Joe Rohde is
co-chair of the SATE 2012 Experience Design conference taking place
at Disneyland Paris 19th-21st September. SATE is organized by the
Themed Entertainment Association (TEA). The SATE 2012 theme is
"Cultural Diversity: Obstacle or Opportunity?" This article was provided by Walt Disney Imagineering in March 2012 on the occasion of Joe's being honored with the Buzz Price Thea Award for a Lifetime of Outstanding Achievements, by TEA.
At SATE 2012, Joe will speak about the creation of Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa.
Joe Rohde didn’t realize it then, but he began his
career in theme park design as a kid. His father, a cameraman, would sneak him
out of school to explore the sets of films like Hawaii, Planet of the Apes
and Earthquake. His mother, a high
school drama teacher, made sure that Joe’s artistic talents were put to good
use as a set designer; she also cast him in such disparate roles on stage as
King Arthur, Bill Sykes, Caliban and Poseidon. As the oldest of six kids, Joe
learned to accept leadership, delegate responsibility, and manage chaos. He
went to a liberal arts college, Occidental; while majoring in studio art he
also fed his passion for history, drama, nature, creative writing, and theme parties.
All in all, it was the perfect background for a visionary in the theme park
industry.
Joe started at WED in 1980 thanks to Imagineer
John Zovich, who admired Joe’s work as a high school art teacher and told him
he ought to apply. Beginning as a model builder for EPCOT Center, Joe also
painted sets for Fantasyland attractions and began to do concept work for
projects like Captain EO in the mid-1980s. Joe was the designer for the
Adventurers Club which opened with Pleasure Island at Walt Disney World Resort.
As the oldest of six kids, Joe
learned to accept leadership, delegate responsibility, and manage chaos.
The Adventurers Club was also an incredibly
cool-looking place that experimented with interactivity and guest involvement;
living characters related to the guests in unscripted evenings of inventive
merriment. When it opened in 1989, neither “interactivity,” nor “living
character,” were phrases widely used in this industry. Though the club is now
closed, a nineteen-year run is not bad for a theatrical improv performance. The
Adventurers Club, with its new-style entertainment and artifact-filled rooms,
reflected Joe’s predilection for not only thinking, but going “outside
over there” to feed his, and our, imaginations.
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| Aulani |
Joe’s thirst for adventure took him on a climbing
expedition in the Himalayas. He returned over the years on other trips “just to
paint” - which coincidentally entailed hiking through forest fires, fording
flooded rivers on horseback, and enduring hair-raising helicopter rides through
cloud covered mountains. Joe had also begun another quest: leading a small,
brave group of Imagineers charged with the creation of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Once again, the design territory was new and unoccupied. Animals, advocacy, and
conservation had never been addressed together as theme park subjects. The
levels of authenticity required sent Joe and his team off to the far corners of
Africa and Asia, connecting with animal and plant experts, as well as
conservation advocates, to create compelling stories about the human love for,
and relationship to, our living planet. Exemplifying this relationship is the
Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF), which Joe helped to spearhead, and
was established when the park opened in 1998. Since 1995, DWCF has awarded
nearly $18 million to support conservation programs in 111 countries.
When the Adventurers Club opened in 1989, neither “interactivity,” nor “living
character,” were phrases widely used in this industry.
For 22 years, Joe has led the creative teams
responsible for Animal Kingdom, including attractions like Asia, Expedition
Everest, and the Wild Africa Trek. They are now laying the groundwork for a new
Avatar attraction with Jim Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment. Joe is also
further exploring the interweaving of ecology and human culture as the leader
of an international group of designers for Les Villages Nature, a new resort on
the Disney property in France.
Another quest: leading a small,
brave group of Imagineers charged with the creation of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Having spent his childhood in Hawaii, Joe
immediately leaped at the opportunity to share the complexity, intricacy and
delicacy of Hawaiian arts and culture at Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa
located on the Island of Oahu. Joe’s passion for history, storytelling, and art
helped create a foundation for a project unique in all the world. Recently
opened, it is the company’s first major resort not tied to existing park
locations, as well as a celebration of Hawaii, where Hawaiian voices speak for
themselves about Hawaiian ideas.
adventure with rigorous research and firm structural thinking. He speaks about story, design and theory around the world, for organizations like NASA, IAAPA, SIGGRAPH, TILE, AZAA, and TED. He is a member of the Explorer’s Club, was Occidental College’s alumnus of the year in 1998, holds an honorary PhD from DePaul University, and now, the Lifetime Achievement Award from TEA. Congratulations!
This
article was originally published in the annual Thea Awards Program,
by the Themed Entertainment Association. Learn more about the Thea
Awards at this link.
