Zeitgeist Design & Production, the creator of UX-IRL: User eXperiences In Real Life, has announced that author, speaker, entertainment experience developer and former president of Walt Disney Imagineering, Bob Weis, will climb aboard the Zeitgeist time machine on Friday, 30 May at noon PST for the 43rd flight on The Spirit of the Time Zoomcast.
Celebrating the history, insights, and personal stories of the people responsible for the world’s greatest immersive experiences, The Spirit of the Time Zoomcast, produced by Zeitgeist Design & Production, is a bespoke, live peer-to-peer interactive web-based talk show.
Each month, one influential industry icon is invited to time travel back to their youth and track their career trajectory through time and space, stopping at significant moments along the way to share wisdom, tradecraft, and tales from the trenches.
Previous time travellers include Tony Baxter, Peggie Ferris, Joe Rohde, Ali Rubenstein, Bob Ward, and 38 other groundbreaking industry professionals.
The entertaining and educational production is free with an Evite RSVP. Past journeys can be viewed on YouTube and the Zeitgeist website. Audio-only versions are available on all podcast outlets.
Please click here for more information.
Prodigious portfolio
Currently celebrating the release of his professional biography, Dream Chasing: My Four Decades of Success & Failure with Walt Disney Imagineering and his first work of fiction, Ghost Dog, Bob Weis was part of the second generation of Disney Imagineers. Starting in 1980, Weis served as a project coordinator on Tokyo Disneyland before leading the creative team on The Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios) in Orlando.
After leaving in 1994 to found his own experiential design studio, Design Island, where his clients included Kennedy Space Center, the Smithsonian, and the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry, Weis returned to WDI as executive vice president in 2007 to oversee development of Cars Land and other new attractions at Disney California Adventure.
In January 2016, after being responsible for all creative and design aspects of the Shanghai Disney Resort project, Weis was named president of Walt Disney Imagineering. He retired in 2023.
See also: Bob Weis: a life in themed entertainment & the next chapter
For producer and co-host Ryan Harmon, welcoming Weis aboard The Spirit of the Time Zoomcast brings his own career full circle. Harmon became the youngest Disney Imagineer in June 1987 and his first assignment was to assist the design team for The Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park.
Working directly for show producer George Head, Harmon got to know Weis and served as his design apprentice, conducting content research, assembling presentations, and even performing onsite coordination during the park’s construction. The two have remained friends over the decades and celebrated the park’s 35th anniversary at a 2-day in-person and online event that Harmon co-produced in Orlando last May.
“Bob was a mentor to me in the early days of my career,” says Harmon. “It’s going to be so much fun to learn how he got his start, about all the amazing projects he’s touched over the decades, and especially about why he didn’t put a train around Shanghai Disneyland!”
Harmon’s regular co-host Joe Lanzisero will be traveling in Madrid, Spain on the date of the live broadcast, so this journey of The Spirit of the Time Zoomcast will be co-hosted by Disney icon Tom Morris, who worked with Weis during his own 40+ year Disney career and has flown twice aboard the Zeitgeist time machine.
“Bob and I go way back,” says Morris. “We both started at WDI in 1980 and rode the Imagineering roller coaster for about forty years. I can barely remember anything, so I’m hoping Bob will refresh my memory about what happened during all that time!”
Zeitgeist Design & Production
Founded by 38-year location-based entertainment industry veteran Harmon in 2010, Zeitgeist Design & Production tells the tales of some of the world’s most successful brands, intellectual properties, and historical accounts through the creation of UX-IRL (User eXperiences In Real Life).
See also: Emotion is key: Zeitgeist Design & Production on successful experiences
From the initial creative vision and strategy to master planning and design, to turnkey production solutions, the team at Zeitgeist Design & Production has designed and/or built over US$12 billion in beloved guest experiences for Walt Disney Imagineering, Universal Creative, Chimelong Group, Hersheypark, BBC Worldwide, MNC Land, Sea World/United Parks, and dozens of owner/operators and developers around the globe.
Earlier this month, Zeitgeist Design & Production reflected on its achievements as it marked its 15th anniversary. Over the past decade and a half, the company has evolved into a world leader in themed entertainment design and production, remaining independent, with its founders personally involved in every aspect of every project.
