That's What Walt Said
I put together a few of these images recently to post to Twitter and decided to do a whole collection.
I think some of my relatives and neighbors think my wife and I talk like this at home. We did meet each other at Walt Disney World but we also have brains. And so did Walt Disney. Walt didn’t go around speaking in fluffy buzz words. He was a respectable, realistic, intelligent, and rather blunt man. To “future Imagineers” I often suggest keeping the fluffy stuff to a minimum. Keep your resumes and behaviors professional, perhaps a little fun, but always mature enough that the company wouldn’t be embarrassed to hire you.
If you seek a career at Walt Disney Imagineering, read the words of legendary Bob Gurr. And good luck!
Related posts:
THEN AND NOW: Walt at Disneyland
Vintage Disneyland Home Movies- Meeting Walt Disney Himself
Walt Disney and the Santa Maria Railroad
Walt's Wife Talks About EPCOT Center
Carolwood Pacific and Other Backyard Railroads
Walt Disney and Steve Jobs
Reader Comments (14)
This. Rulz.
I do believe that I wish I could dream about this magical post. Why has Disney been hijacked by this fluffery?
Hahahahahaha. So true.
Shane, seriously. That "dreams come true" stuff makes us classy Disney freaks look like unclassy freaks.
Oh my god, I love this. It really highlights how painfully ridiculous it is to think that a human being — and an entire company — became enormously successful just by communicating via this lingo, and yet this seems to be a widely perpetuated belief.
"A dream is a wish your heart makes." It's fun to think of Walt Disney walking around tossing out these lines to everyone, though it's more the realm of fairy tales, Disney fairy tales, which I believe are the actual sources the company is referencing in their promotional campaigns.
I always felt that Walt Disney publicly spoke in an optimistic but pragmatic manner, carefully balanced between boyish interest and paternal knowledge. The unbridled enthusiasm that permeates everything released by the Disney PR department as of late is such a put-on, I don't believe how anyone over six years of age can take them seriously.
I can't agree more! Oh, and Walt never said, "If we can dream it, we can do it!" That was Tom Fitzgerald who wrote that line for Horizons at EPCOT Center.
This is such a clever way to show the clearest lines of distinction between modern Disney marketing and reality. My favorite one is Walt hovering over the guy fixing the track on main street. Haha!
I would add to that first image, "...and in my dream, you're doing that a little faster."
Can someone explain to me the whole story about whether Walt said the whole dream it/do it thing? I understand that there was a line in horizons but I don't understand if Walt ever said anything similar or not. The first picture in this thread and my confusion makes me wonder if this whole post is sarcastic?
I feel dumb. I read this post when it was new but when I revisited, clearly I didn't actually reread the captions.
However, what I'd like to know more about is still whether Walt has an actual quote relating to dreaming and doing? Or was this really just made for Horizons and then attributed to Walt Disney by modern-day merchandise marketers?
The quote is actually a widely spread falsification, many tend to believe that Walt himself said it but it was really Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald that wrote the line for the Horizons attraction many years after Walt's passing.
@WDI33 Walt Disney did say "if you can dream it, you can do it" because the whole quote is "If you can dream it, you can do it. Remember this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse"
I know this is a late submission, but according to Pat Williams in "How to Be Like Walt : Capturing the Magic Every Day of Your Life" Walt Disney did say the following: "All our dreams can come true — if we have the courage to pursue them." However, the context is unclear-- quite likely it was spoken to a specific group of people about a specific shared dream rather than as a maxim designed for the general public.
I don't know who runs this website but I would like for them to contact me. There are photos on here that I took when I went on a tour of Central Shops with my husband. In fact, that's him standing behind the golden Mickey. 'Nomeus' helped himself to these photos and allowed them to be posted without my permission.
I would like the photos removed please.