Distory with Kate & Kirk

Jan 31 2025 131 ep. 75 mins 5
Distory with Kate & Kirk Podcast artwork

Exploring the history of the Disney Parks (with a dash of the ridiculous!), Distory with Kate and Kirk is an adventure into the fascinatingly obscure details that have made the Disney parks what they are today.

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131. Visiting Mr. Toad: Secrets & Stories Inside Toad Hall - Mr. Toad Part 5

Jan 31 2025 86 mins  
Even if you’ve been on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride a thousand times, we guarantee you’ve missed at least one of these details. In this episode of Distory, we slow down our motorcar to a snail’s pace to analyze all of the elements inside Toad Hall in Disneyland’s Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. After looking over the toadally fun bookshelf puns, we speed away into the attraction, pausin

130. Changing Mr. Toad: Imagineering the "New" 1983 Toad Hall & Queue - Mr. Toad Part 4

Jan 24 2025 71 mins  
What do priest holes, artichokes, and old grape vines have to do with the current version of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride? On this episode of Distory, we drive along down the road to the 1983 remodel of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride in Disneyland. Along the way, we take a detour to Storybookland Canal Boats, learn about the design influences of Toad Hall, and discover some details that many pe

129. Remembering Mr. Toad: Riding the Original 1955 Attraction - Mr. Toad Part 3

Jan 17 2025 70 mins  
With teetering tea trays, lazy signalmen, and dangerous rogue props, the first version of Disney's Mr. Toad was a wild ride, indeed. In this episode of Distory, we continue merrily on our way to somewhere in particular, and that would be 1955 to take a ride on Disney’s original version of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. As we hop in a hot rod and speed our way through Toad Hall, we

128. Making Mr. Toad: Imagineering the Iconic 1955 Disney Attraction - Mr. Toad Part 2

Jan 10 2025 54 mins  
Mr. Toad’s ending wasn’t always as shocking as the one we know today. In this episode of Distory, we continue merrily on our way through this series featuring Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. We start off by highlighting Mr. Toad’s first pre-opening appearance in a 1954 Disneyland prospectus, before exploring a rare early Bruce Bushman “Motor Mania” concept that heavily influenced

127. Our Hero, Mr. Toad: The Mania of Disney’s Last Package Film - Mr. Toad's Wild Ride Part 1

Jan 03 2025 74 mins  
What do gremlins, sweet potatoes, rivets, and Sherlock Holmes have to do with Mr. Toad? In this episode, we find ourselves merrily on our way to a new series featuring Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride as we dive into our fourth season of Distory! In order to fully understand the only “Mister” in Disneyland, we begin with exploring the making of the package film that started it all: The

126. Hidden Secrets & Stories in the New Haunted Mansion Queue: Part 2

Dec 20 2024 82 mins  
Why are there so many random lawn ornaments in the new Haunted Mansion queue? On this episode of Distory, we use our knowledge of the history of the Haunted Mansion to try to make sense of the new expanded queue in Disneyland. We start with some discussion about why Disneyland’s queue is so drastically different than Disney World’s interactive one before inching our way past e

125. Hidden Secrets & Stories in the New Haunted Mansion Queue: Part 1

Dec 13 2024 68 mins  
There’s more to the new Haunted Mansion extended queue than meets the eye. In this episode of Distory, we return to Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion to find some hidden secrets and stories woven throughout the new extended queue area. We wind through this area one small step at a time to analyze each detail, including meaningful foxes, menacing cats, watchful ravens, spooky owls,

124. Finding Lost History on Disney's Skyways

Dec 06 2024 89 mins  
What do oscilloscopes, Swiss cheese, and Barack Obama have to do with Disney’s defunct Skyway ride? On this episode of Distory, we fly up above the Disney parks like a tea-tray in the sky as we board a bucket for the Skyway in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. This gondola ride not only provided a picture-perfect view of the parks, it carried history with it from some uniqu

123. 6 Obscure Disney History Stories We Are Thankful For

Nov 22 2024 76 mins  
When it comes to obscure Disney history, there is so much to be thankful for. From tiny pants to exploding sewer pipes, this episode truly has it all. In this episode of Distory, we each bring three unique stories from Disney history that people rarely talk about but we are thankful for. Kate kicks it off with what Lillian Disney thought of Walt’s food habits. Kirk then discusse

122. Finding Waltopia: The Making of EPCOT Center (Epcot's Origins Part 3)

Nov 15 2024 80 mins  
How did Epcot evolve from an experimental prototype community to a theme park with an identity crisis? In this episode of Distory, we wrap up our exploration of the evolution of EPCOT by discovering what happened to Walt’s concept of a futuristic community after he passed away. To get some context of how the team was trying to make it happen despite the loss, we review some rare