Joe Rohde Wants to Memorialize His Earring After Being Nominated as a Disney Legend

If you’re a Disney fan, you probably already know who Joe Rohde is.

Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG

If you don’t already know, he’s a former exec for Walt Disney Imagineering, and he played a HUGE role in a lot of iconic things in the park. For example, he was one of the masterminds behind Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park, Pandora: The World of Avatar inside Animal Kingdom, and even Disney’s Aulani Resort and Spa in Hawaii. He’s iconic, his work is iconic, and just as iconic as he and his work are his EARRING. Back to that in a moment. Anyway, he was just nominated as a Disney Legend, which is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon someone within the Company.

Rohde posted on Instagram after the nominations went out to thank those close to him.

©Disney

He said, “While I am flattered and proud to receive such recognition, the real honors go to the people who gave me a chance, the people who mentored and guided me, the people who forgave me when I did foolish things, the people who trusted me to direct them and lead them, the people who actually did the work with their own hands, my family who put up with decades of my coming and going, and not least the guests and audiences who receive all of our work with such enthusiasm.”

©Disney

Rohde and 13 other nominees will be honored at the Disney Legends ceremony on Sunday, August 11th at the Honda Center in California.

©Disney

At the end of the post, though, was the kicker. He wraps things up by saying, “I will have to decide whether I want to memorialize my handprints, or figure out some way to press the side of my head with my earrings into the cement.”

©Joe Rodhe

While we wouldn’t want poor Joe to put his head in cement, we do totally think the earring should be pressed into it alongside his hands. You’ll be able to spot Rohde and many other icons at D23: The Ultimate Fan Event this fall.

We’ll be sure to keep you in the loop with more Disney news, so make sure to follow along so that you never miss a thing and are always in the loop.