How Disney’s Imagineers create memorable spaces.
Creative Imagineers use immersive experiences to tell a story.
CALL IT A COMING OF AGE FOR DISNEY CRUISE Line. Not only does the family-centric cruise line have a fifth and sixth ship debuting (in 2021 and 2023), it now has its own high-level team of Walt Disney Imagineers based at its headquarters in Celebration, Florida.
So what exactly is an Imagineer? According to Disney, the name “Imagineering” combines imagination with engineering. Building on the legacy of Walt Disney, Imagineers create immersive entertainment experiences, primarily for the theme parks and resorts. Design work on the ships previously took place at the Imagineering campus in Glendale, California, with the cruise line’s operations team in Florida. Now everything from concept to design to development is under one roof.
FROM SHORE TO SHIP _ “Having [ the Imagineers] housed right here together with the business is pretty important,” says Disney veteran Theron Skees, who joined the cruise line in March 2016 as vice president in charge of the creative operation. His previous projects included overseeing design at Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney) at Walt Disney World Resort, and he’s also worked on attractions including Tower of Terror at Disneyland Paris.
Skees is well versed in the Disney design philosophy, which has storytelling at its core. “We never just build a thing,” he says. “We always build a thing that ties into a story or furthers a story or creates a place where a story can take place.”
In that respect, he sees designing cruise ships as not that much different than landbased attractions.
“I’ve never designed and built cruise ships before, so the learning experience has been, and I am sure will continue to be, just amazing,” Skees says. “But the way we tell our stories at Disney is pretty consistent, whether that’s entertainment, a show, a park, an attraction — or our ships.”
In moving to the cruise line side of the business, Skees says he had to get used to a few things, including space limitations.
“Everything is condensed. You really have to think about space planning and how we actually move 2,000 to 4,000 guests throughout the body of the ship,” he says.
For his design team, Skees is able to pull talent as needed both within the cruise line and from the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts global network of cast members, including from nearby Walt Disney World Resort. The size of the team varies based on the size of the project.
PROGRESSING THE STORY _ Last year, when one of the cruise line’s original ships, the 1999
Disney Wonder, underwent a major redo in dry dock, Skees called in Imagineers who are experts in interior design, technology, special effects, and other areas.
The idea was to refresh the 83,000-ton ship. But when Disney refreshes, it goes way beyond new carpet and paint, Skees says. The addition of the musical Frozen, A Musical Spectacular in the ship’s Walt Disney Theatre and a Marvel Super Hero Academy in the Oceaneer Club grabbed a lot of attention. But there was also much focus by Skees’ team on new design details. The team, for instance, decided to take The Little
Mermaid theming in the ship’s atrium up a notch. “We said, ‘ Let’s play off of Ariel’s world and really leverage that environment,’” Skees explains. “So we took colors inspired by the undersea world that she lives in, and we based the carpet design, the furniture design, everything off of that world.”
At the same time, the designers gave the space’s Art Nouveau styling a boost.
“We created murals, for example, behind the Port Adventures and Guest Relations desks that feature Ariel and her friends. But we did it in an Art Nouveau style to immerse the guest in that experience,” Skees says.
Guests with a keen eye may notice that as they move up from Deck 3 to Deck 4 to Deck 5, the colors of the carpets and furniture lighten, as if you are coming out of the ocean and into the sunlight. The designers went so far as to create shell shapes for chair legs and to imbed shells into the atrium’s performance platform.
“All of those elements collectively create an immersive environment and drive the authenticity and realism of the story that we’re trying to create,” Skees says.
THE NEXT CHAPTER _ A similar storytelling approach will apply this year (2017) as Skees’ team begins concept work on the new 135,000ton ships (slightly larger than Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy), which will be built at Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany.
“We’re creating experiences and making emotional connections with guests of all ages from all different family types, which means we have to create something that’s relevant for our youngest guests to our oldest guests,” Skees says. “I think that’s a really fun challenge because when you start looking at the type of product that you would create, it becomes really, really diverse.”
In addition to the newbuilds, there are tweaks and refinements to the other ships on the table, including adding more character experiences as Disney expands its portfolio.
“It’s basically bringing the newest possible stories, new technology, and new engagements for our guests,” Skees says. “We have whole cycles planned on how we bring new ideas to our existing fleet, and I think that’s a really important way to keep those experiences fresh for new guests and our Disney fans who visit with us over and over again.” The goal, he adds, is to always wow the guests.
“The only way to get there is to be bold and innovative and think way outside the normal,” Skees says. “Every idea contributes to the overarching story and final design. We need to think of things that are really impossible. We think of the impossible every single day and most days we make the impossible happen.”
“The way we tell our stories at Disney is pretty consistent, whether that’s entertainment, a show, a park, an attraction — or our ships.”