2 0 ye a rs a n d 232 T h e a Awa r ds l ater , I t ’s t im e to ta k e a b ow, T E A! Poor Star Tours. When the original Disney-George Lucas collaboration opened in January, 1987 there were no Thea Awards. The adventure, the first true “hit” for a motion-based simulator attraction, had to wait another 25 years to receive one of the prestigious “Thea Awards for Outstanding Achievement” - at this year’s Thea Awards Gala. Not to make light of this achievement in any way - after all, in our industry where storytelling is prized above all, the new Star Tours – The Adventures Continue at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios has grown from one simple storyline to “54 different story combinations,” daring you to figure out how to see them all in your lifetime. And the 2012 Thea Awards Gala held March 17 at the Disneyland Hotel will, by evening’s end, have presented the 232nd Thea Award since the very first was given to Harrison “Buzz” Price for Lifetime Achievement in 1994. When I received the second Lifetime Achievement Award the following year, I was at first upset. It seemed as though my peers in the industry were telling me that my career was over - congratulations, Marty, on a “lifetime of distinguished achievement.” But as I began serving on the Thea Awards Committee beginning in 1996 (you can’t escape if you receive the Lifetime Award!), and continued to contribute to Disney Parks and Resorts projects for another 14 years until I retired from Walt Disney Imagineering in 2009, I realized how important it was that, whenever possible, the recipients of TEA’s renamed “Buzz Price Thea Award – Recognizing A Lifetime of Distinguished Achievements” needed to be active participants in their companies and fields, so that they can pass on their experience and knowledge and passion for creating new wonders for our guests, to the next generation of leaders in our industry. In many ways, that concept has been a fundamental tenet of TEA’s growth from the day Monty Lunde, president of Technifex, first proposed the idea to a few of his friends and industry associates … to today’s TEA roster of some 700 memberships. Recognizing excellence and passing on our know-how and passion for entertaining audiences around the world is the same theory that has guided the Awards Committee in determining the recipients of all those 232 awards for Outstanding Achievement that TEA has presented since 1996, when Mystery Lodge at Knott’s Berry Farm. Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas, the first Rainforest Cafe in Schaumburg, Illinois and Space Mountain – From The Earth to the Moon at Disneyland Paris were among the ten recipients of the first Thea Awards for Outstanding Achievement – when TEA started naming projects as well as people for Thea Awards. You have qualified for your MBA degree in learning from the very best in themed attractions, retail, live shows, museum exhibits, traveling adventures and limited budget challenges if you have experienced a majority of the memorable projects that have received Thea awards through the years. Who can forget such attractions TEA has honored as Indiana Jones Adventure in Disneyland (1996), The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man at Universal Studios Florida (2000) and Along the QuingMing River in the China Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai… live shows and event spectaculars like the Acquamatrix Show at the Lisbon World Expo 98 (1999), The Legend of Mythica at Tokyo DisneySea (2008) or the Olympics Opening Ceremonies in Beijing, China (2008). Then there are museum presentations like The International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. (2004), The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum in Springfield, Illinois, USA (2005), Beyond All Boundaries at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans and Science
Marty Sklar THEA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENT 1995
Storms at MSI Chicago (both 2010)… water attractions like SeaWorld’s Discovery Cove (2001), The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta and The Real Cost Café at Monterey Bay Aquarium (both 2006). And there are the recipients of the Thea Classic Award, like Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland (the first so honored, 1997), Tivoli Gardens in Denmark (2001), Universal Studios Hollywood Tram Tour (2002), Knott’s Halloween Haunt (2003), Efteling Park, Netherlands (2004) and Disneyland Park on its 50th birthday (2005). Thea Awards have also recognized themed retail projects such as The Grove in Los Angeles (2003) … themed restaurants like FoodLoop at Europa-Park, Germany (this year) … limited budget achievements like The Imagination Workshop in Temecula, Ca. (2004) … technical achievements including FastPass at Disney Parks (2001). And of course, from the very beginning we have had the Lifetime Achievement honorees, from Buzz Price in 1994 to the first woman honored, Disneyland’s Kim Irvine (2010) and this year’s recipient of the “Buzz Price Thea Award,” the very distinguished Imagineer Joe Rohde. In all my years as a member of the Thea Awards Committee, perhaps the most interesting discussion was the question of how to appropriately honor The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando. As I recall, it was Tony Baxter (another TEA “lifer”) who led the charge to make sure we were very clear about what we ultimately called the “Thematic Integration of Retail, Food and Beverage Experiences.” The Awards Committee wanted this achievement to be clearly identified for its “MBA teachings” for cast members and managements. In the end, this meant four different awards for (1) a “New Park Land,” (2) the “Feature Attraction” and (3) its “Technical Creativity” (the latter two both applied to Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey) and (4) that all important guest experience, the “Thematic Integration of Retail, Food and Beverage.” This attraction represents placemaking and storytelling at its zenith, and we made sure it was spotlighted. My esteemed boss, the late Frank Wells, president of The Walt Disney Company, was fond of asking his colleagues what we had accomplished “at the end of the day”? Well... to me what TEA is today is an amazing tribute to Monty Lunde’s vision and passion in conceiving the idea … to Gene Jeffers’s stick-to-it persistence as Executive Director …to the pioneers and leaders, from Walt Disney and Buzz Price, to all the Lifetime Achievers and TEA Board members … to all the companies who have rolled the dice by investing their capital (dollars and employees) … and to all the great talents – creative, technical, managers, builders and tinkerers – whose passion for excellence has created magical experiences many times those 232 Thea Awards, for young and old to experience and enjoy around the world. Don’t take those words “around the world” lightly: 68 of those 232 awards, roughly 35 percent, have gone to projects outside the USA, including a Lifetime Achievement to our favorite European, Yves Pépin. And this year, nine of the 16 Thea Awards recognize international projects, from France to Japan, Mexico to Norway. So take a bow, TEA. Take a bow, the 700 “true believers” – TEA’s membership. Take a bow, the thousands and thousands of you whose skills have filled these 20 years with the creation of compelling projects and experiences (it’s due to TEA’s striving that your names are listed by the projects you helped create, in this printed program!) Today we have our own “Oscars,” our own Golden Globes – and with the project credits shared by the project owners and published by TEA, we even know who we are! And while you are basking in what you have achieved, remember what Walt Disney told his staff on the 10th anniversary of Disneyland:
“Don’t even think about resting on your laurels. We’re just getting started!”