Passamaquoddy

Spending a day at the Magic Kingdom is one of the greatest pleasures one can have. Where else can you explore an American town in the early 1900s, take a train to the future and walk a bridge to a fantasy world where children can meet the subjects of their dreams. Unfortunately, most of us can’t afford to live in Walt Disney World. And those experiences have always been limited to the occasional vacation…

…until now.

Today, you can have a first class guide give you a personal Disney tour whether you are in Portland, Maine or on Main Street USA. Lou Mongello, the author of the Walt Disney World trivia books and creator of the WDW radio show has created yet another fantastic offering for friends and fans of the Disney Experience. Each recording focuses on one particular land, giving you interesting facts and trivia as well as pointing out interesting things that most people do not notice or consider. Not only is this great for people who just need to revisit the park, it may also be used by first time visitors. The Audio Guide will also prove invaluable for people with visual impairments.

For the first offering in the series, Lou takes us through Main Street USA. With his keen eye for detail, he concisely tells the story of Main Street, hitting all the right emotional notes. Like his other endeavors, the production is slick and professional and worthy of many returns.

I look forward to later efforts in the series, and eventually to have the entire Magic Kingdom on my ipod for what is sure to be my most informative visit.

This is the second in a series of reports on Epcot’s 25th Anniversary. If you missed the first report, scroll down the page and have a gander.

In our last episode we discussed the possibility that Epcot’s 25th almost went ignored as any celebration for an individual park would be counter-productive to Disney’s current marketing strategy. It also alluded to the possibility that the Disney organization had to do a reversal on that based strongly on an active fan base.

Now, let me be honest. I have never sat through a Disney marketing meeting. So, I cannot confirm nor deny anything. With individual passions for Disney being what they are, two individuals in the same meeting could easily come out of it with contrary opinions anyway. And for every cast member I spoke to that suggested the date would pass quietly, others suggested there was stuff in the works. That’s neither here nor there. I’d like to feel that the fan base DID play a huge part in Disney’s reversal.

But even if Disney continued to ignore the anniversary, the fans were going to have their celebration anyway…

…fans like Jenn Waitt and Adam Roth (seen above with John Corigliano). Using the power of their home PCs and chatting on Disney message boards, Jenn and Adam set out to bring an event to life. The plan became a two day, on property “Celebration” of Epcot. In a considerably short amount of time, the event fell into place. Combining their efforts with what Disney eventually offered up, and the two days were amongst my best visits to the World.

Early morning, “Celebration” attendees checked in to the left of the main gate, each given a nice lanyard courtesy of Lou Mongello of Walt Disney World Trivia books and WDW radio. Lou is also on the list of thirty best people on the planet. (That list is proprietary). We also received a postcard courtesy of Jeff Pepper of the 2719 Hyperion blog.

The first day gave us plenty of time to get to know each other and on occasion break off to visit an attraction or two. But the E-Ticket for the day was a three part walking tour of Future World. Beginning in front of the “World of Motion”…. err.. Test Track, John Corigliano spoke in depth about each attraction. He spoke of trivia and fun facts. Following him around, a great collection of people that all felt it important to acknowledge what Epcot means to them. The crowd included children and adults, but most of us were a curious mix of the two. Deb Wills who has had such an impact on the Disney fan community was there as well.

Even Disney Legend Charlie Ridgeway stopped by, his camera taken shots of Walt Disney and the creation of Disneyland, and every park up to now… Now he can add Epcot’s 25th to his resume’.

John did a fabulous job, only losing his audience when Jim MacPhee, Vice President of Epcot stopped in to say hello to the group.

Afterwards, we broke off on our own for a few hours. John joined me and a group of other friends for dinner at the San Angel Inn in Mexico. Along the way we ran into a couple other Disney legends, Marty Sklar and Dave Smith. Incredibly, both were just walking around, mixed in with the tourists, enjoying the park. We were a bit star-struck, but not so much that Lou Mongello managed to put together an interview with Dave Smith before he boarded the new Mexico ride.

I loved my dinner. One of the best I’ve ever had. But, I couldn’t tell you what I ordered. It was great sitting around with likeminded folks and enjoying our day at EPCOT. We rejoined the Celebration crowd for a fun ride on “Soarin’”. It was a blast, but I knew it was getting late… Tomorrow was going to be the big day…