Daily Inspiration: Meet Damaris Dubon

Today we’d like to introduce you to Damaris Dubon.

Hi Damaris, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a themed entertainment designer and writer. I design family experiences for theme parks, event activations, playgrounds, and attractions. I’ve had the opportunity to work in the aspects of research, event production, scenic painting, and even construction and decorating.

To this day, it is hard to explain to my colleagues and even my family members what I “exactly” do, but I love calling it theme park design (Themed Entertainment). While I love the creative aspects of working in themed entertainment, I also balance a 9-5 day job. I also moonlight as a blog writer on my LinkedIn feed, where I get to tell short stories of travel, mystery, and theme parks.

I fell in love with the theme park industry when I saw behind-the-scenes documentaries of Walt Disney World on the Travel Channel as a teenager. Samantha Brown became a huge influence for me as I got to see her travel to these parks and share her experiences about the on property Disney hotels. I was so inspired by her work that I continue to follow her (she has a successful travel show on PBS called Places to Love that runs every year with new locations) to this day. I am now living the Samantha Brown dream as I have traveled domestically and internationally for theme parks, visiting places like Kennywood and Disneyland Paris!

However, it wasn’t until I was in college that I thought back to those documentaries and started to do research on what a career in “theme park design” would entail? I was very fortunate to have worked for an entertainment design firm where they had launched an internship program for students. Internships didn’t exist much back then for someone trying to get into theme park design. It was more through networking and if you knew someone to help open the door.

After completing my summer internship with the company, I had gone back to school to keep working on my studies (I studied English) as well as exploring other career areas, such as student affairs and marketing communications. However, I never lost sight for my love of theme parks and kept up with the industry. After graduation and over the years, it’s been a thrill ride with joys and challenges getting to work on different projects for themed entertainment.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I wish many times that themed entertainment could be Ultimate Ride Disney Coaster. This PC game was my childhood as I designed many and many fictional roller coasters back in the day. It was so much fun getting to create at a time when computers were just starting to pop up. I even dragged my father into buying me Ultimate Ride Coaster Deluxe, which I believe was the predecessor to Disney Coaster but was my second Ultimate Ride game.

But speaking seriously, this industry comes with many hardships. It’s from dealing with the front lines of customer service at a theme park to seeing construction projects come to a halt due to the lack of funds or resources. There is also dealing with unemployment when you are let go, not because you are a bad employee. It can be for different reasons such as a project wraps up and you have to move on or the project fades away all together. It is a very project-based industry and there needs to be a business need for a new ride / attraction to come to life.

While I love Los Angeles and we have some great theme parks here, I feel like Orlando has a stronger themed entertainment workplace there. There are more theme parks and attractions and many are within distances of each other. The community and market seem to be increasing much more there than here in L.A. Orlando is also home to IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions), in which every November they have a huge convention dedicated to the theme park and attractions industry.

On another hardship, not everyone will see you as a theme park designer / writer because you are not an Imagineer, or with Universal Creative, or even with one of the design firms. I’ve been told the cautionary tale that it is hard to get into show writing. There are times where you are going to have to be okay with this and accept it. These are not facts. You have to keep your creativity driving in any shape or form for your purpose.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am known for working with creative and good people. I know where to look and find those teams.

I am most proud of traveling. It takes a lot of work and planning and things will never go as you expect.

After the pandemic, I changed my schedule as I used to work many closing shifts. I now have established the 9-5 rule time and I couldn’t be more proud of that change. It may seem as something small but it’s very important me.

Launching my blog in 2020. Right now the working title of it is called The Tea House Patch. I live close to a local park where a Japanese tea house exists. It’s not too well-known but that’s where I got the idea to start a blog on my LinkedIn. I suggest Googling “Smultronstalle” – it’s a fun Swedish term.

I am also proud to be a library card holder as I am a lifelong learner. I just wrapped up a course on communication on Coursera that was pretty mind-tripping but makes a lot of sense to the context of how we communicate with each other every single day. I like learning about different subjects and my list continues to grow and grow. Horse biology and comedy are coming next!

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I am open to the roles of project coordinator, show writer, event associate, and seasonal decorator.

I am open to working with a friendly culture team environment.

I’m also open to trying new industries and see if a themed entertainment connection can be applied.

Show enthusiasm for your and my work. I can see when enthusiasm really lacks in people. It’s important to value each other’s work.

I do not accept ghosting as a form of collaboration. It’s not professional. Be please be more respectful of our time.

I saw a post on Facebook and I think about it from time to time in this context – Anyone can be a theme park designer until the rent is due. No job is too small.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://damarisdubon.wordpress.com/