Welcome Aboard Thrill Seekers and Adventure Lovers

 Short Description — S2 • E7 Mike Patrick returns with two wild Summit Stories — a downhill bike crash that leads to a helicopter ride, and a high‑speed sprint down the WV Turnpike to reunite an injured camper with his interpreter. Plus, a legendary poker game at Thurmond’s Dun Glen Hotel that supposedly ran far longer than anyone would believe. Think you know how long? Tune in for the reveal.

S2 - E6 1,000 Days till Jamboree A 3 a.m. call in Abu Dhabi. A $50 million gift. Ten thousandacres of raw wilderness. And a deadline: 1,000 days. In this episode, MikePatrick reveals the high‑stakes, high‑adventure story behind the creation ofthe Summit Bechtel Family Reserve — the permanent home of the National ScoutJamboree. Packed with behind‑the‑scenes details, massive engineering feats, andth...

The Pizza That Had to Be Perfect” In the fall of 2010, Mike Patrick arrived in Abu Dhabi tohelp open the world’s fastest roller coaster — but the story that stole theshow wasn’t about speed at all. It was about a pizza. This episode takes you behind the scenes of Ferrari World’sGrand Opening: the pressure, the precision, the legacy of Enzo Ferrari… and thehigh‑stakes quest for AVPN certification a...

For decades, one story has bounced around the attractions world like gospel:a mysterious man in a tiny booth outside Bristol Zoo quietly collecting parkingfees for twenty years… only for everyone to discover he didn’t work for anyone . A perfect scam. A perfect legend. Andcompletely untrue. In this episode, Mike Patrick dives intothe origins of the Bristol Zoo parking‑lot myth, why it spread acros...

S2 • E3 — The Suez Canal Caper What happens when a determined dad in Cairo decides he’sgoing to surprise his son aboard a 900‑foot U.S. container ship… in the middleof the night… in the Red Sea? In this episode, Mike pulls off one of hisboldest adventures yet: a clandestine 1:30 a.m. boarding of the M/V Cyprene , a full transit of the SuezCanal, and a daring mid‑voyage extraction before the ship r...

In this episode Mike Salutes Memorial Day and shares a harrowing story of Naval history and heroism that his family never knew before his Dad's passing in March. He also teases an upcoming story about a crashed B-17 heading for England in 1942 and is now on display in the National WWII museum in New Orleans. His Uncle was on that plane.

S2 E1 30 feet, not 30 meters…… Description A simple measurement error turns a 30‑foot dive tower into a 90‑foot monster— and suddenly Mike is the only one crazy enough to climb it. In this season‑openingepisode, Mike takes you behind the scenes of Everland’s massive waterparkproject in South Korea, where lifeguard shortages, cultural curveballs, and astunt team in over their heads collide with one...

Podcast Description — Season 1, Episode 15: Don’t Swim Shamu A quiet July morning at SeaWorld Orlando turns into one ofthe most unforgettable moments of Mike Patrick’s career. In this grippingbackstage story, Mike—then Director of Operations—recounts the shockingdiscovery of a man who hid in the park overnight and attempted to swim withTilikum, SeaWorld’s largest and most unpredictable killer whal...

S1 E14 –Sorry Sir, Disney Doesn’t Take American Express (Podcast Description)   Afurious hotel guest. A rejected American Express card. A crowded dining room. And watching it all from the next table… Dick Nunis himself. In thisepisode, Mike takes listeners back to 1974 and his early days at theContemporary Resort, where a simple credit‑card policy turns into a full‑blownguest meltdown — right unde...

S1E#13  AdmiralOverboard (“sort of”)   A dawn rendezvous with a Navy destroyer, six‑footGulf waves, a furious Bos’n, and one very determined RearAdmiral—what could possibly go wrong? In thisepisode, Mike rides out with the Coast Guard to welcome USS Mitscher (DDG‑57)into Tampa Bay… only to witness a crushedlanding light, a mangled ladder, and an admiral dangling over open water like ascene from an...

S1‑E11 — “Faster Than a Saturn V, Baby” On Good Friday 2010, Ifinally strapped into the back seat of an F‑15 Eagle after four years of waiting, one groundedjet, and a detour living in Cairo. What followed was the wildest E‑Ticket ride of my life — avertical launch, nine G's, a supersonic run over the Atlantic, and a mock gunpass on a Navy P‑3. But before we get airborne,we honor a remarkable r...

Mike takes an emotional moment to pay tribute to his Dad's passing on 3/28/26, and manages to recover and share a couple of unscripted stories about Harleys and Shoplifters. He also tells how the Polynesian Hotel and the New River Gorge Bridge share several things in common. And how one element of that commonality created quite a problem for Disney guests. Tune in to hear the details.......

S1E9: Two Kinds of Motorcycle A childhood of banana‑seat bikes and SteveMcQueen reenactments leads Mike into a lifetime of two‑wheel adventures—froma sputtering 90cc Yamaha to a Harley Street Bob at age 60. Along the way comelove bugs, sand‑coveredS‑curves,West Virginia mountain rides, a storm that knocked out power for 11 days, andtwo hit‑and‑runs that changed theway he saw the road. It’s a fast,...

S1E8 Almost Died, But I Didn’t Get Hurt Description.  A simple trip to inspect a movie prop turns into a full‑blownaviation thriller when Mike’s Cessnalines up to land on a quiet grass runway…only to find a twin‑engine Beechcraft coming straight at him from theopposite direction with no radio, no lights, and no warning. What follows is asplit‑secondescape, a heart‑pounding near‑miss, and a Twiligh...

Podcast Episode Description –S1 E7: “Hope That Anti‑RollbackHolds”  When a brand‑new roller coaster breaks down onthe busiest week of the year, twenty‑four guests end up stranded on a45‑degreelift hill… and a young area manager named MikePatrick finds himself climbing into the sky to get them down. What couldpossibly make the situation worse? Try August Busch III hovering overhead in a helicopter....

Episode 6: Fort Wilderness UFO Encounter   A fog‑shrouded road. A silent, toweringshape hovering in the darkness. And one exhausted Disney cast member drivinghome at 2:30 a.m. who suddenly isn’t so surehe’s alone out there. In this episode, Mike relives the night he came face‑to‑facewith something massive, metallic, and absolutely not where it should have been. Was it a craft? A structure? A trick...

E5 — “Fort Wilderness Scavengers” In this episode, Mike Patrick heads back to the wild earlydays of Walt Disney World to tell the true story of how Fort Wilderness wentfrom an underfunded experiment to one of the most beloved corners of theVacation Kingdom. You’ll hear how the Recreation team — led by the legendaryKeith Kamback — turned “no budget” into “no problem,” scavenging their way to afull...

Join Mike Patrick, veteran themed entertainment professionaland storyteller, as he takes you behind the scenes of the beer business andtheme park operations in "Launching the Brand." In this episode, Mikeshares insider stories from his time at Busch Gardens and Anheuser-Busch,revealing the fascinating process behind the launch of a new brew, that became oneof the fastest-growing beer bra...

Episode 3   “If You Wait Until You’reReady to Open, You’ll Never Open” Step back into the final,frantic 90 days before Walt Disney World opened its gates in 1971. In thisepisode, Mike Patrick takes you behind the construction walls and into theorganized chaos of a project racing the clock — where cranes hovered overCinderella’s Castle, monorails hadn’t yet made a full loop, and entiredepartments w...

S1E2: The Road to Disney; Part Deux Step back into1970s Orlando—long before the theme parks, traffic jams, and endless souvenirshops—as Mike Patrick continues his true story of how an ordinary 18‑year‑oldkid found himself on the front lines of opening Walt Disney World. In this secondepisode of The Road to Disney , Mike takes listeners from the citrus‑scentedgroves of old Central Florida to the pr...

In this premiere episode entitled *The Road to Disney*, MikePatrick shares the unlikely, entertaining, and inspiring true story of how an18‑year‑old kid—barely out of high school—landed a job helping open Walt DisneyWorld in 1971. From Red Cross swim lessons in Ohio, to lifeguarding for theU.S. Navy, to a fateful encounter with Navy SEALs, to an unexpected job atArnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Country Cl...

Introduction to new Podcast "Welcome Aboard Thrill Seekers and Adventure Lovers"