Walt Disney Imagineering

WED Enterprises

Walt Disney, Inc. (WDI) was formed by Walt Disney on December 16, 1952, with an engineering division tasked with designing Disneyland. In light of objections from his brother Roy O. Disney as well as those of potential stockholders, WDI was renamed WED Enterprises in 1953 based on Disney's initials. In 1961, WED moved into the Grand Central Business Park. WED Enterprises's theme park design and architectural group became so integral to the Disney studio's operations that Walt Disney Productions bought it on February 5, 1965, along with the WED Enterprises name.

Imagineering

The unit was renamed as of January 1986 to Walt Disney Imagineering. In 1996, Disney Development Company, the Disney conglomerate's real estate development subsidiary, merged into Imagineering.

Imagineering created Disney Fair, a U.S. traveling attraction, which premiered in September 1996. With poor attendance, the fair was pulled after a few stops. Disney Entertainment Projects (Asia Pacific), Inc., a new Disney Asian Pacific subsidiary, selected a renamed fair called DisneyFest as its first project, taking it to Singapore to open there on October 30, 1997.

By 1997, Imagineers were in several buildings in Grand Central Business Park when Disney purchased the park. In September 1999, Disney Imagineering announced the Grand Central Creative Campus redesign of the industrial park with a new office-studio complex anchored by Disney Imagineering. Some of the buildings were demolished to make way for new buildings. The additional space would be for sound stages, production facilities and offices.

As part of the Walt Disney Company's March 2018 strategic reorganization, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts merged with Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media segments into Disney Parks, Experiences and Products (DPEP), giving Disney Imagineering oversight of merchandise, games and publishing development.

In July 2021, DPEP chairman Josh D'Amaro announced that approximately 2,000 DPEP positions would be transferred over the next couple of years to the Lake Nona area of Orlando, Florida. In November 2021, it was reported that as many as 90% of the positions to be transferred are Walt Disney Imagineering positions, as DPEP relocates Imagineering's headquarters from Glendale to a new 60-acre corporate campus in Lake Nona. The Imagineering positions that were reportedly exempt from relocation were those dedicated to Disneyland or certain international parks. The relocation was reportedly motivated in part by $570 million in tax breaks from the state of Florida, as well as Florida's business-friendly climate, lower cost of living, and lack of a state income tax. This relocation was cancelled in May 2023 amidst a feud with Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

In 2019, the first season of the documentary series The Imagineering Story was released on Disney+. The series details the history of Walt Disney Imagineering and creation of the Disney theme parks around the world. A second season is scheduled to be released in 2028.

Since the 1960s, Imagineering's headquarters have been located in nondescript office buildings on the site of the former Grand Central Airport in Glendale, California, about two miles (3.2 km) east of Disney's corporate headquarters in Burbank. Many of these employees were set to be relocated to a new facility in Lake Nona, Orlando, Florida, however the move was canceled in May 2023 amid employee objections and disputes with Florida's state government. There are field offices at Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort. There are also offices located at:

Walt Disney Imagineering Disneyland Field Office, Disneyland Resort

Tokyo Disney Resort Administration Building, Tokyo Disney Resort

Walt Disney Imagineering Hong Kong Site Office, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort