Imagination Skyway

[Part 1 of 3]: This two-hour tour of Main Street USA at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World (Orlando, Florida) includes in-depth analysis and history of this historic land at Disney. In this entertaining and informative tour, we discuss the history of Walt Disney World and the Magic Kingdom, the design of Main Street USA, hidden details you might not have noticed in the parks, and the stories o...

We're continuing our "Marvel-ous May" series with a Marvel This or That episode double-header! On one side of the bracket, we'll place various Marvel heroes into one-on-one face-offs, including Spider-Man, Ant Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Rocket and more. On the other side of the bracket, we'll place Marvel villains into a similar competition, including Dormammu, Hela, Ronan,...

We're kicking off our "Marvel-ous May" series by counting down our favorite moments from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Whether these moments make us laugh, cry, cheer, or simply watch our childhood heroes come to life on the big screen, there's no doubting the impact that Marvel Entertainment has had on box office audiences for more than a decade. From Iron Man to Captain America, Thor to Doctor...

Leslie Iwerks is an Academy Award® and Emmy® nominated director and producer and the founder of Iwerks and Co. Over a span of more than 10 years, Leslie has produced films that include The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story, The Pixar Story, Industrial Light and Magic: Creating the Impossible, League of Legends Origins, and most recently, The Imagineering Story, which is now available to s...

Tony Bancroft is an iconic Disney animator from the Disney Renaissance. As an award-winning animator and director, he has produced some iconic characters that Disney fans know and love to this day, including Pumbaa from The Lion King, Iago from Aladdin, Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast, and many more. Tony also co-directed Mulan (1998) with Barry Cook and went on to develop various other projec...

The Canada Pavilion first opened at Epcot on October 1, 1982 (the same day that the park opened at Walt Disney World). In addition to its beautiful design, the Canada pavilion also features a CircleVision film attraction called "Canada: Far and Wide", which debuted in January 2020 and replaced the former attraction called "O Canada". Narrated by Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy, Canada Far and Wid...

Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart is perhaps best known as the Genie in the original cast of Disney's Aladdin the Broadway Musical, but his portfolio spans well beyond this role to a number of impressive performances. James has also performed as Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton: An American Musical , Bobby in the original cast of Memphis , Lance Strongbow in Rapunzel's T...

Festival of the Lion King was an opening day attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom when it opened at Walt Disney World on April 22, 1998. Throughout the last 22 years, the show hasn't changed much (other than a location change from Camp Minnie-Mickey to Africa) because it remains a fan favorite devoted to the 1994 Disney animated film. In this episode, we'll discuss The Festival of the Lion King i...

"Yehaa" Bob Jackson is a Disney Legacy Cast Member who has been performing at the River Roost Lounge at Disney's Port Orleans Riverside Resort for more than 23 years (dating back to the days when the resort was known as Disney's Dixie Landings Resort). Bob's show is one that many visitors to Walt Disney World know well. Personally, many of my Disney trips as a kid were spent at Port Orleans Rivers...

The Hall of Presidents was an opening day attraction at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World (opening day was October 1, 1971), but its history goes all the way back to Walt Disney and his team of WED Enterprise Imagineers in 1957. In addition to some incredible history, the Hall of Presidents is also perhaps the most authentic Magic Kingdom attraction. Disney even went so far as to affect a cha...

Bob Gurr's career is one many Disney fans know well. After being hired by Walt Disney to join WED Enterprises in 1954, Bob went on to build vehicles, ride systems, and other designs for a wide range of classic Disneyland and Walt Disney World attractions. For example, Bob created the vehicles for Autopia, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the Haunted Mansion, and the Ford Magic Skyway. He also designe...

"Execute order 66!" For Emperor Palpatine that might mean one thing, but for Imagineer Podcast it means it's time to discuss Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. This innovative attraction opened in Star Wars Galaxy's Edge at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World on December 5, 2019 and at Disneyland California on January 17, 2020. This attraction might very well be the best theme park att...

Disney Plus launched this November and has already delighted millions of fans with countless on-demand movies and shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and Fox. With so much to choose from, I gathered together a few members of the Imagineer Society to discuss our favorites and share our recommendations for what to watch next. What are your favorite movies and shows so f...

At least once every month, I open up Instagram and engage in a live Q&A discussion with some of the Instagrammers who follow Imagineer Podcast. Because not everybody has Instagram, I decided to record one of these events as a bonus episode for the show. Since the discussions cover a wide range of tips and ideas for Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney+ (Disney Plus), and more, my hope is that you...

The Candlelight Processional has been a part of Disney history since Disneyland's opening year, 1955, when Walt Disney invited 12 Dickens Carolers from the University of South Carolina to sing Christmas carols throughout the park. Since that day, the Candlelight has been an annual tradition at Disneyland, and an annual tradition at Walt Disney World since its opening year, 1971. Since 1994, Candle...

Test Track has been a fan favorite at Walt Disney World since it opened at Epcot in 1999, but its history with Walt Disney Imagineering dates back as far as 1976 when Bob Gurr met with Bill Mitchell (then General Motors Head of Design) to discuss a potential partnership between Disney and GM. When it replaced World of Motion, Test Track became the fastest attraction not only at Walt Disney World b...

It's time for another exciting episode of Disney This or That! While Volume 1 compared Disney animated heroes and Volume 2 compared Disney animated villains, in Volume 3 we will pick our favorite Disney Duo from the world of Walt Disney Animation and Pixar. In particular, we'll begin with a preselected group of 16 famous Disney Duos and utilize a bracket-style tournament to narrow the list down to...

One of the many pleasures of visiting the Walt Disney World Resort is turning on your in-room TV to Must Do Disney (formerly known as the Top 7 Must Sees at Walt Disney World), and if you've turned on this station at any point since May 5, 2005, Stacey J. Aswad has been your host. For the last 15 years, Stacey has guided us through Walt Disney World, telling us the must-do attractions at the four...

With Thanksgiving officially kicking off the winter holiday season here in the United States, I wanted to formally close out the fall season at Disney by sharing some binaural audio of Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (offered as a ticketed event on select nights between August and November at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World). In particular, this episode will include a recording of Mic...

The Land Pavilion has been a staple at Epcot since it opened on the park's official dedication, October 1, 1982. While many guests now visit this pavilion because of the signature attraction, Soarin' (something we'll be sure to cover in a future episode), the other attractions here, especially Living with the Land, have a long, rich history at Walt Disney World. In this episode, we'll discuss how...

Jim Sarno was a Walt Disney Imagineer working on the opening team for Epcot. He worked in the model shop with Harriet Burns, Joe Rohde, and many more classic Imagineers. Working on many of the pavilions we know and love at Epcot - including The Land Pavilion, Imagination Pavilion, Communicore, and Spaceship Earth - Jim was responsible for creating SMRT-1, the fountain that once lived in the center...

Bret Iwan has been the official voice of Mickey Mouse for the last 10 years and is only the fourth voice actor in Mickey's lifetime to officially play the role (first was Walt Disney, then Jimmy MacDonald, then Wayne Allwine). Whether it's Disney on Ice, a new attraction in the Disney Parks, a video game, TV show or animated short, Bret is the one who gets to bring Mickey's voice to life. In this...

This episode is my love letter to IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth. On September 30, 2019, I was lucky enough to be in attendance of this Epcot nighttime spectacular's final curtain call. In the spirit of nostalgia, I turned on the mics and stood in the back of the crowd to record the best audio I possibly could for YOU, the Imagineer Podcast listener, so you could be with me at the final showi...

McNair Wilson is a retired Walt Disney Imagineer who coined the term "Streetmosphere" (now commonly used in the theme park industry) and created street theater performances across the Disney Parks, especially at Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios (at the time it was still called Disney-MGM Studios). McNair is also responsible for creating the name "Downtown Disney" and for creating the Adventure...

Harriet Burns was known as Walt Disney's First Lady of Imagineering, not only because of her contributions to the organization but also because she truly was the first woman hired at WDI in a creative capacity. Harriet is a Disney Legend and even has a window on Main Street U.S.A. at Disneyland. Working directly with Walt Disney, Harriet helped to create many of the classic attractions we know and...