The Themed Attraction Podcast

To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, we tracked down former Creative Director for Walt Disney Imagineering, Tom Morris. Tom knows a little something about building theme parks and attractions. So who better to dig up the archaeology of Disneyland’s eeriest e-ticket attraction. We explore the rumors, true and preposterous, of the attraction's origins, as well as some of the unsung heroes of Disneyland's early design and construction.

Howdy! This episode features show designer, writer, and music director for themed attractions from sea to shining sea, Mr. Rick Bastrup. Rick made his mark in regional theme parks and family fun centers for the past 30+ years. His time in the industry allowed him opportunities to work with legends like Ira West and Technifex who pretty much built every non-Disney park in America. You can still see his work in Six Flags parks, Great America, and Knott's Berry Farm.

This episode features Mike Schwalm. Mike was previously a Creative Designer for Walt Disney Imagineering working with James Cameron and Joe Rohde’s team to bring the immersive “Pandora - The World of Avatar” to life at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. He also worked on concept development for the Indiana Jones themed bar in Disney Springs, the Happily Ever After nighttime spectacular, and PortAventura’s Ferrari Land. He’s designed interactive exhibits for both Avengers and Transformers properties and so much more.

Our guest for today is Mike Schwalm.

Come along as Mel and Freddy dig into conversation with Mark Eades, one of the Disney Imagineers who helped bring Epcot to life back in the 80s. He cut his teeth in Disney animation and film and was called up to Imagineering by Marty Sklar to manage the production of Epcot’s film-based attractions. His attraction credits include CircleVision - American Journeys, Star Tours, and Muppet-Vision 3D.

Mark later went on to become the Theme Park correspondent for the Orange County register covering stories from all of Southern California’s world-class attractions.

In this episode, Mel and Freddy head up to the beautiful San Bernardino Mountains where we meet the new owners of SkyPark at Santa’s Village. Santa’s Village was a small regional storybook park built in 1955 and became a go-to destination for families looking for mountain-top fun. The park closed in 1998 and would have been lost to Kitsch history if it wasn’t for the vision and passion of Bill and Michelle Johnson. Their love of outdoor and extreme sports combined with the park’s family appeal to reopen it in 2016 as Sky Park at Santa’s Village.

We sat down with Bill and Michelle to hear how they took hold of the opportunity of a lifetime, to resurrect a theme park.

Mel and Freddy get into the nitty-gritty of Tony's development of Splash Mountain with Michael Eisner, the troubled birth of California Adventure, and the challenges of building attractions around intellectual properties.

Interviews with industry professionals at IAAPA 2018, the premier conference and trade show for members of the themed entertainment and experience industry.

Our guest for today is Tony Baxter, Walt Disney Imagineering’s former senior vice president of creative development.

Our guest for this episode is Ryan Harmon, President and Chief Experience Officer of Zeitgeist Design & Production.

Our guest is Alissa Whiteley, Director of Poverty Encounter, a walk-through educational exhibit that transports guests to scenes of extreme poverty around the world. This episode is very special to us and is an experience that could change the world.