Event Details
| Event: | Lecture by Bill Hanus, Walt Disney Imagineering |
| Date: | 09.29.2010 |
| Time: | 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm |
| Location: | Forum Hall, K-State Student Union |
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Click here to learn more about Mick Charney’s interest in Disney. William (Bill) Hanus will describe the design methods of Imagineers - as he reflects on his own career working for that entertainment juggernaut - in a lecture scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 29, in Forum Hall of the K-State Student Union. The public is invited to attend, and there is no admission charge. Bill Hanus is one of those fabled but very real, living, breathing Walt Disney Imagineers. He currently serves as a Director of Development in the Resorts Division of Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida. Hanus has worked continuously for Disney since his graduation from Kent State University where he earned a professional Bachelor of Architecture degree. He also received an MBA from the University of Central Florida and is a licensed architect. Hanus started out with Disney on a temporary appointment, double-checking the punch list for the Caribbean Beach Resort on WDW property. His work ethic and friendly demeanor allowed him to parlay that part-time summer job into a life-long career. Hanus has ever since been associated in some fashion or another with virtually every other lodging facility built on Disney World property. Hanus is one of several directors at WDW - most manage the development of the four parks, while Hanus is one of two directors managing the design development of the hotels, lodges, vacation clubs, and resorts. Hanus works very closely with designers from some of the most prominent architectural firms across the country to which Disney sometimes sub-contracts its architectural design work. Most recently these firms have included Gwathmey Siegel out of New York and Peter Dominick (now deceased) of 4240 Architecture out of Denver. Hanus acts partly as liaison between the outside architects and the highest Disney corporate officers and partly as “editor” of the design proposals that come across his desk from those outside firms. At its most basic, his job essentially is to tell those firms, “That’s ‘Disney’ and that’s not ‘Disney’.” He is, in short, one of the gatekeepers protecting the overall Disney brand and public image. In concert with other Disney “cast members,” Hanus not only monitors the design and construction phases of each project but also contributes to the development of WDW master plans, collaborating with other Imagineers to design seamless interfaces between the Disney resort architecture (including interior design) and landscaping, traffic management, and (when necessary) entertainment venues that touch resort property such as the recently completed Kidani Village vacation club located next to one of the cage-less, zoological savannah areas of WDW’s Animal Kingdom. He is kept in the loop, too, on other Disney projects outside of Orlando such as hotels at Disneyland Paris and the recently announced plan to build a new, sixth Disney theme park in Shanghai, China. Hanus
is an articulate speaker as well as a quintessentially personable representative
for Disney especially when he takes the stage himself and talks to gatherings
about his work as an Imagineer as he sometimes does on Disney cruises. | |