Three of the biggest names behind some of Disney's most beloved parks and films are set to share a stage in Orlando this November. Bob Weis, Joe Rohde and Leslie Iwerks will appear on a Legends panel during IAAPA Expo 2026, according to the Orlando Sentinel, bringing together decades of theme park and documentary storytelling under one roof at the Orange County Convention Center.
The trio's appearance was reported by the Orlando Sentinel, which covers the annual attractions industry gathering. IAAPA Expo 2026 runs November 16 through November 20, according to IAAPA, which describes its signature sessions as bringing together Disney Legends, storytellers, executives and thought leaders from across the attractions industry.
A Career Spanning Tokyo to Shanghai
Bob Weis is a former president of Walt Disney Imagineering, a role in which he served for nearly six years before retiring from Disney in January, according to Disney Parks Blog. His resume stretches back to Tokyo Disneyland, which opened in 1983, and includes helping develop the park now known as Disney's Hollywood Studios, the outlet reports.
Weis also led the creative aspects of Shanghai Disneyland before stepping into the Imagineering presidency, per the same account. He oversaw the transformation of Disney California Adventure that began in 2007, an overhaul that, according to Disney Parks Blog, even included planting 1,200 trees across the park.
Rohde's Animal Kingdom and Pandora Legacy
Joe Rohde, now a retired Imagineer, is closely tied to Disney's Animal Kingdom, where he served as the overall creative executive and supervising designer, according to D23. He was also the lead designer of Pandora — The World of Avatar, the immersive land added to that park, as reported by the Los Angeles Times in a piece republished by enewspaper.latimes.com.
D23 notes that Rohde's other notable projects include Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa in Ko Olina, Hawaiʻi. The Los Angeles Times account adds that Rohde, 65, is officially retired after 40 years at Disney, and it credits him with championing the belief that theme parks function as cultural institutions rather than simply entertainment venues.
Iwerks Brought Imagineering to the Screen
Rounding out the panel is filmmaker Leslie Iwerks, an Academy Award- and Emmy-nominated director and producer, according to The Walt Disney Family Museum. Her filmography includes The Pixar Story, released in 2007, and The Imagineering Story, released in 2019, per the museum's account. That same source describes The Imagineering Story as a highly acclaimed Disney+ documentary series that pulled back the curtain on the division where Weis and Rohde built their careers.
The gathering of these three creatives at November's expo underscores how central both theme park design and behind-the-scenes storytelling have become to the attractions industry's biggest annual event. Weis, Rohde and Iwerks each spent years documenting or shaping the physical and cinematic language of Disney's most ambitious projects, from Shanghai to Hawaiʻi to the screen itself.
