You are never too old to get your first tattoo, and legendary Disney Imagineer Bob Gurr recently proved this fact by getting his first tattoo done at 90 years old!
If you have ridden any number of classic Disney theme park attractions, there is a good chance you’ve sat in a ride vehicle designed by Bob Gurr. Over his 40-year career with the Walt Disney Company, Bob Gurr developed over 100 designs for Disney Park attractions with a special focus on ride vehicles. Among his most notable projects are the Matterhorn Bobsleds and Autopia in Disneyland, as well as the Monorails for both the Walt Disney World Resort and the Disneyland Resort, just to name a few.
During a recent Mediterranean cruise vacation, the talented Imagineer got his first ever tattoo with a design featuring one of his original Disney Parks creations, and you have to see the pictures!
Gurr’s very first tattoo is of the first Disneyland Monorail that he designed during the Park’s largest renovation project at the time with the 1959 expansion of Tomorrowland.
This tattoo is especially meaningful to him as the Monorail project was one of his most impactful vehicles he had designed while working as an Imagineer. Gurr himself often says, “If it moves on wheels at Disneyland, I probably designed it.”
The Imagineer shared the process of getting the tattoo along with the final product with his followers on Instagram:
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Bob Gurr’s first project in a Disney theme park was the miniature cars for the Autopia attraction, which Walt Disney was so thrilled with that he ended up inviting him to join what was then known as WED Enterprises (Later Walt Disney Imagineering) to work on designing other elements of the Park.
Through the next 40 years of his career with Imagineering, Gurr went on to design Tomorrowland’s Flying Saucers, multiple antique car and double-decker buses that moe down Main Street, U.S.A., and more. He even worked on the mechanical side of the impressive Audio-Animatronics figure of President Lincoln for the Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln attraction.
While Gurr retired from his role with Disney in 1981, he continues to work as a consultant on various Disney projects. In 1999, he became a recipient of the Themed Entertainment Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2004 he was named a Disney Legend. We love Gurr’s new tattoo and are thrilled to see him living his best life!