BRUCE GORDON, VETERAN DISNEY IMAGINEER, PROLIFIC DISNEY AUTHOR,
AND DISTINGUISHED HISTORIAN; DIRECTED PROJECTS FOR POPULAR
THEME PARK ATTRACTIONS AROUND THE WORLD

Bruce Gordon, was a Disney Imagineer who spent 25 years working in a variety of top creative capacities for the Disney theme parks and authored/co-authored definitive books on a wide range of Disney subjects and legends.

Born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, Bruce grew up in Palo Alto and Fullerton, California. He went to Disneyland often as a child, and built countless models of the famous landmark in his parents’ garage. One particularly ambitious project involved actual water from the “Jungle Cruise” that he smuggled out of Disneyland in a milk carton.

Bruce began his career as a model designer at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) in 1980, and went on to lend his talents and passion to the creation of numerous Disney theme park attractions around the world. He made major contributions to such popular attractions as Splash Mountain (for which he was credited as show producer), Tarzan’s Treehouse, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and he helped to develop the concept for the “Finding Nemo” Submarine Voyage. Among his earliest assignments for WDI, Bruce produced show set pieces for a number of Epcot attractions and was also a member of the installation team for “Journey Into Imagination” in Future World. At Disneyland, he assumed the same responsibility for New Fantasyland, which opened in 1983.

Bruce wrote and designed books about the Disney theme parks (Disneyland: The Nickel Tour, The Art of Disneyland, Disneyland: Then, Now and Forever, Walt Disney World: Then, Now and Forever, The Art of Walt Disney World), and such famous Disney figures as the Sherman Brothers (Walt’s Time), Peter Ellenshaw (Ellenshaw Under Glass), and Herb Ryman (A Brush with Disney). Since leaving his post as project director at Walt Disney Imagineering in 2005, he had been serving as show producer and creative consultant for The Walt Disney Family Museum, which will be housed in San Francisco’s Presidio area.

Gordon was a lifelong collector of Disneyana and sought vintage Disneyland memorabilia at swap meets, conventions, and collectible shops. In addition to the numerous books that he authored and designed on the history of Disney theme parks, he was also a frequent editor and contributor to various Disney employee publications, and wrote feature articles on the subject for national magazines. He also appeared frequently as a speaker at Disneyana conventions, often paired with his initial co-author, the late David Mumford.

For the past two years before his untimely death, besides working on The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, Bruce worked closely with acclaimed songwriter Richard Sherman (and collaborator Milt Larsen) writing the book for an ambitious new musical themed to the early days of Broadway called “Pazazz!” He is also credited as co-producer on “The Boys,” a feature length documentary about the Sherman Brothers that is currently being directed by Gregg Sherman (son of Richard) and Jeff Sherman (son of Robert). He had also recently completed co-authoring and designing a biography on famed Disneyland “Golden Horseshoe” performer Wally Boag. Entitled The Clown Prince of Disneyland,

Bruce, passed away suddenly at his home in Glendale, California on November 6, 2007. He was only 56 years old.