This is really a chance to to get some initial ideas down from the interview I did last night with Scott and Debra. I’ll get the transcripts from it and do a proper deep dive into it at some point, but just wanted to make sure I got some thoughts down before I forgot them.
We spoke for just over an hour last night from their home in Sarasota and I got the impression they do a lot of speaking with students about theme park design and WDI.
They were extremely nice and accommodating and there was never anything that they weren’t able to talk about, so I think maybe the idea that WDI are very hush hush isn’t really a thing anymore.
Their list of credits it very impressive, from the Hollywood Studios logo to the Cabana Bay (Universal) logo, to menus, hotels, restaurants etc.
The both started at WDI in the 90’s in the intern program, when WDI were building up on for DCA, PAris Studios, and Shanghai down the road. Scott told me he spent his first year there ‘learning the Disney way’ which when I asked him to elaborate he explained that they really wanted designers to spend time on the ground seeing things getting installed, and worked on, for him at Animal Kingdom, so that when he was designing he had an idea of the functionality of what he was making, and to keep in mind that things need replacing every few years or retouching, so they need to be constructed and placed and made out of materials that can be replicated.
Debra also explained that there is the ‘Disney Way One’ programme that is basically the onboarding ‘university’ of teaching cast members how Disney does what it does and why it does what it does. She said this is usually a one day thing but for WDI it’s two days where you go in the parks and are a character and work on the attractions, so you see how people interact with everything. This clearly goes back to Walt and how he wanted cast members to be in the parks listening to the guests. What they liked and what they complained about. So they could come up with solutions with the guests needs in mind.
As far as the briefing process at WDI was concerned, it didn’t sound too dissimilar from A standard briefing process, the only difference is the amount of information given. Scott explained that the first thing you get is the story book. The bible for the attraction / shop / park. This can vary in size and detail. The good ones have pages and pages on colours, reference materials, influences, time periods etc, all to tell an immersive story. This all comes from the Art Director. Someone like Joe Rhode (who they both worked with a lot) has Encyclopaedic knowledge of the story and the theming of everything he does. But not only that, he knows why things need to be the way he says they are. Oddly I’m listening to Adam Scott on Conan O’briens podcast right now talking about severance, the Apple TV show, and they talk a similar way about Ben Stiller’s approach to that show. He knows everything about it and has answers for every question, because he’s already thought about it and not only knows the answer, but why that is the answer. And as always, it comes down to story.
They both went on to say this isn’t always the case and sometimes there isn’t much there in that sense. And sometimes there’s too much! The other interesting thing they said was you can spend months and months working on a story and a pitch and a theme, and then the CEO walks in a changed the whole thing because it needs to align with some other IP or promotion the company as a whole is running. This apparently happened with Expedition Everest which was originally Forbidden Mountain but Disney were working with National Geographic on something to do with Everest and so Micheal Eisner came in and threw it all out to change to that. Scott had been working with Joe Rheode for months on it and has to retool everything to the new theming that didn’t have the some story at all. It’s very impressive to think of the amount of story telling on that attraction now and think that it was a result of retooling an existing idea.
Debra gave me a few book recommendations and some people she’s going to reach out to I might be able to speak to, including the current Art Director of Animal Kingdom!! Which is insane!! And they said we can speak again if needed, so I plan to keep in touch with them and show them the project as it unfolds.