The Imagineering Story: The Official Biography of Walt Disney Imagineering

PROLOGUE
 
In 2008, I was invited to screen my recently completed feature documentary The Pixar Story at Walt Disney Imagineering. It had been a long time since I had visited the unassuming campus in Glendale, California, and I was thrilled to step back into this illusive place that had long been shrouded in secrecy. After the screening and Q&A were over, I remember Marty Sklar, then the Global Imagineering Ambassador, and a protégé of Walt Disney himself, walked up to me and asked very directly, “So, Leslie, when are you going to make the Imagineering story?” And without hesitation I responded, “Well, Marty, you tell me!” And that was the beginning of one of the happiest periods of my career to date, to tell the then sixty-plus-year history of Walt Disney Imagineering since its formation by Walt Disney in 1952. The result would be a six-part documentary series for Disney+ along with this official biography for Disney Publishing, both called The Imagineering Story in honor of Marty’s initial question.
 
The film was originally commissioned by WDI as a feature documentary to be completed within a year or so; however, it wasn’t long before Marty and the leadership felt I should travel to all the parks over the span of five years—which ultimately became seven—to capture a new golden age of Imagineering during one of the company’s greatest periods of growth. At this time, the Imagineers were just breaking ground on a new Disney resort in Shanghai, overhauling Disney California Adventure in Anaheim, revamping Walt Disney World’s New Fantasyland in Orlando, mapping out a whole new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and about to launch two new state-of-the-art Disney Cruise Line ships, the Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy, out to sea. At the time, I had no idea all this and more was currently in the works, but was soon given unprecedented access to document virtually every secret work-in-progress attraction around the world.
 
Back during the construction of EPCOT in the early ’80s, my dad, Don, oversaw the Studio Machine Shop where hundreds of state-of-the-art projectors and camera systems were being designed and built for the many unique attractions in the park. He would take me with him on weekends and let me loose while he worked extra hours to meet the grueling deadlines. These were the wondrous days of the Studio Machine Shop and backlot, and it became my own haven to roam around. I remember seeing one of my favorite film stars—Herbie the Love Bug—parked on the side of the backlot street, right in front of the Shaggy D.A. set. Then walking through the old Western saloons to find no interiors, but just plywood infrastructure holding up the exterior facades. So much of this behind-the-scenes magic was imprinted in my mind because of the sixteen-millimeter Disney movies my dad brought home to project for my sister and me and the neighborhood kids, and then to see the real locations backstage was awe-inspiring. I remember him driving us through the back gates of EPCOT, where large animatronic dinosaurs and other hydraulic creatures were being built and tested. Being a fly on the wall to all this activity growing up was the spark that fueled my lifelong interest in telling stories about creators, artists, visionaries, and innovators.
 
Cut to nearly four decades later, and I am walking backstage at every Disney park around the world and Walt Disney Imagineering, meeting and interviewing over two-hundred Imagineers, so many of the brightest minds the film and themed entertainment industries have ever seen. From dirt to opening day, I made numerous trips to Shanghai Disney Resort to document the journey, but what was captured through my lens was just a fraction of the enormity and scale of the Imagineers’ monumental endeavors. It became clear that Walt Disney created “The Happiest Place on Earth,” but creating happiness is hard work. I was guided through history by Imagineers of each generation. Bob Gurr walked me inside the echoey chambers of the Matterhorn, where we took a narrow elevator up and shot hoops on the basketball court where mountain climbers of decades past took their breaks. Kim Irvine and I strolled down Main Street, U.S.A., discussing John Hench’s original color schemes, then down into the Haunted Mansion dining room to film dancing ghosts. Marty Sklar toured me through Pirates of the Caribbean (at four a.m.!) and, standing amidst pirates, he illustrated the genius of Imagineering storytelling under one roof, from X Atencio’s songs, to Marc Davis’ character designs, Alice Davis’ costumes, to the state of the art Audio-Animatronics technology developed by a cadre of geniuses. And how could one not mention being one of the first people to launch out of a vehicle at 60mph with Scot Drake, the creative lead on TRON Lightcycle Power Run as he proudly showed off the fastest Disney roller coaster yet in Shanghai Disneyland. Imagineers have one of the best jobs in the world, and nothing was more clear than when Scott Trowbridge toured me through the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge prior to one of the most historic opening day’s in Disney theme park history. His enthusiasm to show off every bit of handcrafted detail, not only overt but hidden, all in service to the new Batuu story, was truly inspiring. It was especially touching when Kevin Rafferty and Charita Carter toured me through Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, only to reveal their own “hidden Mickey” homage to my grandfather, Ub, with a sign above the culvert that reads iwerks and uwerks water works, seen just before the railway car is swept into the city by a digital rush of water. The passion for all things past inspires the present at