EDITORIAL - Upholding Walt Disney’s Standards
by B.J. Major
11/7/11
by B.J. Major
11/7/11
For the record, I never planned to write any kind of editorial for this particular discography. It would be the furthest thing from my mind regarding the subject matter, which is Disney music. Disney music - to my way of thinking - has always been upheld to Walt Disney’s standards. And to pull a phrase from Mary Poppins - it is “practically perfect in every way.” Its soundtracks are legend; Disney music is beloved by all around the world, and as my page on the songwriters, arrangers and lyricists who worked with and for the Disney Studios make obvious - Walt insisted on using those who really knew their trade inside and out, those with exceptional talent, to write the music and lyrics that would accompany his ideas. And the digital restoration work that Walt Disney Records (and in particular, producer Randy Thornton) has done in restoring and preserving for generations to come - the oldest movie soundtracks (as well as music from the Disney parks) - has been nothing but phenomenal.
My subject here of upholding Walt Disney’s standards stems from very disturbing photos I have seen on the internet regarding the state of some of the property in Florida that belongs to Walt Disney World. Beginning in the 1990s, there were several decisions made by the then-CEO and executive team running the company that I would just never agree with - and if I can be so presumptuous, neither would Walt have agreed. I’m quite sure of that.
I’m just not sure how one could possibly justify the closing of a major attraction like the River Country water park in Fort Wilderness, then leaving the entire attraction to decay and rot in the extreme Florida climate. The photos I saw included massive overgrowth of vegetation and trees, rusting metal water flumes, steps now barely visible, and a barrel on the ground that was so weathered by the elements that it literally split open. Most of the wood was not visible, leaving only the black metal rings originally around the barrel, stacked on the ground. As of this writing, this neglect has been going on for a decade.
I saw photos of trash piled up inside a small building that was originally for towel return. I saw signs flattened to the ground, withered and faded by the weather. Decay and neglect were everywhere in River Country. Decay, neglect, and trash. This, simply put, should not be. Not only should decay, neglect, and trash never be a part of ANY Disney property, but to make matters even worse - this is property that is visible by anyone traveling on Bay Lake. It’s not even a backstage area. I was horrified at this entire prospect and the photos made me cringe.
This was part of a place I dearly love. I was a frequent guest at Fort Wilderness since it had opened - and once I began working for the Disney company in 1976, I even attended the cast member weekend opening of River Country in May 1976. I’ll never forget that the employee newsletter, “The Eyes and Ears” headlined it “The World has a new country, River Country”. Themed rustic like the rest of Fort Wilderness, it was really a fun place to spend a day trying out all the water activities (inner tubing, boom swing, cable ride, barrel bridge, tire swing, picnic and trail area, water flume slides) and catching some sun. Having a snack at Pop's Place. I enjoyed that cast member weekend there immensely and went back several times in the months to follow.
I have read the reasons for River Country’s closure and while I take issue with these reasons and believe that it could and should have been kept open despite those reasons, I could never agree with its total abandonment by the company. If you were going to do something like this and close the area after it’s been open to the public for decades, then get rid of all traces of it, bulldoze the area and then restore it back to the way it was before River Country existed. That’s what Walt Disney would have EXPECTED you to do, not leave an eyesore as part of his dream project. He would definitely never have approved of building something and then walking away from it years later, leaving nothing to replace it. This is what OTHER companies do; it isn’t what Disney does. With all the care and detail he painstakingly took in all his plans, abandonment and neglect were never options. It’s a total disgrace that the company is allowing this to happen. I’m hoping that this situation gets rectified before too much more time passes.
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