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WDW Radio: Your Guide to the Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise and More Disney Magic!

WDW Radio # 714 - The Orange Bird - From the WDW Radio Archives

WDW Radio: Your Guide to the Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise and More Disney Magic!

Lou Mongello - Disney Expert

Places & Travel, Society & Culture, Kids & Family, Leisure

4.8 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2023

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

WDW Radio # 714 - The Orange Bird - From the WDW Radio Archives

I visited the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival this week, and love seeing old friends... not just wandering and grazing the promenade with me, but old friends from Walt Disney World's past... and present. In recent years, we have seen a resurgence in nostalgia, sentiment, and love for our little purple friend with childlike innocence, Figment, as well as our favorite combination of fruit and fowl, the Little Orange Bird.

And in the past 50 years, we've seen some pretty interesting things at Walt Disney World: A waterskiing Goofy, gunfighters shooting it out in Frontierland, singing fruit, a rapping Mickey and much more. But until 2011, many people didn't know who the Orange Bird was, let alone remember seeing a character walking around in Adventureland with a giant orange head, leaves for arms and a green stem sticking out of his head. It started with a slow release of retro merchandise in Magic Kingdom, and in 2012, the Orange Bird returned to Sunshine Tree Terrace signage and quirky drink cups, and a new line of Orange Bird merchandise started to appear on the shelves! Also, an Orange Bird statue that was on display at Sunshine Tree Terrace in the 1970s was retrieved from the Walt Disney Imagineering Sculpture Studio in California, and is now on display in full, orange glory.   This rekindled a sense of fond remembrance for our little orange friend, and now, he is not only present in our memories, hearts, and Adventureland, but is a huge fixture at this year's Festival in Epcot. He has inspired not just a huge line of merchandise, but even some food items as well.   So I went back into the WDW Radio Archives this week to 2011 and Show #250, where Jim Korkis and I took a look back in time at the Sunshine Tree Terrace and it's one-time host (and hostess). We explore the origins of the Orange Bird, the Sherman Brothers song, why he and Anita Bryant may have flown the coop, and the (then) recent resurgence of our little orange friend. I'll then pose a question for you to share your thoughts on as well.   Do you remember seeing the little Orange Bird in Adventureland in the 70's? Did you ever get a photo with the walk around character? Share your memories, and thoughts about this old and new unofficial mascot for the parks in the WDW Radio Clubhouse at WDWRadio.com/Clubhouse, or call the voicemail at 407-900-9391 (WDW1) and share your story on the show.   But for now... sit back, relax, and enjoy this week's episode from the Archives on the WDW Radio show.

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THANK YOU for your support by voting WDW Radio Best Travel Podcast for 9 consecutive years! Sit back, relax, and enjoy this week's episode of the WDW Radio show. Thanks for listening! Be sure to tune in next week!

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LouMongello.com - Let me help you turn what you love into what you do and turn your passion into your profession with one-on-one mentoring, mastermind groups, and my Momentum Workshop and Retreat in Walt Disney World.

I am also a keynote keynote speaker who can present at your event, conference, business, or school, and provide mentoring and consulting to individuals and organizations looking to build their businesses and brands. I speak on a variety of topics, including sharing the magic of Disney, and teaching how to deliver exceptional customer service, social media, podcasting, live video, community, following your dreams, and more.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

What we're gonna do right here is go back way back back into time.

0:08.2

Welcome to another episode from the WDW Radio Archives. I am Lou Mangelo and this is

0:14.0

shown on number 714 and this and each week I'm gonna select an evergreen episode from the Archives

0:20.5

to share with you that maybe you've never heard before or maybe it's not one that you've heard

0:25.2

in a long time. From interviews to top tens, reviews, guides, way back machines and more,

0:31.1

they're a great way to visit or revisit some of our favorite episodes including ones that you

0:36.1

have suggested I share from the vault and rather than me upload the episode in its entirety,

0:41.0

I'll take out the relevant segments and cut out the intro and outro and contests and sometimes

0:46.4

the out-of-date news and rumors. If you want to hear the full episode I'll let you know the

0:50.7

original show number so you can always go back into your podcast player or feed and listen to the

0:55.8

full episode. I hope you enjoy this new old edition to your feed and some of the favorites that

1:01.2

you may have missed or never heard before. So I'm gonna open up the archives again this week because

1:06.4

I visited the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival earlier this week and I love

1:11.5

seeing old friends there, not just wandering and grazing the promenade with me but old friends

1:17.0

from Walt Disney World's Past and present and in recent years we've seen this resurgence in nostalgia

1:24.4

and sentiment for example our little purple friend with childlike innocence, figment as well as

1:31.5

our favorite combination of fruit and foul, the little orange bird and in the past 50 years we've

1:38.2

seen some pretty interesting things in addition to the purple dragon and the orange bird in Walt Disney

1:43.4

World. We've seen a water skiing goofy, gunfighters shooting it out in Frontierland, singing fruit

1:50.1

in Kitchen Cabaret, a wrapping Mickey Mouse and a lot more. But until 2011 many people didn't know

1:58.1

who the orange bird was, let alone remember seeing a character walking around in Adventureland

2:04.1

with this giant orange head, not just orange in color but a head shaped like an orange,

...

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