MouseStation 243 – Yester World Top 3
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Run time 0:42:44
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Thanks to our sponsor
Today’s show is sponsored by Advantage Vacation Homes, a great vacation home rental company that gives you a place to stay with lots more space than a regular hotel room for a lot less money.
Through the end of September, Advantage Vacation Homes has a limited number of three, four and five bedroom vacation homes, all with private pools, at a special low price of three-bedroom homes for $79 a night, four bedrooms for $89 a night and 5 bedrooms for $109 a night. Remember, this is a limited offer, and only good through the end of September. Go to AdvantageVacationHomes.com, and when you reserve online or by phone, make sure to tell them that you heard about them on MousePlanet.
For more information on what a vacation home is and what to expect when renting one, check out our interview of Fred Zorayq from Advantage Vacation Homes in Episode 219!
Featured topic: Yester World Top 3
In this week’s feature, Mark and Mike came up with their Top 3 lists for attractions that are no longer at Walt Disney World.
Because Disney’s Animal Kingdom is so new, there really aren’t enough extinct attractions yet (besides, they’re having a hard enough time gettng new attractions into the park), so we didn’t discuss that park. We kept our discussion to former attractions at Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios,.
Top 3 former Disney’s Hollywood Studios attractions
It could be argued that the park’s name could be extinct, since the park was originally named Disney-MGM Studios. For our purposes here, we’re referring to it as Disney’s Yester Studios.
Mike picked the Residential Street as his number three choice as part of the Backlot Tour.
Mark’s number three was Hunchback of Notre Dame: A Musical Adventure. He talked a bit about the history of the show’s theater, which opened with the Spirit of Pocahontas show. That show used a set piece of Grandmother Willow, which was also used in the soon-to-be-yester attraction Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends, making it a two-time yester set piece. But the Hunchback stage show had Matt the Juggler as the pre-show, and the show itself was also great.
Mike’s runner up is Doug Live! He was part of the target market at the time that the show ran, and he really liked it.
Mark’s second choice is Superstar Television, which was the previous tenant of the theater that housed Doug Live! Mark portrayed Al Borland in the Home Improvement segment of the show, and he really enjoyed watching it as well as participating in it.
Mike’s favorite yester attraction at the Studios is a tie between Superstar Television and the original Animation attraction. Mike also was in Superstar Television (in the “Gilligan’s Island” segment), but he really misses the original Animation tour back when they had real animators working there.
Mark’s favorite yester attraction at the Studios is the original Backlot Tour, from back when it was a 2.5-3 hour tour. It started at the back of the Animation Tour courtyard, proceeded through Residential Street, past costuming and prop shops, past soundstages and topiary grooming areas, through Catastrophe Canyon and around Washington Square on the former New York Street (now Streets of America) before stopping at the back of the shops near the Studio Catering Company and the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure. After you walked past the shops and had a chance to grab a bite to eat or stop in the restrooms, it continued at the water tank for that show, followed by a blue-screen demostration featuring the bee from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, the movie “The Lottery Ticket” starring Bette Midler, a demonstration of some of the special effects used in the film, a walk through some props from the live-action 101 Dalmatians, a walk along a catwalk above the soundstages, a look at the post-production facilities (used, among other shows, to edit “Thunder in Paradise” starring Hulk Hogan, which was filmed at Walt Disney World), and finally a presentation in the area now hosting the Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream attraction.
Mike did not have a runner up at the Studios, but Mark’s honorable mentions were the original Animation Tour and the Sorcery in the Sky fireworks.
Top 3 former EPCOT Center attractions
Mark’s number three YESTERCOT Center choice is Magic Journeys, the original 3-D film at the Imagination pavilion. While it would be a bit dated now, between the music and the images, it was the perfect trip through the imagination of a small boy. Mark was happy that it landed at the theater in the Magic Kingdom for a while after it left EPCOT Center due to Captain EO, but then it left there. Mike and Mark then talked about “Making Memories,” the pre-show music for the movie. After providing a short bit of the song, Mark noted that we never promised to stop singing.
Mike’s third choice is the original Journey Into Imagination.
Mark’s runner-up was also the original Journey Into Imagination. Mark noted that he had an original plush Figment, possibly made of felt, bought back in 1986. Mark loved the forest of paper cutouts and the opening turntable scene. He claims that they took the heart and soul out of the attraction in creating the current Version 2.1 of the attraction.
Mike’s second choice is the Wonders of Life pavilion. He misses the whole thing, from the recumbent bikes to Body Wars, Cranium Command to (his personal favorite) The Making of Me.
Mark’s number one is Horizons. He feels that it’s the perfect Future World attraction, rolling all of the other pavilions into a story of the future. The choose your own future segment at the end was unique at the time that it occurred.
Here are links to the four-part story of Horizons, written for MousePlanet by former Imagineer George McGinnis, who was the lead show designer for the pavilion.. Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four.
Mike’s top pick is also Horizons.
Mike gives honorable mention status to the Tapestry of Nations parade and the Millennium Village.
Mark’s list of honorable mention list includes Cranium Command, Communicore, Kitchen Kabaret and World of Motion.
Top 3 former Yester Kingdom attractions
Mike picked the Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride as his number three choice. He wishes that it was still at a park that he visits regularly, as he doesn’t get to Disneyland often.
Mark’s third pick is 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He knows all of the reasons why then went into forced retirements, but he still thinks that it was a great attraction.
Mike’s second choice is also 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He remembers watching the movie at an early age, and remembers the ride as being a lot of fun.
Mark’s number two is the Skyway. It was a lot of fun in addition to being a great mode of transportation. Mark remembers having difficulty trying to get on the attraction, as lightning always seemed to be in the area each time that he and his wife went to ride.
Mike’s top pick is Legend of the Lion King. While he’s never seen it, it’s about The Lion King, and so he wishes that it would come back so that he could see it.
Mark’s number one is If You Had Wings. The original attraction sponsored by Eastern Airlines (the original official airline of Walt Disney World), was a sponsored attraction that did not require any tickets to ride (back in the day of A-E Tickets), so he and his brother would ride it over and over again when they had no tickets left.
Mike had no honorable mentions. Mark’s list includes the original Enchanted Tiki Room, the Mickey Mouse Revue (the original resident of the theater in Fantasyland that also once housed Magic Journeys and Legend of the Lion King, and currently holds Mickey’s PhilharMagic) and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.
CHOC Walk/Team MousePlanet
For more information on supporting Team MousePlanet at this year’s CHOC Walk, go to the Team MousePlanet page or get information on the MousePad discussion forums.
Listener Feedback
Due to the length of the show, we only did one listener feedback email this week.
DeeDee is a new listener and weighed in on Mike’s side in the Simba-vs.-Nemo debate and wanted to know which episode the debate started on.
Mark thinks that it was on the Disney’s Animal Kingdom Top 3 show, where we disagreed over the top 3 for live entertainment. He also noted that, in his recent trip, the new cast at Finding Nemo – The Musical seemed to not entirely have their voices match the music, including a Dory who sounded more like Gracie Allen then Dory. It took him out of the show so much that he preferred Festival of the Lion King during the trip.
What do you think? Let us know by sending us an email or calling our toll-free feedback line (1-866-939-2278)!
Send us your Adventurer’s Club memories
The MouseStation is planning to give the Adventurer’s Club a proper sendoff as it heads to YesterWorld at the end of September. You can be a part of it by sending your memories of the Adventurer’s Club to podcast@mouseplanet.com or calling them in to 1-866-939-2278. Please get them in by September 21 to make sure that we get them before we record the show. Kungaloosh!
Wrapping up
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Thanks to Eddie Carroll as Jack Benny for our show opening today.
Thanks to our audio engineer and sound editor Steven Ng.
Thank you for listening!
