Tony Baxter: From Food & Beverage to Disney Legend
Many of us, including myself, start our Disney career journeys in the parks. For me, it was with Photopass at Animal Kingdom on a Disney College Program. Some start at an attraction, in merchandise, or custodial. The rite of passage when it comes to Disney careers is to start small and make your way up.
It was no different for Tony Baxter. Baxter, Disney Legend award recipient and notable Imagineer, started his Disney journey scooping ice cream in Disneyland at seventeen years old. When he was younger, his mother would give him an allowance that he spent on a ticket to the parks and a snack or a souvenir. He quickly realized that his allowance was going to run out and he needed. a way to continue going to the parks, so he decided to get a job there.
Today, he is recognized for a variety of achievements and creations within Disney, including Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Star Tours, Journey into Imagination, Splash Mountain, and holding the title of Lead Creative Executive at Disneyland Paris.
I had the opportunity to hear him speak at Disney Programs and say a few words to him after the event. He offered advice to all the Program participants, with one of my favorite takeaways being jumping around operations. As a room full of cast members who work in operations at the theme parks, Baxter encouraged us to work in multiple different areas of operations because each one offers something different, a new chance for you to learn about the company and grow with them, and gives you a greater understanding of how everything operates at Disney as a whole. Once you’ve learned everything you can from the area of operations you’re in, jump to another area. This will allow you to become versatile and well-rounded. Then you can make the jump to Imagineering, or wherever else you aspire to end up.
He also stressed the importance of having a mentor at the start of your career journey. He had both professors and other Disney cast as mentors, such as Claude Coats, artist and animator who worked for Walt Disney Imagineering and Walt Disney Animation Studios. Make it known to your mentors and your peers where you want to end up with the company, and learn everything you can from them.
And learn about the company! Investigate what the company you want to work for is doing. Get “boring” reports. Research what their needs are. That way, when you land an interview with them, you can show you are knowledgable already and you are able to help with their specific needs. During that interview, always make sure you have something in your back pocket that makes you stand out. There are thousands of other people who want the same exact job as you, who are also qualified and talented, What makes you unique?
Baxter had many outside interests growing up besides Disney. He was not spending all day every day in the parks and learning more about the company (although that sounds like the perfect day to me). He had interests in film and engineering, which actually made him more qualified for Disney. Because he had other talents and knowledge about outside topics, those things infused his work with Disney and actually made it better. That helped him stand out.
Another piece of wisdom he shared was, “Everybody needs the talent of selling an idea.” He shared that he’s known people in Imagineering who had incredible ideas but they never came to fruition because they didn’t know how to pitch their ideas and they thought the concept art would speak for itself. And on the other hand, he’s seen terrible ideas get approved because of inspiring pitches. Baxter had to pitch the idea of Star Tours to a thirteen year old boy whose father was in charge and wanted to see what ideas children gravitated towards. So, he had to know the language the kids liked at the time and what they wanted to see. He had to impress that young boy. And it worked! (Fun fact: Baxter initially pitched the idea of Star Tours to George Lucas in a vineyard that Lucas drove himself to.)
Probably my personal favorite creation of Baxter’s is Figment. Although Baxter said Star Tours was also amazing, he admitted that the original Figment attraction was his most memorable. When creating Figment, EPCOT wanted a pavillion that was imaginative. Kodak was sponsoring this pavillion, so Baxter pitched the original idea of Figment and the Journey into Imagination attraction to a group of Kodak executives. And because Figment is a dragon, he was originally green in the initial concept art, as most dragons are. He said he thought he nailed the pitch, but when he finished, all he got were blank stares from the executives in the audience. One of them spoke up about Figment being green, which is the color of Kodak’s competitor, Fujifilm. Because of this, Figment became purple instead. But they gave him a red and yellow sweater to match Kodak’s branding.
When creating any new attraction, Baxter shared that the most challenging aspect for him is finding the emotional heart of the attraction. He said to start by asking yourself, What is my ultimate goal? Leave all the details out until further down the line to avoid falling into a trap of putting down a bunch of details without having a great idea.
Finally, he shared the importance of having sincere enthusiasm. It’s easy to lose it in any project you work on, but you have to exude it. Baxter has always brought that to every project, even when things are rough, but that’s also where you’re able to sell ideas. His biggest hope for the future of Walt Disney Imagineering is for the new generations of Imagineers to stay enthusiastic.
“You have to be aspirational.”
Tony Baxter
