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 with questions, stories, memories, and more. You never know if your letter will be read on a future episode: podcast@retrowdw.com

  1. First up on this episode is Jason discussing Hungry for Hollywood, our last episode. Jason wrote us about the 50’s Prime Time Cafe dessert Viewmaster. We hit on this fun little add-on and also discussed Staring Rolls.50s Prime Time Cafe - Oct. 1989
  2. Roderick is a big fan of ours and listens on the treadmill. We discuss a special Florida resident preview of EPCOT Center, which sounds super fun and unique! Hoping to shed more light on this as this episode goes live…  Thanks, Roderick!
  3. Our next letter is from Michael, who worked at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. We discuss a great Michael Eisner encounter and some other brushes with fame that Michael had (Wolfgang Puck), and of course the New Kids on the Block.
  4. Steve wrote us about Pizza Planet, PizzeRizzo, the AFI exhibit, and more. How gets into this discussion and recaps his email encounter with Steve.  Thanks for writing us Steve!
  5. More letters about Hungry for Hollywood; Abdul brings up a couple of stops we didn’t bring up in the episode, which were some great options that are now gone. The Octane Bar sounds so neat!
  6. Our final letter from our pal Reese, asking us about the Walt Disney World Speedway. We get into the history, what happened, and why it is no longer there…. Thanks Reese!

Main Topic

For Episode 88, we are ready to Ride the Movies! Universal Studios in the late 80s brought their A-Game to central Florida and Back to the Future: The Ride was one of their top attractions.  For this episode, we solely focus on Back to the Future and go from start to finish, from development to closing. How is our lead this month and for all of us having experienced this, the movie quotes are plentiful and the ride experiences come from all directions.

We initially get into why this ride came to be and how it was somewhat of a mess to start. The entire ride system was pretty groundbreaking for the time, really capturing all of us as parkgoers. Before you get too far into this though, if you have not seen Back to the Future, we recommend you pause the episode and check it out.

We go through the entire facility, the pre-show, and even the ride mechanics. The neat part about this ride is many people have documented it over the years, including the BTTF Bluray’s that include the ride in a somewhat remastered format. The ride was so timeless in that you really felt as though you were stepping into the movies which we all know and loved. As How guides us through the spacetime continuum, we are given tons of descriptive visuals and walkthroughs about the entire ride.  For reference, we touch on the Back to the Future Visual Guide, which has a full history on this ride as well.

As we wrap up this episode, let us know your thoughts on the ‘Good Neighbors’ episodes and if you would like us to branch out more often. While this won’t be done regularly, we are always interested in the history of Central Florida and all the fun tourist spots in the area. Thanks so much for listening!

Custom Shirt Design

How has designed a shirt just for this special episode that honors the grand opening of Universal Studios Florida. Get yours here.

Universal Studios 1990 T-shirt

 

RetroMagic Updates

All of the footage is live and ready for viewing on our YouTube channel. Be sure to take a look at the entire playlist and enjoy a look back at 40 years of EPCOT Center: Click Here

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Phil Taylor
Phil Taylor
March 18, 2024 4:32 pm

This is a great podcast and website all around. Love the memories and nostalgia as well as the inside information you all bring to the table. Please keep up the great work. Thank you.

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