163. Josh Shipley on Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, Marvel, and Disney Kingdoms

Josh Shipley worked for more than 21 years at Walt Disney Imagineering.

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The world of theme parks continues to evolve as technologies change and new stories emerge. Imagineer Josh Shipley has been a close part of those updates during the past few decades. Josh is my guest on this episode of The Tomorrow Society Podcast to talk about his career. As part of the Disney College program, he started on the Great Movie Ride at the Disney/MGM Studios. Josh’s theatrical background fit perfectly with playing a gangster on that classic attraction.

Josh talks about his long road to join Walt Disney Imagineering in 1996. His work as a figure finisher for Countdown to Extinction led to production design roles at Tokyo DisneySea and DCA. Josh next created the digital show production role and worked on countless attractions. During the podcast, we talk about that technology and challenges being on the forefront. A great opportunity arose with updates to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln in 2009. Josh worked with his mentor Tony Baxter as a creative director on the new version of the classic show.

In 2009, Disney’s Marvel acquisition introduced possibilities for attractions and other cool projects. Josh describes his work on the Disney Kingdoms series on comics like Seekers of the Weird and Figment. Also, he collaborated with Joe Rohde on Marvel and tells a fun story of taking Joe to Comic-Con. We next talk about Josh’s recent work as Chief Creative Officer at Evermore Park. The mix of immersive theater and a traditional haunt intrigues me. Finally, Josh talks about his current role at the Hale Centre Theatre in Utah. I really enjoyed the chance to talk to Josh about his awesome career.