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Not Just a Walk in the Park: My Worldwide Disney Resorts Career
The never-before-told, behind-the-scenes story of Disney’s pioneering and triumphant global theme park and resort expansion.
On June 16, 2016, Shanghai Disneyland Park, located in Pudong, Shanghai, opened to great fanfare and acclaim. Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Bob Iger called the world's twelfth Disney park “one of the proudest and most exciting moments in the history of The Walt Disney Company.” But a short three decades before, there were only two Disney parks―both in the U.S. How this unique entertainment enterprise expanded and was embraced all around the world is one of the most ambitious and successful, but little-documented aspects of The Walt Disney Company’s history.
Leading that pioneering and influential initiative was a fascinating man who, like Walt Disney himself, was the right combination of experience, enterprise, curiosity, and cultural complement at just the right time and Disney Legend Jim Cora. Part memoir, part cultural history, part documentary―and always fascinating, revealing, candid, and frequently humorous― Not Just a Walk in the The Creation of Disney’s Global Resorts is the first-ever documentation of Disney’s rise as a worldwide powerhouse in destination recreation and cultural export; and the circumstances, events, and individuals who brought it all to life.
Filled with remarkable information, insight, anecdotes, and reflections of places, people, projects, problems, and ultimate successes, this is a one-of-a-kind recollection of a previously unknown aspect of the wide, wonderful world of Disney and how it got that way.
On June 16, 2016, Shanghai Disneyland Park, located in Pudong, Shanghai, opened to great fanfare and acclaim. Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Bob Iger called the world's twelfth Disney park “one of the proudest and most exciting moments in the history of The Walt Disney Company.” But a short three decades before, there were only two Disney parks―both in the U.S. How this unique entertainment enterprise expanded and was embraced all around the world is one of the most ambitious and successful, but little-documented aspects of The Walt Disney Company’s history.
Leading that pioneering and influential initiative was a fascinating man who, like Walt Disney himself, was the right combination of experience, enterprise, curiosity, and cultural complement at just the right time and Disney Legend Jim Cora. Part memoir, part cultural history, part documentary―and always fascinating, revealing, candid, and frequently humorous― Not Just a Walk in the The Creation of Disney’s Global Resorts is the first-ever documentation of Disney’s rise as a worldwide powerhouse in destination recreation and cultural export; and the circumstances, events, and individuals who brought it all to life.
Filled with remarkable information, insight, anecdotes, and reflections of places, people, projects, problems, and ultimate successes, this is a one-of-a-kind recollection of a previously unknown aspect of the wide, wonderful world of Disney and how it got that way.
- GenresNonfiction
448 pages, Hardcover
Published December 28, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 28, 2023
Book of the Mouse Club September Podcast Selection. Tune into our episode for our full discussion of this book. Overall, an enjoyable autobiography of an often overlooked Disney Legend. Expansive detail of international projects in Tokyo and Paris set among the backdrop of a traditional American dream.
May 15, 2023
Reads like an autobiography: some really strong parts with weaker less relevant lulls in between.
Biggest problem: The narrative lapses into name dropping and "I worked with ____, ... there were good times and bad times, ... _____ was a difficult personality.... We got it done with a project mindset."
Vague language. Glossing over details. Telling when he should have been showing. Summarizing large swaths of projects without delving into micro-interactions and dramatized action.
The book does cover a lot of ground with some powerful, memorable quotes:
"A child's laughter has no nationality, no passport, no ideology." (320)
"Disneyland causes you to care all over again. You feel it is that first day in the spring of that special year when you discovered you were really alive." (320)
"[Early Euro Disney hires] envisioned living a life of European sophistication. Projects are not like that. They require a commitment and humility that often means your own life goes on hold. Sleeping on a sofa in the project office, working through weekends and holidays... it's an "all hands on deck" work style that is, in the end, oddly rewarding. But it takes a specific kind of person." (276)
"What made [the gyoza sausage bun] so popular was that this location was the only place you could buy it. It wasn't just the sandwich itself; it was the anticipation, and the act of waiting for something special. And they don't wait as individuals. They wait as groups or families; it's a cultural and communal shared experience." (395)
"Books are the only immortality." (426)
"Walt was still motivated by a single larger idea: making places for people." (117)
"Original plans called for the theme park as a somewhat secondary, but necessary attraction to draw attention and public and corporate interest in what his real pursuit was: an 'Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow' (EPCOT), a planned community intended to serve as a testing ground for new city innovations in a living laboratory." (117)
"Some of the first [DisneySea] designs had a large lighthouse as an icon structure, a central focal point as Guests enter the park. It was chosen and designed for very America ideas -- a beacon of hope, a happy homecoming, a guiding light for adventurous seafarers. But for the Japanese, a lighthouse brings up ideas of loss, of melancholy and loneliness." (370)
"We kept looking for a "castle," an icon at the visual center of the proposed park that communicated the international character and the sense of a maritime adventure that was the heart of our storytelling." (371)
"Unlike other parks, we aimed for permanent employees instead of seasonal and temporary part-time workers. It was part of the agreement with the French government that a concentrated effort would be made to tap into the local French labor market." (298)
"The French had promised us early on that they would build employee housing, but they didn't. That meant we went over budget to build housing for them ourselves, but Thor Degelmann still had to have his HR staff going out into the towns and villages, knocking on doors, to see if people wanted to rent rooms to our Cast Members. I think we created a whole bed-and-breakfast business around Ile-de-France." (299)
"Walt knew that he had a kind of protected uniqueness in the characters and stories that were so associated with his name already. He knew that he had an ability to promote his park through his television program that no competitor or imitator could match." (112)
"We were serving the sluggish reporters a little Polynesian pick-me-up of Walt's own concoction. Let's just say that pineapple juice wasn't its strongest ingredient (yet it seemingly did the trick)." (100)
"It's a lesson for everyone in a public-facing business. 'Wear your Guests' shoes.' Get out there and be where your customers are. See and hear and smell and feel the things that they do. You can't contribute to their experience if you have no idea what it is." (93)
"[Dick Nunis] let me have it. 'You're in charge of everything you see when you walk through here! If it's not right, you go make sure it's taken care of!' That really stuck with me. If you're a leader, you should care about all of it. If you walk through an area and can't find the food guy, or the merchandise guy, or the entertainment guy, or the manager and something so obviously needs doing -- do it." (93)
"As things grew, ... everything has to go through so many layers of bureaucracy. But even today, I think there's something to be said for empowering your local managers with the ability to make some sound and simple decisions." (55)
"As it had been with Walt Disney World, the fear of overwhelming Opening Day crowds kept away the expected Opening Day crowds." (309)
"Our initial strategy [in Euro Disney] had been a higher level merchandise mix, a more luxe assortment--we perceived that our audience (and our research had backed this up) would not be as interested in just plush and toys, key chains and trinkets, sweatshirts and T-shirts. So we had some really 'upscale' boutiques and clothing shops, stylish stuff, but with a Disney twist." (312)
"Michael was the dreamer. Frank was the doer." (284)
"Sometimes these things hurt on a personal level, because it felt like such a lack of trust from corporate, as if the decades of experience my team and I brought with us had no weight." (305)
"It seemed like every time we got one of the machines functioning, another one needed attention. Marketing was one of those." (302)
"In order to raise our weekday population, and because in general, the Japanese would not miss school or workdays for a trip to a park, we started offering special group rates and opportunities for school groups and their teachers to come out to Tokyo Disneyland on weekdays." (215)
"Disneyland was a learning experience, and we helped educators blend a park visit with their school curriculum." (216)
"[Oriental Land Company] believed that they could establish a large hog farm where the pigs could eat all the trash (and then they could use the pigs as a source of income)... it would likely take a hundred thousand pigs to eat all the consumable trash on-site." (195)
"The Japanese are a very clean society: they pick up trash, and they're not used to dropping it." (206)
"Cleanliness breeds cleanliness." (207)
"They came up with a water purification plant backstage, so that we could have drinking fountains onstage with water that people could actually drink. The problem was, nobody believed it was purified water. So the drinking fountains pretty much stayed idle, and we sold a lot of water." (207)
The highlight of the book is definitely, without a doubt, the stories and project process behind Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea, and Euro Disney. The international training and production process includes a lot of nuance missing from other books, and from the other stories in this book.
Biggest problem: The narrative lapses into name dropping and "I worked with ____, ... there were good times and bad times, ... _____ was a difficult personality.... We got it done with a project mindset."
Vague language. Glossing over details. Telling when he should have been showing. Summarizing large swaths of projects without delving into micro-interactions and dramatized action.
The book does cover a lot of ground with some powerful, memorable quotes:
"A child's laughter has no nationality, no passport, no ideology." (320)
"Disneyland causes you to care all over again. You feel it is that first day in the spring of that special year when you discovered you were really alive." (320)
"[Early Euro Disney hires] envisioned living a life of European sophistication. Projects are not like that. They require a commitment and humility that often means your own life goes on hold. Sleeping on a sofa in the project office, working through weekends and holidays... it's an "all hands on deck" work style that is, in the end, oddly rewarding. But it takes a specific kind of person." (276)
"What made [the gyoza sausage bun] so popular was that this location was the only place you could buy it. It wasn't just the sandwich itself; it was the anticipation, and the act of waiting for something special. And they don't wait as individuals. They wait as groups or families; it's a cultural and communal shared experience." (395)
"Books are the only immortality." (426)
"Walt was still motivated by a single larger idea: making places for people." (117)
"Original plans called for the theme park as a somewhat secondary, but necessary attraction to draw attention and public and corporate interest in what his real pursuit was: an 'Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow' (EPCOT), a planned community intended to serve as a testing ground for new city innovations in a living laboratory." (117)
"Some of the first [DisneySea] designs had a large lighthouse as an icon structure, a central focal point as Guests enter the park. It was chosen and designed for very America ideas -- a beacon of hope, a happy homecoming, a guiding light for adventurous seafarers. But for the Japanese, a lighthouse brings up ideas of loss, of melancholy and loneliness." (370)
"We kept looking for a "castle," an icon at the visual center of the proposed park that communicated the international character and the sense of a maritime adventure that was the heart of our storytelling." (371)
"Unlike other parks, we aimed for permanent employees instead of seasonal and temporary part-time workers. It was part of the agreement with the French government that a concentrated effort would be made to tap into the local French labor market." (298)
"The French had promised us early on that they would build employee housing, but they didn't. That meant we went over budget to build housing for them ourselves, but Thor Degelmann still had to have his HR staff going out into the towns and villages, knocking on doors, to see if people wanted to rent rooms to our Cast Members. I think we created a whole bed-and-breakfast business around Ile-de-France." (299)
"Walt knew that he had a kind of protected uniqueness in the characters and stories that were so associated with his name already. He knew that he had an ability to promote his park through his television program that no competitor or imitator could match." (112)
"We were serving the sluggish reporters a little Polynesian pick-me-up of Walt's own concoction. Let's just say that pineapple juice wasn't its strongest ingredient (yet it seemingly did the trick)." (100)
"It's a lesson for everyone in a public-facing business. 'Wear your Guests' shoes.' Get out there and be where your customers are. See and hear and smell and feel the things that they do. You can't contribute to their experience if you have no idea what it is." (93)
"[Dick Nunis] let me have it. 'You're in charge of everything you see when you walk through here! If it's not right, you go make sure it's taken care of!' That really stuck with me. If you're a leader, you should care about all of it. If you walk through an area and can't find the food guy, or the merchandise guy, or the entertainment guy, or the manager and something so obviously needs doing -- do it." (93)
"As things grew, ... everything has to go through so many layers of bureaucracy. But even today, I think there's something to be said for empowering your local managers with the ability to make some sound and simple decisions." (55)
"As it had been with Walt Disney World, the fear of overwhelming Opening Day crowds kept away the expected Opening Day crowds." (309)
"Our initial strategy [in Euro Disney] had been a higher level merchandise mix, a more luxe assortment--we perceived that our audience (and our research had backed this up) would not be as interested in just plush and toys, key chains and trinkets, sweatshirts and T-shirts. So we had some really 'upscale' boutiques and clothing shops, stylish stuff, but with a Disney twist." (312)
"Michael was the dreamer. Frank was the doer." (284)
"Sometimes these things hurt on a personal level, because it felt like such a lack of trust from corporate, as if the decades of experience my team and I brought with us had no weight." (305)
"It seemed like every time we got one of the machines functioning, another one needed attention. Marketing was one of those." (302)
"In order to raise our weekday population, and because in general, the Japanese would not miss school or workdays for a trip to a park, we started offering special group rates and opportunities for school groups and their teachers to come out to Tokyo Disneyland on weekdays." (215)
"Disneyland was a learning experience, and we helped educators blend a park visit with their school curriculum." (216)
"[Oriental Land Company] believed that they could establish a large hog farm where the pigs could eat all the trash (and then they could use the pigs as a source of income)... it would likely take a hundred thousand pigs to eat all the consumable trash on-site." (195)
"The Japanese are a very clean society: they pick up trash, and they're not used to dropping it." (206)
"Cleanliness breeds cleanliness." (207)
"They came up with a water purification plant backstage, so that we could have drinking fountains onstage with water that people could actually drink. The problem was, nobody believed it was purified water. So the drinking fountains pretty much stayed idle, and we sold a lot of water." (207)
The highlight of the book is definitely, without a doubt, the stories and project process behind Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea, and Euro Disney. The international training and production process includes a lot of nuance missing from other books, and from the other stories in this book.
March 20, 2022
REVIEW ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT LAUGHINGPLACE.COM
In a relatively recent boom of Disney giants turning to publishing books to share their stories, Disney Legend Jim Cora joins the fold with Not Just A Walk In The Park.
Not Just A Walk In The Park is the never-before-told, behind-the-scenes story of Disney’s pioneering and triumphant global theme park and resort expansion from Jim’s perspective. On June 16, 2016, Shanghai Disneyland Park, located in Pudong, Shanghai, opened to great fanfare and acclaim. Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Bob Iger called the world's twelfth Disney Park “one of the proudest and most exciting moments in the history of The Walt Disney Company.” But a short three decades before, there were only two Disney parks―both in the U.S. How this unique entertainment enterprise expanded and was embraced all around the world is one of the most ambitious and successful, but little-documented aspects of The Walt Disney Company’s history. Jim has now stepped in to plug the gap.
Jim Cora joined Disneyland Park as an attractions host in 1957 and retired as chairman of Disney International 43 years later. Jim held positions of increasing responsibility throughout his lengthy Disney career and led various pioneering and influential Disney initiatives, including the “Disney Way of Leadership” program in 1971. Jim, like Walt Disney himself, was the right combination of experience, enterprise, curiosity, and cultural complement at just the right time and place.
Not Just a Walk in the Park is part memoir, part cultural history, part documentary. Jim tells his story, with the help of prolific Disney history author Jeff Kurtti, at a conversational pace and covers content equal parts personal and historical, as well as lessons that readers can consider and carry forward into the future in their own lives. It is the first-ever documentation of Disney’s rise as a worldwide powerhouse in destination recreation and cultural export; and explores the circumstances, events, and individuals who brought it all to life. It is a one-of-a-kind recollection of a previously unknown aspect of the wide, wonderful world of Disney and how it became what it is today.
Jim’s story is filled with remarkable information, insight, anecdotes, and reflections of places, people, projects, problems, and ultimate successes. It is fascinating, revealing, candid, and occasionally humorous. There are some great memory-lane photographs featured in the middle of the book that include moments captured from Jim’s childhood, Disneyland in the 1970s, the Tokyo Disney training center team, Euro Disneyland, wedding photos, Disney anniversary photos and more.
Not Just A Walk In The Park is a fond testimonial to all that is The Walt Disney Company, but also to Jim Cora himself. Jim passed away on March 21, 2021 and Disney fans are lucky to now have his adventures immortalized in such a personal, professional and practical way in this book. Jim, like many others, live on through these stories.
One of my favorite parts of this book is Jim’s sharing of his first encounter with Walt: a chance early morning meeting in Disneyland pre-opening. Walt asked Jim what he was working on, and Jim advised Walt of his plans to come up with a consistent training program for Disneyland cast members. Walt referred Jim to “University of Disneyland” founder, Van Arsdale France. The rest, as they say, is history.
Not Just A Walk In The Park is also a heartfelt time capsule. Many moments are shared therein that, without retellings like Jim’s, would be lost. The below excerpt is just one of many great examples of the thrilling fusion of memory, history, storytelling and vision for moving forward that sets this book apart from other Disney history books. These melting-pot moments make Jim’s book a must-read for Disney fans in this generation and the next.
“[The morning after Walt’s death], Dick Nunis called an “all-hands” meeting. It was a rallying cry, a call to action, an admonition to the great culture and the clear philosophies Walt had left us in Disneyland. The park still opened for business, and the flag was not flown at half-mast, because Walt was still everywhere in the place. We carried on for him, for his memory, for the star he created that still shined… and that we could all still wish upon.”
Not Just a Walk in the Park was released on December 28, 2021.
In a relatively recent boom of Disney giants turning to publishing books to share their stories, Disney Legend Jim Cora joins the fold with Not Just A Walk In The Park.
Not Just A Walk In The Park is the never-before-told, behind-the-scenes story of Disney’s pioneering and triumphant global theme park and resort expansion from Jim’s perspective. On June 16, 2016, Shanghai Disneyland Park, located in Pudong, Shanghai, opened to great fanfare and acclaim. Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Bob Iger called the world's twelfth Disney Park “one of the proudest and most exciting moments in the history of The Walt Disney Company.” But a short three decades before, there were only two Disney parks―both in the U.S. How this unique entertainment enterprise expanded and was embraced all around the world is one of the most ambitious and successful, but little-documented aspects of The Walt Disney Company’s history. Jim has now stepped in to plug the gap.
Jim Cora joined Disneyland Park as an attractions host in 1957 and retired as chairman of Disney International 43 years later. Jim held positions of increasing responsibility throughout his lengthy Disney career and led various pioneering and influential Disney initiatives, including the “Disney Way of Leadership” program in 1971. Jim, like Walt Disney himself, was the right combination of experience, enterprise, curiosity, and cultural complement at just the right time and place.
Not Just a Walk in the Park is part memoir, part cultural history, part documentary. Jim tells his story, with the help of prolific Disney history author Jeff Kurtti, at a conversational pace and covers content equal parts personal and historical, as well as lessons that readers can consider and carry forward into the future in their own lives. It is the first-ever documentation of Disney’s rise as a worldwide powerhouse in destination recreation and cultural export; and explores the circumstances, events, and individuals who brought it all to life. It is a one-of-a-kind recollection of a previously unknown aspect of the wide, wonderful world of Disney and how it became what it is today.
Jim’s story is filled with remarkable information, insight, anecdotes, and reflections of places, people, projects, problems, and ultimate successes. It is fascinating, revealing, candid, and occasionally humorous. There are some great memory-lane photographs featured in the middle of the book that include moments captured from Jim’s childhood, Disneyland in the 1970s, the Tokyo Disney training center team, Euro Disneyland, wedding photos, Disney anniversary photos and more.
Not Just A Walk In The Park is a fond testimonial to all that is The Walt Disney Company, but also to Jim Cora himself. Jim passed away on March 21, 2021 and Disney fans are lucky to now have his adventures immortalized in such a personal, professional and practical way in this book. Jim, like many others, live on through these stories.
One of my favorite parts of this book is Jim’s sharing of his first encounter with Walt: a chance early morning meeting in Disneyland pre-opening. Walt asked Jim what he was working on, and Jim advised Walt of his plans to come up with a consistent training program for Disneyland cast members. Walt referred Jim to “University of Disneyland” founder, Van Arsdale France. The rest, as they say, is history.
Not Just A Walk In The Park is also a heartfelt time capsule. Many moments are shared therein that, without retellings like Jim’s, would be lost. The below excerpt is just one of many great examples of the thrilling fusion of memory, history, storytelling and vision for moving forward that sets this book apart from other Disney history books. These melting-pot moments make Jim’s book a must-read for Disney fans in this generation and the next.
“[The morning after Walt’s death], Dick Nunis called an “all-hands” meeting. It was a rallying cry, a call to action, an admonition to the great culture and the clear philosophies Walt had left us in Disneyland. The park still opened for business, and the flag was not flown at half-mast, because Walt was still everywhere in the place. We carried on for him, for his memory, for the star he created that still shined… and that we could all still wish upon.”
Not Just a Walk in the Park was released on December 28, 2021.
February 15, 2023
From BetweenDisney.com
Do you want to talk about the Disney navy? Did you hear about the time Disney almost bought an aircraft carrier?
Not Just a Walk in the Park: My Worldwide Disney Resorts Career by James B. Cora with Jeff Kurtti outlines the late Disney Legend’s life and career. Cora begins his tale with a story of immigrants. Cora’s family immigrated from Lebanon before his birth. This resulted in a circumstance where his complexion and culture made him feel out of place. Cora entered the Air Force after high school, and post-service balanced school (which he struggled with), and a job at Disneyland (which he flourished with). Cora would be noticed by Van France and Dick Nunis for his ability to train and organize. After ten years that saw Cora move between Disneyland and Retlaw, he was asked to help oversee the on-site development of Walt Disney World with an eye toward operations. This established Cora as a Disney projects expert which launched him into decades of international adventures with roles overseeing development at Tokyo Disneyland, Euro Disney, Tokyo DisneySea, and unbuilt concepts as the leading executive for Disneyland International. Cora would retire after 44 years of Disney projects, but in his later life, he continued to make himself busy mixing his project, operations, and storytelling expertise to continue to delight his audience despite significant health problems.
Honestly, I was not aware of much of Cora’s career. And his writing is clear, and to the point, and I imagine his tone. He writes a book that is not just about Disney, but also his family's legacy in the United States, his personal failures, and his attempts to hold to a strong operational standard. I found myself amused by stories that were best told by him, like a pitch to purchase a scrap aircraft carrier to create a mobile Disney park. Cora also had a great vantage point to compare the creation of Disney parks in Japan and France. Spoiler, he found the Japanese to be the superior group of managers to work with going so far as suggesting their staff and not Americans may be the best trainers abroad. His life gives us a view from the middle of the hierarchy in getting Disney projects made abroad and lessons on managing up. As someone who grew up in the Eisner era, I enjoyed the stories of Michael Eisner asking for medical advice, while neither Cora nor Eisner should have been working. And the tales of the supportive Frank Wells just help to make him even more endearing.
I recently had a conversation about networking. I don’t like it. I am just a little too introverted. And I would like to think that my work and effort are what I should be evaluated against. I really get the sense that this is how Cora saw life too. He was raised by his parents to be hardworking. He was proud of what he did. Cora points out Disney Legends, such as Marty Sklar, who knew better than him how to be political in the office. But I think it is likely this what you see is what you get, and what is get is pretty darn good, which led figures like Dick Nunis to rely on him. And Cora himself did not suffer fools. His text has several references to organizational tendencies that he felt lacked efficiency. And there are stories of executives who lacked the proper work ethic or Disney spirit. Not everyone liked Cora, he at one point was key in corporate layoffs. But at least in his writing he also showed a very human side of himself.
Not Just a Walk in the Park: My Worldwide Disney Resorts Career had been on my to-read list for around a year. I’m really glad that I added it to my Between Books. Sure, it’s not a book filled with excitement and artistic lessons. And there is a lot about operations and career building, which I appreciated. But most of all while I am getting older in Betweenland, it reminded me that I have a lot to still contribute. And that everything behind me, can lead me to situations where I can still give to others.
Thank You, Mr. Cora!
Do you want to talk about the Disney navy? Did you hear about the time Disney almost bought an aircraft carrier?
Not Just a Walk in the Park: My Worldwide Disney Resorts Career by James B. Cora with Jeff Kurtti outlines the late Disney Legend’s life and career. Cora begins his tale with a story of immigrants. Cora’s family immigrated from Lebanon before his birth. This resulted in a circumstance where his complexion and culture made him feel out of place. Cora entered the Air Force after high school, and post-service balanced school (which he struggled with), and a job at Disneyland (which he flourished with). Cora would be noticed by Van France and Dick Nunis for his ability to train and organize. After ten years that saw Cora move between Disneyland and Retlaw, he was asked to help oversee the on-site development of Walt Disney World with an eye toward operations. This established Cora as a Disney projects expert which launched him into decades of international adventures with roles overseeing development at Tokyo Disneyland, Euro Disney, Tokyo DisneySea, and unbuilt concepts as the leading executive for Disneyland International. Cora would retire after 44 years of Disney projects, but in his later life, he continued to make himself busy mixing his project, operations, and storytelling expertise to continue to delight his audience despite significant health problems.
Honestly, I was not aware of much of Cora’s career. And his writing is clear, and to the point, and I imagine his tone. He writes a book that is not just about Disney, but also his family's legacy in the United States, his personal failures, and his attempts to hold to a strong operational standard. I found myself amused by stories that were best told by him, like a pitch to purchase a scrap aircraft carrier to create a mobile Disney park. Cora also had a great vantage point to compare the creation of Disney parks in Japan and France. Spoiler, he found the Japanese to be the superior group of managers to work with going so far as suggesting their staff and not Americans may be the best trainers abroad. His life gives us a view from the middle of the hierarchy in getting Disney projects made abroad and lessons on managing up. As someone who grew up in the Eisner era, I enjoyed the stories of Michael Eisner asking for medical advice, while neither Cora nor Eisner should have been working. And the tales of the supportive Frank Wells just help to make him even more endearing.
I recently had a conversation about networking. I don’t like it. I am just a little too introverted. And I would like to think that my work and effort are what I should be evaluated against. I really get the sense that this is how Cora saw life too. He was raised by his parents to be hardworking. He was proud of what he did. Cora points out Disney Legends, such as Marty Sklar, who knew better than him how to be political in the office. But I think it is likely this what you see is what you get, and what is get is pretty darn good, which led figures like Dick Nunis to rely on him. And Cora himself did not suffer fools. His text has several references to organizational tendencies that he felt lacked efficiency. And there are stories of executives who lacked the proper work ethic or Disney spirit. Not everyone liked Cora, he at one point was key in corporate layoffs. But at least in his writing he also showed a very human side of himself.
Not Just a Walk in the Park: My Worldwide Disney Resorts Career had been on my to-read list for around a year. I’m really glad that I added it to my Between Books. Sure, it’s not a book filled with excitement and artistic lessons. And there is a lot about operations and career building, which I appreciated. But most of all while I am getting older in Betweenland, it reminded me that I have a lot to still contribute. And that everything behind me, can lead me to situations where I can still give to others.
Thank You, Mr. Cora!
February 20, 2024
This was fine. Kind of mid, though it is interesting from an operations perspective.
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