Day 3: WIth or Without Lou

The WDW Radio Show – Episode 60 – Originally aired March 30, 2008

The intro includes a mix of World Showcase music and audio from Animal Kingdom. I already have a feeling I’m going to like this one!

As Lou begins to speak we hear that he is recording live outside somewhere. Indeed he is in World Showcase and it’s the Flower & Garden Festival at Epcot. Kind of ironic since it’s going on right now there as I’m listening.

This is also the year of a Million Dreams and before his first interview, Lou plays audio of Cast Members on the Disney Dream Squad discussing how great their job is, as if we didn’t know! Its interspersed with audio of kids talking about their dreams. Also has a clip of Scoop Sanderson who was just mentioned in last week’s (2011) podcast about Steetmosphere. What’s killing me is the music behind the voices which I remember from that campaign and it’s making the hair on my arms stand up. I love it. Disney knows how to get to us, even with simple background music. Man, I want a recording of this. Still, the adult contemporary Celebrate You music they played on some commercials and the free vacation planning DVD a couple years ago was favorite. Not, however, the Corbin Blue version (I think I spelled his name wrong – he spells it like the cheese right?)

Lou’s first guest is Carrie Schoen, Manager of the Disney Dream Squad. It is mentioned, but really needed not be that she has the greatest job in the world.

I really thought this was a great promotion, and clearly must have been considered a success by Disney standards since they extended it. The interview is really great but it’s lengthy and I’m not going to repost every great little snippet. I’ll just hit a couple highlights and my own thoughts.

I must admit I’m a little sensitive about this subject because we went to Disneyland towards the tail end of this celebration, November 2008, and there was a brief moment where I was certain we were getting a Dream! A Cast Member came over and began talking to us. She saw that my mom uses a cane and we had rented an ECV for her. The CM made sure we knew where the special entrances to attractions were, etc. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a stack of folded up pieces of papers which she started sorting through. My heart started racing. I was getting the sweats. I was sure this was it! We were getting one! Then, she put the papers back in her pocket, smiled to us and said “have a wonderful time” and walked away. Wa-wa-waaaah!!!

Anyway, I will go into this segment with an unbiased opinion!

The CM’s never knew where they were going or what they were giving away ahead of time. They literally found out minutes before. It was a truly random process. Guess that kept it fair. She does kind of imply that she as the manager got to pick which prize she would give away when she would decide to go out and do a giveaway herself.

Two of her favorite Dreams awarded were giving a young family with two little boys a free membership into the Disney Vacation Club. For the next 48 years they’ve got their resorts covered. That would be like hitting the lottery to me! The other was a younger girl was there with her grandparents because her parents had to work and she was awarded a trip to Europe via Adventures by Disney. Carrie said she got to be involved when they called her mother, a teacher in her classroom, to give her the new. That’s pretty sweet.

Being on the Dream Squad was a temporary gig. Most members only were involved a couple months, in order to rotate more CM’s through and let as many be a part of it as possible. She said it was actually heartbreaking to tell some CM’s they’re time on the Squad was over. I can imagine. As she said, some days she drives home saying to herself “I can’t believe this is my job! I can’t believe I just did that today!”

She receives numerous letters and emails from guests thanking them. They are all filed in what is nicknamed “the feel good” file. Aww . . . that’s a little too sweet! ; )

He ends the segment with the continuation of that audio of the Dream Squad members talking over the music. Gettin’ me again!

Lou’s next segment is not an interview, but it is a special guest. He plays audio of a special journey on Kilimanjaro Safari with Director of Animal Operations at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, John Lehnhardt. Instead of the usual tour narration or storyline, John is giving a special tour explaining secrets of the savannah and how they care for the animals. The truck even goes off the tour path to show areas guests usually never see.

I’ve seen enough Travel Channel specials to know about the hidden borders and blockades the Imagineers have hidden throughout the safari. But in this segment there are a lot of great “Did you knows . . . ?” specifically about the animals themselves. They’ll make for sounding like a real know-it-all to your family next time you, and by you I mean me, go!

I must confess I haven’t ridden the safari in a while. The last couple visits we just didn’t for whatever reason. Listening to this I will make certain we do next time.

Did you know they have two pairs of lions, male and female that they rotate? Sometimes they rotate them in the same day. Sometimes it’s every other day. Sometimes a pair will go for days at a time. Guess depends on Simba’s mood.

They have enough land that they actually “lose” elephants from time to time.

The Nile crocodiles were shipped FedEx! Now that would have made the movie Castaway far more interesting!

You’re likely to see ostrich eggs in nests along the tour. But did you know that those eggs are actually replicas created by Imagineers? However, the ostriches do in fact lay eggs constantly. The problem was they’re all female so the eggs never get fertilized, and the Cast Members discovered the rhinos were kicking the eggs around and smashing them all over the place. So the keepers go in and collect the eggs before the rhinos can have their next soccer game. The artificial eggs are to keep the ostriches laying!

Of course, it’s begs the question, if they’re not breeding the ostriches in the park, why do they need them to keep laying? What are they doing with the eggs? Not to be a conspiracy nut, but if you saw Jurassic Park you may remember the dinosaur embryos gestated inside unfertilized ostrich eggs!!! Could it be Disney is trying to take Dinoland to a whole new level . . . ?!?!

Did you know the climate in Orlando is very similar to East Africa, therefore the animals adapt quite well? However they did build “Hurricane Ride Out” areas for the animals just in case. But even in winter the animals don’t really have too much trouble with the temps.

Did you know, at least at the time, the largest elephant at the Animal Kingdom was named Big Willy, and he weighed 13,000 lbs.?

Did you know as of the recording of this segment in the early spring of 2008, Disney’s Animal Kingdom had raised over $11,000,000 for wildlife conservation?

This segment is just really great. It’s like being on the safari. If you’ve done the ride before you can see everything in your head as John’s speaking. I was driving to pick up pizza as I was listening to part of it so I purposely hit a few potholes and drove up over a couple yards, just to really live the experience. Still, not sure how my Honda would hold up on the Kilimanjaro road.

Now back to Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival! The theme that year was Fun in the Sun! Lou describes some of the numerous character topiaries, such as Goofy with a beach ball, Stitch as a lifeguard, the Peter Pan gardens, etc. He then goes into the construction of a topiary . . . zzzzzzz . . . oh sorry . . . I’m up!

The Chinese pavilion decided to ignore the theme (surprise) and did the Chinese Zodiac in topiaries.

France had perfume bottle shaped topiaries.

What I really found interesting was the explanation of Disney’s “Good bug / Bad bug” policy. They release 8 species of “good bugs” throughout the park which are harmless and don’t bother us humans. But they devour the bad bugs which would otherwise have a field day on the horticulture and likely the food in the park. God bless the lady bug!

Interesting tidbit: This is now my 3^rd podcast from the WDW Radio Show archive, and this was the first time I noticed Lou say what has somewhat become his catch phrase: “like I said.” I’ve often mused there could be a Lou Mongello drinking game where every time Lou says “like I said” you take a shot. You better listen right before bed though, or at least a point where you’re done driving or operating heavy machinery for the day, just to be safe.

So no News & Rumors on this one, but two really interesting segments that I would highly recommend you go back and give a listen. It’s pretty amazing how good Lou is at this. I’ve listened to numerous WDW podcasts, but this one is absolutely the best. The production values are the highest. It’s always consistent. And Lou is a smooth professional who was clearly born for a microphone in front of his mouth.

I really recommend doing this same project to all of you. Spend a week in the show, especially if you’re someone like me who can’t get to the world but once every couple years. This is about as good a proxy as you can get!

Well, this and Bill Burke’s Mousejunkies! Look for Mousejunkies 2 coming soon!!! Sorry guys, I always plug Bill's book. It's awesome if you're a fellow "sufferer!"

Well Mousketeers, fire up the DeLorean, because I believe tomorrow we blast ahead into the future again!