Streaming Access for Stage 89 from WDWNT with Former Disney Imagineers Still Available to Purchase

Hi everyone!

WDWNT.com is celebrating the 35th Anniversary of Disney’s Hollywood Studios this weekend by hosting Stage 89 with a host of former Imagineers (including Bob Weis, Eric Jacobson and Kathy Rogers). Streaming access is still available to purchase! It looks like other tickets are still available as well. This should be a great event, as always with a lot of panels and presentations – with never-before seen art and untold stories – from the creation of beloved attractions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios/Disney-MGM Studios.

Read below for more information on Stage 89 from WDWNT. They do always put on terrific events. And all proceeds go to Give Kids the World.

WDWNT.com is hosting Stage 89, an unofficial event celebrating the 35th anniversary of Disney’s Hollywood Studios with the biggest-ever in-person gathering of the former Disney Imagineers who designed Walt Disney World’s movie theme park! The event will include a meet & greet and autograph session with special guests, as well as two days of panels and presentations revealing never-before-seen art and untold stories from the creation of The Great Movie Ride, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Studio Backlot Tour, MuppetVision 3-D, and more of the most beloved offerings from “A Hollywood that never was – but always will be.”Former Walt Disney Imagineering President Bob Weis and Project Director for the Disney-MGM Studios theme park Randy Printz will open the event with a keynote presentation documenting the park’s evolution from an EPCOT Center pavilion, to a Studio Tour, to a working studio and theme park hybrid, to what it is today. This opening discussion will set to the tone for two days of deep-dives into the creation of the park’s iconic rides and shows of yesterday and today. Additional presentations will include former-Imagineers recounting the creation of the following attractions:

• The Great Movie Ride
• Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
• MuppetVision 3-D & The Great Muppet Movie Ride
• SuperStar Television & The Monster Sound Show
• Catastrophe Canyon and more from the Studio Backlot Tour
• Honey, I Shrunk The Kids: Movie Set Adventure
• Star Tours & Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

• Bob Weis – Worked at Walt Disney Imagineering for more than 35 years, including six years as President, and one as Global Ambassador. Prior to that, he led creative efforts for Tokyo Disneyland, Shanghai Disney Resort, and Disney-MGM Studios.
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• Randy Printz – Project Director for the Disney-MGM Studios theme park and production facilities. Also worked on EPCOT Center, Tokyo Disneyland, DisneySea in Long Beach, Westcot Center at the Disneyland Resort, Mickey’s Toontown, Indiana Jones Adventure, and Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park.
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• Eric Jacobson – Began his career at WDI building models of attractions for EPCOT Center. He then supervised the creation of Audio-Animatronics figures for Spaceship Earth, Kitchen Kabaret, Universe of Energy, World of Motion and many other opening day shows at EPCOT as well as Tokyo Disneyland. For the Disney-MGM Studios, Eric was Art Director and concept lead for The Great Movie Ride. Eric’s creative leadership shaped numerous projects around the world, including The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster starring Aerosmith, Toy Story Midway Mania!, Test Track, Mission: Space, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Blizzard Beach and New Fantasyland.
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• Mike West – Led the Blue-Sky Development of the largest and most ambitious project in the company’s history – Universal’s EPIC UNIVERSE. Mike was also responsible for the design, development, production and installation of Skull Island: Reign of Kong, a massive attraction at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. Mike joined the Universal Creative Studio in 2006 as Show Producer for The Simpsons Ride. At Disney Imagineering, Mike wrote, directed and/or produced multiple shows for Innoventions at EPCOT; The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, and the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. He also wrote the beloved Albert Awol dialogue that was used at the World Famous Jungle Cruise from 1991 until the most recent refurbishment of the attraction.
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• Kathy Rogers – Joined WED/WDI in February 1982 to work on the New Fantasyland ’83 at Disneyland as a Project Coordinator. She joined the Disney-MGM Studios Project Team in the early development as a Project Coordinator for The Great Movie Ride, Superstar Television and the Monster Sound Show. She ended her over 44 year Disney career as an Executive Creative Show Producer for Muppet-Vision 3D, Blizzard Beach, Expedition Everest and various attraction enhancements like Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, the 2006 movie-inspired changes to Pirates of the Caribbean at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, and the 2007 enhancements of the Magic Kingdom’s Haunted Mansion.
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• Richard Vaughn – Richard’s first effort after being hired at WDI was the rough study model of Spaceship Earth. Soon, Richard relocated to Orlando and was there for the duration of the construction of EPCOT Center. Over the years, Richard conceived, designed, or produced such projects as ImageWorks exhibits for the Imagination Pavilion, a revamped Spaceship Earth, and several small attractions and exhibits during the “lean times” for WDI. Soon, work was underway on an entire Studio Tour concept (eventually called the Disney-MGM Studios) covering the motion picture and television process, animation, costuming, and more. As final design neared completion, Michael Eisner thought that the Studios Backlot Tour was a bit lean on “thrills”. This led to Richard conceiving and designing “Catastrophe Canyon”, which was fast-tracked and went from concept model to completion on site in 13 months. For a time, Richard worked as the Design Director for Tokyo Disneyland. The last project Richard worked on for WDI was Disney’s Blizzard Beach water park. Eventually, Richard was hired by Universal Creative to work on an attraction for Islands of Adventure called “Poseidon’s Fury”, a water screen-format attraction with lots of havoc, pyrotechnics, open flames, and very loud sound effects.
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• Paul Osterhout – Paul was originally hired in 1980 as a production designer for EPCOT Center where he worked on all of the Future World pavilions. He was hired as a Production Designer for the Disney-MGM Studios where he provided design and art direction for The Great Movie Ride, Superstar Television, and the Monster Sound Show. Before the park was finished, he was promoted to Producer where he was the lead creatine on Star Tours and MuppetVision 3D. He was also was the Producer on Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith. Paul also produced New Tomorrowland (and in fact is the voice of the teenage boy in the last scene of Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress) and a number of projects for the Magic Kingdom.
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• Eric Robison – An acclaimed Disney artist and former Disney Imagineer who worked on Star Tours at Tokyo Disneyland, Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris, Beauty and the Beast attraction at Disneyland Paris (Unbuilt), Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Sid Cahuenga’s One-of-a-Kind Shop at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Phase 2 of backstage attractions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the Indiana Jones Adventure, ExtaTERRORestrial Alien Encounter at Magic Kingdom, Westcot at Disneyland Resort (Unbuilt), GM Test Track at EPCOT, and more.
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• Chris Brown – Senior Show and Ride Executive responsible for establishing all Show and Ride concept technical direction for 7 theme parks at Walt Disney Imagineering including Tokyo DisneySea and Walt Disney Studios Paris, also responsible for shows and all rides for the opening day scope of Disney-MGM Studios in Florida, including The Great Movie Ride, Studio Backlot Tour, and Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. Chris was also the Project Engineer responsible for overall and/or major portions of ride systems for Spaceship Earth and original Journey Into Imagination at EPCOT, as well as original Star Tours at Disneyland. He also worked on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Adventure Playground, Star Tours & MuppetVision 3D, and created the initial conceptual ride layout for Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
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• Mark Silverman – Growing up in southern California, Mark realized at an early age that he had a talent for voices and impressions. Mark became a voice actor and his dream was to do voices for Disney. In 1993 that dream came true as Mark was hired by Walt Disney Imagineering to narrate a new ride for Walt Disney World called The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Mark performs the voice of Rod Serling who acts as the ride’s narrator and host. The ride has become one of most iconic Disney rides of all time.