The ThemeParkArchitect.com website was created in 2019 by J. Daniel Jenkins to promote and educate people about the Theme Park Architect’s – and their subsequent design consultants – role within theme park design and themed entertainment design. The website also provides its readers information regarding theme park and themed entertainment centric travel; teaches its viewers how to become a Theme Park Architect, get their feet in the theme park design industry door, and enlighten theme park enthusiasts; and future theme park architects and designers, on the extensive effort required by the Architect and their design team to bring concept drawings to fruition.
J. Daniel Jenkins, RA, NCARB, LEED AP, is a licensed Architect with over twenty-five years of themed entertainment and commercial experience, a former Walt Disney Imagineer, published author, and the President | Owner of Holihoon Media LLC. Holihoon Media LLC owns, manages, and provides content to its portfolio of niche websites – including themeparkarchitect.com – focusing on topics such as travel, lifestyle, real estate, modern and themed design, and more.
Jenkins was in the design leadership role of Senior Project Design Manager at Walt Disney Imagineering for seven years where he led multiple architectural and engineering design teams on several large, technically complex new and expansion projects within the Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme parks. Prior to Disney he worked on a variety of building types including Institutional, Healthcare, Judicial, Hospitality, Transportation, and Governmental. Upon leaving WDI, Jenkins led his A&E subject matter consulting business where he provided subject matter expertise for multiple themed entertainment and commercial clients including Walt Disney Imagineering, Universal Creative, and other investment groups and private clients.
In 1998 Jenkins graduated with a five-year Master of Architecture degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design. In 2012 Jenkins, while working full time and to enhance his integrated project delivery skills, went back to college to obtain a Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) Certificate from Stanford University‘s School of Engineering upon successfully completing a year-long independent study.
Jenkins is passionate about Design Management with an extended interest in its continual evolution and teaching other Architects, Designers and Design Managers to drive efficiency within the design and implementation processes to yield real-world results. In 2020 Jenkins, in an effort to share his experience and successful design management practices, authored The Design Manager: Successful Management of the Design Process. Jenkins released the Second Edition of his book with updates in 2023.