Disney Imagineers Bob Seketa and Steve Grant, both graduates of Ball State University, spoke to students Monday about what the job of an Imagineer entails and how they help create the magic that is Disney.
Imagineers dream up and produce what they see, Seketa and Grant said. Headquarters for the Imagineers is in Glendale, Calif., but various satellite offices are located in different cities, with approximately 1,300 imagineers worldwide.
The two men said Imagineers look at a blank sheet of paper as the greatest opportunity in the world. They listed and described the steps for creating opportunities, including brainstorming, concept development, feasibility, design, production and installation.
More than 250 people attended the presentation, said Joseph Bilello, dean of the College of Architecture and Planning. The presentation, which was in the Architecture Building, had a good turnout, he said.
Bilello said the presentation was good--especially the question and answer session, which followed the lecture.
"That was the most engaged our students have ever been," he said.
Ashley VanMeter, a freshman architecture major, said the Imagineers' work is prominent in many places at Disney World.
"It's something that is pretty well known, and it's cool to have them here talking to us about it," she said.
April Grant, a fifth-year landscape architecture major, said she attended the lecture because she is thinking about applying for an internship at Disney.
She said she wanted to learn more about what landscape architects do.
"You always hear about the art side, and not about the architecture side," she said. Grant said she enjoyed the presentation and learned that people can have fun while creating places people can enjoy and doing landscape architecture at the same time.
Seketa, who graduated from Ball State in 1984, works as the senior architecture and engineering manager for Walt Disney Imagineering in Florida. His job combines the technical aspect of architecture with the creative ideas of a show producer, while still dealing with budgets and schedules of project managing, he said.
During his 15-year career with Disney, Seketa said he has been involved with numerous projects, such as miniature golf courses, facility rehabs, granite monuments, show set pieces, food facilities and merchandise shops.
Seketa has visited the Ball State campus three times since he graduated, including last summer. He said that Ball State has an excellent faculty and staff.
Seketa said the best part of his job is the people.
"The people are so friendly," he said. He said he enjoys helping people have a good time and seeing people with a smile on their face.
Grant, who graduated from Ball State in 1978, has managed more than 50 theme park projects for Walt Disney Imagineering. He has been involved with project design, production, budgeting and scheduling, and his designs have included theaters, restaurants, retail stores, monorail stations and various structures for Magic Kingdom, Pleasure Island, Animal Kingdom, EPCOT Center and MGM Studios. He has 25 years of architecture experience.
The Imagineers told students the history of Disneyland's creation. Seketa and Grant played a recorded interview with Walt Disney, in which he described how he came up with the idea for Disneyland. They also showed pictures of Disneyland when it first opened in 1955.
In 1965, Walt Disney World opened in Florida because there was a lot of untouched land there, they said.
The Imagineers talked about the most recent project they have been working on:the Hong Kong Disneyland park, which opened Monday.
Seketa said he helped design a miniature golf course in Winter Summerland. He showed the floor plans and elevations of Winter Summerland, as well as pictures of the project under construction.
Seketa and Grant talked about EPCOT's Leave-a-Legacy Monument, which is a stainless steel plate that has photographs of visitors on it. They discussed the process of how the monument was built and showed many pictures of the different phases.
Grant talked about his involvement with the Emporium Expansion, a $3 million store on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom.
Seketa and Grant discussed other projects they have been involved with, such as Harbor Attack at MGM Studios and a 50th anniversary stunt show at MGM Studios, which took 18 months to complete.
After the presentation, students asked questions including some about how to get an internship at Disney. The men handed out fliers, hats, coasters, coffee mugs and note pads to people who asked questions.
If Seketa said that if he could give advice to students wishing to become an Imagineer, he would tell them to be "flexible, humble and willing to travel."
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