Imagineering Monday, August 31, 2009 The Disney Imagineers, those creatives tasked with designing and building Disney theme parks and resorts across the globe, are perhaps the most legendary of all experiential designers. From Pirates of the Caribbean to the Tower of Terror, their work has been experienced by millions of people around the world. Behind Imagineering’s many projects—which include Disney Cruise Lines and properties in Florida, Southern California, Paris, Hong Kong, and Tokyo—are about 1,000 professionals who encompass approximately 140 disciplines—including designers, artists, project managers, ride engineers, structural engineers, landscape architects, plaster artists, paint specialists, media designers, and specialty groups like Audio Animatronics—divided among the park sites and the home office in Burbank, CA. “Imagineering is everything people think it is—plus. We are a very, very diverse group,” says Patrick Brennan, the vp-creative who was first recruited in 1980 to aid in the creation of Epcot. He since has contributed to Walt Disney World products from The Magic Kingdom to Disney Hollywood Studios—as well as overseas at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea. Serious Business While Imagineering may seem like fun and games, it really is no different than other facets of brand experience creation. Every project is motivated by a business objective that relates to the target audience. Creative direction is driven by that business objective and the experience is tailored for audience resonance and relevance. There are many reasons why an attraction will come to be. First, there are business reasons, such as to drive a specific demographic. “Say the park is kind of weighted more towards children, you want to [add] something that’s more for teenagers to balance the park a little bit,” says Brennan. There are also older attractions that need to be updated to re-establish relevance with the audience. And there are new brand ideas that come from Blue Sky sessions. Blue Sky is the idea generation portion of the process. “It’s a lot of fun because, as the name implies, the sky’s the limit,” says Brennan. People get together and say, “what is another kind of attraction we could create?” The team doesn’t worry about budget, gravity, or even feasibility. Blue Sky groups include a variety of disciplines and team composition changes from project to project (depending on what is appropriate), and range from four to 10 people. Checking It Twice “Once we get the Blue Sky idea—the kernel of that idea—we do a check-in and ask, ‘Is this the right idea?’” says Brennan. This means making sure that everyone is in agreement that the idea works from a company point of view, a brand point of view, a business point of view, and from a creative point of view. Ideas that pass the test move into concept development where the Imagineers take that kernel and flesh it out. “We ask ourselves ‘How are we going to do this? What are we going to do? What is the real story?’” says Brennan. The team envisions what the visitor experience might be as they approach the attraction, enter the attraction, and what happens during the attraction. Part of this phase is a feasibility check where the team assesses the practicality of the concept. Can it be done? Will it work? After another check-in to make sure the idea still works on all levels, the team refines its estimates and plans and seeks buy-in from business partners, management, and others. Out of piles of ideas generated each year, only a few make it past the concept phase. From there, the project enters schematic design, where the team creates a realistic layout, plans, and elevations using physical and computer-generated models. This is where the team develops the details Disney attractions are so famous for—the hair on the animatronic pirate’s leg and the color and cloud pattern of the faux sky. “Say we are dealing with a mountain. We start talking about what we are going to make it out of. Are these going to be fake trees? Are they going to be real trees?” says Brennan. The team picks materials and does color studies of each scene and every exterior. On a major attraction, such as the development of the Crush ‘n’ Gusher water rollercoaster for the Typhoon Lagoon water park, this process required the attention of a core team of eight Imagineers for more than a year. At the end of this phase, the Imagineer team completes its final check-in. “From this point forward, you’re going to go for it,” says Brennan. The decision not to proceed may come from somewhere else in the company, but not from the Imagineers. Get Real Implementation is where the team involves the outside contractors who will do the building, site preparation, utilities, structural steel, and other construction elements. Based on the Imagineers’ conceptual drawings, the contractors develop their plans. These drawings then go back and forth numerous times as the Imagineers check and refine the drawings to ensure that the design remains true to concept. For instance, details such as how air conditioning fits into an attraction without being visible is critical. “Everything about the building has to complement and not contradict the story that we’re trying to tell,” says Brennan. Once the drawings are approved and construction begins, many things happen in parallel. The building goes up, the ride vehicle is built, and special effects and media are produced. A painstaking part of the process is the positioning of the scenery elements. “We’re trying to create an immersive environment. We’re trying to create something that resonates with the guests. These are not mechanical robots—these are living creatures,” says Brennan. Suspending visitor disbelief requires that every element embodies and delivers a sense of life and reality. Along the way, there are always challenges to deal with—such as that the mechanical engineer put an air conditioning duct right through one of the show sets. Brenmnan says this happens a lot less now than in the days before computer design, but there are always surprises once things become dimensional. As these situations pop up, the Imagineers find and implement solutions that maintain the integrity of the design and concept. Trial and Re-Trial During implementation, the Imagineers may build a test track of the vehicle ride somewhere else. They may do a mock-up of the special effects in some warehouse. And they may have built the set at a nearby location. The Test and Adjust phase is what commences when all of these components are installed together. “Test and Adjust is where we see if all of the elements interplay in the way we intended them to. It’s great to map it on a drawing and it’s great to have that concept, but the real magic is making it all happen,” says Brennan. Brennan says the point of Test and Adjust is that everything doesn’t always work perfectly. Figures may need to be repositioned, projectors moved, and set pieces adjusted. “It’s really important that we do not have any contradictions in our story. We will work and invest and make adjustments to make sure the concept and that story is as pure as it can be,” says Brennan. Once the attraction has been fine tuned from an experiential standpoint, it moves into closeout. This is the point in which the Imagineers turn the attraction over to the operations team who will run it—and fine tune the attraction from an operational standpoint. Cast members learn to load and unload the guests, how the vehicle runs, and how to handle emergencies. The flow of guests through the space is evaluated and analyzed. “Even though we’ve gone through test and adjust, in turnover [we may find that something] isn’t working for operations. We have to extend something, we have to move something, we may have to change the flow,” says Brennan. After that, the Imagineer keeps an eye on his baby through a program called Post-Turnover Support. “It’s almost like an Imagineering warranty back to the park. For about a year’s time we’re there to help solve any issues or problems that come up, and make sure that we’ve left the attraction in a good, reliable, sustainable place,” says Brennan. On average, a Disney attraction requires between two to five years to go from Blue Sky to opening day. The process is often painful as pieces are adjusted and re-adjusted to ensure that the story and experience take precedence, and the technology and mechanisms that make it happen fade into the background. The Test Track attraction in Epcot had its grand opening delayed nearly two years to ensure that the ride operated properly. But to Brennan and the other Imagineers, it’s all part of the job. Says Brennan, “That’s the hallmark of Disney—we will work it until it’s as perfect as it can be.”
Main Office: 10 Norden Place Norwalk, CT 06855 Tel. (203) 854-6730 Fax (203) 854-6735 © 2010 Red 7 Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Contact Us