Celebrating Imagineer Bob Gurr: “While alive, live!”
Bob Gurr, 89, one of The Walt Disney Company’s consummate engineers…
D23.com is on a roll this week. Yesterday was an awesome article on the Walt Disney Archives, and today’s feature is about Bob Gurr.
YES, the Bob Gurr.


Image: Disney
The Autopia, Monorail, Mr. Lincoln animatronic guy; a.k.a. One of the most interesting people in Disney history. Yeah, that Bob Gurr.
Thankfully, several of my favorite YouTubers keep track of Bob’s doings; he is a fascinating cat. But there is worth reminding yourself exactly how exciting a career the near 90-year-old has had since he joined The Walt Disney Company in 1954.
Disney Legend Bob Gurr spent 40 years at Walt Disney Imagineering, developing more than 100 designs for attractions. Read about his amazing career with a new spotlight from @TWDCArchives: https://t.co/a7BlwiQD8q #PrideMonth pic.twitter.com/wwsyBw6BuF
— Disney D23 (@DisneyD23) June 23, 2021
Of Bob’s success strategy, D23 offered, “He continues to make mechanical magic while living his favorite philosophy, in the words of Malcolm Forbes: ‘While alive, live!'”
Good advice from an amazing guy, no?
D23.com About Bob Gurr


Image: Walt Disney Imagineering
“Walt Disney was so impressed with Bob’s knowledge and skill that he invited him to join the Imagineering family, which then was solely dedicated to the design and construction of Disneyland,” explained D23.com. “Over the next nearly four decades, Bob worked transportation magic.”
- That magic included the Flying Saucers in Tomorrowland
- Antique cars and buses on Main Street, U.S.A.
- Matterhorn Bobsleds
- Disneyland & Walt Disney World Monorails
- And those are just some of the 100 or so attractions Bob worked on…


Image: Disneyland
All About Bob
Speaking of attractions, check out a video of Bob explaining “Tomorrowland 1967″:


Photo: Duchess of Disneyland
1967 was a huge year for Tomorrowland at Disneyland! Imagineer and Disney Legend Bob Gurr…
And another, this time from Disney Parks, of Bob Gurr talking about the Monorail:
Former Imagineer and Disney Legend Bob Gurr was interviewed for the Disneyland Monorail’s 45th anniversary and rededication.
And here is one more, all about the Disneyland Monorail, again from D23.


Image: Disneyland
From the initial planning stages to the Monorail System’s ribbon-cutting, Bob shares some of his favorite moments about designing (and driving!) one of Disney’s most iconic modes of transportation!
Regarding the Monorail, Bob spoke about the machines when he spoke to D23.com back in 2016.
Gurr said it’s the favorite of his projects.
The Monorail. It represents the feeling that there is a big beautiful tomorrow. I hear from adults about when they first saw it or when they first rode it. When you see a sleek monorail going across high on the beam with the sun setting behind it… I still get a little teary-eyed when I talk about it.”
We do too, Bob. We do too.


Image: Disney
Feature Image: Disney