Bob Gurr, the 94 year old Disney Legend who engineered the Autopia cars, the Disneyland Monorail, the Matterhorn Bobsleds, the Submarine Voyage and the Omnimover ride system, is going into the IAAPA Hall of Fame at last. The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions announced its 2026 class on August 25, and the Bob Gurr IAAPA Hall of Fame induction leads it. Gurr will be formally inducted on Monday, November 16 during IAAPA Expo 2026 in Orlando.
The Class Of 2026
Gurr is joined by three other honorees. Chip Cleary is a former chairman and chief executive of IAAPA whose career also included leading Palace Entertainment and Parques Reunidos and helping develop Europa-Park’s Rulantica. Jeffrey Ellis founded Ellis and Associates and is credited with lifeguard training and safety innovations, among them the rescue tube and the 10/20 Protection Standard, now used in aquatic facilities across more than 40 countries. Miguel Quintana Pali founded Grupo Xcaret, the Mexican operator IAAPA credits with pioneering a destination model that blends nature, culture and sustainability.
The class was chosen by the IAAPA Hall of Fame Judging Task Force, made up of past global board chairmen and the association’s five current regional advisory board chairmen. Induction happens at IAAPA Legends: A Hall of Fame Celebratory Affair, a gala whose proceeds benefit the IAAPA Foundation and its scholarship program.
A Surprisingly Late Honor
The surprise is that Gurr was not already in. The IAAPA Hall of Fame has inducted Disney names for decades, among them Herbert Ryman in 1995, Marty Sklar in 2002, Richard Sherman in 2017 and Barnette Ricci in 2024. Gurr joined Walt Disney’s team in 1954 to design the Autopia cars and stayed for 27 years, and he liked to say he designed anything with wheels at Disneyland.
His resume outside Disney includes work on the King Kong Encounter at Universal Studios Hollywood and the mechanical UFO for the closing ceremony of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. He was named a Disney Legend in 2004 and received the Themed Entertainment Association’s Buzz Price Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. Last year the same IAAPA ceremony inducted Dolly Parton for Dollywood, the singer whose death on August 25 has dominated the news since.
Still Working At 94
Gurr has hardly retired from public life. He was on hand for Disneyland’s 70th anniversary celebrations in 2025, he is the subject of the 2025 documentary Bob Gurr: Living by Design, and Imagineers confirmed at D23 this month that he is consulting on the Carousel of Progress reimagining, which is targeting a late spring 2027 reopening at Magic Kingdom. Gurr helped develop the original rotating carousel theater for the 1964 New York World’s Fair, so the consultation closes a loop more than sixty years wide.
Because IAAPA Legends is held during IAAPA Expo 2026, the induction will land in the middle of the attractions industry’s largest annual gathering. LaughingPlace has the full class announcement and InPark Magazine has the selection details.
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