Bubbles, fire & smoke: Wymer sets 'em off

The crowds at Disney World who come to watch the Indiana Jones show with its exciting explosions and fireworks, and the Voyage of the Mermaids with its lights and bubbles, can thank a UB alumnus for the special effects. Tylor Wymer, UB class of '78, Disney's special effects designer, has been blowing up buildings and lighting up the sky with fireworks ever since his days at UB, where he polished his skills in the theater department, managed the carpentry shop and worked on productions in the Katharine Cornell Theater and the Harriman Research Theater, where, he says, "loading in the magic acts turned me on to magic."

As pyrotechnics designer for Disney, with more than 250 pyrotechnics experts and 13,000 shows under his management, Wymer travels the U.S. and the world-from EuroDisney to Japan, to Toronto, to Broadway-giving Disney productions their explosive punch.

Wymer's work in special effects/pyrotechnics, "which most people call fireworks," is "up close and personal," says Wymer, and calls for "a different degree of precision." Some of his recent productions include the hit show, "Beauty and the Beast," now in Toronto and New York, Tokyo, Chicago, South America, Australia, and Vienna; "The Lion King" (soon to be on Broadway); "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" stage show (Disney MGM Studios) and the Hunchback movie premiere in New Orleans.