Theme Park Classes?

[Minnie Imagineer]

I was wondering if anyone knew of any theme park classes, that teaches you everything about how to make an attraction (not an online course). Preferably in NJ or near Philly.
thank you!

[dmosher]

I have no idea if they actually have Theme Park Classes but most designers are actually engineers or architects. Certainly the artists do the rendering of the idea, but the actual building would be taken on and designed by the above mentioned vocations.

D

[Mufasa]

I was wondering if anyone knew of any theme park classes, that teaches you everything about how to make an attraction (not an online course). Preferably in NJ or near Philly.
thank you!

Let me first start by saying that if you're serious about a career in themed entertainment then location plays an important role and honestly, the opportunities to be found in Philadelphia or New Jersey will be very limited.

You need to be where the industry is concentrated so a preference is very much slanted towards offerings in and around Southern California (with the noted programs like USC's film school or CalArts and the Art Center College of Design with their connections to the local industry, alumni connections, etc).

Now, specifically at the university level it's unusual to find courses or programs that are geared towards themed entertainment. However, there is a very unique program offered through UCLA's Department of Theater since 2001 called the "Art and Process of Entertainment Design" (Theater 146 for undergraduates and Theater 446 for graduate students).

This course is actually offered in conjunction with Disney (the professor is none other than Bruce Vaughn- the Chief Creative Executive at WDI who leads the creative teams at Imagineering, Disney's Creative Entertainment and our Research and Development teams).

The course is a three part series and open to students from all disciplines (students from other departments besides theater are encouraged to sign up)- where through the course students will be taught how to work as a team towards developing a concept and the elements of story telling- a hands on approach through the same processes used at Imagineering.

I will warn prospective students that this is a very demanding course and not many will see their way through the entire year-long course as besides the natural drop out rate because of the work load, you also have to be invited to proceed into the latter quarters of study which is very competitive for the available slots.

However, this is an excellent opportunity for WDI to evaluate new talent as several graduates of the course have since gone on to internships and later careers at WDI- after all you are basically being evaluated/graded by the head of creative at Imagineering.

Also, there's some unique field opportunites and guest speakers brought in from Disney so students are able to really interact and network directly with people in the industry.

You won't find a lot of details on the course contents itself because all students are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement because of the direct access into Imagineering but as a result you are brought often to the parks or Disney offices for field excursions to see how the concepts and techniques discussed in class are executed in the real-world.

Another program at the graduate student level is the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon which offers a unique 2 year Masters of Entertainment Technology Degree jointly through the College of Fine Arts and Computer Science departments.

Annually, a group of ETC students comes out and tours WDI to preview the technology being developed and there's also an established internship program with the ETC.

There are a number of projects that have been collaborations between the ETC and Imagineering (for example, many of the post show activites for the current Spaceship Earth at Epcot were developed by ETC students) and there's also a collaborative research center that has been established between Disney and Carnegie Mellon (the Disney Pittsburgh Research Lab) to develop technology like robotics and computer animation and human interaction with those interfaces.

[Minnie Imagineer]

wow thank you for all the information! I would LOVE to take that class! I am going to college at University of Central Florida next sept. and they have some theme park courses but none that have to do with design. I might have to do a double major to get into WDI. (hospitality managment & maybe design?)
agian, thank you so much!

[J9]

I don't know if this is quite what you are looking for, but Temple does offer an undergraduate degree in Tourism and Hospitality. I believe that have graduate classes as well - a Masters and a Doctorate. Check it out! (And if you're a PA resident, the in-state tuition can't be beat!)

[DisneyDog]

The University of Delaware also offers a similar degree. They even have a hotel that students work in to learn the business.