Walt Disney World lost a piece of its own machinery this week. Disney Legend Don Iwerks — the engineer and inventor whose cameras, projectors, and quiet problem-solving are woven through the parks and films you already love — died on the evening of July 9 at the age of 96.
If the surname is familiar, it should be. Don was the eldest son of Ub Iwerks, Walt's original business partner and the co-creator of Mickey Mouse. But Don built a legacy entirely his own, and it's one you've walked through without knowing it.
His hands are in the parks. Literally.
Here's the detail most guests never learn. When Imagineers needed hands for the Abraham Lincoln Audio-Animatronic in Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, Don volunteered his own as the model. Those casts became the studio standard — known to this day as the "Iwerks Hands" — and they have been used on Audio-Animatronic figures in Disney parks around the world ever since. Next time you watch a figure gesture in a show, there's a real chance you're looking at Don Iwerks' hands.
He spent a lifetime building the machines that made the magic — and then, almost as a footnote, lent the magic his own hands.
What he actually built
Don joined Walt Disney Productions in 1950 as a lab technician, served two years in the Korean War with the Army's Signal Photo Corps, and returned to the studio's Machine Shop in 1953 — working directly alongside his father. Over a 35-year Disney career he went on to lead the Machine Shop, the Camera Service Department, and the Technical Engineering and Manufacturing Division. Along the way:
- Circle-Vision 360. He helped develop the 360-degree camera system that debuted with Circarama at Disneyland's 1955 opening. Its most famous film, America the Beautiful, ran for more than 17 years — and a reshot version played right here at Magic Kingdom, and later at EPCOT.
- Mary Poppins. With his father, he refined the sodium vapor process — the camera-and-optical-printer trick that let live action and animation share a frame seamlessly. It's why the "Jolly Holiday" sequence works. It won an Academy Award.
- The 1964–65 New York World's Fair. He built film and projection equipment for the Disney attractions that debuted there — the same fair that gave us the Carousel of Progress.
- EPCOT's The American Adventure and the 3-D camera system for Captain EO.
- Star Tours. He built its projection system — the thing that made the simulator feel like flight.
His first film assignment, back in 1954? 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
After Disney
In 1986, after 35 years, Don co-founded Iwerks Entertainment with former Disney executive Stan Kinsey. The company became a global pioneer in giant-screen theaters, motion simulators, and immersive 3-D — installed in nearly 300 venues across 38 countries. The Academy honored him with the Gordon E. Sawyer Award, an Oscar given for technological contributions to filmmaking. He was named a Disney Legend at the inaugural D23 Expo in 2009.
He never stopped, either. In 2007, Diane Disney Miller entrusted him with restoring Disney's historic camera systems for the Walt Disney Family Museum. At 90, he published a book about his father. His family says that right up to the end he was still sketching new inventions, cheering on the Dodgers, and watching classic films — with Mary Poppins remaining especially close to his heart.
Where to pay respects on your next trip
Look up on Main Street, U.S.A. at Magic Kingdom. Father and son share a window together — "Iwerks & Iwerks Stereoscopic Cameras." It's a small thing, easy to walk past, and now a very good reason to stop and look. Two generations of a family who spent a century building the machines behind the magic, honored on the street that starts every Disney day.
Don Iwerks is survived by his wife of 54 years, Betty; his sons, John and Larry; and his daughter, Leslie, an Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker who has spent her own career preserving Disney's history. Three generations, one family, still telling the story.
Details accurate as of July 11, 2026, and confirmed by The Walt Disney Company.