We’ve all read about the experts: the artists, the scientists, the engineers—that special group of people known as Imagineers for The Walt Disney Company. But who are they? How did they join the team? What is it like to spend a day in their shoes?
Disney Legend Marty Sklar wants to give back to fans and answer these burning questions. When Marty was president of Walt Disney Imagineering, he created a list of principles and ideals for the team, aptly named Mickey’s Ten Commandments. Using this code of standards as his organizational flow, Marty provides readers with insights and advice from himself and dozens of hands-on Imagineers from around the globe. It’s a true insider’s look like no other!
Searching for that perfect gift for the #1 Disney fan in your life? Explore more behind-the-scenes stories from Disney Editions:
- Travels with Figment: On the Road in Search of Disney Dreams (By Disney Legend Marty Sklar)
- Magic Journey: My Fantastical Walt Disney Imagineering Career (By Kevin Rafferty)
- Travels with Walt Disney: A Photographic Voyage Around the World (By Jeff Kurtti)
- Eat Like Walt: The Wonderful World of Disney Food (By Marcy Carriker Smothers)
- Walt Disney: An American Original (By Bob Thomas)
- Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition (By Disney Legend Dave Smith)
- Disney Facts Revealed: Answers to Fans’ Curious Questions (By Disney Legend Dave Smith)
- Disney Trivia from the Vault: Secrets Revealed and Questions Answered (By Disney Legend Dave Smith)
- My Pride: Mastering Life's Daily Performance from Broadway's Record-Breaking Lion King (By Alton Fitzgerald White)
- Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service, Revised and Updated Edition (By The Disney Institute)
Marty Sklar was a student at UCLA and editor of its Daily Bruin newspaper in 1955 when he was recruited to create an 1890s-themed newspaper, The DisneylandNews, a month before the theme park opened. After graduating, he joined Disneyland full-time in 1956, where he held responsibility for most of the park’s publicity and marketing materials.
In 1961, he moved to WED Enterprises, renamed in 1986 to Walt Disney Imagineering, where he worked on attractions for the 1964 New York World's Fair. For nearly ten years, he wrote personal materials for Walt Disney for use in publications, television and special films. In 1974 he became vice president of concepts/planning, and guided the creative development of EPCOT.
As vice president of creative development, executive vice president and then president of Imagineering for nine years, Sklar supervised the design and construction of Tokyo Disneyland, the Disney-MGM Studios, Disneyland Paris, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney California Adventure Park, Tokyo DisneySea, the Walt Disney Studios Park and most recently Hong Kong Disneyland.