Legendary Imagineer (and Disney Legend) Joe Rohde has shared a glimpse into a recent conference that he was the keynote speaker at which detailed the representation of Maya culture in theme park settings and beyond. The conference, titled Maya at the Mouse, was a multi-day conference that wrapped up recently that brings together Maya archaeologists along with noted museologists, filmmakers, and theme park designers to explore the ways the Maya past is presented to people.
While the conference was a non-Disney event, Rohde shared that the project team working on the all-new Tropical Americas land coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom were in attendance. Any time that Walt Disney Imagineering overlaps with the retired Rohde, it grabs our attention, especially as it relates to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Here are some of the insights shared.
Joe Rohde Discusses Tropical Americas
Rohde started his social media post by saying that he was able to explore Animal Kingdom a bit while down in Orlando for the conference.
I was down at Walt Disney World for a week mostly at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It’s nice to see that the park is still much as it should be, a credit to Imagineer Kyle Price and his team and to the maintenance and operations folks whom I joined for an early morning tour to talk about finishes and patina.
Rohde praised the Maya at the Mouse conference, which he said was presented by a friend of his named Mat Saunders. Saunders is an archaeologist, and he, along with some of his colleagues, are consultants for the upcoming Tropical Americas land.
Also in attendance at the conference were members of the team working on the upcoming Tropical Americas land, including project leader Joan Hartwig. Hartwig was one of the four individuals who performed the Tropical Americas groundbreaking ceremony, and she has a 30+ year career with Disney, beginning as a scenic artist in film and television production and then transitioning to theme park and resort design and production.
Hartwig was the art director for the immensely popular Avatar Flight of Passage attraction in Pandora – The World of Avatar. She currently leads the Tropical Americas team as they work to create a setting celebrating a region extending from the Yucatan through southern Mexico, Central America, and into South America.
Hartwig presented an early concept of the upcoming Maya temple that will be the main facade for the Indiana Jones retheme of the DINOSAUR attraction. Rohde stressed that the image shared was an early concept and not representative of the final structure.
That said, the details that Hartwig presented were “met with thunderous applause” from attendees, which instills confidence that the team will get the small details right – a key component of not only theme park design but a cornerstone of what guests have come to expect from Disney’s Animal Kingdom in particular.
The team working on the new Tropical Americas land was able to attend and Team leader Joan Hartwig presented the conceptual development of the upcoming Maya temple along with an exceptionally intelligent explanation of its intended symbols which I am proud to say was met with thunderous applause. (the image shown is not the final temple.)
Rohde also spoke at the conference, and his topic covered “the value of cross-disciplinary collaboration between artists and researchers… and the dangers that come from putting something out before the public eye that is inaccurate, yet popular”. I can’t imagine a more interesting and relevant topic for the lifespan of the DinoLand USA retheme project.
Work on the Tropical Americas project is well underway at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, with early demolition of the former Dino-Rama section of DinoLand USA having been substantially completed recently.
For everything you need to know about the Tropical Americas retheme project for DinoLand USA, check out our article below!
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
