Apparently, Kim Irvine -- who reportedly runs creative at the Disneyland Resort -- is telling the press (LA Times) that the AI art in the Madame Leota gift shop was temporary. Really? Because planning a new structure in the middle of Disneyland is kind of a big project, and we are to believe they built the building but missed their deadline of mid-November to have the decorations done...by two months?
Give me a break. This feels like cover-your-ass spin.
And her quote really bothers me:
"They felt like it would be appropriate for a short time until they could put something else in. They never intended to do anything bad, and it is gone now. We’re going to bring something back in that is hand-painted, like all of these other pieces are."
Kim Irvine, Walt Disney Imagineering
Who's the "they" Kim? This sounds exactly like an executive -- who is supposed to be responsible -- implying some junior lackey did something in the HAUNTED MANSION GIFT SHOP THAT HAS A PAINTING OF HER MOTHER IN IT that she had no idea about. Classic executive deflection of responsibility. Kim, you're either in charge or not. If you get paid like an executive and you get to make all the big decisions, than you take the heat too, you don't throw your people under the bus.