Assembling the Land for the World

MouseStation 405 – Assembling the Land for the World

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Show run time 0:51:06

This week, Chad Emerson talks with Mark about his new book about what it took
to buy the land and create the government entities for Walt Disney World. Also,
a look at the latest incarnation of the Hall of Presidents and the loudness
that is Whispering Canyon Cafe.

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Feature: Assembling the Land for the World

This week, Chad Emerson talks with Mark about his new book, Project Future:
The Inside Story Behind the Creation of Disney World (buy
it here), about what it took to buy the land and create the government entities
for Walt Disney World.

Chad is a law professor at Faulkner University’s Thomas Goode Jones School
of Law, who also writes the Large Park Report for Tourist
Attractions & Parks Magazine and has done a wonderful
series of interviews for Blooloop.com.
Chad was in Korea at the time of the (long-distance) interview.

Chad started by talking about how he came to love theme parks, how he came
to begin writing about the parks, and the research project that led to the creation
of the book. After publishing the article in the Florida State Law Review, his
friends and family convinced him that, after subtracting some of the technical
legal information, it would make a great book for Disney fans.

Some of the key contacts for the book came during the original article, including
Disney’s inside and outside attorneys during the acquisition of the land and
creation of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, Robert Foster and Tom DeWolfe.
As work on the book proceeded, Chad made contact with more non-lawyers to help
flesh out the book.

Chad and Mark talked for a while about Bob Foster and his role as the first
Disney employee to be permanently assigned to the project. Ray Maxwell and his
team at the Reedy Creek Improvement District were immensely helpful in the creation
of the book.

They also talked a little about the keyhole property that Disney could never
purchase and now hosts the Bonnet Creek Resort. They also talked about how Paul
Helliwell and Ray Hawkins were able to build support for the project and convince
people to support the project and sell properties without giving away who the
buyer way. Billy Deal was one of the local movers and shakers that supported
the project without knowing who he was supporting.

Chad told Mark what he found most surprising about the entire project, and
they discussed what might have happened if some alternative plans had actually
happened. They finished with some discussion of how much of the project was
done after Walt died and how Roy Disney was really the man responsible for the
resort to actually be built.

The book is selling so well that there will be a second edition later this
year, at which time a handful of typographical errors will be fixed. There will
also be digital versions for Kindle and iPad coming later this year as well.

MousePlanet Meet at the Magic Kingdom, May 15!

Will you be at Walt Disney World this coming weekend? Come to the MousePlanet
meet at the Magic Kingdom on Saturday, May 15 at 2:00 p.m. at the gazebo just
past Aloha Isle in Adventureland. Meet Mark Goldhaber and visit with other MousePlanet
readers and MouseStation listeners. We’ll have some MousePlanet buttons to hand
out, and maybe some hats and classic mini-MouseAdventure packets. If you’re
attending the D23 Flowers & Fireworks event, you’ve got until 5:00 p.m. to check
in at the lobby of the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, so there’s plenty of time
to attend the meet and still check in on time.

Here’s where the meet will take place. Stop on by! Photo by Mark Goldhaber.

Featured Attraction

This week, we look at The Hall of Presidents
at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.

Mike hasn’t had a chance to see the attraction since it was redone, but Mark
has and thinks that it was well done. He thinks that it’s very engaging and
does a good job to humanize themen who served as president. Mike hopes to get
back to Walt Disney World before the next change of administration so that he
can see it.

Mark also noted that the accessibility changes made during the last refurbishment
were very welcome.

Review System Spotlight

This week we take a look at the Whispering Canyon Cafe at Disney’s Wilderness
Lodge. MousePlanet readers like the restaurant, rating
it 3.9 out of five planets. Our featured review this week is by littlej
of North Wales, PA.

littlej and her family loved the food, but the service was only so-so, leading
to her giving it a 4-planet rating.

Mike loves Whispering Canyon and highly recommends the all-you-can-drink milk
shakes. He’s not a big fan of the all-you-can-eat skillet because he can’t eat
a lot of the contents. Mark has had and recommends the skillet, and is a big
fan of the restaurant as well. He usually seems to go there when he doesn’t
have a goot reservation time, though..

You can also find Whispering Canyon Cafe in our Park
Guide.

Twitter/Facebook poll question

With the delay in publication of Episode 404, we never posted the question
to Twitter and Facebook, so we’ll try it again this week. The question is:

Which Disney or Pixar movie that doesn’t have an attraction themed to it do
you think deserves one?

What do you think?

Wrapping up

We’ve put together a new listener
survey to help us learn more about you and what you like most about this
podcast. This one is much more targeted than the old Podtrac survey. Please
take a few minutes to fill it out and let us know what you think.

Don’t forget to go to the iTunes podcast directory and give us a good rating
for the combined
feed!

You can get your MousePlanet (or MouseStation) swag from the MousePlanet
CafePress store and the MouseStation
CafePress store. If you’ll be walking in the March for Babies or CHOC Walk;
running the Walt Disney World Marathon, the Disneyland Half Marathon or any
other endurance event; or even just trying to keep fit, you can also get your
Team MousePlanet running wear from our Team
MousePlanet Zazzle store!

Also remember to go out to our main podcast
page and stick a pin into our Frappr map.

Thanks to our audio engineer and sound editor Steven Ng.

Thank you for listening!

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