Joe Rohde

Most Recent Affiliation(s):

• The Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney Imagineering, Executive Designer and Vice President

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Bio:

• SIGGRAPH ASIA 2009:

  Joe Rohde is an Executive Designer and Senior Vice President at Walt Disney Imagineering. He is the creative lead for Disney’s Animal Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, and related new projects. He has led conceptualization, design, and production for Disney’s Animal Kingdom since its inception in 1990. He also oversees creative development at Disney’s newest luxury resort project in Hawaii, which is scheduled to open in 2011.

  He also led development and production of Expedition Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. This project took him and other Imagineers to the mountains of Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibetan Sichuan, researching the background details to incorporate into the very authentic environment designed for Expedition Everest. His travels for the research and production work were featured in a series of hour-long programs on the Discovery Network.

  He began his career at Walt Disney Imagineering as a model designer and scenic painter in 1980, working on the M?xico pavilion for Epcot at Walt Disney World Resort. He also worked on numerous attractions for the redesigned Fantasyland at Disneyland in the 1980s, Captain EO, and the Norway pavilion for Epcot, before commencing his responsibilities on Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

  SIGGRAPH 2006:

  Joe Rohde is an Executive Designer and Vice President with Walt Disney Imagineering. He is currently in charge of design and development for Disney’s Animal Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Joe has led conceptualization, design, and production for Disney’s Animal Kingdom since its inception in 1990.

  An avid adventurer, Joe has traveled in Indonesia, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Kenya, Tanzania, and elsewhere, both on his own and in the process of designing Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

  Most recently, Joe has led the development and production of Expedition Everest, the new thrill attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. This project took him and other Imagineers to the far corners of the Himalayas, researching the background details to incorporate into the very authentic environment designed for Expedition Everest. As with many other projects at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a portion of the research focused on conservation. Joe accompanied the scientists who documented the biodiversity of these areas, while he explored oral traditions of the yeti that were integrated into the storytelling of the attraction.