PW-MAR20-30-33-Industry-Influencer.qxp_Feature 30/03/2020 17:18 Page 30
Industry Influencer
Keep calm and carry on
In a conversation with Park World editor, Becci Knowles, The Producers Group executive advisor and TEA Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, Frank Stanek, looks back on his life in the industry and addresses the current economic climate for planning and development of attractions and new entertainment real estate developments.
food concession. The rest, as they say, is history but still, it’s one that’s worth looking at as Frank’s advice on how to get through the current crisis comes off the back of 50+ years of experience during which he has overcome many obstacles and what he has to say is worth hearing. During his college years at California State University,
F
Fullerton, Frank moved from various part time jobs with leaseholders to Disneyland’s operations group and began his business planning and development path, immersing himself in attendance projections, park utilisation studies, design modifications, and a whole host of related strategic planning activities. During 1964 and 1965, the Disney Company designed,
built and operated four major attractions at the New York World’s Fair: Carousel of Progress, It’s A Small World, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, and the Magic Skyway. Frank
30
rank grew up on the East Coast in Stamford, Connecticut, moving to Anaheim when he was 19 where he took a part time job at Disneyland for a
was dispatched to the Fair as controller of the ‘It’s A Small World’ pavilion sponsored by Pepsi-Cola and it was during his second summer there that Roy Disney asked him to return to California to take up a role at the newly restructured WED (Walter Elias Disney) Enterprises — today known as Walt Disney Imagineering. Frank has always said that his early days at Disney
provided him with the best possible foundation for his career. “Having a positive outlook is vital; Marty Sklar, who I was very close friends with and worked with from my very first day at Disney Imagineering, crafted the phrase: ‘Dream…
.Believe….Dare….Do’ based on something Walt Disney had said and it became a sort of internal motto”. Walt Disney is famously quoted as saying that the secret to success could be summarised in four C’s: curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy. “The greatest of all,” said Walt, is confidence: “When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly, and unquestionably.” Frank continues: “I had a sign of that made and put on the wall in my office. You always have to have faith and confidence in what you are proposing or promoting or doing: if you lose faith and confidence, everything else will fall away and you will fail, so that’s the attitude that I’ve always stuck with.” Frank soon became responsible for Imagineering’s
business planning function, encompassing all new Disney Projects, which, in 1965 included the Mineral King Ski Resort and Walt Disney World. Providing continuing input to the creative and design group, incorporating feasibility, project management, and business planning, he collaborated with Marty to integrate the Disney attractions from the World’s Fair into Disneyland.
MARCH 2020
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72
