Derek can be seen as a freelance contributor at www.orlandoinformer.com/author/derekburgan
Derek is a writer, and a frequent visitor to the Orlando area parks. Check out his site, read his blog, and follow him on Twitter @derekburgan
If you like what you read let him hear it. Thanks to Derek! The first official Wakefield Reporter!
WDW Today Episode1036 – Resorts Q & A: Even though I very rarely stay on Disney property
(I usually stay at Universal, otherwise I’ll book a timeshare or a hotel room
bought off Hotwire), I love listening to WDW Today shows that focus on the
Disney resorts. This particular episode focuses on several questions sent into
the WDW Today crew asking about Disney resorts, focusing on the ones near
Epcot/Hollywood Studios. The first question was the one that intrigued me the
most, as it was someone asking about “renting DVC points,” and how it compared
to just buying a room at a Disney Deluxe hotel. The boys gave a small “Pros and
Cons,” but I think I’d like a whole show on this concept. They seemed to just
toss out the fact that it may be “50% cheaper,” which combined with a larger
space and an actual kitchen, makes me wonder how they could justify any deluxe
room compared to DVC. Good show as the one thing these guys really know well
are the resorts, including which particular rooms are better than others.
Magical Definition –Listener Email Show, Sunday, May 20th2012: When Magical Definition dips into their mailbag, you’re guaranteed a
good show. I’ve often called Jim Hill “the Dave Meltzer of theme parks,” and
that might not mean much to some people, but if you know who Dave Meltzer is
you know what a compliment it is. I consider Jim Hill to be THE guy when it
comes to theme park info and love it when he can go from topic to topic that a
mailbag edition provides. This one started off with a bang, with Jim basically
taking on the people who are convinced Disney is going to get the rights back
to the Marvel characters (for theme park use) in the near future. Jim covers
some great material, including the idea of a Disney employee stationed at
Universal just to take notes every day, and explains why you won’t be seeing
Transformers: The Ride taking the place of Spider-Man anytime soon. If I had
one question for Jim Hill it would be to ask why he still defends Cars 2 as an
“action packed” film despite admitting he fell asleep a quarter of the way into
it. I consider myself a HUGE fan of the first Cars film and have fallen asleep
both times I have tried to watch Cars 2.
100% UnofficialUniversal Orlando Podcast Episode 30: If you are a fan of the Universal
parks, this is a must have for your listening queue. I think one of it’s
biggest strengths is that the crew looks at Universal “warts and all.” I would
say one of the negatives of most Disney-related podcasts is the Pollyannaish
look they have at the company, barely looking at it with any sort of critical
eye. I love the Disney Parks too, but there’s some hard truths that need to be
looked at. The UUOP crew clearly love Universal, but they also have no problem
calling a spade a spade when it comes to pointing out Universal’s faults.
Definitely a breath of fresh air.
Another strength of the UUOP strangely enough are
their interviews. Several of their guests in the past I have never heard of,
but end up giving really strong interviews (such as the Imagineer – or whatever
they are called outside of Disney – who worked on the T2 3D ride). This week
had an interview with author Seth Kubersky (of Universal Orlando 2012, the
Ultimate Guide to the Ultimate Theme Park) and despite the fact they didn’t
talk about the book all that much, Seth was so good in the interview I
immediately put the book on my Amazon Wish List to remind myself to buy it.
Great insight into the Universal park experience from someone who once worked
for the company and checks in several times per week to keep the book up to
date. I’m a really big fan of the work Len Testa (et all) do on The Unofficial
Guide, and this book seems to be a Universal themed version of that to some
extent, so I’m chomping at the bit on this one.
Not many podcasts cover Universal news, so I liked that and
also Tracey’s look at This Month In History, which ended up blowing my mind as
I couldn’t possibly believe The Mummy ride opened in 2004. So I went line to
find out myself, only to discover Tracey was right again.
WDWNewsToday Podcast Episode 242: I hate to do this, as
WDWNT is always one of the highlights of my audio week, but this week’s episode
had a single spotlight that focused on the Top Ten Background Loops at Walt
Disney World. I consider myself a theme park nerd, but this was waaaaay beyond
the scope of even my nerdism. I had to tap out with about 20 minutes to go.
Normally I’m a big fan of their Top Tens, as the crew goes through their own
Top Ten and defend their choices, but this was one topic I had no passion for.
Strangely enough, the end of the show was just Tom Corless and Justin Heyman
talking about a bunch of plans they have for the anniversary of WDWNT and
EPCOT’s 30th. Even though I won’t be going to any of these events, I
somehow found this discussion lightyears more entertaining than the actually
countdown of background loops at Disney.
SHOW OF THE WEEK:WDWNTunes Original Programming: I’m breaking from the Wakefield tradition
in that this week’s highlight isn’t a show that came out this week, but instead
was a group of older shows that were finally released to the public via iTunes.
Originally available only be listening live to WDWNTunes.com, Season 1 of “See
Ya Real Late with Tom Corliss” and one episode of Scott Smith’s Transformercast
were put out. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long, LONG time. “See Ya
Real Late” is sort of a parody of a talk show with a Disney theme. Lots of
shots at Universal and some decent interviews (including Matt Roseboom of
Orlando Attractions Magazine). One thing I wanted to see more of was a sort of
mini “debate” one of the episodes had with Tom Corliss and Scott Smith on one
side, and a member of a “D64” group on the other, debating the merits of
Disney’s D23 membership. Tom and Scott are very passionate and smart guys, and
unfortunately I don’t think the guy they went again was prepared enough for the
“battle,” but this is one thing I would like to see more often. Here’s hoping
the WDWNTunes show “Around the Hub” (a takeoff of ESPN’s Around the Horn, an
idea I wanted to do for the world of pro wrestling podcasts years ago) is
available for download soon.
Thanks again to Derek for the great reviews. Yes. Thanks for showing everyone else how crappy of a writer I am, and how brilliant of a writer you are.
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