Anywhere you find a lot of fans, you will also find a lot of rumors. There are always rumors surrounding the next big superhero movie, and there are many rumors about the next big addition to popular theme parks like Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Sometimes these rumors turn out to be true, or at least have some truth to them, but one recent rumor regarding Walt Disney World worries many fans that it may not be called Walt Disney World for much longer.
While it’s hard to say where this rumor started, even though it was mentioned recently on Popular Disney Dish Podcast (Opens in a new tab)The idea is that Disney might look to drop Walt from Walt Disney World and simply start referring to the resort as Disney World, or alternatively, Disney World. As one would expect, Walt Disney World fans, who resist change frequently, by and large are not a fan of this idea. But is there even a real concern that this could or should happen?
The history of the name Disney World
When a press conference was first held in November of 1965 and it was confirmed, it was Walt Disney who was buying all those swamps in Central Florida, and the project itself didn’t have an official name. It was referred to internally by code names like Project Winter or simply The Florida Project, but Disney World was attached to it early because it would be like Disneyland, but only bigger.
The Disney World name eventually became official, but just over a year after the initial press conference, Walt Disney passed away. He would never see his dream project completed, and the new head of the company, Walt’s brother Roy O. Disney, made the decision to change the name from Disney World to Walt Disney World so that his brother’s name would always be associated with the project. which was designed to be the culmination of his creative achievement. and while A lot of what Walt Disney World intended to never happenThe name has been around for 50 years.
Why Disney might consider changing to Disney World
While a potential name change to Walt Disney World, especially if it’s very young, may seem like a minor issue that isn’t really worth it, there are a few reasons why this might happen. The biggest one is the fact that most people call it Disney World anyway.
While the official name has always been Walt Disney World since it opened in 1971, the truth is that millions of people visit each year and most of them do not use the full name. For most people, it’s just Disney World, so changing the name to that is simply getting the official name in line with the unofficial name. The official website is DisneyWorld.com, most likely because if the WaltDisneyWorld.com website were called, a lot of people would have a hard time finding it. Sometimes a company just has to do what makes things easy for its customers.
There were also some indications that Disney as a company was taking steps away from Walt. The biggest came on July 17, the anniversary of the opening of Disneyland. In recent years, Walt Disney’s original dedication speech has been played inside the park, but that hasn’t happened this year.
Lots of fans Doubt what does not include the speech. Some have questioned whether Disney’s recent developments to try to make the park more inclusive mean its turning away from Walt, who was not seen as an inclusive figure. Splash Mountain is being redesigned away from south song roots and south song Produced by Walt.
While most of the worst stories about Walt’s personal opinions are untrue, again, it’s a matter of perception. Even if the speech was not inscribed was an omission, the fact that the omission was identified with respect to what was seen as important to the remembrance and what was not.
There is an argument that Walt Disney had no intention of naming the Florida resort Walt Disney World, so a name change would make things more in line with your wishes anyway. This is certainly true as far as it goes, but I wouldn’t expect to see that as an argument for why the name change should happen. Using Walt to justify Walt’s removal is a circular argument that will not turn anyone away.
Why isn’t Walt Disney going anywhere?
If the Walt Disney Company somehow wanted to distance itself from its founder, there would need to be a lot more work done rather than simply removing the first name from the theme park resort. It’s called The Walt Disney Company, after all. Motion Picture Studio and Animation Studio are also attached to Walt’s full name. Removing the name from the park alone seems to be a useless change if there is no plan to do the same from the entire company. This is a much larger process that will take a lot of time, and likely cause a lot of controversy that Disney is probably not looking at at the moment.
Even removing Walt’s name from a Florida resort doesn’t take Walt out of Disney World. There is a statue of him standing in front of Cinderella’s castle in the Magic Kingdom. A second figurine is currently planned to be added to Epcot in the near future, and it has been confirmed that it is still happening recently. Placing Walt physically at the resort while his name is being taken off doesn’t make much sense. Disney in the process of collecting A movie about the creation of DisneylandThis means Walt Disney himself will be a character in an upcoming major release. Don’t ignore Walt Disney.
Is it possible for Walt Disney World to become Disney World, officially and not just unofficially? Certainly, this is certainly possible. Nothing stays the same at theme parks, and just as attractions and experiences change and evolve within theme parks, so can names. While fans will certainly lament this particular change, it won’t mean all that much in the grand scheme of things. Disney World will still be Disney World, with or without the name Walt.
But if I were to place a bet, I would put my money on this change not happening. Disney, the company trying to distance itself from Walt Disney, a man is simply unnecessary because Walt Disney has been more of an icon than a man since before his death. Walt’s name is still frequently called by people within the company, but in an almost mythical way. Walt is a piece of Disney history and nostalgia, and without history and nostalgia, Disney wouldn’t be what it is today.
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