Disney Podcasts

The hosts of WDW Today.

Go to the iTunes store. Search "Walt Disney World".  Filter by media type for podcasts. It's completely overwhelming. There are literally hundreds of podcasts, at least a dozen of which are updated daily or weekly, devoted to Walt Disney World and Disney in general. It would seem an impossible and mentally destabilizing task to try to keep up with them for a couple of months. It would involve hours a day of listening to amateur radio hosts with no media training and a terrifying array of regional American accents speak at length about minutiae so insignificant it would cause a normal person to rip the earbuds from his head.

I'm completely addicted. I don't know why. I have a desk job that allows me to listen to whatever while I do my work, and this is how I choose to fill my time. It started innocently enough. I was reading The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and it mentions that one of the authors, Len Testa, cohosts a Disney World planning podcast called WDW Today. I thought I'd check it out. It was very informative and pretty entertaining. None of the hosts work for Disney directly, but they all make their living from something related to "The World."  At the time I'm writing this WDW Today has recorded 802 podcasts on every conceivable subject from attraction and resort reviews to interviews with Disney employees and enthusiasts. They also have weekly shows devoted entirely to answering listener emails and monthly live shows where they answer questions on the air.

The four hosts are all middle aged straight married men to whom Disney is the central focus of their lives. It would be easy to dismiss them as kooks, fanatics, cases of arrested development. And maybe they are. But to me, listening to their sober, thorough analysis of every detail of Disney parks and products, they just seem like experts in their chosen field.

And this brings me again to my central question. Why are thousands upon thousands of people devoted to these theme parks in a way that I've never heard anyone speak about Paris, London, or New York? Why do men and women with families and professions spend all their disposable income on continuously visiting the same place year after year? Why do people pick up their lives and move to Orlando to be closer to "the magic?" I guess I won't know until I go again.

Am I potentially going to become one of these people? I really want to go back to Europe. I want to travel to Asia and South America, places I've never been. I truly would love to see the world. Is it possible that after this trip, I'll just scrap all those plans and start saving for another Disney vacation? I really doubt it. But these guys seem pretty happy.

WDW Today led me to The WDW Fanboys Podcast which led me to Betamouse which led me to WDW Radio which led me to the Be Our Guest Podcast and so on and so on. It's never ending.