New Micechat Imagineering Forum

[Uncle Bob]

I had noticed that recently several people had expressed interest in one way or another in an imagineering forum on Micechat. I'd had the same idea for a while and so I thought I'd see if there's enough interest out there to justify it and hopefully push the MC staff to add it.

[Datameister]

Meh, I don't think that's specific enough. Are we talking about an Armchair Imagineering forum, or a What WDI's Doing Now forum, or something else? Just calling it an Imagineering forum seems a little vague, IMO.

[Olympicnut]

There used to be a MiceClub about Imagineering but it died a slow death. Hardly anyone ever posted in it. I tried to pump life into it a few times to no avail.

[Uncle Bob]

Data,

I thought it could be both, I just think there are many topics that could be covered. I guess I just don't like having to always pass by trip reports and dumb questions to find the threads I'm really interested in. (Not that I don't enjoy some of these threads.)

Clearly if things get too specific it would limit it to too few who would use the forum like Olympic says. So maybe there's a balance that can be found. I also spend most of my time in the DL thread, but am interested in hearing more about imagineering going on at other parks too.

Maybe there is not enough interest to justify it, but I'd spend a lot of time on it for one.

[tinkermonkey]

I like the idea of a forum specific to armchair engineering. There is already a section devoted to it on the weekly round up, which to me shows there is enough of it going on within the different park forums. And sometimes, frankly, I don't care about how someone would change stuff, but I have to wade through most of page one on the DL forum to see what else is being talked about - there are that many threads going on different rides/lands/ideas.

[tinkermonkey]

So, everytime I try to post things twice, it won't let me. This time, I get the "server is so busy" thing and hit refresh, see my post and go away. Never looked.

In a nutshell, I like the idea so much I said so twice!

[Aladdin]

Imagineering is spread across all the Disney parks, so it seems
best to keep Imagineering topics under the park that particular
project would affect.

[Dustysage]

If there is enough interest (100 or more votes) I'll add an Armchair Imagineering forum to the Lounge section. I don't think we need a general Imagineering section because those topics are usually real and should be discussed in a specific park forum or Disney Business sections.

[mycroft16]

I like Dustysage's idea. I think it would be a good forum for the Lounge.

I think that park specific imagineering questions belong under the park forums. However, there are plenty of imagineering threads out there that could be more accessible in a forum of their own. AI threads for instance might benefit from this, or questions about real Imagineering technologies that are non-park specific, etc.

[Alex E]

I would join it, it sounds like a good idea to me.

[Ryan Imagineer]

i think arm chair imagineering section would be really good.

[Uncle Bob]

I also think it would be a nice place to discuss many other topics related to Imagineering, beyond just armchair imagineering. Design theory, marketing themeparks, management within WDI, Disney, and design/creative organizations in general, the importance of theme, technical developments in the industry, audio animatronics and robotics, ride systems and manufacturers, how to get into the business, who's who in themepark design, references to learn more, discussions of imagineering related books, periodicals, and web sites, construction techniques, how'd they do that discussions, info about trade shows and orgainizations, just to name a few ideas off the top of my head.