It seems weird that people are celebrating the birth of someone who has been dead for 35 years, but The Disney Company is throwing a party today, and I intend to be there. I especially want to see what they are serving in the restaurants. It seems they are serving Walt’s favorite foods in some of them. So far, I know Chili in a bread bowl and Lemonade is one of the meals (oh yes and with a Mickey Mouse Ice Cream Bar).
A lot of people ask what Disneyland and the rest of the company would be like if Walt were around. I think its kind of far-fetched to think he would have lived to be 100. However, I’d give him those extra 20 years he told Ron Miller that he needed. So that would put him into the mid-80’s. So that means no Eisner-Wells-Katzenberg renaissance. However, I think many of his signature attractions would have been altered or removed. I don’t think Walt ever wanted his park to be a museum. So I think attractions like the Tiki Room and Small World would have evolved and not stayed the same. I think Discovery Bay and Big Thunder Mesa projects would have been built either at DL or at WDW.
It is all speculation, but I think if Walt did have those extra 20 years or so he could build EPCOT the way he wanted, he would have left the company in a state so that it would not have floundered after his and Roy’s death. But for all I know, it might have just pushed it off until the mid ’90s. Well, enough theorizing – I am off to get some cake.
For more information on Walt, I suggest you take a look at the Walt Disney Family Museum at www.waltdisney.org