Chinese students take part in Disney design competition

Some of the considerations that had to be taken into account, said Tao, were safety and barrier-free access for children in strollers or disabled people.

According to the company, the winning team will receive a fully-sponsored trip by Shanghai Disney Resort to the Walt Disney Imagineering headquarters (WDI) in Glendale, California, where they will go behind the scenes and learn from the creative community at WDI. Upon their return to China, the team can embark on an internship at Shanghai Disney Resort.

The Walt Disney Imagineering’s Imaginations Design Competition in the US was created in 1991 by the late Marty Sklar, a Disney Legend and Imagineering executive.

“China now has one of the largest theme park markets in the world,” said Murray King, vice president of public affairs at Shanghai Disney Resort. “We are excited to see that China also has a wide range of talented young students to support the industry’s rapid growth, in areas such as creative visual arts, engineering technical design, and animation.”

Zhang Wei, the leader of the team behind the “Mt. Olympus”project, said that the competition was a source of valuable experience regarding the integration of art and imagination into a real engineering task.

“Our team was inspired by the legendary throne of Zeus at Mountain Olympus, the ancient Olympic games, and the character of Hercules – a God famous for his strength in Greek mythology,” said Zhang.

“We managed to add all these imaginative elements into our project where guests will get to know about Greek mythology and act as heroes who get trained by Hercules and other famous Gods. The whole process of the competition is beyond the textbooks in class,” he added.