As I work on various projects coming soon to E82, I’m forcing myself to take a short pause to update you on the Wayback WED event I was invited to attend with my Distory Nite Shift co-host @DisneyCicerone.
While we’ll be discussing the many discoveries from the panel presentations on the show, the highlight of the event for me was the autograph session at the end. I cared less about the signatures and more about meeting some of my personal heroes, including:
PEGGIE FARISS, whom I consider the world’s first “Epcot Evangelist” (and therefore my grandmother in spirit, lol). She helped sell the park to many of its original sponsors and did much of the research for Spaceship Earth!
TONY BAXTER (who needs no introduction). I told him how I’ve spent the last decade and a half preserving and showcasing his work, and how I’ve been listening to his every word since before I was literally a child!
The two Dreamfinders, STEVE TAYLOR & RON SCHNEIDER. Steve and I have been Facebook friends for a little while now, and I’ve been friends with Ron for many years (I even designed some of the artwork for his book). It was great to hug them once again, just as I did when I was young (and they were wearing blue suits with purple dragons). 🥰
BOB WEIS, whom I finally got to tell what I’ve been waiting years to say. I thanked him for creating Disney•MGM Studios, my first “home” when I started with the company in 2000. I told him that of all the places I got to work, the Studios was by far my favorite. Working there at the Great Movie Ride and the Hollywood Tower Hotel, among other places, was such a joy. I called it “the little park with a big heart,” to which he replied, “Well, it took a lot of love to give it that heart.” I also told him that it was because of his (and his team’s) work at the Studios that I developed a passion for Golden Age Hollywood history.
While Kate and I were taking our photo with him, she mentioned that we were both Disney Historians. His eyes lit up and he said (as a relatively new DH himself), “We all have to stick together.”
DON DORSEY, the man responsible for nearly all of the nighttime spectaculars you know and love for a generation. From Fantasmic! to the Main Street Electrical Parade, to Sorcery in the Sky, and every World Showcase lagoon show for 37 years. Although he was at the event to discuss America on Parade, I told him how truly grateful I was for him creating the miraculous Reflections of Earth, and how it has been such an important part of my life for the past quarter century. Don replied, “Reflections is my proudest achievement.” I had also remarked about the Video Globe and how I wished I (or someone else) could convert it from 480p to full HD. He said, “Stay tuned 😉.” I light-heartedly prodded him about it, and he said he couldn’t say any more. I honestly couldn’t be more excited for what that could mean.
Although its torch was extinguished in 2019, perhaps we have not seen the end of the story “as old as time itself, but still being written”!
Finally, there was TIM DELANEY, nicknamed “Mr. Tomorrowland” at Imagineering. I knew that if we ever met in real life, we’d become fast friends, and this meeting did not disappoint! In the short conversation I had with him, we discussed a great many things, including our mutual love of Walt’s Tomorrowland series of specials on the Disneyland TV show, and the many Easter eggs he placed in the recent promotional art for the upcoming return of De la Terre à la Lune to Discoveryland’s Space Mountain. These included hiding Dreamfinder’s face in the nebula, the already-discovered Nine-Eye from Le Visionarium (which, because Tim did that, will now appear in the new version in some way), and a few other obscurities.
I also showed him some of my work preserving his contributions to The Living Seas, including the United Technologies preshow and my soundtrack album. He was very impressed, and it should hopefully be included on his website in the future.
I could have honestly talked with him for hours, but thankfully Kate poked me in the back to remind me there was a line behind me. LOL
In between all this, I had a moment to talk with Tom Corless. It looks like I could help with some of the media for next year’s Epcot 45 event, so (while nothing has been finalized just yet) it seems E82 might be back at Wayback WED next time as less of a guest and more of a collaborator.
Of course, none of this would have been possible for me without my fellow historian @DisneyCicerone adding me as her +1 to the event, or your continued support of all my endeavors.
Thank You
For the official report, including many new revelations and rarely seen concept art, be sure to watch Part 1 of 2 of our Distory Nite Shift coverage.
Rare Disney History Revealed: Lost Attractions & Imagineering Treasures
