A Letter From the Publisher

By Robert L. Miller

Associate Editor Stephen Koepp still likes Pirates of the Caribbean best. "As a kid growing up in Wisconsin, whenever I went to Disneyland, I was always yearning to get out of the boat and join the pirates." As writer of the main story in this week's cover package on the burgeoning Disney empire, Koepp was able to revisit Disneyland and Pirates of the Caribbean, and, of course, childhood. He reports, "Once more, I wanted to climb out and join the pirates."

For Koepp and the other TIME journalists who produced this week's cover stories on the Walt Disney kingdom of movies, theme parks and consumer goods, the assignment was like returning to the clean, gentle, well-ordered world that every kid wants to believe in. Correspondent Elaine Dutka, who spent several weeks at Disney headquarters in Burbank, Calif., found that the grownups who run the realm want to believe too. On a Sunday outing that she and Koepp took to Disneyland with Michael Eisner, the company's chief executive, Eisner detected a minute flaw in the facade of It's a Small World, checked out a new menu item (Handwiches, cone-shaped rolls with a choice of fillings) at one of the cafes, and inquired about apple popularity at the Treetop concession. "With his nonstop enthusiasm and nose for the commercial, Eisner is the perfect successor to Walt," says Dutka. Koepp notes with admiration that Eisner insisted on waiting in line for many of the attractions and mingled freely with the customers. "When I went to Disneyland as a kid, it was like visiting the Wizard of Oz," he says. "This time it was like getting a tour of the Emerald City from the man behind the curtain."

Miami Bureau Chief Cristina Garcia, who visited Florida's Disney World to interview its "cast members," as Disney employees are called, was struck by their youthful enthusiasm. "For everyone from Eisner to the Hawaiian Hot Dog vendors, Disney is not just a 9-to-5 job. It's a way of life. Ultimately, it's also a way of prolonging all of our childhoods." Senior Writer Richard Corliss, who wrote the accompanying story on the enduring appeal of Disney characters, agrees with that view. He saw his first Disney film, Alice in Wonderland, at the age of seven, and has visited Disney World at least a dozen times as an adult. "Like most people connected with moviemaking and movie watching, I'm still childlike," he confesses. "The purity of the Disney theme parks appeals to me. And I love Space Mountain."