Douglas Frantz > Quotes

“A failure is not always a mistake; it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying!”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“In addition, teachers would have to learn to deal with students who no longer sat in rows, eyes ahead and pencils at the ready. They would have to be up on the latest uses of technology and computers, because their students would not be using textbooks. Classrooms would be brimming with computers, and the teachers would have to know how to use them.”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“In addition, for a full year, AT&T would pay for all basic services related to the computer and phones, like monthly telephone and cellular service in frills such as the caller ID, call waiting, and three-way calling.”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“Technology was supposed to bring the latest fiber-optic cables into every house in Celebration. It promised a computerized community network that would let any resident pull up his or her medical records at the hospital, monitor his or her child's network at school and communicate with teachers and administrators, or simply chat with neighbors or order carry out from one of the restaurants.”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“In Celebration, AT&T donated the hardware and installation components to create the Celebration Community Network, an intranet that provides town residents with email, chat rooms, a bulletin-board service, and access to the Internet, all free of charge.”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“Mosquitoes use various cues for food-movement, color contrast, skin temperature. Most of all, however, they are olfactory hunters, following the vapor trail of carbon dioxide left behind by humans. Each time you breathe out, you are sending up a flare to every mosquito in your vicinity, saying, "blood container over here.”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“The school would have large classrooms, with up to one hundred students and four teachers in each classroom. The students would often work collaboratively, mostly in teams of three or four. And the teachers were expected to work with one another in leading the classes.”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“To allow for the varied learning rates of the children, the classes were combined into what were called "neighborhoods," where children of different ages would progress at their own rates. The early plans envisioned classrooms broken down into fairly narrow age ranges: kindergarten through second grade in one neighborhood, another sixth and seventh together, eighth and ninth in another, and tenth to twelfth grades together.”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“The family that moved into a house and sound out several days later, in the worst way you can imagine, that their sewer line said nothing hooked up. True. And the crane did fall on the house, it was a town house, and the owners don't aren't in. True. And don't forget the house they had to knock down and start over. True.”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“A key decision made early on was to build a school that would help us kindergarten through twelfth grade. No other school in the county has this range of students, and few public schools anywhere in the country do either. indeed, at one point, the planners considered building only an elementary and middle school, and perhaps create is sattelite of one of the nearby high schools within the town. According to Rosen, they went for the K-12 idea for 2 primary reasons. First, a lot of educational research has found advantages in keeping siblings together in school. There is continuity for students, teachers, and families. Plus, parents can devote more time to volunteering at a single school. Second, there was a feeling that resources could be shared among the grades. For instance, if the high school had an excellent physics teacher, from time to time that teacher could also work with children in the lower grades.”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“Certainly no corporation in the world is better than Nick-believe then the Walt Disney Company, which had built this town of celebration in large part as a way to sell off nearly 5000 acres deemed unsuitable for yet another addition to its nearby theme parks. The company is made attractions, Disneyland and what Disney World or marvels of escapism.”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“The first 350 families agree to participate on the panel would each receive a Tandy personal computer, with 133 MHz Intel Pentium processor; a Hewlett-Packard combination printer, fax, and copier; the most advanced Nokia cellular phone; and an AT&T telephone that was not yet on the market and that offered so many features the company called it a "personal information center.”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“The architectural uniformity, down to plantings and the color of curtains seen from the street, was ridiculed. Jokes were made about residents being required to wear Mickey Mouse ears and practice aggressive friendliness that is the hallmark of the theme parks. At one point in the town's early days, the Orlando Sentinel ran a spoof about Disney extras being paid to walk dogs in Celebration to create a homey feeling. It was perhaps an early indication of the town's growing sensitivity that not many living there were amused.”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“In all honesty, the difficulties with their house were mild, and most resolved. The problem seems to be with work that was not finished properly, something a tribute to pull in park to the race to build houses as fast as possible throughout Celebration.”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“Many more months would pass before the niggling items with our house or repaired, and even then you problems kept popping up. For instance, one day we noticed that several sides of the house and garage were covered with mildew. A guy from weekly came out to look at it, scratched his head and left. The next day he returned with a guy from the paint company and the guy from the company that made the clapboard siding, a synthetic concrete cold hardy board. They couldn't figure out what was causing the mildew, I don't know super gross covered much of the exterior of the house and he can't he's full of other houses in many more months would pass before the niggling items with our house or repaired, and even then you problems kept popping up. For instance, one day we noticed that several sides of the house and garage were covered with mildew. A guy from weekly came out to look at it, scratched his head and left. The next day he returned with a guy from the paint company and the guy from the company that made the clapboard siding, a synthetic concrete cold hardy board. They couldn't figure out what was causing the mildew, I don't know super gross covered much of the exterior of the house and he can't he's full of other houses in town.”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“In early 1991, although the Stern-Robertson plan was far from finalized, the decision was made to announce the new-town project to the public. Before that could happen, the new town needed a name. The development team had been kicking around dozens of names, but nothing seemed to click. Some people like to Oak Tree. Others favored Green Meadows. But nobody liked any of them much. One day Eisner and his wife, Jane dropped by the teams offices in a nondescript building off the Disney property, near International Drive in Orlando. Eisner asked whether a name had been selected and was told it had not. However, Celebration Gardens had been listed as a potential name for the shopping mall." I think it's a better name for the town, " replied Eisner, with his wife nodding her agreement... "We are so happy to find a name that he actually liked that we latched onto it, " said Killoren, although the decision was later made to chop off the final word and just call the town Celebration.”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“We were discovering new construction problems every day, do you for passing them onto the representatives from David Weekley homes, which had built our house. The list was approaching four pages, but most items were niggling-outlets with no electricity, a bow in the kitchen ceiling, no weatherstripping around the front door, strange lumps in the newly-sodded lawn, a shower door in the master bathroom that kept popping open and spewing water all over the floor mid shower, hot and cold water lines reversed upstairs. This last problem was intriguing. At first we thought it was only the sinks, showers, and tubs. Then one day Doug asked, why do you think the toilet steams?”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town

“Walt flew into the state by private jet many times in the early 1960s. The trips to scout land were kept secret to avoid the inevitable escalation in land prices were the overall plan to become known. A clandestine operation, using phony company names, moved to acquire the land. But Orlando was not the first choice. At one point, Disney found a huge tract of gorgeous land in Florida's panhandle, along the Gulf coast. The Saint Joe Paper Company, a large timber and paper milling company founded in the 1930s by a du Pont air, owned it. When Disney himself approached the company's patrician chairman, Edward Balll, about buying the land, Ball sniffed, A condition operation, using phony company names, move to acquired the land. But Orlando was not the first choice. At one point, Disney found a huge tract of Korgis land in Florida Panhandle, I'm on the golf coast. The Saint Joe paper company, a large timber and paper milling Company found it in the 1930s by a Dupont air, owned it. When do you see himself approach the companies patrician chairman, Edward bowl, about buying the land, Ball sniffed, "We don't deal with carnival people.”
― Douglas Frantz, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town