It’s not a coincidence that “Jim Shull” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll” almost rhyme.

At least not to me.

That’s because Shull, a former Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) executive creative director, designed the “Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith” ride at Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World, among many others. And like that ride, getting the chance to talk to him was a thrill.

The thing is, when I did, I quickly realized not only how passionate he is about his work, but that he doesn’t quite understand just how important he, and all the Imagineers, are to so many.

So, with that, below are 13 takeaways from our conversation (slightly edited for length and flow). And I’m guessing that, after you read them, you’ll want to watch our full conversation to learn more about the man and the magic he created − like the man whose vision he helped keep alive.

Takeaway #1: He designs with a child’s heart. “As a child in California,” Shull shared, “we’d make yearly trips to Disneyland. On my seventh birthday, instead of having a big party at home, my parents allowed me to take one friend to Disneyland. That’s, of course, when I began to learn the art of negotiation. And that’s also why, when I design, I do so with that 7-year-old child still within me.”

Takeaway #2: Disney brings us to tears – in a good way. I explained to Shull that I was surprised, and a little embarrassed, when I teared up from a sense of wonder while first riding the new Flight of Passage. After writing a column about the experience, I received many reader responses, from men and women alike, saying they felt the same way. When I shared this with Shull, he answered that he experienced a similar reaction, and in fact, made a point of telling the ride’s WDI creative lead, Joe Rhode, about the
effect the ride had on him.

Takeaway #3: The Imagineers start with story. At WDI, Shull and his team began new projects by completing the phrase, “Once upon a time ______.” Shull shared several examples: “We’d say, ‘Once upon a time, there was Mickey Mouse and he lived in a suburban house outside of Anaheim.’ Well, that became Mickey’s Toontown. Or ‘Once upon a time, Andy was playing with his toys in the backyard before he left them to go to lunch,’ and that became Toy Story Land. Or ‘Once upon a time, I wanted to go to a rock and roll concert and I was the biggest fan the band had so they got me a special VIP limo’ and that became ‘Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.”

Takeaway #4: Lights, cameras, design! Shull explained how WDI’s approach is to pair up Imagineers with projects they are passionate about, knowing that will bring the most to the project and ultimately the guests − and also why the term “casting” is used by Disney for its talent selection and assignment process: “It’s called ‘casting’ because WDI originated in the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California,” Shull explained. “In a movie studio, you develop stories; have a creative team flesh them out; have people put together your crew, set, and technology budget; and then build a team that will deliver your movie. Well, since WDI came from that background, that history, that DNA, casting is very much part of that.”

Takeaway #5: Disney guests are the true judges of a ride’s success. Shull gathered initial feedback on his rides during “soft openings,” where first cast members and then guests were invited, and then on the formal opening days for all guests. “I would also engage team members who weren’t technically in creative roles,” Shull said, “like those in estimating, scheduling, and finance, since they also brought a valid point of view.” In the project’s planning stages, Shull added, he would spend hours every day thinking about how the ride would appeal to people, including those from different cultures.

Takeaway #6: It’s a small world. Really small. Shull talked about the common themes he found with people around the globe, “In reality, people are people. For example, when I explained the Toy Story Hotel concept to Bob Iger [Walt Disney Company executive chairman, chairman of the board, and former CEO] and the rest of the Imagineering Team, I said I wanted to do something ‘child-like, but not childish.’ And I thought that Toy Story Hotel and Toy Story Land would appeal across cultures because everyone is, or has been, a child, and everyone is playing, or has played, with toys.”

Takeaway #7: Dream on… then make it real. Shull shared a personal
example of the thoughtful approach Imagineers bring to planning rides: “First, I thought, well, I’m a fan of music and rollercoasters, so I saw the potential of fusing them in one ride, since they’re both about kinetic action and energy. Next, I realized that, though I’m not a musician and would actually be embarrassed to try to play an instrument or sing, I am still very interested in music. I also believed that many others, including Disney guests, feel the same way. So, I wondered how I could eliminate the potential embarrassment our guests might feel of going into the world of music, a world that they wouldn’t normally enter, and help them feel safe – and that became ‘Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith.’”

Takeaway #8: I don’t want to miss a thing… when looking at Studio C. Shull shared Aerosmith’s first reactions after experiencing the ride for the first time: “They were blown away. The guys just loved it and rode it over and over. From the beginning, in fact, they embraced the project. So much so that, when you go through the queue for that ride, and you see the ‘Studio C’ setup, there are a lot of props in there that Aerosmith gave us. They also sent their studio technicians to Orlando so I could work with them to set up that scene. The goal was to make it authentic and sincere, to the point where it feels as if the band could step into that studio and actually do a recording.”

Takeaway #9: Keep your glasses on or you might miss something. Shull shared two main design criteria he and his ride engineering team followed in creating “Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith”: “I wear glasses. So, one of the criteria I had was that the coaster needed to be dynamic enough to be exciting but not so dynamic that I’d have to remove my glasses – like some other coasters make you do. Another criterion was that it had to be re-rideable, meaning that, after I rode it, I’d want to ride it again and again. A lot of rollercoasters want the record for most dynamic, most thrilling, or most aggressive. I just wanted it to be thrilling, but not terrifying.”

Takeaway #10: Many happy – and safe – returns. In talking about the intense pre-launch sequence of “Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith,” Schull explained that, though that sequence is an example of the Imagineers intentionally creating a moment of anxiety for guests, overall they want guests to know that, at Disney, they’ll be safe. “I believe in ‘safe journeys and safe returns,’” Shull explained. “You’re invited to do something you want to do but maybe wouldn’t do in real life. Like with the ride ‘Soarin,’ if you don’t want to hang glide in real life and I told you, oh you can do it safely, well you might want to. It’s the promise that you’ll be protected and return safely, and that when you do return, you’ll learn something both about the narrative you just experienced and yourself.”

Takeaway #11: He finally found his canvas. Shirt cardboards play an important role in Shull’s early career. After asking him about this intriguing coincidence that I first heard about on a WDW Tales podcast, Shull shared the following: “As an only child who also stuttered, I was very introverted. We also lived on a hill and there were 39 steps to our front door, so we didn’t get a lot of visitors. Fortunately, my father was an advertising executive and wore starched white shirts that had cardboards in them. Why was that fortunate? Because, at age five or six, I started drawing on them, giving me a way to express myself. Then my father decided to build a swimming pool, so one day, a dump truck left a mountain of sand behind our house. Of course, sand is a perfect tool to design and build with, and because I loved Disney, I started doing that. Then, I convinced my father to give me a piece of his garage and I built a train set and learned about rock work. So, it’s not so much one straight line, it’s an accumulation of life experiences that, when there is an opportunity to use those experiences, I’d find myself in the right place.”

Takeaway #12: What happens after “happily ever after.” In Jim’s case, it keeps going. Since leaving Disney, Shull has brought his design expertise to other companies. “I started getting notes from people asking if I’d like to talk about a project,” Shull explains. “And, if it was a project I liked, I’d agree. I have also started using social media more. Now, of course, I didn’t start my life saying, this is where I see myself in 2021, but it’s an accumulation of life experiences and always saying yes to things that led me to where we are right now. Of course, it’s important to note the critical role WDI played in his life. “WDI is a world-class, one-of-a-kind organization,” Shull added. “There’s nothing, to my knowledge, that equals what they do. I was fortunate to be part of that for over 33 years.”

Takeaway #13: It all started with a ________. At the end of our conversation, I asked Shull to complete the famous Walt Disney quote (“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing ─ that it was all started by a mouse.”) about his own career. His answer: “It all started with a story. It doesn’t matter what the story is, how long or short it is, or where you live… or anything about you. Everything I have ever done starts with a story. Everyone has a story. I would encourage them, in whatever form they want, to find their story, and be brave enough to tell it and pursue it.

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Follow Jim Shull on Twitter: @JimShull

Watch full Coincidental
Conversations™ interview with Jim Shull

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Contact me at [email protected] and learn more at jameswarda.com.

Comments Note: All comments are reviewed. Any that are considered to be a personal attack or hate speech will be removed. In my blog, I always try to be respectful. I expect the same from my readers, both in responses to me, and about or to each other. And, again, thank you for reading.

@2001-2021, James R. Warda. All rights reserved.

As I was lamenting the departure of the Chicago Tribune columnists who took Tribune owner Alden Global Capital’s buyout offer, my favorite New York Times columnist published his last column.

Frank Bruni’s June 20 piece was a gem. Reflecting on 10 years as a columnist, Bruni wondered whether the dogmatism of political opinion writers had contributed to the country’s polarization. He said that he wouldn’t want to return to “the stodginess” and “insistence on evenhandedness” of the journalism of his early career, but he regretted the lack of ambivalence, ambiguity, and nuance today.

“Ambivalence and ambiguity . . . can be apt responses to events that we don’t yet understand, with outcomes that we can’t predict,” he wrote.

I don’t usually feel qualified to write about politics. (I made an exception about Donald Trump because I did not doubt my judgment of him.) Inspired by Bruni’s blessing of ambivalence, I’m admitting my unsure thoughts about two long-time hot-button issues: abortion and immigration. 

I support a woman’s right to choose at the same time that I’m bothered by looking at images of fetal development. Thankfully, about three-quarters of abortions in the United States are performed within the first 9 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A fetus already looks human by 12 weeks but isn’t able to survive outside the womb for at least another 10. Viability, however, has changed as medical science got better at saving premies; a shifting point can’t be the standard for when a fetus becomes a human person. What is? If everyone agreed on that, abortion would be a lot less contentious. My one certainty is that I’m glad I never had to face a decision about abortion. 

Deporting undocumented immigrants who contribute to our society seems cruel as well as impossible, but does amnesty encourage more to come? It was upsetting to hear Vice President Kamala Harris tell people fleeing horrible conditions in their homelands, “Do not come,” but a country has the right to control its borders. What would a humane immigration policy look like? While saying that the lack of progress on immigration reform is a shame, I avoid thinking about the issue.

Avoidance is not what Bruni was advocating. He said that certainty was often the result of too little thinking. His final column encouraged us to be open to new information and different viewpoints, no matter how certain we think we are. To that end, I recently subscribed to a blog called The Flip Side that, in a five-minute daily read, distills the viewpoints of opposing sides of an issue. Following Bruni’s logic, I may become better informed and more ambivalent — a not undesirable outcome.

*****

CREDIT CARD BENEFIT: FREE MUSEUM ADMISSION

Although I wouldn’t want to discourage people from becoming members of museums, Bank of America’s Museums on Us program looks too good to be quiet about. It’s more than 20 years old, but I just found out about it.

Holders of Bank of America Visa cards get free admission to select museums around the country on the first full weekend of the month. Guest admission and entry to special exhibits aren’t included. 

Participating museums in Chicago are the Art Institute, the Chicago History Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Adler Planetarium. 

The card is useful at home and away, provided one plans to travel on the right days. In New York City, for example, it is good on first weekends at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum.

My family always called it the Outer Drive. As a five-year-old, I remember the traffic jam around the S-curve as my uncle swore his way to Hyde Park for a Passover Seder as the Palmolive Building beacon glowed on us.

Aliotta, Haynes, Jeremiah romanticized it and immortalized it–there ain’t no road just like it…slippin’ by on LSD.

And if it changes–if it becomes DuSable Drive, c’est la vie. I will learn to live with it. After all, it is not the first landmark in Chicagoland to endure a name change, and it will not be the last.

Here, in no particular order, are 10 more-or-less successful name changes in our history.

1. First, the boomerang: The above mentioned Palmolive Building was renamed Playboy Tower in 1965, but is back as Palmolive since about 2001.
2. The AON Building, that drab white tower downtown? It started life as the Standard Oil Building, and was AMOCO for awhile, too!
3. Guaranteed Rate Field, quite a mouthful, was originally New Comiskey Park, but is most fondly remembered as The Cell (U.S. Cellular Field,) home to the World Champion White Sox of 2005.
4. One exception to c’est la vie. Willis Tower will be Sears Tower FOREVER. ‘Nuf said.
5. Wonder why O’Hare International Airport’s designation is ORD? Goes back to humble origins as Orchard Field. Though shouldn’t that have made it ORC?
6. What exactly did Mayor Jane Byrne do to justify renaming the Circle Interchange as the Jane Byrne Interchange. Perhaps she could look down on the jammed junction during the month she “lived” in Cabrini-Green.
7. Northwestern University’s Dyche Stadium, named in perpetuity for the Dyche family, is now Ryan Field. Go ‘Cats!
8. Will Boystown really become Northalsted? I’m not betting on it.
9. Been to 875 N. Michigan Ave lately? What a naming comedown for the late John Hancock Building. Why not talk to Lin-Manuel Miranda and sell him the naming rights to Hamilton Tower?
10. Drive down Pulaski Avenue much. That was once Crawford, a name it retains as it goes through the northern suburbs.

Names come and go. I won’t fret about another name change in the City of Big Shoulders, Windy City, Second City. It’s how you live it, not what you call it.

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