Wing Chao: My favorite imagineer
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Wing Chao, at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel for the Grand Opening of  Hong Kong Disneyland, September 2005
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As someone who has been professionally and personally connected with the Walt Disney Company throughout his entire adult life I am often asked for my opinion as to who is the greatest imagineer of all time. I've had the privilege to know and work with some of the most talented designers, engineers and administrators to ever grace the halls of Walt Disney Imagineering. Many people would expect my chosen name to be one of the founding fathers of theme park design like John Hench, Herb Ryman, X Atencio or Marc Davis. Exceptionally creative individuals whose enduring legacy continues to influence the design ethos of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. Cast members who others inspire to emulate. However the imagineer who I hold in the highest regard is not a person whose name would be instantly recognizable amongst the fan community. He is quietly unassuming but his contribution to the Disney business unit is unquestionably the most significant and far-reaching of any cast member in the history of WED and its successor WDI. Wing Chao is a peerless architect whose output is not only the most prolific within the intensely creative organization but guided the division to transform from a theme park operator into multi-purpose resorts - truly world-class destinations that were more than just a one-day experience. Wing drove the notion that guests should be surrounded by the magic 24/7 which resulted in the creation of the concept of entertainment architecture. Guests were taken to places in time that they were unlikely to ever experience first-hand from the opulent splendor of Victorian architecture (Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa) to the Arts & Crafts movement on an unprecedented scale (Disney's Grand Californian) to a recreation of an early twentieth century American BoardWalk (Disney's BoardWalk) to a Roswell-tinged view of New Mexico pueblos (Disney's Santa Fe). He was also instrumental in the resort master-planning process that encouraged long-term visions for all five existing resorts and the Disney Cruise Line.

The BoardWalk with Swan from the Beach and Yacht Club Hotels, Walt Disney World
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Wing had already been at WDI for a decade when Michael Eisner became CEO of the Walt Disney Company in 1984. He had cut his teeth on the Walt Disney World Village but it was the planning of both EPCOT Center and Tokyo Disneyland in the late seventies and early eighties that earnt Wing his stripes at WED. However it was one of Michael's first decisions at the Company that became the foundation for Wing's true legacy. On his arrival Michael was shown plans for a new hotel at Walt Disney World which was to be built by real estate magnate John Tishman. Although Michael had an extensive resume as an entertainment executive he had no experience of theme parks but he felt that the initial plans were lacking. With the assistance of the WED architects (including Wing) he instigated an architectural competition between renowned designers Robert Venturi, Alan Lapidus and Michael Graves. The latter was selected and the project moved to the EPCOT Center resort area to appease a developer that was threatening legal action. For the first time Disney partnered with legendary architects like the Modernist who created the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin for Tishman to create new environments. Wing was instrumental in ensuring that Disney was the most significant exponent of entertainment architecture and he regularly provoked critical darlings of the art form to encourage them to push the boundaries of hotel design. Over the past twenty years such award-winning architects as Philip Johnson, Frank Gehry, Robert A.M. Stern, Cesar Pilli and Arata Isosaki have successfully executed hotels and other buildings. Wing's remit expanded to include the Company's sports facilities (like Disney ICE and the Angels Stadium) and employee facilities such as Walt Disney World's Casting Center and Team Disneys in Orlando, Anaheim and Burbank. He has even led the design team on an entire city development - Celebration, FL. The numbers don't lie - over 36,000 hotel rooms, 180 restaurants, 2 million square feet of retail space, 3 million square feet of entertainment venues and four cruise ships. No-one in the history of Disney's theme park division has ever had such a prolific resume.