What eventually would become Walt Disney Imagineering in 1986 was founded on this day in 1952.
WED Enterprises derived its name from Walt’s initials—Walter Elias Disney.
Working in a warehouse at the back of the studio, the team of Harriet Burns, Fred Joerger, and Wathel Rogers had already been hard at work on the creation of Disneyland by the time WED was formed. The late Harriet Burns once recalled how each would help the other. They all had their assignments, but if one was in a bind, the other two would come to his or her aid. When asked about being at the beginning of what would become “Imagineering,” Harriet once replied, “We were the first three Imagineers… but we didn’t know it!”
