WDWNT Podcast Episode 169 Now Available for Download

WDWNT Author on November 9, 2010

Have you heard this week’s WDW News Today Podcast? If you haven’t, here’s what you can expect:

Join me, Tom Corless, and a cast including Natalie Henley, Marci Smith, Jenni Simon, Mike Truskowski, Josh Stern, Taylor Martina, David Smith, and Zach Larson for a variety show dedicated to the Walt Disney World Resort and its many fans. Plenty of Walt Disney World information and fun awaits you on this edition of the WDW News Today Podcast!!!

Before we get started with our segment for this week, we’ll be making the eliminations of two contestants from “Who Wants to be a Podcaster?” based on how you voted the over the last week. Following that, we have the seventh edition of what you voted our most popular segment, “The Top 10″. It’s an interactive and fun segment where the WDWNT Podcast Team and our listeners come together to create top ten lists for Walt Disney World in many different categories. We continue this week with our contestants presenting the top movies that should have attractions at Walt Disney World.

To download or listen to the show on-site, go to our podcast download directory page. You can also download episodes of the show by subscribing to the Enhanced Episode and Standard Episode feeds on iTunes.

Special Note: Be sure to nominate the WDW News Today Podcast for Best Travel and Best Produced Podcast in the 2010 Podcast Awards at www.PodcastAwards.com. If you enjoy the program, this is a great way to say thanks to the great team that makes the show possible every single week. Thank you for voting!

WDWNT Network Coverage of the D23 Expo 9/10-9/13/09

WDWNT Author on September 7, 2009

When D23: The Official Disney Fan Community debuted on March 10, 2009, we had a pretty good idea that it was something that would forever change what it meant to be a “Disney Fan”. We were made a ton of promises and I think Disney has come through on just about all of them, to their credit. The biggest promise they made was that the first ever Disney fan convention called the D23 Expo would be “the ultimate Disney fan experience”. In our continuing effort to bring you Disney news as it happens (who are we kidding, we wouldn’t miss this for the world anyway), the WDWNT Network crew is heading to the D23 Expo in Anaheim to provide you with as much coverage of the event as we possibly can. Mind you, we can’t bring you everything because there is just far too many panels, presentations, and exhibits spanning the 4 days of the event (as you can see by the 74 pages of guide book it takes to explain and showcase all that the D23 Expo has to offer). To follow live coverage from the various events of the D23 Expo, you can regularly check the WDW News Today and Disneyland News Today news blogs, as well as follow the WDWNT Twitter and myself on Facebook for the most frequent updates we can possibly provide.

For those who are actually coming to the D23 Expo in Anaheim, we are proud to announce that we will be having yet another WDWNT Fan Meet in Disneyland Park on Friday, September 11th. The meet is a great opportunity to escape the Anaheim Convention Center for a few hours after the floor closes and take in Disneyland with fellow Disney fans and WDWNT Network staff. You can find out more information about this meet on Facebook and on the WDWNT Network Community Forums.

There will also be a special post-Expo review podcast (featuring audio from the various events, interviews, and much more) on WDW News Today Podcast episode 111 and Disneyland News Today Podcast episode 81.

We hope you will join us for and enjoy all of our coverage from the D23 Expo!

Tom Corless
Owner of the WDWNT Network

WDWNT Network Announces New Additions to Celebrate 2 Year Anniversary

WDWNT Author on June 24, 2009

As we kick off the two year anniversary celebration of the WDWNT Network and WDW News Today (running now through August 8th), we are proud to announce a number of exciting new additions and enhancements throughout our family of websites and podcasts. On July 8, 2007, we pledged to find new ways to bring the latest news, information, magic, and fun from the Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts directly to you. Over the past two years, we have kept to that promise, launching some of the most popular entities in the Disney online fan community such as the WDW News Today podcast, The Disney Pincast, and Disneyland News Today. We have also innovated with the only fully interactive Walt Disney World Resort focused podcast, the internet’s only podcasts covering current events at the Disneyland Resort and the huge hobby that is Disney pin trading, and most recently, the newest version of our WDWNTube, the premiere location for streaming and sharing your favorite Disney Park videos. Moving into our third year of operation, we plan on being more innovative, interactive, informative, and entertaining than ever before.

The Podcasts of the WDWNT Network

While we could have never imagined it two years ago, our podcasts have been the heart and soul of everything we do at the WDWNT Network. Making use of the utilities that the remainder of our online community provides, we have used things such as our WDWNT Network Community Forums to enhance our already popular weekly productions. Beginning in July 2008, we kicked off a program we call WDWNT Interactive, allowing WDW News Today Podcast listeners to vote for the topics discussed in their favorite segments on the show. The popularity of that program has been unparalleled and has made us sure that every segment we air is one that a majority of our audience will find useful or entertaining. Based on this success, we are proud to announce that the Disneyland News Today Podcast will launch a similar service called DLNT Interactive, where listeners will be able to head to the community forums and vote for the segments that would like to hear on that weekly program. DLNT Interactive will be officially launching on July 2, 2009. In addition to these interactive features, all three of the WDWNT Network produced podcasts offer multiple services on the WDWNT Network Community Forums. WDW News Today and Disneyland News Today Podcast listeners can already view show notes and discuss the shows with those who produce it weekly by posting and reading under corresponding sections. Listeners of the Disney Pincast can not only discuss the show, view show notes, and weekly pin releases while on the forums, but can also discuss Disney pin trading and other Disneyana collecting (such as Vinylmation) while visiting. All of these features make a visit to the WDWNT Network Community Forums a must and enhance the listeners experience each and every week.

Focusing only on the podcasts of the WDWNT Network, some popular segments of these shows are leaving and returning, and a number of new offerings are just on the horizon. The WDW News Today Podcast is proud to be introducing two exciting new segments, titled “The Golden Age” and “World’s Finest”. “The Golden Age” will be a quest to find out which point in Walt Disney World history could be considered the best overall period of the “Vacation Kingdom’s” existence. The “World’s Finest” segment will provide listeners with plenty of opinions and banter, as the WDWNT Podcast team tries to figure out what the very best of Walt Disney World truly is. Two classic segments that haven’t been heard in quite a while will also be returning, in “Back to the Future” and “Disney Don’t Forget the Lyrics”. Since it’s debut in January 2008, “Back to the Future” has allowed the WDWNT Podcast crew to educate listeners on the past, present, and future of Walt Disney World while honoring a favorite film series of the same name. “Disney Don’t Forget the Lyrics” was the first trademark game show on the WDW News Today Podcast and has set an example that many other Disney fan podcasts have tried to imitate, but have been unable to duplicate, a game where contestants must remember the lyrics to the classic songs of the Disney Parks. Over on the Disneyland News Today Podcast, the “What Were They Thinking” segment will find a new home. In this segment, the DLNT Staff will look at the various decisions made by Disneyland Management both past and present and try to figure out “What Were They Thinking?!?”. This segment will also be part of the all new DLNT Interactive program being introduced

At many times during our continuous evolution, we have brought you some new and experimental projects, one of the longer-lasting and well known was “Your Ear to the World”. On June 10th, 2009, the “Your Ear to the World” podcast had its final episode. This was a fun and innovative project for us over the last year, but we have decided to retire it to make room for a more unique method of bringing you audio experiences. The name of our latest and perhaps most exciting project to date is WDWNTunes.

Introducing WDWNTunes!!!

What is WDWNTunes? WDWNTunes is a streaming online radio station that will bring listeners audio from the Disney Parks, as well as exclusive content from the WDWNT Network. The main site for WDWNTunes will also provide listeners with a chat room, a full listing of our current audio library, a broadcasting schedule (coming soon!), and much more. In addition, WDWNTunes will be the new home of our WDWNT Live! shows, an opportunity to join us join us each month for a live interactive podcast. The first WDWNT Live! presented on WDWNTunes will be taking place on July 8, 2009, and will be a special show to commemorate our two year anniversary. Be sure to stay tuned for more details on this special show as we get closer to that date. In the mean time, you can find WDWNTunes online at www.wdwntunes.com and follow WDWNTunes on Twitter at www.twitter.com/wdwntunes and on Facebook at this link.

More To Come

If all of this news wasn’t enough from the WDWNT Network, we invite you to join us for the Town Square Talk segment during Episode 100 of the WDW News Today Podcast and Episode 70 of the Disneyland News Today Podcast for a few more pieces of news, as well as a blockbuster special announcement that will shake the very foundation of the WDWNT Network.

WDW News Today and the WDWNT Network is proud to present this full line-up of changes and additions to you, our audience, and hope you will continue to be a part of our still growing community. We are truly thankful for your devotion to our websites and podcasts and would like you to know that the last two years would have never been possible without your support. We hope you are as excited as we are about these new efforts in continuing to “Bridge the Gaps Between You and the World”.

Tom Corless
Owner of the WDWNT Network

WDWNT Podcast Episode 94 Now Available for Download

WDWNT Author on May 17, 2009

Join me, Tom Corless, and a cast including Scott Smith, Chris Lastrapes, Kyle Duffield, John Rick, and Lee Arenberg for a variety show that celebrates the Walt Disney World Resort and its many fans. So what are you waiting for? Let’s celebrate another week of Walt Disney World information and fun on the WDW News Today Podcast!!!

To kick off episode 94, we have your Walt Disney World Resort News and Rumor Report. In this latest report, we will be discussing an exclusive D23 member event coming to the Walt Disney World Resort later this month, what’s “Up” at the Magic of Disney Animation in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and how you can now get your share of Disney theme park merchandise at the click of your mouse.

Following that, we have a huge interview conducted by myself and my fellow Disney Pincast co-host John Rick, with a huge star from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, Lee Arenberg. The interview is a bit lengthy, but I have a feeling you’ll enjoy the insights into just what it’s like to be an actor in a major film series, as well as being a part of a Disney theme park attraction.

To subscribe to the WDW News Today podcast on iTunes, go to this link. If you do not have iTunes, visit our Podcast Download Directory to download or listen to all of our shows.

This episode is also available in an enhanced version. An enhanced podcast is a podcast with added features that standard podcasts don’t have. Enhanced podcasts include many features like Chapter listings, this lets you skip through chapters or see what is in store for this weeks show. Enhanced podcasts also have images to let you differ the chapters by. Enhanced podcasts have one negative feature, you can not play them on all mp3 players. The file format for this is a .m4a which can play on Apple’s iPod and Microsoft’s Zune. You will also need iTunes or Windows Media Player to be able to skip through chapters. If you need or would like the standard edition, download the normal edition listed below this file both on Itunes and in our podcast directory.

Special WDWNT Podcast Episode 90 Now Available for Download

WDWNT Author on April 21, 2009

Join your hosts, Tom Corless and Luke Manning, and a cast including Justin Heyman, Anthony Yacullo, Scott Smith, Kenny Siegel, Shawn Hutchinson, and Kyle Duffield for a variety show celebrating the 45th anniversary of the 1964 New York World’s Fair. This week’s show is a special episode honoring Walt Disney’s contributions to the fair, including Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, the Ford Magic Skyway, the General Electric Carousel of Progress, and “it’s a small world”.

To kick off the episode, we have Disneyland News Today’s signature segment, “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” . This week, we take a look at at one of the greatest Disney attractions of all time that debuted at the World’s Fair, “it’s a small world”. Let’s see if we can get through this segment without getting the song stuck in our heads.

After that, we’ll have another edition of “What were they thinking?”, where we will try to examine why certain decisions are or were made by Disney management. This time around, we will try to figure out why a number of decisions were made regarding Disney’s involvement in the 1964 World’s Fair and the ultimate fate of the attractions created for the historic event.

To end this special episode, we’ll have the debut of our newest segment, “World’s Finest”. In this round-table discussion, we will pick our favorite Disney-made ride vehicle, characters, music and attraction from the fair.

To subscribe to the WDW News Today podcast on iTunes, go to this link. If you do not have iTunes, visit our Podcast Download Directory to download or listen to all of our shows

 

This episode is also available in an enhanced version. An enhanced podcast is a podcast with added features that standard podcasts don’t have. Enhanced podcasts include many features like Chapter listings, this lets you skip through chapters or see what is in store for this weeks show. Enhanced podcasts also have images to let you differ the chapters by. Enhanced podcasts have one negative feature, you can not play them on most mp3 players. The file format for this is a .m4a which can play on Apple’s iPod and Microsoft’s Zune. You will also need iTunes or Windows Media Player to be able to skip through chapters. If you need or would like the standard edition, download the normal edition listed below this file both on Itunes and in our podcast directory.

Walt Disney World Resort in New York? It Almost Happened

WDWNT Author on April 16, 2009

The Staten Island Notebook has put out a fantastic article by Chuck Schmidt explaining how the upcoming opening of the Doorway to Dreams Disney Vacation Club sales shop in the Roosevelt Field Mall on Long Island is not the first connection between the Empire State and the Disney Parks:

Want to get a first-hand peak at what the accommodations look like at a typical Disney Vacation Club resort without traveling more than a thousand miles south?

Later this year, the Disney Vacation Club will open Disney’s Doorway to Dreams in the Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City, L.I. The idea is to help prospective DVC members learn about membership in a relaxed, no-pressure atmosphere.

A full-scale, two-bedroom model of vacation home accommodations will be featured. Also included in the experience will be an interactive family vacation discovery zone, a comfortable discussion area where you can chat with DVC reps and a supervised children’s play area.

This isn’t the first time Disney has had a presence on Long Island. In fact, you might be stunned to learn that when the Disney folks were searching for potential sites for an “East Coast Disneyland” in the 1960s, Flushing Meadows in Queens — the same site where the two New York World’s Fairs were held — was being seriously considered.

First, a little history lesson. In the mid-1950s, Walt Disney gambled everything — including his own house — that Disneyland, the world’s first theme park, would be a success. He was right. The Anaheim, Calif.-based park captured America’s imagination and, naturally, led Disney to think about creating a sequel — a second Disneyland somewhere on the East Coast. But there were fears among many of the Disney hierarchy that Disneyland’s West Coast brand of entertainment might not fly east of the Mississippi.

The failure of Freedomland, a Disney-style theme park in the Bronx which opened to much acclaim 1960 before closing in financial ruin in 1964, only fueled that uncertainty. An astute Walt Disney saw the New York World’s Fair, which ran from 1964 through 1965, as an opportunity to gauge the area’s acceptance of his product, as well as to introduce new technology his Imagineers had been working on in California.

The Flushing Meadows site “was seriously considered as a possible setting for Walt Disney World,” Charles Ridgway, former WDW press and publicity director, told us in 1994. There were many things in the site’s favor, including a large population base and two nearby airports (LaGuardia and Idlewild, now JFK).

Think about it: Had those plans to place WDW on Long Island come to fruition, Staten Islanders would have had about a one-hour drive to get to the Vacation Kingdom of the World.

Ultimately, the specter of cold and snowy winter weather and the high price of acquiring enough land for the project (remember, WDW is twice the size of Manhattan and any open land on Long Island is prime real estate) shelved the idea, according to Ridgway. A sleepy, swamp-filled, mosquito-infested tract of land 15 miles south of Orlando, Fla., proved to be the perfect setting.

Disney also used the World’s Fair to test out his ground-breaking form of entertainment — life-like robots, controlled by pre-programmed computers, soon to be dubbed Audio-Animatronics. There were four Disney-created shows at the fair featuring the new technology — It’s a Small World at the Pepsi-Cola Pavilion, the General Electric Carousel of Progress, Ford Motor Company’s Magic Skyway and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln in the Illinois State Pavilion.

Not surprisingly, they were among the fair’s most popular shows. When the fair closed, all four attractions were packed up and shipped west, where they took up residence at Disneyland; they were subsequently replicated, in one form or another, in Walt Disney World when it opened in 1971.

It’s a Small World remains a mainstay at both parks, while the Carousel of Progress is closed at Disneyland and has been relegated to a seasonal attraction at WDW. The Grand Canyon/Primeval World segments of the Magic Skyway can be seen during the train ride at Disneyland, and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln evolved into the more elaborate Hall of Presidents in Florida.

For more information about the DVC and the new Doorway to Dreams, visit www.disneyvacationclub.com.

The article hits home for me personally, as the land once inhabited by Freedomland park in the Bronx is a mere 5 minutes away from my house. The old World’s Fair grounds in Flushing Meadows are just a hop, skip, and a jump away from where I live as well. This has always given me a rare treat, as I can always get a good look at the Unisphere and what remains of the fair every time I’m traveling to the Laguardia or JFK airports for a flight down to Orlando.

This article is also very timely as we are just a few days away from the 45th anniversary of the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair. To celebrate this anniversary and the anniversary of the legendary Disney attractions of the fair, (including Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, the Ford Magic Skyway, and It’s a Small World) episode #90 of the WDW News Today Podcast and episode #60 of the Disneyland News Today Podcast will be presented as a single program dedicated as a tribute to these major milestones. For the first time ever, we will be bringing together the podcast teams from both shows for a formal episode containing some of our most popular segments such as “What Were They Thinking?!?” and “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” (as well as a few special surprises). We hope you will join us this Sunday for what will be a very meaningful edition of the program.

WDWNT Podcast Episode 83 Now Available for Download

WDWNT Author on March 2, 2009

Join me, Tom Corless, and a cast including Jason Diffendal, Justin Heyman, Brian Martsolf, and Luke Manning for a variety show that celebrates the Walt Disney World Resort and its many fans. So what are you waiting for? Let’s celebrate another week of Walt Disney World information and fun on the WDW News Today Podcast!!!

To kick off episode 83, we have your Walt Disney World Resort News and Rumor Report. In this week’s report, we will be talking about the opening of a very special museum at Epcot this summer, how you can get backstage and on-stage at the American Idol Experience attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and just how you can speed up the check-in process for your next Walt Disney World Resort hotel stay.

Town Square Talk is also back this week, highlighting the hottest topics around our WDWNT Network of websites and podcasts. On this trip down Main Street WDWNT, we have all the details on the latest videos available through the WDWNTube Disney Parks video site, the return of the very popular Back to the Future segment on this show, and who will be filling in as the new host of the Your Ear to the World podcast

Finally, to end this weeks program, we continue our countdown of the 20 Biggest Moments in Disney’s Hollywood Studios History as voted by you with a look at what took the #11 spot on the list. We’ll also be examining just how important this moment is in the near 20 year history of the park.

To subscribe to the WDW News Today podcast on iTunes, go to this link. If you do not have iTunes, visit our Podcast Download Directory to download or listen to all of our shows

This episode is also available in an enhanced version. An enhanced podcast is a podcast with added features that standard podcasts don’t have. Enhanced podcasts include many features like Chapter listings, this lets you skip through chapters or see what is in store for this weeks show. Enhanced podcasts also have images to let you differ the chapters by. Enhanced podcasts have one negative feature, you can not play them on most mp3 players. The file format for this is a .m4a which can play on Apple’s iPod and Microsoft’s Zune. You will also need iTunes or Windows Media Player to be able to skip through chapters. If you need or would like the standard edition, download the normal edition listed below this file both on Itunes and in our podcast directory.

WDWNT Podcast Episode 78 Now Available for Download

WDWNT Author on January 26, 2009

Join me, Tom Corless, and a cast including Jason Diffendal, Justin Heyman, Kelly Russo and Luke Manning for a variety show that celebrates the Walt Disney World Resort and it’s many fans. So what are you waiting for? Let’s celebrate another week of Walt Disney World information and fun on the WDW News Today Podcast!!!

To kick off episode 78, we have your Walt Disney World Resort News and Rumor Report. In this week’s report, In this week’s report, we’ll be talking about a number of topics from around the Magic Kingdom, including a brand new quick service dining location in Frontierland, more details on the upcoming “Stitch’s Supersonic Celebration” show in Tomorrowland, and the controversial debut of the “Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade” on Friday.

Finally, to end this weeks program, we continue our countdown of the 20 Biggest Moments in Disney’s Hollywood Studios History as voted by you with a look at what took the #16 spot on the list. We’ll also be examining just how important this moment is in the near 20 year history of the park.

To subscribe to the WDW News Today podcast on Itunes, go to this link. If you do not have Itunes, visit our Podcast Download Directory to download or listen to all of our shows

This episode is also available in an enhanced version. An enhanced podcast is a podcast with added features that standard podcasts don’t have. Enhanced podcasts include many features like Chapter listings, this lets you skip through chapters or see what is in store for this weeks show. Enhanced podcasts also have images to let you differ the chapters by. Enhanced podcasts have one negative feature, you can not play them on most MP3 players. The file format for this is a .m4a which can play on Apple’s iPod and Microsoft’s Zune. You will also need iTunes or Windows Media Player to be able to skip through chapters. If you need or would like the standard edition, download the normal edition listed below this file both on Itunes and in our podcast directory.

WDWNT Podcast Episode 77 Now Available for Download

WDWNT Author on January 21, 2009

Join me, Tom Corless, and a cast including Jason Diffendal, Justin Heyman, Kyle Duffield and Luke Manning for a variety show that celebrates the Walt Disney World Resort and it’s many fans. So what are you waiting for? Let’s celebrate another week of Walt Disney World information and fun on the WDW News Today Podcast!!!

To kick off episode 77, we have your Walt Disney World Resort News and Rumor (and trip) Report. In this week’s report, we’ll be talking about a variety of topics that have come up in the last two weeks, as well as my most recent trip to the Walt Disney World Resort. I’ll also be giving some in-depth first-hand reports on the two newest attractions at the parks, the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure at Epcot and the American Idol Experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Town Square Talk is also back this week, highlighting the hottest topics around our WDWNT Network of websites. On this trip down Main Street WDWNT, we’ll be releasing some details on the new WDWNTube “Disney Parks” video site that will be opening soon, as well as what segments you may hear on the upcoming 50th episode of The Disneyland News Today Podcast.

Finally, to end this weeks program, we continue our countdown of the 20 Biggest Moments in Disney’s Hollywood Studios History as voted by you with a look at what took the #17 spot. We’ll also be examining just how important this moment is in the 20 year history of the park.

To subscribe to the WDW News Today podcast on Itunes, go to this link. If you do not have Itunes, visit our Podcast Download Directory to download or listen to all of our shows

This episode is also available in an enhanced version. An enhanced podcast is a podcast with added features that standard podcasts don’t have. Enhanced podcasts include many features like Chapter listings, this lets you skip through chapters or see what is in store for this weeks show. Enhanced podcasts also have images to let you differ the chapters by. Enhanced podcasts have one negative feature, you can not play them on most MP3 players. The file format for this is a .m4a which can play on Apple’s iPod and Microsoft’s Zune. You will also need iTunes or Windows Media Player to be able to skip through chapters. If you need or would like the standard edition, download the normal edition listed below this file both on Itunes and in our podcast directory.

Weekend News Round-Up

WDWNT Author on December 29, 2008

Here are a few news items that have come up over the weekend:

-In case you haven’t heard yet, the window for making Advance Dining Reservations for Walt Disney World table service locations has been set back to 90 days. It appears the days of calling up for reservations 6 months in advance are over and you may now have to time your calls at precisely at 90 days out if you hope to get seating at your favorite restaurant during your trip. It seems that this is in preparation for the system switching to online sometime in the very near future.

-Space Mountain is currently expected to close for refurbishment in April 2009. We do not know the length of the closure at this time, but stay tuned.

-In case you haven’t listened to it yet, the 2008 Christmas Podcast Parade is now available for download through iTunes or through our podcast download page. Be sure to check out our annual comedy podcast if you haven’t already!!!