Women of Walt Disney Imagineering
12 Women Reflect on their Trailblazing Theme Park Careers
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A dozen female Imagineers recount their trailblazing careers! Capturing an era - and preserving the stories they have told their daughters, their mentees, their husbands, and their friends - a dozen women Imagineers have written personal stories from their decades designing and building the Disney world-wide empire of theme parks. Illustrated with the women’s personal drawings and photos in addition to archival Imagineering images, the book represents a broad swath of Imagineering’s creative disciplines during a time of unprecedented expansion.
Intertwined with memories of Disney legends are glimpses of what it takes behind the scenes to create a theme park, and the struggles unique to women who were becoming more and more important, visible and powerful in a workplace that was overwhelmingly male.
Each chapter is unique, from a unique Imagineer’s perspective and experience. These women spent their careers telling stories in three dimensions for the public. Now they’ve assembled their stories in print, with the hope that their experiences will continue to entertain and illuminate.
Author Description:
The stories of 12 trailblazing women who spent decades designing Walt Disney theme parks. They tell their stories and how they gained headway in a workplace that was predominately male.
Author Description:
Elliot calls herself a “true Disney kid,” and her roots in Imagineering are deep; her father, a Disney Studio art director, headed Imagineering after Walt Disney’s death. Beginning as an apprentice model maker in 1968, Maggie was the first woman to ascend the ranks of Imagineering management—rising from manager of the Model Shop, to director of creative development administration, and then to VP of creative development administration before retiring as senior vice president in 1994.
Author Description:
Erlandson wanted to study art, but her immigrant parents insisted she study anything else—and encouraged medicine or engineering. She chose architecture, which had its own challenges in a male-dominated profession. For many years, she was the only woman at Imagineering who had an architectural license. She worked on 11 of 12 Disney theme parks and has lived in Hong Kong and Paris; she is also an accomplished set designer and art director.
Author Description:
Fariss began her 50-year career at Disney as an attractions hostess on the Storybook Land Canal Boats. She was instrumental in the research for EPCOT’s Spaceship Earth and later became WDI’s liaison to corporate sponsors. Her experience representing Imagineering’s artistic vision led to her final assignment as the creative development executive for Disneyland Paris, where for five years she led a team that doubled in size from 25 to 50.
Author Description:
Dinkel came to Imagineering from academia and spent 30 years as a lighting designer for Disney Parks (Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney Studios Paris, Shanghai Disneyland); The Disney Stores; and other projects, including DisneyQuest and Club Disney.
Author Description:
Connolly Armitage brought her background in theater performance and design to Imagineering in 1977; her first assignment was with Disney Legend Dorothea Redmond. She was instrumental in the overall design of Disney theme parks around the world, including attractions at EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Frontierland at Disneyland Paris, and Main Street at Hong Kong Disneyland.
Author Description:
Olson originally wanted to be a cop, but her summer job in Imagineering’s Model Shop changed everything. She began as “the juniorest of juniors,” painting models, color boards, and anything else that needed a coat of paint—discovering a knack for color design that enabled her to lead many projects for color at WDI. She contributed to every Disney park during her 36-year career, including being on the opening teams for Tokyo Disneyland, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disneyland Paris, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Tokyo DisneySea, and Hong Kong Disneyland.
Author Description:
Bishop is a landscape architect who began her career with Imagineering as an intern in 1982. Her first major project was Splash Mountain at Disneyland, and in her thirty-year career she was responsible for landscape and hardscape design and installation at every Disney theme park location.
Author Description:
Rank transitioned to theme park design in 1987 following a career as a theater lighting designer and professor. In her new home at Imagineering, she designed lighting for attractions, shops, restaurants, exteriors, and landscaping. During her years at WDI, she oversaw the installation of projects at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Tokyo DisneySea, and Hong Kong Disneyland.
Author Description:
Macer Rhodes’s background in political science and public affairs, and her program management experience in the public sector, gave her Imagineering career a broad scope. From manager of research and planning to producer, she had a ringside seat as Imagineering developed theme parks around the world, including EPCOT, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Walt Disney Studios Paris, and Disney California Adventure.
Author Description:
Rogers’s career began in the Disneyland parking lot, where she made $1.70 per hour. She became an attractions lead and then was tapped to work for Imagineering at Disneyland in 1983. Working first as a coordinator, she rose through the ranks to the producer level, retiring as executive show producer with attractions as diverse as Muppet*Vision 3D and Expedition Everest to her credit.
Author Description:
Svendsen’s father, Julius, was a Disney animator. He helped her land a job as an accounting clerk at WED Enterprises in 1970, as plans for Walt Disney World were in full swing. This glimpse fueled Julie’s ambition to become a professional artist; after several years of art school and a BFA, she returned to WDI to work on the design teams for New Fantasyland at Disneyland, EPCOT, Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach, Disneyland Paris, Disney California Adventure, The Disney Stores, and Shanghai Disneyland.
Author Description:
McCullough is another Imagineer with deep Disney roots; her father, X Atencio, was a legendary Disney artist and writer. McCullough spent her 40-year career at Imagineering in the interior design studio as both a designer and manager, and in those two roles worked on every Disney theme park.
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