Podcast: Play in new window | Download
In this episode of Themed Attraction Podcast, Freddy and Mel sit down with Barbara Bouza, former President of Walt Disney Imagineering. Barbara shares her journey from architect to creative leader, reflecting on her time guiding Imagineering through the pandemic, collaborating with visionary leaders, and championing global perspectives in design. From Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic…
What if the greatest works of all time came to life? What if the greatest stories ever told could be lived? Welcome to Domanivm—a legendary theme park where your favorite [public domain] characters come to life! Wanna explore 19th-century London while solving a mystery with Sherlock Holmes? Wanna discover dinosaurs within a deep Amazon jungle?…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Our guest is Theron Skees, a visionary creative executive with 30+ years in themed entertainment. A veteran of Walt Disney Imagineering, he has led multi-billion-dollar projects worldwide, bringing brand storytelling to theme parks, resorts, and cruise ships. Inspired by Star Wars, Theron’s journey began in film before shifting to theme parks, working on EuroDisneyland and…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
In this episode, we sit down with Jeanette Lomboy, Vice President, Executive Producer, Creative, at Walt Disney Imagineering. Jeanette has led the development of some of Disney’s most beloved modern experiences, from the serene beauty of Aulani to the immersive worlds of Pandora – The World of Avatar and Avengers Campus. Her journey from Disneyland…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Our guest is Theme Park Developer, DeLisa Guerrier. With her husband Elde, DeLisa Guerrier personally oversees commercial, residential, and industrial developments in and around Nashville, with a focus on investing in emerging neighborhoods. She’s also dedicated to children’s causes and is a key player in Nashville’s philanthropic circles. And in the spirit of Walt Disney,…
Theme parks are intended to be an escape from the real world. The busyness, the hectic pace, the crowds, the worry about checking things off your list. A day in the park is supposed to relax you, to help revive your inner spirit. Of course, this is usually a total fantasy. Ever been to a…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
There’s no shortage of big ideas when you’re with our guest today, Creative Executive Jason McManus. Jason’s journey has taken him around the world from Disney’s magic factory to the themed entertainment frontier of the Middle East bringing the seeds of ideas to fruition in some of the most innovative projects we can think of.…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Today, we’re focusing on “designing with purpose” with my friend and mentor, Anthony Esparza. Anthony is an expert in creating unforgettable guest experiences. With a career spanning SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, and more, he’s known for infusing every project with purpose. Join us for our second interview with Anthony as we explore…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Join us as we delve into the intricacies of the project management realm. Our guest today is Jeff Burton, a former WED Enterprises Imagineer who has played a pivotal role in some of the most renowned attractions worldwide, such as Epcot, Disney MGM Studios, Euro Disney, and Sea World. Jeff, a second-generation Imagineer, is celebrated…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Our guest is Architect and Theme Park Master Planner, Jeff Damron. Jeff is a 30+ year veteran of themed entertainment and destination design providing his expertise as an architect, designer and master planner in theme park projects, hotels, resorts, casinos, and many other mixed-use projects where people can live, work and play. Most recently he…
What’s behind your favorite regional park attractions? Rick Bastrup, forty-year veteran of the theme park industry, reveals all in his new book Adventures of a Theme Park Designer. Very few park-goers realize how their favorite rides and attractions actually got there—they just know they love ’em and miss them terribly when they’re gone. So how…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Our guest today is Theme Park Art Director, Daniel Kerscher. Daniel Kerscher is an Art Director for theme park projects worldwide with decades of experience ranging from Landmark Entertainment and the TAA Group. Most recently, he spent 6 years guiding the art direction at Europa-park and Mack Rides contributing his brilliant creativity in one of…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Our guest is TEA Master and founder of The Bezark Company, Adam Bezark. His storied career from WDI to Landmark Entertainment Group allowed him opportunities to conceive and design monstrous IP attractions such as Jurassic Park: The Ride, the JAWS ride, and Terminator 2:3D for Universal. For WDI, he co-directed the beloved IllumiNations nighttime spectacular…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Our guest is Christian Hope, Vice President of Paramount Studios Theme Parks & Resorts. Christian has contributed concept designs in development of world-class attractions here in the US and around the world. His concepts have resulted in some of the most visited location-based entertainment sites around including Disneyland Paris, Universal’s Islands of Adventure, and The…
Photo Credit: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/theater/stephen-sondheim-dead.html Stephen Sondheim, famed musical theatre composer, lyricist, genius, and a personal idol of mine recently passed away. His death has recently caused me to reexamine a thought I’ve had from time to time: that rides are akin to songs. It might sound a bit strange at first to suggest that rides and…
Everybody knows pretty much everything about Disneyland—how it got started, how the Imagineers do their thing, and so on. But nobody hardly ever talks about the parks that most of us across the country enjoy far more often. The regional theme parks, different from amusement parks, owe their existence to the magical land Walt built…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Ben Thompson is a global themed entertainment and marketing strategist who spent the last 20 years in leadership roles at global monoliths like Mars Inc., The Walt Disney Company, and the Merlin Group, where he was responsible for opening 4 LEGOLAND®️ Parks and 40 location-based entertainment sites worldwide. Ben is now the Chief Strategy Officer…
JRA recently presented the session “Learning to Win by Learning How to Lose” at the 2021 IAAPA Visual Conference. The video is now available for public viewing and features over 20 industry leaders sharing their thoughts on adversity, adaptability, resilience, and hope.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Our guest is Walt Disney Imagineering designer and art producer, Doris Hardoon. Doris joined the company for the Epcot project in 1979 helping to develop the China Pavilion. She lent her unique cultural perspective to international projects with Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. Her crowning glory is found at Shanghai Disneyland, where she developed the…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Jason Surrell is the Executive Creative Director at Storyland Studios. He was previously the Senior Creative Director on Universal’s newest theme park projects, Universal Studios Beijing and Epic Universe, as well as a creative director at Walt Disney Imagineering. Jason is an amazing storyteller, whether it be in the shows, attractions, or books he’s written.…
We’ve all longed for a close look behind the scenes in a creative studio to see how theme park projects are conceived, planned and built. Here’s such an opportunity.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Our guests are two of the industry’s leading feasibility experts, the father/son duo Don and Doug Stewart of Economic Consulting Services. In the themed entertainment world, we like to think we build the impossible. But the impossible is not always feasible. The “Walt Disneys” of the world rely on experts like Don and Doug who…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Joe Lanzisero is a 30-year Disney veteran who began his career in Disney animation and made the switch to Imagineering where he eventually became known as the theme park land expansion guy—think Critter Country & ToonTown in Anaheim, and Toy StoryLand, Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Point in Tokyo. Today, Joe is Executive Vice President at Zeitgeist…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Eddie Sotto is a fixture in the themed entertainment industry best known for his contributions at Walt Disney Imagineering. He creative directed dozens of attractions at Disney Parks, including Main Street USA at Disneyland Paris, Mission: Space at Epcot, and the first ever trackless dark ride, “Pooh’s Hunny Hunt” at Tokyo Disneyland. Eddie’s work extends…
One of the chapters in the upcoming park history book focuses on entrepreneurs who took Walt’s concept and found a way to make it happen in their own part of the country. These individuals had the drive, determination, resources, and sheer guts to jump head-first into waters they knew little about. Storms loomed ahead, threatening…
The regional theme park history book keeps pushing right along toward completion (hint…it’s close). To hold you over in the meantime, I’ll be sharing bits and pieces from the book and my research while tossing in other interesting items along the way. Three of them, in fact. I’m extremely pleased to have some wonderful folks…
Everybody knows pretty much everything about Disneyland—how it got started, how the Imagineers do their thing, and so on. But nobody ever talks about the parks that most of us across the country enjoy far more often. The regional theme parks, different from amusement parks, owe their existence to the magical land Walt built in…
How the Location-Based Entertainment Industry Can—and Should—Do More to Ensure a Brighter and More Prosperous Future We live in an age of unprecedented change. A host of converging forces—technological, social, cultural, environmental, economic—are transforming the world around us at a pace never before seen in human history. The world is getting smaller and more interconnected.…
One major chapter of my upcoming regional park history book deals with how these parks lost their original design intent along the way. Decades of ownership turnover, corporate management, current trends for IP overlays, and so on rendered most of these parks nearly unrecognizable from when they were first built. Carowinds opened in 1973 as…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Our guest this episode is the Chief of Guest Experiences at Carnival Cruise Line, Anthony Esparza. At Carnival, Anthony navigates the fun on the surface of the ocean, and before that he took guests deeper as the Chief Creative Officer for SeaWorld Parks. Anthony is as comfortable on land as he is at sea having…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Mike West is Senior Director and Executive Producer for Universal Parks and resorts around the world. With the first 25 years of his career spent at WDI, and a second half underway at Universal, Mike is one of those guys you can’t help but geek out over. All the while he hasn’t lost his joy…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Kevin Sherbrooke is an AIA Licensed architect and show set designer who lives at the intersection of creative, blue sky concepts and the rigid structure of architectural design. Kevin’s background gives him a unique perspective on the ins and outs of an industry on the move. You can see his work in familiar environments and…
What park can you think of with a better brand than Hersheypark? I mean, really. I drive through Hershey every day and it’s one of the most unique towns you’ll ever see, from the Kiss-shaped streetlights, the majestic Hershey Theatre and other ornate buildings erected during the Great Depression, and the original chocolate factory before…
We asked veteran ride-film producer Don MacBain about the role technology has played in the development of unique guest experiences. The astonishing technological advancements he’s seen over the course of his career have positively impacted the story-teller’s ability to immerse the theme park guest ever more completely into the attraction environment. This is what he…
As developers and designers of themed entertainment, it is our responsibility to author backstories so rich and believable that our guests never question the worlds we create for them to enjoy. back·story \ˈbak-ˌstȯr-ē noun, plural back·sto·ries. a narrative providing a history or background context, especially for a character or situation in a literary work, film,…
The world suffers no shortage of theme parks, but few really live up to the name. Simply staging a few old tools in the queue and carving a clever name on the sign doesn’t cut it. A truly thematic experience is designed to immerse guests in a story or place so they believe they are…
Dynamic Attractions Duel Power Coaster is the world’s most advanced roller coaster vehicle: If you had a Hot Wheels racing set as a kid, you’ve no doubt let your imagination run with some of the death-defying moves your car can make. But what if you could do all those same moves in a theme park…
The following is a general overview of the terms and terminology you will encounter as a theme park designer. The terms are a combination of those you will see in theater, engineering, theme park operations, architecture and more. A theme park designer must know all of these terms to be able to communicate effectively with…
The 2018 TEA Thea Awards, Anaheim, California. April 7, 2018 By Freddy Martin ANAHEIM – When civil rights activist and U.S. Representative, John Lewis, dedicated the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, DC, his words echoed the triumph of generations; “See what a dream can do.” The NMAAHC was…
“The human spirit in design is one of the strongest thematic elements there is. A sincere and passionate project drawn straight from the heart can succeed at a deeper level as the audience can sense the sincerity but not point directly to it. That passion translates to a vigilant attitude that details matter and all…
Eddie, First of all, how does the designing process start? Who originally comes up with the concept or idea behind a ride? Is it a writer? Engineer? Group decision? What’s next from there? Does a story writer script it, then pass it on to a engineer to see how viable the project is? Or is…
Design Tools: What tools are used for concept artwork? One subject that themedattraction.com has not addressed yet is the question of design tools: That is, what tools are used by designers to create theme park attractions? Blue Pencil Especially when in the blue-sky phase, one medium relied upon heavily is the blue pencil. Theme park…
“The key to great storytelling is not just in the content, but in the timing. . .” — Tom Soranno He’s a talented ride and show engineer who has played a major role in the show control design of many of the world’s newest and complex theme park rides. Here’s our exclusive interview with Tom…
So you want to build a theme park? by Peter Alexander President; Totally Fun Company What do you do? Where do you start? How about taking some cool rides, and putting them together with some good restaurants, fun stores and pretty landscaping? Well, you can do exactly that, and some people have, but if you…