Walt Disney Imagineer, Kevin Rafferty, who most recently helped with the creation of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, will be retiring on April 1, 2021, stating that, “It feels like it’s time.”
Photo from D23.com
- Rafferty has been at Disney for almost 43 years, starting as a dishwasher at the Plaza Inn at Disneyland, to becoming an Imagineer working on attractions such as Cars Land, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, and most importantly, Sonny Eclipse’s show at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe.
- D23 has an exclusive interview with Rafferty now available to read on their website. You can also pick up his book, Magic Journey: My Fantastical Walt Disney Imagineering Career.
- Rafferty talks about how he saw there was an opening at Imagineering while picking up costumes for his current role at the parks, “There was a bulletin board with a poster of Mickey holding Mickey ears that said, ‘Mickey Wants You.’ I thought, ‘Mickey wants me for what?’ I looked at that poster very closely, and it read, ‘WED Enterprises is currently designing and developing a new project called EPCOT Center and is looking for artists and designers.”
- In the interview, Rafferty also talks about the first days at Imagineering, the mentors that helped him such as Claude Coats, and developing Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
Catch up on Kevin Rafferty:
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