THEMED DESIGN
Tom Anstey, journalist, Attractions Management
the story builDers Creatives from Disney and Universal on the power of IPs in the attractions industry and how to implement them
Joe Rohde Executive designer and vice president of creative Walt Disney Imagineering
Joe Rohde, executive designer and vice president of creative at Walt Disney Imagineering, recently launched Pandora at Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida. Revealing his secrets to building and telling stories in theme parks, Rohde says that to successfully use an IP, attractions creators must put visitors at the centre of their own immersive fantasy world. “We build story worlds, not necessarily story plots,” says Rohde, explaining the differences between using an IP in a theme park with using an IP in the movie theatre. “A film is a format that allows you to explore the character-based side of the storytelling world. You follow characters through a plot for about 90 minutes. What we do is much more about direct experiences – what could and is going
PHOTO: Universal Orlando
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ome of the attractions industry’s brightest and most respected minds have shared their thoughts on the creative process and challenges involved with turning some of the world’s most popular IPs into real-life places. Examining how fantasy worlds such as Pandora – The World of Avatar and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter progressed from fiction to reality, Universal’s Thierry Coup and Disney’s Joe Rohde and Scott Trowbridge shared personal and professional insights at November’s IAAPA Expo with an audience of next-gen creators, operators and leaders.
to happen to you inside this world where things also happened to those characters.” According to Rohde, who joined Walt Disney Imagineering in 1980 during the development of Epcot, the main trap that attractions creators can fall into when working with a film IP is managing to recreate a world but failing to include that visitor as an active part of that world. “When you go into a theatre to watch a movie you’re rendered pretty much inert,” he says. “You sit in the dark, in the
Rohde led the creation of Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a project which took six years to complete 90 attractionsmanagement.com
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