Tony Baxter steps down as SVP Creative Development, WDI

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Inside the Magic has posted an article on Tony Baxter stepping down as the Senior Vice President of Creative Development at Walt Disney Imagineering to take a part-time advisory role...

http://www.insidethemagic.net/2013/02/tony-baxter-steps-down-from-walt-disney-imagineering-full-time-role-will-serve-as-part-time-advisor/

[Lou... 3,118]

Good riddens Tony, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Being in the engineering profession for as long as he was, but just in a different venue, I have followed and am well aware of his accomplishments at Disney and I was not and am not impressed. If it weren't for that fact that it was Disney and what the Disney legacy brings to the table, DL and WDW would come in a distant second. When it comes to rides and attractions, Disney does not lead the pack and Tony is a major reason for that.

It's pretty well accepted that the best rides and attractions are elsewhere. People come to DL and WDW not because of what Baxter did, but because of what Walt and Roy Disney did. It's the characters, the cartoons, the movies, the castle, the music, the magic and you can only find that at a Disney theme park.

His list of accomplishments include recycled or slightly tweaked coasters and lame animatronics that pale in comparison to what can be found in the real world.

I submit the Fantasyland expansion as an example of second rate attractions. While they may not suck monkey butt, they could have been so much better.

So Tony, hasta la vista baby. The sad thing is that due to the way Disney screens prospective engineering talent and the way they decide if someone fits the Disney mold, the best engineers don't apply or are overlooked and remain in the industrial engineering market where advanced engineering is being done.