Tom Morris & Journey Into Imagination
Opportunities In Imagination
We are so glad to have the opportunity to chat with Tom Morris about his multi-decade experience developing attractions for Walt Disney theme parks world wide. Many other podcasters, like Dan Heaton’s Tomorrow Society Podcast, do a great job overviewing Tom’s career. Ours is intended to identify the creative and organizational lessons learned that could be applied to your own life.
This is the first of a multi-part series. You can find the podcast here on Podbean and here at iTunes. You can also type in “Disney at Work & Play Podcast” when you visit Spotify.
Podcast Highlights
Allow me to build on a few items mentioned during the podcast:
The conversation mentioned the contribution of Walt Peregoy to developing some of the attraction. Walt did an amazing job on a beautiful mural for The Land pavilion, as shown below.
If you are not familiar with the original version of Journey Into Imagination, you can see the original ride for this attraction here through this video, created by Disney Dave.
As you watch this video, note how many technical innovations are used to built out this very creative artistic expression. Lasers providing musical notes; fiber optics translating into sparks; even the capture of a digital photo at the end.
Left & Right: Cranium Command
Tom mentions how he might approach Imagination on the themes of the left and right brain. Another wonderful place to appreciate these two sphere that Tom spoke of in the podcast is to visit Cranium Command, a sleeper hit at Wonders of Life in Epcot. Here Left Brain and Right Brain are presented by Charles Grodin and Jon Lovitz, respectively. You can see a video of this show below, created by Central Florida Sights & Sounds.
Additional Resources
Here are some additional resources we mentioned in our podcast:
It’s Ed Catmull who brings the business of Pixar to life in Creativity, Inc. Check it out. He noted: “Making pictures with a computer spoke to both sides of my brain.”
I spoke of Don Hahn’s emphasis on Balance. Be sure to check out his book, Brain Storm: Unleashing Your Creative Self. He speaks of balance in chapter 4: Forces.
From our recent podcast during Disney Dragon week you can see more about the three acts of Journey Into Imagination here at this link.
And if you love Epcot like I do and want to hear more stories and ideas like we shared today, please visit my Apple Book, Lessons From Epcot: In Leadership, Business & Life .
Souvenirs For You & Your Organization:
- How do you bring new ideas to the table?
- How do you play out to both the left and right side of your brain?
- How do you distinguish yourself in the marketplace because you bring both the left and right side of your brain to the table?
- Is there an opportunity for you to take on something that others have not taken on?
There’s more of Tom Morris in the days and weeks ahead. If you haven’t done so already please subscribe to us on Podbean and here at iTunes. You can also type in Disney at Work & Play Podcast on Spotify to access it there.
