What does it take to create a theme park attraction? Or better yet,
what does an art director do?
You're not going to believe this, but if you see the attraction behind me
we are actually going to meet Theron Skees, he is the designer, the art director, here.
He was a Disney imagineer for 20 some years! We're going to get to meet him and hear what it takes!
But in the meantime, let's go check out the Tower of Terror. Follow me!
I am so excited to meet you! What was your title at Disney and what was your role?
I've been on the creative side of the business for
all 23 years, and that includes roles like art director or creative director.
I've had a chance to do a lot of different things, which has been fun. I started as sort of this,
I guess you could say, more of a trades person for film and television.
I did a lot of painting, a lot of backdrop work, that kind of thing.
And from that point I kind of realized that film wasn't really delivering what I wanted.
What I really wanted was to create a place. I wanted to escape, I wanted to
go into these environments, and when I found themed entertainment, theme parks,
it was just a match made in heaven. I just was a really good sculptor so
in film I did big, you know, foam sculptures, fiberglass that kind of thing.
And come to find out that that translates pretty good to artificial rock work, believe
it or not, so I got hired at Universal Studios to do all the rocks around their big lagoon.
Well, that led me to work in Paris. Back then it was Euro Disneyland.
Oh, that's right. I was so honored to be able to work
on Pirates of the Caribbean there.
And my role was art directing the rock work, and then when I came back to
Orlando I started at Disney MGM Studios, and got to do some really cool things.
They built Fantasmic, we changed Tower of Terror multiple times, we added a Hundred Years of
Magic there, the stunt show. We did Rock n' Roller Coaster. There was just a lot of different
attractions that happened within that decade. They built so much!
What was that process like to have to start with a concept and then roll it out?
You know, at Disney and Universal, of course, you sell popcorn, you sell
products, T-shirts, those kinds of things. But, the overall commodity that you're
dealing in is experience. The key is that you don't start by saying
"We have this new great roller coaster technology. Let's get it in our park and make it work because
the highest, fastest, whatever it is, is what's going to get the people in the gate."
Disney starts off by saying, "What's the best kind of experience that would attract that
particular audience?" And then that leads to bunches of different concepts, different ideas.
And then as you narrow that down, you then say, "Well here's the experience we want to create."
That determines what ride system you use, and sometimes
that's why a Disney or Universal will invent a ride system that doesn't exist because
it's something so proprietary that is the only thing that would deliver that right experience.
When Walt opened Disneyland in 1955 he really invented the theme park,
and he really took this idea of the emotions that we feel when we watch a movie.
It's okay to go on that journey with the characters in a tv or, you know,
show, or a movie you're watching. I feel sad, I feel happy, I feel joy,
I'm in love, I'm angry. Those emotions connect you to the story.
So Walt said, "We can do that not just in two dimensions on a screen.
We can actually create that in three dimensions and people can walk into it."
That's when the theme park was born. It had this really interesting effect that I
think was probably unintentional is that other businesses saw how important it was to connect
a consumer with a product in an emotional way. There's so many different industries
and markets now----retail, dining, entertainment--- that understand how important it is now to make
this emotional connection with a consumer.
I got the chance to go down into the Disney Springs area,
which I know you had a huge heavy hand creatively on that.
So what was it like to then transition and work on restaurants or that "feeling" in that area?
This was brand new. You couldn't do Mickey. You couldn't do Goofy. None of the characters would work there.
Part of the reason is because if you're going to bring in these third-party brands they were like,
"We want our brand to not be overwhelmed by the Disney brand." So, how do we sit side by side
in this comfortable way? So we really had to boil that down to,
"What's the core experience that a guest would think of as Disney?"
And we came up with that would be a place. And you really feel like it's detailed and it's done well.
The music is done well, the lighting is done well. All of this is done with a level of excellence
that the Disney brand is known for. We really integrated and
wove story through everything. We really knew that the Disney fans would love it.
You weren't just in Disneyworld, you also had some time in Paris and some other
opportunities as well. So, what other projects were you doing?
Well, I had the opportunity to actually go back to Paris
in 2006 and expand the studio park there with one of my favorite attractions, Tower of Terror.
So we built Tower Terror, we built Hollywood Boulevard, we had shops and dining facilities.
And then we had a really cool opportunity to move to Hong Kong and work at Hong Kong Disneyland.
I did that for four years from 2008 to 2012. It was really the first
generation of Chinese to experience a Disney theme park. So it was amazing to
be a part of helping to educate how to experience a Disney product.
It was really fascinating to be a westerner in that culture learning how they perceive
story and experience, and then adapting your design and methodology to be meaningful.
I really feel blessed to have been able to do so many different things, but apply the same process
and really see that it works. Whether it's an attraction, a theme park, a hotel,
a cruise ship. The same process works in creating spaces and telling stories
in all these different areas. Give me some more information on what you do now.
Sure, well I started a company called The Designers Creative Studio.
I'm not satisfied just doing one thing, so I teach at different universities.
I run a coaching service where I help people with their career journeys.
I have online classes that I've created to help teach people.
And then I consult. I have different groups that I'm working with whether it's a UI/UX company,
whether it's a themed industry, or retail. I do different types of work that way.
And then I also speak, so I go to different locations and do keynotes and workshops.
Really, I just want to inspire, guide, and educate people.