What if I have an idea...

[Captain UP]

Hello! My brother has a really cool idea for an attraction based on Soul (a brilliant film with sadly little parks' representation).

Any advice as to how he might get his idea in front of someone at the company?

And I am fully aware the answer may be "Disney never EVER entertains ideas that originated outside the company."

Thanks!

 

[_19disnA]

Unless there is somewhere he can find on the Disney website to submit an 'idea', I doubt he will have much success. Large companies tend to be wary of accepting unsolicited ideas since there are too many past examples where someone claims their vague idea was used without permission and then tries to sue the company. Some people actually make a living trying to submit vague ideas and then attempting to sue the company for monetary gain.

Really has less to do with not accepting outside ideas and more about the legal entanglements associated with them.

 

[Dave006]

Any advice as to how he might get his idea in front of someone at the company?

Yes give up on trying to share this idea with Walt Disney. For legal reasons they don't accept any unsolicited ideas.

Dave

 

[Captain UP]

Thank you! Yeah, I figured that was the answer...I'll tell him to get a job done there starting as a janitor and then just work his way up to imagineering. Haha!

 

[DisneyDadBod]

I agree with what others have said with legal issues.

But to be honest, the idea would have to be extraordinary and well thought out. The imagineers are excellent at their jobs. I highly recommend looking into it if you have a chance. Even just reading up on the imagineering pyramid and all the principles that go into any of their ideas.

Ideas are great.. but there are so many elements that have to work to even make their visions into reality. Architecture, engineering, construction, ect. It's a lot.

 

[msmayor]

Unsolicited ideas will never be considered...as others have said, for legal reasons.

Years ago when my daughter was a fourth-year at Savannah College of Art and Design, she took a class that involved designing for Disney. She majored in Graphic Design, and this class took students from all design disciplines and all they knew when they signed up was that they would complete a design project and present to Disney. It was a wonderful 'real-life' opportunity, and she was lucky to get one of the spots in the class.

Once accepted, she had to first sign a multi-page non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that severely limited the ability to discuss the class with anyone (even us) and she had to agree to keep all phases of the class confidential. Work on the project couldn't be done in her dorm...had to be done in a specific studio and all materials kept there. Separate teams worked on the project Disney described to them, and then each team had to pitch their idea in a formal presentation as their final exam. Some, all, or none of their ideas would be accepted and actually used by Disney...and they all knew the possibility. Regardless of whether Disney used it, all the work and ideas belongs to Disney.

None of the work could be included in their portfolio, nor could it be shown to anyone, and no mention of the class participation could be included on their resumes for a period of five years from the conclusion of the class.

It was severely restrictive, but she still considers the class one of the best ones she took.

 

[Captain UP]

Unsolicited ideas will never be considered...as others have said, for legal reasons.

Years ago when my daughter was a fourth-year at Savannah College of Art and Design, she took a class that involved designing for Disney. She majored in Graphic Design, and this class took students from all design disciplines and all they knew when they signed up was that they would complete a design project and present to Disney. It was a wonderful 'real-life' opportunity, and she was lucky to get one of the spots in the class.

Once accepted, she had to first sign a multi-page non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that severely limited the ability to discuss the class with anyone (even us) and she had to agree to keep all phases of the class confidential. Work on the project couldn't be done in her dorm...had to be done in a specific studio and all materials kept there. Separate teams worked on the project Disney described to them, and then each team had to pitch their idea in a formal presentation as their final exam. Some, all, or none of their ideas would be accepted and actually used by Disney...and they all knew the possibility. Regardless of whether Disney used it, all the work and ideas belongs to Disney.

None of the work could be included in their portfolio, nor could it be shown to anyone, and no mention of the class participation could be included on their resumes for a period of five years from the conclusion of the class.

It was severely restrictive, but she still considers the class one of the best ones she took.

That is fascinating! Thank you!

 

[MrBarraclough]

Unless there is somewhere he can find on the Disney website to submit an 'idea', I doubt he will have much success. Large companies tend to be wary of accepting unsolicited ideas since there are too many past examples where someone claims their vague idea was used without permission and then tries to sue the company. Some people actually make a living trying to submit vague ideas and then attempting to sue the company for monetary gain.

Really has less to do with not accepting outside ideas and more about the legal entanglements associated with them.

That is the reason that Disney Imagineering explicitly says they do not accept outside ideas and will not even review them. The moment something looks like an unsolicited idea pitch, they stop reading and return or discard it.