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Walt Disney Imagineering was formed by entertainment mogul Walt Disney on December 16, 1952 as WED Enterprises (WED: Walter Elias Disney) to develop plans for a theme park and to manage Disney's personal assets. It was originally an independent, private company, owned by Walt Disney himself, but on February 3, 1965, was merged into Walt Disney Productions. It is currently known as Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), Disney Imagineering, or simply Imagineering.
Walt Disney Imagineering is much better known today for designing and building the world-famous Walt Disney Parks and Resorts all over the world;
The term "Imagineering" is a portmanteau word that combines "imagination" and "engineering." The term was coined by Richard F. Sailer in an in-house article written for the National Carbon Company Management Magazine, and reprinted by the Union Carbide Company. The article "BRAINSTORMING IS IMAGINation enginEERING" was published and copyrighted in 1957, and gravitated to Disney by unknown means. WED Enterprises applied for a trademark for the term in 1967, claiming first use in 1962.
The company was formed separately from Walt Disney Productions to keep the affairs separate. Although, when WED was required to design and build sets for Walt Disney's live-action television shows, WED and the Walt Disney Studios got closer together. In 1952 when WED were asked to design and build Disneyland, Walt and his brother Roy O. Disney formed Disneyland, Inc. to build, design, and manage Disneyland and produce the Disneyland television show. Disneyland, Inc was absorbed into WED Enterprises and WED Enterprises became a division of Walt Disney Studios - itself a division of Walt Disney Productions, now named The Walt Disney Company.
Walt Disney Imagineering is now the research and development arm of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, no longer a division of Walt Disney Productions. Imagineering also includes Walt Disney Creative Entertainment, the company which utilizes Imagineering techniques among others to create shows, fireworks displays and parades at the Disney theme parks which are significant enough not to be developed by the entertainment studios at that theme park. WDI is not such a prominent part of The Walt Disney Company as it once was but is much better recognized in the R&D and theme park communities.
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Known projects
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Recent projects
WDI also played a major part in the 2005/2006 Happiest Homecoming on Earth party celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Disneyland - which would not have been built without the Imagineers. The Imagineers also restored Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room and rebuilt much of Space Mountain for the celebration.
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History
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The legacy and the history of the Imagineers is a very rich and complicated one. Ever since the founding of WED Enterprises, when Walt Disney's favorites at the Walt Disney Studios were handpicked to design an immersive themed experience now known as Disneyland, the company has been shrouded in mystery and its secrets are proudly guarded by Disney executives as senior as former CEO Michael Eisner, who had regular meetings with the Imagineers up until a few years before his departure.
In recent years, the company has been decimated and much of the research and development division was laid off, until the point where a few hundred Imagineers were employed by Disney, to perform basic and vital tasks at the theme parks. Much more recently, as Disney has publicly acknowledged the failures of Disney's California Adventure and the Walt Disney Studios Paris, and new management has been brought in throughout the company's different divisions, Imagineering has once again begun recruiting and the theme parks are now a buzz of activity, with a new attraction either being developed or having just opened at each of the eleven parks around the world.
In April 2006, John Lasseter, the new Principal Creative Adviser, a position created through the acquisition of Pixar by Disney, has made his feelings known about getting back to basics with Imagineering, such as focusing on the story-telling and not the technology so much. In a move which surprised many, he even made it known he would like Walt Disney Imagineering to return to the WED Enterprises name, partly in homage to Walt Disney and partly to regain the spirit that many feel left Walt Disney Imagineering in the late 1990s. He also said at the Walt Disney Company shareholders meeting in March that he felt that developing attractions based on movies to open in time with the movie's opening was a crucial step in moving Imagineering forward.
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Locations
The corporate headquarters of Walt Disney Imagineering are in, and have been since the 1950s, Glendale, California. It is for this reason that there is no WDI field office at the Disneyland Resort, which is thirty-six miles away. There are two field offices at the Walt Disney World Resort, required for the sheer size of the resort. Both are relatively close to each other. There are field offices located at;
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Non-theme park projects
The Imagineers have been called on by many other divisions of the Walt Disney Company as well as being contracted by outside firms to design and build structures outside of the theme parks.
The very first Disney Store opened in Glendale, California, mere meters from WDI HQ, and was designed and constructed by a group of architectural Imagineers. The Store remains the only North American Disney Store (other than a Disney Store on the Disney studio lot itself) owned by the Walt Disney Company today.
After the purchase of the Disney Stores by The Children's Place in 2004, Disney developed a more exclusive chain of flagship Disney stores, called World of Disney (see above). Located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida (at the Walt Disney World Resort), Anaheim, California (at the Disneyland Resort) and New York City. Each have been exclusively designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, an odd feat in recent times as Disney out-contracts work more and more to other companies. A fourth incarnation of the "World of Disney" brand is due to arrive in Disney Village at Disneyland Resort Paris in 2008/2009.
Former Senior Vice President of Imagineering John Hench designed the "Tower of Nations" for the opening and closing ceremony of the 1960 Winter Olympics, where Walt Disney was Pageantry Committee Chairman.
Imagineering developed the Encounter Restaurant, a science fiction themed restaurant in the Theme Building of the Los Angeles International Airport. This restaurant features 135-foot high parabolic arches with a futuristic design which has become an icon for the airport.
Imagineering manufactured flight attendant uniforms for Northwest Airlines from Claude Montana designs in 1989 due in part to the fact that Northwest's then-CEO Al Checchi was also a member of The Walt Disney Company's board. The WDI-made uniforms only lasted until 1992.
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Imagineers
An Imagineer (officially known as a Walt Disney Imagineer), is an employee of Walt Disney Imagineering, or any other employee of The Walt Disney Company given that title. Nearly all Imagineers work at the corporate headquarters in Glendale, California developing ideas and attractions for Disney parks. During the construction of a major project, Imagineers sometimes are deployed to work on-site for six months to a year.
Imagineers come in all forms; artists, writers, architects, landscape architects, engineers, model builders, construction managers, technicians, designers and a whole range of others. Past Imagineers include Alan Kay, Bran Ferren, Robert Swirsky, and Danny Hillis. See also: .
Walt Disney Imagineering
Executive Vice President, Senior Creative Executive - Tom Fitzgerald
Senior Vice President, Executive Designer - Tony Baxter
Walt Disney Creative Entertainment
Executive Vice President - Anne Hamburger
Creative Director - Steve Davison
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Books
Hench, John, with Peggy Van Pelt. Designing Disney: Imagineering and the Art of the Show. Disney Editions, 2003, ISBN 0-7868-5406-5.
Imagineers, The. Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look At Making the Magic Real. Disney Editions, 1996, ISBN 0-7868-6246-7 (hardcover); 1998, ISBN 0-7868-8372-3 (paperback).
Imagineers, The. The Imagineering Way: Ideas to Ignite Your Creativity. Disney Editions, 2003, ISBN 0-7868-5401-4.
Imagineers, The (as "The Disney Imagineers"). The Imagineering Workout: Exercises to Shape Your Creative Muscles. Disney Editions, 2005, ISBN 0-7868-5554-1.
Imagineers, The. The Imagineering Field Guide to Epcot at Walt Disney World. Disney Editions, 2006, ISBN 0-7868-4886-3.
Imagineers, The. The Imagineering Field Guide to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Disney Editions, 2005, ISBN 0-7868-5553-3.
Kurtti, Jeff. Walt Disney's Legends of Imagineering and the Genesis of the Disney Theme Park. Disney Editions, 2006, ISBN 0-7868-5559-2.
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