Retro Disney World Podcast

This episode of the RetroWDW Podcast is somewhat unique and calls for a different type of introduction. Our team has been hard at work planning for RetroMagic, which will take place from September 26th to September 28th, 2025.  For this show, we thought we would give you a little behind-the-scenes update, some sneak peeks of upcoming panels, and even some new things that have not been announced yet. This is going to be our biggest event yet and we look forward to seeing all of you again very soon.  All the information is in the 35 minute episode, but as you listen, be sure to check out the following, as we have a few places you can look for information: www.RetroMagic.net – Main source for information & tickets RetroWDW Info Page – Has some extra tidbits about the event LBVHS Donations – Support our mission and get some amazing gifts TeePublic Store – Grab some gear for the upcoming event RetroMagic on YouTube – Relive some of our past events and see how fun they are for attendees

This one has been in the works for quite some time, and we are excited to bring it to you. Years ago, Disney was just a different type of place to vacation, and we all have our memories of things we have lost over the years, the little touches we remember, and more. While we are going to be cautious to not turn this into a gripe session/complaint episode, we are going to hit on some things that are both dissapointly gone and other things that maybe nobody misses. Either way, we hope you enjoy this look back at things that no longer exist.  As you listen to this episode, we invite you to take a stroll down memory lane with us. Jot down anything we mention that sparks a forgotten moment or brings back a wave of Disney nostalgia. Maybe it’s something we overlooked—an old perk, a beloved resort amenity, or a little detail that meant the world to you. Whatever it is, we want to hear about it. Share with us the one feature, service, or special touch from the past that you miss the most. These stories are what keep

In this mini-episode (or is it an infomercial?), we discuss our upcoming RetroMagic 2025 event, coming to the Coronado Springs Resort at Walt Disney World the weekend of September 26-28, 2025. Tickets are available at https://retromagic.net How much would you pay to see Imagineer Tony Baxter? $700?! $900?! How about $185!!! BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!!! How about the creative and technical leads responsible for The Living Seas pavilion, Tim Delaney and Kym Murphy? BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!!! ·  A charming feature of Main Street USA, we’ll take a deep dive into Walt Disney World’s Penny Arcade. Arcade expert Todd Tuckey of TNT Amusements will join a panel transporting you to the cool, dark haven of novelty games of yesteryear with rare photographs of the arcade, a look at some of the vintage games that resided in the space and where some of them live on today · Historian Hastin Zylstra will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about the Lake Buena Vista townhomes and their California origins including their con

Take a deep dive into the music of the original EPCOT Center, including: How the Epcot entrance loop ripped off music from rock bands Alan Parsons Project and Trickster Hear the original, longer version of "Closer to You," the song from AT&T's "Age of Information" exhibit that predicted the future with incredible accuracy Composer George Wilkins' favorite piece of music that he wrote for Epcot The arranger who worked on Bob Moline's Epcot songs, including "Canada (You're a Lifetime Journey)." Hint: he went on to compose the music for a Spaceship Earth rehab Join us as Todd, Brian, JT, How and our listeners reveal their favorite songs from the many eras of Epcot and we reveal behind-the-scenes details about each of them and the beloved attractions they came from.

This month Brian leads a discussion about banking at Walt Disney World and everything guests had to do to pay for their transactions at the parks and resorts before debit card terminals and Magic Bands became ubiquitous. Cash was king, but Traveler’s Checks and personal checks were also common before Walt Disney World began allowing credit cards. We’ll reveal how they worked, their benefits, and their frustrations. We also dive into the history of Disney’s relationship with its original banking partner, Sun Bank. Find about their full-service branches located in each of the parks and near Disney Springs, including the beautiful late-1880s-styled bank on Main Street which is now the Chamber of Commerce, and why we think the bank vault is still there. If you’re a cast member who can confirm or deny our hunch, send us an email! Todd also takes us into the many advancements in banking technologies that make paying for things in the park easier and more worry-free today.   

This episode is about a long-lost art form that used to be very prominent at Walt Disney World. The idea of lugging camera equipment around, having it serviced at WDW, and even developing your pictures all on-site are almost laughable this day in age. When we look back through history, Walt Disney World is brought back to us from family photos and film/video. Depending on your era, the method could vary drastically and so did the technical aspects. In this episode, we dive into nearly every aspect of capturing the memories of your trip. With different sources, being professional resources and personal stories, this episode should hit with anyone who has captured their trip on some sort of film. The theme parks were very different 50 years ago, including things like a bank, card shops, flowers to purchase, and even furniture. Disney took on the memory business and you could do everything from bringing all your own equipment to renting on site. Film purchases, VHS tapes, servicing your camera and more; the dif

In this episode, we are taking you back a number of years to a lost episode! We spent some time many years ago speaking with Tad Stones, a Disney animator who worked for the company from 1974-2003. The problem is this edit fell through the cracks and went into podcast purgatory. We are here to resurrect it and get our conversation with Tad Stones out so you all can listen. This conversation begins with EPCOT Center and some of the different items he had his hands on. We get into World of Motion, Journey into Imagination, and more. The EPCOT perspectives from these early days are fascinating and surprising at the same time, as most of this is not the major highlight of Tad’s Disney career. Tad also gets into a fun story about meeting George Lucas in the early 1980s, eating fried chicken, and even giving a little foreshadowing about the prequels. Either way, this is such a cool interaction and story that we are so excited to share with you. Tad has such a unique perspective on the early EPCOT years, digging int

We are down a man this month, as How has been working on rebuilding his house and dealing with hurricane fallout. We begin this episode with a special message from How and we hope he will be back for Episode 94. This episode focuses on Birnbaum’s guides, which still exist to this day. Join us as we embark on a nostalgic journey, exploring how these iconic travel guides shaped the way fans experienced Disney parks from the 70s to the 90s. We’ll discuss some unique aspects, behind-the-scenes insights, and personal anecdotes from our own Disney adventures using Birnbaum as our guide. Whether you’re a lifelong Disney enthusiast or a curious newcomer, this podcast will transport you back to the enchanting world of Disney, one Birnbaum Guide at a time! The guides have changed over the years and when you locate a vintage copy, the notes and highlighted items are always fun, as we discuss in this episode.  We get into guides from the 80s, how they have changed to the current day, and also dive into the kid editions.

For our main topic this month, we decided to dig into the always-present and always-sought-after contest connecting to Walt Disney World. If we all think back, I am sure you all have seen, heard of, or attempted to win some sort of contest either at Walt Disney World or at home trying to win a trip to WDW. JT takes the lead on this one and begins with the group telling us about a contest they have each won, in one form or another. To follow this up, we reached out to listeners and fans to see what they have won. We had lots of great responses, including the ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire: Play It!’ prizes that Jared supplied us to showcase at the various events we hold. Another fun one we heard about was Eric and the story about winning a Segway Scooter at EPCOT; amazing! The mother of all prizes though, the infamous Night in the Castle during the Year of a Million Dreams. Everyone wanted this one and we tracked down a real person who actually won and spent the night in the castle. Ian joins us from Intercot

Brian takes this lead for this episode and we are super excited to get into all of the areas where computers innovated and impacted the first couple decades at Walt Disney World. After awhile, computers became common all over, but through the 70s & 80s, these innovative pieces of tech helped WDW in many ways. We start off with some pre-opening documentation, which is on DisneyDocs. RCA had a huge plan for the communication system of the entire property, so be sure to dig into this doc, it is amazing! Next up is communications and we discuss the switchboard inside Cinderella’s Castle, which actually was a real thing. We also get into the water monitoring in Reedy Creek, which were powered by solar panels, relaying information to a satellite dish in space. The entire process is insane and super innovative for the era. Brian and How get into the old DACS system, how this worked, and even discuss some of the old school techniques used at Disneyland and the World’s Fair. Brian mentions the Honeywell 516, which

Welcome back to another episode and this time, we have a special guest for this ‘half episode’, Foxx Nolte. Foxx has been in the Disney community for years and has been a trailblazer in all things Disney history. For this episode, we are excited to have the ‘Queen of Lake Buena Vista’ joining us to talk all about her latest book, Hidden History of Walt Disney World. This book is filled with a treasure trove of tales and stories curated by Foxx, which were hand-picked and organized in an entertaining way. Todd and the fellas touch a bit on an earlier episode where we got into the old stories told to us about Bay Lake & the various watercraft duties. Check out Episode 8 if you haven’t already! One of the main discussion points that Foxx brings up, is the 44,000 word limit in this book. As she states, she had to ‘cut the crap’, which makes this a very fun read that comes in somewhat short snippets. You get the information, you digest it, and you keep going without going too far into the weeds. If you remembe

For the main topic this month, we head back to Pleasure Island for more fun and excitement. This is Part IV and if you haven’t enjoyed Part 1, Part 2, or Part 3, we highly recommend you take a listen back as these were recorded years ago!  How gives us a little recap of how each episode went in the past. The story on this episode though is changes. How gets us into each club and how they changed after a few years, including themes and names. These include Cage, The Wildhorse Saloon, 8-Trax, Planet Hollywood, Motion, Fulton’s Crab House, BET Club and more. We go through our memories of each of the various iterations and also what we thought of them over the years. The interesting aspect we get into here with Pleasure Island is that it evolved frequently and for the most part, was done to keep people attending and trying to find that club that hit. This episode also has us reflecting on fads of the era from Wine Coolers, The Chicken Dance, Zima, Planet Hollywood, and line dancing. Even though this area has come

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 form

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 worked with Disney Legend Ron Logan and the rest of the entertainment team to bring Christmas as we know it to EPCOT, Fantasmic to Florida, the Muppets to Hollywood Boulevard, the holidays and a parade to Animal Kingdom and the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights to Disney-MGM Studios. Some of his shows, like Beauty & The Beast Live on Stage are still running today much as he designed them while others are very fondly remembered. This is a fun interview where you’ll learn a lot and, of course, we ask him for memories of Ron Logan and Dick Nunis and invite him to a future Retro

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, and more. You never know if your letter will be read on a future episode: podcast@retrowdw.com Our first letter is from Mike and he is curious about a particular stairway at Magic Kingdom. We need some experts out there to help Mike out with this stairway and what happened to it.... Amy is our next letter and she is a new listener, welcome! Amy gives us some great information about working at The Disney Institute and how she was able to take courses for free as an employee. Thanks for the fun stories Amy. Another Amy, another letter. This Amy is talking about Episode 32 which was a

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 is out there on the Mickey Mouse Revue. This attraction was located where the current Mickey’s PhilharMagic is playing each day, so you can get a feeling as to how this played and where it was in the 70s. Throughout this episode, we walk you through the history and how the show plays out from start to finish. We recommend you watch the following video, just so you can get a visual of this attraction. How also gets us into how the attraction felt, which I appreciated very much because many of us have not seen this one in person. The voice of Mickey is discussed from this episode and it is not one of the better versions… This quirky

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 great messages. Throughout episode 84.5, we dig into all of these messages. As we state at the start of the episodes, we received numerous emails with varying levels of detail. All of us especially liked the amount of detail in some of these that broke down facts, figures, and even the needs of your family. While these slowly trickled in over the month, we felt the need to bring them all to a ‘mini-episode’ which ends up running just about two hours. If you are a DVC member, a prospective member, someone who rents points, or even a WDW vacationer who has no interest in DVC, this episode