Former Imagineer Eddie Sotto is being remembered at Disney California Adventure this fall. A card on the Plaza de la Familia memory wall in Paradise Gardens Park reads “In memory of Eddie Sotto, Imagineer, designer architect, ‘Mayor’ of Main Street Disneyland Paris,” Tustin Raider shared on October 16.
Eddie Sotto tribute on the Día de Los Muertos display in Paradise Gardens Park food court:
— Raider Lost in the Parks (@TustinRaider) October 16, 2026
The memory wall is part of Plaza de la Familia, the Día de los Muertos celebration with nods to Pixar’s Coco that runs at the park through November 2. Guests are invited to add a note of remembrance for loved ones, according to the Disney Parks Blog, and rows of printed “Recuerdos de mi Familia” cards now hang from chains along the wall.
Sotto’s card hangs among notes for family members, including one for a “loving husband” right beside it.
Who Eddie Sotto Was
Sotto died in December 2025 at 67. He spent 13 years at Walt Disney Imagineering, from 1986 to 1999, rising to senior vice president of concept design, and he oversaw the design of Main Street, U.S.A. at Disneyland Paris, which explains the card’s “Mayor” tribute.
He also did concept design for Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland and Mission: Space at EPCOT, and worked on several Tokyo Disneyland projects, including Pooh’s Hunny Hunt.
Visiting The Memory Wall
The wall sits in Paradise Gardens Park, near the food court, in the same area as the marigold arch, papel picado and Coco skull artwork that decorate the land for the season. Plaza de la Familia also brings “The Storytellers of the Plaza de la Familia Celebrate the Musical World of Coco!” and live mariachi music at the Paradise Garden Bandstand.
The Coco theme carries across the resort this fall, including the Coco floral displays at Downtown Disney.
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