The Walt Disney Company has named Bob Weis as the new president of Walt Disney Imagineering. He will be replacing outgoing executive Bruce Vaughn who has been the Chief Creative Officer for the last 8 years. Vaughn will help with the leadership transition in the coming months before departing the Walt Disney Company for other opportunities. Weis will also replace Vaughn’s counterpart Craig Russell who will remain with the company. Russell has worked with Vaughn as a co-leader of Imagineering and will be taking a new role within Imagineering. The announcement was made in a memo by the chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Bob Chapek. Imagineering is the branch of the Disney company that designs and builds theme parks, resorts, and other guest experiences.
Weis is currently leading the Shanghai Disney Resort project in China. This newest Disney theme park is scheduled to be opening on June 16, 2016. His replacement at Shanghai will be announced at a later date. Weis has also been instrumental in the re-imagineering of Disney California Adventure and the creation of Cars Land. Through the years he also worked at Tokyo Disney along with being the creative lead for what is now called Disney’s Hollywood Studios in 1989.
In this new position, Weis will now be overseeing many projects around the globe including a new Frozen themed area in Walt Disney World’s Epcot, an Avatar themed land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and many Star Wars and Marvel projects of varying sizes around the globe.
What do you think of this new development for Walt Disney Imagineering?
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