Podcast Episode 89: Pleasure Island Part IV

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Welcome to Episode 89 of the RetroWDW Podcast: Pleasure Island Part IV – We appreciate your support and hope you have been enjoying each and every episode. Be sure to check out some of our previous shows from over the years. We have visited multiple parks, resorts, and just about everything else in between. Listener Mail We open the mailbag monthly and are ready to hear from you. Be sure to reach out with questions, stories,...Read More...

Podcast Episode 88: Back to the Future – The Ride

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Welcome to Episode 88 of the RetroWDW Podcast: Back to the Future – The Ride – We appreciate your support and hope you have been enjoying each and every episode. Be sure to check out some of our previous shows from over the years. We have visited multiple parks, resorts, and just about everything else in between. Listener Mail We open the mailbag monthly and are ready to hear from you. Be sure to reach out...Read More...

Podcast Episode 87.5: Interview With Jim “Mr. Christmas” Heffelfinger

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This mini-episode is a compliment to our 2022 holiday episode.  We promised we’d eventually track down the fellow responsible for bringing the Lights of Winter to EPCOT Center.  Brian and Todd talk to Jim Heffelfinger whose 20 year career with Walt Disney World began as stage manager at the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Review at Pioneer Hall (where he met and shares a great story about our friend Billy Flanigan). Over the next two decades he...Read More...

Podcast Episode 87: Hungry For Hollywood

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Welcome to Episode 87 of the RetroWDW Podcast: Hungry For Hollywood – We appreciate your support and hope you have been enjoying each and every episode. Be sure to check out some of our previous shows from over the years. We have visited multiple parks, resorts, and just about everything else in between. Listener Mail We open the mailbag monthly and are ready to hear from you. Be sure to reach out with questions, stories, memories,...Read More...

Podcast Episode 85: Mickey Mouse Revue

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We take you back to an attraction and for our fans that wanted us to go way back, we are going way back. The Mickey Mouse Revue which opened October 1, 1971 last about nine years closing in the fall of 1980. How is leading us this month which only means one thing: we are going super deep into this topic. He begins by going over the homophone of Revue vs. Review and also how little…Read More...

RetroMagic 2023: Resource Guide

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With less than a month to go, we are all gearing up RetroMagic to celebrate 40 years of EPCOT Center. Leading up to this celebration, we thought it would be beneficial to everyone who is either attending or not attending to prepare a little. We have put together a list of books, resources, podcast episodes, restored videos, and more so you can pack your brain before we see you in Florida. We hope you enjoy this...Read More...

Podcast Episode 84.5: DVC Feedback

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So our last episode, Episode 84: Disney Vacation Club, we dug into the history of the vacation club and the original resort. Throughout this episode, we were able to discuss our personal experiences with DVC and also our opinions. While going over all of the details in Episode 84, we asked for your feedback and your own opinions on DVC. You as the listeners did not disappoint! We had an amazing response and received tons of…Read More...

Podcast Episode 84: Disney Vacation Club

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For our main topic, we take you back to the late 80s and early 90s and get into the history of the Disney Vacation Club. We all know what the vacation club is nowadays, but how did it start, and why? In this era of Walt Disney World, things were much different, and the concept of a timeshare at Disney World seemed impossible. Disney decided to change this and tackled the concept of taking ownership in…Read More...

Episode 83: The Disney Institute

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In this episode, we head back to the mid-1980s when Michael Eisner took a vacation at The Chautauqua Institution and decided to bring its blend of enrichment, entertainment, and fun back to Florida, adding a "uniquely Disney" touch. Originally conceived to be part of the Disney Development Corporation's "Celebration" project, The Disney Institute opened in February of 1996 on the site of the former Lake Buena Vista Townhouses/The Disney Village Resort, offering "Discovery Vacations" where guests…Read More...