Chuck E. Cheese is an American children’s family entertainment center chain founded in 1977 by Atari's co-founder Nolan Bushnell. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, each location features arcade games, amusement rides and musical shows in addition to serving pizza and other food items; former mainstays included ball pits, crawl tubes, and animatronic shows. The chain's name is taken from its main character and mascot, Chuck E. Cheese. The first location opened as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre in San Jose, California. It was the first family restaurant to integrate food with arcade games and animated entertainment; thus being one of the pioneers for the “family entertainment center” concept.
Leonard Michael Maltin is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of film capsule reviews, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, published annually from 1969 to 2014.
The term animatronics refers to mechatronic puppets. They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films and in theme park attractions.
Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc., commonly referred to as Imagineering, is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construction of Disney theme parks and attractions worldwide. The company also operates Disney Live Entertainment and The Muppets Studio and manages Disney's properties, from Walt Disney Studios in Burbank to New Amsterdam Theatre and Times Square Studios Ltd. in New York City. Founded by Walt Disney to oversee the production of Disneyland, it was originally known as Walt Disney, Inc. then WED Enterprises, from the initials meaning "Walter Elias Disney", the company co-founder's full name. Headquartered in Glendale, California, Imagineering is composed of "Imagineers", who are illustrators, architects, engineers, lighting designers, show writers and graphic designers.
Peter M. Holt is an American businessman. He is the former CEO of HoltCat, the largest Caterpillar dealership in the United States and former chairman, CEO, and owner of Spurs Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NBA's San Antonio Spurs, the USL's San Antonio FC, the AHL's San Antonio Rampage, and the NBA G League's Austin Spurs.
Tyrus Wong was a Chinese-born American artist. He was a painter, animator, calligrapher, muralist, ceramicist, lithographer and kite maker, as well as a set designer and storyboard artist. One of the most-influential and celebrated Asian-American artists of the 20th century, Wong was also a film production illustrator, who worked for Disney and Warner Bros.. He was a muralist for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), as well as a greeting card artist for Hallmark Cards. Most notably, he was the lead production illustrator on Disney's 1942 film Bambi, taking inspiration from Song dynasty art. He also served in the art department of many films, either as a set designer or storyboard artist, such as Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Rio Bravo (1959), The Music Man (1962), PT 109 (1963), The Great Race (1965), Harper (1966), The Green Berets (1968), and The Wild Bunch (1969), among others.
Floyd E. Norman is an American animator, writer, and cartoonist. Over the course of his career, Norman has worked for various animation companies, among them Walt Disney Animation Studios, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Ruby-Spears, Film Roman and Pixar.
Food Rocks was an attraction at Epcot's The Land pavilion presented by Nestlé in the Walt Disney World Resort. The attraction, a musical stage show, with audio-animatronic figures, opened in March 26, 1994.
The Press-Enterprise is a paid daily newspaper published by Digital First Media that serves the Inland Empire in Southern California. Headquartered in downtown Riverside, California, it is the primary newspaper for Riverside County, with heavy penetration into neighboring San Bernardino County. The geographic circulation area of the newspaper spans from the border of Orange County to the west, east to the Coachella Valley, north to the San Bernardino Mountains, and south to the San Diego County line. The Press-Enterprise is a member of the Southern California News Group.
Alice Estes Davis was an American costume designer. She is most famous for her work with Walt Disney, who employed her to develop costumes for films, television, and theme parks. She was married to Marc Davis, a Disney animator and Imagineer. Alice was named a Disney Legend in 2004.
Robert Henry "Bob" Gurr is an American amusement ride designer and Imagineer. His most famous work was for Walt Disney's Disneyland Park, and its subsequent sister parks. Gurr is said to have designed most, if not all, of the ride vehicles of the Disneyland attractions when the park opened, including Autopia, The Haunted Mansion, the Disneyland Monorail, the Submarine Voyage, and the Matterhorn Bobsleds. He was named a Disney Legend in 2004. He also worked on the King Kong Encounter animatronic for Universal Studios Hollywood.
Tony Wayne Baxter is the former senior vice president of creative development in Walt Disney Imagineering and was responsible for creating designs and carrying out the construction of attractions all over the world. He announced his departure from his full-time position to become a part-time adviser on February 1, 2013, which was also his 66th birthday. During his 47-year tenure with the company, he oversaw the construction of multiple contemporary Disney theme park attractions, including Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Star Tours, Splash Mountain, The Indiana Jones Adventure, and Journey Into Imagination, and served as the executive producer of Disneyland Paris.
Donald Warren Iwerks is an American former Disney executive and co-founder of Iwerks Entertainment along with former Disney executive Stan Kinsey. He is the son of the animator Ub Iwerks and father of Oscar-nominated documentary film producer Leslie Iwerks
Michael Curry is an American production designer who lives in Portland, Oregon. He is also the owner and President of Michael Curry Design Inc. in Scappoose, Oregon, which was started in 1986.
Muppet Mobile Lab is a free-roving, audio-animatronic entertainment attraction designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, that has been tested at Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California, at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida and at Hong Kong Disneyland in Hong Kong.
Downtown San Bernardino is a district in the city of San Bernardino, California, in San Bernardino County, United States. It is home to city and county government buildings, and to the city's central business district. The downtown area of San Bernardino is home to multiple diplomatic missions for the Inland Empire, being one of only four California cities with multiple consulates. The governments of Guatemala and Mexico have established their consulates in the civic center. Downtown San Bernardino is bounded by I-215 to the west, Waterman Avenue to the east, Baseline Street to the north, and Mill Street to the south.
Stanford Freese is an American tuba player and musical director who is the talent casting and booking director with Disney Entertainment Productions.
D23: The Official Disney Fan Club is the official fan club for The Walt Disney Company. Founded in 2009, the organization is known mainly for its biennial exposition event, the D23 Expo. The name D23 refers to D for Disney and 23 for 1923, which is the year Walt Disney founded the company.
Robert Jason Sherman, known as Robbie Sherman, is an American songwriter based in London. He was born in Los Angeles to Joyce and Robert B. Sherman, the youngest of four siblings. Stemming from a long line of songwriters and composers, spanning more than four generations, at 16 Sherman became one of the youngest songwriters ever invited to join BMI and is an alum of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. He is perhaps best known for his work on Love Birds: The Musical, which premiered at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Michael Arthur Peraza Jr. is a Cuban-American animator, art director, conceptual artist and historian of animation, who has worked for The Walt Disney Company, Fox Feature Animation, and Warner Bros. As a Disney Master Artist, he speaks at special events as a panelist with his wife and fellow Disney Master Artist, Patty Peraza, about experiences in the entertainment field. He received the Friz Freleng Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Family Film Festival in 2014, and the Disneyana Fan Club Legend Award in 2018. Currently, he continues his work with Warner Bros and Disney Television Animation.
