Imagineer Influence: Marty Sklar

If you have any interest in Imagineering or the development of Disney Parks, you’re likely already familiar with Marty Sklar. He started working on Disney Parks before the first one ever opened, and left his mark on every single park that followed (until Shanghai, which opened after his death). Let’s get to know his story.

Source: D23

Marty Sklar originally hailed from New Jersey, making his way west as a college student to attend UCLA. During his time as editor of the school’s Daily Bruin newspaper, Sklar was recruited to create a fake newspaper to promote a new theme park, called “The Disneyland News”. Disney was clearly impressed with his work, hiring him full time after graduation to handle park publicity and marketing.

“Walt was very anxious to spread the word about Disneyland. He wanted to do a special-edition, 1890s-style newspaper to sell at the Park. I had two weeks to come up with a concept and present it to Walt. I was 21 years old, had never worked professionally, and was scared as hell. Fortunately, Walt liked what I had done, I guess that’s why I lasted all those years!”

Source: Ryman Arts

After a few years, Sklar moved to WED Enterprises (later Walt Disney Imagineering) to work on The Enchanted Tiki Room and It’s A Small World. He then held a number of roles, helping Walt Disney develop materials for tv, film, and print media. But in 1974, he became VP of concepts/planning, and began the work that would ultimately become his legacy: developing new parks.

We leave a Disney park reassured. We have opened our eyes to the world of the possible. We have experienced the better world. And by the way, we have fun while we were being entertained, and “reassured.”

PS – if you haven’t read it, I highly recommend checking out Sklar’s book Dream It! Do It! My Half-Century Creating Disney’s Magic Kingdoms. He tells amazing stories about his career developing the parks, and it’s a fascinating insight into Imagineering in general.

Source: Museum of Science + Industry Chicago

Sklar guided development and/or supervised design and construction of the vast majority of Disney Parks worldwide:

Epcot (opened 1982)
Tokyo Disneyland (opened 1983)
Disney-MGM Studios (opened 1989, renamed Hollywood Studios in 2008)
Disneyland Paris (opened 1992)
Disney’s Animal Kingdom (opened 1998)
California Adventure (opened 2001)
Tokyo DisneySea (opened 2001)
Walt Disney Studios Park (opened 2002)
Hong Kong Disneyland (opened 2005)

In addition to his work on the worldwide parks, Sklar became known for his philosophy on a blank sheet of paper.

There are two ways to look at it. It can be the most frightening thing in the world, because no one has put anything on it, and yet, it’s the greatest opportunity in the world for the same reason. You can make the first mark and begin the creative process. That was the wonderful thing about Walt Disney, he encouraged our imaginations to fly and create whole new worlds. So, that was how I finally defined my own career leading WDI: to convince Imagineers to continue to fly as high as we can.

Source: IMDB

Sklar’s final role at Disney was the international ambassador for Walt Disney Imagineering, which he occupied from 2006 to July 17t, 2009, Disneyland’s 50th birthday.

I knew that as my 72nd birthday and my 50th Disney anniversary approached, I would look for new challenges, so when Jay Rasulo asked me to talk about the future, I was ‘all ears’ to a challenging proposal Jay made. It not only seems to be one of those ideas that is overdue, but it was clear to me that I am the perfect casting (perhaps the only candidate) capable of originating and organizing this assignment.

Marty Sklar died in 2017, at age 83. He was honored with a window on Main Street USA on his final day of work, in an honored position on City Hall. And perhaps Jim Cora, former Disneyland International Chairman, summed up Sklar’s contribution best:

He understands the Disney way, because he learned it at Walt’s knee. He is the keeper of the keys, the conscience, the Jiminy Cricket for the organization.