The 5 Minute Magic Podcast Review

I came across another really good podcast in the oddest of places, at another Disney Podcast's message boards. I saw a post by ScottFMM over on the BeOurGuestPodcast boards. He was asking us to take a listen to his and his partners, Emily and Melissa's, podcast about Walt Disney World. Their podcast is "5 Minute Magic" and as I am always looking for a new Disney themed podcast to listen to I olbiged Scott and gave a listen. I will now continue the review in the the style of their show.

Today I'll be rating The 5 Minute Magic show on a scale of 1-10. If you see a DING! then their rating number goes up by 1 and if you see a THPPPT!, then their score goes down by one. So set the timer for 5 minutes and we'll start them off with a rating of 5.


Here we go.

Okay, we'll start off with a DING! +1 right away and bring their rating up to 6. After listening to all 37 shows Scott, Melissa and Emily sound like three very nice and knowledgeable Disney fans who are pretty much accurate in their observations. DING! Up to 7 now with finding their Niche in the World of Disney podcasts. One of the things I look for is if the show has a niche that let's them stand out. Theirs is the up and down rating discussion of an attraction. Starting off at 5 and taking turns either raising of lowering the score while providing their reasons why. Then at the 5 minute mark stopping and where-ever the rating is, there you go. THPPPT!, -1, down to 6 because they did seem to pick a topic that will run out at some point down the road. Not that I'm complaining and there are so many different attractions and resorts, this might not happen, but... And, as quick as that, DING!, back up to 7. The last ten or so shows they have begun to expand their topics to other topics such as favorite smells or favorite narration. DING!, up to 8. They are reliable. Even as I am writing this, show number 38 just hit Itunes. THPPPT!, down to 7. They no longer have a buzzer at the end of 5 minutes. Not sure if I missed an explanation, but that was a great way to find out the time was up. Although, in the first couple shows I was wondering if they would start rushing as they became accustomed to how long 5 minutes was. DING!, back up to 8. Their shows, although not 5 minutes, are rarely over 10 minutes which makes them a great listen.

RingRingRingRingRingRingRingRingRing.


Well look at that, a rating of 8! That's the highest rating that I have ever given. Well, that is the first rating I have ever given. I don't like to give show ratings in that not all things, especially something as fluid as a podccast show, can be nailed down with a number. But with the format that the 5 Minute Magic show has, I could not resist.


This is a really good show with three people with different opinions sharing their likes and dislikes about The Walt Disney World parks and resorts. So, Scott, Emily and Melissa keep producing these great shows. Their compact size of show and their novel format makes the 5 Minute Magic well worth the download. I can't wait for the live shows from the attractions themselves that I'm sure can only be on the horizon.

Microsoft Tags to Tell the Whole Story at Walt Disney World?

I was over at the DisneyShawn blog the other day and had a chain of thoughts leading up to what I think is a good idea to better enjoy the Disney Parks. I was reading his latest update about the Outpost in the Magic Kingdom and saw a comment from Brian about how great it is that everything on the Disney property seems to have a story behind it. After reading Shawn’s blog for a while, I say that after every post. Which caused the first thought, DING “How would I ever know any of these stories if I was not such a Disney Geek and knew how to use a computer?” I guess I wouldn't, unless I talked to a cast member or bought one of the Imagineering books. But even the handbooks don’t really go into as much detail as Shawn. DING, thought number two in the thought-chain, “Why don’t they have signs at each attraction giving us the back story to the building, attraction, ride or whatever?” This was not the first time I had, had this thought. Early on after discovering Shawn’s blog I asked him about that and his response made a lot of sense. The Imagineers did not want people coming down on vacation to be forced or even to be given the option to read any more than they need to. It is an amusement park after all. DING, and then the third thought of the chain fell into place. I have been following the progress of a new type of barcode developed by Microsoft known as the Tag. These tags are colorful to begin with and can be customized to a picture or logo. In a nutshell, if your smart phone has a camera and internet access, you could download a free Tag Reader App from Microsoft. Their reader uses your camera to scan the Tag and connect you to a website. The technology for the tag can be found here. By using this technology, the Disney Imagineers could now provide a Tag at each noteworthy place in the parks. A small one liner in the park maps to explain the small signs that seem to be located at different parts of the park. (DING, thought # 4 just hit while I was writing this. Can too many of these signs clutter up the park? Maybe make them 1 inch by 1 inch? I’ll leave that issue for later.) I think they can be placed strategically at each location so as not to be an eyesore, but easy to find to scan. I'll use Pecos Bill as a sample because he has such a great picture. There would be a 2 inch square logo that you would read with your Tag Reader. This is a quick customizing job. You can get very creative in that you won't see the dots, but I'll save that for when Disney calls to ask for my help in designing the real ones. If you download the Tag Reader and scan this tag, it'll take you to Shawns post on Pecos Bill's, but that could just as easily be a Disney link.
So now those of us that want the full story can find out more right on their phones, right there. Heck, if I was Disney I would provide the phones at Guest Services, charge $20 and just call this a Self-Guided Imagineering tour. It’s not like we haven’t seen groups of people huddling around one phone listening and watching for information before…can you say Kim Possible Adventures?
I do think there is a plausibility factor here, but what do you think? Too much of a gimmick? People still not tech savy enough yet? Not that it matters. Isn’t Disney’s policy to not take ideas from outside the company? Meg? Meg Crofton? Are you reading this?

Thanks to Shawn Slater over at the DisneyShawn Blog for this, at this point, great idea.

Join the Search for Kevin Flynn!

I have been following a new web site and having a blast doing so for the last couple of weeks. FlynnLives.com is a website put out by the people marketing Tron Legacy the sequel to the Walt Disney Studio film Tron. I've always been a big Tron fan and can't wait for the next one. The first time I heard anything hinting about the search for Kevin Flynn was during this years Comic-Con. Here is a link to that event. You'll see it was quite the scavenger hunt. If you followed all of the directions and codes, you found a real Flynn's Arcade. In the arcade there was a secret door that took you into a secret room where there was Tron Legacy art and a full sized light cycle. There was some hint about this event that it was something more than just a promo. Flash to a week or so ago and we came across the FlynnLives website. The updates started in February and are getting more and more intense. Early on there were some games and ideas about what FlynnLives is about. On March 25 they posted a video interview with Alan Bradley. That is Alan1 aka Bruce Boxleitner from Tron. This really made me look at this sight with excitement and greater interest. The interview was incredible to watch in that it was an interview of the character Alan Bradley talking about new things coming to the Encom gaming company. The interview IGN and very realistic up until the end, where the guy asked a question about Flynn. The interview gets icy after that and Alan(Bruce) finishes up by making a reference to check the Encom website for an announcement to take place April 2. After a couple more posts which included a link for getting your Group 7 Clearance badge mailed to you and breaking into the Encom headquarters network and getting access to the executives email accounts after using a site supplied cracker/decoder program. One last post to FlynnLives members before the news conference on April 2nd from OperationTron. The plan is to infiltrate the Encom news conference and demand Encom open there investigationn into what happened to Kevin Flynn 20 or so years ago. The news conference begins and Alan Bradley(Bruce B.) is onstage making the announcement that Space Paranoids will be re-released on the internet. That's when the FlynnLives people put their plan into action. As they are speaking you hear a helicopter getting closer and as they camera pans up you see it's the Encom Black with red trim helicopter and someone parachutes from it. If you have seen the newest trailer for Tron Legacy you get the hint that Flynn's son is a BASE jumper. That's right, the guy was Sam Flynn who was disrupting the event to parachute in. The next post on the site had a video from Sam's point of view and it's Garret Hedlund playing Sam from Tron Legacy. This is such a great tie in into the movie it's amazing. The entire site is well done and has me waiting to see what will happen next. If I have to guess I am thinking that Encom will somehow increase their security but we'll see.

So, Join the Search for Kevin Flynn, or not, but if your a Tron fan looking for some more insight on Tron Legacy, this is the site for you.

Waking Sleeping Beauty comes to Philly

I've just returned from a screening of Waking Sleeping Beauty that was held in Philly tonight. I had really been looking forward to this and it did not disappoint. The movie was briefly introduced by Peter Schneider, the producer of the documentary and many other past Disney films. He then stayed around until the end for a Q&A. This was being held at the Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia. Nice theatre, think older and film festivals.

This was a very good movie. Documentary really. And just as advertised, it was based on the period at the Disney Studio from 1984-1994. The main theme and hearing Peter say it with pride was for him and Don Hahn to create a documentary that had no talking heads. That would be the old people you usually see looking back at a time being discussed in a documentary. None of the video used was made after 1994. There were some new audio talking about that time of course, but the meat of this was all vintage. I'm not going to repeat what's been said, so if you have not yet, please check out the trailer from the movie. Waking Sleeping Beauty Go ahead, click the link, I'll wait. But come back.

The movie actually starts earlier than 1984 in that it talks about the executive moves made at the time. With the hiring of Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg Disney was on their way. What the trailer does not speak about and what I thought really tied this entire movie together was the involvement, business sense and what turned out to be dampening effect that Frank Wells provided. There were three very intense personalities at work at this time. I mentioned Eisner and Katzenberg and add Roy E. also. Each with their ideas of what was in the best interest of the company. Frank seeemed to be there to keep everyone in check. It was truly a big loss when he died. There is a lot of information about this upper branch of management and then there was the video and stories of the animators. Peter mentioned that they got their video from any number of sources. There are some great, funny clips. Up to and including Jeffrey Katzenberg getting mauled by a Lion on stage in Vegas provided by Don Hahn's mom. We go through the history of animation at the time starting with the Black Cauldron and Basil from Baker Street, I mean the Great Mouse Detective. The collaboration of talent for Who Framed Roger Rabbit really started the flow and it did not stop for the next ten years.

This story showed how a group of about 200 people went from working 12 hours a day worrying about being fired and animation dying at the Disney Studio. And then 10 years later a group of about 5000 people working now 16 hours a day trying to keep the fame they had found. Still the trip getting there was anything but dull.

As I mentioned above the movie was followed by a Q&A with Peter Schneider. This was very rewarding because he touched on a number of topics. How Disney might have taken advantage of Tim Burton earlier on better? What did Peter think about Pixar? Could the Princess and the Frog be considered Disney's next Renaissance in animation? Some of the ideas that were discovered using the Gong Show method. And so much more. I had one small issue, though. I would have liked to hear more about the animators than we did. There was a lot of Eisner/Katzenberg/Disney and rightly so, but I can ask , can't I? There were some great clips. I am a big Jerry Orbach fan and they had a clip of Angela Landsbury and him recording for Beauty and the Beast with Howard Ashman. The animators goofing off and discussing ideas were fun to watch also.

Peter did mention that for the cities that did not get a release of this movie, that there is a DVD in the works that would probably be a compilation of this movie along with El Groupo and the Sweatbox and one other Walt Disney Company Documentary. This was truly a great opportunity to learn a little bit more about the company and how it got to where it is today. If you have the chance, see this movie. Click below for Q&A audio.

Peter_S_Waking_Sle...

Discovering Julie Svendsen; Artist and Imagineer

I found this great web site the other night while looking for, I can't remember what. But this was quite a find. I found the site of Julie Svendsen and it really gave me another peice of the large puzzle of Disney History I always refer to. Julie Svendsen is an Imagineer and has quite a collection of work as seen on her site. I had sadly never heard of her before now. She is an artist and designer and her work can be seen around the world. You can catch a sliver of the back of her head in the Walt Disney Imagineering book on page 44 while discussing how to present Figment at Epcot. Her work with the the Disney company was for the parks and it's marketing side with some great toy renderings. One, a cool looking Dug plush from the recent movie Up. Anyway, as I was looking into Julie's career I saw that her parents were both connected to the studios. Julie is daughter of famous Disney artist Julius Svendsen and Disney employee Carol Svendsen. There is quite a story here and I plan to explore this thoroughly. I wanted to pass on Julie's site for now. Her Disney work is incredible and her non-Disney equally so. I am very excited to have found this site and looking foward to learning more. Enjoy her site and check back for what I find.

Tech Tweets Mickey at the BetaMouse Podcast

I don't usually review a podcast so soon after it starts, but I needed to make an exception with this one. The BetaMouse Podcast uploaded its first show on Feb. 3, 2010 so it is still young.  But, I always like to point out, that for a podcast to succeed it must find it’s niche. With Disney podcasts it can take a number of shows before the host(s) are comfortable enough and have decided what their focus will be. Not true with the BetaMouse Podcast. Simple and to the core from show #1, their niche is how all of the new Tech. being released can and will relate to the World of the Mouse. In their words, “Born of a friendfeed discussion, the betamouse podcast covers disney/tech stuff with a crack team of disney geeks. We produce weekly episodes.” Even in their About us statement they mention another great tool out there for online chat, Friendfeed. And here are the Disney Geeks:
The Betamouse Podcast is headed up by Henry. Henry is the Web Developer at TouringPlans.com, the official site of the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World (ding!). He is also the developer of the Smart Phone app, Lines. This App is amazing because it not only estimates the line wait times for you for all of the WDW parks, it also lets you keep track of live updates of wait times to boot. Not to mention the key information from Touringplans.com‘s Crowd Calendar. It’s a pretty nice tool. The price at this point is just right also…Free. Although I am a member of Touringplans.com, so charge away.  In all seriousness, there are two or three trip planning resources that I use and Touringplans.com is one of them.  And I can vouch for their crowd calendar.  Along with Henry are Jeff, a life-long Disney World visitor and tech. geek. Nate, a former cast member and co-host of the WEDway Radio podcast is also a life-long WDW visitor with plenty of info to share. Scott is the fourth member of the team. He’s a web developer and will be debuting a web site soon at Dizcollect.com. The last but not least member of the team is Katie. Katie has the DVCLife Blog and shares duties with WDW Today’s Matt at the Disney in My Life photo blog.


The BetaMouse team is without a doubt qualified for the topics that are discussed on this show. Their first seven shows covered topics such as location apps in the parks,  going to Disney with your laptop, Camera Gear, and a great Smartphone Survival Guide.  In this guide, they point out places in the parks where you can recharge your phone.  You'll need to listen for those tid-bits.  But I'll tell you now, there is a prime one in the Magic Kingdom that I would never have thought of.  It's great having this new resource to appreciate and learn from.  I've got an Iphone and plan to load it for bear for a couple of up-coming trips to the world.  Mainly sound-recording and Tweets, but we'll see what I hear about next.  That Foursquare and Gowalla sounded interesting on show #7.  Maybe I'll check them out.

If you have any kind of electronics that you take down to the world, or even not as these are a great group to listen to, check out the BetaMouse Podcast.

PS: Cool logo and very aproppriate opening theme song.

The Maz Disney Blog Turns Three this Month!

Happy Blog-day to me. Happy Blog-day to me.

Happy Blog-day you Disney Geek.

Happy blog day tooooooo meeeeeeee.

I had a random thought this afternoon, checked it out and confirmed it. The Maz Disney Blog was started three years ago this month. Woo Hoo!  I was really pumped to see that it’s been three years and almost 20,000 hits. I write to this blog mainly for myself. I don't want to torture my family with my non-stop Disney discussions. So as an outlet for that interest I use this space. And follow about 20 or so Blogs. And listen to the same amount of podcasts. And subscribe to a bunch of message boards…Did I mention Disney Geek?

Well I was curious to see what I posted as my first post so long ago and after the requisite intro post the second post was about seeing a caricature of Walt Disney sitting in the audience of the Circus in Dumbo. I had heard about that on the defunct Mousepod podcast and was so excited to see for myself…and there he was. Walt watching Dumbo.  It was fun watching the movie again and then making the video capture and then finding a picture from a similar time. Then putting it all together to share.  I really like the process.  I am a closet historian and what better topic to explore.
Another thought I had was that after three years I should probably have checked my About Me comments and updated them as to where the blog is today. I was very pleased to find that after a read through that I had NO changes to make. I had actually stayed true to my original idea three years ago. “Welcome to the Maz Disney Blog. I am a fan of all things Disney. With this Disney Themed Blog I will pass on any information that I think is interesting. I listen to many podcasts and look for and return to some of the best Disney Blogs on the internet. Along with my own thoughts and experiences, I will also provide links to articles of interest where ever I may find them. So, Have your Ticket ready…Keep your hands and eyes inside the Blog and enjoy your stay.” And yes, I still get a chuckle out of my last line there. Geek.

Where do I see the blog in three more years? I can only answer this by relating how I think I just recently put a handle on the why. Why such interests in something like the Parks or a Company or a Man? Well let’s not forget that, “..it was all started by a Mouse…” that was created by a man. And that man, Walt Disney, is quite possibly one of the most intriguing men of the last century. After reading a number of biographies, stories and interviews, I come away with a man who truly changed the world. He did this by instilling such a work ethic mixed with accomplishment that brought out the best in all who worked with and for him and their final products. True it was not always pleasant, but I get that there was such a feeling of accomplishment and teamwork that I can only hope to experience that at some point in my career.  And there is always something new I did not know. 
So here is to first three and to one more year of being another drop in that bottle of animation ink that is made up of all Disney enthusiasts!  Yeah, yeah, maybe a little corny, but the sentiment is right. 
Thanks for checking out the Maz Disney Blog!

So Dear To My Heart: Disney Studio's First Live-Action Movie

In one of my last posts I mentioned a movie that was released in 1949 by the Disney Studio titled So Dear to My Heart. I mentioned it because of a quote from Walt Disney, “So Dear to My Heart was especially close to me. Why, that’s the life my brother and I grew up with as kids out in Missouri.” Based on that quote I put this, never before heard of movie, at the top of my must see list. And as luck would have it, a couple weeks ago I was at the library and took a chance, looked and was happy to see that they had it. During the last snow storm I had a chance to watch it and, you know, it was really good. Right from the beginning credits you are put into the relaxed atmosphere of a simpler life with backgrounds of good ole country, Grandma quality, quilts and the turning pages of a very full Scrapbook. This scrapbook becomes an important storytelling tool as we travel through this movie. Jeremiah (Jerry) Kinkaid, played by Bobby Driscoll, is a young boy living in a turn of the century, small town that could have been anywhere in the US at that time. Jerry lives with his Grandma on a farm alone. They are occasionally helped by Uncle Hiram, the towns blacksmith played by Burl Ives. Burl is best know to this generation as the voice of the Snow Man from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. After seeing a prized race horse one day Jerry sets his heart on the un-realistic goal of somehow getting a colt to raise as his very own prized Race horse. His plans change after the birth of a certain black wooled little lamb. His thoughts and his scrapbook go from prized horse to prized sheep. The story revolves around Jerry raising that lamb and his goal of winning a blue ribbon at the County Fair. There is fun and adventure along with some real fearful moments. Jerry’s scrapbook is used to convey lessons as it transforms into animation through-out the film to teach Jerry the important things in life. One of the better of the scenes is based aroundthe song "It's Whatcha do With Whatcha Got". We follow Jerry and his Grandma played by Beulah Bondi, through the summer and then to the County Fair and suffice it to say a classic Disney ending. As I did some research on this film I un-covered a number of unknown, to me, facts that I think are really interesting. This was the first live action movie out of the studios. I had always though it was one of the Richard Todd movies but it was this movie in 1949. After some initial testing with the movie it was found that an all live-action film from the Disney Studio might not be taken seriously, so it was decided to add the animated scenes. Here is a quote from the actual NY Times review of this movie; “Walt Disney's latter-day practice of intruding ‘live action’ into his films, thus displacing in increasing measure his familiar animated images, has worked out something like the donkey which meekly stuck its head in the door. ‘Live action’ has now taken over his latest feature, ‘So Dear to My Heart.’ Except for brief passages in cartoon, which altogether run for twelve minutes, at most, the bulk of this children's fable, now at the Palace, is in straight ‘live action’ style.” Think about how you felt when Disney released The Darryl Hannah/Tom Hanks movie Splash. At the time it was un-heard of for the Disney studios to release a movie with a PG rating. Back then I remember people talking about how Disney had lost it’s values and worse. But they do it all the time now.

One part of the movie stood out to me in that it showed me what it was like in 1903 and how small towns relied on the train for all kinds of things that we take for granted today. There was so much excitement that the train was stopping at an off schedule time. It was as if the circus had come to town. It was close though, that train was carrying Dan Patch a real prize winning horse of that day. But to see the entire town come out for train makes me see a little better the importance and reverence that Walt had always shown for this form of transportation. Another point that stuck out is the un-settling Disney theme throughout a lot of their pictures, no parents. We never find out what happened to Jerry’s parents to have him being raised by his Grandma. Besides that, this is a very fun, touching and down home type of movie. There is a good story, some great action and even a tear or too. The one scene where Jerry goes looking for his lost sheep, he finally takes to heart a lot of what Grandma has been preaching about. Please find time to see this movie. It was based on a novel by Sterling North. I read on the Daveland Blog that the train station set went to Ward Kimball for his backyard scale train set-up. On a sadder note I followed through on Bobby Driscoll's career after this and later Peter Pan and his un-fortunate end. After the recent Corey Haim death it is sad to see that Hollywood does not learn from it's mistakes. Another, funnier note of the time, the NY Times wanted to make sure all of the Loyal Disney Studio animation fans would be ready for the next feature with the final line of their review: “We are happy to say, as a footnote, that Mr. Disney will fully animate his next long film.” The public is slow to change...

The Magic Kingdom's SpectroMagic

New Post on Youtube for me. Spectro is great!