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Unveiling Disney Parks: Transforming Stories to Reality
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00:00all right everyone welcome to unveiling disney parks transforming stories to reality
00:12and coming up to the stage is our moderator sybil crumb vice president of marketing and
00:18commercial strategy for disneyland resort good morning everybody thank you all so much for being
00:26here and thank you for the energy in the room i think we just had some great energy leaving the
00:31room so which is fantastic we're just going to build off of that and in fact i think it's just
00:36perfect symmetry as we think about abc as we think about all of the networks in the disney company
00:42what this team does and there is an illustrious group coming up behind me they transform stories
00:48both small and big screen to life in our theme parks and so i cannot wait for you to meet this
00:54incredible group so first if i may start with barbara buza who is the head of walt disney
01:00imagineering an amazing woman amazing so let me start with barbara thank you barbara for being here
01:08let me also start with um bring out carmen smith carmen smith is an imagineer she is a 40 plus year
01:15cast member and she is dope from the top to the bottom let me just say that let me say that
01:22uh next is brooke anderson brooke is a producer she is a creative she won't tell you that she was
01:29also a um a legacy trained broadway talent as well so brooke come on out come join us
01:39next i'm gonna have to tell you his name is chris chris shepherd but if i slip into shep you'll know
01:43what i'm talking about chris is the vice president of special events he also leads broadcast synergy his
01:50team is leading our entire activation across the disney company for essence this year he is amazing
01:56come on out shep
02:00and my sister savonne davis savonne davis is the vice president of marketing strategy for walt disney
02:06world and she is amazing not only has she worked across the world in our parks at disneyland paris
02:14she has also let been a leader a senior leader for l'oreal she has done some amazing work on all
02:20sides of the continent so savonne davis please come out
02:26so we're going to get into this because i could spend time on their bios alone but they would be
02:31very upset with me if i did uh let me start with barbara um as the head of imagineering as you might
02:38imagine some of you may not even know what imagineering is imagineering is our internal team that literally
02:43leads every theme park every resort development creative architecture engineering it is um a
02:51multifaceted group of disciplines uh it is a incredibly creative and diverse group of individuals
03:00but barbara you've had a chance to see many stories come to life as films from films to to life in the
03:06theme parks where does that inspiration come from to create these experiences that are so transformational
03:11yeah thank you and that was a really great description of walt disney imagineering i appreciate that and
03:16you know we like to say we immerse our guests and experiences that create memories of a lifetime so
03:22that's a very high bar and when you talk about the stories that we create and and bring those stories to
03:28life um it's important to also look at who who are who is the talent behind creating those stories so we
03:35obviously work a lot with the studios but imagineers also create original stories as well and so um we're
03:41as a global uh storytellers it's important that we also make sure that we're looking at that talent
03:48across the world and you look in terms of our parks you've got paris 30 years tokyo 40 years and you just
03:55can go around the world and so again that depth of creativity and storytelling around the world is
04:00something we lean into a lot and again also it's how we look at the the characters as well so as
04:06as an example looking at avengers campus and again creating those live characters that begin to create
04:12those interactions for our guests so very very excited and brooke let's expand on that how do we
04:18engage guests in dynamic settings like avengers campus yeah absolutely what's so exciting about avengers
04:24campus and fantasy and sci-fi and the marvel world uh for me is that it does create that space for
04:31diverse performers and diverse people to tell those stories and besides the thrills and the shops you know
04:39we have our characters wandering around you get to interact with them it's very tactile um one of my
04:45favorite elements in the avengers campus is the dora milaje show where we really get to see these women
04:53interact with the audience in such a beautiful way in an inspiring way and then i was lucky enough
04:58just recently to bring nick fury to the park and again reach out to our audience all of our audiences
05:06with a nick fury activation that is both interactive tactile and just so much fun and inspiring sending
05:13our audience off to interact with characters who are walking around it's a great great time i always
05:18have a great time walking around i want to go i know let's go and so you mentioned nick fury uh nick
05:25fury actually sings uh as of yesterday so we just um announced and launched rogers the musical and so
05:33for those of you who follow marvel you know that there was um kind of this seed scene placed in one of
05:39the shows where nick fury for the first time saying and so we we launched that show yesterday and it has
05:45already kind of drummed up this cult following so we are super excited about that you know chef you
05:50and i've been on this journey for a while kind of bringing these stories to life from a broadcast
05:54perspective from an events perspective um when you think about one of the activations i think we both
05:59have a lot of heart for it was wakanda forever so when we have big you know huge activations across
06:04screen we do what's called synergy where we activate across our entire division and company and you know
06:10i know that we both had just a lot of love for bringing that to life in the parks in a unique
06:14way can you talk about just what that means to you because every time i think about it i can't
06:19help but do this right i just can't help it you know i think we'll be doing this for the rest of our
06:23life right i'll be 90 something years old like wakanda forever yeah no it's great i mean look what
06:27what barbara talked about with storytelling um wdi gives us a chance to have great content great stuff in
06:35our parts um our our movies allow us to do more things but what i love about events we can take
06:41what's already great about our parks and enhance it even more we can give people a chance to make
06:46something their own and that's what this was all about so we were able to really transform our area
06:52of the park into wakanda but through the food through the music through the dora milaje i mean it
06:59really was wakanda forever and to be able to see our guests immersed that much into the avengers
07:05spirit was powerful it was fantastic and that's really what we try to do with events period it's
07:09it's we have something called these land after dark um that has been very popular for our guests
07:14to walk around they make the park their own right they get to turn star wars into star wars for the
07:20night so we know galaxy's edge is fantastic thank you again barbara but we still want our guests to
07:26come in and feel like they're actually part of it and whether it's a broadcast you know shoot where
07:31you get to come to this land and see the wonder you're shot whether it's one of our events or oogie
07:35boogie bash for halloween it's through these events we really be able to get our people to touch and
07:40feel and immerse themselves and be part of their own so i love the business absolutely now it's
07:45interesting we bring a plethora of stories to life and sometimes they're in our parks obviously but we
07:51also bring our stories to the people themselves carmen can you talk a little bit more about how we brought
07:56disney's and pixar's soul to audiences across the country uh what was that like absolutely we
08:01realized that so many people don't have an opportunity to come to the park and uh a team
08:06of us got together and realized that we could bring some magic to the people again bringing the park to
08:12the people so we take a look at ip that's coming down the pipeline and what we do is look at what are
08:17some of the universal themes how can we take the story and make it universal and with uh soul we that was
08:24really easy because uh when you have this passionate character joe gardner who has his passion for jazz
08:31and his love for students what we did was we did some deep dive research and we realized that jazz
08:37is an american art form inspired by west africans and french caribbean indigenous and so we put all
08:43those elements together and created a traveling show kicking it off in new orleans to young people and
08:50adults will really people of every age and it went on to new york city los angeles california
08:58and also up north and we're looking at more stories coming down the pipeline where we can bring that
09:03magic to communities around the country to let them know that we've got incredible characters
09:08protagonists that are inspirational and aspirational so we're excited about this journey about bringing
09:14disney magic disney magic to people around the country i i love that you know i got to experience
09:19that actually with savan we were walking the park together i um have been at disneyland for the last
09:24three years but my my og park my heart is still at walt disney world and so we walked that together and
09:29experienced it um because it was in florida was in downtown disney in california just as you mentioned
09:35um and i tell you um savan you know again she is doped from the top to the bottom herself she also created
09:42what's called celebrate soulfully i stole it at disneyland you know i you know i i asked first
09:47um but i did steal it um but can you talk to us a little bit more about celebrate soulfully
09:53yes well celebrate soulfully obviously brings us great joy and um just lots of fantastic memories i'm
10:02glad to have been able to spend that time with you um and continue to spend that time with you because
10:06it's now coming into its fourth year um in between walt disney world and disneyland it's a reflection of
10:13experiences uh that are an upliftment um a reflection of black culture and heritage uh come to life
10:21through art food and of course music and so i start there to then say to carmen and your team thank you
10:28the work that you did um on on the exhibit the soul of jazz exhibit that uh started the tour um at epcot
10:37theme park was just a marvelous marvelous addition to celebrate soulfully uh and so we're just really
10:43thankful for the work that you did to bring that to life um joe gardner being the voice of the tour
10:50you know of course a musician a mentor and a lover of music being able to share that experience with our
10:55guest was just amazing to add to it the rammy award winner john batiste who's from right here in new
11:03orleans being able to lend his song his music as he composed many of the songs that were a part of the
11:11film soul from disney and pixar it's just a fantastic synergy uh for us at walt disney world uh and so
11:19bringing that all to life is a reflection of i think as i think about it is just making me think of song
11:25and dance and joy and so as uh carmen and her team continue to imagine what tours look like and how
11:32we bring you know the art of disney um to the people we're really looking forward to having a
11:37cultural stop right here at walt disney world as well i love that and barbara you know meaning
11:44especially with us being in new orleans it's so rich with history the jazz the culture um the arts
11:50you know it's incredibly special too because tiana her her origin story is right here in new orleans
11:56and i understand that you met with the chase family as recently as last night for dinner um and and leah
12:02chase some of you may know um is actually the inspiration for princess tiana and i had a chance
12:07on a recent field trip i love field trips um to join carmen and the team to go to the restaurant and you
12:15actually see a signed um picture to the family of tiana and it's just a beautiful experience but
12:21what was it was it like to talk to the family about the chase legacy yeah i was just actually even
12:26noticing a lot of the conversation we've had now is mentioned food music yeah you can't come here not
12:32think about the food i'm already exactly um but you know it was incredibly inspiring and you know again
12:38i want to thank the team because again part of what we look at when we create these stories is making
12:42sure we're doing that research really again as i say as fantastical or as aspirational some of these
12:48stories are it's really authentic authentically rooted so you know two things that really came
12:54to mind to me you know when we spent some time with the family yesterday at the restaurant was this idea
12:59about family and community and you know many times there's a perception if you go into one of our theme
13:05parks it's just all about entertainment it is entertainment but the root of what we do really is
13:10about family and community and there's different with with food music of course so again incredibly
13:18inspiring and also inspiring was to look at also the cross generations and again when you look at
13:23family and there is just that that bond and that carrying on the stories carrying on the legacy and
13:29when we look at our parks and look at the experiences we create you know what i like to say sometimes is
13:35you know you think of that that moment in time and then you're right you know somebody passes
13:39on that was that moment and you know sometimes we don't really value a moment until it becomes a
13:44memory and again and these are those memories for a lifetime so again even just the the dinner last
13:50night and i have to tell you i ordered a main course and my side dish was the fried chicken
13:55chicken and then and then a real side dish was the mac and cheese i like to eat when your side dish is
14:03the fried chicken we can definitely hang out oh that was dessert oh i had that too i like to order dessert
14:08first life is short order dessert first peach cobbler pecan pie and um oh my god bread pudding
14:16i'm surprised we didn't roll you in here
14:20yeah whatever no it was fantastic and just again the koala and the other thing that just so important
14:25is the quality the quality of everything one just that engagement the experience the the people
14:31within the community people that really are trying to bring we see a lot of divides going on in our
14:36country and around the world and and again being really leaders and bringing people together i love
14:42that i love that we know the first opening of the attraction will actually be at walt disney world this
14:46summer um and it's thrilling but there's so many other thrills at walt disney world i mean it's not just
14:52the thrills that you would think with a kind of an attraction it's also the thrills from a heart
14:56perspective syvonne what would you build on that you know sybil you're right um the experiences at our
15:02parks are thrilling uh but at the same time as you said chef a thrill is different for every person
15:09you know you make it your own whether you're thinking about the rides and attractions um that
15:14certainly can make your stomach flip or the other experiences with uh that bring memories barbara as you
15:20said uh long lasting memories with your family your loved ones um that just fill your heart maybe make
15:26your heart go a flutter uh with the excitement those are all thrills and as i you know as i think about
15:33that think about some of my own personal favorites and actually some that i know many of us may enjoy as
15:38well like you know riding on guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind and just the dope music that goes with
15:44that it's kind of a thrill in itself um flying through the hallelujah hallelujah mountains at uh on
15:50pandora on flight of passage my absolutely favorite ride hands down or of course the new opening um
15:57launching you right into the grid on tron um but more heartfelt the the moments when you spend looking
16:03up at the fireworks over magic kingdom with your family and realizing a cherished memory um and and of
16:09course one of my personal favorites is stepping into the arms of many um just feeling the the warm embrace
16:16of that hug you know when i think about princess tiana it actually reminds me of also one of my best
16:23memories thus far at disney um when i saw her our first american and first black princess um to see that
16:31joy and to see ourselves see myself in that experience is just so heartwarming it has me so excited
16:38for tiana's bayou adventure coming up soon um and just the other experiences that's right yeah
16:45coming that will really create even greater connection and excitement for the thrills
16:51i love that you know and brooke you know we are actually thrilled that tiana is not our only
16:56black princess we have a new one in fact we recently debuted her at disneyland and well disney
17:01world in the theme parks can you tell us more about that i absolutely can but um i have been in this
17:06role for 10 months as a show director i've been a cast member for a very long time and what a thrill
17:11and an honor to be sitting among such incredibly talented and um generous uh leaders in our company
17:19so thank you so much for that um one of the most magical things about bringing the little mermaid
17:26to the park live action little mermaid to the park was being able to work with these incredible
17:32teams you know we do nothing in a bubble and so my designer was with me every step of the way my
17:37producer was with me every step of the way another thing that has been so exciting stepping into this
17:43role these last um 10 months thank you very much um has been the frontline cast members our cast members
17:51who were right there on the ground delivering this experience i think they were more enthusiastic about
17:57this than anybody and it was just so fantastic they were dancing to the music they were thrilled to
18:04see all the little details that we had put into our location at the disneyland resort and so it was
18:09it's just always a thrill for me to get to talk to those folks um and it it it was just exciting and
18:17one of the things that's really been fantastic as well is experiencing
18:22not just that live action ariel is black folks ariel she is truly everyone's ariel the first child who
18:32ran up to me was this toe-headed little blonde girl she said thank you so much i don't know what you did
18:37but thank you and she gave me a big old hug now don't get me wrong she's still black folks ariel
18:44but she is everyone's ariel and it's just so wonderful to to be able to bring that experience to our
18:50our our guests um who come to her in tears they're so excited and and i just never realized i i've been
18:59so thrilled to see the amount of artistry that goes into bringing things from the screen to the park we
19:06don't just slap things up there we spend the time to get it right and that is again thanks to all of
19:12these wonderful people up here on stage with me yeah and i want to put i want to contextualize the 10 months
19:18um if you think about just um the amount of tenure we have i'll be at 19 years in august you know and
19:26carmen i i said over 40 but you might want to give that number for folks actually it's 40 it'll be 41
19:32in november i thought so and shep what about you um at 35 i was born at disneyland that's right
19:40that's right because he's only like 35 and a half he was a child baby uh when we started um and
19:47syvonne how many years for you now oh goodness four and a half so i'm a baby she's a baby still
19:51a baby and barbara what about you i guess i'm an infant because it's three years to the date
19:57yesterday right in the middle of the pandemic that's right and i have to say too um i gotta stop
20:03for a second um because we had a little bit of time barbara i would love for you to give a little
20:07perspective on your background because when you talked about being a licensed architect and just the
20:12background it takes to be you know you'll have to know that barbara is the head of walt disney
20:16imagineering um that is amazing in and of itself and so to be a licensed architect leading these
20:23amazing disciplines is i'd just love for you to give just a second on your background oh thank you
20:28um yeah so i mentioned joining walt disney imagineering three years ago um but my background
20:34is as a licensed architect and it's so it's always about really creating um and envisioning any idea but
20:41the key is how do you actually execute it how do you build it because we can have all the great ideas
20:45but until we can build them uh for our guests and so just to give that context uh so as a licensed
20:52architect um in the united states there's probably about 120 000 licensed architects but of african-american
20:59women it's probably less than 600 so when i had originally done that calculation i kept thinking
21:04i know i'm good at math but it's less than a person it's like 0.4 percent so i really represent less than a
21:11percent less than a half of one percent of my profession and so you know if you look at the
21:17the statistics it'd be easy to say i don't have a chance so the odds of being where i am even being
21:23an architect being an african-american woman architect and also being a president of walt disney
21:27imagineering um i'm very very proud of that i am sitting next to a black unicorn who loves fried chicken
21:33as a side item so she is all the way dope uh let me just say that but what's important is again
21:38you could let the stats hold you back but i think what i've said is it's it needs to be that motivation
21:43the opportunity that what i if i can do it any any young girl any young boy anyone can do it and so
21:50just wanted to be that inspiration for it thank you for that and that's why we took the pause we had
21:55to do a pause for the cause um i want to wrap us by asking you know as you think about diverse
22:00storytelling and what you're looking forward to next year if you had one thing what would you say
22:05and i'll start with you syvonne uh well as i am uh in marketing and i have a wonderful team of
22:11marketers in the room with me today um i believe that my job is to make sure that we create and extend
22:17the invitation demonstrating that we're welcoming all in so that's what i look forward to continuing
22:22awesome chat i'm looking forward to just the future i mean really we have started a journey here
22:28that we're going to continue next year our food and wine festival this year was as diverse and next
22:34should be even more i'm inspired by essence already we're going to bring that back home to cali so
22:39please come out uh and see our event but yeah i just can't be more thrilled about the future i love it
22:44brooke um next year i'm really looking forward to expanding on celebrate soulfully as a show director
22:51i get to say let's put a band here let's put an art installation here and i'm just thrilled to be able to
22:58help expand and tell that story and spread that message particularly looking forward to expanding
23:03on the story of frederick douglas who was recently added to our lincoln theater activation thank you
23:09carmen i love that yeah thank you carmen absolutely carmen curated that experience well i just want to
23:15say that i am just so excited just to be on the stage with each and every one of you and it's really is
23:20it really is an honor and what i'm looking forward to is we've got tiana's bayou adventure coming down the
23:25pipeline and more stories to tell about people of every walk of life and again you said something
23:31really beautiful which was that these stories are for everyone and when you go to dookie chase's
23:37restaurant people from london and france ireland ecuador singapore they come all dressed up like
23:45tiana like tiana the entire family and so we're universal storytellers and i'm just so honored to be
23:52part of this journey with each and every one of you oh i love that and barbara closes out yeah and
23:56i would just say i think it sort of builds on the same line to really create that truly inclusive
24:03environment where we will meet our guests where they are and where they actually choose to be and
24:08so every child has something in there where they say i see myself and this can actually be an inspiration
24:14i love that listen i look forward to welcoming you all to walt disney world and disneyland the
24:20invitation is open um thank you all so much for being with us thank you all so much for
24:26helping us to bring the magic um you are the magic our guests our consumers you're who we do this for
24:31we honor you with everything that we do thank you all for being here thank you
24:35and if you have not gotten these we are honoring you with a gift so these copper ears are specifically
24:47for you thank you
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