Ani Sancianco

Hi, I’m Ani Sancianco, themed entertainment artist. I remember as a kid, I would always be designing and sketching these ride ideas of mine to “hand to Walt Disney.” AKA, I would go into Disneyland’s guest relations office, submit my doodles to the cast members to give it to the big man upstairs! (knowing it was his apartment! Little did I know he was deceased.) I’m a recent graduate from University of California-San Diego, with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Speculative Design and minor in mathematics. My passion for themed entertainment started in my elementary days. I was raised with a bittersweet upbringing since I was born with a rare skin condition called bathing trunk nevus. I’ve been having surgeries since 9 months old to remove all the nevus and moles to reduce risk of melanoma. As a way to make my childhood more magical, as a gift for my strength, perseverance, my parents gave me annual passes to Knott’s Berry Farm, Disneyland, and Universal Studios. Fast forward to college at UC San Diego, I dabbled between many different majors–eg. Music and stem related majors– adapting to the academic culture of the campus. I got more clarity of my life-goals after a near fatal attack from the autoimmune disease, lupus. Being hospitalized for 2 to 3 months gave me plenty of time to rethink my life and what actually made me happy, what was worth living for! Lord knows it wasn’t the Math major I had. I decided to switch to Speculative Design with a minor in math and it was much more fitting! I discovered the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and became involved with their annual haunted maze project as a scare actor. I also helped out with fabricating scenic, props, costumes and more! The next year, I became marketing lead for the maze project and worked my way up to the art director the following year. Besides the maze, my passion for the industry and career path was locked in once I participated in competitions like Ryerson Thrill Design, Haunt Comp, and Ride Engineering Competition. I found myself in creative development & direction roles in all my teams, where I was able to design all aspects of the attractions, from layout, storyboarding, scenic elements, animatronics, vehicle design, lighting, costumes, sound, etc. I pitched these ideas to my team and we researched and deliberated which ideas are feasible and how to make them come true, thus on the engineering side, they did their magic to make it all come to life! I became the TEA president my senior year to delegate all aspects of our organization, from managing events, competitions, collaborations with other organizations and leading meetings. One of my favorite contributions as president was incorporating small escape room puzzles to display at tabling events for students to solve, as well as collaborating with Project in a Box for a bigger escape room project and incorporating more engineering aspects. Post grad, I was fortunate to receive a scholarship from Big Break Foundation, which allowed me to take the Designing for Themed Entertainment and Experiences course by The Essential Art Department. Through Big Break, I was also awarded to be an Ignite Program Recipient which allowed me to attend IAAPA and gain personalized career development. It was an experience to truly kickstart and provide everlasting inspiration & motivation to pursue my career in the themed entertainment industry!