Disneyland Explorer
CLIENT
Disney
MY ROLE
UI, UX, Interaction Design, Animation, Visual Design
TEAM
Guido Jiménez-Cruz, Bomina Kim, Charles Vestal, Quinn McHenry
RESULT
#1 Overall on the iTunes App Store with over 1.3 million initial downloads
BUSINESS PROBLEM
In 2011, the Apple App Store was in its nascency—it had existed for only three years. Everyone wanted an app in the App Store.
Disney relies on their theme parks as one of four major business pillars. But physical parks have their trade-offs. Although adored by fans internationally, there are many barriers to entry. Cost, time, and logistics can be burdensome. How might we capture the breadth, depth, and magic of Disneyland Parks & Resorts in an easily consumable form?
USER PROBLEM
Disneyland attracts 18 million visitors per year. Visitors come from far and wide to visit the Magic Kingdom.
Although the Magic Kingdom attracts massive crowds annually, not every Disney fans has the same opportunity. And for the fans who have visited—how might we help them relive those magical moments?
THE SOLUTION
The Happiest Place on Earth—in the palm of your hand 🖐️😊🐭
Disneyland Explorer is a whopping 52-foot long parallax tour of Disney Parks and Resorts. Inside this massive app are 16 mini-games, over 5000 image, video, and audio assets.
⟵ 52 feet of sketches ⟶
Coming to life: A look into the visual design process and the software I used to piece these parallactic lands together. Each land was tediously crafted with a strong sense of hierarchy and composition. Images by Bomina Kim.
INTERACTION DESIGN
Designing with native software: Utilizing native software created by CTO, Rocco Bowling, I pieced together these magical, parallactic, and interactive lands in painstaking detail.
My Role
Our strategy was to divide and conquer between three designers.
I created the following magical experiences, complete with animations and interactions.
Adventureland
Buena Vista Street
Cars Land
Condor Flats
Critter Country
Disney’s Grand Californian
Downtown Disney District
Fantasyland
Frontierland
Grizzly Peak
Hollywood Land
Hotels of Disneyland Resort
New Orleans Square
Pacific Warf
Paradise Pier
THE RESULTS
Awards & Recognition
#1 App – iTunes App Store
Maintained #1 Overall Free iPad app for over two weeks
Over 2.5 million downloads
Over 810,000 active users a year after launch
Featured at Apple’s WWDC
Onstage with Craig Federighi, Senior Vice President of Software Engineering at Apple.
MAGIC IN YOUR HANDS
With the tremendous success of our first release on iPad, Disney asked us to create an iPhone app with more games and features.
I led the design effort for the iPhone version of Disneyland Explorer.
USER FEEDBACK
What fans are saying almost a decade later
Almost a decade after Disneyland Explorer was released, fans are still reminiscing and indulging in the nostalgia of the user experience. The app brought Disneyland to people who may never have the opportunity to visit. As fans say, “It’s the closest thing I had to Disneyland.”
