Writing about Disney and other theme parks

Writing about Disney and other theme parks

by Mark Eades February 28, 2014

If you’re wondering why you don’t see much in the way of stories about Disney here, it’s because I am writing about Disney and other theme parks for Inside the Magic.net.

Its owner, Ricky Brigante, and I have become pretty good friends over the past few years. When I was laid off by the Orange County Register in January, he reached out to me and we reached an agreement.

So, I will mostly be writing about the Disneyland Resort, Knott’s Berry Farm, Universal Studios Hollywood and other theme park related stories for him.

Stories should appear weekly, and I will provide links here.

Below is a list of my first five stories:

This is me, Mark Eades, outside the entrance to Star Tours at Disneyland.

Finding a Voice for Star Tours.

A “Marvel” ous plot at Disneyland?

How I became an Imagineer.

Why no Frozen attraction at the same time as the movie?

How the Golden Dream in American Adventure was almost a nightmare.

I hope you enjoy them. Meanwhile, look for more from me about other things here at this website.

February 28, 2014 0 comment

animation design Disney Disneyland Imagineer Internet multimedia online toys web design

Working with some very talented people

by Mark Eades February 27, 2014

I’ve worked with a lot of very talented people over the years, and some of them helped out with this web page.

Susan Lustig is a former Imagineer. She was a show producer at Universal Creative and at Walt Disney Imagineering. Like many, she is now out working on the world wide web and designs web pages, among other things. She is the one responsible for the design of this web page. (I’ve actually known her husband, Bob Dahl, longer than I have Susan. Bob is a principal at September Entertainment.)

You can check out more of her work at Acme Digital Design.

She was terrific to work with, and answered a lot of question. A very patient woman, but also talented and knows how to deal with coding issues.

She instinctively knew what photos to pick for the initial launch, and the color scheme for things.

Having a background in theme parks, like me, probably helped a lot too.

Susan, thanks for your terrific work.

Another former Imagineer I have known for a long time is a gentleman by the name of Steve Feicht.

We first met at Disneyland, then went our separate ways. He was a toy designer based back east for a while.

We hooked up again when he showed up one day at Walt Disney Imagineering, interviewing for one of the many designer positions they were hiring for at the time. My boss, Randy Bright, a Disney legend, asked me what I thought. It was simple, I said, “Hire him.”

We worked on a few projects together there, and after leaving WDI, on a couple other projects.

Steve is designing toys again, but when I asked if he could help me out, he designed the logo for my website, markeades.com.

You can learn more about Steve at his website, tinynightmares.com. Don’t be scared off by the name, they’re a bunch of really cute characters he designed to help get his daughters to go to sleep.

Steve has a great sense of humor.

Steve, thanks for the logo design.

February 27, 2014 0 comment

Disney home theme parks

Look out world, here I come

by Mark Eades February 24, 2014

This is where I started my first real job with Disney.

I’ve had two careers, first with Disney then others in the theme park world. That included 11 years with Walt Disney Imagineering. Then my second career was journalism in television with the Orange County Newschannel and newspapers with the Orange County Register.
In September 2017 I stepped away from working as a full time journalist. So now I’m embarking on my third career. What will it be? Well, that’s what I’m looking at discovering, and planning to have some fun at it. I like to enjoy my work.
I think of myself primarily as a writer, a storyteller in any medium. I’ve had the good fortune to tell stories in the theme park world and in news, and get paid for it. I am going to look for a full time job, but it’s tough out there so I’m going to pursue some other things while looking.
Whatever my third career is, it will still be as a storyteller.
I will continue to write about, take photos of, and shoot video about the theme parks. Right now, I’m going to tell those stories for insidethemagic.net, and will post links to those stories here. Some will be about the new things at the Southern California theme parks, while others will be stories about my times helping to create some of the attractions.
On the fun side, I’m going to tell some stories about being the father of five children. Yes, that’s right, five children. We’ve had a lot of adventures over the years with them since my first was born in 1982, so look forward to some of those tales. But those tales will be told with a twinkle in the eye and a smile on my face, and after putting enough of those tales together, maybe a book.
On both a comical and somewhat serious side, I plan to write about the topic of aging.
Finally, totally on the fun side, I will also post stories, photos and occasional videos about trains, model trains, full-sized ones and more. Yes, it’s a passion of mine. I don’t have a model railroad (I hope to sometime as space and money becomes available) but love trains, particularly those with steam-powered engines.
There are some other ideas I’m pursuing. After all, all it takes is sitting down and writing them out – I love starting out with a blank page and filling it up with words. Oh sure, money helps, and my belief is that it will come. But the blank page doesn’t scare me like it does some people. All you have to do is put words on it.
So anyone out there with ideas needing a good storyteller, in theme parks, news, television or other, give me a call.
Look out world, here I come again for career #3.

February 24, 2014 0 comment