Kim Irvine and her mother, Leota Toombs, have received a Main Street, U.S.A. window dedicated to them. After more than five decades with Walt Disney Imagineering. Kim retired in 2025 – very appropriately during the 70th anniversary year of Disneyland Park.
Window on Main Street
As Executive Creative Director of the Walt Disney Imagineering Anaheim office, Kim oversaw the concept design, color styling, exterior and interior design for most Disneyland projects. As she saw it, a large part of Imagineering’s role is the care and nurturing of the park that Walt created for “all who come to this happy place.” Kim noted, “Our Guests own this place. This is their park. We just take care of it for them.”
The window ceremony took place in Disneyland park this morning, April 21.
The display itself is already up on Main Street on the façade of Crystal Arts. It’s above the store’s signage. The sign is flanked with stained glass flowers. It reads:
Crystal Ball Glass Co.
Summoning the spirits of creativity…on windows, doors and…regions beyond!
Leota Toombs
Kim Irvine
Artists Glaziers Design Mediums
See more of the design and installation process below:
It’s the first-ever mother-daughter window on Main Street.
The recipient also receives a copy of the window display. The theming of the window typically reflects the contributions of the recipient. In this case, Kim’s mother was Imagineer and Disney Legend Leota Toombs, who among her many accomplishments, left an indelible mark on the classic Haunted Mansion attraction as the face of Madame Leota in the Séance Circle and the face and voice of the “Ghostess” (unofficially known as “Little Leota”) at the attraction’s exit.
When Tim Burton’s The Nightmare before Christmas overlay was created for the Haunted Mansion and Leota’s incantation was rewritten in 2001, Kim was asked to recreate the role.
Kim began forging her own path in 1970 as a model builder and painter at WED Enterprises. She worked in the famed Model Shop painting “it’s a small world” dolls and toys, feathering Enchanted Tiki Room birds, and building scale models for the soon to open Walt Disney World Resort. After the opening of that park, she began mentoring with soon to be Disney Legend and Imagineer John Hench, on color and its application to architecture.
In 1979, Irvine, under the direction of Hench and Disney Legend Marty Sklar, sought to open the first Imagineering office in Anaheim, California, in an era when WED’s emphasis had been on the new and expansive Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.
According to former Disney Imagineering head Marty Sklar, to add a name today, there are three requirements:
- Only on retirement
- Only for the highest level of service/respect/achievement
- Only on agreement between top individual park management and Walt Disney Imagineering, which creates the design and copy concepts
Lillian Disney received a Main Street, U.S.A. window last year dedicated to her honor, and Kevin Lansberry received one earlier this month at Magic Kingdom.
Have you ever noticed all the names on Main Street windows? Let us know on social media.
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Source: D23
