The BEST Disney Convention Ever Is Retro Magic Orlando / Forgotten WDW History & Meeting Legends
Retro Magic Orlando 2025
Transcript
0:02
Welcome everyone. Adam the Woo here as
0:02
the recording of this Saturday,
0:04
September 27th, 2025. Getting ready to
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head over to Coronado Springs Resort on
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Walt Disney World property for Retro
0:12
Magic, a convention that they do. I
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believe this is their 10th year
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celebrating all things old school retro
0:21
vintage at WDW.
0:25
Inviting you to join me. Let me get over
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there, shall you? Looks like there is
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some cloud buildup up here, but
0:32
thankfully this event is rain or shine
0:35
indoors inside the convention center
0:38
area of Coronado, so it should be good.
0:41
It is currently noon. Well, a couple
0:43
minutes past noon. Oh, there was a
0:45
Disney hat in the road right there. Just
0:47
went right in the middle of the road.
0:48
Now, this event/convention goes on for
0:51
three days. It started last night on
0:52
Friday today as I'm here as a Saturday
0:55
as I'm filming this and then it goes on
0:57
tomorrow. I will not be here tomorrow
0:58
and I was not here last night. This is
1:00
the only day I will be here. There are a
1:01
couple of panels that I wanted to see.
1:03
This is showing the entrances here.
1:05
Retromagic entrance. This place is very
1:08
expensive. All right, I got my lanyard.
1:10
Now, the tickets to this, they were not
1:12
exceptionally cheap and you can't buy a
1:14
one day. So, since I'm not going to all
1:15
three days, I had to pay the weekend
1:17
price. Hop inside. Lake Wayne Vista
1:20
Village exhibits. All right. Got some of
1:22
the Millennium stuff. Millennium
1:25
Celebration, Tapestry of Nations.
1:29
All down in here.
1:31
Whole table on Tapestry of Nations.
1:34
Yeah. Here's Disney. Oh, and Disney
1:35
Village, which is now Disney Springs.
1:38
Used to be called Disney Village. Look
1:39
at that.
1:42
Downtown Disney, Disney Village, Disney
1:44
Springs. All kind of the same thing,
1:46
different places. But that's back when
1:48
Florida called theirs Disney Village
1:50
Marketplace.
1:52
There's a Blizzard Beach map. Some old
1:54
the old home home video VHS's
1:58
pro emotional stuff.
2:02
Oh, look at that Epcot VHS. That's
2:05
beautiful.
2:07
There's an Alien Encounter jacket. A lot
2:09
of Alien Encounter stuff. Muppet vision
2:11
stuff. And we're getting over to the
2:14
Orange Bird stuff.
2:17
Little weightlifting. And these are
2:18
awesome, too. These old towels. Epcot
2:20
center towels. Kind of wish they bring
2:23
the center back. You see it on some
2:24
merchandise, but not a lot of
2:26
merchandise. You got the Future World
2:28
right down in here. Got a few other
2:30
ones. See what else is underneath here.
2:33
World Showcase. This is this Disney
2:35
Village. That might be Yeah, that is
2:36
Disney. That's got to be Disney Village,
2:39
right? Is that Disney Village?
2:42
That's got to be Disney Village. Yeah, I
2:44
guess there's the river boat that's now
2:46
a restaurant. I think that's the old
2:47
Disney Village. I could be incorrect on
2:49
that, but that's what that is definitely
2:52
reminding me of. And they're actually
2:53
having an auction for some of this
2:55
stuff. I don't know if this is the
2:56
auction, but they do have an auction for
2:57
a few things that are going Oh my gosh,
2:59
look at all these guide maps. 75 guide
3:02
map four years after the opening. 74 3
3:04
years after the opening. An airline. Fly
3:06
Eastern Airline. Your wings to the
3:08
family. Vacation Kingdom. Walt Disney
3:10
World. Look at this piece of artwork.
3:12
This is the work of Jimmy Mulligan right
3:15
here.
3:15
>> Pleasure to do.
3:17
>> Living seas action. I like how you
3:18
incorporate the logo in there. That is a
3:21
It's a thing. This is going to be
3:22
auctioned off.
3:24
>> Are they auctioning this off?
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>> They're auctioning it off live
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>> real quick.
3:27
>> We'll do it live.
3:30
>> You can't say the word before that now.
3:31
This is a [laughter] Disney crowd. Keep
3:33
it clean.
3:34
>> That's the cut from my new album.
3:36
>> That was such a great clip.
3:38
>> The setup in here.
3:39
>> These are all the seating arrangements.
3:41
>> I know it's like the grand hall. It's
3:42
like Hogwarts.
3:44
>> It is.
3:50
>> Hello everybody.
3:50
>> That's kind of neat. Welcome to this
3:52
panel with our wonderful longtime cast
3:56
members. We could not do these events
3:59
without Tom Abby because the first big
4:03
Tom who can round up
4:06
that you had as they were building the
4:09
vacation kingdom. Did it seem like they
4:11
were going to be able to get it done
4:12
when you got here? What month did you
4:14
get here? I guess I should ask. I got
4:17
here part-time on Jan in January of 71
4:20
and then I fulltime in March.
4:22
>> And what did it look like in January of
4:24
71?
4:25
>> Uh skeleton on Main Street. Uh elevator
4:29
shafts for the Contemporary Hotel and uh
4:33
uh no water availation
4:36
castle airport was there. Uh but uh no
4:39
none of the spires were in place yet.
4:42
So,
4:44
the first place I wanted to start on the
4:48
the stories here is if you're looking at
4:51
this, the headline in June is that uh
4:54
they were seeking to hire 5,500 people.
4:56
Now, obviously guys like you and Steve
4:58
were here already to Disney.
5:03
>> They went out there recruiting from
5:05
around I guess you had to deal with the
5:06
population who was here or anybody that
5:08
moved here to work at Walt Disney World.
5:10
And that was pretty much your I grew up
5:12
you grew up putting two-way radios in
5:14
the construction vehicles. And that's
5:16
when I saw Main Street for the first
5:17
time and I this is real. This is really
5:20
happening. A shock. Most Orlando people
5:23
didn't think it was they thought it was
5:24
a traveling fair to begin with. But
5:27
anyway, after a couple of months of
5:28
doing that, I had an opportunity. A
5:30
supervisor from Main Street said, "You
5:32
should go apply for a job." So I
5:34
thought, "Okay, I will." In April, a
5:37
Saturday morning, I got up, went out to
5:38
apply for their job, got in line, and
5:40
the first question, one of the people in
5:42
line with me, and the line was about 2
5:44
hours long, they asked me, "What
5:45
[clears throat] are you auditioning
5:46
for?"
5:48
>> Fantastic. Uh, what do you remember
5:50
about the dedication at Roy?
5:53
>> Well, I just remember, you know, being
5:55
in the parking lot. We had to be out
5:56
there at first and then come on in. It
5:58
was just, you know, very special. I uh
6:01
didn't I met Roy and I talked to Roy a
6:04
couple times and uh just in passing but
6:08
uh I just thought it was terrific and we
6:10
did it you know I mean we did it as far
6:12
as all the guests are concerned. Uh
6:15
there was a lot of, you know, things we
6:18
had to still do, but uh we pulled it off
6:20
and the rest is history, I suppose. But
6:23
it was uh you know, I'd been to several
6:27
when I was in Disneyland, California and
6:29
several events. And Walt was always
6:32
there well up until ' 60s December. He
6:35
was there and management was always
6:37
there and they were special and this was
6:39
special. When we opened up, I was
6:42
supposed to have six Montreals. I hit
6:44
three and a half. Okay. Uh we had x
6:47
number of trams but they would have had
6:49
problems and they kept breaking down. Uh
6:52
so about 4:00 every afternoon uh the
6:55
transportation supervisors would meet
6:58
with the duty manager and try to figure
7:01
out what the inpark attendance was.
7:03
Okay. And then we figured out how many
7:05
Montreals we had operating and how many
7:08
trams we had operating and how many
7:10
boats we had operating and figured out
7:13
the theoretical capacity of getting the
7:15
park.
7:16
>> You got to park for free yesterday.
7:18
>> I did.
7:19
>> Tell my way,
7:20
>> right? He talked his way in.
7:23
>> Well, I thought you guys were picking up
7:24
my paycheck and they said, "No."
7:27
>> I said, she said, "What are you doing?"
7:29
I told her what we were doing and she
7:30
said, "Oh, you're an original cast
7:32
member." I said, "Yes, come on in."
7:46
>> Joe, he showed us his clocks and bunches
7:46
of flowers and tea sets and things on
7:50
Main Street, USA. Yes, they did.
7:55
And we're eternally grateful for it.
7:57
Yes. So, we started out with the clock
8:01
shop and Elgen watches in the corner of
8:04
the emporium and the flower session out
8:08
on Center Street which is now part of
8:11
the emporium. But people would buy them.
8:15
We had flowers also back in Pirates. We
8:17
had a flower bizarre there and people
8:19
would buy them. And might seem crazy
8:21
that you come to Disney to buy plastic
8:24
flowers, but people did. And [applause]
8:27
we can't talk about the Epcot Center
8:29
merchandise without talking about the
8:31
greatest department store ever to exist
8:34
in a theme park and that is the
8:35
Centurion
8:42
to build a park from scratch. It was it
8:42
was a lot of fun. uh you came on and
8:46
Hollywood Studios the streets are a
8:48
little bit narrower because the park was
8:50
going to be viewed as a six-hour park
8:53
and it was tied out to Epcot. The
8:57
thought process was that people would
8:59
come to the studios and they go over to
9:01
Epcot afterwards. Even the stores were
9:04
rekeyed on a submaster of Epcot keys and
9:07
and so everything was done in
9:10
conjunction with that. But we we started
9:13
it out and you had to do the same thing.
9:17
You had to figure out where you were
9:18
getting personnel from. So you were
9:20
doing interviews for cast members to
9:22
come over and uh setting someone up to
9:25
do the warehousing and bringing in the
9:27
merchandise and bringing in the
9:28
products, setting it up very well for
9:30
us. And the dark room, uh that's
9:33
probably one of the last camera centers
9:35
you'll ever see because today everyone's
9:39
got it on their phone. No one's saying,
9:41
"Hey, remember we got to go buy film
9:43
when before we get there." Everyone's
9:45
got it on the phone and then move
9:47
forward from there. Uh the studios has
9:51
some of the great signs, uh especially
9:53
all the neon that's that that they
9:56
utilize there and the the different
9:58
designs around it. But I can't talk
10:02
about merchandise at at the studios
10:04
without asking you about Sid Kahenas and
10:07
the beautiful collection of Hollywood
10:09
memorabilia that used to be in there.
10:11
Right. We had a buyer who would go out
10:14
and source all this product and we had
10:17
the good fortune of having cast members
10:20
who had an avid interest in this
10:23
product. And so they learned about it
10:27
along with the buyer who come in and
10:28
talk about the pieces. what we get, how
10:30
we get it, all of that. And they can
10:32
relay that on to the guests and make
10:35
them aware of what they were purchasing
10:37
and whether it it was a great value to
10:41
them or not. But most folks came in
10:43
looking for the person that they had an
10:46
interest in from Hollywood,
10:48
>> human resources. So, I kind of moved all
10:51
around wherever I was needed.
10:54
>> Uh, very diverse. In fact, we have you.
10:57
I know you were at the
11:00
the city of Albright
11:01
>> guest relations for a bit in the Magic
11:04
Kingdom and um that bottom left
11:08
um Splash Mountain kind of was
11:11
announced. Um but there was a decision
11:14
that as a park we were not going to do a
11:17
groundbreaking
11:19
and um my whole team in Frontier Land
11:24
Liberty Square area they were like we
11:26
have to have a groundbreaking.
11:29
So this was our groundbreaking that we
11:32
came up with. Lauria had a shovel and
11:34
she dug in some some dirt and we did our
11:37
own groundbreaking. That's a picture
11:40
from that day.
11:45
>> What is this? Can you explain what this
11:45
is?
11:46
>> So this is Ritual Zero Proof. They are a
11:48
sponsor of Tiki Agogo. And for anybody
11:51
who's not a drinker, they're individual
11:55
bottles of different kinds of, you know,
11:57
non-alcoholic whiskey and you can mix it
12:00
up yourself. And I do believe in in the
12:02
sample pack there is also recipe cards.
12:05
So you can make your own recipes.
12:08
>> Little mocktail actually.
12:09
>> Yeah, you can like Lroy. Throw it in
12:12
there. Jin and Lroy action.
12:16
>> I saw your orange bird earlier, but you
12:17
weren't you guys weren't over here yet.
12:20
the orange bird stand up there.
12:24
>> This is like the greatest thing ever.
12:26
>> Where'd you Where'd you guys find this?
12:29
>> So that somebody named that
12:31
>> Oh, they made it.
12:32
>> Uh the people here for WW, they made
12:36
this. Um so it's not
12:39
>> It's still amazing.
12:40
>> It's cute. He said you can order it was
12:42
like $60.
12:44
>> Oh, okay.
12:47
>> So everything you see between those
13:02
>> Taking this moment to walk around
13:02
without the music on in here.
13:04
>> Doing another panel.
13:07
>> How awesome are these?
13:14
>> Mike, are the tennis courts still there?
13:14
They're not. No one ever uses them.
13:15
>> But there's still the tennis courts back
13:17
there. Um, this is they're back further.
13:21
So, this is where Bay Lake Tower is and
13:23
the tennis courts are back behind that.
13:26
>> I never see anybody playing tennis.
13:32
>> This is so good.
13:32
>> Yeah,
13:32
>> I was just there last week, too.
13:33
>> So, they're auctioning all these off.
13:35
Oh, look at that. Disney Village.
13:36
>> Oh, yeah.
13:37
>> Look, is that a little scuba diver about
13:38
to rob the place?
13:39
>> It is right there. Scoop some bubbles.
13:42
>> This the eastern is so good.
13:46
So these are part of the auction.
13:48
>> Yeah. All these started 100 years ago.
13:51
>> Walt Disney World meets secluded luxury.
13:54
>> That is the space mountain Mickey right
13:56
there.
13:56
>> We we miss him obviously for me.
13:59
>> For me
14:02
my
14:04
>> Yeah. If you go back and watch that
14:05
opening day ceremony of Space Mountain
14:07
Wing and
14:09
>> Mickey sounds nothing.
14:10
>> No idea that was bad.
14:12
>> You know you brainstorming sessions.
14:15
say something like would be really like
14:17
not really practical or not really
14:20
>> and you knew Jim didn't like it cuz you
14:21
go
14:22
>> yeah whoever owns all this this is
14:23
probably one person that owns all this.
14:25
>> Mhm.
14:26
>> What else we got
14:28
>> was to tell what the real future was
14:30
going to be like.
14:31
>> So Micah that's the real preview center
14:33
side.
14:33
>> That's what I was predict what the
14:35
future was because by the way it's a
14:36
treadmill. You can never
14:39
all the other
14:40
>> sorry folks no food or pets allowed
14:43
inside. 1870s.
14:46
>> Swan boats were closed. Crockets explore
14:48
canoes and 20,000 things into this.
14:52
>> There's an old MGM map.
14:55
>> We started to create a roadway that kind
14:57
of bends
14:58
>> with Mama Milrose. All you can eat
15:01
pasta. I thought that was a bowling bag
15:03
earlier. In fact, Mickey's holding a
15:05
camera. Dude, that's like an old VHS
15:07
camera. So, we just kind of implied this
15:11
this pathway. Long rose had all you can
15:13
eat pasta.
15:15
>> Could you imagine?
15:17
>> I can. [laughter] I love it.
15:18
>> I think we have three miles of neon was
15:21
hidden throughout the land.
15:25
>> The idea was that the land was alive.
15:30
>> I remember the McDonald's Animal Kingdom
15:32
was not a zoo.
15:34
>> N
15:37
they were trying to make people think it
15:41
kind of like
15:43
solar panels and everything is raining
15:46
so
15:47
closes up and goes back down.
15:55
>> Um, and now can you
15:55
>> feel free to open up?
15:57
>> So what is this?
15:58
>> So this is a a proposal this is a
16:01
proposal book a concept for American
16:03
venture. I think it was used Yeah. to
16:06
get a a sponsor uh to sponsor the
16:09
pavilion. So, this is a kind of a pitch
16:12
book with concept art. 78, I think. Did
16:15
it say 70? I think it's 78 or maybe it
16:17
said 75. I thought it was 78.
16:19
>> It's on the front the first page there.
16:22
>> 78. Yeah, 78.
16:23
>> Wow. Okay.
16:24
>> So, uh and I think American Adventure I
16:27
think opened with no sponsor. I realized
16:29
I should realize that. I So, I don't
16:32
know what happened and I'm guessing
16:33
password.
16:36
Dude, so many good renderings. Oh my
16:38
gosh.
16:39
>> Yeah, that's so good.
16:41
>> Great concept art. Great pictures.
16:43
>> You think they would release these
16:44
photos,
16:46
>> you know?
16:48
>> Look at that. Oh, look at that. Ben
16:49
Franklin as the host like Lincoln style.
16:53
>> I don't know if they I don't know what
16:54
the this all was supposed to I'm not
16:56
sure the point of the city opera house
16:58
being there. What the plan was?
17:00
>> Well, they were going to add more
17:02
countries.
17:04
They were going to have Well, it was
17:05
weird. This would have been where
17:06
Equatorial Africa if this is China.
17:09
>> I I've never read about an Australia
17:12
yet.
17:13
>> No.
17:14
Australia. So,
17:16
>> it's I find the old outside the
17:20
building.
17:22
when they uh at the flag raising
17:25
ceremony in the morning when they gave
17:28
me credit for being an original cast
17:31
member.
17:32
>> What was his first name again?
17:34
>> Adam.
17:34
>> Pat P.
17:35
>> Adam like the first man in the Bible. A
17:37
D A
17:44
>> wanted to meet you for a while but never
17:44
said hi before.
17:46
>> You take a look at the beame about the
17:48
character itself. What would a character
17:50
say, right? Look at the personality of
17:52
that character. What would they say?
17:54
Well, they would be disrespectful.
17:57
You know, they would just be like
18:00
like
18:07
>> of myself and Walt Disney.
18:07
>> Oh, that's you and Walt. Yeah. Okay.
18:10
>> That's out of Saturday post.
18:13
>> Is it?
18:13
>> July 28th, 1958.
18:18
cuz you started your career at
18:19
Disneyland.
18:20
>> Yes.
18:21
>> Working for Walt.
18:23
>> Yeah. 69 years ago.
18:27
>> Actually, 70.
18:35
>> I made it back home now and I'm going to
18:35
head back over a little bit later, but
18:37
there's a lull in the late afternoon,
18:39
early evening at the convention
18:42
where there's like a 2hour 2hour break.
18:45
So, only 5 minutes away. So decided just
18:48
to head home, put some stuff away, and I
18:51
might grab a couple other things to get
18:53
signed a little bit later. So you can
18:55
see from 4:30 there's a dinner break on
18:57
your own. I just chose to head back
19:00
home. The ballroom reopens at 7:00 and
19:02
then at 7:30 to 9:00, 2 hours ready when
19:05
you are CB. Imagineer Tom K. Morris and
19:08
Disney legend Tony Baxter. All right,
19:11
into the corridor goons. Now I got a
19:12
great idea. My sister gave me this
19:15
either for my birthday or Christmas.
19:16
many years ago and it is the WDW version
19:20
of the ride poster for Big Thunder
19:22
Mountain Railway
19:24
which was designed by Tony Baxter. In
19:27
fact, we're in a queue at Walt Disney
19:29
World's there is the photo of Tony
19:32
Baxter. I call him evil Tony Baxter
19:34
because it's like him and his alter ego
19:36
in the Q- line. I think I'm going to get
19:39
this signed. I'm going to take this out
19:40
of the frame and to get Tony to sign
19:42
that. Yes, if all goes well, Barnabas T.
19:45
Bullion himself, which is as the story
19:48
goes, that's his character's name in the
19:51
folklore, the Big Thunder Mountain
19:53
Railway. Well, railroad. I call it
19:55
railway, but it's technically railroad.
19:58
Get his uh name inscribed right down
20:01
there. About to go back under the
20:04
archway again. And I got to thinking, I
20:06
don't know if I've ever had a double
20:08
Disney W another D. I don't know if I've
20:11
ever had a double WDW archway die going
20:14
under it twice. That was hard to say.
20:17
>> That's a secret thing.
20:19
>> Yeah, that was an official password that
20:21
got linked out, right? Okay. So, uh, and
20:25
Tom, you're joining us commentary and
20:28
all the other VIPs that we have. We
20:30
There's bells on the table if you want
20:31
to ring in just like that. There's
20:34
microphones over there. Gary will help
20:36
you. You can comment on anything you
20:38
see. Uh, and and look at this film. It's
20:41
actually it's MST3K style, but we have
20:43
these ladies in the front row. Their
20:45
heads are in front of us, so they get to
20:47
comment on us instead.
20:49
>> And this was taken from a issue of
20:51
Disney news. So, uh, we thought forever
20:54
that this was Dick Nunes riding the
20:56
wave, and I don't think it actually is.
20:58
>> But that's And then if you flip over to
21:00
the other one,
21:02
>> um, I actually managed to get in contact
21:03
with the engineer, one of the engineers
21:05
that worked on it. And this is actually
21:07
one of the flaps that drove the wave
21:09
machine being lowered into position like
21:12
out on the island. So this is the first
21:14
time anyone has seen this image in like
21:16
40 years.
21:17
>> Happened at Disneyland. They had a wave
21:19
machine installed on that lagoon with
21:21
the hope that it would obscure all the
21:23
animated fish and everything and make a
21:25
rough wave thing. And we actually found
21:27
some footage, which I don't have
21:29
tonight, uh, of that thing working. But
21:32
in all my life, going back to when it
21:34
opened, I've never seen this, but it
21:37
actually was there and it it turned up
21:39
the entire lagoon.
21:40
>> Yeah. And I don't know whether they
21:41
actually did this or not, but I've seen
21:43
memos about them estimating it. They
21:46
were going to do it for the tuna boat.
21:48
For the chicken of the sea, I'm assume
21:51
it was going to be a small one, but a
21:53
wave machine for the tuna boat. Chicken
21:55
of the sea.
21:56
>> You know, Dick Nun has got his ass
21:58
chewed out about the wave machine.
21:59
>> I don't know if you know that. Yeah,
22:00
we've heard some stories about
22:02
>> Roy Disney chewed his Yeah. his butt, I
22:04
should say.
22:07
>> You probably said, "Didn't we lose on
22:08
this once before in California?"
22:12
>> Okay. You know,
22:15
>> the patch on it. Yeah.
22:16
>> You're going to you're going to teach us
22:17
here about cutting mountains into
22:19
layers. I If I remember
22:20
>> in the middle of all that came Figment.
22:23
So, uh, they had me come down here with
22:26
Skip Lang, who was Skip took over the
22:28
Florida one because I was finishing
22:30
California and then the Kodak company
22:33
came to Imagineering and we had all
22:36
three of those things going. But, you
22:37
know, the best times is when you're so
22:39
busy. Um, and you know, to see this
22:42
thing coming to life. Disneyland was
22:44
almost finished because this looks like
22:46
it was nearing. And, um, yeah. So, we
22:49
did that
22:50
>> on a string that you would then use a
22:52
little pin to pin onto your shirt
22:54
because you didn't so you wouldn't lose
22:56
it. And I remember when I was little
22:58
when we first got those, I was terrified
23:02
that it would come off of me at some
23:04
point during the day and I can no longer
23:06
go on any attraction.
23:06
>> I have a question that's been bugging me
23:08
for years. Did were all of the animals
23:10
in Florida's Big Thunder, were those
23:12
from Nature's Wonderland or were they
23:14
copies? There might have been some
23:15
additional ones, but uh the cat on the
23:17
cactus is from the the it was actually
23:20
the iconic logo for the living desert
23:22
that won an Academy Award and that's
23:24
still down here unless they took it out.
23:27
>> No, I think it's still there. Yeah.
23:28
>> And then, you know, we shared them with
23:30
Disneyland. Disneyland does not have the
23:31
same topography. So, you have the flash
23:34
flood in Disneyland. We did Coyote
23:36
Canyon and those coyotes were from the
23:39
just before you went into the Rainbow
23:41
Cavern portion of the ride. Um, and then
23:43
the I think you have the majority of the
23:46
Mark Davis cactuses that are all shaped
23:49
like uh strange creatures and stuff. So
23:51
those are here. So it was kind of a you
23:54
get this one and you get that one. And
23:56
then Pat Burke who is just was a genius
24:00
of prop out what would you call it? He
24:04
knew how to drag stuff out of every mine
24:06
in in the western United States for
24:09
nothing. He would go in there and he
24:10
looked like your typical country cowboy
24:14
guy and he would sweet talk them into
24:17
Yeah, you can have that for a couple
24:18
bucks and then he'd write a check on
24:20
Walt Disney
24:26
and we would literally have to turn him
24:26
off rather than uh him running out of
24:28
money. He never ran out of money. He
24:30
just say, "Pat, I know you know you have
24:33
more things to go in, but we're done."
24:35
So the the Chevy era, you know, with the
24:37
what was that? A Cavalier a day and S10.
24:40
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And then the uh the
24:42
Lumina pulling up to the Chinese
24:44
theater. But this one is weird because
24:46
it's it Well, it's perfect for the era.
24:48
And then uh the traveling to Florida in
24:51
the station wagon. It just fits,
24:52
>> which was very common in a lot of the
24:54
films that we restore. I mean, that was
24:55
a big thing from the 70s and in the
24:56
early 80s was to drive down there, get
24:58
the family in the car. So, this is the
25:00
perfect ad for that. And I what I want
25:02
to do is I want to I'm going to zoom in
25:04
here. I want everybody to focus a little
25:07
bit on what you're seeing here.
25:09
>> I just know I don't want to sit next to
25:10
the walrus in the car.
25:13
>> He might take a
25:14
>> I don't care how big the car is.
25:16
>> Checkers with
25:18
just like
25:21
a problem officer.
25:23
>> Too excited.
25:31
>> Uh optional dual facing rear seats. You
25:31
can play chess without a seat belt.
25:32
>> Yeah.
25:35
>> They look like hungry animals.
25:38
>> How much for the little girl in the car
25:39
there?
25:41
>> I wonder. [laughter]
25:42
>> Didn't Paul have those like pants on in
25:45
the in the 80s for that?
25:47
>> Paul, is that your dad?
25:48
>> Is that the security?
25:50
>> Is that the security guard like holding
25:52
the like the reflective mirror?
25:53
>> Doesn't it look like that?
25:55
>> Where's Clark Griswald? But also would
25:57
go out for pleasure cruises as well. So,
25:59
uh, it was available for corporate
26:01
rentals and I think eventually they sold
26:02
it as a ticketed thing, too.
26:04
>> So, uh, it's very rare to actually I
26:07
mean it's rare enough to find photos of
26:08
it, but to actually see it under sale is
26:11
amazing.
26:12
>> I think we have one other film with it
26:13
where it's it's just docked at the
26:15
Polynesian
26:16
>> 70. Remember that
26:17
>> cuz it said it right on the name of the
26:19
file.
26:19
>> Oh,
26:25
and I'm the one who names these files.
26:29
and and so he contacted us and we were
26:31
able to uh send this out and get it
26:33
converted. So we'll be able to see you
26:35
know Walt Disney World by air.
26:36
>> What what are we looking at here?
26:38
>> What do you take a look? Yes.
26:41
>> Uh
26:42
>> that's as clear as
26:43
>> Magic Kingdom. So yeah. So what you can
26:45
see the wave machine would be over here.
26:48
Here's where the Grand Flian or the
26:49
Asian resort would be, right?
26:51
>> Yeah. And then this here was the is the
26:54
barricade that's still there, the the
26:55
breakwater. Uh, and it looks like that
26:58
would be the small world right
27:00
>> back there. Small world in Haunted
27:01
Mansion. Yeah.
27:04
>> Just Yeah. Castle a little bit there.
27:06
Oh, here's a contemporary contemporary.
27:08
Yeah.
27:09
>> Bottom.
27:09
>> Let me get a a smooth frame of it here.
27:12
Like I said, it was very
27:13
>> Do a low low pass here, Todd. Just
27:15
>> Are you sure?
27:16
>> Yeah. Buzz the tower.
27:18
>> Well, [clears throat and laughter] let's
27:19
see if we can
27:20
>> Exactly.
27:21
>> There you go.
27:21
>> The non-built tower.
27:23
>> There we go. So, that's a pretty good
27:25
look at it there.
27:26
>> Steel's involved.
27:27
>> That's right. The wings are coming into
27:29
place. Look at this. The channel's not
27:31
even fully done yet.
27:36
>> There we go. That's a really That's a
27:36
great great shot there, too. Yeah,
27:38
Polynesian hasn't even started. That was
27:40
like [clears throat] the last one, I
27:41
think.
27:41
>> Just a reminder, they opened 10 months
27:44
after this film. [laughter]
27:47
>> It's all the time.
27:49
>> Well, Disneyland didn't start till 11.
27:51
Look like this today. It would be 10
27:52
years till open.
28:04
>> Now, if Gabby was here, look at those
28:04
right there. Right there. Hey, Tom.
28:06
>> Tom, what is the orange? Do you know
28:08
what this is? The orange on the Montreal
28:11
line.
28:13
>> Thank you.
28:15
I believe that's some film
28:18
uh going back to where they were putting
28:20
the the uh pylons in the pylons went
28:25
down that way and came around the front
28:28
of the the Magic Kingdom.
28:30
So that would been the pretty much the
28:33
onreal route. Gotcha. Okay. Interesting.
28:37
>> Yeah. What you were looking at back was
28:40
Pluto Park was back there in the dry
28:42
dock area.
28:43
>> Yep. All right, cool.
28:50
>> It's so interesting to see it so young
28:50
like that.
28:51
>> The castle's taking shape, too.
28:55
>> I can hear everybody eating like
28:57
goobers.
28:57
>> Yeah, stuff.
29:00
>> Rivers of America are empty there with
29:02
>> Oh, it looks like rust. Even water.
29:05
>> He's got the club. It's looking at the
29:07
kid [laughter]
29:09
>> out of the parade route.
29:11
>> Yeah. Belu and ber bear always have a
29:13
tracheotomy when they Yeah. You see in
29:16
this era
29:18
the gentleman who filmed this and we we
29:20
know it's a gentleman because he passes
29:21
the camera later on off to to somebody
29:23
else to film him. Uh he knew what he was
29:27
doing. Very rare is that we get this
29:29
good footage. I mean yes it's been
29:30
cleared up and it's amazing this came
29:32
from an 8mm print. I have a great
29:34
Montreal story. Um it was in August of
29:37
the 71 and they were trying to push
29:40
everybody to get further along. So they
29:42
scheduled a ride on the Montreal in the
29:44
evening in the middle of August and they
29:47
pulled we all got up on ladders in the
29:50
back storage area and they brought it
29:52
out, switched the track, moved it over
29:54
to the front of the Magic Kingdom,
29:56
stopped it and then turned all the
29:58
lights on the castle for the first time,
30:00
you know, and we're all on board the
30:03
Montreal and it was like one of those
30:04
goosebump
30:06
this is really going to happen and there
30:08
it is, you know, in this beautiful
30:11
glowing castle. Then we went slowly
30:13
around past the poly and into that fant.
30:16
I'm glad you stopped it there. All
30:18
right. There was slag falling from all
30:20
levels of that hotel as this Montreal
30:24
with two red lights flashing on the top
30:26
of it going through this darkened thing
30:28
with all these fireworks from each
30:30
floor, metal falling all over. I just
30:33
saw what are all these workers on these
30:36
levels that are on the third shift
30:38
thinking as this thing out of tomorrow
30:42
pierces through this lobby. And it was
30:45
like just amazing, you know, and the
30:47
fact that they got so close to finished
30:50
just a month and a half from that or
30:51
less than a month. Yeah, a month and a
30:53
half. Uh I did those trees. I did those
30:56
models. That was for uh Mary Blair
30:58
designed those and I got the little
31:01
model and uh she was coming in right
31:04
then about every single day to see how
31:06
those looked and they were to be aspens
31:09
but through her eyes rather than mine.
31:16
>> That's pretty cool. I've never seen
31:16
those. They're long gone.
31:18
>> Look at that. There's no trees. It's
31:20
just amazing the entrance and
31:22
contemporary see the tram bringing them
31:24
in from original trams, bringing them in
31:27
from the TTC to drop them off right at
31:29
the front.
31:30
>> And uh that was because we didn't have
31:32
the capacity on the either the uh you
31:35
know the the boats or the Montreal. So
31:37
they needed to create a tram route and
31:40
nobody wanted to ride it because it was
31:41
boring. So my last job was to build all
31:44
those plastic topiary trees that lined
31:48
it to make it the topiary garden of the
31:50
gods as you went along it. And I
31:52
remember writing it to hear people
31:54
comment. And these ladies were arguing
31:57
about whether they were real or they're
31:58
fake. And she said, "They're real
32:00
because that one is dying." And I had
32:03
purposely purposely burned them and then
32:06
painted them uh brown down at the
32:08
bottoms to make it not look so fake.
32:17
>> There's the flag tree.
32:17
>> And there's the Oh, mystery solved.
32:24
What's funny is I look at these films so
32:24
much while I'm transferring them and
32:26
they're going by my computer screen and
32:28
then I edit them in color and all this
32:29
stuff and it's not until we sit down
32:32
like this that I really get to study
32:33
them and and you know how's like look
32:36
there's panone color 349 that was
32:38
[laughter] used on the on that building
32:40
only for two years.
32:41
>> Where where did the doves go? They
32:43
released them from the box and then they
32:45
>> they got new ones every day. [laughter]
32:48
>> I think they're aren't they homing
32:50
pigeons? So they're they're
32:51
>> Oh yeah, they circle back.
32:53
>> Doves is a nicer word, but
32:54
>> yeah, you're right.
32:55
>> Pigeons
32:57
white pigeons,
32:58
>> if memory serves, there was a rrookery
33:01
or whatever the technical term is behind
33:03
uh Fantasy Land.
33:05
>> It was at less also was an outside
33:08
contractor who did that.
33:10
>> Now this is this is one of the maps you
33:12
behind. Help yourself get original.
33:14
Yeah. the chairs in the restaurant
33:17
across from this where Michael Iceberg
33:20
played. And then we put all those
33:22
stickers on those cars. That was my all
33:25
night job. [laughter] God,
33:26
>> putting all the racing stickers on. And
33:28
I said, "Well, where do they go? I don't
33:30
know what to do." And he goes, "Just put
33:31
them anywhere." [laughter]
33:39
This was nine months of my life. And
33:39
then subsequent to that, I went back for
33:41
two assignments on the subs trying to
33:44
keep it going.
33:45
>> There's the frogs.
33:46
>> There they are. There they are.
33:51
>> That was our first ever real like
33:53
capture. That's what kind of propelled
33:55
our little website uh into fandom was a
33:57
was some was some frogs that we found.
33:59
And then we thought that was so cool and
34:01
then we got like six more reels and
34:02
found it like six more times. We're
34:03
like, "Ah, frogs again, guys." Oh, okay.
34:06
We're still looking for the wave
34:08
machine.
34:09
>> Are we going to get to see the blue
34:10
rocks at the uh Alpha Pool?
34:13
>> Um, we'll see.
34:14
>> Possibly. Yeah.
34:17
>> I with Tom Wowski, who's may still be
34:20
down here. Did he retire yet?
34:21
>> Retired.
34:22
>> Okay.
34:23
>> We had to go out there in the morning
34:24
before it opened and repaint them so
34:26
they look more natural. And Tom fell
34:28
into one of the elephant pits and
34:30
disappeared.
34:33
one of those rhinos, you know, hippos
34:35
coming up.
34:38
>> We've mentioned a few times
34:39
>> it's on the other side of this.
34:41
>> Yeah. On on the older Jungle Cruise
34:43
before it grew in the Sahara and
34:46
>> really like the Sahara.
34:47
>> I think that's after we did our damage
34:49
to it because they were bright blue. Uh
34:52
Mark kind of liked the idea of them
34:53
being a little cartoony and uh nobody
34:57
else did so they said you get to change
34:59
it. You know
35:00
>> who would have uh ordered that directive
35:02
to change it?
35:03
>> John maybe Hench all the Disney system
35:05
and then wo the cables for the Skyway
35:08
rides and um he was my roommate at the
35:12
Camelot apartments [laughter]
35:19
and they are they look really good now.
35:19
Uh what was his name?
35:20
>> Percy Bagby. And so all these things
35:22
you're seeing these amazing rope, you
35:25
know, artistry, that's what he did. But
35:28
the one that scared me, I go, "How do
35:30
you tie a skyway?" You know, you get to
35:32
the end of the rope and the other end of
35:33
the rope. How do you connect it? And he
35:35
goes, "I take about 20 ft and I start
35:37
weaving and you know, well, how what if
35:39
that all falls apart around?" Goes, "No,
35:42
it doesn't." You know, so that went
35:45
[laughter] all over the world.
35:46
>> Citrus and in Dr. Phillips in one of the
35:49
abandoned uh orange grove uh what do you
35:52
call it?
35:52
>> Citrus packing house.
35:53
>> Yeah, packing house.
35:56
That's where it was filmed. They had the
35:58
whole tree uh sunset sunshine tree uh
36:02
locked up over there.
36:04
>> I'm getting more of those gas lamps
36:06
everywhere.
36:07
>> Mhm. Oh, those are still there at least.
36:08
But I think they burn.
36:09
>> Oh, they Yeah, they do still burn.
36:12
>> Now I have a couple of randos that we
36:14
love. I mean, did Disney ever go harder
36:16
than it did for the 15th [laughter]
36:18
anniversary? Not counting the cake
36:19
castle, but in terms of handing things
36:22
out and everybody got a prize and
36:24
everybody wins. Uh, this was great. I
36:28
mean, this is what you were greeted with
36:29
at the Magic Kingdom was this giant
36:31
clock and the small print is every prize
36:34
wins a car in an hour every Saturday and
36:36
Sunday from 9:00 to 2. Think some of the
36:38
films that are in the inside the ride.
36:41
The magic of Disney animation.
36:43
>> Another one of those.
36:45
>> Stage restaurant. And that that's
36:47
another one of those signs.
36:50
>> Uh I said it earlier today and I'll say
36:53
it again. Disney MGM Studios has the
36:55
best neon on property or maybe in any
36:58
theme park. You got rid of this gator.
37:00
Like what's what's going on here? You
37:01
need the Planet Hollywood Gator
37:04
>> and the West End stage where you could
37:06
go to Who did you go see? Frank
37:07
>> Frankie and the West End Boys.
37:12
And here are some of I I don't know did
37:14
did Roly
37:16
do these cuz the
37:17
>> Did they just copy them? Because he did
37:19
the ones in Epcot right around the same
37:21
time. So I wanted to show you a little
37:24
bit of the village at Christmas. I think
37:26
I have a couple of them in Mars, too.
37:28
Look at how sad that bear is.
37:31
It's so sad that it became Downtown
37:32
Disney. [laughter]
37:35
And uh again, so this is a shot chaser,
37:38
too. So the Christmas tree used to be in
37:41
front of the Hollywood of the Chinese
37:44
theaters. So it used to be in front of
37:45
the great movie ride. And Henry went and
37:47
took pictures of it at night, but he
37:49
also went during the day because the
37:51
decorations on the tree were mid-century
37:54
toys. And around the base of the tree,
37:59
uh, they ran actual Lionel trains and
38:02
they built models, uh, to go with the
38:04
train set. And that is the uh uh was it
38:08
Union Pacific Station in Los Angeles?
38:10
Yeah, Union Pacific. And there it is.
38:12
They have the Hollywood sign up there.
38:14
So, it actually ran through uh a diagram
38:16
of Hollywood.
38:18
>> You are correct, sir.
38:20
>> Ed McMahon sidekick from the Tonight
38:22
Show. No, wait. Back that up for one
38:24
second because they actually had the
38:26
Tonight Show desk at Disney MGM for a
38:28
while that you could that you could go
38:30
see uh in the I think the it was either
38:33
I can't remember if it had become the
38:35
AFI exhibit or if it was prior to
38:37
>> so if I remember oh first
38:40
>> when we developed Superstar TV we
38:43
actually went to the tonight show they
38:44
were changing the set over and we said
38:47
can we have Johnny's desk for our show
38:50
they said take it away. So in Superstar
38:53
TV on the stage was actual Johnny's desk
38:56
that we used.
38:57
>> Awesome.
38:58
>> How about that?
39:00
>> Oh, what? Wait, that's the one that like
39:02
when you would sit up there is a desk.
39:05
>> You were actually a Did they tell people
39:06
that like you're going to be out? No.
39:08
>> No. No.
39:10
>> So what happened then after that was Jay
39:12
Leno took it back. [laughter]
39:19
>> So you could just see the the ship there
39:19
in the water tank. They haven't filled
39:20
anything. No, no battleships yet.
39:23
The [clears throat] fans are in place.
39:25
That's nuts. [laughter]
39:29
Indiana Jones right up here.
39:30
>> Oh, the rest that whole restaurant
39:32
complex hasn't been built yet. It's just
39:33
the backside. Okay. So, there's Brown
39:36
Derby and the sound stage restaurant.
39:39
>> They already have Mickey's ear on the
39:40
top of the roof there.
39:41
>> Oh, yeah. Right up the up top.
39:48
And there's the Magic of Disney
39:48
animation building.
39:50
>> There's New York Street.
39:51
>> Streets of America.
39:52
>> Of America.
39:54
>> Wow.
39:56
>> Looks like a model.
39:57
>> Yeah, definitely a model.
40:00
>> What is this? A theme park for ants back
40:02
>> to us and then you sign up for the movie
40:04
night. We'll automatically remind you
40:06
that, hey, they started their live feed.
40:08
So, if you like what you saw tonight,
40:09
we'll certain once we get back and we're
40:11
not don't we actually want to talk to
40:13
each other again. So, be in a couple
40:15
weeks. Um, we'll we'll definitely have
40:17
to put some together. We still have
40:18
hundreds of films in the archive that we
40:21
need to share and get out there. Um, but
40:23
I want to thank Tony, Tom, and all of
40:25
you for coming tonight.
40:33
>> And that's going to do it for today.
40:33
That was awesome.
40:35
>> Thanks for watching. I'll see you in the
40:36
next video. The vlog
40:39
is over. Bonus footage. There's my
40:43
signature there by legend himself, Tony
40:46
Baxter. We have him to thank for
40:48
Figment.
40:51
Star Tours, Big Thunder Mountain Railway
40:54
or Railroad.
40:57
One of my dare I say my favorite theme
40:59
park attraction ever is Big Thunder
41:02
Mountain. The Paris version is insane.
41:10
Splash Mountain.
41:10
I just I could just listen to him talk
41:11
every every time he you know chimes in I
41:15
learn something new. So just so cool
41:18
such a great experience. Got my bag. Put
41:20
the stuff back out there. it.