You are correct, Eeyore, in that most of the company links to Walt are dead or retired. When I worked at WDW in the 80's, I worked for people like Dick Nunis and Bob Matheison, and a host of others, who began their careers at Disneyland under the watchful eye of Walt. When I moved to WDI, I worked for Marty Sklar, and got to work with Jphn Hench and others who learned how to be Imagineers through Walt. I think when Marty finally retired a few years ago, that was pretty much the last direct connection to Walt that the company had, and it shows.
A few years ago, I did some work with the Ripley's Believe It or Not! people about their image. They have attractions around the world and wanted to make them more "Disney" like, as in enjoyable to all ages. I told them that they have one thing in common with Disney - their founder has become little more than a logo. People didn't realize there was a real Robert Ripley, and I would hazard to guess that if you polled a number of people in each park, they don't know there was a person named Walt Disney. I know that was one of the main reasons Lillian got so upset when they too "The Disney Story" out of the parks, and to appease her, they quickly worked up the Partners statue to give him a presence.
