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Comment by pqdbr | Hacker News Reader

I'd love to be able to visit Disney Imagineering. Much more than the Disney parks themselves actually.

I've worked with Imagineers on some projects in the last few years. Not a lot I can say publicly, other than it really was interesting to see how much effort goes into creating and preserving a specific theme/mood/vibe for the rides. Textures, colors, smells, finishes.

Stuff that usually only gets a passing acknowledgement in other projects (eg: we'd prefer if the [thing] could be painted to match the walls) becomes "Can we completely disassemble [thing] and embed its components into [other thing]?" Guest experience, and safety, receive a lot of attention, which creates some fun problems to solve.

Disney's secret sauce when it comes to parks / experiences always seems to be that extra layer of polish and effort. One of those things that you maybe couldn't list all the details you did, but you absolutely know is there in the background somehow.

There’s also the fact that (a) the line experience is usually an entertainment in itself and (2) the rides last longer than typical theme park rides (on this last, I remember being at Magic Mountain chaperoning a youth field trip and I started timing the ride experiences and the big rides (rollercoasters, etc.) lasted around 60 seconds. I never timed any of the equivalent rides at Disneyland,¹ but I’m pretty sure they lasted longer.

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1. I took my kids to Disney World last year and found the Magic Kingdom to be disappointing compared to Disneyland. With the exception of Space Mountain, the ride experience of the equivalent Disneyland ride was better at Disneyland. Pirates of the Caribbean in the Magic Kingdom is actually only half the ride that it is in Disneyland.

You are officially the only person in disney park-going history to prefer orlando Space Mountain over DL Space mountain. So painful, old, dark, and rusty.

DL Space Mountain is a kiddy rollercoaster in a dimly lit room. MK Space Mountain goes faster and harder and is completely dark.

I can't compare, but I like Disney World Space Mountain out of a sense of nostalgia. Some of the rides are sort of neat time capsules.

It's a great experience if you went young and later with kids

How did you get into this? How does one get into it?

I have several friends who are or were imagineers.

The question you ask is very wide unfortunately because it is such a wide job.

Imagineers cover everything from software engineers working on robotics, to machine learning, computer vision, or data management. There’s hardware engineers, rendering engineers, people responsible for traditional costume design with fabric etc, animators, civil engineers etc…

Like any other job, there’s no real secret to getting in though. You just need to know what roles are there and see what fits you. Coming from an entertainment background certainly helps (games, feature animation, visual effects) but isn’t a hard requirement either.

There are Imagineering documentaries and behind the scenes on YouTube and Disney+ that give you an insight into what goes into it.

In my domain I am known as a bit of a problem solver/out of the box thinker. So when people get into a scenario they don't have a ready answer to, they reach out to me. In this case, a contact of mine works closely with Disney, and other theme parks, and when they ask his company for something unusual he typically calls me up (it also helps that I'm in Tampa, not too far away).

IOW, I guess the answer, as it often is, is "networking".

Thanks, that makes sense. I’m similarly “that guy” that gets called for scenarios like that, but in CA, which is why I asked about Disney specifically.

Thank you for the insight!

With a good deal of luck, they seem to hardly ever have any openings in that dept, and when they do its for senior roles.

One would think visiting their career page is a good start: https://sites.disney.com/waltdisneyimagineering/careers/

One would think I might have already looked there previously, and was asking about personal experience from someone who has worked as an imagineer, not looking for a generic list of bullet points in a job req. :)

But thanks.

With the power of imagination

Not the same, I know, but Disney+ TV has this series:

https://www.disneyplus.com/series/the-imagineering-story/6ry...

And going way back, Epcot plans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLCHg9mUBag

I had a tour of Imagineering nearly a decade ago, and it was truly magical, leaving a lasting impression on me. It felt akin to what I imagine Xerox PARC or Bell Labs were like in their heydays.

AMA.

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