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WED Enterprises (WED), was formed as a separate company from Walt Disney Studios by Walt Disney in the late 1940s/early 1950s. It is currently known as Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), Disney Imagineering, or simply Imagineering.
The Name
WED stands for Walter Elias Disney. On February 20, 1986, WED Enterprises was renamed to Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI).[1] (http://compt-nvweb.occompt.com/wb_or1/details.asp?doc_id=3065454&file_num=19862493527&doc_status=V)
The Old Game
The company was formed separately from Walt Disney's main company to keep the affairs separate. Although when WED was required to design and build sets for Walt Disney's live-action television shows, WED and WDS got closer together. In 1952 when WED were asked to design and build Disneyland, Walt and his brother Roy Disney formed Disneyland, Inc to build, design, and manage Disneyland. WED Enterprises was absorbed into Disneyland, Inc and Disneyland, Inc became a division of Walt Disney Studios which was renamed to Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Employees of WED, or now WDI, are known as Imagineers. A term coined by Walt himself, it obviously comes from imagination. To this day Walt Disney Imagineering employees about 1,000 Imagineers around the globe at their resorts in Anaheim, Orlando, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong. They mainly design new attractions for Disney Parks and Resorts, but at the moment WDI is building Hong Kong Disneyland.
The New Game
Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company. The people who work at Disney Imagineering are called Imagineers.
Not such a prominent part of the Walt Disney Company as what it was, but much more famous now, although WDI is headquartered in Burbank where it was founded, it has offices in Orlando, Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong. They are usually within Disney's resorts there, although in Hong Kong their office is in the main city as Hong Kong Disneyland Resort has not been completed. Also, in Disney's original resort, Disneyland Anaheim, there is no office as it is in the same state as Burbank.
Current works
At the moment WDI are designing and building Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, which included Disneyland Hong Kong Park, three hotels and a shopping complex.
WDI are also playing a major part in next year's Happiest Homecoming on Earth party celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the original Disneyland in Anaheim. This involves various resorts trading attractions, and a 50-hour party at Disneyland in October - the month Disneyland was opened. The Sleeping Beauty Castle, the symbol of Disneyland, is being decorated by the Imagineers.
Funding
In the mid-1990s, major cuts were made in the Imagineers workforce, reducing it by half, from 3000 to about 1500 Imagineers - 75% working in Burbank. Many Imagineers left due to lack of funding, which has slowly been reduced ever since the death of Roy O Disney in 1971 - the last of the two founders. A prime example is the Tokyo Disney Sea Park in the Tokyo Disney Resort, which is not owned by the Walt Disney Company - although Disney collect profits from licenses, and allocate their Imagineers to build and design Tokyo Disney parks. When Tokyo Disney Resort's owners, the Oriental Land Company, asked Disney to design a new park, Disney told the Imagineers to design whatever they wanted - as Disney were not paying the costs. The final result was a dramatic, stylised, exciting, modern but very Disney theme park which is the third most visited on Earth. At the very centre is the Prometheus Volcano, which inside contains a state-of-the-art ride based on Jules Verne's 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' novel. Then, look at the two latest American parks - both fully owned by Disney. Disney's Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World and Disney's California Adventure in Disneyland both opened to poor reviews, due to hasty designs from the Imagineers who were working on a very tight budget. To be fair, both the parks have excellent rides which have been added to improve it, but at Disneyland Square, the gateway to either Disneyland Park or Disney's California Adventure - constantly a crowd are entering Disneyland while trickles of people go through California's gates. For a more detailed argument, see the 'Re-building Tomorrowland' link below.
Imagineers
An Imagineer (officially known as a Walt Disney Imagineer), is an employee of the Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) division of The Walt Disney Company. WDI's head office is located in Burbank, California. Imagineers create what people know as the magic of Disney in all the Disney theme parks and resorts.
Imagineers come in all forms: artists, writers, architects, engineers, model builders, construction managers, and more. Past Imagineers include Alan Kay, Bran Ferren, and Danny Hillis.
External links
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