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The Ryman Centennial: The Phone Call

Walt Disney displays a number of concept art pieces for Disneyland, all created by Herbert Ryman

“Hello?”

“Hi Herb, it’s Bill Cottrell. We’re over at the Studio working on something and Walt wants to talk to you.”

“Well, OK…”

“Hiya Herbie, it’s Walt!”

“Well hi, Walt, how are you?”

“Fine, Herb, fine. Now listen. I’m [...]

Move Over, Anaheim

To rub in the fact that most of us aren’t remotely cool at all, the Walt Disney Family Museum is having a series of events this weekend to celebrate the 55th anniversary of Disneyland. A number of Disney luminaries will gather over the course of three days to discuss the park and Walt himself. Tickets [...]

And The Relaunch – 2005

From George McGinnis comes this:

Front row: George McGinnis, Show Designer (1975) and Luc Mayrand, Show Designer (2005). Second Row: Bill Watkins, Ride Designer (1975).

Bill asleep on his thrill ride. Proof it only goes 30 MPH.

With me in the front seat at the 2005 reopening is the designer of the new show [...]

First Launch – May 27th, 1977

With our recent look at the engineering process behind the creation of Space Mountain, I thought that now would be a good time to take a look back at the opening of the attraction itself courtesy of this very nifty program.

Space Mountain had opened at Walt Disney World in 1975, but it wasn’t [...]

Making Magic: How Computers Influenced Roller Coaster Design

When one thinks about Imagineering, it’s most likely that the mind first runs to the artists. With fifty-five years of renderings, sketches, models, sculptures and amazing artwork, it’s perhaps no surprise that the fine artists have often become the public face of Disney’s creative workshop. Unfortunately this can do a disservice to the engineering side [...]