Within a year after Disneyland opened, Wood and the Disney's parted ways. Some people who were there at the time said Walt Disney fired Wood. Others said Roy Disney cut the ties. Even others said Wood realized the relationship had soured and left the company. One longtime employee, Bob Gurr, who was loyal to the Disney's, said that Wood was a con man. The word embezzlement had been uttered but this could have been an extreme personal opinion. Another employee, Van Arsdale France, believed that the relationship would not survive, because Wood and Walt Disney both were fiercely independent.