Not Contemporary

Photo of the construction of the Contemporary from the Disney Blog.

When I was a kid my favorite rides at amusement parks were skyrides and monorails.  I do not know what I was so obsessed with things there were basically glorified trains.  I think it was the mystique of a bright fancy new way to move people around.  In turn my favorite hotel at Disney was the Contemporary.  The hotel featured a large central concourse where the monorail whisked right through the center.  It just felt so futuristic and unrealistic to have a monorail go right through a building.

This past week the Disney blog released a bunch of pictures of the Contemporary during construction.  The Contemporary was one of two hotels, the Polynesian was the other, that opened with the parkin 1971.  These hotels were apart of five hotels that were scheduled for the first phase of construction.  Other resorts, were to be inspired by Asian, Venetian and Persian themes, but were never built, leaving only four properties on the coveted Seven Seas Lagoon outside of Magic Kingdom park.

The Contemporary was built in a really unique way.  The middle elevator shaft was created, then a skeleton of steel beams were erected around them.  Then hotel rooms were built fully completed and outfitted off site at the rate of 40 per day, afterwards the hotel rooms were transported to the resort and lifted into place.  Learning this process makes me love the resort even more. 

The Contemporary has a monorail go through it, it looks so futuristic, and it was built in a cool way.  What more can you ask for?  Nothing about this place is Contemporary, and that is why I love it.  It should be our goal to take everything we do to the next level.  Doing the extra work to make our ideas and projects more futuristic and exciting, make the more successful, so think about how to make them not contemporary!

Close up photo of the construction of the Contemporary from the Disney Blog.

How to Commemorate

Disney certainly knows how to throw a celebration, and they do that on a regular basis to commemorate milestones in the park’s history.  As an organization I think it is important to celebrate the past, and recognize the hard work of all the individuals that put time into making the place a success.  Disney works hard to make these celebrations a reality.  This week Disney is celebrating the 40th anniversary of Walt Disney World in Florida, and on October 1st, the actual opening day, Disney gave the above map to every guest who entered the park.  The handout featured an old school map of the park, listings of the special events happening that day, and a historic quote by Walt.  You can download the full version here from the Disney Blog website.

While I love this year’s anniversary celebration in a more demure way, Disney does know how to throw a party on special year celebrations.  During the 25th anniversary of Disney World imagineers turned Cinderella’s Castle in the middle of the park into a cake.  On the 50th anniversary of Disneyland in California, Disney celebrated with “the Happiest Homecoming on Earth,” and literally held magical events and special ride openings at the Disney Parks across the world.  When Disney goes into a commemorative celebration is usually lasts a whole year.  During the 25th anniversary the celebration lasted 15 months, and for the Disneyland 50th anniversary the celebration lasted 18 months.

In our organizations we need to find ways to celebrate and commemorate the important events in the history of our companies.  These symbols and celebrations are what bond the stakeholders together and create the institutional culture and story which help people to further buy into the mission.  While we might not all be able to turn a castle into a pink and purple birthday cake, there are always ways to improve the experiences we all have within our organizations.

Magic Kingdom Construction

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Walt Disney World the Disney blog posted this rare video of the construction of the Magic Kingdom.  One of my favorite things about the park is the vision which led to a #BoldChoice to buy 30,080-acre in the swamps of central Florida.  When the true reason behind the acquisition was leaked, most people thought Walt was making a terrible decision buying a huge parcel of land in what was such a remote area?  Most people were also confused as to why Walt would create another park when he already had Disneyland in California, but Walt proved them all wrong and provided the leadership to initiate the construction of the world’s ultimate vacation destination.  Walt said, “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”  This push to continually try new things and get better is one of the best qualities of the Disney corporation.  The Disney parks are never complete and it all started with this original construction. I love looking at this film and just thinking about all the magic that would be created at Walt Disney World!