Herb Ryman was one of the most important figures to have ever collected a paycheck from the Walt Disney Company.
In fact, it was Ryman who played a key role in charting the course of the company during several critical junctures.
Chuck Schmidt, bitten by the Disney bug at an early age, remembers watching The Mickey Mouse Club after school in the mid-1950s. During his 48-year career in the newspaper business, he channeled that love of Disney as the Sunday News and Travel editor for The Staten Island Advance. Chuck has written or co-authored seven books for Theme Park Press, including Disney's Dream Weavers, On the Disney Beat, An American in Disneyland Paris, Disney's Animal Kingdom: An Unofficial History and The Beat Goes On. Chuck has shared his passion for all things Disney in his Still Goofy About Disney blog on AllEars.Net since 2016. He resides in Beachwood, N.J., with his wife Janet. They have three adult children and seven grandchildren.
More than five years ago, Walt Disney Imagineering’s creative director Kevin Rafferty made a promise to Marty Sklar, his former Imagineering boss, mentor and long-time friend. “I promised Marty years ago that I was going to come up with an original attraction with an original song that was centered around Mickey Mouse,” Rafferty said.
“And every time I saw Marty after that, he’d always ask me, ‘How’s that new attraction coming?’” On March 4, 2020, Rafferty made good on that promise.
Walk around Epcot these days and it feels like 1980 all over again.
Construction equipment and barricades are everywhere, from the front entrance, through the former Communicore/Innoventions courtyard in Future World, right back into World Showcase.
Epcot’s long-overdue makeover is in full swing.
In May of 1974, less than three years after the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World had opened to resoundingly positive response, then-Disney president Card Walker announced plans for the second phase of the Florida Project. He took the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, or Epcot, off the back burner, where it had resided since Walt’s death in 1966, and made it the company’s top priority.
Epcot, the second of four theme parks to be built on Walt Disney World property since 1971, is currently undergoing a major overhaul, with new shows and attractions in the works to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the opening of The Vacation Kingdom of the World in central Florida. But the Epcot that opened on Oct. 1, 1982, was a far cry from the Epcot envisioned by Walt Disney in the 1960s.
For those folks who haven’t visited Walt Disney World in a while, you’d be surprised at how things have changed over the past few years. Actually, stunned might be a better word. With that in mind, we figured it might be fun to take a look back to the way things used to be a few decades ago in Walt Disney World.
I’ve never been a fan of heights. Put me anywhere that’s 20 feet or more above terra firma and little beads of sweat start forming on my forehead. Unfortunately for me, fear of heights has come into play over the years on a number of popular attractions at Walt Disney World.
Imagine how thrilled I was when the Disney Skyliner opened. But after one ride on the transportation system, I'm hooked.
Imagineer Kevin Rafferty Talks Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, on Track for March 4 Opening
Posted onWalt Disney Imagineering creative director Kevin Rafferty calls it the favorite Disney attraction he's ever worked on. It's called Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway and its on track to open in early 2020.
The Disney Editions book "The Art of Disney Costuming: Heroes, Villains and Spaces Between," by Jeff Kurtti and the Walt Disney Archives staff, takes a deep dive into the heretofore unexplored world of the costumes that permeate Disney’s expansive world. What we learn is that costumes aren’t just set pieces, but are true works of art that embellish each character's role.
Watching the opening scene of "Cinderella" got me to thinking: How prominent are birds throughout The Walt Disney Company’s long and storied history?
As it turns out, very prominent.
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