The Mouse Is Back
12-01-2003, 11:11 PM
Wow, what an interesting week it is shaping up to be.
I hope it is okay for me to add my two cents and my own impressions of Roy Disney. A friend of mine owns a photo processing business near Disney Burbank, and about ten years ago I worked the counter helping him. Roy was a regular customer and I think he still is.
What a nice man he was. He was pretty quiet but liked to shoot the breeze with us when he was dropping off or picking up film. We had a conversation with him one day about how he really wanted to see his the next generations of Disneys retake control of the company, and apparently he had some plans - or at least high hopes - for that to happen. The animation department was so important to him, he referred to it as the soul of the studio.
A funny story, when he returned from the groundbreaking of Euro Disney (at that time it was called Disneyland Paris), he brought several rolls taken at a "celebration" with him, a few other American Disney execs, and a bunch of French folks involved in the project. They were all holding aloft their wine glasses. Mr. Disney and a few other guys were smiling, and the rest of the group of about 20 looked like they had just buried the family dog. He held one of the photos up for me to look at and asked: "Can you tell they're French?" He seemed a bit skeptical of the possible success of that Park, apparently with good reason!
I get the feeling that the gradual pounding into the ground and decimation of the American animation arm of Disney has been the last and final straw for him. I'll be sending him a letter; heck, I live close enough to hand deliver it to his office.
My daughter and I are leaving tomorrow morning for a three-day vacation at Disneyland. We live 45 minutes away, but the little vacations are a nice treat. I'm going to be enjoying myself with this pumped up feeling of things finally being on the verge of possible, and much needed, positive change.
Glad to be here among other lovers of Disney.
-Allegra-
I hope it is okay for me to add my two cents and my own impressions of Roy Disney. A friend of mine owns a photo processing business near Disney Burbank, and about ten years ago I worked the counter helping him. Roy was a regular customer and I think he still is.
What a nice man he was. He was pretty quiet but liked to shoot the breeze with us when he was dropping off or picking up film. We had a conversation with him one day about how he really wanted to see his the next generations of Disneys retake control of the company, and apparently he had some plans - or at least high hopes - for that to happen. The animation department was so important to him, he referred to it as the soul of the studio.
A funny story, when he returned from the groundbreaking of Euro Disney (at that time it was called Disneyland Paris), he brought several rolls taken at a "celebration" with him, a few other American Disney execs, and a bunch of French folks involved in the project. They were all holding aloft their wine glasses. Mr. Disney and a few other guys were smiling, and the rest of the group of about 20 looked like they had just buried the family dog. He held one of the photos up for me to look at and asked: "Can you tell they're French?" He seemed a bit skeptical of the possible success of that Park, apparently with good reason!
I get the feeling that the gradual pounding into the ground and decimation of the American animation arm of Disney has been the last and final straw for him. I'll be sending him a letter; heck, I live close enough to hand deliver it to his office.
My daughter and I are leaving tomorrow morning for a three-day vacation at Disneyland. We live 45 minutes away, but the little vacations are a nice treat. I'm going to be enjoying myself with this pumped up feeling of things finally being on the verge of possible, and much needed, positive change.
Glad to be here among other lovers of Disney.
-Allegra-