Rendering of EPCOT’s World of Motion by Herb Ryman, 1979
It’s fun to be free as The Progress City Radio Hour continues our 40th anniversary retrospective of EPCOT Center with a celebration of the fifth freedom – mobility! In this episode, heed the call of the open road as we talk about the development of the classic attraction World of Motion. Find out about sponsor General Motors, and their previous brushes with Disney and World’s Fairs. And take a listen to the silliest souvenir video ever made.
Bob Garner filming documentary footage of Imagineering’s model of the traffic scene from World of Motion.
Hi all and happy 2023! We’ve been busy on the podcast front but have neglected to post them here, so I’m going to do a brief catch-up for everyone who might have missed our recent episodes.
For January’s Progress City Town Hall we’re pleased to introduce you to director, producer, and writer Bob Garner! A showbiz veteran, Bob was responsible for documenting Imagineering’s work leading up to the opening of EPCOT Center. Among his many credits are the EPCOT preview center film, The Living Seas, the Captain EO preshow film, and much more. He was also the guy who put Mickey Mouse on top of Spaceship Earth, so you know you won’t want to miss this one!
The model for Tony Baxter’s original concept for The Land.
Merry Christmas! The Progress City Radio Hour continues our 40th anniversary celebration of EPCOT Center with a look at the pavilion which today most holds true to its original intent – The Land! We’ll look back at how the pavilion came to be, and some of the concepts which were abandoned along the way. We’ll also talk about original sponsor Kraft, and how they had a presence at World’s Fairs and with Disney long before EPCOT. We’ll look at the pavilion’s research under consultant Carl Hodges, and we’ll revisit EPCOT musical muse Bob Moline.
We’d like to take a moment at the end of the year to thank you all for following along and listening this year. The fun we’ve had doing the podcast has been a real highlight of the last couple of years and we’re so grateful for all the support you’ve given us. We hope you have a great holiday season and we’ll see you next year!
Disney Legends Doris Hardoon and Wing Chao promote the in-development Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
Happy December! To usher in the month, we at the Progress City Radio Hour are happy to bring you part two of our wide-ranging interview with Disney Legend Doris Hardoon! In this episode, Doris takes us from her work on the EPCOT World Showcase galleries to work on projects such as WESTCOT, Port Disney, The Autry Museum of the American West, Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland, and so much more. It’s an amazing chronicle of an amazing career!
Listen below, and don’t forget you can always support our efforts and gain early access to episodes and monthly livestreams with a tax-deductible donation to our Patreon!
In her long career, Doris worked on projects ranging from EPCOT to Shanghai Disneyland and beyond. In part one of our talk we discuss her early life as a pop singer and model in Hong Kong, her early career in themed entertainment, and her work with Rolly Crump and others on EPCOT’s The Land.
Listen below, and don’t forget you can always support our efforts and gain early access to episodes and monthly livestreams with a tax-deductible donation to our Patreon!
From the Progress City archives comes this collection of 33 tall tales and true from Disney history. Available in paperback, hardback, and ebook formats.
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