35 - Christmas Around the World Part II

Welcome to Episode 35 of the Retro Disney World Podcast: "Christmas Around The World - Part II" - We appreciate your support and hope you have been enjoying each and every episode. Be sure to check out some of our previous shows.

Corrections & Listener Mail

As always, we start off with corrections and listener mail. This month we had some really fun notes, letters, cards and messages. We start off the show with some amazingly comical stories from Dreamflight. In 1991, listener Brian had a fellow rider exit the ride too quickly, claiming the ride was on fire! What a story!

We also got some information about the Grand Central Air Terminal, which is actually the bus depot from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. If you look below at a screen grab from the movie, and an old postcard, you can see exactly what we're talking about. Thanks for the note Kevin and everybody else that sent us facts about this space.

How also brings up a conversation he had with Tony Baxter regarding 20,000 Leagues and if the reference to Mr. Baxter is referring to him. The answer might or might not surprise you.....

Brian has a correction from two years ago, Christmas related. The small railroad in Germany has a different origin than we originally thought. This is not a Christmas attraction!

Reese wrote in asking about the colors on the sides of Universe of Energy. She is wondering why these changed and if there was some specific reasons on the color choices. Brian and How help us out and give us some backstory on the colors.

Rob wrote in about the hot air balloon and powered glider show, asking how long it was in production and if it was related to the electrical water pageant. How chimes in on how this was an opening day special and gives us some other facts.

Finally, we hear from Wayne regarding a Nestle chocolate chip cookie tin, with special magnets. Well Wayne took it upon himself to do a hard target search and we can't wait for you to hear how he found his magnet...

Thank you for all the emails, tweets and comments you have sent our way. We try to respond to almost everything and do our best to pick unique questions for the show. 

For questions, comments and concerns, please write us - podcast@retrowdw.com.

Audio Rewind

Our audio rewind this month turned out to be SpectroMagic, the piano version! The winner is Brandom Fitzgerald, winning the 1autographed picture of Corinne, from Horizons! Great job and thanks for the entries.

If you think you know the answer to this month's audio rewind puzzler, email us! podcast@retrowdw.com - This month the winner will get a Disney Christmas Vinyl LP Record, Disney's Christmas All-Time Favorites from 1981.

All entries due 1/8/2018 and a random winner will be selected. Even if you don't win, you will gain an entry into the NEW PRIZE POT! The new prize pot already has one item, which are some EPCOT Posters. Best of luck to our 2018 Part 1 Prize Pot contestants! 

Prize Pot

The time has come to give away our Fall/Winter 2017 Prize Pot!  JT heads to the basement to fire up the old computer again, but runs into some technical problems... Our lucky winner is........ John Marado!

Here is what John will receive:

• Life Magazine - 1971 (Courtesy of David)
• Look Magazine - 1971 (Courtesy of David)
• WDW Easter Egg Hunt Invitation - 1986
• 1991 Magic Kingdom & MGM Theme Park guidebooks (Color Coded)
• Vintage Epcot Center World Showcase postcards
• EPCOT Cooler Bag from D23
• RetroWDW Embroidered Hat - 1 of 5 made!

 

Main Topic

Christmas Around The World & The 1978 Christmas at WDW Special

Brian takes the lead this month for another amazing round of Christmas Around the World. Part 1 took place way back in 2015 on Episode 14, if you would like to listen back, click here. We discuss the 1978 special in detail this month, which offers up an amazing look at lots of our favorite vintage things at WDW.  We highly recommend you take a look either before or after you listen to this episode.  We go into such great detail about everything from Shields & Yarnell, Pablo Cruise, the amazingly interesting Gepetto scene and of course lots and lots of 70s stars. 
https://youtu.be/iswtfFAobiA

 

There are tons of hidden gems and weirdness throughout. Brian takes us back to our 2015 episode for a quick recap before hitting on some new Christmas details that appear throughout WDW. One of the most interesting items we discuss is the tree from The Contemporary that was suspended from the ceiling! Brian also discusses some very odd mannequins from The Grand Floridian lobby. Take a look at the images below, but be warned, you cannot un-see these! This episode has lots of great details to get you into the Disney World holiday spirit! Enjoy!