Chuck Schmidt

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 2015. He resides in Beachwood, N.J., with his wife Janet. They have three adult children and seven grandchildren.


A Peek At Some Of EPCOT’s Proposed (But Never Built) Attractions

Posted on by Chuck Schmidt
Epcot was in the midst of a massive and long-overdue overhaul earlier this year when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. If nothing else, the delay in the opening of attractions such as Ratatouille and Guardians of the Galaxy and the overall upgrade of the park has afforded us the opportunity to pause and take a look back … to some of the attractions that were on the drawing board, but never made it to the park.
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Dave Bossert’s Latest Book Shows Us Disneyland Like We’ve Never Seen It Before!

Posted on by Chuck Schmidt
Dave Bossert's latest work, "3D Disneyland: Like You’ve Never Seen It Before" [published by The Old Mill Press], is scheduled to be released in November. “I regularly tell people that if you'd have asked me 10 or 15 years ago that I'd be writing books, I would have laughed,” Bossert said during a recent interview. “And here I am with the '3D Disneyland' book. I think it’s my seventh book.”
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Pictorial Souvenir Booklets (a Long-Standing Disney Parks Tradition) Are a Victim of the Times

Posted on by Chuck Schmidt
I took home three keepsakes from our first visit to Walt Disney World in 1972: A vintage Mickey Mouse T-shirt; the Information Guide they handed out at the gate, and a copy of A Pictorial Souvenir of Walt Disney World. The T-shirt is currently reposing in a landfill. The Information Guide is tucked away in a box of similar guides I’ve collected over the years. The Pictorial Souvenir? It remains a constant source of information and, frankly, wonderment.
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Ford’s Magic Skyway at the 1964-1965 N.Y. World’s Fair Was a Breakthrough Achievement for Disney

Posted on by Chuck Schmidt
The Ford Motor Company’s Magic Skyway attraction was among the five most-attended shows at the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair. The attraction was conceived and created by some of the most talented people working for WED Enterprises, the forerunner of Walt Disney Imagineering. It combined a compelling story – a motor tour through the story of man, from primeval times to a glimpse into what the future might hold – with a new ride system which allowed nearly 2,000 guests to enjoy the experience every hour. It also was among the first attractions to feature game-changing Audio-Animatronics technology.
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