Thoughts on Walt, Dec 13

Thoughts on Walt
Page 9 of 26

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Dave Avanzino on Walt Disney
December 13, 2001

Truly a great man. Way beyond what most people can even imagine.

Artist Dave Avanzino is well known to those who attend Disneyland's Special Merchandising Events. Starting with the Mr. Toad event and continuing through Cinderella's Royal Banquet, the Pirates of the Caribbean event, the Divas event and others, Avanzino's "multimedia dimensional art" has proven popular with collectors.

Dave wrote the following about Walt:

The thing I have come to admire in Walt is his passion. He had passion for everything he worked on whether it was a cartoon, nature film, theme park or motion picture. He trusted that his passion for these things, as well as his attention to detail, would be appreciated by others. When he was discouraged from doing something because others thought it was too expensive or foolhardy, he went right ahead and did it, trusing in himself and his belief in what people wanted to see.

I also have enjoyed reading about how he challenged other people to do things they didn't think they were capable of. It seemed like kind of shock to some of his animators when they were asked to design theme park attractions. Walt had faith in what they could do when they themselves often did not. In the end, Walt was right and as a result we get to benefit from some of the most beautiful attractions ever designed and built.

Walt was an amazing dreamer, visionary, planner and leader. He had the brilliance to dream something up, and then had the intelligence to let others make it happen. He gave them the opportunity to shine and challenged them to rise above their limitations. Many other great visionaries have crumbled, despite great ideas, because they can't let go of their ideas enough to allow others to help make them come alive. Walt had the sense to know when to be involved as well as when not to.

Truly a great man. Way beyond what most people can even imagine.

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