Podcast Episode 91: Contests at Walt Disney World (original) (raw)

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Welcome to Episode 91 of the RetroWDW Podcast: Contests at Walt Disney World – We appreciate your support and hope you have been enjoying each and every episode. Be sure to check out some of our previous shows from over the years. We have visited multiple parks, resorts, and just about everything else in between.

Listener Mail

We open the mailbag monthly and are ready to hear from you. Be sure to reach out with questions, stories, memories, and more. You never know if your letter will be read on a future episode: podcast@retrowdw.com

  1. We begin our listener mail segment with Holly’s note about a computer mishap, connecting to our last Episode which was all about computers. This is a great story and we are curious if this has happened to anyone else. Holly also asked about lining up photos, to recreate an older photo. They could not get it just right and How explains why this occurred.
  2. Noah wrote in asking for details about the World Key System. Brian sent Noah some information regarding this and they were even in EPCOT as a shell up until around 2019. We have some basic conversations about this system and how it worked.
  3. Unique listening locations are back and Claudia wrote us from her listening location in Spain! This is amazing and we love hearing these. If you have a unique listening location, let us know!
  4. Elliot wrote us regarding a potential secret lounge at the Magic Kingdom. This takes us down a deep dive you won’t want to miss…

Main Topic

For our main topic this month, we decided to dig into the always-present and always-sought-after contest connecting to Walt Disney World. If we all think back, I am sure you all have seen, heard of, or attempted to win some sort of contest either at Walt Disney World or at home trying to win a trip to WDW. JT takes the lead on this one and begins with the group telling us about a contest they have each won, in one form or another. To follow this up, we reached out to listeners and fans to see what they have won. We had lots of great responses, including the ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire: Play It!’ prizes that Jared supplied us to showcase at the various events we hold. Another fun one we heard about was Eric and the story about winning a Segway Scooter at EPCOT; amazing!

The mother of all prizes though, the infamous Night in the Castle during the Year of a Million Dreams. Everyone wanted this one and we tracked down a real person who actually won and spent the night in the castle. Ian joins us from Intercot, which we have a little history with, and gives us the entire story on how this all came to be. Brian gives us his experiences with this contest and we all chime in on how big of a promotion this was. Hearing how big of a deal this was, it is amazing nothing like this has happened in recent years for all the anniversaries.

For the next portion, we go through a massive assortment of contests, ads, promos, and even local contests that connect with Walt Disney World. Some of these contests are very obscure and interesting, which we take deep dives into. Overall, these things are an absolute blast to look back on and we hope we do most of them justice by discussing them in detail. We did not hit them all by any means, but we would like to hear from you. Have you won a contest that got you to WDW? Did you enter one and get the consolation prize? Either way, let us know! This was a fun episode and we hope you have enjoyed this journey with us through contests at Walt Disney World.

RetroMagic Updates

We celebrated 40 years of EPCOT back in the fall. If you would like to relive that event, all the videos are now live: Click Here.

Our next big event is in the works and we are in the process of figuring out location and dates. As always, these things can change in dates, times, and venues. In the meantime, if you have any specific questions please let us know.

RetroWDW Film Archive

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RetroWDW Merchandise

How designed some great new shirts for this months release, so be sure to check out the following: The Sun Care Center Logo and the famous ‘I’m a Winner’ collection. Both of these items have been in our discussions for a while now and we are excited to bring them to you.

Be sure to get your shirt, iPhone case, tote bag, pillow or coffee mug today: www.retrowdw.com/supportus

Some of Our Latest Designs

Post-Show Fun