WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH THE SECOND CHANCE OF A LIFETIME?

The Hochberg Ebersol Company (THE Company) is now casting for a life changing opportunity to reinvent yourself with the career you have always dreamed of but never had the chance to pursue.

For anyone who believes in second chances comes USA Network’s new unscripted original series The Moment. Hosted by legendary NFL quarterback Kurt Warner, The Moment gives ordinary Americans the opportunity to realize their dreams and rewrite their life stories.

We are currently searching the nation for individuals who want a shot at fulfilling their dreams of becoming an Theme Park Designer/Imagineer!

Did you start pursuing your dream of becoming a Theme Park Designer/Imagineer, and life got in the way? We’d love to hear your story.

To apply, or nominate a loved one, please email the following to:

• castingthemoment@gmail.com
• Your name
• Name of the person you are nominating and relationship (if applicable)
• Phone number & email address
• City, and State
• Dream job
• Tell us your story
• Attach a picture of yourself or the person you are nominating

Good luck!!

The post Have You Dreamed of Becoming a Walt Disney Imagineer? Here’s Your Chance! appeared first on WDW Radio - Your Walt Disney World Information Station by Lou Mongello.

Hello and welcome to The WDW Radio Show – Your Walt Disney World Information Station. I am your host, Lou Mongello, and this is show #317 for the week of March 24, 2013.

Join us this week as we virtually explore and visit many of the Abandoned Spaces of Walt Disney World, and dream a little about what we could do with them as “Armchair Imagineers.” From lost attractions, shops, restaurants and even entire pavilions, we’ll look back at what was once there, and what we would create for the future. I’ll then ask you to play Imagineer and submit your own suggestions in the comments section of this week’s show notes.

I’ll have the answer to our last Walt Disney World Trivia Question of the Week, and pose a new challenge for your chance to win a Disney prize package.

Stay tuned for additional information and announcements before I play more of your voicemails at the end of the show. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s episode of the WDW Radio Show.

Thanks for listening! Be sure to tune in next week!

- Lou Mongello

Information and Links from This Week’s Show

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What abandoned Walt Disney World location would you change and how? Leave your answer in the comments section below!

Visit Ryan Wilson’s Main Street Gazette

• Listen to this week’s episode for the Walt Disney World Trivia Question of the Week for a chance to win a Disney prize package!
• Disney Meets and WDW Radio Meets of the Month in Walt Disney World – Get dates and locations on our Events page
• Watch & chat during our LIVE WDW NewsCast Wednesdays at 7:30pm ET at WDWRadioLIVE.com
• For more videos, subscribe to our WDW Radio channel on YouTube or the show in iTunes
• Get Celebrations Magazine on your iPad/iPhone in iTunes App Store

The post WDW Radio # 317 – Abandoned Spaces of Walt Disney World and Our Ideas for Them appeared first on WDW Radio - Your Walt Disney World Information Station by Lou Mongello.

Hello and welcome to The WDW Radio Show – Your Walt Disney World Information Station. I am your host, Lou Mongello, and this is show #306 for the week of December 23, 2012.

I’m here to help you have the best possible Disney vacation experience, and bring you some Disney magic to to wherever you are with this podcast, videos, blog, live broadcasts, events, trivia books, CDs and more. You can find it all at WDWRadio.com

This week I want to introduce you to person whose name you may not recognize, but whose work you undoubtedly have enjoyed. As a show writer for Walt Disney Imagineering, his work included many of the stories and details in the queue of the Jungle Cruise, Pecos Bill’s, One Man’s Dream, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Space Mountain, Pop Century, Pal Mickey, the Adventurers Club, the Disney Cruise Line and the Walt Disney World Railroad. I’m excited to share with you my conversation with storyteller Darryl Pickett. We’ll discuss his personal journey from dreamer to Cast Member to Imagineer, talk about his wide scope of work, offer guidance to future Imagineers, and much more.

I’ll have the answer to our last Walt Disney World Trivia Question of the Week, and then have some announcements at the end of the show. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s episode of the WDW Radio Show.

Thanks for listening! Be sure to tune in next week!

- Lou Mongello

Information and Links from This Week’s Show

Visit Darryl Pickett’s site at odsmill.com and follows @FlippyShark on Twitter

Purchase The Secret Feast of Father Christmas from Amazon.com

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What is your favorite way to celebrate the seasons at Walt Disney World? Leave your answer in the comments section below!

• Listen to this week’s episode for the Walt Disney World Trivia Question of the Week for a chance to win a Disney prize package!
• Disney Meets and WDW Radio Meets of the Month in Walt Disney World – Get dates and locations on our Events page
• Watch & chat during our LIVE WDW NewsCast Wednesdays at 7:30pm ET at WDWRadioLIVE.com
• For more videos, subscribe to our WDW Radio channel on YouTube or the show in iTunes
• Get Celebrations Magazine on your iPad/iPhone in iTunes App Store

The post Show # 306 – Dec. 23, 2012 – Former Imagineer Darryl Pickett appeared first on WDW Radio - Your Walt Disney World Information Station by Lou Mongello.

This week, we are exercising our creative muscles with an image submitted a great friend of WDW Radio: Jamie Robbins-Longoria!  She sent in this picture, and we thought it would make a great subject for conversation.

And so, we ask you, our fellow Imagineers in training, to consider these questions.  Please post your answers in the comments below!

1. Where in Walt Disney World would YOU put this image?

2. Who are these women, and what story are they telling?

3. If these women were to run into Mickey Mouse, what would the conversation be about?

We look forward to hearing your thoughts!

The post Wanna-be Imagineers: What Story Do These Women Tell? appeared first on WDW Radio - Your Walt Disney World Information Station by Lou Mongello.

Hello and welcome to The WDW Radio Show – Your Walt Disney World Information Station. I am your host, Lou Mongello, and this is show #293 for the week of September 23, 2012.

I’m here to help you have the best possible Disney vacation experience, and bring you some Disney magic to to wherever you are with this podcast, videos, blog, live broadcasts, events, trivia books, CDs and more. You can find it all at WDWRadio.com

As we prepare for EPCOT Center’s 30th anniversary next week, recently I’ve shared interviews with Disney Imagineers Tony Baxter on Show 289 and Jason Grandt on Show 291. Today I’m excited to bring you my conversation with the Disney Imagineer who really helped start it all, Disney Legend Marty Sklar. Since joining the Disney Company in 1956, Marty’s duties included press and publicity, working at and heading up Walt Disney Imagineering, writing for Walt, and helping to open Disney Parks around the world. In our conversation, Marty recounts stories of his early days at Disneyland, working closely with Walt, the development, genesis and opening of EPCOT Center and much, much more.

See how you did on last week’s Walt Disney World Trivia Question of the Week and answer this week’s challenge for your chance to win a Disney prize package.

I’ll then have some quick announcements about upcoming events, including what we’ll be doing for Epcot’s 30th including our annual online Disney charity auction to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, and much more. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s episode of the WDW Radio Show.

Thanks for listening! Be sure to tune in next week!

Information and Links from This Week’s Show:

Question for YOU: How do you think Walt Disney would feel about Epcot the park? Leave your answer in the comments section below

• Listen to this week’s episode for the Walt Disney World Trivia Question of the Week for a chance to win a Disney prize package!
• Disney Meets and WDW Radio Meets of the Month in Walt Disney World – Get dates and locations on our Events page
• Watch & chat during our LIVE WDW NewsCast Wednesdays at 7:30pm ET at WDWRadioLIVE.com
• For more videos, subscribe to our WDW Radio channel on YouTube or the show in iTunes
• Get Celebrations Magazine on your iPad/iPhone in iTunes App Store
• Check out the Disney Food Blog e-book: The DFB Mini-Guide to the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival!  - Use code WDWRADIO to save 20%!

Follow Lou on Twitter and

The post Show # 293 – September 23, 2012 appeared first on WDW Radio - Your Walt Disney World Information Station by Lou Mongello.

Hello and welcome to The WDW Radio Show – Your Walt Disney World Information Station. I am your host, Lou Mongello, and this is show #289 for the week of August 26, 2012.

This week, I’m excited to share an interview with one of Disney’s legendary Imagineers, Tony Baxter. Currently the Senior Vice President of Creative Development for Walt Disney Imagineering. We had a chance to meet and chat recently, as we talk about his career at Disney, his mentors and inspirations, attractions he helped create such as Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Splash Mountain and many others. Tony shares wonderful stories about his personal experiences going from Disney fan to Disney Imagineer. We also discuss the current state of the Disney Parks and what the future may hold.

Answer the Walt Disney World Trivia Question of the Week for your chance to win a Disney prize package and be sure to stay for other announcements, so sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s episode of the WDW Radio Show.

Thanks for listening! Be sure to tune in next week!

Information and Links from This Week’s Show:

Question for YOU: If you could ask Tony Baxter to “re-Imagineer” one Walt Disney World attraction, which would it be? Leave your answer in the comments section below

• Listen to this week’s episode for the Walt Disney World Trivia Question of the Week for a chance to win a Disney prize package!
• Private Tours of Walt Disney World with Lou Mongello
• Disney Meets and WDW Radio Meets of the Month in Walt Disney World – Get dates and locations on our Events page
• Watch & chat during our LIVE WDW NewsCast Wednesdays at 7:30pm ET at WDWRadioLIVE.com
• For more videos, subscribe to our WDW Radio channel on YouTube or the show in iTunes
• Get Celebrations Magazine on your iPad/iPhone in iTunes App Store
• Check out the Disney Food Blog e-book: The DFB Mini-Guide to the 2012 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival - Use code WDWRADIO to save $3.00!

Follow Lou on Twitter and

The post Show # 289 – August 26, 2012 appeared first on WDW Radio - Your Walt Disney World Information Station by Lou Mongello.

So, let’s be wanna-be Imagineers.  If YOU could help create an EPCOT holiday parade, what would it look like?  Where would it process?  Who would be in it?  Would you have Santa’s on stilts (shout out to the Sage of Time)?  Would there be massive puppets of the Christmas elves?  Would it feature holidays from around the world?  Share YOUR ideas in the comments below!

Merry Christmas in July!

The post Wanna-be Imagineers: Let’s Create an EPCOT Holiday Parade! appeared first on WDW Radio - Your Walt Disney World Information Station by Lou Mongello.

This is the eighth exhibition in OMA’s Art of the Picture Book Series, and because Rocco is a Disney Hyperion published author this was a unique synergistic opportunity to help OMA present children’s programming.

The exhibit includes more than 60 preparatory drawings and finished illustrations by Rocco as well as rough sketches and doodles offering a “behind the scenes” look at the artist’s creative process.

Rocco studied illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design and School of Visual Arts in New York City.  Following his 1991 graduation he collaborated with actress Whoopi Goldberg in creating the picture book Alice, and he later became a Disney Imagineer.  He designed attractions for Epcot at Walt Disney World Resort and served as an art director for DisneyQuest.  After returning to New York City in 2004 Rocco began writing and illustrating children’s books–Wolf! Wolf!, Moonpowder, Fu Finds the Way, Blackout– all published by Disney Hyperion Books.  Rocco’s most recent picture book, Blackout (published in 2011 by Disney Hyperion Books), was selected as the 2012 American Library Association Caldecott Honor for most distinguished American picture book for children.

Rocco will appear at the Orlando Museum of Art on September 29 at 1:00 pm for a free presentation and book signing.

The museum exhibit is called “From A to Z.”  If YOU had to summarize what Disney  is all about using only THREE letters, what letters would you choose and what would they stand for?  Put your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Disney Sponsors Art Exhibit for Children–Tell Us YOUR Disney ABC’s appeared first on WDW Radio - Your Walt Disney World Information Station by Lou Mongello.

Hello and welcome to The WDW Radio Show – Your Walt Disney World Information Station. I am your host, Lou Mongello, and this is show #272 for the week of April 29, 2012.

This past weekend, Disney welcomed in media and moms from around the world as they kicked off their summer season by giving us a closer look into “What’s New and What’s Next” at Walt Disney World. From their Summer to Remember media event to the third annual Social Media Moms conference and celebration, we were able to get a closer look at changes and additions coming to the parks and resorts. We also heard from Disney executives, Imagineers and celebrities and got sneak peeks “behind the curtain” at the New Fantasyland and Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. We’ll recap the weekend’s events and announcements, and share our thoughts on what this summer (and beyond) will have in store for Walt Disney World fans and guests.

I’ll have the answer and winner for last week’s Walt Disney World Trivia Question of the Week, and pose a new one for your chance to win a Disney prize package.

I’ll then have a few announcements and share new information about ticket sales to our The 1st Annual WDW Radio E-Ticket Event: An Evening with the Secret Society of Historical American Adventurers before playing more of your voicemails at the end of the show. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s episode of the WDW Radio Show.

Thanks for listening! Be sure to tune in next week!

Information and Links from This Week’s Show:

Question for YOU: If you could be Imagineer for the day and choose the theme for the next Walt Disney World resort, what theme would you choose?

More photos and videos to come – stay tuned!!!

Disclosure: I was an invited guest of Disney for the Summer to Remember media event 

• Listen to this week’s episode for the Walt Disney World Trivia Question of the Week for a chance to win a Disney prize package!
• Private Tours of Walt Disney World with Lou Mongello
• Disney Fan Meets and WDW Radio Meets of the Month in Walt Disney World – Get dates and locations on our Events page
• Watch & chat during our LIVE WDW NewsCast Wednesdays at 7:30pm ET at WDWRadioLIVE.com
• Get Celebrations Magazine on your iPad/iPhone in iTunes App Store
  

The post Show # 272 – April 29, 2012 appeared first on WDW Radio - Your Walt Disney World Information Station by Lou Mongello.

Back in the day there was a television game show called “To Tell the Truth.” Three individuals would claim to be a person who had accomplished something. Two were impostors who could lie and twist the truth to try to convince a panel that either of them was the actual person. The actual person was obligated to “tell the truth”. In the end the panelists would use the three individuals’ answers to vote on their choice for the real person. The emcee would then have the “Real Mr. X, please stand up.”

I wonder, what questions they might ask of Mr. Tony Baxter, well known and acclaimed Disney Imagineer?

PANELIST: “Mr. Baxter, did you lead the design project about Big Thunder Mountain Railroad?”

BAXTER: Yes.

PANELIST: “Mr. Baxter, did you lead the design project about the original Journey Into Imagination?”

BAXTER: Yes.

PANELIST: “Mr. Baxter, did you lead the design project about Splash Mountain?”

BAXTER: Yes.

PANELIST: “ The Indiana Jones Adventure project?”

BAXTER: Yes.
PANELIST: “Disneyland Paris?”

BAXTER: Yes.

PANELIST: The “Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage project?”

BAXTER: Yes.

PANELIST: “Have you been a major spokesperson for documentaries about Disneyland and Walt Disney World?”

BAXTER: Yes.

Yes, and yes, and yes. Tony Baxter has certainly been in the forefront of many of the major creative undertakings not only at Walt Disney World, but also of Disneyland and of Disneyland Paris. And the questions our make-believe panelists “asked” could easily have explored so many other contributions he has made to the Walt Disney Company and by extension to all of us who have enjoyed them.

One point that struck me in my research about Tony Baxter was how fortunate he is.  A man immersed in a vision, driven by a vision, and talented enough to fulfill his vision is one lucky guy. The intersection of these vision dimensions certainly makes for a wonderful force. Then you throw in that he clearly has the people skills to both engage others and to catalyze them to contribute to the vision and it gets even better.

I will leave to others the laundry list of what Mr. Baxter’s contributions to the Walt Disney Company have come to mean in addition to those our would – be To Tell the Truth panelists might have elicited from him. I sort of think it’s more important to note an how he describes that the beginning his own career in Disney:

Mr. Baxter speaks about how other, older Imagineers would selflessly take the newer ones under their wing. He speaks especially appreciatively of Claude Coats who would not only make sure that young Baxter got plenty of experiences in design of Disney attractions and projects, but also had no problem praising his charge’s own accomplishments to the higher-ups in the Imagineering group.

The title of the Innoventions attraction, “The Sum of All Thrills,” suggests that the word sum, the total, you might say the synthesis, of all thrills, is found in this attraction. I would say that Baxter’s role in the success of the Walt Disney Company while notable of its own, is more valuable when you recognize that he and his Imagineer colleagues collectively recognize they are the sum of what we all admire  in all of Walt Disney offerings.

All we can hope for that as he calls it, “A second-generation Imagineer” like himself has recognized his/her responsibility to create third-generation Imagineers as talented and productive as the ones who have gone before them. Like Tony Baxter..

Rich may be the only blogger who; had an ORIGINAL Davy Crockett coonskin cap (and wishes he still had it); watched Disney’s Wonderful World of Color in black and white; watched the Disneyland opening ceremonies on that same black and white; AND rode the original It’s a Small World in the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. In addition he is a college professor, his own Disney blogger (http://disdoc.wordpress.com/) and a grandfather of six whom he is thoroughly dis-doctrinating as often as possible.

The post The Disney Imagineers: Will the Real Tony Baxter Please Stand Up? appeared first on WDW Radio - Your Walt Disney World Information Station by Lou Mongello.