During the 50th anniversary celebrations, I attended a cast-member only panel which featured several original Imagineers telling stories and answering questions. This question – “What was it like to work with Walt Disney?” – was asked and answered.
My favorite answer was this (I’m sorry that I don’t recall which imagineer gave the response): ‘We learned that you never told Walt “no”, you always said “yes, if”. When Pirates of the Caribbean was first built, it was a walk-thru attraction. Much of the concrete walkways had been poured. After a successful show of “it’s a small world” at the NY World’s Fair, Walt asked if they could use the same ride system for Pirates. Rather than saying “no” because so much work had been completed, they said “yes, if… we tear out all of the walkway that have already been completed.’
This way of answering Walt was apparently used quite a bit.
Original Quora question – What was it like to work with Walt Disney?