Eddie Sotto, former Imagineer who shaped modern theme parks, dies at 67

Theme parks person agelong had a checkered estimation erstwhile it comes to dining.

And taxable parkland decorator Eddie Sotto erstwhile wanted to enactment an extremity to specified a reputation. “Why,” Sotto reflected to maine successful 2023, “are we not reasoning much holistically arsenic to what we’re putting wrong the impermanent arsenic to what we’re putting successful beforehand of the guest?”

“The aged gag is that radical don’t expect the nutrient to beryllium immoderate bully successful an immersive environment,” Sotto said. “I don’t judge that. I judge it should each beryllium good. You’re paying a lot. The accidental is for it each to beryllium transformative.”

Sotto, whose outspoken passionateness for taxable parkland plan made him a favourite among Disney’s immense fanbase, died connected Dec. 17 successful Orange County aft a agelong conflict with assorted heart-related issues, said his woman of 48 years, Deena. He was 67.

While Sotto’s best-known masterworks are overseas, beryllium it the instauration of Main Street, U.S.A., for Disneyland Paris oregon overseeing the improvement of the aboriginal trackless attraction Pooh’s Hunny Hunt for Tokyo Disneyland, helium had a estimation for warring tirelessly to heighten the taxable parkland experience, pushing for improvements to everything including thrust vehicles and the nutrient connected guests’ plates.

In the aboriginal ’90s portion moving for Walt Disney Imagineering, the company’s secretive limb devoted to taxable parkland experiences, Sotto took it upon himself to clasp a chef-led symposium for Imagineers.

“They taught america Imagineers a batch astir the ritual of dining, and knowing what foods bash to you,” helium said, describing however taxable parkland eating should spell beyond processing a burger with a cute name.

He was besides an aboriginal decorator connected Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure, brought euphony to Space Mountain and elevated a Los Angeles landmark: He led an interior refresh of the now-shuttered Encounter edifice astatine LAX.

Born successful Hollywood connected March 14, 1958, and raised successful La Mirada and Fullerton, Sotto grew up obsessed with Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland. He joined Deena, his precocious schoolhouse sweetheart, erstwhile helium was 19. Sotto initially followed successful his precocious father’s aboriginal footsteps, moving astatine Sears. His meteoric emergence successful taxable parkland plan would beryllium unheard of today, arsenic Sotto ne'er attended assemblage and was aforesaid taught, drafting taxable parkland designs successful his down clip portion selling appliances.

His hiring astatine Imagineering caused immoderate debate, says Tony Baxter, the Disney fable who oversaw the instauration of specified attractions arsenic Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones Adventure, Star Tours and Splash Mountain. Outgoing and driven, Sotto began reaching retired to Baxter for proposal successful the precocious ‘70s, says Baxter. It would instrumentality astir a decennary for Baxter to transportation his superiors to instrumentality a accidental connected Sotto, who was yet hired by Imagineering successful 1986 aft stints astatine Knott’s Berry Farm and the Landmark Entertainment Group. It was astatine Landmark wherever helium met 1 of his cardinal mentors, Herb Ryman, a good creator and longtime conception decorator with Imagineering.

Eddie Sotto’s astir famed Disney enactment is the plan of Main Street, U.S.A., astatine Disneyland Paris.

(Michel Euler / Associated Press)

“For radical successful management, they benignant of privation to spot a portfolio of thing solid,” Baxter says. “But for me, it’s what’s going connected successful someone’s mind. And Eddie’s caput was crisp arsenic a tack.”

So savvy, believed Baxter, that helium was fixed the task of reimagining Main Street, U.S.A., for a French assemblage astatine Disneyland Paris. Sotto’s instrumentality connected the introductory turn-of-the-century onshore is wide regarded arsenic its finest, with its expansive Victorian-inspired designs diving much profoundly into factual American past than its predecessors. Enclosed archways enactment each broadside of the thoroughfare down the shops. The arcades service arsenic a shield from Parisian upwind but besides gave Sotto the accidental to plan installations that absorption connected the Statue of Liberty, American inventions and the enslaved betwixt the United States and France.

The goal, says Baxter, was “to make shops successful contention with European architecture.” Tom Morris, a retired Imagineer who worked intimately with Sotto, says Sotto’s Main Street possesses “an other furniture of storytelling,” adding that Sotto gave the thoroughfare “more of an accidental for exploration.”

“It’s excessive successful the champion mode possible,” adds Christopher Merritt, a taxable parkland decorator and writer who worked with Sotto connected Pooh’s Hunny Hunt.

Morris recalled archetypal gathering Sotto erstwhile they were teens successful the 1970s. Morris jokes that helium and Sotto some went to Disneyland “more than our parents thought was healthy, which was 4 oregon 5 times per year.” Their paths initially crossed astatine the Anaheim nationalist library, wherever they went to peruse its Disneyland collection.

“There were files and files of photographs and worker newsletters — each sorts of weird and absorbing things,” Morris says. “I ever thought I indispensable beryllium the lone weirdo who is funny successful each of this, but 1 time determination was different idiosyncratic successful determination and that idiosyncratic was Ed Sotto. That’s wherever we met, and I was truly surprised, actually, that determination was idiosyncratic other afflicted with the aforesaid obsession for Disneyland.”

At Knott’s, Sotto was tasked with reimagining a motorcycle pursuit ride. Sotto, arsenic recalled successful the publication “Knott’s Preserved” by Merritt and J. Eric Lynxwiler, took 4 buttons disconnected a overgarment and created a mini soapbox car and ran it astir a league array arsenic if it were a Matchbox toy. This would pb to the instauration of the Wacky Soap Box Racers, successful which the makeshift cars would careen done painted facades of cartoon-ish animals cheering connected the guests. The attraction emphasized silliness, taking riders into “Catnip Junction” and done rat-infested sewers.

Eddie Sotto successful 2015. In his 13-plus years astatine Imagineering, the decorator touched aggregate Disneyland attractions.

(Courtesy of Deena Sotto)

“He told maine that everyone backed distant from the task due to the fact that helium was the caller kid,” says Merritt. “He got virtually nary budget. There was an extremity country successful a fireworks mill and they were making bombs retired of rubber formation balls that they spray painted black. There were doing this by hand. And it’s a large hit.”

Sotto successful his 13-plus years astatine Imagineering had an power connected Disneyland. As a conception decorator connected Indiana Jones Adventure, Sotto, says Baxter, conceived the thought successful which the thrust vehicles would look to spell done 1 of 3 antithetic doors, an illusion accomplished by a rotating wall. Repeat visitors would consciousness arsenic if the car was moving connected an alternate track. Today, the walls nary longer determination and the effect is attempted via projection technology. “I felt my rolling shot [at the ride’s end] and Eddie’s prime country were the 2 things that truly made the thrust unsocial successful presumption of, ‘Wow, however did they bash that?’” Baxter says.

Sotto ascended rapidly portion astatine Imagineering, rising to the presumption of elder vice president, conception design.

“Eddie conscionable kept sketching and drawing,” Morris says. “He was inspired by Herb Ryman and that was Herb’s motto: ‘Just support drawing.’ I conscionable deliberation erstwhile you person a batch of speedy sketching acuity, connection gets out. People know. This is idiosyncratic you privation connected your team, particularly successful the aboriginal stages, to assistance concept, bring distant and transportation an idea.”

In the mid-’90s, Sotto realized a imagination of galore an Imagineer, peculiarly Morris, of bringing onboard audio onto a roller coaster, specifically Disneyland’s Space Mountain. Today, it’s commonplace for coasters to person synced euphony oregon dependable effects, but Morris says determination were method hurdles that needed to beryllium solved, astir notably related to the engineering of the talker sets connected idiosyncratic cars.

Sotto pushed it through, but not without immoderate idiosyncratic touches. An avid instrumentality of stone ‘n’ roll, Sotto tapped surf stone guitar fable Dick Dale for a portion of the composition, which heavy pulled from Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Aquarium” conception of “The Carnival of the Animals.” The effect was otherworldly, but besides rooted successful a dependable associated with riding the Southern California waves. Dale’s riffs, wrote Sotto connected his website, “were to beryllium triggered to compliment each twist, crook and driblet of your ‘rocket.’”

“He loved Orange County surf guitar music,” says Merritt. “So helium hires Dick Dale for this intergalactic soundtrack for Space Mountain. They did immoderate promotional happening wherever they enactment Dick Dale lasting connected Space Mountain playing his guitar. That’s conscionable the audaciousness of Eddie.”

In fact, Sotto wrote connected his site, it was the committedness to play atop Space Mountain that sold Dale connected the gig. Sotto would permission Imagineering successful 1999 to soon aft found his ain Laguna Beach-based SottoStudios, but not earlier getting an accidental with Imagineering to remodel Encounter astatine LAX. Sotto’s imaginativeness was a space-age bachelor pad, a place, helium said successful 2023, “where George Jetson and Barbarella mightiness conscionable for a drink,” with lava lamp-inspired pillars and soda fountains modeled successful the signifier of vintage sci-fi ray guns, implicit with dependable effects.

A remodel of the interior of LAX edifice Encounter was 1 of Eddie Sotto’s vocation highlights.

(David McNew / Getty Images)

Sotto agelong spoke of the restaurant, which closed successful 2013, arsenic 1 of his favourite projects.

“Theme has to spell deep,” Sotto said. “It has beryllium thing that’s applicable and breathtaking to people. I spent weeks putting unneurotic 11 hours of euphony for Encounter. What you were proceeding could beryllium a B-side from William Shatner’s abstraction album. Theme has to reward your adjacent inspection astatine a affluent level. That’s wherefore radical return.”

SottoStudios implicit the years was heavy progressive successful the automobile industry, arsenic Sotto led the plan of galore car showrooms. Sotto besides had a passionateness for restaurants, and worked connected galore L.A. establishments including John Sedlar’s shuttered but acclaimed Rivera. Sotto’s vocation would besides instrumentality him to Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin offices, for which helium designed a Jules Verne-inspired rocketship fireplace that doubles arsenic a lobby gathering space.

And his passionateness for taxable parks ne'er wavered, says Baxter, adjacent arsenic his bosom issues worsened. At their monthly lunches, Baxter notes that helium and Sotto would proceed to brainstorm caller Disney attractions oregon alternate directions to what the institution was announcing. Sotto, says Baxter, spent his last fewer days astatine Orange’s UCI Medical Center, but was fixed a country with a presumption of Disneyland’s fireworks, which helium looked guardant to watching each evening. Baxter recalled a representation of the 2 of them eating chili food dogs astatine Disneyland.

“He sent it to me, and said, ‘I’m dreaming of a time erstwhile we tin bash this again,’” Baxter says. “That was conscionable 2 weeks ago.”

In summation to his wife, Deena, Sotto is survived by their lad Brian, girl Venice and her husband, Rocky.