Project Development Process at Walt Disney Imagineering Paris
This article summarises the content of Björn Heerwagen’s NextGen Showcase presentation on Facility Input, from 11th December 2023.
The latest educational session was brought to us by Björn Heerwagen, Director of Design and Production at Walt Disney Imagineering Paris. Björn was a 2021/2022 NextGen Showcase mentor and has recently become a TEA Master. Björn took the NextGen participants through ‘facility input’.
At Walt Disney Imagineering Paris, Björn has a team of around 86 Imagineers who are responsible for taking projects from blue sky, design, development, production, installation and delivery phases to park operations.
He is going to talk through the seven key steps for creating and accomplishing projects.
Each project that the team works on is unique. This variety makes the work interesting and challenging, thereby motivating Imagineers to constantly learn and innovate.
“The design process itself needs to be adaptable to align with the goals of each project”
The seven steps for projects were then presented, with Björn explaining that each step has its own sub-steps that need completing. These being:
Blue sky
Concept
Feasibility
Design
Production
Installation
Opening day
Project roadmaps are created and used to outline and detail the various processes. This goes from pre-development, the start of the project, through implementation of design to opening and ongoing operation.
The blue sky phase kicks off the start of a project, often fuelled by pre-existing inspiration such as a desire to bring a specific story to life or to build on an existing theme. Research is key at this stage and is carried out through watching and analysing films, through to visiting far-off locations for inspiration.
Imagineers taking part in a brainstorming session. Image via Walt Disney Imagineering (2024)
This high-level creative development during the blue sky period creates the concept.
Moving into the concept phase, we begin to provide more specifics around how the experience will look, sound, smell and feel. Sketching, sculpting and experimenting, using a larger team with specific knowledge in the key areas necessary to move the project forward.
Testing an attraction’s experience during concept development. Image via Walt Disney Imagineering (2024)
The completion of the concept phase then allows us to move into feasibility.
The feasibility phase means we need to grow the team who will collaboratively work together to identify how the project can be delivered in its entirety. The evolution of ideas here is an important part of the design process, as the laws of physics always need to be adhered to!
Björn explains that as exciting as these three key phases are, lists of deliverables are required in order to keep teams on track and ensure the left hand knows what the right hand is doing and secondly, through facility input sheets, clearly layout the teams’ expectations and needs from others such as power, data, air, supporting structures. This information forms the basis for the design phase and allows other departments to better understand needs.
For many, design is the heart of the project. Attention is given to detail of all the components required to successfully execute a project.
The design phase is all about iteration, making a series of choices until the final design is identified. The team needs plans for every individual piece that will come together in the final product, and, as the design phase itself advances, checkpoints occur at the 30%, 60% and finally 90% completion stage. Mock-ups and prototypes may be used during these phases to prove out - or not! - that things are really going to work and to verify that the final guest experience is going to be joyous.
Björn highlighted that the phases are all important in order to work together as a cohesive unit, sharing information on a continuous basis with a variety of specialised teams, everyone being essential to the progression of the project. Everyone having deliverables and receivables means people can better inform one another of what is required from each team, and that all members are sufficiently informed to finish their associated tasks on the project. Björn highlights the fact that a multidisciplinary approach is vital for success!
The completion of the 60% design phase triggers the overlap for construction teams to begin, as the building itself will be needed before anything can be added. Buildings need to be watertight!
While construction advances, teams are in production – a phase where design has become reality. Imagineers oversee the creation of every part of the project and the various fabrication phases to ensure that everything goes to plan, ensuring that the designs and intentions are achieved with integrity, fidelity, and quality. This stage also overlaps with others - similarly to when ground-breaking happened and the building started to be built – as the project moves into the installation phase. At this final stage, it is all about bringing in the various elements that have been built and fabricated and making it all fit together.
Installation & show programming bring together various elements of the project, and Imagineers get to see their creations come to life. Image via Walt Disney Imagineering (2024)
Björn notes how “a real sense of thrill accompanies this phase- it’s inevitable!”
And, as the finishing touches are put in place, Imagineers finally see their vision first-hand.
The teams continue to work together, overlapping various activities to complete show and ride installation and various construction activities. They work tirelessly to test again and again the various systems to prove durability and alignment with the operational parameters they set to achieve.
Björn explains how there is nothing quite like watching a guest as they exit a brand new Disney experience.
“The true test of an Imagineer’s design prowess is opening day.”
When the results are spectacular, the celebration is genuine - but brief, as there is still work that needs doing! Documents need to be archived and support given to the Cast Members running and maintaining the experience.
Björn finishes by instilling the importance of the close-out of a project. This is a process that typically takes between two to three months. Here, there is a duty to ensure the operators are fully informed: the operators’ success is the Imagineers’ success.
Avengers Campus opening ceremony at Walt Disney Studios, Disneyland Paris. Image via Disney Parks Blog (2022)
Björn closes with a quote from Roald Dahl:
“I began to realise how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. If you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it full speed. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good.”
We at NextGen Showcase would like to express our gratitude to Björn Heerwagen for his contributions to our Educational Program. Thank you!
For more information on the NextGen Showcase Educational Program, go to: NextGenShowcase.com
This article was written by NextGen Showcase Alumni: Dr Emily Budzynski-Seymour, with support from our Editor, Rosie Willoughby.
Image Sources:
Walt Disney Imagineering (2024), https://sites.disney.com/waltdisneyimagineering/our-process/ (Accessed 15/01/2024)
Disney Parks Blog (2022), https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2022/07/first-recruits-welcomed-as-avengers-campus-at-disneyland-paris-officially-opens/ (Accessed 15/01/2024)
