WDW Magazine April 2016 - Disney's Hollywood Studios | Page 116

The other thing is all through the Waikolohe Valley are these images of animals that are
important to Hawaiians in one way or another, but much more hidden, let’s say, on the tree of
life. And that’s another Hawaiian idea that the land is speaking to you, that every place you look
has a message, every place you look has meaning. Every place. That’s a hard idea to convey. We
sort of turned that into this symbolic use of little animal messages in the lava rock of the place.
So that symbolically, if you look hard enough, you’re going to start to see things you didn’t see
before. And that is a very Hawaiian idea.
So in a way, even if you don’t leave the resort– and I do think people should take day trips and
go out and see Hawaii, you know. But even if you don’t leave the resort, there’s a lot of Hawaii
there to be heard, not the least of which is the cast members, who many of them, very
knowledgeable about Hawaii and Hawaiian culture are very happy to talk to you. And because
of the design of the resort, there’s a lot to talk about.
Gavin - That’s fantastic! One last question before we go: Could you tell me a little bit about your
earring that that has earned you the reputation of the “Imagineer with the Earring?”
Joe - Oh, you know I started this a long time ago; right about the time I started the Adventurers
Club, as a matter of fact. And I started actually wearing my Disney five-year pin through my ear.
Now I had a hole in my ear. I didn’t push my lapel pin through my ear. I already have a little
earring hole, but just a normal little 1980s earring hole like anybody would have. And I started
wearing my five-year pin through my ear, because it was a really cool little pin. And that made
the hole bigger. And so then I thought, oh I’m going to wear like two gold hoops like a pirate. So
then, I started wearing two gold hoops and that made the hole bigger.
And so, somewhere around 1987, I made this decision that I was going to cultivate this National
Geographic ear. Whenever I went some place I hadn’t been before, I would find an earring and
stick it through my ear, and I would end up with this ear that was like a National Geographic ear.
I did not know that starting that year, my life would change, and I would end up traveling so
much that by 1989, I already had this ear. It did not take long once I started to end up with this
ear.
And now, people would just give me earrings. I‘ve had tribal people give me earrings, and I
receive earrings, you know. But usually, if I’m wearing it in my ear, it’s some kind of indigenous
tribal earring that comes from a specific journey to a specific place, usually the first time I’ve been
there. Otherwise, I would have like 700 earrings. So, I try to restrict myself in some way for the
[Disney] rules. And I do have like a cereal bowl full of earrings at home.
Gavin - Could you pick out one or two and talk a little bit about that?