Questions for an Imagineer?

[disneyfunatics]

My wife and kids were nice enough to suprise me with a 'Lunch with an Imagineer' at the Brown Derby during our upcoming June trip to WDW as a Father's Day present. If you were in my shoes for this lunch, what questions would you ask? I'll make a list, ask as many questions as I can, and report my findings upon my return.

[Figment!]

While they are typically more than happy to answer general questions about their occupation, be advised that they are still legally mum about any future plans.

[bleukarma]

Congrats on the awesome present!

Maybe ask him how he became an Imagineer. Like what type of school he went through, the interview process, etc.

I wonder what perks he gets working for Disney, other then the free admission. Has he traveled to different places to do research for his job? It would be interesting to know!

Maybe ask him what his favorite project he worked on was, and why.

[Kristi Kay]

What an amazing Fathers Day gift! I just get my dad Ties, which i probably forgets about one week later....You'll remeber this for your entire life!

How did they arrange this?

Ask him if they ever read these forums for ideas...or feedback on their projects- that would be insteresting....

What department does he particurally work in? Film/Attractions/Resorts or do they all do them all?

Did he go to school with the intentions of working as a DI?

Did he major in Art/Engineering/Film/Interior Design or what?

Is it true that Disney mainly only uses Imagineers who graduate from a certain Art School out of California?

Does he get annoyed w/ Universal for copying so many of Disney's Ideas or When his x- co-workers leave DI to work for Universal or Open their own film companies?

Whats a typcial round table discussion like? Is it announced that they need to put somthing in Tomorrowland, for example, and everyone works on their own ideas and then presents them at roundtable or how does that work?

How does he feel about The Animal Kingdom? Is it was they expected?

Why is it that most disney films, the family structure is broke 99.9% of the time. (I've always guessed it's b/c they average american family is broken, but it would be interesting to hear the actually truth.)

Thats all I can come up with this very second...I'm sure I'll think of more and I'll let you know.

Kristi

[kid_at_heart]

What a great present. I did this with my 8 yr old son in January. To answer some of the questions posed already..

You can set this up with Disney Dining, just like ADRs. The lead time on this is 60 days before the event. These are held at the Brown Derby and just recently Artist Point.

The group size is the Imagineer plus seven at most. We were lucky and it was the two of us and the Imagineer.

Our Imagineer graduated from University of Kansas as a mechanical engineer. I don't know if there is an exclusive art school or not. He did not plan on Disney at first, in fact, they turned his resume down about 3 times. He got interested in Disney as a large shipping project, instead of conveyors for boxes, you have Goofy's Barnstormer.

The Imagineer will talk about their past projects at length. They will talk about present projects if they have been announced. Our lunch was the day after the announcement of changing the Millionaire location at MGM into the Buzz interactive arcade event. So, he was able to talk about that project, and he prefaced that portion of the conversation that way.

Obviously, they are real people too. My son is a Cub Scout and we had just had our pinewood derby. The Imagineer has a son in Boy Scouts. They talked about how to design the car. (It turns out that my son's car did better than the Imagineer's son's car had done)

If you have any questions about how Disney designs rides or the concept (brainstorming) meetings, this is the perfect chance to peek behind the curtain at how Disney does it.