Time to put the hopes of a third gate for the Disneyland Resort up on the shelf for at least the next 10 years. The Harbor Blvd Strawberry Field that had been targeted as the most likely spot for Disneyland’s next theme park is now being transformed into a parking lot. This will help Disney with the guests who they hope will be coming to visit the reworked California Adventure park, but will disappoint a lot of theme parks fans who’ve been enjoying juicy rumors about what that third gate would entail.

It’s good that Disneyland is concentrating on fixing the problems at California Adventure and the Disneyland Resort by Eisner’s administration. However, at some point the resort will have to grow beyond its theoretical capacity if it wants to attract more week long visits by families. When it does so, there will be more problems to solve than where to put the third gate (there are other potential sites in the area).

Anaheim’s proposed fixed rail system throws an interesting wrinkle into the equation. The city wants to reserve the right to use part of the strawberry field for the system, which would impact Disney’s plans.

More details over at the OC Register.

Architect Peter H. Dominick Jr’s designs impressed Michael Eisner at the time when Eisner was looking to make The Walt Disney Company a leader in architectural design for its hotels and buildings.

His initial presentation to Eisner made a deep impression.

“Michael Eisner leapt up from the conference table to examine the drawing more closely, challenging his creative team to accept our idea,” Dominick wrote about the meeting.

Dominick’s plans for the Wilderness Lodge became the template for two other popular Disney hotels Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge and The Grand Californian.

The three hotels design by Dominick are my favorites of all the ones I’ve visited. The grand hall concept is so welcoming while the lodge feel makes your vacation feel so much more intimate.

Dominick died at the age of 67 while cross-country skiing. Our deep condolences to his friends and family.

Via the Orlando Sentinel.

Nikki Finke reports that Kim Masters, author of “Keys To The Kingdom” the unauthorized biography of former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, has been included in the latest round of layoffs at National Public Radio. That’s a shame for Ms. Masters, but it also leaves NPR without a dedicated Hollywood reporter. I’m sure Eisner’s raising a little toast tonight.

Ryan Peterson, a student at Vassar College, created this animatic (a mini-film of sketches) about the Michael Eisner years at the Walt Disney Company, approximately 1984-2004.

As a discourse on Disney history it does get a few things wrong. Sparky Katzenberg’s influence on the success of early 90s Disney animation is the matter of some debate. Eisner’s dislike for the man is not. There are also a few time line issues and John Lasseter is shown wearing a suit, which he never does, preferring loud Hawaiian print shirts emblazoned with Pixar characters if at all possible.

So why should you watch this film? Because sometimes the truth is funnier than fiction.

(via CartoonBrew)

Q:  I’ve heard many times, from varied sources, that Walt Disney was cryonically frozen and put into storage under The Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland. Can you speak to this?

A:
Yes, I can. I don’t know how such wild stories get started. There is
absolutely no truth to this. That fact is that Walt’s carcass is and
has been located at DisneyWorld in Florida. What’s more, for many years
it has been on display, hidden in plain sight, if you will, at various
locations throught the "World." His most recent public appearance was
as the "Iceman" in Ice Station Cool at Epcot. Unfortunately the Ice Station is now closed for renovations and Walt will be "backstage" for a while.

A new blog called Inside Disney is a humorous look at all the rumor-mongering. urban legends, and just plain wrong ideas people hear about The Walt Disney Company and its many properties.

Btw, I hear Michael Eisner’s toupee is now topping the head of one of the Pirates in Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

If you thought Disney War was light reading, then you’ll be happy to dive into the Conglomerate Blog Forum on the Ovitz/Disney Shareholder case. The general concensus seems to be that corporations and their boards have wide leeway to pretty much do as they like as long as they’re following the rules that they themselves create. Criminal acts are another matter, but this was basically contract law and fiduciary duty.

Now, the shareholders are appealing the ruling, but I think they’d do better to push for general corporate reform nationwide.

Based on my reading of Disney War and other sources, I feel pretty sorry for Ovitz who lost his reputation, his best friends, and probably years off his life, because of his decision to join his friend Eisner in making some magic in the name of Walt. Of course, Ovitz protected his ass in case it didn’t work out. He was giving up a $20 million a year job and a $200 million stake in the future of CAA. This is why Eisner and the board didn’t blink when they saw the severence package in the contract.

Ovitz may have been ineffectual as an executive, but that was largely the doing of other executives at the company. Hindsight being 20/20, if they had listened to Ovitz’s advice on Yahoo, Sports, Radio, TV, they would have been much better off financially.

So here we stand at the end of a long day. $140 million is a drop in the bucket for Disney, they throw that sort of money around at the drop of a mediocre action script. Has Disney learned their lesson? Sure, but that lesson is just to be slightly more careful. Golden Parachutes will not go away as long as there is a demand for executive talent. Man, I got into the wrong business.

The verdict in the shareholder lawsuit over the $140 million severance package given to Michael Ovitz is in. The Board of Directors, Michael Eisner, and Ovitz are absolved of responsibility as they followed proper procedures.

Herre’s a story on Bloomberg.com. More later, I’m sure.

Update: Forbes has a rather complete story already up. Doing your homework ahead of time boys?

[Technorati Tags: disney, eisner, ovitz, lawsuit, shareholder, walt+disney, waltdisney]

A verdict in the shareholder lawsuit against the Walt Disney Company, its board of directors, and Michael Ovitz (ex-uber agent and ignored visionairy) is expected tomorrow. In an earlier post it was hypothisized that the shareholders would lose due to Delaware’s lax laws of corporate governence.

According to a story at CBS Marketwatch:

Law professors have already made plans for an online symposium to
discuss what Chandler has to say in the Disney case, particularly about
how much attention boards of directors need to pay to the hiring, and
firing, of top executives.

The morning-after Web session will be held at
www.theconglomerate.org, a blog hosted by University of Wisconsin Law
School Professor D. Gordon Smith and other academics.

Should be interesting either way. Let’s get this matter settled and get on with the business of restoring the glory of Walt and Roy’s vision.

[ttags: disney, eisner, iger, ovitz, walt+disney, waltdisney, lawsuit, chandler ]