Joe Rohde shared in a social media post how the Morocco pavilion in EPCOT influenced Imagineering’s approach to designing Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Morocco Pavilion

Watch Rohde’s video of part of the space and read his thoughts below.

Way back in 1990, when we were first beginning Design on Disney’s Animal Kingdom and had not been anywhere yet, we all six of us went to Epcot exclusively to look at the Morocco pavilion. It is the best manipulation of space in the park. Plus, much like Animal Kingdom would emulate later, it was produced by Real artisans from the country of reference. The place – making here is very sophisticated. Iit is worth taking your time to check your viewsheds as you walk through the space and notice how many times you are presented with a view that forms a target, drawing you further into the space. In the case of the video, it is very clever that the tower beckons from afar, and then is blocked by a series of overhead barriers, which prevent you from sussing out the forced perspective …. so that you either see it as a distant target object, or you look right up at it, towering above you, with no chance to measure the change in proportion as you approach. Still one of my favorite places in the entire Disney empire.

Rohde was the lead Imagineer for Disney’s Animal Kingdom but joined Imagineering during the development of EPCOT as a model designer and scenic painter for the Mexico pavilion.

Rohde retired from Imagineering in 2021. He joined Virgin Galactic soon after as an Experience Architect.

With the recent permanent closure of DinoLand at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Rohde shared behind-the-scenes stories from the land’s development and that he had been trying to replace it with Tropical Americas before his retirement.

Did you learn anything new from Rohde’s post? Let us know on social media!

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