Actually, Disney World IS Living up To Walt’s Values and Vision

Last week, a gentleman in Las Vegas wrote an op-ed piece in the Orlando Sentinel newspaper describing himself and his family as loyal Disney fans who visit Disney World every year and who take a Disney Cruise at least every two years.

But the column by Jonathan VanBoskerck was critical of Disney and its alleged “wokeness,” the term used in society these days for individuals and companies who are aware of current and past social issues, particularly racism and inequality, and have tried to correct the injustices.

Mr. VanBoskerck accused Disney is soiling the immersive experience of being at WDW by some of its recent ‘woke’ decisions, including:

– Allowing cast members to express their individuality via the way they wear their hair or being allowed to display any tattoos.

– Removing the Trader Sam character from the Jungle Cruise ride; ending Splash Mountain’s association with the Disney film “Song of the South,” the 1946 film with heavy racial undertones; and making numerous changes to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in the wake of some of the characters’ treatment of women.

Mr. VanBoskerck, who described himself as a Christian and Republican Conservative, wrote that Disney caved to political correctness. He also wrote that these decisions went against the “values and vision” of the man himself, Walt Disney.

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At best, Mr. VanBoskerck is contradictory in his own column.

At worst, Mr. VanBoskerck couldn’t be more wrong.

The author argues that guest immersion is the key to fully enjoying a place like Disney World, and that having a suspension of belief is what makes it all work.

“When I stand in Galaxy’s Edge or Fantasyland, I know I am in a theme park,” he wrote. “But through immersion and my willingness to set the real world aside, something magical happens. That spell is broken when the immersive experience is shattered by the real world. And boy, has Disney been breaking the immersion.”

The contradiction is in his words. Mr. VanBoskerck can suspend reality in his own mind and immerse himself in something completely made up like Darth Vader and lightsabers, but in order to get that same ‘true experience’ elsewhere in the park, he needs to hear Uncle Remus singing about slavery or watch an animatronic pirate abuse a woman.

Strange.

Worse, though, he claims these moves made by Disney somehow are a slap in the face to Walt Disney himself. Mr. Disney’s “voice and vision” were partially products of the time. He was born in 1901 and, until his death from lung cancer in 1966, racism and misogyny were very much part of this country. Yet Walt Disney was ‘woke’ enough 75 years ago to consult the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on how the film “Song of the South” might be perceived and to have certain words removed from the script at the time of filming.

Mr. VanBoskerck also addressed Disney’s new policy on hair and tattoos, writing, “I’m not traveling across the country and paying thousands of dollars to watch someone I do not know express themselves. I am there for the immersion and the fantasy, not the reality of a stranger’s self-expression. I do not begrudge these people their individuality and I wish them well in their personal lives, but I do not get to express my individuality at my place of business.”

Sorry, Mr. VanBoskerck, that sounds very much like a you problem and not a WDW problem. Ponytails on men started with the Qing Dynasty in China almost 500 years ago; the first known tattoo was found on the body of a mummified man more than 5,000 years ago. So, hate to break it to you but the idea of self-expression didn’t start a week ago.

So, actually, Disney World IS living up to the values and vision of Walt Disney. He created Disneyland in California and then WDW in Orlando to be places of inclusion, both for children and children of all ages. Nowhere did he say or write that it was only for people of a certain color, or religion or sexual preference.

Walt Disney’s successors understand that, as well as having an understanding that times change and we adapt. No, we cannot change history, but we certainly can try to right our wrongs from the past.

Mr. VanBoskerck said that Disney World and Orlando are about to lose the thousands of dollars he spends every year on his family’s annual trip to The Happiest Place on Earth, as well as money that others who feel like he does would spend at WDW.

That’s cool.

I’ll be sure to go twice a year then to make up for it.