What is The Maker Faire?
While researching Imagineering and opportunities for students, I came across this awesome backstage video tour of Walt Disney Imagineering. This tour was created as a virtual fieldtrip for the Maker Camp. The Maker Camp is a virtual program for teens interested in DIY projects in computers, engineering, robotics, and other innovative technologies. From July to August 2012, the Maker Camp presented daily online DIY projects with an expert counselor who provided tips and tricks of the trade. The Maker Camp is a part of the Maker Faire, started by Make Magazine in 2006, a two-day festival of innovation, creativity, and the celebration of the DIY maker movement.
Maker Faire NYC
The Maker Faire started and is often hosted in New York City, but the location is usually different every year. Maker Faire in NYC is often the biggest and best, featuring DIY enthusiasts from all over the world.
A Legacy of Imagineering
So why is this interesting to us here at The Walt Disney Family Museum? Other than the fact that the video is a field trip to Disney Imagineering and we think DIY projects are cool, making, experimenting, and innovating have been a part of Disney Imagineering, or WED Enterprises as named by Walt, since he first conceived of the idea in 1952.
Storytelling and Innovating
From this virtual tour, I learned a lot more about Imagineering today and new and exciting technologies such as model making, rapid-prototyping, robotics design and programming, ride design, and virtual experiences of in-progress attractions and facilities. However, the most interesting thing to me was the continual emphasis on storytelling. From the beginning of Walt’s career, most notably with the creation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the emphasis was always on story: story was king. WED was created to bring to life the stories Walt Disney Productions had been creating for years. Disneyland is in essence three-dimensional storytelling.
Walt said, “WED is-you might call it my backyard laboratory, my workshop away from work…there are a lot of times in our history here that we have been doing something that’s a little bit out of the run of things and it’s pretty hard to sell people on what you have on your mind. So you have to go ahead and develop it. And that’s what I’ve been doing with WED.”
Pioneering New Technologies
There was no guidebook to developing innovations such as audio-animatronics. The employees of WED had to use their imagination and skills in engineering (Imagi-neering) to come up with the technologies to bring The Tiki Birds, Abraham Lincoln, and eventually, the Pirates of the Caribbean, the ghosts of the Haunted Mansion, and many other stories to life. The virtual tour concludes with a Q&A with the Imagineers where they answer questions from teens about everything from technical questions to career questions. Anyone interested in learning more about Maker Camp or Disney Imagineering should definitely check out this video!
Visit Us and Learn More About Disney’s Amazing History
Originally constructed in 1897 as an Army barracks, our iconic building transformed into The Walt Disney Family Museum more than a century later, and today houses some of the most interesting and fun museum exhibitions in the US. Explore the life story of the man behind the brand—Walt Disney. You’ll love the iconic Golden Gate Bridge views and our interactive exhibitions here in San Francisco. You can learn more about visiting us here.
Hillary Lyden
Interpretative Coordinator
at The Walt Disney Family Museum