Theme_Park_Insider
08-16-2010, 01:50 PM
By Robert Niles: Just got word of the passing of Disney Legend Harrison 'Buzz' Price, the consultant who helped select the sites for Disneyland, Walt Disney World and who contributed to just about every other major theme park project in industry history.
http://www.themeparkinsider.com/art/news/iaapa2009-harrison-price.jpg
Harrison Price was born May 17, 1921 in Oregon City, Oregon. He graduated from CalTech in 1942 and earned his MBA from Stanford in 1951. He began his career with Standard Research that same year, eventually working with Walt Disney on many Economic Feasibility Studies, including the ones that would lead Walt to site Disneyland in Anaheim and Walt Disney World just south of Orlando, Florida.
"In 1961, after rejecting some other alternatives, Walt asked us to look at the rest of Florida and figure out where the park should be," Price wrote. "Late in 1963, we studied in-depth a location in central Florida. The key conclusion was that central Florida, (not Miami as most people expected it would be) was the main point of maximum interception of Florida tourism, and that Orlando, centrally located, was the point of maximum access to the southerly flow of Florida tourism from both the east and west shores of the state."
At Walt's suggestion, Price launched Economic Research Associates [ERA] in 1958, which he sold in 1969. (Fans will know that firm as the folks behind the annual theme park attendance report.)
http://www.themeparkinsider.com/art/news/disney-wood-price.jpg
Walt Disney, C.V. Wood, Jr. and Harrison “Buzz” Price share plans for what would become Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
Price also worked with Universal, SeaWorld, Six Flags and Busch Gardens theme parks over years, conducting an estimated 3,000 feasibility studies for his clients. He was named a Disney Legend by the company in 2003, despite not having worked for the company as an employee.
I met Price in person at the IAAPA convention last fall. (That's where I took the photo at the top of this post.) I'd studied statistics in college and eagerly lapped up his autobiography, with its detail on the feasibility studies used to set the direction of so many great theme park developments over the years. (He was spot-on about Six Flags' problems over the past decade, too. PR people and executives might spin a tale, but if you can get down to the numbers, they never lie.) My favorite Price quote to live by? "Guessing is dysfunctional. Ignoring prior experience is denial. Using valid numbers to project performance is rational."
Price died at 5:25 pm Sunday in Pomona, California. He is survived by his wife, four children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Here's a video on Buzz Price's work, sent to me by a representative from BRC Imagination Arts, the design firm run by Buzz's friend Bob Rogers:
Here's more Theme Park Insider coverage of Buzz Price:
'Buzz' Price's memoir about the founders of the theme park industry (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200911/1547/)
What if... Walt Disney had built his skiing 'theme park'? (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200911/1518/)
Disney Legends recall Walt Disney and the 'Yes, if....' way of management (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200911/1551/)
More... (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201008/2059/)
http://www.themeparkinsider.com/art/news/iaapa2009-harrison-price.jpg
Harrison Price was born May 17, 1921 in Oregon City, Oregon. He graduated from CalTech in 1942 and earned his MBA from Stanford in 1951. He began his career with Standard Research that same year, eventually working with Walt Disney on many Economic Feasibility Studies, including the ones that would lead Walt to site Disneyland in Anaheim and Walt Disney World just south of Orlando, Florida.
"In 1961, after rejecting some other alternatives, Walt asked us to look at the rest of Florida and figure out where the park should be," Price wrote. "Late in 1963, we studied in-depth a location in central Florida. The key conclusion was that central Florida, (not Miami as most people expected it would be) was the main point of maximum interception of Florida tourism, and that Orlando, centrally located, was the point of maximum access to the southerly flow of Florida tourism from both the east and west shores of the state."
At Walt's suggestion, Price launched Economic Research Associates [ERA] in 1958, which he sold in 1969. (Fans will know that firm as the folks behind the annual theme park attendance report.)
http://www.themeparkinsider.com/art/news/disney-wood-price.jpg
Walt Disney, C.V. Wood, Jr. and Harrison “Buzz” Price share plans for what would become Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
Price also worked with Universal, SeaWorld, Six Flags and Busch Gardens theme parks over years, conducting an estimated 3,000 feasibility studies for his clients. He was named a Disney Legend by the company in 2003, despite not having worked for the company as an employee.
I met Price in person at the IAAPA convention last fall. (That's where I took the photo at the top of this post.) I'd studied statistics in college and eagerly lapped up his autobiography, with its detail on the feasibility studies used to set the direction of so many great theme park developments over the years. (He was spot-on about Six Flags' problems over the past decade, too. PR people and executives might spin a tale, but if you can get down to the numbers, they never lie.) My favorite Price quote to live by? "Guessing is dysfunctional. Ignoring prior experience is denial. Using valid numbers to project performance is rational."
Price died at 5:25 pm Sunday in Pomona, California. He is survived by his wife, four children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Here's a video on Buzz Price's work, sent to me by a representative from BRC Imagination Arts, the design firm run by Buzz's friend Bob Rogers:
Here's more Theme Park Insider coverage of Buzz Price:
'Buzz' Price's memoir about the founders of the theme park industry (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200911/1547/)
What if... Walt Disney had built his skiing 'theme park'? (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200911/1518/)
Disney Legends recall Walt Disney and the 'Yes, if....' way of management (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200911/1551/)
More... (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201008/2059/)