Jambeaux, everyone!!! Welcome to another episode of the Magic Our Way podcast. We are a New Orleans based Disney fan podcast. We appreciate your listening to our show and we hope it brings a smile to your face. We also appreciate your feedback and are committed to listening to our audience.

 

On today’s show, we have Kevin, Danny, Lee: a travel agent with Magical Moments Vacations (a Platinum Earmarked Disney Travel Agency), and Eli of http://www.ivorycomcs.com for this episode.

 

Please note: the Magic Our Way Podcast is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company or its entities. All opinions expressed therein are solely those of the Magic Our Way podcast. No animals were harmed in the making of this podcast.

 

Fellow MOWicans, ladies, and gentlemen. For the Hub, this week, we present to you former Disney Imagineer, Paul Torrigino: a man who owned his own online tiki bar sign business, Pariarts. If you were looking for that crowning touch to your tiki bar, this was the person to talk to. However, adding to the decor of your own tiki bar is not the reason why we have Paul Torrigino on our show today.

 

Twenty-one years is the time Paul Torrigino spent at Walt Disney Imagineering and over those 21 years, he worked as Production Artisan, Production Designer, Art Director, Concept Designer and Show Designer. He worked on most of the large Disney Imagineering projects, including one of Kevin’s personal favorites, Dinosaur in Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

 

His versatility allowed him to stay with the company for all those years which, in turn, allowed him to work on a variety of projects in various capacities. Yes, he worked with animatronics, but in addition to all of this…well… allow me to throw out some familiar names:

  • Maelstrom
  • Disneyland Paris, or EuroDisney as it was referred to in the beginning
  • Beastlie Kingdomme (often misspelled “Beastly Kingdom”)
  • Tokyo Disney Sea

just to name a few.

 

Before all of this, however, Paul Torrigino was a Disney fan through his high school and college years much like myself and my cohorts as well as many of you listening. Except his path gave him the opportunity to fulfill many a Disney fan’s dream which is to become a Disney Imagineer.

 

Fellow MOWicans, ladies, and gentlemen, enough reading, I present to you former Disney Imagineer, Paul Torrigino. Listen to his stories and treasure what he has done for the Disney company.

 

What did you think about our interview with Paul Torrigino? Any comments? Share them at magicourway@gmail.com.

 

In the Queue, we discuss the two big features that have been rumored to come out for MyMagic+ in the very near future. One involves Fastpass+ which is slated to come online in April 2016 and the other involves something called StoryMaker (release date TBD).

 

There is no Guest Services for this episode. This segment will return at a later time .

 

For more audio, video, and live content subscribe to the FREE Magic Our Way podcast. – iTunes, Stitcher, & Blubrry.

 

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To learn more about the show, visit http://magicourway.com

Leave a VOICEMAIL or send us a TEXT at  1-815-MOWICAN (669-4226).

Thanks for watching and listening!

-Danny, Kevin, Lee, & Eli

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Kevin Hulk

Kevin Estoque

I attribute my Disney fandom to my parents, specifically my mother. When we lived in New York City, my parents brought me down to Walt Disney World when I was one year old, and then every year after that. This was an easy adventure for my parents as there was only one park at the time. The trek became more accessible when we relocated to New Orleans. I traveled to Walt Disney World almost every year, whether with my parents, as part of a band trip, or with friends. I was a fan and would collect all things Disney, from park maps and park tickets to brochures procured from the Florida welcome center or the Okahumpka Service Plaza on the Florida Turnpike. Then, one day while I was in high school, my friend, David, bought me a used copy of Steve Birnbaum’s Walt Disney World Guide from my high school’s Christmas Bizarre. From this point on, my obsession exploded as I discovered the world of Disney-related literature. With this new resource and the dawn of the Internet and Disney-related newsgroups, I began acquiring as much knowledge as possible.

I entered the world of podcasting in 2005 when I discovered that my fellow bandmates had a podcast of their own, The Big Easy Trickbag. From here, I found the world of Disney podcasts. In reality, I was podcasting before the medium even existed, privately for myself. I started reading the WDW park guidebooks into a tape recorder word for word. This eventually grew into me doing a pseudo-news show. My tape recorder would document my travels with my friends on band trips. 

I attribute my leap into podcasting to two individuals who hail from New Jersey: well-known Disney trivia guru and podcasting veteran Lou Mongello and director and podcaster Kevin Smith. I started listening to Kevin Smith’s show, Smodcast and saw how much fun he and his friend, Scott Mosier, were having while recording the show. Several times on this particular podcast, Kevin Smith would break down how easy it was to begin in this medium. Lou Mongello’s positive and constant embodiment of the phrase “keep moving forward” gave me the impetus to pursue this podcasting venture. You see, I have always had a desire to work for the company and be part of something that brings so much joy to people daily. But, that path has never been presented to me yet. Podcasting, however, was very accessible to him. I discovered that my friend, Danny, also had a Disney obsession, and the rest is what you are witnessing before you.

I entertain the masses as a professional musician when I am not podcasting. I have played and recorded with several bands, but I am primarily a freelance musician. I have played numerous events around the New Orleans metropolitan area and the Gulf Coast as a freelancer. I have worked for several Broadway tours that have come through such as Wicked, Mary Poppins, and Shrek the Musical; for several performing acts on the Gulf Coast such as Johnny Mathis, Jerry Lewis, Frank Sinatra Jr., and Regis Philbin; and for several local musical production companies such the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts and the Jefferson Performing Arts Society; and for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra as an extra musician. On a national level, Kevin worked for the Music Box Company on the 1st National Tour of the Phantom of the Opera as a substitute musician until its closure. Kevin was raised a New Orleanian and is a fierce advocate for its culture. LAISSEZ LES BON TEMPS ROULE!