The Magic behind the Magic
Disney Theme Parks’ Press Agent “Tells All”
By Marilyn Loeser
 Whether your journey is on foot or aboard a horse-drawn
trolley, if you’ve visited Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom near Orlando,
Florida, you’ve experienced the magic of Main Street USA.
Imaginary office space located over shops selling
souvenirs, glassware, jewelry and ice cream are occupied by fictitious business
proprietors, including RIDGWAY PUBLIC RELATIONS. Charles Ridgway. Press Agent.
No Event Too Small.
It’s all part of the illusion of being somewhere, but
nowhere; in the moment, but also in a dream — this is Walt Disney World after
all. It’s also an honor to be chosen as one of the few to have their names
written on one of the window panes.
 Charles Ridgway certainly deserves the honor. In fact, to
Disney marketing and publicity insiders and hordes of journalists covering
Disney theme park events over the past 40 years, Ridgway is a legend. He spent
his career dreaming up new and better ways to get publicity for Disney theme
parks in Anaheim, Orlando, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong without advertising.
In his memoir, Spinning Disney’s World: Memories of A Magic
Kingdom Press Agent, Ridgway recounts his many triumphs.
 Take for example when Donald Duck turned 50. Fifty white
Peking ducks paraded down Main Street behind Donald Duck to help him celebrate
his birthday.
This was no easy task.
Donald himself had to be on hand when the ducklings
hatched, so that he would be the first thing they saw. That way, they would
“imprint” on him and follow him anywhere.
And, when the celebration was over, Ridgway arranged to
donate pairs of these ducks to zoos around the country, guaranteeing another
avalanche of publicity.
As a journalist and travel writer, witnessing many of his
ingenious fetes at events in both Florida and California, for me, this was a
journey down memory lane. For any Disney theme park fan, this is also a
must-read.
 A young journalist and Disneyland
After three semesters at the University of Missouri,
Ridgway joined the U.S. Army for the next two years ending up as a Tech 5 with
the 13th Armored Division Field Artillery in battles through France and Germany.
Returning to college, Ridgway helped edit the Missouri
Student newspaper and a weekly local radio show.
After graduation from the school of journalism, he began
working as a reporter for the nation’s third oldest radio station in Central
Illinois and married his college sweetheart Gretta. The couple soon moved on to
an NBC affiliate in Erie, Pennsylvania. Ridgway was a radio newsman and wrote a
daily 15-minute western serial show called the “Ghost Rider.”
 Then came a year at the Erie Dispatch, followed by a move
to California where he became a reporter for The Los Angeles Mirror News.
The young couple chose the sleepy little town of Anaheim
with a population of only 19,000 for their new home, never guessing its
proximity to the future site of Disneyland. Ridgway made his first “visit” to
Disneyland three months before its opening in 1955. He snuck a six-year-old
neighbor boy under the fence for a feature story in a major Los Angeles
newspaper recounting a sneak-peak into what was then known as “Walt’s Folly.”
Eight year’s later he signed on as a Disney publicist and
spent the next four decades cooking up ways to get free publicity for the “Mouse
House.”
Celebrities and honored guests
Every Disney media event is a chance to rub elbows with
celebrities — current Disney television and movie stars, politicians, and
celebrities being honored for their lifelong contributions to the art of
entertainment.
In Spinning Disney’s World, Ridgway talks first hand about
his relationships with Walt, Roy O. Disney and Michael Eisner. As a result, he
has a unique perspective on the controversy that surrounded Eisner’s last years
at the company.
He also got to know virtually every famous journalist of
the past half century from Lowell Thomas and Walter Cronkite to Charlie Gibson
and Diane Sawyer.
This is a great book for anyone enamored with Disney theme
parks and the behind-the-scenes magic Ridgway helped create.
Spinning Disney’s World is available in bookstores
nationwide, from online bookstores, by calling 203-488-5341 or by visiting
www.IntrepidTraveler.com.
Published by The Intrepid Traveler
ISBN: 978-1-887140-67-6
256 pages
6 in. x 9 in.
11 photographs
Index
Hard cover original
USA: $24.95
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