Former Imagineer and future Disney Legend Kim Irvine was bestowed with what’s arguably the highest Disney theme park honor: her name on a window of Main Street USA at Disneyland. Here are full details from our experience at the pre-park opening ceremony, and a look back at lasting legacy Irvine has left on Walt Disney’s original magic kingdom.
The windows on Main Street are a longstanding way of recognizing the individuals who contributed to the development, design, storytelling, and magic of the park. The tradition dates all the way back to the park’s beginning, when Walt Disney himself selected the names that would appear on the Main Street windows when Disneyland first opened its gates on July 17, 1955.
According to Disney Legend Marty Sklar, himself a window honoree, Walt’s post-1955 “rules” for a window on Main Street USA require that the recipient be retired from the company, have achieved the highest level of service in the ‘mission of magic’, and that the selection be agreed upon by park management (where the window will be located) and Imagineering (creators of the windows).
Walt designed Disneyland through a cinematic lens, and the park feels like stepping into a movie. Main Street is its first act, and the windows are the park’s opening credits. The nearly 90 windows along Main Street recognize the Imagineers, park operators, executives, managers who made Walt’s dream a reality.
Kim Irvine is the latest of these influential individuals to receive a window on Main Street USA at Disneyland. She received the window, which also features her mother, Leota Toombs, this week. In addition to celebrating their achievements, it’s historically-significant as the first mother-daughter window on Main Street.
For those who are unfamiliar with Kim Irvine, she spent over 55 years at Walt Disney Imagineering. Kim retired last year during the 70th Anniversary of Disneyland, which was long her main focus, energy and passion. While she was a prolific creative who worked on thousands of projects across the global portfolio of parks during her five decades at WDI, it was Disneyland that was home.
“I just love this park” Kim told D23 as she neared retirement. “I love to go out early in the morning, before the Guests arrive and just take it all in. The flower beds freshly planted, that familiar music playing, the Cast Members bustling around getting ready for the day. And I think ‘it is going to be so hard to leave this place. Like moving away from home for the first time.’”
As Executive Creative Director of the Walt Disney Imagineering Anaheim office, Kim oversaw the concept design, color styling, exterior and interior design for most Disneyland projects. She viewed Imagineering’s role as being the caretaker of Walt Disney’s original magic kingdom. Kim noted, “Our Guests own this place. This is their park. We just take care of it for them.”
A Southern California native and self-described “Disney Child,” Kim grew up in the parks. “I was born and bred Disney”, explains Kim, “It has always been part of my life. Both of my parents were accomplished artists and taught my sister and I to draw, paint and sculpt from a very young age. I owe all my artistic talent to them. My father, Harvey Toombs, was one of Walt’s animators, starting in the early 40’s. It was there that he met my mother, Leota, while working together on a project.”
Kim’s mother was Imagineer and Disney Legend Leota Toombs, who among her many accomplishments, left an indelible mark on the classic Haunted Mansion attraction as the face of Madame Leota in the Séance Circle and the face and voice of the Ghostess (“Little Leota”) at the attraction’s exit. When the Imagineers chose Leota as the fortune-telling face in the crystal ball, a life mask was made of her face.
When Tim Burton’s The Nightmare before Christmas overlay was created for the Haunted Mansion and Leota’s incantation was rewritten in 2001, Kim became a part of the park by recreating the role. With the new window, the mother-daughter duo is enshrined together in Disneyland a second time, this time by name.
Kim’s career as an Imagineer started unassumingly, just as a summer job while awaiting art school. As Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald (half) joked during Irvine’s window ceremony, “when surrounded and mentored by the likes of Mary Blair, Mark Davis, and John Hench to name just a few…Kim realized she had already been accepted into one of the most creative, prestigious art institutions in the world!”
Kim began forging her own path in 1970 as a model builder and painter at WED Enterprises. She worked in the famed Model Shop painting and building scale models for Walt Disney World. After the opening of Magic Kingdom, she was taken under the wing of future Disney Legend and Imagineer John Hench, who became her longtime mentor.
Around that time, Kim was joining Hench, Rolly Crump, Marty Sklar, and others on creative reviews. And in 1979, Irvine, under the direction of Hench and Sklar, sought to open the first Imagineering field office in Anaheim, during an era that Imagineering’s emphasis otherwise had been on the Florida Project.
“They became very concerned that there was so much focus on Walt Disney World and other new park prospects, that their ‘first born,’ Disneyland, was not getting the attention it needed. So, they decided to create an onsite team that would focus primarily on that park,” Kim explained.
“In those days, most of the Disneyland teams were men. There were very few women, except for in office roles. And, they had become very accustomed to having WED busy doing other things and making design decisions on their own. Naturally, choices were made with more concern for durability than aesthetics.”
Kim continued by sharing that the Disneyland team was “concerned when there was this WED person now giving design direction…and she was a girl! They got over that very quickly, though, and we became a very tight group. We accomplished many fantastic rehabs and enhancements together. After all, we had one thing in common, [we] all loved that place!”
Over her decades of stewardship for the park, Kim became the “creative conscience and the continuity of Disneyland,” according to Tom Fitzgerald. He shared that Kim earned the respect of everyone person, in every line of business she worked with.
When he was working on a reboot of Marty Sklar’s Mickey’s Ten Commandments, Fitzgerald asked Kim if there was a commandment she wanted to add, and she told him: “walk in your operator’s shoes.”
She truly understood the importance of partnership, and that the end goal was the comfort and happiness of guests. Kim worked diligently to remove friction points, and always to enhance the show for guests.
Among her many thousands of projects large and small, she was instrumental in the design of Rancho Del Zocalo Restaurante, The Disneyland Dream Suite, the Disney dolls in “it’s a small world”, the Club 33 expansion, the Jolly Holiday Bakery, and many refurbishments of Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle. She most recently was involved in the updates to Haunted Mansion that were revealed last winter, including the new bride and extended queue.
In 2011, Irvine became the first female recipient of the prestigious Buzz Price Thea Award for a Lifetime of Outstanding Achievements from the Themed Entertainment Association. Her daughter, Ali Irvine-Wheeler, is now a third generation Imagineer, following the path pioneered by her mother and grandmother.
“My dear mentor, John Hench, used to tell me, as we would sit on a bench in this beloved park, ‘this is a place where people can play. Many of us forget how to play when we grow up. When people walk through those gates and hear that music and see Mickey or Goofy, they remember again!’ To be an Imagineer and be able to provide a place where people, young and old, can play, is very fulfilling.”
The newly-unveiled window reads:
Crystal Ball Glass Co.
Summoning the spirits of creativity…
on windows, doors, and…
Regions beyond!
Leota Toombs – Kim Irvine – Artists, Glazers, Design Mediums.
During the ceremony, Kim shared that she was so happy that “mom and I are able to have this window together…we’ve got our own business now working together just like we used to in the model shop back in the old days.”
Kim took the opportunity during her speech to pay loving tribute to her mother. Watch for yourself:
She also reflected upon her memories walking the park with John Hench, where he would share with me all the wonderful insightful philosophies that went into creating Disneyland. During those, Hench would always say, “This wasn’t a lucky accident, you know.”
After the ceremony, I had the chance to chat briefly with Kim, and it was these walks with John Hench that she emphasized as being among her favorite memories of working at Disneyland.
She shared that even into his 90s, Hench continued these monthly walks of Disneyland. And they always culminated in not one, but two rides on Space Mountain, much to the ride operator’s, ahem, surprise.
Although that anecdote was amusing, what stuck with me most from Kim Irvine’s window ceremony was the sentiment shared by Tom Fitzgerald that Kim felt it so essential–to the point of being a commandment–to “walk in your operator’s shoes.”
Over the years, one of the things I’ve discovered in covering the ‘inside baseball’ of the Disney Parks is that there is often tension between creatives and operators. It’s completely unnecessary and counterproductive, but historically, it has existed. It’s bad for everyone involved, guests included. (We touched upon this tension in 11 Surprises Revealed About Walt Disney Imagineering’s Comeback, After Cutbacks & Costly Mistakes towards the end, under “Local-Level Delegation.”)
As mentioned in that article, it’s our understanding that this is something that’s finally being fixed in Florida. There’s a collaborative relationship with aligned incentives and expectations, and this has facilitated projects coming to fruition. That’s precisely why we’ve seen more “Disneyland-esque” singles and doubles get greenlit for Walt Disney World in the last year-plus.
When looking back on Kim Irvine’s career, her most lasting legacy in my eyes is that I can type the word “Disneyland-esque” in that paragraph above, and many of you know exactly what I mean. The idea that Disneyland receives preferential treatment, and the whole “be fair to Florida” mantra were essentially born of this.
As the creative conscience of the park, the steward who was focused on removing friction between operations and Imagineering, and enhancing the show for guests has been incredibly impactful for decades, Kim has played a pivotal role in this. She has been the keeper of Disneyland’s flame, striving to ensure the park lives up to its legacy.
This is the type of thing that often happens quietly. And I’m sure for creatives, there’s personal and artistic sacrifice in being diplomatic. In compromising the ‘pure’ artform for operational realities. It would no doubt be easier and safer to produce awe-inspiring attractions…that are completely impractical and destined for modifications or cutbacks. To let operations play the villain while the creatives get lionized for the big swing or the romanticized idea of what could’ve been, but isn’t.
Obviously, I don’t know how these conversations between Kim and park ops played out behind closed doors, but to paraphrase her mentor: these things don’t happen by accident, you know. There’s a reason there’s been a veritable ‘Disneyland Difference’ for decades, and I hope we haven’t lost that with Kim’s retirement.
Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and many other SoCal cities!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about Kim Irvine and Leota Toombs being honored with the first mother-daughter window on Main Street? Thoughts on Irvine being the creative conscience of Disneyland? What about her commandment to “walk in your operator’s shoes”? Is there something to be said for compromise between creatives and park ops? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
