Explore every episode of the podcast Tall Guy Talks Travel with Rick Dougherty

On the show, Rick is going to go back and pull from past conversations with authors of successful books. Rick will talk with Phil Gramlich, who put together a collection of stories for “Walt and His Park: The Stories You (Probably) Never Heard”; Ethan Gallogly, who used his time hiking the John Muir Trail as inspiration for his book “The Trail: A Novel”; and the husband-and-wife team of Greg Glasgow and Kathryn Mayer, who wrote “Disneyland on The Mountain: Walt, the Environmentalists; and the Ski Resort That Never Was.”

Sarah Says, Maz, and Rick are all on the show this week to commemorate the 200th episode of Tall Guy Talks Travel with Rick Dougherty.  Since it is also Thanksgiving, the three of them will share travel experiences for which they are thankful.

As Rick continues to delve into the tenure of former-Disney chairman and CEO Michael Eisner, this week he focuses on an early failure Eisner had to build a patriotic theme park in Northern Virginia.

Maz is back on the show this week, and she will be joining Rick to rank every attraction at Epcot in Walt Disney World.  The two started the tier list last week, but will wrap it up today.

Rick and Maz do another one of their popular theme park tier-lists.  This week, and next week, they will go over every attraction at Epcot in Walt Disney World.

In honor of Halloween, Sarah Says joins Rick on the show this week to talk about when scary things happen on a Disney vacation.  From the annoying to the legitimately fear-inducing, they go through contingency plans to make sure you can salvage the magic from the grips of disappointment.

This week, Rick continues his in-depth look into the life and career of former-Disney chairman and CEO Michael Eisner.  Frank Wells was a big part of Eisner's success in his first decade with Disney.  Today, we take a look at some of the bigger moments in that business relationship that is viewed very fondly by many in the Disney fan community.

Stephen from A Life in the Parks is back on the show this week to talk about the different options in cruising.  There will be a particular focus on Disney Cruise Line, but we will cover a number of different options.

Mary Blair was hugely influential in the artistic direction of the Walt Disney Company from the "Three Caballeros" to "It's A Small World."  At a time when women weren't put in positions of influence, Blair not only made her mark in the mid-20th Century; but also has had appreciation for her art only grow in the subsequent decades.  This week, Rick and Sarah Says will go in-depth into Mary Blair, and the different places where she left her mark on the Walt Disney Company.

Rick is joined by his regular co-host Maz to talk about the different ways that the new paid skip-the-line plans at Walt Disney World are changing the entire dynamics of the parks.

After talking about the animated classic two weeks ago, Rick and Sarah Says talk about other versions of The Little Mermaid.  From musicals, to television, to theme parks, to live-action, there are a lot of different versions of the story.  

Over the next few months, Rick will be doing one episode per-week on former-Disney chairman and CEO Michael Eisner.  Today, Rick is looking at the ways in which Eisner's early life differed from that of Walt Disney, himself.

The 35th anniversary of the original Disney animated feature The Little Mermaid is coming up in November.  To celebrate, Rick is joined by co-host Sarah Says for a conversation about the movie that isn't just nostalgic for many of our listeners, but also served as the kickstart to the Disney Renaissance.

Rick is joined by fellow-Disney and M*A*S*H fanatic Shan.  They will talk about the ideal ways to enjoy a Walt Disney World vacation, and they will talk about the greatest television show of all-time.

After covering the Walt Disney World announcements from the D23 Expo with Maz the past two weeks, Rick will be going over the remainder of the theme park announcements for the other Disney parks throughout the world.  He will also be talking quickly about the five-year anniversary of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Walt Disney World, and going over the menu items for Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival.  

Rick and Maz spend a second-straight week discussing the D23 announcements for Walt Disney World.  They get into Maz's favorite park, Disney's Animal Kingdom.  They talk about the announcement that has Rick most intrigued. 

Rick and Maz are very passionate about the announcements from this past weekend's D23 Expo in Anaheim, California.  For the next two weeks, the two of them will discuss the announcements for Walt Disney World from the Expo.  Today's conversation even includes a mention of some of the things that weren't announced, even if we expected them.

Author and Hiker Ethan Gallogly, who wrote the book "The Trail: A Novel" will be Rick's guest on the show this week.  The two will discuss traveling as a way to get reconnected with nature through hiking, and exploring locations that aren't theme parks.

Rick is joined by runDisney veteran Natalie.  Along with some of her college friends, Natalie is starting her own podcast to follow their preparations for runDisney races on both coasts of the United States.  Hear about the races that have returned to Disneyland, and the extremely popular races at Walt Disney World.

To most of the Northern Hemisphere, late-July is the middle of summer.  In the Orlando-area, it is time for Halloween.  On today's episode, Rick talks with his friend Gillian, as the two talk about why they are thinking of skipping the special-ticketed events in 2024. 

In the mid-1960s Walt Disney was very busy.  He was not only scooping up land for his Florida Project, and his hopes for an experimental, prototype community of tomorrow.  Walt also had plans for a ski resort in the mountains of California.  Why didn't it work?  The authors of the book "Disneyland on the Mountain: Walk, the Environmentalists, and the Sky Resort That Never Was" will be on the show today to answer that question.

Rick and Maz started a tier-list for all of the attractions in Disney's Hollywood Studios back in June.  Today, the two of them will finish ranking those attractions.  Before that, Rick talks with a representative from Locks-of-Love about his donation of hair for sick children.

On the 4th of July, Rick is going to take a look at the American Adventure in Epcot's World Showcase, and he will talk about the different changes he would make to the attraction.  Speaking of changes, Disney has made a lot of changes to their Disability Access Service.  Rick is going to go over those changes in the first week of Disability Pride Month.

After Maz and Rick ranked all of the attractions at Disney's Animal Kingdom, and it was extremely popular, they are back to do the same thing with Disney's Hollywood Studios.  Ranking Star Wars, Toy Story, Muppets, and more, it is bound to be controversial.

Rick will be joined by former-Walt Disney World cast member Miranda, who currently works for Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando.  Miranda will talk about working in the aquarium in the Seas Pavilion in Epcot, and she will discuss what she does to help animals in the Orlando-area.  

After that, Rick's wife Courtney will be on the show to do a dining review for Storybook Dining with Snow White at Artists Point in Disney's Wilderness Lodge.  This is the second time the two of them have eaten in this restaurant, so they will compare-and-contrast food items.

One of the reasons we love Walt Disney World is because the resort has a tradition of being accommodating and accessible to different types of people.  While there have been some changes to impact that accessibility recently, this episode is focused on navigating the parks with a wheelchair.  Rick is joined by his wife Courtney to talk about a weekend with a wheelchair at the theme parks.

Rick and Maz continue their two-week conversation about what to expect from the D23 Expo coming up in Anaheim, California from August 9th-11th.  There are a ton of theme park announcements to be expected from the event, and the two co-hosts will try to guess at some of those new things.

The D23 Expo is on the way August 9th-11th in Anaheim, California.  There will be a ton of announcements at the event; specifically about the theme parks.  Today and next week, Maz joins Rick to discuss what they hope to hear at D23, and whether they think things will actually come to fruition this time.

Rick's former-boss Phil Gramlich has taken his knowledge of Disneyland, and he has put it together into his new book "Walt and His Park: Stories You (Probably) Haven't Heard."  Phil will talk about the book; his time as a Disney cast member; his travel agency; and so much more.  

There have been rumors, and even official plans for changes to Spaceship Earth at Epcot in Walt Disney World.  This refurbishment of the ride was scheduled to start in May of 2020, but a global pandemic intervened.  With a new D23 Expo on tap for August of this year, Rick has fun speculating if there will be a change to the attraction.  In this episode, he plays a little armchair-imagineering for the anchor attraction for his favorite WDW theme park.

Rick and Maz continue their conversation about how to pick a place to stay on a Walt Disney World vacation.  Today, they focus on Disney's moderate and deluxe resorts.  Rick also congratulates a friend on becoming a published author.

Eric, also known on Twitter as Main Street Electrical Arcade, is on the show this week to talk about Disney video games and the possibility of Avatar coming to Disneyland in the near future. 

Maz joins Rick on the show this week to start the conversation about how to pick where to stay on a Walt Disney World vacation.  There are a lot of choices between on or off property, and between values, moderates, and deluxes.  Also, Rick addresses the controversies regarding the changes to the DAS pass system at Walt Disney World, and more importantly the toxic way a lot of the Disney community has been talking about disabled people.

In honor of the 26th birthday of Disney's Animal Kingdom coming next week, Rick and Maz are going to fill out a tier list with all of the attractions at DAK.  

Victoria is a theme park influencer who not only knows Disney, but also grew up attending an amusement park close to where Rick was raised.  They talk about that underrated park, and a slew of other topics.  This will include Tiana's Bayou Adventure and Tokyo Disneyland.

Leet, who is known as Meet & Leet on Twitter, is Rick's guest on the podcast today.  Leet has visited all of the international Disney parks, and he will give a quick overview on all of them.  He also likes to focus on meeting rare characters.  

Give Kids the World Village houses Make-A-Wish families, and makes it possible for these families to enjoy Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort, and more.  Today, Susan from Indiana is on the show to talk about her family's experience with Give Kids the World.  This is the type of positive story we need with everything going on in the world.

Rick and Maz sit down for the third and final week to do their deep dive into the entire Mary Poppins phenomenon.  In today's episode, Maz will unload with her feelings on the 2018 movie Mary Poppins: Returns.

Rick and Maz return this week for the second part of their three-episode conversation about Mary Poppins.  In today's episode, they finish their talk on the 60s movie; move onto the book; and finish by discussing Saving Mr. Banks.

This week, Rick and Maz start a three-episode conversation about their mutual-favorite Disney movie...Mary Poppins.  Today, the two begin the deep dive with the original movie from the 1960s.

Rick talks with Instagram Influencer Spirit Day Sarah...not to be confused with his normal co-host Sarah Says.  The conversation revolves around creating content in the parks; dealing with on-line trolls; gaining confidence to video tape yourself in the parks; and how Sarah tries to promote a more sustainable Disney fandom.

Rick and Gillian are both annual passholders at Walt Disney World, and they discuss the benefits and drawbacks of having an A.P.  Either consider getting one for yourself, or live vicariously through two spoiled locals.

Kiki is back on the podcast this week.  She is a successful YouTuber, Instagram influencer, and she took part in the Disney College Program and Disney Alumni Program.  Kiki is also Black in a community that can be very white.  She joins Rick to talk about her unique experiences in her different roles surrounding Disney.

A recent release from a kid-focused charity organization caused Sarah Says and Rick to have a really deep-dive discussion on how Universal and Disney handle intellectual properties focused on kids.  With Sarah having an 8 year-old son, she is the perfect person to speak to this.

Musique from Canada is on the show this week to talk about her experiences with runDisney, and why she continues to make the trip to Walt Disney World to hit the trails in the ridiculous humidity.

Last week, Rick and Maz discussed the general perception issues Disney has had over the past few years when it comes to different issues entering the public conversation.  This week, they turn their focus to Star Wars and Marvel, and the way Disney has listened to the online chatter to the detriment of the source material.

Disney has hit a snag in a number of public relations areas in recent years.  Rick and Maz spend today’s episode taking a look at where Disney stumbles in that area; especially compared to their cross-town rivals at Universal.

Rick is joined by Sarah Says for the first time in 2024 to pick the five best times of the year to visit Walt Disney World.  This will include a discussion of Free Dining at WDW.

Rick and Marisa from Chicago look ahead to 2024 at Walt Disney World.  

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