One of the great parts of both working with Disney and in writing this column is interacting with outstanding Disney leaders who create the magic. Such is the case with Neal McCord, who not only played an important role in building the Disney resorts, but now acts as an operating director for Give Kids the World Village, a unique-one-of-a-kind experience that provides children with life-threatening illnesses and their families a place to come and enjoy the sites and sounds of Central Florida.
I sat down with McCord to discuss his career, which began not long after Walt Disney World opened and continued during our time together at the Disney Institute. A young graduate in speech, English and communications, McCord actually arrived in Orlando looking to do construction work during the early building boom of the 1970s. But when he realized they were hiring out at Walt Disney World, he put in for an opportunity there. His choices were to drive the steam train or the monorail. He chose the steam train and started August 14, 1973. But by the end of that first busy summer, layoffs looked like a reality, and so he accepted a third-shift custodial position so he could stay on with the company. That role would evolve into what became known as a “campsite maintenance host” at Fort Wilderness. That was a fancy term for pulling trash out of trash receptacles designed to look like tree stumps. Afterward, he cleaned out the “comfort stations” which was another fancy word for bath house with its latrines, showers and laundry facilities.
To understand the experience of working at the campground, one must first understand a little about the legacy behind Fort Wilderness. Legend and lore has it that somewhere during the construction of Walt Disney World, Card Walker one day called Dick Nunis and asked him how the Florida project was going. Nunis replied that it was moving on schedule, but it was struggling from going over budget. Walker then asked how the campgrounds were coming along. Nunis said “what campground?” Walker then reminded Nunis of Walt’s vision that Walt Disney World would offer accommodations for every kind of guest, from “a sleeping bag to a suite.” Walt Disney World simply had to open with a campground.
The story then goes that Nunis then called up Keith Kambak, who was initially responsible for the marina/pools/recreation part of the Walt Disney World complex. Nunis asked Kambak how the campground was coming along. Kambak replied, “what campground?” Nunis then reminded Kambak of Walt Disney’s vision that there would be accommodations from sleeping bags to suites, and charged Keith with getting the campground open.
Such was the birth of Fort Wilderness. It began almost as an afterthought and would continue the first many years in the shadows of everything else, with little assigned budget. That’s the resort Neal McCord knew. He learned as he worked his way up through management that one had to get creative to make do with what you had. That would also require a tad bit of pillaging, or what was known at that time as “relocating company assets”. To that end, Kambak formed a team known as “Kambak’s Raiders.” For instance, a shovel was just a shovel anywhere at Walt Disney World. But moved to Fort Wilderness from another end of the property and painted green (For Wilderness’s color marking) and suddenly it was a Fort Wilderness asset. It wasn’t the ideal way to acquire the resources you needed, but sometimes you had to go underground to get the work done (even if you couldn’t dig underground in a swamp).
Perhaps, this ultimately didn’t play out in Fort Wilderness’s favor. For instance, under this organizational structure, they had access to the pontoon boats. And with those boats, they could float over to Pluto’s Park to look around for materials that would help them improve Fort Wilderness. Pluto’s Park is also known as the boneyard (Pluto burying bones) and is more of final resting place for stuff that has no place to go. For instance, for many years it was where the 20K subs were kept after they were taken from the lagoon. But in the earlier years, it was where construction materials were kept until they were needed on site. It was here that Kambak’s Raiders late at night found pallets of railroad ties—perfect for lining sidewalks that were originally made of Coquina, a mixture of mineral and crushed shell found throughout Florida. It provides a more stable foundation than dirt and sand when it came to paving. It was also more affordable than asphalt, for which there was no money. The downside was that the Coquina would scatter and kill the grass, which wasn’t good “Show.” Therefore these railroad ties laying around in Pluto’s Park would be perfect for lining the sidewalks so that the Coquina wouldn’t spill over.
So beam by beam, materials were soon transported late at night by Kambak’s Raiders. Over time some really nice looking sidewalks lined with beams would emerge. There was just one downside. Unbeknownst to Kambak’s Raiders, corporate had decided to fix the challenges that were occurring on the Fort Wilderness Railroad. In order to fix those problems, they had contracted with Georgia Pacific, who would come down and improve the rail line so that it wouldn’t have problems derailing. The pallets of railroad ties were now missing and Georgia Pacific was irate that they couldn’t get the job done. When corporate couldn’t explain what happened to the beams, things started falling apart. In time, focus and budget on the train went to other Walt Disney World projects.
Such was the demise of the Fort Wilderness Railroad. But it was a learning experience for McCord, who learned that you had to support your staff with the resources they needed in order for them to be successful. McCord stayed on with Fort Wilderness for a number of years. He would be there for the opening of the Meadow Trading Post and later Pioneer Hall and River Country. After that, it was on to learning the hotel operations of the Contemporary and the Polynesian resorts, where he developed a love working with housekeeping.
In a future article, we’ll explore the many resorts that McCord opened, including resort hotels in Disneyland Paris. In the mean while: How do you support your team? How do you provide the resources your employees need? What do you do to keep employees from having to go “underground” to get the job done? It’s all a part of creating the magic in your own organization.
