Attraction Experts Q&A: Mark Rhodes

By Kendall Wolf

Following his time at Imagineering, Rhodes served as a creative consultant for the Walt Disney Company and Universal Studios, working on concepts, treatments, and scripts for shows and attractions, including “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” and “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey,” as well as scripting for “Transformers: The Ride – 3D.” Rhodes currently serves as Owner, President & Creative Lead for Rhodes to Imagination, Inc.

What theme park souvenir might we be surprised to find on your shelf, and what’s its story?

Since hundreds, if not well over a thousand, Disney park souvenirs are filling the shelves in my office, I doubt anyone who knows me would be surprised to find what’s there.

One of my favorite souvenirs is a 33 1/3 LP “Disney’s Davy Crockett – King of the Wild Frontier” vinyl record that my daughter, Chelsea, found in a second-hand bookstore in Breckenridge, Colorado, that she got for my birthday one year. I have my official Davy Crockett coonskin cap that I bought at Disneyland as a kid sitting on top of it.

What theme park have you always wanted to visit but have never been to?

Shanghai Disneyland.

Was there a theme park, ride, or attraction that made you want to be in this industry and how did it inspire you?

The first time my family had enough vacation money to travel from Colorado to California was in the early ’60s. We spent two days at Disneyland. It was an hour drive from Burbank where we were staying with my mother’s sister and her husband, and yet we were there, waiting in line an hour before the park opened at 8 a.m. We were also there an hour after the park closed at midnight (both nights) and still felt we didn’t have enough time to see everything.

We rode the train around the park way too many times because my father had an affection for old locomotives, and he kept saying once he retired, he was going to be the engineer on the trains at Disneyland because that would have to be the best job in the world. Although I didn’t consider it then, that was probably my first inclination toward working in the theme park industry.

My younger brother and I spent a good portion of our time during those two days at Tom Sawyer’s Island, riding the riverboat around the Rivers of America. I remember being captivated by the Dumbo ride and, of course, going on Casey, Jr. My mother and sister rode the carousel over and over again. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was my favorite dark ride, with Peter Pan a close second. It took two full days to see what we thought was almost everything, and the time passed in a blur. And this was in the early days before any classic attractions like Small World, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder, Space Mountain or Splash Mountain even existed.

What’s your favorite ride or attraction as a child and why?

The second time we saved enough money to visit Disneyland, it had to be Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion. Why – because they were, and still are, spectacular! I was lucky enough that before they retired, I got to work with Marc Davis, Claude Coats, Rolly Crump, and X. Atencio – the designers of those rides!

Was there a ride, attraction, or character that frightened you as a child?

Not as a child, but Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios scared the hell out of me when I had to ride it over and over to help work out the cast show standards.

What was your oddest or coolest job in a theme park or your company?

In 1976, I was living in Colorado. At the time, I had recently had two of my novels published, and I was rewriting a screenplay that was in turnaround at Paramount. All was going well, and the checks were coming in regularly. Then, as it so often happens in the movie industry, the film was shelved. Being young and having no strings, my brother and I decided to move to Southern California. Since we both grew up watching the “Disneyland” and “Wonderful World of Color” TV shows, we decided to take the summer off and apply for jobs at the “Happiest Place on Earth.”

I went through the interview and was asked to fill out an application form. One of the spaces on the form asked, “What job do you think you would be best suited for?”  My brother wrote, “I’ll take anything.” I, on the other hand, wrote, “Walt’s old job.” A few days later, we both received letters from Disneyland Casting. As one might expect, my brother was hired, and I was not. So, I returned to Disneyland the next day and filled out a second application. This time, I filled in the blank with “Jungle Cruise Skipper.” I went home and waited several days for the mail. When it finally arrived, I was rejected a second time. 

My brother suggested I try again, but this time, fill in the blank with “I’ll take anything.” I took my brother’s advice, and finally, casting grasped my full potential, hiring me as a utility man at Club 33. As a utility man, I had the special ability not only to bus tables but also to wash the dishes. I worked in this position until an opening for a bartender at the Club came up after a few weeks. Being one of the few utility men who was over 21 and knew how to mix drinks, I got the job. I worked as a bartender and maître d’ for about a year when I was promoted to “Lead” at the Mile Long Bar in Bear Country (which closed in 1988) and then the Blue Bayou Restaurant. A Lead at Disneyland is the highest non-salaried position at a given location and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of a restaurant, shop, or attraction. 

While at the Blue Bayou, Tokyo Disneyland (TDL) was being planned at WED Enterprises. One of the requirements of the Oriental Land Company, which owns TDL, was that every restaurant, shop, or attraction provide a detailed SOP (Standard Operating Procedure). Since many of these did not exist or had not been updated since their opening in the ’50s and ’60s, almost all of them needed to be created from scratch. Since I was the Lead at the Blue Bayou, I was asked to write the SOP for this location and also for the Mile Long Bar and Cafe Orleans.

Shortly after, I was summoned to meet with Jim Cora, the Disneyland VP liaison working with the Oriental Land Company. He suggested my work had a certain coherency that the other SOPs being submitted were somehow lacking. He then asked me if I would be interested in writing all the SOPs for Disneyland. I, of course, accepted the offer since this seemed more like a boondoggle than real work, and I was given an office, an assistant, and four secretaries.

For the next several months, I worked semi-diligently on the project, and when it was completed, I was asked if I’d like to transfer to WED, working on the Epcot project as a Scope Writer at Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale. I didn’t know what WED or Epcot or Imagineering was but was informed that the pay there was much better than that of a Lead in New Orleans Square, so I jumped at the chance and made the move. And that’s how I became an Imagineer, eventually working as a show writer, director, and producer. So, the long-winded answer to the question is that the coolest, oddest job I ever had (besides being an Imagineer) was being a bartender at Club 33.

Is there anything that surprised you in your career?

Every day that Kevin Rafferty and I didn’t get fired for some of the things we did while working at Disneyland and later WDI (Walt Disney Imagineering) was a huge surprise to me.

What ride or attraction do you think everyone needs to experience and why?

Once upon a time, I would have said Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion, and I still think that. But I would also add Big Thunder Mountain (at several Disneyland parks), Indiana Jones Adventure (at Disneyland Park), Mystic Manor (at Hong Kong Disneyland), the new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (at Disney’s Hollywood Studios), Avatar Flight of Passage (at Disney’s Animal Kingdom), plus the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Transformers, the Simpson Ride, and the Minions Mayhem attraction (at Universal Studios).

If you were tasked with creating a new theme park food, what would it be?

Unlike my son, Shane, who loves experimenting with food, I tend to eat whatever is available without much thought. So, I would say anything sweet with salted caramel poured over it.

You’re a walk-around character for a day; who do you choose?

When I became the manager of Scope Productions at WED, it was decided that all management should experience what it is like to be a walk-around character in the theme park. So, for a day, I was one of Mary Poppins’ penguins at Disneyland. It is not a character I would have chosen for myself, but I was the right size for the costume.

If I had been given the choice, I would have gone with Donald Duck or Goofy, as they were more appropriate to my personality, but unfortunately, I had to go with the costume that fit.

What types of attractions would you like to see more of and why?

I would like to see more attractions that didn’t cost so much for people to get in the main gate and didn’t have to make a reservation if they expected to see it.

Can you talk about what you are working on these days?

The last big project I worked on was for the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Fla. It was to update the virtual reality games that a team of former Universal Creatives and I had designed and created for students to learn the fundamentals of flight using STEM applications (although, it was more of a STEAM application since not only Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics were employed, but also a great deal of Art).

I am currently working on my third novel – which my wife is convinced I will never finish. My next project is working with Eddie Martinez, who was the Art Director for the original Mexico Pavilion at Epcot. Since he is running the show (and it hasn’t been announced yet), that is all I can talk about now.

You are going to your favorite theme park or attraction; which industry people (dead or alive) are you taking with you?

If I were going to take someone dead, it would probably be Mark Twain or Errol Flynn, or maybe Cary Grant or Buster Keaton, but I don’t think it would be all that much fun dragging a dead person around any of the theme parks. 

If I were going to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, I would go with my wife, Jeannie, and my daughter, Chelsea, as that is their favorite Disney Park. If I were taking my son, Shane, and his girlfriend, Jill, it would be Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea, as they have always wanted to go there.

If I were going to Disneyland Hong Kong, I would want to go with Joe Lanzisero just to tell him how much I enjoy Mystic Manner. Going to Disneyland Paris would have to be with Tony Baxter, as he could probably get us into all the good restaurants. If I went to Epcot, I would want to go with Joe Rohde to get his impression of the attraction that replaced the Norway Show we originally worked on together. It would have to be Mike West for Disney’s Hollywood Studios since we spent so many years working on projects there. If I went to Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, I would want to go with Don Carson so we could see what replaced the Splash Mountain attraction we worked on. A trip to Disneyland would have to be with Kevin Rafferty to see how little we remember about working there.