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Opening The Disney-MGM Studios With PM Magazine, 1989

Back in the 1970s and 80s, there was a syndicated television show called PM Magazine. The evening entertainment and lifestyle show aired in markets across the country, packaging syndicated features with wraparound segments featuring local hosts.

In 1989, the nation’s media descended on Orlando to cover the opening of the Disney-MGM Studios. Lest we […]

Those Were The Days, My Friends…

Is there really anything I could say? I mean… sigh.

The best part of the commercial? It doesn’t pander. There are no characters, aside from Figment and Mickey, no distortions of the truth – just images of EPCOT. It shows you how exciting EPCOT is, rather than telling you. There’s no cheesy footage of canned […]

Regis And The Daredevil Circus Spectacular, 1987

Michael Eisner didn’t get EPCOT.

He didn’t understand it, he didn’t like it. He wanted to make it more “exciting.”

And so, when he arrived at Walt Disney Productions in 1984, those grand expansion plans for the park were all put away, never to be seen again. Instead, EPCOT would begin to see a series […]

Walt Disney World Coming Attractions, 1987

In 1987, Walt Disney World was in the midst of a huge expansion. Construction was underway at multiple locations, on projects that would change the face of the resort forever. Disney’s new CEO, Michael Eisner, was intent on making the resort a full-service destination that could keep a family occupied for an entire vacation without […]

Please Tell Me It’s A Joke.

First, if you haven’t seen it already, go watch the new trailer for Rapunzel.

For years I’ve worried that executives and marketing slobs were ruining Disney animation. Now I’m starting to worry that they already have.

Has the vast studio bureaucracy – ranks upon ranks of Vice Presidents and marketing mavens – really salted the […]