{"id":13351,"date":"2020-01-07T09:06:47","date_gmt":"2020-01-07T14:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=13351"},"modified":"2020-01-07T09:40:58","modified_gmt":"2020-01-07T14:40:58","slug":"making-magic-at-disney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/making-magic-at-disney\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Magic at Disney"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Disney\"\n

As the first family ever to ride the new Toy Story Midway Mania! ride exited the attraction, Marcus D\u2019Amelio \u201998 and his colleagues at Walt Disney Imagineering watched from the sidelines. The riders\u2019 ecstatic and excited expressions told D\u2019Amelio and his team that they\u2019d achieved their goal: bringing family members together to have fun at \u201cThe Most Magical Place on Earth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For the past seven years, D\u2019Amelio has worked as a show electronics designer for attractions at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, making sure that audio, video, lighting, animatronics, and <\/span>special effects run smoothly, safely, and wow every visitor. D\u2019Amelio\u2019s position brings together his three passions\u2014electrical engineering, gaming, and theater\u2014all of which he developed while earning his bachelor\u2019s degree at the Whiting School<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The son of an engineer, D\u2019Amelio always desired to join the field himself, but he also wanted to develop other interests. He found the perfect fit at Johns Hopkins, where he worked for the dean <\/span>of students to support various student activities. He got involved in theater and gaming clubs, and developed new activities during his time here, including JohnCon<\/a>, a science fiction\/fantasy convention held annually at Homewood that recently celebrated its 25th anniversary.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spurred by these side interests, D\u2019Amelio worked at a series of jobs after graduation: doing marketing for a gaming startup called Digital Addiction, game designing for the United States Playing Cards Company, and teaching technical theater to students at Central Florida Community College. Later, he used his electrical engineering<\/a> training to design and sell lighting systems for Barbizon Lighting Company. <\/span><\/p>\n

After marrying wife, Marcia, who works for Walt Disney World, he reached out to a family friend with his resume, hoping to explore opportunities at the park. Soon after, he was hired to support features as varied as blowing up cars at stunt shows to special effects in parades. After four years, he joined his current team, where he uses skills to develop and support attractions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn today\u2019s world, we need as many opportunities as we can just to enjoy each other as humans,\u201d D\u2019Amelio says. \u201cThat\u2019s part of the amazing magic that is Disney, and just to be a little part of that is an honor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Walt Disney World, Marcus D\u2019Amelio \u201998 combines his three passions\u2014electrical engineering, gaming, and theater.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[131,2063,4874,4877],"class_list":["post-13351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-department-of-electrical-and-computer-engineering","tag-johns-hopkins-engineering","tag-disney","tag-marcus-damelio","issue-winter-2020"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMaking Magic at Disney - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/making-magic-at-disney\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making Magic at Disney - 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