George McGinnis obit

George McGinnis, last Imagineer hired

by Walt Disney, dies

He was not on the list.

George McGinnis, the last Imagineer hired by Walt Disney, has died. He was 87.

McGinnis was the show designer on a variety of projects while at Walt Disney Imagineering including Space Mountain at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

McGinnis’ senior project while attending the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles was for a high-speed train that caught the eye of Disney.

Upon graduating in 1966, he was invited to work at WED Enterprises (the name then of Walt Disney Imagineering, the company that designs Disney theme parks and rides).

His first assignment was to design the miniature transportation models for the Progress City display that was part of the Carousel of Progress attraction.

Other designs at Disneyland included the “Mighty Microscope” inside Disneyland’s “Adventure Through Inner Space” ride.

“George was a disciplined “pro” – a designer who truly paid attention to every detail,” said Marty Sklar, the former vice chairman of Walt Disney Imagineering in a statement.

For a while, he was assigned to work on designs for Walt Disney World including the still operating WEDway Peoplemover in its Tomorrowland.

He also helped out with the designs for upgrades to both the Disneyland and Walt Disney World monorails.

For Epcot Center, McGinnis was the lead show designer for the Horizons Pavilion, which opened in 1983.

Sklar said in a statement: “I was just writing something about the Horizons pavilion in Epcot at Walt Disney World, and found this quote from George: ‘We’re convinced that even though environments will change, people won’t. Teenagers in our show will still monopolize the phone; kids and dogs still exasperate mom and dad. We believe one of the main differences high technology will make is that it will give us more choices.’”

Before retiring from Disney he designed a variety of vehicles for its theme parks around the world, including the “jeeps” for the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland.

“He loved designing for Disney, and put his heart and soul into every project. From Space Mountain to Horizons, monorails to countless other ride vehicles, his imprint on Disney Parks was unique and timeless,” said Tom Fitzgerald, a current Imagineer who served as writer on the Horizons Pavilion.

After his retirement, McGinnis continued to take on occasional design projects including the trolley for The Grove in Los Angeles.

He also wrote a book about his experiences that was published in 2016, “From Horizons to Space Mountain: The Life of a Disney Imagineer.”

McGinnis is survived by his wife and family.