The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

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This was discussed a bit in the Disney+ thread in Streaming Talk, but I think it deserves its own thread.

Two episodes (of six) are currently available.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

First thing I noticed was the quality of the old footage. Pretty amazing. E1 is highly recommended. Sure, a lot of the info is available on other docs but it was nicely put together.

The segment on the Matterhorn was personal to me because one time, as a child, I thought I saw someone in another car standing up. I thought he was going to fall to his death. That image affected me so much, I didn't ride it for 20 years.

I haven't seen E2 yet.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

I haven't watched it yet, sounds good. That little press release, though? "Little-known" is hyphenated and I disagree on whether it's true the Imagineers are little-known. Maybe they haven't used that term in a while so younger people don't know it but anyone who was into Disney even a little bit previous to 1990 sure does!

Someone feel free to post the Simpsons "Old man yells at cloud" newspaper meme.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

1st episode was amazing. Footage they had from 60+ years ago was so pristine. It definitely looked they it was restored. Yes as mentioned the information has been talked about on other Disney themed historical films, but it was nice to see it all curated into 1 film.

Angela Bassett is the narrator and she had a really good voice on it.

My Mom works at Disneyland. Been working there for 13 years and I showed her the documentary and she was glued to it.

Looking forward to episode 2 later today.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

Watching episode 2 now. Can't help feel that it's just a giant propaganda piece. First episode was 67 minutes and this one is about 62 minutes. It's well made, though.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

That looks interesting as hell. :up:

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

Growing up in the L.A. area, I have a lot of Disneyland memories. We went there numerous times, starting a few years after it opened. I thought the submarine ride actually did go completely​ underwater. First time on the Jungle Cruise, I thought those natives were real and we were gonna die. I ducked down to the bottom of the boat and prayed. :lol:

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

A Disney documentary produced by Disney and hosted on the new Disney streaming service is maybe propaganda? Nooooo...

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

I liked that E2 talked about Tokyo Disneyland. I was there during it's 5th anniversary. Another good episode.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

Finished episode 1 and as a big Disneyland fan it was awesome.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

I liked the 2nd episode as well. Majority was focused about Disney World getting off the ground. There was some interesting things covered, including the hard times Disney went through.

Also liked seeing how Tokyo Disneyland got off the ground.

Looks like the 3rd episode is going to cover Michael Eisner's reign as the Chairman of Disney.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

E3 is up.

As someone who trained Navy pilots on motion-base flight simulators, I was always a fan of Star Tours.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

One of the things I got a kick out of during the old footage was the kid's attire. In one of the segments, most of the young boys had collared shirts, and most of the young girls had dresses. And one of the ladies talking about the old days mentioned their high heels would sink in the dirt.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

The latest episode from Friday was quite interesting. It chronicled Michael Eisner's tenure as Disney CEO and the construction of Euro Disney in Paris.

Some really interesting things that I was unaware of at the time.

They didn't go into it too much, but they did mention briefly about Frank Wells sudden death. He was Eisner's right hand man and President of Disney. He was killed in a Chopper crash in 1994 at age 62.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

One of the good things about this series is the balance between the hits and misses. It goes into why the misses happened. Lots happened during this episode.

One interesting tidbit was that only one smokestack on the Disney cruise ships actually works. The other is to create an optical balance.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

Yea. A whole episode about their failures. Such propaganda!

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

Episode 4 was very well done. As Tom said, they have shown a good balance between Disney's success and failures. This is not at all Disney propaganda love fest, if that's a reason why you're not watching.

I laughed at some of the early mock up artwork for the Disney's cruises and Eisner said they were all terrible, which they were. Euro Disney in Paris seems to be a mixed bag on it's success level.

Also, I was not aware about the prospective park they planned to build in the DC area that got shut down because of protests from historians and such.

I went to Hong Kong Disneyland about 10 years ago. My Mom works at the park in Anaheim and got me a ticket to go when I traveled to HK at the time. It's a really small park compared to the original. From the gist of this episode, they seem to think the park hasn't really been a success. I've read reports the HK Disneyland is a money loser.

I'm looking forward to when they cover Shanghai Disneyland. I went there in 2016, a day after the grand opening. I know a lot went into that park.

And it seems like Michael Eisner's reign ended on a whimper as he was essentially forced out. He didn't seem bitter at all being interviewed here.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

Disney’s failed projects of the 90’s are interesting. Disney’s America and the proposed park in Long Beach, Ca were both chased off by groups that harbored a lot of Disney resentment. These days people rightfully recognize that Disney is the gold standard for amusement parks, but during that time there was an (incorrect) attitude that Disney’s presence there would cheapen the place and make it tacky somehow. I bet if they repitched those ideas today those places would embrace the idea.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

It's happened:

May 1964: Mark Maples, a 15-year-old Long Beach, CA, resident, was killed when he tried to stand up on the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Maples (or his companion) foolishly unbuckled his seatbeat and attempted to stand up as their bobsled neared the peak of the mountain. Maples lost his balance and was thrown from the sled to the track below, fracturing his skull and ribs and causing internal injuries. He died three days later.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/disneyland-deaths/

I've actually been pretty impressed at how they've mentioned a lot of their failures. It hasn't shied away from them like you think they would. But I also see how all of the failures that they mentioned are in Disney's past. For example they actually mention Super Star Limo that is long in their past and is not Monster's Inc but they didn't mention (although they did show it) Rocket Rods which assassinated Walt's own people mover and is still rotting in plain sight to this day for everyone to see.

I'm so surprised to see Michael Eisner doing these interviews. There was a lot of bad blood with the way he was ousted I'm shocked that he would agree to do these for a Disney production no less. I guess with Roy Disney passing and the company moving on it's all in it's history now. I remember those dark times though. Eisner was Disney's savior but was driven away as their doom. Both of which were the right decision.

Yeah, Disney's America. It really is unfortunate it didn't get made. One thing I wish they mentioned is that that land they made such a big deal about is now just a housing community. So that "sacred" land that Disney wanted to build as a tribute to and to educate kids on American history is now just a bunch of expensive houses. What did the protesters save exactly? This is a great deep dive on the subject.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

I just binged watch all 5 episodes available so far. This is really an incredible documentary on the history of the parks. Meticulously researched and with the backing of the company itself allows it to have more access than any other documentary before it. Really how many times have the utilidors been filmed and available for viewing? I'm really surprised how they didn't shy away from some of their failures either. There is a lot of new information and confirmation that I've never really seen before. I thought it was interesting to hear from Eisner that if Frank hadn't died and if he wasn't going through his health issues that they would have pressed on with Disney's America.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

This was apparently from the same production team who wrote and directed The Pixar Story, which is on Netflix right now. I need to watch that one after seeing how well made this is so far.

Episode 5 from this past week was also excellent.

I loved all the details about the remodeling of California Adventure after the disappointing launch. My Mom works there and she's been through out all in her 13 years there.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

Would've been freaky is this is what I saw but this happened a couple years before '64.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

I’m loving the series so far, even though I haven’t been to a Disney park since 2000.

I like how they don’t sugarcoat how things in Paris and Hong Kong went. They tell it like it is.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

This has been a fantastic series. I'm about halfway through the fifth episode. I'm glad they haven't glossed over the failures as that's some of the most interesting stuff.

Of the most recent episode the last bit I watched was about them retooling It's a Small World with the Disney princesses and the public backlash prior to seeing what the Imagineers had in mind. I liked what they came up with. I just went to Disney World in July, I guess they haven't retooled that one yet. It's definitely showing its age. Still cute on a nostalgia level because I haven't been in 15 years but I couldn't imagine riding it more often than that.

Re: The Imagineering Story (Disney+) -- docuseries
 

Unfortunately when it comes to Walt Disney World, the feeling is they don't do these retoolings or layovers (Like the Nightmare Before Christmas layover) because the primary audience for Disneyland is local annual passholders who want and need something different and experimental to keep coming back and at WDW most of the visitors are from out of town and therefore that visit might be the only one for a decade so they want to keep everything as is. It doesn't make any sense to me but whatever.