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Magic Meets Adventure is where Disney meets Universal! This is your one stop shop for all things Disney and Universal Theme Parks. As park enthusiasts, Tim and Ayren share their ideas, rankings, travel tips, history, and more to help create an everyday escape into the incredible worlds of magic and adventure!
So we're in the tower. We are ready for takeoff. Enjoy the scenery for a lot more than having gotten a cup of coffee! Please stand clear of the door. Looks like you've lost power. This is the wildest ride in the wilderness! For all who come to this happy place, welcome. Hello everybody and welcome to Magic Beats Adventure. I'm Tim and I bring the magic. I have an exciting episode for you guys today. A little bit of a different one, mainly because of the fact that it is just me today. My co host Aaron and I have had a very busy couple of weeks and so we still want to give you guys content though,
Before I dive into all the exciting changes happening to Imagineering, give us a follow over at Magic Meets Adventure on Instagram and YouTube.
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But without further ado let's talk about some big changes that are coming to Walt Disney Imagineering which come literally From the top. And that is president of Walt Disney Imagineering, Barbara Boza, is leaving Walt Disney Imagineering at the end of the month. She joined the Walt Disney Company back in June of 2020 and has led the company.
Imagineering up until this point. We also have a new person taking over Walt Disney Imagineering, which I'm really excited to talk about. And we'll [00:02:00] talk about why I'm excited for him in particular. And we'll also just talk about a little bit on the state of Disney and why I am cautiously optimistic and excited about the future.
So without further ado I have pulled up the post that Barbara Boza herself made about her exit of the Walt Disney Company
proudly building upon our extraordinary legacy, Imagineers are shaping a future that inspires humanity. As a global team of innovative creators and storytellers, we immerse our guests in experiences that make memories of a lifetime. As a licensed architect, I, Barbara, was recruited by the Walt Disney Company to challenge the norm and bring broader and global industry perspective and expertise.
Joining Walt Disney Imagineering in June of 2020, I truly believe humanity needed Disney more than ever. The world was trying to understand the impact of a global pandemic, business disruption, stay at home orders, a reckoning on [00:03:00] race, and a growing political divide.
From there, Imagineers endured the pressures of talent reductions, unprecedented hyper escalation on projects, political crosshairs, and the need to make life changing decisions with their families around the relocation from California. Through all of this, Imagineers relentlessly created and delivered some of the most impactful projects in the history of the Walt Disney Company. This success has fueled the turbo charged growth of Disney experiences through the 60 billion investment over the next 10 years that Bob Iger and Josh DiMauro speak of. So I want to take this moment to personally thank all Imagineers, past, present, and future, for making the impossible possible. It is bittersweet as I wrap up my work as president of Walt Disney Imagineering this month before I create a bigger impact on the world.
Stay tuned. WDI is in the excellent hands of my partner, Bruce Vaughn, Chief Creative [00:04:00] Officer, who is an exceptional creative leader.
She then goes on to quote Walt Disney in saying, There's no real secret about our approach. We keep moving forward, opening new doors and new things, because we are curious.
And so that is her entire quote. She also has a picture with Josh DeMauro and Bob Iger as a part of the post, but that is it, pretty interesting stuff there.
I want to kind of examine her quote just a little bit before we move on to who is replacing her Bruce Vaughn. So she was brought in, , from the outside as an architect, that is kind of her background. And. I mean, to be fair, you take a look at the last four years, you can kind of see a bit of her, her expertise there in some of the hotels and layouts, , some good, I'll use the contemporary resort as an example, because that was done during the 50th anniversary and it looks fantastic.
I mean, it was done super duper well, steakhouse [00:05:00] 71, fantastic restaurant in there, but the lobby looks great. , then you take a look, of course, across the way over towards the Polynesian, and you have another example, I think, of kind of her direction and work, specifically with, of course, the Polynesian DVC tower that is currently being built as of this recording.
Now, don't get me wrong, I think the tower is needed, I mean, you take a look at, , the Polynesian DVC wise, it's namely. And so to have some more one bedroom, two bedroom, even three bedroom DVC options was smart on, on Disney's part. Not a big fan of how it looks and I think that is a sentiment of a lot of people It's just it doesn't look super duper great And I mean even taking a look at some other projects around Disney, but even still they've created some exciting things during that time I I mean, the biggest one is Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind, right?
One of the best, if not the best, coaster on [00:06:00] Walt Disney World, , property and I think just one of the best coasters that Disney's ever created. And so they've done some good things, but there's also not been too, too much done, since 2022, which was the last attraction, which was Cosmic Rewind, I could count Tron, but Tron is a reskin of the one in Shanghai, so.
It's not a completely new ride, if that makes sense. I mean, new ride in Walt Disney World, but not a completely new attraction. The next one up is Tiana's Bayou Adventure, and we don't really have anything else after that. But, I do firmly believe that that is going to change, namely because of the fact that That Bruce Vaughn, chief creative officer of Walt Disney Imagineering, is taking over as now the president of Walt Disney Imagineering.
Bruce Vaughn has been around for a little bit. He's had about 22 years of experience with the Walt Disney Company, [00:07:00] and a few others as well. He has worked on stuff like Disney Quest. He also was one of the co heads, of Imagineering as a chief creative executive for nine years. During that time he helped work on projects such as Shanghai Disney Resort, New Fantasy Land Over the Magic Kingdom, Pandora the World of Avatar, and Animal Kingdom.
And he also had some early hands on development for the overhaul for Hollywood Studios, which of course, We know as stuff like Star Wars Galaxy's Edge, Toy Story Land, all those things, both those lands, absolutely fantastic and we've gotten those partially because of his help.
And so that's, that's quite the resume. On top of that, he is a creative. This is a creative guy. One of the things I love about Walt Disney Imagineering, and I'm talking about the [00:08:00] 70 plus history of the company. There's been a lot of creatives over the years. And a lot of people who have led Disney, specifically in this way, have been creatives. And so, to see that continue, to see us to get someone who has a resume, who has experience, knowledge, and has been around the building, has respect around Walt Disney Imagineering, has me excited.
Has me really excited. And he also has delivered high quality stuff. When you take a look at Walt Disney World, cause I feel like that's the easiest example for those of us who live in the States, Pandora, the world of avatars, fantastic details. Amazing. I mean, granted, a lot of it was done by Joe Rhodey, who is another creative, another excellent imagineer.
But then you take a look at new fantasy land over in magic kingdom. That's also done. [00:09:00] So well, just, it's done very, very well. Seven Dwarfs Mine Trains is a solid coaster. Lone Mermaid's solid attraction has some really good animatronics in there,
be Our Guest is a beautiful restaurant, and the theming around that area, those areas, is fantastic. It's just done at such a high level. And that I think right now is what Disney needs. Cause you take a look at right now. I mean, past Tiana's Bayou adventure, there's nothing, zero zip, nada. There's no projects. There's blue sky ideas, right? I mean, they talked about beyond big thunder and you have
the re theming of Dinoland USA, which will become South American themed. And that's confirmed, but that's it. We don't know what attractions we're getting. We don't know, cause Disney loves to incorporate IPs. No surprise, they really should do that.
But we don't know what's going in there. And so to [00:10:00] have somebody who has a resume, who has the talent, expertise, and the drive And the creative ability to lead Imagineering into the future has me excited.
Because Disney right now, as much as I hate to say it
they need something. They're playing catch up right now. Epic Universe is trucking along so well. It looks fantastic, and I'm genuinely excited, both Aaron and I are super duper excited about it. But then there's also rumors of another Universal Resort opening in Great Britain. You have the Universal Kids Park that's coming to Texas.
In terms of theme parks, Disney has to respond. And they cannot respond small, they have to respond big. Because these are big projects, you have a brand new theme park in Orlando and this is going to be a really amazing theme park.
You have a potential of another resort and you have a theme park for the first of its kind in [00:11:00] Texas. Disney has to respond big because these are big things, huge things for Universal, exciting things, but Disney has to respond big and I know they have done that. You take a look at, right, like, Harry Potter stuff, right, when Universal opened its Wizarding World expansions, right, with Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, and both are done and still look phenomenal.
Disney responded with Pandora and Toy Story Land and Star Wars Galaxy's Edge, and all those were great. Disney has to respond big, and it can't just be, oh, we're adding an attraction here and an attraction there. No, no, no, no, no. They have to respond big, and I firmly believe with Bruce Vaughn at the helm and if he calls Iger directly, like rumors have stated that Imaginary has a direct line to Iger, if calls are made between those two, including Josh Damaro in it, and everyone else plays nice and [00:12:00] is willing to spend, we could have an exciting D23 this year.
I'm, I, I personally am hoping, I'm not expecting, I'm hoping. For a big D23. I can't expect it because who knows but I'm hoping for a big D23 Because Disney has Disney has to catch up, but I'm excited Because of who's leading the charge for Imagineering I think he has a lot of great ideas, I think he is going to bring back the norm that Disney has had, which is this norm of they are the leaders, they are the top dogs, they are the ones imagining, innovating, creating, dreaming, and making the impossible possible.
Truly making the impossible possible. Not just saying it as fluff and words. Because, oh yeah, Walt Disney said it a long, long time ago. But actually truly putting it into [00:13:00] practice. Because that's what Imagineering did. You take a look at the last 70 years of history. They've done some insane things. They pioneered audio animatronics.
They shaped boat attractions. Take a look at It's a Small World. You can't have Pirates of the Caribbean without It's a Small World. A Small World was revolutionary. Abe Lincoln was revolutionary. The Omni Mover System, developed by absolute legend Bob Gurr, revolutionary for stuff like Haunted Mansion and Spaceship Earth, and all those things.
Disney has to come out swinging. And I think with Bruce Vaughn at the helm, I truly believe that will happen, and I'm very excited. For what is to come. I truly believe big things are ahead, and I cannot wait to see what Imagineers are cooking behind the scenes. I was actually taking a look earlier today as of the recording of this To see, you know, just typing in Imagineering Actually brought up like where they were located.
They did say it [00:14:00] was busier than usual over at Imagineering Secretly hoping that they got some big things up and coming if it's busier than usual, but that's just one day. Who knows? Maybe I'm being overly optimistic. But that being said, thank you all so much for listening. Let me know your thoughts.
Let us know your thoughts on the future of Walt Disney Imagineering, the future of the Disney parks over by instagram at magic meets adventure. We want to hear from you We also want to hear from you by giving us a review, please It helps us we want to make this show the best it possibly can be so those reviews Help us out in making this show better not just for our sake but also for yours as well And of course, I just want to say a massive.
Thank you to each and every single one of you for listening We truly appreciate it. Thank you guys for taking time out of your day to spend time with us With us I'm Tim and I bring the magic. and we will see you all in the next one. Goodbye [00:15:00] and so, our journey comes to an end. Guess that wraps things up! You guys did alright! Carefully raise your left arm, and exit the vehicle. Oh, and don't forget to retrieve your stolen belongings. We hope that you've enjoyed your visit with us, and that you will come back soon. See you real soon! Bye everybody!
Remember we love you! Bye! Be careful getting home!