Women of Walt Disney Imagineering

12 Women Reflect on their Trailblazing Theme Park Careers

By: Julie Svendsen, Karen Connolly Armitage, Becky Bishop, Paula Dinkel, Maggie Irvine Elliott, Elisabete (Eli) Erlandson, Peggie Fariss, Tori Atencio McCullough, Katie Olson, Pam Rank, Lynne Macer Rhodes, Kathy Rogers

Narrated by: Xe Sands

Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

A dozen female Imagineers recount their trailblazing careers!

Capturing an era - and preserving the stories they have told their daughters, their mentees, their husbands, and their friends - a dozen women Imagineers have written personal stories from their decades designing and building the Disney worldwide empire of theme parks. The book represents a broad swath of Imagineering's creative disciplines during a time of unprecedented expansion.

Intertwined with memories of Disney legends are glimpses of what it takes behind the scenes to create a theme park, and the struggles unique to women who were becoming more and more important, visible, and powerful in a workplace that was overwhelmingly male. Each chapter is unique, from a unique Imagineer's perspective and experience.

These women spent their careers telling stories in three dimensions for the public. Now they've assembled their stories in print, with the hope that their experiences will continue to entertain and illuminate.

©2022 Julie Svendsen (P)2022 Disney Editions

Wonderful Disney Journey

I really enjoyed hearing personal stories of some of the women of WED and WDI. And I LOVE this narrator!

Massive Disney fan

As a feminist I always was curious about the experiences that young women Imagineers had when they first entered WDI and throughout their careers. Super interesting read

heartfelt and empowering

if you have a love for Disney and dream of being an imagineer listen to this. I was brought almost to tears several times for the amazing stories. I've wanted to be an imagineer for so long and this felt like it put my dream close to reach

interesting insight into WDI

seems that all women of my generation went through similar journey in male dominant fields (USMC & IT)

still enjoyed their insights and prospective, since these situations are still prevalent in public and private sector of the business world!

There's a great big beautiful tomorrow

I saw this book at the Art of Animation shop last time I was at Disney Springs. I went back and forth on purchasing the book when I first saw it as I'm almost a strictly audio book person now a days. A few months from when I last saw this book I decided why not look to see if there's an audio version. Ahh, I was so glad and quickly listened through the book in just a few days. The narration was quite perfectly toned. It wasn't until I was an adult well into my current career that I fell back in love with Disney and part of my heart wanted me to go back to get a different degree so I could become an Imagineer. Though I strongly doubt that'll ever happen, this book spoke to my heart as I'm also in a traditionally male dominant field. The passion and perseverance simply lifted me when I needed it the most. I hope this book does inspire others to pursue their Disney dream. Thank you authors for sparking that Disney love in me even more.

Enjoyable!

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the stories of these pioneering women of Disney’s Imagineering. The content was fascinating and helpful to understand the many paths to working for the Walt Disney Company. The only negative was the narrator’s vocal interpretation of each writer’s voice. Her reading made this diverse group of women all sound uniform in tone (and slightly condescending). I wish each writer had read her own chapter, or at least that several narrators were used to lend variety to the readings and help to differentiate each unique story.