Disneyland turns to a small business that got its start building Rose Parade floats for help on Rise of the Resistance, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, “Paint the Night,” “World of Color” and some of the biggest attractions at the Anaheim theme park.
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Rando Productions has worked with Walt Disney Imagineering for more than two decades to bring attractions to life at Disneyland, Disney California Adventure and Disney theme parks around the world.
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Rando Productions CEO Joe Rando recently offered a behind-the-scenes tour of the state-of-the-art theme park magic factory where Disneyland dark rides, parade floats and show effects are created.
“Disney has groomed us to be a mini extension of them,” Joe Rando said during the tour. “We’re a very unique vendor because of our proximity to WDI, where we were partnering on a lot of newer technology.”
The low-slung red brick building in a North Hollywood light industrial area that serves as Rando Productions headquarters belies the creative work going on inside the 30,000-square-foot creative workshop staffed by former Disney and Universal creatives.
A larger-than-life animatronic eagle with a tilting head and 20-foot wingspan visible from the street offered the only hint of what awaited inside.
Rando’s list of past clients includes Universal, Six Flags and SeaWorld, but most of its theme park work these days is done for Walt Disney Imagineering.
Joe Rando got his start in the themed entertainment industry in 1983 building the moving elements on Rose Parade floats.
Today, Rando Productions specializes in making precision-engineered scenic elements with dynamic mechanical effects for Disney theme parks around the world.
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The specialized engineering and fabrication company with a team of 30-plus employees is part of a broader network of small businesses and vendors that Disney works with throughout the San Fernando Valley and across all 50 states.
The Disney Experiences division generates $67 billion in annual economic impact and supports more than 400,000 small business jobs nationwide with projects tied to the company’s theme parks.
Rando Productions creates moving props and automated scenic elements that help bring Disney theme park stories to life.
A Rando creation played a key role in the Star Destroyer bridge scene on the Rise of the Resistance attractions in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland.
Rando made the turntables underneath the Kylo Ren and General Hux audio-animatronic figures that spin around when riders show up aboard First Order Fleet Transports ride vehicles. The power and data cables that run up through the turntables and control the movements and facial expressions of the Star Wars audio-animatronic figures were engineered by the Rando team.
Rando also played an important role in creating the real-time visual effects seen from the Millennium Falcon cockpits mounted on the motion-based platforms used on the Smugglers Run attraction.
Rando engineers developed a suspension package to keep the Smugglers Run video projectors stable amid all the movement of the ride. The Rando team then built 30 of the projector supports for the Smugglers Run rides at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
The amazing Spider-Man stuntronic has Rando to thank whenever the flying robotic web-slinger crashes during the rooftop stunt show above Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure.
Rando created the louvered paneling on the side of the rooftop silo that collapses whenever the stuntronic fails to fly far enough during the aerial stunt show. The breakaway “zipper wall” can be easily put back together after breaking Spidey’s embarrassing fall.
The Incredibles float in the Paint the Night parade at Disneyland was designed and engineered by Rando Productions, which worked on the base frame, internal structure, moving parts and spinning LED lights.
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“It was definitely a challenge because of all the lighting, wiring and pre-programming that had to go into it,” Joe Rando said.
The Moana float in the Magic Happens parade at Disneyland was also developed by Rando Productions.
Rando helped create the ocean wave visual effect on the float using a flexible video panel covered with a fiberglass resin lens.
You’re never supposed to notice Rando’s contributions to DCA’s “World of Color” water show that features fountains shooting 200 feet into the air and giant mist fans doubling as movie screens.
The Rando-built lighting enclosures in Paradise Bay stay closed throughout the day and open just before the nighttime showtime to reveal a set of automated lights. Rando built five of the lighting barges for the nighttime spectacular.
Rando even helps feed Disneyland visitors when they’re hungry. The Tomorrowland pretzel cart and the Bayou Country churro stand were built at the North Hollywood shop and shipped to Anaheim.
Solutions created by Rando Productions for Disneyland projects often play key roles in rides, parades and shows developed for Disney theme parks around the world.
“A lot of the overseas parks work leverages technology that was initially done for Anaheim projects,” Joe Rando said.
The fiberglass resin lens used on the video screens for the Moana float in the Magic Happens parade were used to make the crystalline staircase and ice shards on the Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey boat ride at Tokyo DisneySea.
Rando’s extensive portfolio of work at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure has opened doors to projects at Disney parks around the world, including:
- Spinning chandelier on the Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast dark ride at Tokyo Disneyland
- Flying rig on the Peter Pan float in the Dreaming Up parade at Tokyo Disneyland
- LED-embedded rockwork for the “Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple” show at Hong Kong Disneyland
- Cannonball stunt in the “Eye of the Storm: Captain Jack’s Stunt Spectacular” show at Shanghai Disneyland
Rando Productions hasn’t forgotten its Rose Parade roots despite all the success with Disney, Universal, Six Flags and SeaWorld theme parks.
Rando built a trio of animatronic eagles that soared above the America250 float that won the Public Spirit Award in the 2026 Rose Parade.
The sprawling Rando Productions workshop has areas dedicated to woodworking, metal fabrication and finish painting.
A water jet cutter can slice steel or aluminum six inches thick using pressurized water mixed with an abrasive substance.
A 3D printer uses thin spools of thermoplastic thread to make three-dimensional objects as big as an office cubicle.
A curtained area reserved for top secret Imagineering projects has security cameras and separate power and internet service to keep the Disney magic hidden from prying eyes.
During the tour of the workshop, Rando crews were working on an aerial rig for the new Meow Wolf interactive art installation coming to Los Angeles and Disneyland projects that still had active non-disclosure agreements.
Automation has allowed Rando Productions to work faster and more cost-efficiently while maintaining high quality standards. Much of the shop has machinery that can be operated remotely with closed-circuit cameras to constantly monitor the work.
“This shop can run 24 hours a day,” Joe Rando said. “We can run the machines at all times.”
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