This just in! Imagineer Joe Rohde has announced his retirement! The man who led the creative team who designed one of Disney's most amazing theme parks, Disney's Animal Kingdom, has decided it's time to move on... How sad for all of us who love his creative and passion!Below is the announcement found on Zach Riddley's post:
"“I know, this is going to sound weird for a 65-year-old person, but it’s kind of like a coming-of-age moment. I have things to do that are different than this,” Rohde said Monday. “There are things I want to create, there are things I want to do. There’s only so much time in a lifetime to do these things.”
The timing for retirement works well on the Disney front, too, he said.
When Pandora opened at Walt Disney World in 2017, it was part of a three-pronged Rohde rush of projects to open, including the Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission Breakout refresh of Tower of Terror at Disney California Adventure theme park and Villages Nature Eco-Resort, which is adjacent to Disneyland Paris. They all opened within a three-month period.
“What that did is it created a hiatus gap. Where now I’m in development on things, and development can go on forever. So, part of the opportunity dates all the way back to there,” Rohde said.
“I feel like this is just a great sort of time, and it won’t continue. I mean, once you get ramped up on one of these gigantic, gigantic projects, then that’s another five to seven years, you know?” he said.
Bob Weis, president of Walt Disney Imagineering, used his Instagram account to salute Rohde’s real-life adventurer status and his work ethic.
“His unyielding commitment to excellence across all aspects of projects, and his demand for authenticity and including diverse, indigenous cultures in design and production, are hallmarks of his projects and what differentiate them from all others,” Weis wrote.
Rohde laughed thinking back about his early days at Walt Disney World.
“When I started, I simply knew nothing. … I didn’t know anything about Disney. I didn’t know anything about Epcot. I didn’t realize who all these completely famous people were walking around me,” Rohde said Monday.
“I didn’t know how to do the work. I didn’t know anything. So, it was this incredible opportunity to learn and to learn from people who at that point in time, were part of the original founders of the company itself,” he said.
“Joe has spent his career mentoring and advising all of those he works with, and I know that he continue to do that until Jan. 4 and beyond,” current Imagineer Zach Riddley posted on his Instagram account Monday afternoon.
In more recent times, Rohde said was proud of his Animal Kingdom and Aulani work because of the real-life connections they created.
“There is a whole nest of personal creative projects that I’ve been interested in developing further,” Rohde said. “Now, mind you, all those things are kind of speculative. That’s part of the adventure of it, is to step out into something really new, truly new for me.”
Furthermore, Joe shares this via Instagram:
"I’m sure by now many of you have come across the news that I am retiring from Walt Disney Imagineering. It has been 40 years since I stepped foot in the door at age 25, not knowing anything about theme parks, Disney, or what it meant to work for a big company. Every day of my life since then has been a learning experience. I’m very glad to have had that opportunity, and proud of the work that has been done, not just by me, but by all my fellow Imagineers, and especially those who worked by my side over the decades. But 40 years is a long time, and this strange quiet time seems like a great opportunity to slip away without too much disruption. If I wait, I will once again be in the middle of another huge project and by the time that is done, I would be truly old. I’m not that old yet and there are things I want to do that cannot be done here. We encourage a culture of storytellers, not just amongst ourselves but among our guests and our fans, and because of this, there is a strong temptation to take this moment and turn it into a story. But what story? I think it’s a coming of age story. I started at Disney as a child, and I learned almost all my life lessons there, developed my confidence, recognized my skills and weaknesses, and went on to work with both... and do what could be done. I could stay forever, but that is like remaining in another kind of womb. I want to see what a grown man might be able to do on his own. This site here is not really for Disney. It’s for us. I imagine that there are many of you who I will be sad that I will no longer be a daily part of the Disney company, and there will be some of you who will drift away and no longer follow my ruminations because they feel they aren’t relevant. But I will still be here. And I will still be thinking about things, and doing things, and talking about things… Because that’s kind of what I do. I mentioned in my departure note and I will mention here again the tremendous debt that I owe to our guests and our fans who have been so generous. Working as an Imagineer has made me a good designer, but it is all of you who have made me a better person."
