Sunday, December 16, 2007
Today marks the official 55th Anniversary of Walt Disney Imagineering. It was on this day in 1952 that Walt Disney officially moved several of his key animation staff to a new trailer on the studio lot, where they began design for his “Mickey Mouse Park”. The project became Disneyland, and the people became the world’s very first “Imagineers”, the designers who defined a new master art form, using “A blend of imagination and practical know-how”.
Since many of the Imagineers at WED Enterprises (as it was then called) came from animation and film backgrounds, they used what they knew and translated it using the languages of spatial design, architecture and human experience. The world would never be the same. Walt Disney once said about Disneyland a statement that holds true for all eleven Disney theme parks around the globe:
“As long as there is Imagination left in the world, Disneyland will never be finished.”
Perhaps the most profound quotation comes from the maestro himself in regards directly to his very special staff of Imagineers:
“We never get tired because we keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
Happy Birthday, Walt Disney Imagineering, as we celebrate our past and look towards the future.
We’ve Just Begun to Dream.
