Marvel in Disney Parks: The Stories Behind the Memories with Brian Crosby
From a childhood encounter with Peter Pan to Iron Man, Groot, and Stan Lee, a conversation about creating worlds we can step inside
Before Brian Crosby was helping bring Marvel to life in Disney Parks, he was a little boy who wanted to meet Peter Pan. He loved the attraction, his parents bought him a Peter Pan hat on their visits, and then one day he came around a corner and found Peter Pan, Captain Hook, and Smee right there in front of him.
Decades later, he still remembers how that felt. And when he talks about creating experiences where a child might meet Spider-Man, Captain America, or Thor for the first time, that memory is very much a part of the conversation.
I sat down with Brian at the WDW Radio booth at D23, where a catch-up between friends became a conversation about the decisions, details, and personal experiences behind Marvel in Disney Parks. Brian works on Marvel experiences with teams across the parks and resorts, after spending ten years as a concept designer at Walt Disney Imagineering. He can talk about an attraction from the perspective of someone who helped create it, then immediately sound like the fan who can’t wait to experience it again.
That combination makes him a wonderful person to ask about what guests see and what they might miss. We talk about Iron Man, Groot, Stan Lee, and a lightning round that very quickly loses any relationship with the word “lightning.” Along the way, Brian offers a way to look at these experiences that starts with something every Disney fan understands: wanting to step into a story you love.
What You Will Discover
- Why some guests needed to meet Tony Stark before they could understand Iron Man.
- How an attraction queue can introduce a character through the things he creates.
- What made Groot a different way to welcome guests into the Marvel universe.
- Why Brian still draws on one childhood character encounter when thinking about his work.
- What Brian remembers about Stan Lee meeting fans and seeing Marvel enter the parks.
- Which two attractions Brian would want Walt Disney to experience, and why.
- How W.E.B. connects ideas from comics, theme parks, and animation.
- Why the human being beneath a super hero’s costume is essential to the story.
The Child Who Met Peter Pan Is Still Part of the Creative Team
When I ask Brian about his favorite personal Disney memory, his answer brings us back to Peter Pan. He remembers going to Disneyland with his parents, loving Peter Pan’s Flight, and getting another Peter Pan hat. What he had not managed to do was meet Peter Pan himself, until that unexpected encounter near the castle.
It’s a small story in the best possible way. There isn’t a complicated sequence of events to remember, and he doesn’t need to describe some enormous spectacle. He remembers who was there and what seeing them meant to him.
Brian then makes the connection to his work today. Somewhere, a child is about to meet Spider-Man or Captain America for the first time, and that encounter may matter to them just as much as Peter Pan mattered to him. The familiarity of working with these characters cannot be allowed to erase the importance of that first meeting.
That’s what I find so valuable about hearing this from someone creating experiences for guests around the world. Brian can bring the perspective of a designer into a meeting, but he also brings the memory of being the person who desperately wanted to meet his hero. Those are different kinds of knowledge, and both belong in the room.
As a guest, it also gives me a reason to slow down. A character greeting can look like one more thing on a schedule, especially when there are attractions to ride and places to be. But the person standing beside you may have been waiting for that meeting for years, and the photograph may only capture a small part of what it means.
Iron Man Experience Starts Telling Its Story in the Queue
One of my favorite discoveries in this conversation comes when Brian talks about Iron Man Experience at Hong Kong Disneyland. He describes it as a particularly personal project, one he pitched and worked on as an Imagineer before continuing with it from the Marvel side.
The creative challenge he describes is wonderfully specific. Early feedback suggested that some people in the region might think Iron Man was a robot. That meant the experience needed to help introduce Tony Stark, the person who built and wears the armor, before asking guests to follow him into an adventure.
Brian explains that the team approached the queue by working backward from Iron Man. What makes him who he is, what does his technology do, and how might Stark Industries share those capabilities with the world? Thinking through those questions gave the exhibits a purpose beyond displaying things that looked impressive.
The three ideas Brian identifies are protection, energy, and mobility. Those names also appear in Hong Kong Disneyland’s official description of the exhibition halls, which introduces the armor, arc reactor technology, and Iron Wing. The official Iron Man Experience page gives you another way to recognize that structure before your next visit.
What I love is that a guest can absorb the story by moving through the space. The exhibits introduce what this technology is supposed to accomplish, and the technology helps introduce the person behind it. By the time the adventure begins, there is a foundation for understanding why Tony Stark belongs at the center of it.
This is the kind of detail that makes me want to go back through a queue and look again. Brian’s explanation turns things I might have admired individually into parts of a larger idea. It also gives someone who doesn’t know every Marvel movie a way into the experience without assigning them homework first.
That idea connects beautifully with my conversation about Return to Progress City with Bob Weis and Eric Robison. Both conversations explore how imagined technology becomes more interesting when you can understand what it might do for people and how it fits into a world.
Groot Opens a Different Door Into Marvel
Brian’s story about “it’s a small world with Groot” offers another answer to the question of how you introduce these characters to guests. In his account, the creative idea immediately appealed to him, and he brought it to Kevin Feige with the same acknowledgment that it was an unexpected approach.
The part Brian emphasizes is the pleasure of watching Groot have fun around the world with his friends. The experience gave the team a chance to think about character design, music, and the audience’s familiarity with Marvel in a setting very different from an action-driven attraction. He clearly enjoyed working on something with that kind of personality.
I love that this conversation leaves room for more than one kind of Marvel experience. You can enjoy the scale of an adventure, the energy of a character encounter, or the simple pleasure of recognizing a familiar face in an unexpected place. Each asks something different of you as a guest.
It also brings us back to the importance of knowing who you’re welcoming into the story. A longtime Marvel fan and a child meeting these characters for the first time can enter through very different doors. Groot offers a character whose presence can be enjoyed immediately, while giving a more familiar audience other connections to appreciate.
For me, hearing Brian talk about this project is a reminder to leave room for surprise. A combination that sounds unusual in a sentence may become something delightful when you see how much care went into the design. That is one of the pleasures of visiting the international parks and seeing familiar stories approached from another direction.
Stan Lee Understood the Person Meeting Him
When our conversation turns to Stan Lee, Brian talks about both the worlds Stan helped create and the way he connected with the people who loved them. He recalls seeing Stan conserve his energy backstage, then become fully engaged when someone arrived to meet him.
Brian’s memory is affectionate and specific. He describes someone who understood how much that encounter meant to the person standing in front of him and who enjoyed his fans. Listening to that story after Brian’s Peter Pan memory, I couldn’t help thinking about the connection between the two.
For one person, it may be another meeting during a long day. For the other, it may be the meeting they have imagined for years. Brian’s recollection of Stan suggests a real appreciation for that difference and a willingness to make the person feel that their moment mattered.
He also remembers how meaningful it was for Stan to see Marvel become part of the Disney Parks. Brian describes Stan as a Disney fan who loved Walt, and he talks about the pleasure of seeing these characters become part of those physical worlds. That is a lovely thought to sit with: someone who helped create stories for the page seeing them become places and experiences people could enter.
Later, I ask what Brian would want to ask Stan if he had another opportunity. His answer is to invite Stan to play Imagineer and imagine an attraction based on the worlds he helped create. Brian would want to know where Stan himself would choose to go and whom he would want to meet.
It’s such a good question because it allows the creator to become the guest. And it makes me wonder how often the things someone longs to experience are already quietly shaping the stories they tell.
The Person Beneath the Costume Gives the Story Its Meaning
Brian’s answer about Stan leads to one of the clearest ideas in the interview. As he describes his understanding of what makes a Marvel character connect, he keeps returning to the person beneath the costume and what that person is going through.
Peter Parker is his example of someone a young reader can recognize. The extraordinary possibilities sit beside ordinary concerns, and that combination allows the reader to imagine themselves in the story. Brian talks about seeing something of himself in that character long before he was helping bring Marvel into the parks.
That gives me another way to think about the experiences we have been discussing. Learning about Tony Stark in the Iron Man Experience queue helps establish the person behind the technology. Meeting a character can make a relationship that started on a page or screen feel personal in an entirely new way.
Brian also describes ideas moving among different forms of storytelling. Near the end of the interview, he explains how comic-book elements informed the Worldwide Engineering Brigade, or W.E.B., and how seeing W.E.B. turn up in animation felt gratifying to him. In his telling, creative inspiration can travel in more than one direction.
That is an especially fun observation for someone who enjoys both the parks and the stories that inspire them. You may encounter an idea in an attraction and later recognize a connection somewhere else. The pleasure is in noticing how a world develops and how different creative teams contribute to it.
A Lightning Round That Leaves Room for Real Answers
We do attempt a lightning round, and I promise the original intention was to keep it moving. But when you ask Brian about his favorite attraction, food, character, or memory, there is usually a story behind the answer. I was very happy to let him tell those stories.
Pirates of the Caribbean and Peter Pan’s Flight give us a chance to talk about the attractions he grew up with. EPCOT brings us to visits with his wife and the pleasure of sharing something to eat around World Showcase. And his affection for “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” gives us a different side of someone who also loves Moon Knight and the Punisher.
When I ask which attraction he would want to take Walt Disney on, Brian chooses the Frozen attraction in Tokyo, then adds Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! His reasons include what attraction storytelling can accomplish and the kind of fun he imagines Walt might enjoy. He is offering a fan’s thoughtful wish, and that is what makes the answer interesting.
These are the parts of an interview that help you understand the person behind a job title. You hear what they return to, what they share with family, and what still makes them smile. In Brian’s case, all of that sits right alongside the work he is doing for the next person walking into a Disney park.
Something to Notice on Your Next Visit
My biggest takeaway from this conversation is a renewed appreciation for the beginning of an experience. That beginning might be an exhibit in a queue, an introduction to a character, or the moment someone rounds a corner and sees the person they have been hoping to meet.
Brian’s stories make those moments feel worth paying attention to. There are creative choices helping us understand the world we are entering, and there are personal memories helping the people behind that world decide what matters. Knowing a little more about both can make a familiar experience feel new again.
On your next visit, give yourself a little room to notice what happens before the obvious highlight. Look at what a queue is teaching you, or take a moment to appreciate what a character encounter means to someone in your family. You may find that the part everyone talks about afterward began much earlier than you realized.
Join the Conversation
What Disney character encounter has stayed with you, and what made it special?
I’d love to hear your story in the WDW Radio Clubhouse, whether it happened when you were a child or on your most recent visit.
Resources and Related Conversations
- Iron Man Experience at Hong Kong Disneyland: https://www.hongkongdisneyland.com/attractions/iron-man-experience/
- “it’s a small world” at Tokyo Disneyland: https://www.tokyodisneyresort.jp/en/tdl/attraction/detail/172/
- Return to Progress City with Bob Weis and Eric Robison: https://www.wdwradio.com/2026/08/return-to-progress-city-bob-weis-eric-robison/
- D23 Disney Parks Announcements: Sightlines Into Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Fantasy: https://www.wdwradio.com/2026/08/d23-disney-parks-announcements-sightlines-into-yesterday-tomorrow-and-fantasy-wdw-radio-878/
Timestamps
- 00:00 – At the WDW Radio booth with Brian Crosby
- 01:30 – Brian’s role bringing Marvel into Disney Parks
- 02:49 – From Imagineering to Marvel
- 03:32 – Marvel experiences aboard the Disney Adventure
- 05:06 – Sharing projects with fans at D23
- 05:43 – Marvel projects in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Anaheim
- 08:40 – A fan-first approach to Marvel around the world
- 09:28 – Marvel on screen and favorite characters
- 11:01 – Remembering our earlier Marvel Day at Sea conversation
- 13:37 – The 55-second lightning round begins
- 14:24 – Why D23 feels like a family reunion
- 15:19 – Pirates of the Caribbean and Peter Pan’s Flight
- 16:27 – Tokyo attractions and a love of EPCOT
- 17:06 – Favorite films, restaurants, and Disney food
- 19:24 – The smells that bring back Disney memories
- 20:22 – Donald Duck, Moon Knight, and the Punisher
- 22:05 – A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow and Walt Disney World favorites
- 23:05 – The Peter Pan encounter Brian never forgot
- 25:03 – Creating something you would want to experience
- 26:06 – Great power and great responsibility
- 27:07 – Why Iron Man Experience is personal to Brian
- 28:11 – Introducing Tony Stark through the attraction queue
- 29:44 – Different audiences and “it’s a small world with Groot”
- 31:44 – Visiting Disneyland’s past or future
- 33:33 – Which attractions would Brian share with Walt Disney?
- 35:10 – Stan Lee and Marvel’s place in Disney Parks
- 36:19 – Favorite Stan Lee cameos
- 37:41 – What Stan Lee understood about meeting fans
- 38:52 – Asking Stan Lee to play Imagineer
- 41:02 – Nightcrawler, the Fantastic Four, and more Marvel favorites
- 44:05 – Comics, animation, and W.E.B.’s creative journey
- 45:47 – Wrapping up with Brian
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