Interview 34507 – Caption Index: 622
This is the year 2000, right?… Read More
This is the year 2000, right?… Read More
I came in, they, they headhunted me and they, and, and people said, why the hell you wanna go to Houston?… Read More
Or, or Disney?… Read More
Well, I saw that question earlier, you know, and I, I, I always am I just anxious to go on to the next thing all the time. So, you know, I go back to Disney and I say, yeah, I guess, I guess the, the forming that, that, that advisory… Read More
Were there other things that you were very proud of achieving at Houston?… Read More
Justin Judson said, you’re, he didn’t say you’re right at that point. But we, we had, we got a lot more money. Only ’cause of, only ’cause of Bill Connoway. So the, the board, the advisory board was a wonderful accomplishment. Read More
And, but that dynamic there, it, it got, it got tension filled. One time when Judson Green, who was our, the head of Disney Parks, was talking to Bill Conway and, and the board, and, and Bill and Russ, and were recommending that they establish a fund for conservation before… Read More
Like Bush Gardens was not too far away either. Right. And we’re building a safari park, you know, and Bush Gardens already had one. So they, they wanted to keep it really close knit. But they, they gave, with Joe’s, Joe’s support we got, and then Michael Eisner would, he… Read More
But are things that you wanted to, that you Yeah, bring an elephant, bring, bringing, bringing a herd of elephants in from Krueger, very controversial, but they were calling elephants in Krueger National Park. This is 1994. Because they had too many, well, they said they had too many. So… Read More
But it would’ve been an incredible exhibit for, for, and, and I, the el the elephants would’ve been better off too. I think Chris Krueger was getting decimated the, the habitat. But, so that, that was kind of a disappointment, but it was a, it it was a political it,… Read More
But, but I, I was, I was, so the biggest achievement was Joe and I, we convinced Conway to come back. You know, Conway was, they were using Conway as a consultant, and then Conway couldn’t do it anymore. And he recommended me, but he never told me that. I… Read More
A little bit rubs off, you know?… Read More
You know, I, I think I’m right, but I, I wanna be challenged here too. And so we brought in an advisory board, and then we brought in the big guys, you know, and then, then Conway and, and Meyer and Terry Maple. I said, we had Bill Burnham from… Read More
You can’t be both. He said, very rarely. Can you be both?… Read More
So when you were at Houston and Disney as the leader, were there programs or exhibits that you would’ve wanted to implement during the time you were there, but just didn’t happen?… Read More
Well, the big one that did happen was the advisory board. Joe Rody was on my side on this. I I, I, I reported more to Joe than I did the operations guy. Bob was later, but Bob hired me. But I was really an imagine with the imagineers. And… Read More
He was the guy that built all the restaurants for Disney. He was Dietrich, his name was d Dieter Dieter. And he had a German accent. And he was brilliant guy. And he said, Rick, when I design these restaurants, I have one group, but then when I open ’em,… Read More
Who gave you that advice of builders and maintainers?… Read More
You would’ve made a lot more money. You could have retired at 40 and you would’ve had millions of dollars to give to conservation. You would’ve made a bigger impact. I said, I don’t wanna do it that way. I wanted to have fun. Now, when I was young, not,… Read More
You don’t, you hire people that are better than you, that challenge you, that make the organization better. And if you can’t, and you’re eventually gonna get phased out, and then you do something else, or you, or you stay. But the best advice I got, and that’s your question… Read More