Gone But Not Forgotten
These formative figures at The Walt Disney Company, Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products, and Walt Disney Imagineering have recently retired or moved on to new roles at other organizations, but their legacies are recent and robust enough to continute to inform projects across the division.
Though these are just a sampling of the figures whose names still loom large over the discussion, each is worth knowing and appreciating in our “Who’s Who” analysis!
Joe Rohde
There are a few figures at Imagineering – both historic and modern – whose names are simply legend. Marc Davis. Alice Davis. Claude Coats. X Atencio. Tony Baxter. Mary Blair. Though they’re merely the public-facing representative of thousands of creatives who made and continue to make Disney Parks unique, the “Who’s Who” of beloved figures no doubt include Joe Rohde (ROH-dee), one of the most influential figures in the parks’ story.
Rohde started his career with Imagineering in 1980 (the same time as Bob Weis) as a scenic painter and model-maker in the lead-up to EPCOT Center. His major credits through the ’80s include Disneyland’s New Fantasyland, and the Lost Legends: Captain EO, initial work on Maelstrom, and The Adventurers Club at Pleasure Island.
Certainly Rohde’s magnum opus, though, is Disney’s Animal Kingdom and later, its Modern Marvel: Expedition Everest, for which he served as the lead creative designer. Though he resists discussing the park in terms of its “authenticity,” Rohde’s reflections on Animal Kingdom highlight the ambition, artistry, and heart that went into it. More to the point, Animal Kingdom reveals Rohde as not just a designer, but an artist, philosopher, scholar, and real-life adventurer. That’s what brings such incredible realism and depth to the park that serves as his legacy.
In 2011, Rohde served as the creative lead of Aulani – A Disney Resort and Spa in Ko Olina, Hawaii that likewise showcases Rohde’s eye for authentic artistry, architectural thoughtfulness, cultural connectivity, and detail. Soon after its completion, Rohde returned to Animal Kingdom for its biggest (and most unlikely) expansion – Pandora: The World of Avatar. Most fans lay it at Rohde’s feet that Pandora is unforgettable even though 2009’s Avatar arguably was not.
Post-Pandora, Rohde was named Creative Portfolio Executive in charge of Marvel, tasked with shepherding Disney’s newly-acquired superheroes into the parks – most notably, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! at Disney California Adventure. (There’s an argument that Marvel’s execution in Disney Parks has been, on average just okay, which fans would more quickly attribute to Chapek’s parallel rise than to Rohde’s decision-making.)
In November 2020 – with projects downsized and capital budgets slashed in the wake of COVID-19 – it’s no surprise that Rohde took the lull to announce his departure from Disney after 40 years. He moved “onward and upward” to Virgin Galactic as Experience Architect, reuniting with former Disneyland President Michael Colglazier who serves as Virgin Galactic’s CEO.
Kevin Rafferty
Kevin Rafferty is one of the most influential Imagineers in the modern age, with enough stories to fill a book (and indeed, he has – 2020’s must-read Magic Journey: My Fantastical Walt Disney Imagineering Career). Like fellow “second generation” Imagineer Tony Baxter, Rafferty began his career with Disney not as a designer, but as a Southern Californian kid who called Disneyland home, then worked there as a dishwasher at the Plaza Inn.
Part of the crew of new blood brought on in the lead-up to EPCOT Center, Rafferty’s career really took off after he was instrumental in the pitch for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at the Disney-MGM Studios.
His other landmark projects include Magic Kingdom’s New Tomorrowland in 1994 (and its update to Carousel of Progress), the Pan-Galactic Pizza Port at Tokyo Disneyland, Test Track, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Mickey’s Philharmagic, Toy Story Midway Mania, Cars Land, and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Rafferty retired from Disney on April 1, 2021 after 43 years.
Kevin Lively
For many, Lively became a fan favorite thanks to his role as a Story Editor on the 2020 reimagining of the Jungle Cruise at both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. As anyone who follows his Twitter can attest to, Lively was – first and foremost – a former Jungle Cruise Skipper and forever-Disney Parks enthusiast who cares so deeply about Imagineering.
That kind of enthusiasm could be felt in the “refreshed” Jungle Cruise that was beautifully infused with the ride’s foundational spirit of exploration and adventure without harmful stereotypes, outdated depictions, or “othering” that made the ride difficult to laugh at in a more thoughtful and kind modern world.
Beyond the Jungle Cruise, though, Lively’s 14 year career with Imagineering included roles in the development of the seasonal “Hyperspace Mountain” and “Jingle Cruise” overlays, as well as the Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen restaurant, which expands the ride’s lore and connects it to the extended mythology of S.E.A.
Lively’s last project with Disney was his contribution to Shanghai Disneyland’s upcoming Zootopia land. He announced his plans to “hang up his mouse ears” in October 2021, citing the company’s surprising announcement that Walt Disney Imagineering would relocate from its longtime headquarters in Glendale, California to a new facility in Lake Nona, Florida. Which brings us to our forward look…
Going Forward
There’s nothing on the calendar that’ll make such a vast impact on the future of “Who’s Who” at Disney Parks than the division’s upcoming relocation to Florida.
Few would argue that the relocation doesn’t make good business sense. After all, nearby Orlando isn’t just the anchoring, gravitational center of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products by way of Walt Disney World; it’s the gravitational center of the entire themed entertainment design industry.
Bringing WDI to Central Florida puts the firm in spitting distance of hundreds of suppliers, contractors, and firms that were a world away when Imagineers called Glendale home. A Lake Nona campus will make thousands of artists, storytellers, designers, model-builders, architects, and technologists who’ve followed their field to Central Florida available to Disney…
On the other hand, hundreds of respected, admired, and beloved Cast Members at Imagineering – young and old – simply won’t relocate from Los Angeles to Orlando for entirely legitimate reasons (not the least of which being Florida’s regressive politics, embodied by Florida’s HB 1557 aka “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, prohibiting discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in schools)…
Which spurs the logical conclusion that Chapek’s Disney can also leverage the move to weed out high-paid designers, thin the ranks of the company’s internal design firm, and shift to a more contractor-based model where Disney Parks hire outside companies to design, develop, and install rides and attractions. Reportedly, by early 2022, a drought of projects and the forced relocation had seen WDI staffing fall to around 25% of its pre-pandemic level – a reduction of nearly 1,000 cast members.
Will the “Who’s Who” of Disney Parks still be the movers and shakers in 2023 and beyond? We’ll revisit soon to find out…