disney imagineering case study

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Imagineering - Design and Construction

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• "Women of WED: Disney's Female Imagineers, 1955-1969" / by Sara Durben Dissertation, 2013. Depictions of mid-century suburban wives often emphasize women's domestic roles and suggest that women were tied to the home. Such representations suggest that wives found creative outlets in household chores, but the women who worked at WED in the model shop and costuming department found employment outside the home that fed their artistic drives. Examining the female employees of WED in the fifties and sixties pulls back the veil on the building of an iconic American theme park. It also offers an alternative to the stereotypical vision of the suburban wife so strongly associated with the era.

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• Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom Disneyland U.S.A., Anaheim, California. Bird's eye view - Pictorial map; 1964. "This map has been designed and released by Walt Disney Productions ..." Selected attractions and placenames shown. Includes decorative border of Disney characters, welcome text, and drawing of "Disneyland Hotel."
• "New Disney Medallions Worth a Mint to Anaheim Producer: Orange County Edition" Tighe, John; Los Angeles, Calif: Los Angeles Times Communications LLC While the value of Disney commemoratives resides in their rare-metal content and the sentimental attachment of collectors, the Disney name and image is so pervasive that "anything with Disney is a collector's item," said Beth Deishler, editor of Coin World, a weekly newspaper in Sidney, Ohio. "Baby boomers are collectors, and they're the ones in love with Disney." Lois Fullmer, a buyer for Disney, said the medallions have been big sellers in Disney gift catalogues and at the company's parks in Anaheim and Florida. PHOTO: The line of silver medallions of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs issued by Rarities Mint of Anaheim. [Ian Simpson] of Rarities Mint.

There are many articles, blogs, and websites devoted to the Disney theme parks. These are just a few examples:

• Disney World Planning Guide (Disney Tourist Blog)
• The Great Big Highly Specific Guide to Disneyland (Los Angeles Times, 4/20/2023)
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Disney Imagineering to Coolhaus Ice Cream: Natasha Case

Graduate of UCLA's Master of Architecture Program, Natasha Case is taking the ice cream world by storm, employing some of the problem-solving skills she learned while in school. This punny brand—Coolhaus—fuses architecture and and delicious ice cream for one dreamy combination.

(via LA Times )

The gig: Natasha Case, 33, runs ice cream sandwich company Coolhaus, which she founded with partner Freya Estreller in 2009. The duo’s whimsical, architecture-inspired creations are available in grocery stores — in packaged form — and in bricks-and-mortar Coolhaus stores in Culver City and Pasadena, where customers can pick the cookie and ice cream combinations. The company is staying true to its food-truck roots, with rolling dispensaries in Los Angeles, Dallas and New York.

L.A. start: Case, a third-generation Angeleno, grew up in Sherman Oaks. Her father was an architect; her mother, an animator at Disney. Case moved north to study architecture, Italian and urban planning at UC Berkeley but returned for her master’s in architecture at UCLA.

“Farchitecture”: Case said she had a “lightbulb moment” when one of her Berkeley professors criticized a creation she had made, describing it as a layer cake. “I remember thinking, why is that a bad thing?” she said. Case had been searching for a way to make architecture more accessible to the public, she said, and realized she could do that by combining food and architecture (hence, “farchitecture”). Her creations attracted crowds even back then. “It made me think I was on to something,” she said.

Disney first: After UCLA, Case worked briefly at Disney Imagineering, which designs and builds Disney theme parks, hotels and other entertainment venues. That experience helped lay a foundation for Coolhaus. “Disney is about designing a brand and storytelling, not just architecture,” she said. “That was really good backbone.” As the recession set in, Case started to bring in homemade ice cream sandwiches named after architects — “ Mies Vanilla Rohe” and “Frank Behry” were among the originals — to provide a bit of comic relief around the office.

Finding a partner: Around that time, in late 2008, Case was introduced to Freya Estreller, who worked in real estate. Estreller shared Case’s interest in food but brought a business attitude. Estreller and Case began to strategize about how to build a business together. The food-truck craze was just beginning — with Korean taco truck Kogi BBQ having recently made its debut in L.A. — and craft ice cream wasn’t really a thing yet. “We Googled ‘hipster ice cream truck’ and nothing came up,” Case said.

The pair decided they would be the first, putting $2,900 on a credit card for a beat-up postal van that had been repurposed as an ice cream truck. They named the company Coolhaus, a triple pun on the name of architect Rem Koolhaas , the Bauhaus movement and the idea that an ice cream sandwich is like a tiny, cold house.

Coachella bound: In spring 2009, Coolhaus got its first big job as a food vendor at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. “Coachella was such big volume that it instantly forced us to think bigger scale,” Case said. She and Estreller brought in co-packers, companies that work under contract with producers to manufacture food to the producers’ specifications, to make enough ice cream and cookies. Giant freezers kept the products cold and allowed them to “scoop to order” for customers.

The only problem was getting there. The Craigslist ice cream truck had no engine, so Case bought a AAA premier membership, which comes with a free 200-mile tow. Case and Estreller sold their ice cream sandwiches at $3.50 apiece, including an edible wrapper. (Case said they hadn’t yet figured out the true costs of running the business, and the price back then reflected that. These days, a custom ice cream sandwich costs $6 at a Coolhaus shop.) By the end of the festival, Coolhaus was in the black and had gained a cult following on Instagram and Twitter.

Growth spurt: Back home, Case and Estreller set about fixing up the truck. By the time they were up and running in L.A. a few weeks later, “we had a built-in audience,” Case said. The duo focused at first on expanding Coolhaus’ fleet of trucks, taking on New York in 2011. That year they also established a store in Culver City. Eventually they added a second in Pasadena and several more trucks.

Changing flavors: But it took an outsider to make them rethink their strategy. Bobby Margolis, who famously turned clothing company Cherokee Inc. into a licensing company, was a friend of Case’s father and an early investor in Coolhaus. He encouraged her and Estreller to sell the ice cream sandwiches wholesale.

“Shifting the strategy was not something we saw early on,” Case said. With wholesale, one might make half the revenue on a single item, but the item gets sold in bulk in many new markets. “It’s a slow and steady trickle on a big scale,” Case said. “That’s a very different mentality than going out and trying to make a few thousand dollars at lunch on a truck.”

But Case was willing to try. She started by walking into the Whole Foods in Glendale and just asking who she could talk to. Last year, Coolhaus did $7 million in sales, and wholesale made up about 75% of that, Case said. Today, Coolhaus offers pints and prepackaged ice cream sandwiches in about 6,000 stores, including major grocery chains Whole Foods and Safeway.

Advice: Case said her suggestion to would-be entrepreneurs, especially women, is to “think really big. Like, where is this going to take me in five to 10 years? How can this be the next biggest concept out there in my category?”

She also advised entrepreneurs with non-business degrees to think of their obstacles as strengths. “It’s not like I got an MBA,” she said. “You don’t have to have this traditional tool kit to be successful.”

Personal: Case is married to Estreller, who stopped working at Coolhaus in 2013. They live in Mid-City with their newborn son, Remy, and two dogs.

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Imagineering Part of New Disney AI Task Force

Disney has created an artificial intelligence “task force” to study how AI can be applied across the company, everywhere from the studios to Walt Disney World and Disneyland. This post shares the reporting about how Imagineering will work on implementing AI in the theme parks, plus our commentary about its future (or lack thereof).

According to reporting by Reuters , Disney’s AI task force was launched earlier this year, before the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes started and those unions began battling to limit the industry’s exploitation of the technology. Disney’s artificial intelligence group is looking to develop AI applications in-house as well as form partnerships with startups, according to Reuters.

Disney has 11 current job openings seeking candidates with expertise in artificial intelligence or machine learning. The positions span a range of positions within the company, from Walt Disney Studios to television and advertising teams to Walt Disney Imagineering.

One member of the task force told Reuters legacy media companies like Disney “must either figure out AI or risk obsolescence.” This AI advocate sees AI as one tool to help control the soaring costs of movie and television production–recent Disney movies and Disney+ series from this summer have been costly bombs thanks to price tags of $200-$300 million. Cost savings would be realized over time, the person said.

At Walt Disney World and Disneyland, AI could enhance customer support or create novel interactions, sources told Reuters. One former Imagineer pointed to Project Kiwi, which used machine-learning techniques to create Baby Groot, a small, free-roaming robot that mimics the character’s movements and personality. Someday, Baby Groot will interact with guests, allegedly.

Last year, Walt Disney Imagineering unveiled the company’s first initiatives in an AI-driven character experience, the D3-09 concierge cabin droid in the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. This droid answered questions on a video screen, and engaged in conversations with guests, told bedtime stories, etc. It’s actually really cool.

“Not only is [D3-09] a great character to interact with and always available in your cabin, which I think is very cool, behind the scenes, it’s a very cool piece of technology,” Imagineering executive Scott Trowbridge said about the droid. It’s perhaps worth noting that D3-09 exists in the setting of 100 cabins aboard the Halcyon. It’s also worth noting that Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is permanently closing soon.

D3-09 isn’t the only in-room companion that Walt Disney World has debuted. “Hey Disney!” was first announced a few years ago, and is now in select hotel rooms around various resorts. If I had to gauge the general consensus towards this, I’d call it one of indifference. The most passionate responses have been ones along the lines of “I’m unplugging that thing the second I step foot in the room and locking it in the safe.” I’ve yet to encounter the unicorns who are truly excited about Hey Disney! (If that’s you, by all means, sound off in the comments.)

Disney has been careful about how it discusses artificial intelligence in public. This is likely in large part because AI has become a powder keg in Hollywood, where writers and actors view it as an existential threat to jobs. AI is also a central issue in contract negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America, both of which are on strike.

It’s also possible that artificial intelligence is not viewed favorably by the general public. We’ve all seen the documentaries about AI, including but not limited to such masterpieces as Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day , as well as Wall-E . I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a movie touting the triumphs of our AI overlords!

Frankly, I don’t think I’ve seen any movies that suggest AI will bring about “obsolescence” for Hollywood. One example cited in Reuters is the work that went into de-aging Harrison Ford in the new Indiana Jones movie. Is that really a good example? Honest question. I haven’t seen this Indiana Jones sequel, but every movie I’ve watched where they’ve de-aged or digitally re-created deceased actors is a cautionary tale and should have been a lesson in things not to do.

Turning to commentary, we’ll start with a periodic reminder:  Disney is not a tech company . As a consumer that does business with Disney, you probably need not be reminded of this. Your personal experiences with Disney are proof positive of this.

Mainstream reporters who, presumably, do not do business with Disney do need this reminder. This group often cites the company’s innovations from, like, four decades ago or longer coupled with statements from Disney about its bold ambitions. It’s thus unsurprising that journalists who don’t have firsthand knowledge to the contrary conclude, yeah, maybe Disney is a tech company!

The problem with this line of thinking is that it falls apart under any degree of scrutiny or experience with the tech made by the company. Try to purchase Oogie Boogie Bash tickets the day they go on sale, book and plan a trip via DisneyWorld.com, or use the My Disney Experience app for a day. You’ll be disabused of the notion that Disney is a tech company quite quickly!

Then there are the grandiose plans for the future that have already been abandoned or failed. Last spring, Disney started selling NFTs. If you’ve read anything about the market for digital collectibles since, you probably know how that went. Around that same time, dearly-departed CEO Bob Chapek created a new metaverse division. Less than a year ago, Chapek announced plans for an Amazon Prime-Style Membership Program.

For those keeping score at home, all of this went exactly nowhere. Disney eliminated its next-generation storytelling and consumer experiences unit, the small division that was developing metaverse strategies and the membership program during its layoff of 7,000 employees this spring. For our part, we were highly critical of these initiatives when first announced ( here and here ). In a nutshell: “I think NFTs are stupid and the metaverse is big tech ‘trying to make fetch happen.’”

This is to say nothing of Disney’s many failed attempts at launching video game studios or the NextGen initiative or Go.com or other things I’m probably forgetting. The money lost on Disney’s past tech follies would probably pay for the Hulu acquisition.

Since this blog has already offered unsolicited commentary about NFTs and the metaverse, I feel obliged to do the same about Artificial Intelligence in general and unrelated to Disney’s interest. This is decidedly different from NFTs or the metaverse or crypto ( sorry, crypto maximalists, but it’s a Ponzi scheme). When it comes to AI, there’s some there there .

That much should be obvious, since AI is nothing new and there have been practical, real world applications of AI for years. It’s only seeing increased interest as consumer applications like ChatGPT and Midjourney have garnered headlines. There’s been a lot of froth about AI as a result, along with skepticism since it’s coming from some of the same people who previously promised that NFTs, cryptocurrency, and the metaverse were the next big things.

I’ve seen what generative AI is capable of doing, and I’m both impressed and, frankly, a little scared. However, I also remember several years ago when self-driving technology was the boogeyman that was going to destroy jobs. Instead, there’s a shortage of truck drivers that’s only likely to worsen in the coming decade . Ironically, the common quip then was “learn to code” and that’s an industry that could now be gutted by generative AI.

The fear now is that AI will destroy the arts & humanities, plus whatever Disney Tourist Blog is classified as. Consider me unfazed…sentiment that will possibly age very poorly when a robot takes my job and then kills me, Skynet style . Again, I think AI has disruptive potential. But get back to me when the robots are willing to get up at 5:45 am on a day with 115 degree feels like temperatures in Florida to “research” rope drop at Magic Kingdom. I’ve yet to meet a robot with the temperment to withstand the SDMT Shuffle.

The point is that there’s a tremendous amount of fearmongering, doom & gloom, and so forth for what’s still unknown and unproven about AI. After making tremendous strides over the course of only a few years, video game graphics and CGI haven’t gotten noticeably better (in my opinion) in the last decade-plus, nor have they been able to overcome the uncanny valley.

I suspect the story will be similar once the initial excitement about AI wears off. Or perhaps I’ll be wrong, and my robot-written obituary will express vindication that the T-800 took me out.

But this is neither here nor there when it comes to Disney and its nascent AI division. The good, bad and ugly that artificial intelligence eventually unleashes upon humanity will not be thanks to the Walt Disney Company. Of that much, I am certain. I do think it’s possible that the studios could come up with a way to lower production costs. (One might argue that all of Disney’s paint-by-numbers live action remakes, sequels, and reboots already don’t involve much human creativity or emotion.)

It also wouldn’t surprise me if Walt Disney Imagineering is able to produce a neat prototype of…I dunno, something… using Artificial Intelligence. In fairness, WDI has already done cool stuff with robots recently. Imagineering made that one dummy they could fling through the air in an awesome way, and that’s now the Spider-Man that flies over Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure.

Then there’s the Judy Hopps bunny robot (as we’ve taken to call it) that pushes the boundaries of what characters can do in Disney experiences and marks the next step forward for Imagineer’s robotic advancements. It can make dynamic maneuvers, including falling down and getting back up, as well as a somersault. The video of this robot rabbit looks rad.

There’s also the aforementioned Project Kiwi that was first unveiled a few years ago. There was a young Groot playtest at Disney California Adventure for select guests in June; that vanished after less than a week, but maybe Imagineering is getting it ready for the general public.

Or perhaps not. Imagineering has been working on things like the Living Character Initiative for over a decade, and many of the in-park appearances have been short-lived or never made it out of the playtest phase. There’s probably a reason (or many) for that. These creations are costly, labor-intensive (by robot standards), and probably better suited for demos than daily use.

To that point, we’ve seen playtesting videos of droids intended for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. The abuse those more robust creations took from kids made it seem unlikely anything like this could ever make autonomous in-park appearances. So while I absolutely believe these robots or AI or whatever has a future in the parks, the idealistic vision for the “entirety of the park being a live transportive experience” is going to run into the hard realities of costs, behavior, and scale.

Not only that, but the NextGen initiative began with a similar promise as this new AI task force. Characters were going to greet us by name, Cast Members would wish happy birthday out of nowhere, and the whole park experience would be personalized around technology. Does anyone remember any of that? Of course not, because it didn’t happen. We got MagicBands and a few interactive queues, almost all of which are now gone a decade later.

For me at least, the magic with a lot of this technology wears off once actually exposed to it in person, rather than just watching a quick video clip. Despite being really impressed with the exoskeleton technology in videos and on-stage at the D23 Expo, the Hulk Quantum Suit meet & greet fell flat for us.

I get that Hulk’s skin is probably difficult or impossible to do, but putting him in the Quantum Suit just doesn’t work. On top of that, there’s also no emotion and his movements are cumbersome and labored. An otherwise non-verbal and furry alien creature in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge might’ve been the better option for this first in-park test. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s a next generation of the exoskeleton, or if that’s more abandoned tech.

This is just one example. The talking Mickey Mouse and friends meet & greets are a similar story–really cool as a tech demo, but not something that “works” as well in person as you might expect. (Which might be part of why meet & greets were abandoned years ago and show no signs of returning!)

I’m not trying to be a negative nelly here. I’m just being a realist as someone who has been around the block with technology that has shown tremendous promise, and yet, has never seen the light of day publicly. With that said, here’s the positive: these tech tests and robots created by the brilliant minds at Imagineering are the kind of thing that makes me proud to be a Disney fan.

The creativity of Imagineering is endlessly inspiring, and those types of innovations are proof positive that they’re good stewards of Walt Disney’s legacy. Seeing the Imagineers flex their creative muscles is awesome. I assume the same will be true of artificial intelligence, so long as Imagineering uses its powers for good ( more robot rabbits! ) rather than evil ( no T-800s! ).

That WDI is on the bleeding edge of these developments is, in and of itself, pretty cool. Someday, we will see some version of this technology at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. It may be adapted or modified significantly as past tech has been as compared to their R&D counterparts, but it’ll still be mind-blowing. As I keep saying, I’m optimistic about the next generation of additions–stuff like this is a big reason why!

It’s easy to be cynical about how or when artificial intelligence will (or won’t) come to fruition in the parks due to budgetary or behavioral limitations. That’s a fair point, especially as we have seen a lot of research and design projects over the years that haven’t really gone anywhere.

However, it’s impossible to say how past play tests have yielded tech and other results and been integrated into other guest-facing projects that may seem, at least on the surface, totally unrelated to the teased R&D.

Ultimately, it’s possible that the fruits of this will be on full display during the upcoming development cycle at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Imagineering seems to have exited the awkward transitional phase of Audio Animatronics (projected faces) with the technology finally catching up to their ambitions.

I’m very eager to see how this comes to fruition, with Imagineering combining the potential of artificial intelligence with robot rabbits to create an awesome Zootopia land (or something like that). Now, let’s just hope the WDI teams have the good sense not to use these technologies to create a new dinosaur land. We’ve seen that movie before, and already know how it ends. “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

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YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think of the Disney creating an artificial intelligence task force? Think Imagineering will be able to leverage this in the robot rabbit and other characters it’s been creating recently, or will this be another ‘Hey Disney’ or NextGen initiative? Are you impressed, underwhelmed, or terrified by AI? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!

Written by Tom Bricker

If AI can fix the Mt. Everest Yeti…

Q: Disney AI, Should Impressions de France return to EPCOT during normal park hours? A: Yes!

Okay, I’m sold. I now welcome our new AI overlords!

As an engineer, I’m obligated to be excited about AI and…really, it’s pretty neat. I also saw the Indiana Jones movie and have to admit it was very decently done, though I spent the entire time distracted by how old Harrison Ford *sounded* versus how young he *looked.* However, I’m not that sure that Hollywood needs to be in as much fear as they are. Like any new disruptive technology, this is going to cause change. But TV didn’t stop us from reading books or going to the theater – the experience and the way we do that just looks different than it used to. I don’t see public appetites suddenly switching to wanting to watch an all-AI cast all the time. There will likely be a novelty the first time it’s done, then a bunch of copycats, and then we’ll absorb it into our diet alongside traditional casts because they’re human and we connect with them better. Same with the use of AI for many of the other jobs in film. DSLR’s removed the need to go into the red room to develop photographs, and it hasn’t stopped photography as an art…OR stopped traditional developers from being able to produce unique works either. I’m waiting until we see more in the parks, though. I still recall having a conversation with a cast member at the entrance to Star Tours in 2020, when I was wearing a Darth Vader dress and mask. Then, as I went past the bio-scanner…there was my name along with a Darth Vader quote beneath it. That was a magic moment that stayed with me!

very well said. I’ve worked in the film industry for years-albeit not smack dab in Hollywood, but across the country. I don’t see studio’s doing away with actors, so the AI portion of the scare I don’t see. As a movie goer, I’m not even interested in seeing such things except in the mini forms that have been mentioned such as “Jones”, “Terminator” and such. I do, and have seen, the issues with films going to streaming and not to the theatres. That has been a real issue as contracts are not holding the studios up to the same standards of living for the artists and other ‘above the line’ players.

With regard to Harrison Ford, that’s how I felt about the Irishman. The characters looked young, but moved “old.”

Great points otherwise how fearmongering ultimately died down and people adapted. As for photography, I even remember when professional photographers were worried about the internet and digital files destroying their print sales. That’s probably true, but it created tremendous opportunities for others! Ahem .

I think you’re probably too new to the WDW scene to have experienced NextGen at its height, but there was a lot that was tested or teased like what you mention at the end. A lot of bad or unrealistic ideas, but many that would’ve been really cool and a great way of personalizing the guest experience. Still not clear why all of that was pretty much abandoned.

Thank you Patsy and Tom! I happened to be very close to two photographers during the big DSLR changeover – one of whom worked at a camera shop and constantly had to explain that yes, the DSLRs would work with the old lenses and capture the same quality, etc. We definitely saw the fall of some empires at that time (Kodiak comes to mind), but we usually do see that along with major technological shifts. I similarly expect we’ll get some tumbling media giants in the next decade or so, but we might also get some fresh blood and some new perspectives and content that we can’t even imagine right now. ((For instance, AI ‘actors’ seem like they’d be really handy for kids shows that use cartoons / CGI – it doesn’t have to replace a human!)) I have checked the bioscanner every time since then, and nothing so cool as that has ever appeared since. I can’t even figure out how it was done in the first place! But I wish I’d have found that cast member and said something so they knew how appreciative I was, and would keep doing it…

My feelings on Hey Disney have run the gamut. I was–and still am–excited to request extra towels in my hotel room at the Poly this month, but I hope it’s a lot more functional and interesting than the Hey Disney subscription for my home Alexa devices. I signed up for the year, but am quite disappointed. the characters that interact with you are not top tier and are quite repetitive. my timers are always Dory, Groot, or Fozzie. My alarms are not much better. The stories it will tell you are like bad Disney fan fiction for kids, all linked to new movies, not the classics. I won’t be renewing.

I’m far more excited about the next generation of Audio-Animatronics (and more of the current one) than I am about AI in the parks, unless that happens to be what’s preventing the increased use of drones, maybe.

(I do have a very silly idea to create an AI model that tells Disney when to spend more money on IT resources, so they can say that AI solved their Day 1 Launch problems. That would be boring, and perhaps stupid, but it would give them an out to spend money to fix a worsening problem.)

As for your mention of Indiana Jones-the young Harrison Ford was amazing. Even more amazing to think how good it looked on a huge screen. At first I was shocked at how wonderful he looked, but then I would expect nothing less of Industrial Light and Magic. They have been the forerunner of what we now call CGI among other things.

It’s disheartening to read all the things Disney has started and abandoned-good, bad or indifferent. Walt and Roy must be rolling over at all the wasted funds and time. I’m amazed at all the things you have mentioned and yet they don’t bother to update the Animatronics in The Jungle Cruise. I know they have made some changes over the decades but the animals still have the stiff movements of a half a century ago. I still love the ride, but come on. They have made so much progress in this field and yet don’t use it across the board.

Thanks for keeping us informed.

Thanks for the feedback on de-aged Indiana Jones!

When I first heard of this, the first things that came to mind were two instances of this from recent Star Wars series/movies (won’t mention to avoid major spoilers) where one character was de-aged and another actor was brought back to life. Both were so noticeable that they totally took me out of the show/film.

I felt the same way about the Irishman. Technically very impressive at first, but it became obvious that it was a bunch of old dudes once the action began and they moved like old dudes.

Suddenly just flashed on a vision of an AI Walt Disney strolling the parks! My son is a writer and producer in LA. They are terrified by what they have heard is coming.

I agree with you 100% that unlike the metaverse, nft’s and crypto (excellent podcast dissecting the crypto scam here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-say-no-to-crypto-with-ben-mckenzie/id1647085571?i=1000622045861 ), there is something there with AI. That being said, I think Disney would benefit the most from using AI to solve some real problems that are decidedly less cool. For example, beefing up their customer support apparatus with AI would probably yield a lot more ROI than whatever half baked scheme they end up pursuing. By the way- was roped into seeing the newest Indiana Jones with my son. The opening part with the de-aged Harrison Ford was pretty wild, and well done (in my humble opinion).

If you enjoy that, I would highly recommend this episode of Odd Lots with Sam Bankman-Fried and Matt Levine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZYqL79GDXU

Or just skip to the ~21 minute mark for SBF’s explanation of the ‘magic box.’

Separately, Levine’s Crypto Story is excellent: https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2022-the-crypto-story/

It must have taken incredible amounts of AI technology to master Baby Groot’s vocabulary. 🙂

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Innovation Project Management by Harold Kerzner

Get full access to Innovation Project Management and 60K+ other titles, with a free 10-day trial of O'Reilly.

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13 CASE STUDIES

Disney (a): innovation project management skills at disney.

All Disney's theme parks and the attractions within the parks can be viewed as innovation in action. Part of Disney's success can be attributed to the Imagineers that understand the skills they must possess to work in this type of innovation environment. The culture at Disney is truly an innovation culture.

Introduction

Not all project managers are happy with their jobs, and they often believe that changing industries might help. Some have delusions about wanting to manage the world's greatest construction projects, while others want to design the next generation cell phone or mobile device. However, the project managers that are probably the happiest are the Imagineering project managers that work for the Walt Disney Company even though they could possibly earn higher salaries elsewhere on projects that have profit and loss statements. Three of their Imagineering project managers (John Hench, Claude Coats, and Martin Sklar) retired with a combined 172 years of Imagineering project management work experience with the Walt Disney Company. But how many project managers in other industries truly understand what skills are needed to be successful as an Imagineering project manager? Is it possible that many of the Imagineering project management skills, which are core innovation skills, are applicable to other industries and we do not recognize it?

The PMBOK® Guide is, as the name implies, just ...

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Learn the Secrets of Being a Disney Imagineer With This Free Online Course Your Entire Family Can Take Right Now (Video)

Imagineering in a Box from Pixar and Khan Academy brings the Disney magic home.

Elizabeth Rhodes is a special projects editor at Travel + Leisure , covering everything from luxury hotels to theme parks to must-pack travel products. Originally from South Carolina, Elizabeth moved to New York City from London, where she started her career as a travel blogger and writer.

If you’ve ever wanted to step into the shoes of a Disney Imagineer, now’s your chance. Khan Academy and Pixar have teamed up with Walt Disney Imagineers to create Imagineering in a Box, a free online course that gives you a behind-the-scenes peek into theme park design. Whether you’ve always wondered how Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was created or you’re a huge fan of classic Disney rides , there’s something in this course for everyone.

According to a Disney Parks Blog post from Josh Gorin, a creative development executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, the course will feature over 30 videos from Imagineers, interactive activities, and case-studies from the Disney Parks .

In the blog post, Gorin says, “With so many families at home together right now, we thought this would be an especially useful time to share this program with you. It’s available to all and completely free.” The program is perfect for at-home learning, as he notes “we are so excited to share with learners of all ages the unique ways that science, technology, engineering, and math can be combined with creativity and design to create larger-than-life entertainment for millions all around the world.”

The course takes students through three lessons. The first is named “Creating Worlds,” and it illustrates the process of creating a themed land, including land layout and landscape. Imagineers talk about the integration of all the senses into the land through visual design, smell, sounds, foods, and more.

The second lesson is all about designing attractions, and it includes a ride simulator exercise. The third and final lesson is dedicated to characters — including character concepts and animatronics. Listen as Imagineers take you step by step through the creation of themed lands and attractions, and use exercises to test your new skills and get creative.

The program is completely free, and you can find it on the Khan Academy website . You can use the hashtags #Disney, #BetterTogether and #ImagineeringinaBox on Instagram and tag @WaltDisneyImagineering for a chance to be featured. And you never know — you might just ignite the spark for the next generation of Disney Imagineers.

Episode 7: Walt Disney Imagineering – Research & Development and AR/VR Design Engineering

ON THIS EPISODE OF LIFE AT DISNEY

From pre-visualizing attractions and shows to researching and developing new experiences that are year s away from entering our parks and resorts, we are joined by two Walt Disney Imagineers in this episode. Jonathan Becker, Senior Re search & Development Imagineer , and Emily Van Bellegham, AR/VR Design Engineer talk about their current roles, how they got their start with Walt Disney Imagineering, and advice for anyone interested in becoming an Imagineer.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE

Meet your hosts.

An intersectional diversity, equity, and inclusion champion, Ashley Siegel leads the Walt Disney Company’s Outreach and Engagement global strategy development and implementation. Working at the intersection of Talent Acquisition, DEI, and Corporate Social Responsibility, their organization’s cross-functional responsibilities span relationship formation and management of nonprofit and community partnerships, full event lifecycle creation and execution, community building and connection facilitation, and elevation of Disney’s beloved brands and businesses.

Tony joined the Disney family via Hulu in 2020 to stand up for Hulu’s Community Program to expand how we think about talent and where it comes from. He’s guided by the idea that “talent is distributed equally, opportunity is not.” In his role as Sr. Manager, Diversity Recruiting Programs, Tony Williams leads our efforts to build a workforce that reflects the beautifully diverse audiences we serve. Currently, Tony helps leaders across The Walt Disney Company think differently about inclusion and hiring.

ABOUT THE GUESTS

Jonathan Becker

Jonathan Becker is a Los Angeles-based creative technologist who specializes in creating immersive experiences at the intersection of technology and artistic expression. Much of his work has been centered around integrating virtual worlds within real-world contexts to further blur the lines between reality and imagination. Part designer, part developer, and part engineer, he is a creative technologist with a penchant for holistic, synesthetic experience.

• Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavior, while cultural anthropology studies cultural meaning, including norms and values. A portmanteau sociocultural anthropology is commonly used today. Linguistic anthropology studies how language influences social life. Biological or physical anthropology studies the biological development of humans.
• CAD (computer-aided design) is the use of computer-based software to aid in design processes. CAD software is frequently used by different types of engineers and designers. CAD software can be used to create two-dimensional (2-D) drawings or three-dimensional (3-D) models.
• California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual and performing arts. It offers Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees through its six schools: Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music, and Theater.
• Howard Ashman was an American playwright, lyricist, and stage director. He collaborated with composer Alan Menken on several works and is most widely known for his work on feature films for Walt Disney Animation Studios, for which Ashman wrote the lyrics and Menken composed the music. His work included songs for  Little Shop of Horrors ,  The Little Mermaid ,  Beauty and the Beast , and  Aladdin . Sir Tim Rice took over to write the rest of the songs for the latter film after Ashman’s death in 1991.
• Lanny Smoot has spent 42 years as a theatrical technology creator, inventor, electrical engineer, scientist, and researcher — with 22 of those years at The Walt Disney Company. He has invented and patented many forward-looking technologies that allow The Walt Disney Company and, ultimately, the theatrical community at large to create new magic, illusions, and entertainment.
• Professional Internships are where you will work side-by-side with industry leaders in your field of study. Imagine building upon the skills you’ve learned in the classroom within a family of legendary brands passionate about creating world-class experiences on a global scale. Now, imagine yourself in a paid Disney Professional Internship.
• Walt Disney Imagineering is the creative engine that designs and builds all Disney theme parks, resorts, attractions, and cruise ships worldwide, and oversees the creative aspects of Disney games, merchandise product development, and publishing businesses.

Emily Van Belleghem

Emily Van Belleghem is an experienced designer, artist, and engineer who specializes in virtual space interaction and future music technology. Her research specifically focuses on human-computer interaction in augmented and virtual reality as well as with artificially intelligent agents.     Before joining Walt Disney Imagineering, she completed both her Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her master’s thesis work, completed at the MIT Media Lab, is now patented for a Radial Automultiscopic Display.     Emily’s work has touched a multitude of industries and companies including the Sony Immersive Music Studios, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Magnopus . Her most well-known projects include Elixir, a virtual reality hand tracking application debuted on stage by Mark Zuckerberg at Oculus Connect 6, and The Madison Beer Immersive Reality Concert Experience.  

• A Virtual Tour of Walt Disney Imagineering is a five-part series that goes into their headquarters to share some unique spaces where innovation and storytelling combine to bring Disney stories, characters, and worlds to life.
• Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory, and olfactory. AR can be defined as a system that incorporates three basic features: a combination of real and virtual worlds, real-time interaction, and accurate 3D registration of virtual and real objects.
• Digital Immersive Showroom (DISH)  allows Imagineers to visualize existing, or upcoming, attractions and experiences at the Disney Parks. This virtual-reality technology assists Imagineers in spotting potential design issues before construction. It also helps them to figure out timing, audio cues, and special effects.
• Grace Hopper Celebration  is the largest gathering of women and non-binary people in computing in the world! Disney is a proud supporting partner of  AnitaB.org  and will return to the 2022 conference as a top-tier, Emerald sponsor. Check out our last in-person GHC in  2019 !
• Holography  is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later reconstructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, it is possible to make a hologram for any type of wave.
• The Imagineering Story is a 2019 documentary streaming television miniseries created, directed, and executive produced by Leslie Iwerks. The series is focused on Walt Disney Imagineering and takes an in-depth look at the history and creation of Disney theme parks and attractions around the world. The series premiered on Disney+ at the launch date of November 12, 2019.
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has since played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, ranking it among the top academic institutions in the world.
• Pepper’s ghost  is an illusion technique used in the theatre, cinema, amusement parks, museums, television, and concerts. The illusion is widely used for entertainment and publicity purposes. These include the Girl-to-Gorilla trick found in old carnival sideshows and the appearance of “ghosts” at the Haunted Mansion and the “Blue Fairy” in Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, both at Disneyland in California.
• Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that can be similar to or completely different from the real world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), education (such as medical or military training) and business (such as virtual meetings). Other distinct types of VR-style technology include augmented reality and mixed reality sometimes referred to as extended reality or XR.
• Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS) , sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The company’s production logo features a scene from its first synchronized sound cartoon,  Steamboat Willie  (1928). Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney, it is the oldest-running animation studio in the world. It is currently organized as a division of Walt Disney Studios and is headquartered at the Roy E. Disney Animation Building at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Since its foundation, the studio has produced 60 feature films, from  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs  (1937) to  Encanto  (2021), and hundreds of short films.

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