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Welcome to Episode 77 of the RetroWDW Podcast: Wonder of Life Part I – 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. Welcome back to the EPCOT Center, but first we start off with a quick discussion about our first-ever episode… Have you heard it recently? If not, check it out!
Listener Mail
We open the mailbag every month and we are ready to hear from you. Be sure to reach out with questions, stories, memories, and more. You never know if your letter will be read on a future episode: podcast@retrowdw.com
- Lindsay is our first letter and she wants to know all about Pin Trading. We did some digging into the history of pins and also the trading aspect that came around 1999. We also found a video all about this, which can be found here.
- Our next listener just heard Episode 75, the Honey I Shrunk the Kids episode. Chris is wanting to know about some of the ambient background music and where it was used throughout WDW.
- Peter wrote in with an amazing question and of course, we dig into this… How fast will the Carousel of Progress actually go?
- We heard from our good friend Jimmy; he actually worked on the Fourth of July special we discussed last month. This is a great letter!
- Bill is our final letter and he is wondering what happened to the life-sized marionettes from El Rio del Tiempo. We discuss some options and theories, but who really knows on this one….
Main Topic
Our main topic this month is all about Wonders of Life. With this being Part I, we are just going to scratch the surface about all this pavilion and attraction had to offer. This pavilion is actually still around, the golden dome that is next to Mission: Space, Guardians of the Galaxy, and it also served as a festival center from time to time over the years. How is leading us here in our journey through Wonder of Life, starting us off in 1976.
How actually reads to us some of the original sponsorship concepts presented for the EPCOT Project, which are quite fascinating. Rolly Crump was named the show lead on this project and along with Dr. Lewis, following the mindset “If it’s a ton of fun, and an ounce of information, we’ve reached the teachable moment”. The group settled on the eight health habits, which seem to have been lost to history. How gives us his best estimate based on what he found in his research. Using these habits, attractions and shows were developed.
As How goes through the early concept pieces for Wonders of Life, we connect the various concepts to the actual attractions that came about. Ideas never really went away and some actually made it to the final show as the years went by. The Tooth Follies is a comical idea that didn’t seem to make the final cut, but what a name and also imagine sitting inside the actual mouth. We also discuss the early versions of Body Wars and how they were developed. How gives us so much good info as we can easily compare the development of all these attractions to what really came to be. Part II and probably Part III will be covering all of the attractions you know and love, so please remember to subscribe and get ready for these upcoming episodes.
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