Joe Rohde is passionate about artistry, about animals, and about the world at large—passions that have all been infused into the countless Walt Disney Imagineering projects he helped helm and that continue to challenge and inspire at Disney Parks sites around the globe.
Recently retired as a portfolio creative executive after 40 years with Walt Disney Imagineering, Joe served as the overall creative executive and supervising designer for Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park, including later expansions such as Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain and Pandora – The World of Avatar. Other notable projects include the Adventurers Club (formerly a part of Pleasure Island at Walt Disney World® Resort); Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa in Ko Olina, Hawai‘i; and Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! at Disney California Adventure® Park.
Joe is also recognized as the Imagineer with the elaborate, impossible-to-overlook earrings. This trademark adornment started in 1987 when he decided to wear his five-year Disney service pin in a newly pierced ear lobe. Afterwards, he added an earring to his collection—from Zanzibar, Katmandu, Rajasthan—wherever he went, each serving as a tangible symbol of his individuality and unexpected creativity.
Joe grew up in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, and the Los Angeles area’s San Fernando Valley, creating art and theater sets, acting in school productions, and exploring film backlots with his cameraman father. His love of design and artistic expression began with papier-mâché sculptures of masks and other cultural objects. Trained in theater and liberal arts at Occidental College, Joe was a 25-year-old high school teacher when he was enlisted by WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering). “I knew nothing about Walt Disney Imagineering—just nothing,” he admits. His first assignment was building detailed models for the Mexico pavilion at EPCOT, “my very first job,” he recalls. “Luckily I fall into the more sculptural parts of model building in that I am quite good at the faux rocks and ruined pyramids, that kind of stuff.”
Joe’s big Imagineering break came with then-CEO Michael Eisner’s brainchild, an animal-focused theme park. Joe really got noticed when he attended an early executive meeting with a real Bengal tiger. “So I get an assignment to do a project that Eisner wants called the Animal Kingdom,” he recalls. “Nobody wants this job. They don’t believe it’s going to get built, and everyone conceptualizes it in terms of pre-existing phenomena like a zoo. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park would prove to be a celebration of animals, a passionate argument for the coexistence of conservation and communities, and a recognition of the essential role that ecosystems play in our existence… This required extremely high levels of research and cultural engagement,” Joe notes. “So we set up a culture of deep collaboration with the community of conservation scientists and zoo operators and wildlife conservation people, outside forces with a limited vested interest in our business. And that led to this park, which has a very different look and feel and is, in fact, the epicenter of a global wildlife conservation effort. We have tens of millions in conservation funds dispersed around the world.”
All of this imaginative work for the burgeoning Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park was inspired by travels into the natural world. In 1989, Joe made a six-week trip to Nepal, hiking into mountain areas rarely seen by Westerners, a trip filled with real wild animals from Hanuman langurs to mountain sheep, to birds of every kind and other animals in mountains up to 17,000 feet. Joe made many other excursions into Africa and Asia, returning from these personal safaris determined to recreate the wonder of going to wild places for guests of all ages at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Joe was also instrumental in creating the Disney Conservation Fund, which has disbursed over $125 million in grants to projects worldwide. He is well known for his intensive focus on the philosophy of narrative placemaking and experiential storytelling. Joe now uses his art to raise funds for both international conservation and local community projects. In 2022 he received the Disney Conservation Fund’s first Conservation Legacy Award and has appeared in numerous documentaries about Imagineering.
Disney Parks’ magic draws guests into a living enchantment, a unique immersive experience that is something beyond mere entertainment that Joe has done much to not only participate in but also to define and expand.
“Joe Rohde is a real-life adventurer—in life, in art, and in work,” said Bob Weis, former president of Walt Disney Imagineering, upon the retirement of this iconic Imagineer. “Whether trekking across the mountains of Mongolia on an expedition to raise awareness for snow leopard conservation or leading project teams from Animal Kingdom to Aulani to Pandora, Joe fully embodies the true spirit of adventure and exploration