Mario began his career at Walt Disney World nearly 20 years ago as a mechanical engineer on the Ride & Show Engineering team. Mario graduated from the University of Florida with a BSME in 1983, he received his PE in 1989, and an MBA in 2005.

Mario is currently part of the Worldwide Safety and Accessibility team and is the technical director of the Attractions Engineering Services team. The primary focus of this team is to help bridge-the-gap between the defined engineering requirements and the actual maintenance of the attractions. A computerized maintenance management system is used to manage the thousands of job plans and work orders that are required to open the attractions every day. The job plans are actively monitored in real time to verify that they are completed and that the personnel are trained and qualified. This automated maintenance verification system is just one of several layers of protection used to ensure the safety of our guests.

Prior to joining the Worldwide Safety team, Mario has led both the Sustaining and the Project Engineering teams supporting all of the attractions at Walt Disney World. This includes attractions and systems located throughout the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Studio, Animal Kingdom, Water Parks, Transportation, Laundry, and Downtown Disney. These teams would also provide limited technical support and review for global efforts including Disneyland, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.
Prior to this leadership role, Mario has personally contributed to or been responsible for the design of: Splash Mountain, Fantasmic, Splashtacular Monster Show, NightTime Spectacular, Imagination, Epic Theater, Simulator cabins, Norway, Cirque du Soleil lifts, and Disney Cruise Line theater systems.

Mario holds 2 design patents. The most recent is for a passenger restraint system that was developed for and used on numerous Disney ride systems.

Presentation Title:
Walt Disney Attractions - Safety and Engineering
This presentation will initially walk the audience through the engineering process and steps required to develop an entire attraction. This will be focused on the design, development, and manufacturing phases. We will look at the overall role of the Worldwide Safety team and then look at the processes and steps put into place to actually open the attraction, continue to maintain it, and to ensure that it continues to operate safely for years to come.