42 - Communicore West

Corrections & Listener Mail

Corrections

1. The Chapeau Shop on Main Street has come up on the show multiple times, regarding the old time phone. We recently received word that the phone was broken...So sad. Hopefully it will be back up and working soon. BREAKING: As of 8/15/2018, we have received pictures and tweets of the phone back in working order. Check it out now!
2. The Contemporary Resort 3rd floor has been investigated! How visited a few weeks ago and gives his take on what is going on with this floor. The catering offices, fitness center and a few other things are discussed.
3. Another 3rd floor comes up, this time from the Canada Pavilion in Epcot. How gives us some information on what is going on here and where to locate this area.

Listener Mail

1. Kylee writes in about the various products we have promoted. She has purchased so many of them and we thank you for your support!
2. Diane wrote us about how she listens, keeps a running list and then refers to it during each trip. Such a neat idea to keep track of the things you want to see.
3. Eric Jacobson brought up his neighbor restoring a small scale, sugar plantation railroad in his yard. This led to some discussion regarding regional railroads, terminology and other train facts. Very cool!
4. Mike was our next email, discussing a WDW model in the post-show room of the Walt Disney story at the Magic Kingdom. How gets into this one, as he knows the model. This was for Disneyland and we get into what was included on this particular model.

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. 

Audio Rewind

Our audio rewind this month turned out to be The Adventureland Background Music! The winner is Rachel Dunlop, winning a copy of The EPCOT Explorers Encyclopedia. Great job and thanks for playing along to everybody!

If you think you know the answer to this month's audio rewind, email us! podcast@retrowdw.com - This month the winner will receive a 1993 souvenir brochure from The World of Motion.

All entries due 9/17/2018 and a random winner will be selected. Even if you don't win, you will gain an entry into the Second 2018 Prize Pot!

Prize Pot

Prize Pot #2 has begun! Each month, we add a vintage or classic item to the pot. The winner will be announced in December and they get it all. Follow along as we add items and remember, each entry/guess of the audio rewind gets you an entry for the prize pot. Thanks for playing along!

2018 Prize Pot #2 Contents

• WDW Resort Pocket Sewing Kit (See It)
• The Official Album of WDW/Disneyland on vinyl, sealed! 

Christopher Smith Contest
The winner of the Christoper Smith book is John Tierney! John guessed The Asian Resort, which was the correct answer. Let us know which book you would like to be sent.  Huge thanks to Chris for joining us and thank you for all the trivia guesses.

Main Topic

Communicore West

We are finally back with a full episode! After some interviews, mini-episodes and an event announcement, we felt we owed you a solid EPCOT Center attraction. A little while back, we dedicated some time to Communicore East on Episode 38. This month, we veer right (If you are going through the main entrance) and take you to Communicore West. Todd gets us started with some information on Earth Station and where it was originally planned for.

The Fountain of Information is discussed, which included road signs, neon, and anything connected to communication in a fountain type of sculpture. Touchscreens are brought up frequently, including the super advanced teleconferencing system, Face to Face. This setup allowed guests to look at a cast member who was standing in front of a green-screen; How & Todd lead us in some role playing to see how this all worked.

A special guest joins us, Lisa Bastoni, who is the granddaughter of Walter Einsel. We invited Lisa on because her grandfather worked on something very neat: The Age of Information. Lisa was there during the design phase and we get some major insight into how her grandfather was hired and lots of other great stuff. This was an often overlooked exhibit of Communicore, but when you look back at it now the detail and predictions are amazing. Check out Lisa and her music, at www.lisabastoni.com - We have lots more to scan and share from her, so a huge thank you goes to Lisa!

>> See Lisa's "Einsel Theater" video restored here <<

We also dive into EPCOT Outreach or Ask EPCOT, which was simply an educational section to ask questions. There were displays you could use, or an in person librarian to answer your questions. How actually has a question he asked, which was answered by mail! Incredible to think this was how the theme park worked back then.

We then head over to the South side of Communicore West and talk about the Robotics Expo and robots with swords!

 

Lake & Lagoon Tour: Discovery Edition

Join us this November for the second round of our Lake & Lagoon Tour. We have some major upgrades in store and are excited to invite you. Please join us for a tour around the original WDW property lakes and a look at the "Vacation Kingdom of the World".  For more information, please look here.

Project Florida Film Release

About a week ago, we dropped one of our most amazing film restorations to date. Project Florida was purchased, restored and released to an amazing reception. Take a look at this amazing piece that has been restored to the original condition it deserved. Project Florida film release page

 

Next Month

• Join us next month as we discuss The Disney-MGM Studios production studios in Episode 43!