IMAGINEER is a job title that manages to sound anachronistic, futuristic, and magical all at once. What sort of boutique concern could create such a position? Disney, of course. Walt Disney Imagineering, to be exact, which the Los Angeles Times recently characterized as “the company’s highly secretive arm devoted to theme park experiences.”
And if there’s one man who knows the secrets, perhaps the Imagineer ne plus ultra, it’s Joe Rohde ’77. Disney’s executive designer and vice president of creative. He was the lead designer for Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the zoological theme park in Bay Lake, Fla. He helmed the design team for Oahu’s beach-side complex Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa. Most recently, he was behind the transformation of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride into Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout at California Adventure, as well as the creative director for Animal Kingdom’s Pandora—The World of Avatar. Both attractions opened to great acclaim (and long lines) in May.
A conversation with Rohde is a ride unto itself. His knowledge on myriad topics runs deep and wide, and his verbal gifts are astonishing, accented with impulsive gesticulations and a gallery of facial expressions. And there’s his trademark collection of tribal earrings, about a half dozen or so, that he’s worn for years in his left ear, with the distended lobe to prove it.
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