This mini-episode is a compliment to our 2022 holiday episode. We promised we'd eventually track down the fellow responsible for bringing the Lights of Winter to EPCOT Center. Brian and Todd talk to Jim Heffelfinger whose 20 year career with Walt Disney World began as stage manager at the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Review at Pioneer Hall (where he met and shares a great story about our friend Billy Flanigan).
Over the next two decades he worked with Disney Legend Ron Logan and the rest of the entertainment team to bring Christmas as we know it to EPCOT, Fantasmic to Florida, the Muppets to Hollywood Boulevard, the holidays and a parade to Animal Kingdom and the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights to Disney-MGM Studios.
Some of his shows, like Beauty & The Beast Live on Stage are still running today much as he designed them while others are very fondly remembered.
This is a fun interview where you’ll learn a lot and, of course, we ask him for memories of Ron Logan and Dick Nunis and invite him to a future RetroMagic event.
Jim Heffelfinger is an unsung hero of holidays in Walt Disney World and many beloved live shows. Enjoy the interview.
59 - Tickets and Ephemera
58 - Retro Menus
57 - El Rio Del Tiempo.mp3
56.5 - Typical Pylons - A chat with Gene Brignola
56 - Good Neighbors - Sea World
55 - Backlot Studio Tram Tour
54.5 - Bringing the World Closer to You
54 - A Very 90s Christmas
53 - Cute Stories with Rolly
52 - Twenty Questions
51 - Horizons Part III - The Legacy
50 - Horizons Part II - The Promise
49.5 - RetroMagic Event Details and Tickets!
49 - Horizons Part I - The Prologue
48.5 - A Chat with Jeff Blyth - Director of the Timekeeper Film
48 - The Timekeeper
47 - A Room Full of Fun - Arcades
46 - Snow White's Adventure
45 - Holiday Potluck
44 - Mickey's Birthdayland
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