now been replaced by smiles in suits hunting like sharks for their bigger bonus with little care for the park, the IP's or the guests that enjoy them. Walt and his team had guests, Iger and his team have shareholders and customers. The difference in attitude is staggering.

We watched it last night and I totally agree! There was even a part in it where Walt specifically says he wanted the park to be the cleanest one around (or something along those lines). The sense of pride that the original team had was outstanding to witness through this show. Seeing all of the kinetic energy throughout the park was amazing, and really made me miss the DisneyIand of my youth (1980's).
I am really excited for the next episode. It was so cool to see some of the footage I had yet to see after watching countless historical Disneyland videos on YouTube.

[stovk]

We watched it last night and I totally agree! There was even a part in it where Walt specifically says he wanted the park to be the cleanest one around (or something along those lines). The sense of pride that the original team had was outstanding to witness through this show. Seeing all of the kinetic energy throughout the park was amazing, and really made me miss the DisneyIand of my youth (1980's).
I am really excited for the next episode. It was so cool to see some of the footage I had yet to see after watching countless historical Disneyland videos on YouTube.

So true.

I've been following this production ever since Leslie Iwerks started it back in '13 and for the longest time I have been anticipating it. However, as the release date drew closer, I was reading updates where Leslie was praising cooperation from Disney's executive staff and I started getting a sinking feeling. So far, I have been pleased with the documentary, but I have an to wonder it there will be any honest criticism as well? Specifically on what BigThunda stated about the shift from Guest focus to shareholder focus. In addition the subtle eroding of "the little things" that made Disneyland special and unique (Court of Angels and maintenance, for example).

I just have this gut feeling that the final episode is going to equate the current generation of Executives and WDI as equal to, or heaven forbid, greater than the '55ers. The current generation, in my opinion, is standing on the shoulders of giants and they think they are flying.

I hope I am wrong.

[Mr Wiggins]

I've been following this production ever since Leslie Iwerks started it back in '13 and for the longest time I have been anticipating it. However, as the release date drew closer, I was reading updates where Leslie was praising cooperation from Disney's executive staff and I started getting a sinking feeling. So far, I have been pleased with the documentary, but I have an to wonder it there will be any honest criticism as well? Specifically on what BigThunda stated about the shift from Guest focus to shareholder focus. In addition the subtle eroding of "the little things" that made Disneyland special and unique (Court of Angels and maintenance, for example).

I just have this gut feeling that the final episode is going to equate the current generation of Executives and WDI as equal to, or heaven forbid, greater than the '55ers. The current generation, in my opinion, is standing on the shoulders of giants and they think they are flying.

I hope I am wrong.

I think the chance that Iwerks would be allowed to include anything in her film that is even slightly critical of Disney management is essentially zero. Considering that the Iger regime has been notoriously intolerant of criticism, it's impossible to imagine how they would allow it in a program that they are airing on Disney+.

[stovk]

I think the chance that Iwerks would be allowed to include anything in her film that is even slightly critical of Disney management is essentially zero. Considering that the Iger regime has been notoriously intolerant of criticism, it's impossible to imagine how they would allow it in a program that they are airing on Disney+.

I suppose I already knew that. Hope spring's eternal.

[WaltDisney'sAlec]

So true.

I've been following this production ever since Leslie Iwerks started it back in '13 and for the longest time I have been anticipating it. However, as the release date drew closer, I was reading updates where Leslie was praising cooperation from Disney's executive staff and I started getting a sinking feeling. So far, I have been pleased with the documentary, but I have an to wonder it there will be any honest criticism as well? Specifically on what BigThunda stated about the shift from Guest focus to shareholder focus. In addition the subtle eroding of "the little things" that made Disneyland special and unique (Court of Angels and maintenance, for example).

I just have this gut feeling that the final episode is going to equate the current generation of Executives and WDI as equal to, or heaven forbid, greater than the '55ers. The current generation, in my opinion, is standing on the shoulders of giants and they think they are flying.

I hope I am wrong.

I think the chance that Iwerks would be allowed to include anything in her film that is even slightly critical of Disney management is essentially zero. Considering that the Iger regime has been notoriously intolerant of criticism, it's impossible to imagine how they would allow it in a program that they are airing on Disney+.

It's not clear to me how much of this rang true or will continue to ring true, but in this interview Leslie Iwerks says she made a documentary and not a puff piece. We haven't seen much of it since we only have one episode so far, but my guess is many of these problems she talks about arise after Walt (and therefore after the first episode). I'll keep watching with a skeptical eye, if only to see some of the never-before-seen footage of Imagineering at work. Still, if the series talks about the issues excerpted below, I'll be interested to see what is sanitized and what is honestly conveyed.

This film has definitely got its warts and all. I came into the film as a very transparent and honest director that this is not a puff piece, this is a documentary – a legitimate, serious documentary – about this company. What are those issues? Where were the mistakes made, and why were the mistakes made? Were they the fault of Imagineers? Were they the fault of economics? Were they the fault of the leaders of the company? At the end of the day, what I found most interesting, no matter what the conflict was – it could have even been economic or physical, like tsunamis – these Imagineers, and that DNA that Walt started with Disneyland, is so rock solid that they basically can get through anything.

[Mr Wiggins]

It's not clear to me how much of this rang true or will continue to ring true, but in this interview Leslie Iwerks says she made a documentary and not a puff piece. We haven't seen much of it since we only have one episode so far, but my guess is many of these problems she talks about arise after Walt (and therefore after the first episode). I'll keep watching with a skeptical eye, if only to see some of the never-before-seen footage of Imagineering at work. Still, if the series talks about the issues excerpted below, I'll be interested to see what is sanitized and what is honestly conveyed.

Well said. It's a matter of greyscale, not black and white -- the distance between "sanitized puff piece" and "honestly conveyed" is large. I would suspect that if Disney had an unspoken influence on the film's content, it would show up as what was omitted, not what was included. That said, Iwerks' reputation as a filmmaker is solid -- she's not known as a shill.

[Mike_M]

I’ve enjoyed the series so far.

I’ve known a fair amount of the ‘whos’ and ‘hows’ of the rides and parks for a long time, but the series has definitely shown more of the company politics, struggles and the ‘whys’ for things that have given me more context.

I’d say there are at least one or two details or anecdotes I didn’t know about shown per episode to this point. They have skipped over some things I would have loved to have learned more about (the 1983 fantasyland redesign for starters), but I think they are covering the main points well enough.

Looking forward to more episodes.

[DisneySpaceAce]

So far while of course there's some spin on there, they have been very open and honest about the struggles of Euro-Disney (Now Disneyland Paris) and cutting back on parks budgets after it tanked initially. What's sad is Eisner and Wells REALLY banked on that park and put a ton of money into it, and really did build a flat out beautiful park that severely under performed.

[Mr Wiggins]

So far while of course there's some spin on there, they have been very open and honest about the struggles of Euro-Disney (Now Disneyland Paris) and cutting back on parks budgets after it tanked initially.

Just curious -- did they discuss any of these issues?

[WaltDisney'sAlec]

Just curious -- did they discuss any of these issues?

They did! They mentioned the "cultural Chernobyl" remark, the lack of wine available at opening, renaming the park, and more. They show Eisner being pelted with eggs and flour, who himself later admits it was stupid of him to expect the same crowds and revenue in Paris as they had in Florida. There are some interesting tidbits from Imagineers supervising construction about French construction workers and general protests against Disney moving in to France.

Others can correct me if I left anything out, but despite this candor I am somewhat worried for the next few episodes. I feel like this is setting up a narrative for "here's how Bob Iger saved the company and everything is better now."

[Eagleman]

Others can correct me if I left anything out, but despite this candor I am somewhat worried for the next few episodes. I feel like this is setting up a narrative for "here's how Bob Iger saved the company and everything is better now."

With IGER ego and big Bonus's .........
I sure the program is about Bob , being the super hero of the company !
imo

[zugzug15]

They did! They mentioned the "cultural Chernobyl" remark, the lack of wine available at opening, renaming the park, and more. They show Eisner being pelted with eggs and flour, who himself later admits it was stupid of him to expect the same crowds and revenue in Paris as they had in Florida. There are some interesting tidbits from Imagineers supervising construction about French construction workers and general protests against Disney moving in to France.

Others can correct me if I left anything out, but despite this candor I am somewhat worried for the next few episodes. I feel like this is setting up a narrative for "here's how Bob Iger saved the company and everything is better now."

I am wondering if they will touch on the same points about culture and construction when they get around to discussing Hong Kong....