The WDW Radio Show - Your Walt Disney World Information Station

This week, we're going to look at our Top Ten celebrity cameos in Walt Disney World attractions, both current and extinct, including some memorable, obscure, and curious ones... and a lot of trivia and fun facts along the way.

This week, I invite you to join us as we discuss our "Disney Treasures" - collectibles, collections, and favorite items we have acquired over the years from the Disney Parks, Marvel, and Star Wars. We'll not only share stories of when, why, and how we added them to our collections, but the why they are important, and valuable to us. We'll also discuss collecting in general, including why we collect, how we display, defining "value," how to, Holy Grails, and more. I'll then share how YOU can virtually display and share your collection in and with our community.

I'll introduce a new segment this week, the Resort Report, and begin with our first, and one of my favorites - Disney's Riviera Resort. I'll explain what the new segment entails, including the additional, complementary content beyond the show. We'll then look at our Ten Reasons to Stay at Disney's Riviera Resort, including guides, guidance, helpful hints, reviews, and opinions. I'll then invite you to share your thoughts, comments, and suggestions as well.

In Part 2 of our journey through the Music of Future World in EPCOT, we head to the west side of the park and take an in-depth look at the songs, scores, and background music, both past and present from the Imagination pavilion, The Land, The Living Seas, Innoventions, and Communicore, as well as the Fountain of Nations. From shows to attractions, we will look at what music has come and gone, how it has changed, the songs, singers, songwriters, and stories. I will then ask you to share some of your favorites as well.

In my continuing series highlighting the music of Walt Disney World, this week we begin our journey through EPCOT, as we make our way through Future World. Together, we will take a virtual tour of the park, and look at the songs, scores, and background music, both past and present. We'll also look at not just the genesis and evolution of the music in the park, shows, and attractions, but the masterful composers and arrangers behind it. 

Sometimes you just need to get away from it all... which may be one of the reasons you go to Walt Disney World in the first place. But even when you're there, you may just want (or need) to sit back, relax, and find a quiet place and time to unwind, recline, or maybe even get some work done. So this week, we'll share our Top Ten Quiet Spots in Walt Disney World. From the parks to the resorts to Disney Springs, we'll share our favorites, and a few hidden locations, and ask you to share yours as well. 

I open up the inbox and answer your questions this week, including some about Space Mountain history, Cosplay in the Disney Parks, Disney architecture books, Sleeping Beauty Castle backwards, build a lightsaber, Walt Disney World Citizen Test, a lost EPCOT attraction and character, attractions that are better at night, and the oldest email in the inbox.

We celebrate the "spirit" of the season as we look back at the history of Halloween in the Disney Parks, from Disneyland's "Parade of the Pumpkins" to the many iterations and locations in Walt Disney World, and the vastly different celebrations in the Disney Parks worldwide.

As we celebrated Walt Disney World’s 49th birthday on October 1, I wanted to look back at not just one of the resort’s most popular attractions, but characters as well. The Dreamfinder (and good right arm, Figment) were created for the new Journey Into Imagination attraction in Epcot in 1983, and ushered in a sense of wonder and fun the likes of which the park had never seen before. And helping to create that spark of imagination was Ron Schneider, the original Dreamfinder. Ron joined me live in Magic Kingdom for the anniversary, and shares stories that paint a colorful picture tracing the origins of the attraction and character, as well as his years in the parks, to working with Tony Baxter, and the day that Michael Jackson asked to meet Dreamfinder. We also discuss the future of the attraction, characters, and EPCOT, Walt, and so much more.

We continue our look at the weird, wild, interesting, and bizarre things that have happened and existed in Walt Disney World history. This week, we visit Disney-MGM Studios, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and venture outside the parks to the Disney Village Marketplace and Pleasure Island. We'll also see how much you remember, never experienced, or can’t believe you ever saw. And of course, I’ll ask you to share some of your personal memories as well!

We look at some of the interesting, unique, funny, and just plain weird things that have happened in Walt Disney World throughout its history. From shows to parades, characters, events, and more, this is a fun look back at some things you think you may remember, and others you may have tried to forget.

This week, we continue our journey and tour through the Music of Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. We’ll virtually wander our way through Liberty Square, to Fantasyland, Storybook Circus, and Tomorrowland. We will then look at music from nighttime spectaculars and parades, both current and extinct. Along the way, we’ll discuss background and theme music, stories, creators, fun facts, and personal memories, and then ask you to share some of your favorites as well.

Please join me this week as we take a musical tour of Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. From the background music to attraction themes, we’ll go land by land discussing our favorite songs, their backstories, composers, singers, and creators, as well as why they are so important and integral to the storytelling. We also share our own sense of nostalgia and memories, how the music helps to immerse us in the lands and attractions, and the emotional components as well. I'll also share some secrets, stories, and "Did You Knows" along the way, in Part One of our look at the Music of Magic Kingdom.

600 episodes and more than 15 years podcasting. If you would have told me that back in 2003 when I started writing my first Walt Disney World Trivia Book, I would never have believed it, yet here we are. So this week, I want to celebrate YOU, and the show that you have helped create and grow over the years, which is why we’re going to look at the Top Ten Shows and Moments from 600 Episodes and 15 Years of WDW Radio.

Please join me this week as I sit down with legendary producer and director Don Hahn about his latest work, or should I say gift, the incredibly moving feature-length documentary Howard, the story of lyricist and storyteller Howard Ashman, now streaming on Disney+. We discuss the genesis of the project, creative choices, process, challenges, emotions, music, and more. We also talk about the meaning and lessons learned from this incredible, heartfelt journey.