About the Artist:

Alex Maher was five years old when he first fell in love with Disney. He began drawing characters, dreaming of one day being an artist for The Walt Disney Company. As an adult, Alex held onto his passions while working in the naval service as an illustrator-draftsman. Afterwards, Alex held various positions as a graphic artist and illustrator. With encouragement from his parents and his wife, he moved his family to Orlando to pursue his dream of becoming a Disney artist. Today, he works full time as a senior character artist. Alex has always been fascinated by trains, especially vintage steam locomotives, and shares this affinity for railroads with Walt Disney himself. Walt once said, while planning Disneyland Park, ''I just want it to look like nothing else in the world, and it should be surrounded by a train.'' When deciding which character Alex wanted to design, Mickey Mouse as a train conductor was a given!