Imagineer

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Blend of imagine +‎ engineer.

Noun

Imagineer (plural Imagineers)

  1. An engineer at The Walt Disney Company responsible for designing and implementing innovative concepts or technologies, often found in theme parks, installation art, or fireworks.
    • 2000, Andrew Lainsbury, Once Upon an American Dream: The Story of Euro Disneyland, University Press of Kansas, →ISBN, page 62:
      In all, the Fronierland that Disney Imagineers designed for France was new and strangely sophisticated. Combining elements of New and Old Worlds, it resonated with themes that were at once past and present, ultra-American and worldly.
    • 2006, Keally D. McBride, Collective Dreams: Political Imagination and Community, Penn State University Press, →ISBN:
      Disney Imagineers are offering us fantasy as real life. We can buy it and move in permanently.
    • 2009 October 13, Daniel Indiviglio, “Disney Making Its Stores Magical”, in The Atlantic[1]:
      As I'm sure Disney would put it, its "imagineers" want to make visiting their stores a magical experience. They don't want kids to just visit when they want a new Mickey shirt or the latest Disney movie on DVD. They want them to visit these stores for their own sake.
    • [2014 July 31, Joe Pinsker, “Why Taco Bell Likes to Call Its Workers 'Champions'”, in The Atlantic[2]:
      Taco Bell isn’t alone in putting a positive spin on their job titles. Disney refers to its employees as “cast members,” and some are even “imagineers.” Apple has its “geniuses.” (In a similar vein, Subway has taken to calling its customers "fans.")]
    • 2023, Alex Shakar, The Savage Girl, Harper Collins, →ISBN, page 15:
      As far as Ursula can make out, these are not the actual Imagineers—the writers and theme park conceptualizers employed by Disney—but rather some kind of cabal of evil businessmen from the future.

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