The year was 1951. Walt Disney was wrapping up production on his latest animated feature film, Alice in Wonderland. Walt Disney had basically invented the feature length animated film industry, and conquered it at the same time. In addition to his films, Walt had also become famous for the stable of cartoon characters he had created over the years: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, and on and on and on…

In addition to the continuing successes of his animated projects, Walt was also getting heavily involved in live action films around this time with the production of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. One would think that Walt would have been content, but he wasn’t.

He had a proposal far grander in scope planned…

In 1952, Walt started secretly pulling aside his most talented and trusted artists and story men around the studio. Well known animators like Marc Davis and John Hench suddenly found themselves pulled from their work on animated films to work on a new, very secretive project. Walt set them up in secret little offices around the Disney Studio lot, pulled them off of the company payroll and put them on his own personal payroll. Their task: to create a new kind of family park – a theme park as he called it.

By December of that year, WED Enterprises had been developed. (WED stood for Walter Elias Disney.) For the next two and a half years, the trusted team at WED would be charged with creating “Disneylandia” (later shortened to Disneyland) from the ground up. The people working at WED became known as “Imagineers,” named for their imaginative engineering feats.

The early days at WED were exciting. These guys and gals were basically inventing the theme park. There were no rules. There were no guidelines. There was no competition to study. These early imaginers invented the modern theme park, and basically shaped the industry as we know it today.

They used their backgrounds in film and animation to design a park that really transported the visitors to another time and another place. Each section of the park was designed as a movie set, using false facades and forced perspectives. Rides that had been around in other types of amusement parks were dressed up and given definite storylines.

In those days, the technology was proprietary. You can still catch a glimpse of this in some of the existing original rides from Disneyland such as “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride,” or “Peter Pan’s Flight.” While there are definite stories in both of these attractions, the technologies employed in them are not at all captivating by today’s standards. But back then, this was fantastic stuff, and people were in awe of the fantasies they could explore.

WED had proven itself to be a profitable enterprise, and the Imagineers soon moved down the road to a former cosmetics plant in Glendale, California where they are still located today. Throughout the years, WED continued to dream up and design new attractions, shows, control systems, and even entirely new theme parks.

But probably the biggest contribution WED made to the industry was in 1963 with the invention of Audio-Animatronics. The very first show to employ these expensive new toys was Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room in Adventureland at Disneyland. Here, guests were subjected to a new type of animation that seemed so real and so lifelike, that many found it hard to believe.

From there, the Animatronic craze took off. Imagineers thought that if they could make a little bird move, why not try to create a human figure move as well? And so they pressed forward in their research and developed the first lifelike human figure in the form of Abraham Lincoln.

Old Abe was actually part of a grander show that was in development for an entirely new section of Main Street. This show was called the Hall of Presidents, and would feature Animatronics figures of all the US Presidents up to that date. However, before any other presidential figures could be built, WED suddenly found themselves in the middle of creating shows for the 1964-65 World’s Fair in New York. One of the organizers of the fair visited the WED facility and saw the Lincoln figure, and just had to have him on display at the fair. He convinced the State of Illinois to sponsor a pavilion at the fair so Lincoln could make an appearance.

And so, along with “It’s a Small World,” General Electric’s “Carousel of Progress,” and Ford’s “Magic Skyways,” “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” made its world debut at the fair, and returned permanently to Disneyland at the conclusion. It is interesting to note, however, that the full Hall of Presidents did eventually get built at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.

Over the years, WED’s accomplishments continued. They created Matterhorn Mountain, which was the first roller coaster to run on steel tracks, the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere, and such classics as Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion.

After Walt’s untimely death in 1966, the Imagineers had to learn to move on without their greatest dreamer. But the ideals he left behind would continue to inspire all of their future work.

In 1984, after the arrival of Michael Eisner and Frank Wells, WED’s name was officially changed to Walt Disney Imagineering. The Imagineers of today have come a long way from that original group. Today WDI has a full-blown research and development arm, and is staffed by talented people from over 50 different disciplines.

The Imagineers of today are responsible for creating some of the most technologically advanced theme park attractions that have been built, including the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, GM Test Track, and most recently, Mission: SPACE.

But although their rides and attractions have become bigger, more advanced, and in some cases more thrilling, they are still based on the one thing that made Disneyland different from all the other “amusement parks” of the day – they are rooted in storytelling.

Every Disney attraction, large or small, has some sort of storyline woven through it. It may be something as simple as the promotion and celebration of world peace at “It’s a Small World,” or something as complex as trying to uncover the mysteries of an old, abandoned Hollywood hotel that has been haunted by the ghosts of five unfortunate guests who mysteriously disappeared over six decades ago…

The story is the glue that holds everything together. Without an immersive story, you’re no longer on an adventure with Indiana Jones, or following Brer Rabbit through the Briar Patch. You’d just be on another amusement ride. That’s what makes the products of Imagineering different. It’s the quality of the show, the immersive storylines that have proven to be successful and popular.

Although others have tried, and many have come close, no one yet has been able to achieve the sort of total immersion that the Imagineers continue to do. But then again, no other company had the advantage of being led by Walt Disney.