How do you become an "Imagineer"?

[paintnolish]

This seems like the coolest job ever! Does anyone know an Imagineer? What did they go to school for and what do they do for Disney?

 

[GoofyDad869]

Most have advanced architecture / engineering degrees. I knew the guy over all CAD management in the late 90s - not sure if he's still with Disney. He was a mechanical engineer by education.

I've thought about it. I have a degree on Architecture. It was an option earlier in my career. I am now an owner in a firm, so unless that goes belly-up I'm sorta stuck here. Maybe closer to retirement age (for me that'll be 30+ years away) they'd consider a 'gray hair'...

In reality - they work very, very long hours. 60-hour weeks are common.

 

[paintnolish]

I took some interior design classes (before I changed majors) and was intrested in the theming of rides. How fun what it have been to decorate the Tower of Terror?!

 

[GoofyDad869]

I love the theming in most of Disney's attractions. What interests me the most is learning about the hows and the whys when the attractions switch over - for example, when ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter was updated to become Stitch's Great Escape. Most people would probably glaze over at the level of detail I'm talking about - like logistics (what -if anything- is reused, how to move out the old equipment / move in the new), electrical load changes, changes in accessibility regulations, new material technologies...

I'd love to have a technical history of, say, Magic Kingdom's overall park layout and how it has changed over the years, attraction plans elevations and sections, Utilidor layout, etc, etc... I know most (if not all) of that kind of information is very proprietary and very closely guarded, beyond what you might glean from a not-to-scale overall park layout...

Here's a cool link...
http://disney.go.com/disneycareers/college/wdi/

 

[Laz]

This is great info!

My 16 year old DD has always wanted to work for Disney as an imagineer. She is a high honor role student who excels in mathematics and music (percussion). Any suggestions for a soon to be HS Junior would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Feralpeg]

Imagineer is a generic term used for many professional positions at Disney. There are imagineers that have nothing to do with rides or attractions.

Disney has tons of professional position openings all the time, however they really like to promote from within. The best thing to do is get a degree in something you enjoy. Apply for an intern position in that area with Disney. You will see many of those under the "Careers" area on the Disney website. Then, comes the hard part. Work very hard and move up the corporate ladder.

I have neighbors who are imagineers for Disney. One helped design Wishes. One is in marketing and helps develop all those cool souvenirs. Another is responsible for recruiting talent all over the world. They all started out as interns. The one was a CM in the parks and later a performer. It takes a lot of hard work and determination to become and imagineer.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

A friend of mine is an Imagineer with Disney and she has a degree in Engineering with a Construction emphasis. She works in the construction side of Disney. She doesn't actually do the building or designing, but the cost analysis - an estimator. How she did it was by working in the construction field for a number of years before applying. She worked for different construction companies in different jobs before and then applied to Disney online, and got the job (apparently, that's quite rare with Disney). That’s how she did it.

 

[cryssi]

It was my dream to be an Imagineer. I wanted to design ride queues. I have a Masters degree in Architecture. I tried a few times to get an internship with Imagineering, but they always hired someone else. Why not me? Super Disney lover/freak?? Anyway, wouldn't you know in a cruel twist of fate...1 week after I was hired as a designer in an architecture firm (my current company), Imagineering called to see if I was still interested in the internship. Seeing as how I now had a full-time job with benefits, I turned them down...

I would still love to design ride queues, but right now my focus is on getting my license. Who knows, maybe sometime in the future something might come up...

My advice would be to pursue engineering rather than architecture...I would never encourage anyone to go into architecture...

p.s. Disney outsources most of their architectural stuff...just FYI...

 

[UnderTheMistletoe]

I took some interior design classes (before I changed majors) and was intrested in the theming of rides. How fun what it have been to decorate the Tower of Terror?!

DH works for the elevator company that Disney contracts all their elevators, including Tower of Terror, to. Some of the guys in his office were on the ToT project.