I had a great time speaking with WDW News Today on their podcast about my experience being a theme park architect, a former Disney Imagineer, and theme park design challenges.
Here’s a link to the podcast: https://wdwnt.com/2019/08/dreamfinders-ep017-j-daniel-jenkins/
If you or someone you know would like to learn how to become a theme park architect, how to be a successful Design Manager or a how to become a Walt Disney Imagineer check out my Theme Park Architecture Academy!
Remember that time we…..
As July 4thapproaches, it’s not difficult to feel patriotic and a little bit nostalgic as we, here in the United States, celebrate our 243rdbirthday. Recently, I find myself feeling even more nostalgic as a result of several recent events.
My impetus of nostalgic thoughts started recently on a business trip, with my wife, back to California. On this trip we did many things, however we were able to visit Disneyland and the new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land. It’s not difficult feeling nostalgic when you walk down Main Street USA at Disneyland. That feeling of ‘Walt walked here’ always finds its way into my thoughts whenever I return to Disneyland.
The second wave of nostalgia also surfaced in California when my wife and I were reminiscing about our travels out West back in 2017. During that adventure, in 2017, we made our way through and spent some time in Marceline, Missouri. While in Marceline, we visited the Walt Disney Hometown Museum, Walt’s boyhood home and Dreaming Tree Barn, and Marceline’s real-life “Main Street USA” that inspired Walt Disney. All a must-see for true Disney fans.
The third wave of nostalgic thoughts evolved after our return from California when my brother, my sister-in-law, and my niece visited the Kings Island Amusement Park, near Cincinnati, Ohio. Kings Island was a stomping ground for my brother and I during our childhood prior to our family moving to Florida in the 1980’s. My brother’s family trip to Kings Island was a first for my niece and I couldn’t help reminiscing about my childhood memories upon hearing about my niece riding their core (nostalgic) attractions such as ‘The Beast’ roller coaster for the first time.
The final wave of nostalgic memories rose to the surface as a byproduct of the first three waves when I remembered that my first trip to Walt Disney World was in the summer of the bi-centennial year 1976, near the Fourth of July timeframe. This of course, set off a whole wave of memories of visiting Walt Disney World during my childhood, my young adult years, and ending in my later years being a Walt Disney Imagineer.
For me, having this many nostalgic thoughts at once is not common. I’m the type of individual that’s forward thinking and always contemplating how future design, including theme park design, can be improved. While I believe we should remember and respect the past and use it as a guide to improve the future; I personally embrace change and do not want to live in the past.
Here’s a video that slows you down a little bit this Holiday week of the Fourth of July. Check out our YouTube channel: Theme Park Architect.
A Nostalgic Foundation
As a result of all this reminiscing, the question that entered my mind is how can ‘nostalgia’ and ‘innovation’ as design elements coexist in theme park design? I believe each should be a part of an existing theme park’s design. The question going forward: what is the right balance of these two elements that should be included in the recipe to make theme park design successful?
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines ‘nostalgia’ as: a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition.So, what does ‘nostalgia’ mean exactly with respect to theme parks?
In my opinion, nostalgia embodies the memories created as children (or for first time adult visitors) while visiting theme parks. Like myself, these are the childhood or past memories of your favorite moments riding or experiencing attractions, shows, time spent at the hotel pool, etc. These are memories of the sights, the smells, the food, the people from other places you encounter, and maybe even a specific weather event encountered during memorable visits to theme parks.
When I think of nostalgia in theme park design, I tend to focus on either year one attractions or Guest experiences built in the first decade of a theme park’s timeline. These are the early, core attractions and shows that are iconic and specific to a theme park, i.e. ‘The Beast’ roller coaster at Kings Island or ‘Peter Pan’s Flight’ at the Magic Kingdom. These are attractions that have been experienced by multiple generations of Guests due to their pedigree.
So, why are nostalgic elements important to successful theme park design? I believe iconic (nostalgic) attractions and shows in theme parks are the basis and foundation for the making of a good theme park. These are tried and tested Guest experiences that are beloved, are experienced countless number of times by multiple generations of families. Like a favorite movie, these are the go-to elements that never seem to get old regardless of how many times they have been viewed. These are the ingredients in the theme park recipe upon which all the other new ‘flavorful’ elements are built upon and mixed.
Without the iconic base elements, the overall theme park recipe would not stand up to years of scrutiny, enjoyment, improvement, and the addition of new ingredients. The iconic attractions and shows are those which many adults experienced as a child and later in life found joy in bringing their children back to experience, as did my brother with my niece at Kings Island. These are the elements within theme parks in which horrid childhood pictures of us are taken, then laughed at later in life as adults. Iconic and nostalgic theme park design elements are the backdrop of millions of people’s childhood memories that should be maintained and mildly, but carefully, approved upon over the decades.
An Innovative Future
The new technology that has been infused into theme park’s design over the past two decades is incredible. The technological backbone, research and development, and capital expenditure it takes to create fantastical and successful three-minute experiences is mind boggling. Using Orlando theme parks as an example, let’s reflect a moment on the advancement of attractions starting in 1999 with The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman attraction at Universal Orlando and ending with Disney’s Pandora-The World of Avatar. The Spiderman attraction, in 1999, was a leap in themed Guest experiences that created a wave of advancements in theme park attraction technology and increase of Guest expectations that over time Disney and others had to embrace, challenge, and build upon to be competitive.
As a Theme Park Architect, it’s important to keep tabs on how innovation is shaping the future of theme park design. Why? Because Theme Park Architects will be required, as they have in the past, to coordinate and integrate new technology with known building systems to support and bring to fruition new shows and attractions. They are required to manage the integration and coordination of all the design disciplines it takes – often more than a hundred different design disciplines – to create successful and lasting theme park attractions and shows.
A successful Theme Park Architect should not only be distinctly familiar with iconic and nostalgic Guest experiences, and understand what special sauce they have that makes them timeless; but, theme park Architects should also have their hand on the pulse of innovation and an understanding of new technology that is flooding into the themed entertainment and theme park industry. Theme Park Architects, the plethora of engineers they will hire, and the numerous other design disciplines they need to manage will be required to understand how to marry new technology and with the new storylines being created.
Mr. Nostalgia Meet Mrs. Innovation
So, how do theme park operators, theme park designers and Theme Park Architects balance the mix of nostalgic attractions with new highly technological, innovative attractions? What is the secret recipe of classic vs. new Guest experiences that make for a successful theme park? In my opinion, I would say no one person or company has that answer. If I had the Colonel’s secret eleven ingredient recipe to this question, I would be a very wealthy man.
I’m of the opinion that each theme park and each theme park operator should evaluate this question on a park-by-park basis. I don’t agree what works in one park will easily transfer (cut and paste) into another park. For example, having a classic vs. new attraction mix at the Magic Kingdom isn’t going to work at the Animal Kingdom. Every theme park, regardless of the owner and operator, has its own focus, its own overarching theme that drives the park’s design and storyline, and its own personality that Guests are quite in tune with.
This question ultimately gets down to one thing; managing Guest expectations. Guests, for example, that visit Disneyland with their children expect to have the classic attractions they enjoyed when they were children, however, the same parents expect to have new attractions and shows using contemporary IP (intellectual property) their children are enjoying every afternoon on TV or that is playing on a screen in the headrest during a car ride going to the grocery store.
The secondary point this topic reinforces is successful theme parks are really for the enjoyment for all ages, not just children. Walt Disney said, “Everybody in the world is once a child. We grow up, our personalities change. But in every one of us, something remains from our childhood.”
Theme Park Architects and designers should not lose sight of this when designing new theme parks or expanding existing theme parks. They should remember that theme parks, at the end of the day, are experiences that should have a mix of the classic (a.k.a. nostalgic) and the new (a.k.a. innovative) that speak to and enthuse the child in all of us. I believe a great, new example of this (on both the micro and macro level) is the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (SW:GE) addition to both Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
At the micro level, within the SW:GE land you have the successful mix of both the iconic, nostalgic Star Wars elements fans enjoyed as a child back in the 1970’s and 80’s. Features such as the Millennium Falcon, the Cantina with shady characters and Chewbacca running around coexist with new storylines and the new attraction technology as seen in the Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run attraction.
At the macro level, Disneyland (and soon Disney’s Hollywood Studios) has a mix of the classic Disney theme park elements, i.e. Main Street USA, the Tiki Room, and Pirates of the Caribbean attractions with the new, technologically advanced Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land.
This blend of nostalgic and innovative Guest experiences gives Guests of all ages something that is not only contemporary to their personal history but is a mix of attractions and shows that will be the foundation for new memories created by the next generation of Guests.
Is Disneyland’s, and soon Disney’s Hollywood Studios, mix of nostalgic and new attractions the right blend that will make these theme parks successful in the years to come? I believe it is. Theme Park Architects and Disney Imagineers have amazing crystal balls and other tools to assist in predicting this outcome, but at the end of the day the Guests will truly have the final word.
An insider’s perspective on removing iconic theme park attractions.
The recent rumor of the Magic Kingdom’s Country Bear Jamboree Show’s impending closing got me thinking about the closing or demolition – sorry reimagining – of iconic, day-one theme park attractions and shows. While I have no real preference or confirmation on whether or not the Country Bear Jamboree, located in Frontierland, should or should not be removed and be reimagined into something new using more contemporary Intellectual Property (IP); I do have insider input and personal professional design experience on what is involved with the closing and the reimagining of day-one and other existing theme park attractions, shows, and restaurants.
What are ‘day-one’ theme park attractions and shows?
‘Day-one’ theme park attractions and shows are Guest experiences and assets that were designed, built, and opened during the original build year of a theme park. These are Guest experiences, attractions, shows, restaurants, etc. that are on the original list (or ‘menu’ as we say in the industry) of assets built at the same time as a new theme park in which they reside. Day-one attractions and shows either opened the same day or same year the theme park opened for business.
Over the past decade, there have been many iconic day-one theme park attractions and shows that have been closed, their original space and facility either demolished or gutted, and reimagined to house a new Guest experience. Two examples that stick out in my mind in particular, for those of us that have a history with Walt Disney World, are the Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (20K for short) attractions; both formerly located in the Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland.
I distinctly remember when the impending closing of Mr. Toad’s and 20K were confirmed and the public backlash and outcry that immediately followed. The comments ranged between pure misery to outright joy. Each of these attractions were day-one to the original build of the Magic Kingdom, both opening in 1971, with Mr. Toad’s closing in September 1998 and 20K closing in September 1994. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was replaced with The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh while 20K was replaced with, well eventually, the MK Fantasyland Expansion: Be Our Guest Restaurant, Voyage of the Little Mermaid attraction and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train roller coaster.
The big question that always is asked when a day-one attraction or show is announced to be closing is: “Why?”. Why do theme park operators close iconic Guest experiences that are seemingly beloved by Guests? Rather than focus on rumors about impending attractions closing, I would rather focus on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ attractions and shows are removed from an insider’s perspective and my personal professional experience (as a Disney Imagineer) being on multiple project teams that removed many iconic day-one and other beloved assets at Walt Disney World.
The answers to the ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions, like many things, are not simple especially when the attractions or shows are located in the Magic Kingdom (the most popular and most visited theme park in the world).
‘Why’ Attractions are Removed
Successful theme parks who record increased annual Guest attendance, have a greater responsibility each year to move Guests more efficiently through their park’s attractions, shows, restaurants, etc. In general, a successful theme park’s opening year recorded, annual attendance is going to be less than the same theme park’s annual attendance ten, twenty, or thirty plus years after it opened. It may take several years for a theme park to reach its designed maximum annual attendance capacity after its original opening date.
Every theme park is designed for a specific yearly, average (max) attendance. The yearly max attendance is a number, in the millions for larger theme parks, that a specific theme park can optimally handle and operate within during a calendar year. This is the maximum number of Guests the theme park’s promenades, number of restrooms, quantity of restaurants, maximum number of attractions and shows combined hourly counts, etc. were designed, planned, and built to meet the theme park’s yearly operational budget, meet all the Code requirements for occupancy levels, and to meet the theme park’s yearly financial proforma.
Every theme park attraction, show, restaurant, restroom, promenade, etc. is designed to handle a very specific number of Guests either per hour (for attractions, shows, and restaurants) or per day/year for determining promenade widths. For theme parks, like the Magic Kingdom, that see record attendance nearly every year, the demand and requirement to move Guests efficiently through the park’s assets becomes more difficult. To accommodate increased Guest attendance in a theme park without spending tens to hundreds of millions of dollars for new attractions and restaurant expansions each year, is a constant challenge for theme park operators. Operators are required to deal with increased attendance demands within the confines of what they have; utilizing existing assets such as attractions, shows, and restaurants.
Again, let me be clear, I’m not taking any particular side on the closing of iconic day-one Guest experiences. I’m merely giving a different perspective from the design and operation side of the discussion that is rarely provided on rumor boards and website chat forums.
As stated earlier, every asset within a theme park has a (designed) maximum number of Guests it can handle per hour. For attractions and shows, there are a limited number of people you can physically and feasibly push through a ride or theater for a show. Theme park restaurants are similar in that the kitchen and seating capacity are designed for a specific number of Guests and meals per hour. Theme park exterior promenades and restrooms are designed and can only handle a specific number of Guests before they become unsafe and violate the variuos building codes to which they were designed. Heir in lies the problem with theme park operators; they can – metaphorically speaking – only fit so many pounds of potatoes in a bag before it bursts.
If a theme park operator needs to accommodate increased annual attendance growth and they cannot build new expansions each year, what can they do?
Operators will evaluate the annual recorded hourly counts for the attractions, shows, and restaurants. If there are, for example, day-one attractions that annually do not meet their designed maximum hourly counts each year (they are unpopular) or there day-one attractions that have a low hourly count to begin with and are expensive to operate and maintain (like the 20K attraction at the Magic Kingdom); then these assets are considered for a refresh and potential removal.
Going back to my original examples. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride though popular (hey I rode it many times) had a low designed hourly count. Its hourly count day-one and in the early years of the Magic Kingdom were most likely not an issue. Fast forward two decades when the annual attendance of the Magic Kingdom had easily doubled if not tripled, an attraction such as Mr. Toad’s with a low hourly count that also repeatedly got bad Guest comments because it scared small children, was a prime candidate for closure. In the case of 20K, it had a designed low hourly Guest through-put, it had a slow and inefficient load/unload time, and it was expensive to operate and maintain each year (not to mention its footprint took up some of the most valuable real-estate in Central Florida for only one attraction).
Regarding the Magic Kingdom’s Country Bear Jamboree, I would argue it falls into the same category as Mr. Toad’s; it has an inherent low hourly Guest count; it only sees maximum monthly Guest capacity during the peak seasons (Christmas, New Years, Easter, and July-August); and though beloved is not something Guests with limited vacation time to spread across four theme parks are going to put high on their ‘must-do’ lists.
‘How’ Attractions are Removed
I have a confession to make. During my time as a Disney Imagineer, I was on various project teams that demolished – sorry reimagined – the following assets: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; Snow White attraction; Mickey’s Toontown Fair (which included Mickey’s and Minnie’s house); a portion of the Tomorrowland Speedway track (Tron’s taking out another part now); Lights, Motor, Action!; all assets of the Backstage Tour at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (DHS) which included Catastrophe Canyon; all remaining working soundstages at DHS; the Earful Tower at DHS; portions of New York Street at DHS; and a list of other attractions, shows, and assets that were slated to be removed but were not (or yet).
Removing entire attractions, whether it involves the complete demolition down to bare ground or the gutting of an existing facility that removes all interior components but keeps the facility’s shell and core is a monumental task. It’s less difficult to completely remove or demolish an entire facility or asset rather than keep an existing building’s shell and turn it into something new. Each option, however, has their own unique challenges and require a great deal of design and implementation effort.
Either option, full or partial removal requires an early exploratory assessment. From and architectural and engineering standpoint, we need to:
The planning for either a full or partial removal of an existing attraction takes longer than the actual physical act of removal. In the case of the expansion efforts at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, myself and many others planned, strategized, coordinated and worked on design drawings to remove existing assets from that park for more than two years before the first shovel went into the ground and before the first sledge hammer hit an existing wall. The number of man hours and capital expenditure it takes to partially remove or completely remove an existing attraction, show, or restaurant is a monumental effort that is not done without careful consideration and planning.
The point I’m driving home for the ‘Why’ and ‘How’ day-one or iconic attractions are removed is a carefully calculated decision by theme park operators. Making drastic changes to their theme parks is a decision that is not taken lightly and includes the consideration of the emotional impact (change) it will bring to their Guests. It is a calculated effort that spans over several years of intense evaluation, highly detailed planning, extensive coordination, and involves serious capital expenditure.
If you would like to learn more about the process of designing theme parks or how to become a Theme Park Architect, check out the Theme Park Architecture Academy.
A Brief History of Theme Parks
Many people often incorrectly interchange the words “amusement park” and “theme park”. What’s the difference you ask? It’s very simple to remember; all theme parks are amusement parks, but not all amusement parks are theme parks. Still confused? Let me explain.
An amusement park is defined as a park that offers visitors various attractions, such as rides, games, shows, or other forms of entertainment. Theme parks offer all the things that amusement parks offer, but the differentiating factor is theme parks base all of their assets (attractions) around a central, well defined unifying theme that can have multiple sub-themes underneath the guiding principle or ‘theme’ of the park.
While amusement parks may have notions of underlying themes or stories that drive their idea, and can be located in beautiful settings, theme parks take those design principles to the extreme where the visitor or guest is immersed into a unifying ‘theme’. One common element found in amusement parks and theme parks, however, is the range of attractions or offerings they provide that are suitable for multiple age groups.
Amusement parks have been around much longer than theme parks. Amusement parks evolved out of European pleasure gardens, picnic areas, and traveling carnivals and fairs dating back as early as the 12thCentury Middle Ages in Europe. History tells us the oldest amusement park is ‘Bakken’ in Denmark, which dates back to the 16thCentury. The more ‘modern’ amusement parks are the combinations of stationary fairs, pleasure gardens, and world’s fairs popular in 19thCentury Europe. These were places for large audiences to see attractions that often are associated with traveling circuses, such as menageries, acrobatics, freak shows, etc.
Modern amusement parks post 19thCentury, in both Europe and the United States, have always had the challenge of getting the mass populous to the front door of the parks. The invention and integration of local and regional mass transportation, such as the trolley car or railroad, was a means allowing both the working class and upper class to access amusement parks often located short distances outside of or near the larger city centers where the bulk of the populations lived at that time.
Sea Lion Park at Coney Island, in the United States, holds the title for the first permanently enclosed, single owner entertainment venue (amusement park) opening its doors in 1897. England’s first amusement park, the Blackpool Pleasure Beach, was opened one year earlier in 1896.
Theme parks, on the other hand, are a relatively new iteration of the old amusement parks. Theme parks, in the United States, have their origins dating back to the 1940’s, with Santa Claus Land, which opened in 1946, being attributed as America’s first theme park. Other, regional family owned theme parks would begin to pop up in the U.S. in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Some with lasting success to the modern day, others succumbing to hard times during economic downturns.
The landscape and future of the theme park industry would forever change, however, on July 17, 1955 when Walt Disney opened Disneyland. Walt’s vision and advancement of the unified storyline that binds a theme park was inspired by his early visits to Griffith Park in California. Walt Disney’s vision quickly evolved theme park’s use of technology and storytelling, in a safe and clean environment, to a whole new level.
In Walt’s theme parks, Guests were completely whisked away from the ordinary, real world and immersed into multiple storylines that were unified by a clearly defined theme and concept.
Architectural Degrees and Education
Architecture, like most jobs in the public and private sectors, requires specific levels of education to meet the minimum level of skills to be considered for certain roles and positions. For example, if you want to be a Design Manager with Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) or Universal Creative (UC), you will need to have at a minimum a Bachelor of Architecture degree from an accredited architectural program at a college or university and be a licensed professional in your respective field.
Typically, for this position, its preferred to have a master’s degree in Architecture or a similar design program, i.e. master planning, landscape architecture, architecture, etc. It is true that WDI targets specific colleges and universities for its candidates.
Though preferred colleges and universities are targeted by WDI and others such as Universal Creative (UC), they are not a requirement for future candidates. Other disciplines within WDI and UC target minimum levels of education. For example, if you are considering a position in the Show Studio, i.e. Show Manager, Show Producer, etc.; these individuals typically have some form of a liberal arts degree, often in theater or the performing arts.
Becoming a licensed architect requires both education and experience. There are a few ways to meet the educational standards for the profession, but the most direct path is to earn a professional architecture degree from a program accredited by the National Architecture Accrediting Board (NAAB).
There are three degrees recognized as professional degrees by the NAAB: The Bachelor of Architecture (B Arch), Master of Architecture (M Arch), and Doctor of Architecture (D Arch) degrees. A Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Architecture is considered a pre-professional degree and architectural licensure often requires the individual with these types of degrees to obtain a M Arch degree from an accredited college or university.
B Arch programs take at least five years to complete. Students in these programs take general education courses, liberal arts type courses including literature and history as well as high math courses such as calculus and physics related to structural engineering. Courses specific to your architectural major focus on design, the history of architecture, building materials, construction methods, and building structures.
The B Arch curriculum typically includes several studio courses where students complete design projects (both singular and team or group projects) and learn the rudiments of architectural drawing, architectural practice, and create models both physical and using computer-aided design and building information modeling (BIM) software.
M Arch programs admit students from diverse educational backgrounds, including those who have completed a pre-professional program in architecture and those who have bachelor’s degrees in other fields or do not have a five-year B Arch degree, such as a four-year Bachelor of Architectural Science degree.
These programs can take 2 or more years to complete and include courses in an advanced architectural design and theory, building environmental design, materials, sustainability, and architectural history. Like in a BArch program, students complete several studio courses focusing on adaptive reuse, planning and urban design.
The M Arch degree requires individuals to complete a senior thesis to meet the graduation requirements. Senior thesis projects often have two parts; one part is the information gathering, research, book writing portion of the thesis, where the other part is the implementation of the thesis via design presentation drawings and models (often both physical and electronic).
After prospective architects have graduated from a professional, accredited degree program in architecture, the next phase in the path to architectural licensure is the training process is to complete an Architectural Experience Program(AXP). This program is governed by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) working with the prospective candidate’s respective home state board of architecture.
Work Experience, Talents Required, and Portfolio
Work Experience
One should realize and understand that the field of architecture, regardless of whether you’re designing hospitals or theme parks, is a slow-moving industry. Gaining the amount of knowledge and real-world experience to be able to deal with multiple design challenges at once is something that comes only by putting the amount of time necessary.
To become a good, well-rounded architect takes time. It is not something you can master in a few short years of time in the business. The business of architecture is a wide field that takes a lot of dedication, patience, and a willingness to learn by doing.
I’ve been in the business for more than twenty years and have had the opportunity to work on an array of different building types many with a level of complexity that requires a broad range of expertise in many aspects of the industry. To this day, I learn something new every week.
Regarding work experience specific to theme park Architects, I would suggest an individual in this career path (during their college years) apply for a paid internship with either Walt Disney Imagineering, Universal Creative, or an architectural firm that specializes in themed entertainment design projects.
Not only will these internships provide an early glimpse inside the themed entertainment design industry, they will also provide an individual solid working experience within the unique world of the theme park architectural design. Later in the course I will provide a list of resources to assist you with professional internship options.
You have to think of an architect as being similar to a doctor who is a general practitioner. Like a doctor that needs to understand the various systems of the human body, an architect needs to have an understanding of:
To be a successful and respected architect you need an understanding of all the aforementioned items; to be a theme park architect you need to know all of those items and an additional layer of unique design and construction attributes that are uniquely specific to theme park design.
For example, Project Architect candidate ‘A’ has ten years of large, commercial multi-purpose design experience that required them to use their expertise across a full range of campus type projects, such as large retail facilities and large-scale military facilities where various building types are located. Candidate ‘B’ has mostly small commercial, single family and some multi-family residential project experience that did not require the design integration of technically complex building systems.
Clearly, Candidate ‘A’ is more qualified for the type of architecture that he or she will experience with theme park design. Theme parks have highly complex building systems that support a multitude of show, ride, and entertainment experiences typically across campus plans within tightly controlled and designed environments.
Talents Required
We’ve touched on education and work experience for future theme park Architect candidates. WDI, Universal Creative, and theme park design architectural firms are, at its very core, is in the challenge resolution business.
Challenge resolutions that are a story or idea in someone’s head that result in amazing and highly creative Guest experiences. These organizations want (regardless of your college degree, your role, or your work experience) individuals that have other talents that are both relative and unrelated to their role within the company.
When Walt Disney started Walt Disney Imagineering, he sought out individuals that were not only experts in their respective fields; they were also individuals that had other talents and skills that gave them a little something extra and made them stand out above the crowd.
Imagineering likes their Imagineers and Universal Creative their employees to have other talents and skills that may or may not be used on a daily basis in their respective role. Why then, you ask, do they want well rounded individuals?
Being a theme park Architect not only requires you to be a subject matter expert in your field, but those individuals who can creatively solve challenges are highly sought after.
Let’s use Candidate ‘A’ from earlier in this course. Candidate ‘A’ has a Bachelor and Master of Architecture from reputable universities. Candidate ‘A’ has ten plus years of professional work experience not in theme park design, but in similar scale and similar level of complexity of projects. Candidate ‘A’ has the third piece of the pie, as well. Candidate ‘A’ in their spare time is an amateur photographer that enjoys travel and on occasion does creative writing in their spare time.
Can you see where we’re going with this? Candidate ‘A’ is well rounded professionally and has other skills and talents that require he or she to use different parts of their brain to solve problems and they enjoy activities that utilize different aspects of their time creatively.
The point is, having other talents outside your field of study may seem irrelevant at other companies or industries, as they may have never been utilized. Being well rounded is actually encouraged at most architectural firms, Disney and Universal, as they know that well-rounded individuals are typically better problem solvers and are more fulfilled individuals.
Portfolio
To truly be considered for a position with Disney, Universal, or any architectural firm, you will need some form of a personal portfolio. Your portfolio should be a reflection of ‘your’ previous work experience, ‘your’ unique talents, and it should be designed and laid out in a way that reflects ‘you’.
Many people believe their portfolio should be a collection of Disney-like or Universal-like projects. I disagree. These companies want to see what ‘you’ are capable of, what ‘your’ unique talents are, how ‘you’ put together the layout of your work that best describes the intent of the work with your unique influence.
I would suggest not providing a portfolio full of mere carbon copies of existing Disney or Universal projects (unless you already have that type of work experience).
Communication Skills and the Job Interview
Communication Skills
Pulling together a successful theme park attraction, show, cruise ship, hotel, etc. requires one common thing – clear and concise communication amongst all that are involved.
I can provide a long list of things that could derail a project; everything from schedule delays due to weather or material procurement, construction labor shortages, late design changes, etc. At the very top of that list is bad communication amongst the project team members.
Being clear with the exchange of information between team members within all forms of communication, whether it’s emails, physical or video conferences, site walks, etc., is extremely important. Creative minds and team members have amazing ideas and storylines in their head.
Being able to clearly convey their vision to the architects and engineers, the Show Producers and vendors, the contractors actually building the project, the estimators and finance individuals making sure it’s on budget, etc. is extremely important for a successful project.
Job Interview Tips
If one were to Google ‘job interview tips’ they would quickly find a plethora of tips and suggestions they should use in landing their dream job. My goal in this course is to provide more specific insight one can use when interviewing with themed entertainment design companies or architecture firms. Here are my tips:
Technical Skills
Codes, Regulations, and Building Systems
Every licensed, practicing Architect will need to gain a working knowledge of the endless amount of Codes and Regulations that affect our industry. Architects must navigate the regulations that affect the design and life safety of the projects they design. These regulations exist: at the local/municipality level, in terms of guidelines such as Zoning Ordinances; the State or regional level model building codes, State Administrative guidelines, etc.; and at the Federal level such as the American Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations.
Additionally, with regard to theme parks; most large theme park companies have their company standards that may include: safety guidelines that are above and beyond industry minimum standards; specific best means of practice design guidelines that address issues such as material sustainment and durability (putting millions of guests through theme parks and attractions every year will destroy standard commercial buildings); company preferred equipment, plumbing fixture, door hardware standards; company environmental or sustainability standards; company ride or attraction standards, etc.
Theme park Architects will need to have a daily working knowledge of all codes, regulations, and specific company standards that affect the design of theme parks, attractions, shows, etc. All of these items can have major financial and creative design impacts on the theme entertainment venue, facility, attraction, landscape architecture, and utility or site infrastructure final design.
A great example of this is trying to design and thematically hide a code required fire sprinkler system in the exposed ceiling of a structure that’s thematically a Bedouin tent in the desert of the Far East. The detailing of this to meet all Code requirements for the building official and fire marshal while meeting the creative design intent is something a theme park Architect will need the expertise to resolve this particular design challenge.
A Bedouin tent would never actually have a permanent fire sprinkler system in it; the challenge is to make a Code compliant system that fits into the creative design without being intrusive or a deterrent from the overall storyline.
Facility and Site Development Computer Software
There are an endless number of facility and site development computer software that are used in the design and build industry. As stated earlier, discussing each of those would be an entire course unto itself. What I will touch on in this course is the computer software that is most frequently used by theme park Architects and designers, theme park Landscape Architects, and Engineers within the themed entertainment design industry.
By no means should a successful theme park Architect know how to use all of the software stated below but having a working knowledge of many of these will be helpful. Some software such as Revit, Microsoft Office, etc. are typically required technical skills for Architects and Engineers.
Theme Park Architecture Technical Skills
Theme park design is a niche area within the overall Architectural and Engineering industry. Niche segments such as this require its designers, Architects and Engineers to have a working knowledge of specific technical skills and terminology.
Themed entertainment venues, attractions, rides, and shows have their own unique set of design requirements that extend beyond normal, everyday commercial facilities.
As a theme park Architect, you will be required to understand these systems since you will be coordinating the design of theme park-specific systems such as: show lighting systems, water feature systems, multiple types of ride mechanical systems, and unique show effects systems (i.e. pyrotechnic systems, smoke/fog systems, etc.).
Path to Professional Licensure and Continuing Education
Path to Professional Licensure
Once prospective architects have graduated from an accredited architectural degree program, the next phase in the training process is to complete the Architectural Experience Program(AXP).
These programs are administered by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) in conjunction with the candidate’s respective home state’s architectural board. Paid internships, working under the guidelines of the AXP, typically takes three years to complete and is usually completed in an architecture practice but they can be completed in organizations such as Walt Disney Imagineering or Universal Creative.
The AXP and state architectural boards require architects-to-be to work under a licensed Architect during the full term of their AXP program to monitor and sign off on their progress per the AXP requirements.All states in the United States require architects to obtain a license to practice. Earning a license means meeting specific education, experience, and examination requirements.
Architectural licensing requirements vary from state to state, the essential requirements are: architects must complete a professional, accredited degree program; complete an AXP; and pass the Architect Registration Exam (ARE). The ARE is administered by NCARB in conjunction with the candidate’s home state architectural board.
Post LicensureContinuing Education
Once an Architect obtains their state(s) license, they will be required by their home state (and any other states they may be licensed in) to take a minimum amount of continuing education units (CEU) each year.
These learning units are a requirement by each state to maintain and renew their architect’s license. The minimum amount and cadence (yearly or bi-yearly) at which they earn CEU’s varies from each state’s architectural board, as does each state’s license renewal cadence.
It should also be noted that each state requires certain types of learning units (CEU’s) to meet their architect license requirements.
Some states, such as California and Florida, require additional, specific types of CEU’s that address their state’s unique environmental conditions.
For example, the State of Florida’s Architectural Board requires licensed Architects to take a two hour long Advanced Code course in addition to 22 other hours of CEU’s for a total of 24 hours of CEU’s required in a two-year period (Florida’s architecture licenses are renewed every two years).
Team Integration
Most large projects at companies like Imagineering or Universal Creative have upwards of one hundred or more individuals working on them. Large projects, such as new theme park lands or theme park expansions, may have well over two hundred team members.
Regardless of the size of the projects, more often than not they will be a mix of both internal individuals and external vendors. I can attest that individuals that have a solid character, that can be trusted and do what they say, and have good personal dispositions even when projects are at their worst, will come out in the end as being a successful theme park architect.
I cannot count on both of my hands how many times I’ve seen brilliant individuals in their field, true experts at what they do every day, but have bad personal dispositions. These individuals, very quickly, were known throughout the project team as being difficult to work with and often (right or wrong) were shunned by the teams.
Resources
Below is a list of resources that one can utilize to assist them in either learning more about Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), Universal Creative (UC) and organizations that affect a theme park Architect.
The Walt Disney Company Career Website:
https://jobs.disneycareers.com/
On the website type ‘Walt Disney Imagineering’ into the ‘Keyword’ search function. This will narrow down all open positions specific to WDI.
Universal Creative Career Website:
https://www.nbcunicareers.com/our-career-paths/theme-parks
WDI Imaginations Website:
https://disneyimaginations.com/
Disney Professional Internships/Co-ops:
https://jobs.disneycareers.com/professional-internships
Dining with an Imagineer:
The Hollywood Brown Derby:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/hollywood-studios/dine-with-an-imagineer/
Citricos
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/grand-floridian-resort-and-spa/citricos-dine-with-an-imagineer/
National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB):
https://www.ncarb.org/
NCARB: Architectural State Board Requirements
https://www.ncarb.org/get-licensed/state-licensing-boards
Architectural Experience Program (AXP):
https://www.ncarb.org/become-architect
Architectural Registration Exam (ARE):
https://www.ncarb.org/pass-the-are
American Institute of Architects (AIA):
https://www.aia.org/
Society of American Registered Architects (SARA):
https://www.sara-national.org/
Themed Entertainment Association (TEA):
http://www.teaconnect.org/