Editor’s Note: Peggie Fariss, who lives in Corona del Mar, was one of the 12 profiles in “Women of Walt Disney Imagineering,” published in 2022. This week’s list of Women-Owned Businesses in Orange County begins on page 18.
I can honestly say, “I grew up with Disney.” What I didn’t know when I applied for my first “real job” was that I would spend my entire professional life “working for the Mouse.”
In the mid-1950s, we lived in Anaheim, Disneyland’s new home; it was a decade before Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s a Small World or New Tomorrowland.
Once a year, mother would take my brother and me to Disneyland to race across the suspension bridge of Tom Sawyer Island and venture deep into the wilds of Africa aboard a rickety boat piloted by a jaunty Jungle Cruise guide. On summer evenings, my dad would take us up to the roof of our house to watch the Disneyland fireworks. And if that wasn’t “Disney” enough, we watched the Mickey Mouse Club every weekday…and Walt Disney on Sunday nights.
When my plans to go away to college took a detour, a friend suggested I apply for a weekend job at Disneyland. At my interview, I was handed a spiel: “Welcome to Storybook Land, everyone,” I read. “My name is Peggie, and we’re on board the Katrina. Together, we’re going to relieve some of the most famous fairy tales of all time.”
I got the job! And for the next year, I spent weekends, holidays and summer dressed in an eyelet pinafore, guiding guests aboard my little canal boat through the mouth of Monstro the Whale into the miniature world of Storybook Land. It didn’t feel like work.
One day, I was instructed to see my supervisor in the Admin Office.
“Oh my gosh.” I thought. “What have I done wrong?” My supervisor handed me a stack of envelopes and said, “Payroll would like you to cash these.” I remember thinking, “This job is so much fun, and they pay you!” Well, honestly, my first paycheck netted $6.34. So, not a lot! But still…
Disneyland Ambassador
The next year, I transferred to the Matterhorn Bobsleds, where the foreman suggested I apply to become the Disneyland Ambassador. I made it to the “final five” and went to the Disney Studio for the last interview. We dined in the executive dining room and sat one table over from Walt Disney – my childhood hero! Sadly, he passed away less than six weeks later.
I wasn’t chosen as Disneyland Ambassador and thought it was because I hadn’t prepared myself. I was determined to improve my prospects. I took out a $500 loan, enrolled in the John Robert Powers Modeling School, put braces on my teeth and read everything I could about Disney, including the annual reports.
I knew the answers to everything. While I still wasn’t chosen, I must have impressed someone because in 1969, they asked me to participate with nine other young Disneyland tour guides and hostesses in press conferences to announce the first phase of Walt Disney World.
The two weeks we spent in Central Florida, studying all the details of what we called “The Florida Project,” –– as the 27,000 acres “Vacation Kingdom” was initially called –– persuaded me this would be a monumental undertaking. I returned to California, determined to find a role for myself at Walt Disney World.
My search brought me to John Curry, whose family had operated hotels and campgrounds at Yosemite. The consummate hotelier John hired me, a recent graduate of Cal State Fullerton with a degree in English, to lead the Guest Activities of The Walt Disney World Hotel Company.
I moved to Central Florida six months before Walt Disney World opened. A reorganization in 1972 repositioned me in Convention Sales, where over the next five years, I worked my way up from coordinating meetings to planning them and traveling the country to represent Walt Disney World as a premier convention destination.
Imagineering EPCOT
One day, I bumped into Marty Sklar, whom I’d met at the 1969 press conference to introduce Disney World. Sklar’s early Disney career was distinguished by the role he played writing for Walt Disney.
By this point, Marty was the creative head of Disney’s in-house design organization WED Enterprises, later called Walt Disney Imagineering. He told me he wanted to start EPCOT planning with conferences on EPCOT topics. He suggested I take the job, and I did.
During my first six years at WED, I organized EPCOT conferences and advisory boards comprised of leaders in their respective fields –– people like marine scientists Drs. Robert Ballard and Sylvia Earle. I loved researching 40,000 years of communications history for the attraction “Spaceship Earth” based on a story outline by famous science fiction writer Ray Bradbury.
What a plum assignment and emblematic of Marty’s faith in his young team. Spaceship Earth opened in 1982, and I’m delighted it’s still playing.
After EPCOT opened, I found myself working on projects that required more of a business background, so I enrolled in UCLA’s Extension program, and for the next 23 years, I took classes – 40 in all.
Another treasured experience was the opening of The Disney Gallery at Disneyland in 1987. Not only did it allow us to showcase conceptual Disneyland art that no one outside the company had ever seen, but it afforded me a once-in-a-lifetime chance to spend time with dozens of amazing artists like Herbie Ryman, John Hench, Marc Davis and many more who had worked directly with Walt Disney to create beloved animated Disney classics and our beloved Disneyland.
In the late 1980s, Marty asked me to be Imagineering’s point person to corporate sponsors in Disney parks worldwide. There are 12 parks today with the opening of Shanghai Disneyland.
For the next 23 years, my small team and I coordinated with scores of the world’s leading companies like Coca-Cola, AmEx and Visa. We worked hard to find ways to accommodate their brand messaging without overly commercializing our parks. For us, the Disney story always came first.
If we were clever, we could weave their messages into the overall show environment in subtle, fun and, hopefully, memorable ways. One example was AT&T’s last-minute sponsorship of Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. Its campaign at the time revolved around “True Rewards.”
We had developed collectible decoder cards for the attraction. The night before the attraction opened, painters stenciled a “secret AT&T message” in the attraction queue: “True Rewards Await Those Who Choose Wisely.” It was a sly reference to their campaign and a perfect fit for the attraction, which was all about guests “choosing” the right door or incurring the wrath of Mara.
Paris, Here I Come
Having spent more than half of my Disney career guiding corporate branding, I expected to finish my career in that role, but more exciting and completely unexpected things lay ahead.
In 2010, I was invited to move to Paris and lead the Imagineering Design and Show Quality team. Once again, I was given a chance to do something I’d never done before in a language I did not speak. But I said “Oui.” I’m glad I did.
My five years in Paris were my life’s most challenging, fulfilling and enriching years. All my Disney experiences and all those UCLA classes gave me the confidence to say, “I actually know what we should do.” When I didn’t know, I found plenty of people willing to help me figure it out.
I returned to California in late 2015 and retired six months later, having spent 50 years working for a remarkable company filled with amazing people doing incredible work, bringing joy to millions around the world. I never planned this path, and it turned out to be more interesting, exciting and enriching than I could have imagined.
In my retirement, I joined the board of Ryman Arts, a non-profit named in honor of Herbert D. Ryman, to continue his legacy of transforming lives through artistic and personal growth. I’ve participated in some Girls Inc. programs.
My colleagues and I love talking with young people about the careers they might create for themselves, encouraging them to – Dream Big, Work Hard, and Have Fun!
