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.

Now in its fourth year, the Pacific Northwest Mouse Meet has become a highly anticipated annual event where Disney Fans  come from near and far to meet and hear stories from Disney Legends and Celebrities. Previous Guest Speakers have included Bob Gurr, designer of the Matterhorn, Monorails and Autopia Cars; Floyd Norman, famed Animator on Sleeping Beauty, Jungle Book and Monsters Inc; Jack Lindquist, former President of Disneyland; and Jeff Kurtti, leading authority on Disney Company history and author of over 25 books.

The PNW Mouse Meet recently announced their 2012 Guest Speaker Lineup and Disney Fans in the know couldn’t be more excited about this year’s event!

Disney Legend Paige O’Hara: Paige is a veteran of the New York stage, an American Broadway singer, actress, an avid painter and Disney Legend best known for her voice work as Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and was inducted as a Disney Legend in 2011

Disney Imagineer Tony Baxter: Tony is the Senior Vice President of Creative Development at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI). He was first hired by WDI in 1970 and lead or was involved in the development of many Disney favorites including Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Journey Into Imagination at Epcot, Star Tours, Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones Adventure and the New Tomorrowland among many others and continues to be responsible for overall creative direction for the Disneyland Resort.

Disney Legend Marty Sklar: Marty was The Walt Disney Company’s International Ambassador for Walt Disney Imagineering. Sklar was formerly vice president of concepts and planning for the company, before being promoted to President, and then eventually taking the position of Vice Chairman and Principal Creative Executive of the company before his final role. The company honored him with a window dedication ceremony on his date of retirement, July 17, 2009 and was inducted as a Disney Legend in 2001.

The PNW Mouse Meet continues to grow each year and includes Disneyana sellers, Authors, Podcasters, displays, pin trading and many more interactive and fun surprises. Advance Purchase Tickets go on sale to the General Public on Sunday April 1st at 3pm and are only available through their website at pnwmousemeet.com. This is a limited capacity event and no tickets will be available at the door.

Note: Lou Mongello and WDW Radio will once again be sponsoring and attending the event, and broadcasting from the PNW MouseMeet at WDWRadioLIVE.com. Stay tuned for updates and times!

The post Disney Legends to Appear at 4th Annual Pacific Northwest MouseMeet appeared first on WDW Radio - Your Walt Disney World Information Station by Lou Mongello.

Welcome to the WDW Radio Show, your Walt Disney World Information Station. This is Show #35 for the week of October 7, 2007.

I am back from WDW and what undoubtedly one of my most memorable experiences ever at the resort. The celebration of Epcot’s 25th Anniversary was even better than expected and this week, I’m going to share some of those experiences with you through a recap with Jeff Pepper, as well as through some exclusive, private interviews. Some of my very special guests include Disney Legends Marty Sklar, Dave Smith and Charles Ridgway, as well as Epcot’s Vice President Jim MacPhee, and Michael and Lowell, two of Disney’s official Ambassadors. Other guests will include a former Disney Imagineer who helped build EPCOT Center; Adam Roth and the other co-founders of the Celebration 25 fan event, Deb Wills, and a number of other authors, podcasters and fans who felt it was important to be present on this historic day. Each share their own personal insights and stories about working to help create Epcot, why it is important to them, as well as to so many of the people that felt they needed to be there to celebrate this event.

I will also cover some recent Walt Disney World News and visit the WDW Rumor Mill, as there are some interesting developments to speak about.

Due to the length of the show, I will unfortunately have to hold off on your emails and voicemails until next week. I know I have so many more to get to, and I promise to address them all on the show as quickly as possible. So sit back, relax enjoy this week’s episode of The WDW Radio Show.

View Lou’s Photo Album with photos from Celebration 25 and Epcot’s 25th Anniversary in the DisneyWorldTrivia.com Photo Gallery

Also visit the DisneyWorldTrivia.com Downloads section to download the full unedit MP3 file of the Epcot 25th Rededication ceremony

Epcot’s 25th Anniversary Celebration
See where it all got started…

Visit and explore the 2008 Disney Dream Catalog!!

The post Show #35 – Oct. 7, 2007 appeared first on WDW Radio - Your Walt Disney World Information Station by Lou Mongello.

 

Welcome to the WDW Radio Show, your Walt Disney World Information Station. This is Show #27 for the week of August 12, 2007.

To our new listeners, welcome to the show. If this is your first time listening, let me just tell you briefly a little bit about the show. This is a completely family-friendly podcast that focuses on WDW, from our coverage of news and rumors, to trivia, history, vacation planning, reviews, interviews, contests, and a wide variety of other segments presented to you with the help of a number of special guests each week. There’s something for everyone, and each show offers something different, so I invite you to visit the web site at WDWradio.com or iTunes, and download some of our older episodes. And since this show is FOR you, I want it to be interactive and want you to be involved as much as you would like. You can send me suggestions, comments, questions or even a segment idea, and who knows, maybe you can join me on the air if you like!

OK, on to this week’s show – Let’s start off as always with News and Views from Walt Disney World, including of course the big change coming to the Studios. Our visit to the Walt Disney World Rumor Mill will include some possible extra extra magic hours and an old favorite in Epcot possibly reopening later this year.

I am also going to introduce the first in a recurring series entitled, Legends of Disney Imagineering. My first guest certainly qualifies to bear that title and introduction. He is George McGinnis, who played a large part in the creation of the Mark VI monorail, Space Mountain, Horizons, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and countless other attractions and vehicles in Walt Disney World. In this exclusive, one-on-one interview, Mr. McGinnis shares stories of being personally hired by Walt Disney, the triumphs and challenges in creating such attractions as the WEDWay PeopleMover, Space Mountain, Communicore and countless others. He reminisces about working with not only Walt Disney, but a who’s who of Disney legends, including Dick Nunis, Marty Sklar, John Hench, Bob Gurr, Roger Broggie, Claude Coates, and so many others. It is truly something special that I think you’re going to enjoy and was a personal privilege for me to do. And listen very carefully, as he also shares a secret about a change that is likely coming soon to one of his Walt Disney World attractions

Jana Smith from the Let’s talk About Disney Podcast joins me for another, unique take on the Hidden Treasures of Walt Disney World

I will answer a few more of your emails and play some of your voicemails, so sit back, relax and I hope you enjoy this week’s episode of The WDW Radio Show.

Join Lou Mongello, author of the Walt Disney World Trivia Books for a book signing and discussion IN Walt Disney World!

I am pleased to announce that my next book signing will be at the Virgin Megastore in Downtown Disney’s West Side on Saturday, August 25th, 2007 from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

If you are going to be in the area, please join me in the heart of Walt Disney World’s exciting Downtown Disney Shopping and Entertainment District at the largest music and entertainment store in the southeast. Its three floors include more than 300 listening stations and over 20 DVD viewing stations, a 10,000 sq. foot book department, multimedia preview center, café, and so much more!

No theme park or Pleasure Island admission is required

The store is located in Walt Disney World’s DOWNTOWN DISNEY – West Side, across from the Wolfgang Puck Café and Bongo’s Cuban Café, and right next to Disney Quest, on 1494 Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830. You can call the store directly at (407) 828-0222.

I am VERY excited about this event and hope you can come by and say hi!!

Listen to our detailed look at Horizons as part of our EPCOT Retrospective series in Show 12- April 29, 2007

Walt Disney World Acronyms

Old Imageworks Reopening? – Disney World Trivia .com Forums

Thanks to Jana Smith from Let’s Talk About Disney

Walt Disney World’s annual International Food & Wine Festival “Eat to the Beat” concerts tentative schedule for 2007:

Sept. 28–29: Al Stewart

Sept. 30–Oct. 1: Otis Day and the Knights

Oct. 2–3: The Beach Boys

Oct. 4–6: The Original Family Stone

Oct. 7–9: Sheena Easton

Oct. 10–13: Starship featuring Mickey Thomas

Oct. 14–16: David Cassidy

Oct. 17–18: Little Richard

Oct. 19–21: Juice Newton

Oct. 22–25: The Four Tops

Oct. 26–27: The Village People

Oct. 28–30: The Outlaws

Oct. 31–Nov. 3: Jon Secada

Nov. 4–6: Chubby Checker & The Wildcats

Nov. 7–8: The Contours featuring Sylvester Potts

Nov. 9–11: David Sanborn

Gingerbread House at the Grand Floridian

Structure Composition:

16 feet high

17 feet wide

1,000 board feet of trim

60 sheets of plywood

40 window panes

80 square feet of retail space

100 square feet of display

10,000 pieces of gingerbread used

Gingerbread Ingredients:

1,050 lbs. honey

600 lbs. powdered sugar

35 lbs. spices

800 lbs. flour

140 pints egg whites

180 lbs. apricot glaze

Walt Disney World 1/2 Marathon Challenge Contest

This is the next of our 13-part WDW ½ Marathon Challenge, where you get to play a new challenge every two weeks for chance to win all kinds of great prizes, as well as get to name the respective mile marker during the WDW ½ marathon in January. Winners will also get a custom certificate suitable for framing to congratulate you for your efforts. Also as part of the contest, Eric, owner of GeoMouse.com is generously donating $100 per mile to the DisneyWorldTrivia.com Dream Team project to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America. At the end of the contest, we will have a drawing for a yet-to-be announced grand prize!

Stay tuned for the launch of Eric Hollister’s new GeoMouse.com web site coming soon!

Listen to LAST week’s show for the clues! Good luck

The post Show #27 – Aug. 12, 2007 appeared first on WDW Radio - Your Walt Disney World Information Station by Lou Mongello.