I’m a huge Star Wars nerd and always excited to see new droids in any movie. I grew up in Southern California and after graduating high school, I moved to Huntington Beach, and though I visited Disneyland many times as a kid, it was from living in HB where I got my love for the park and my appreciation for Walt himself.
I took wood shop in Jr High and High School and also stage craft, where we built sets for school plays and I learned about lighting and even got to stage manage a few shows. Also during High School, I started tinkering around with HTML and taught myself how to build websites using Notepad.. and this was around 1995. This eventually led to learning more about programming, which I’m still doing today, as a NetSuite Developer. But at some point, after relocating to Arizona in 2007, coming from Boston, which I moved to after being in Huntington Beach for a few years, I found my love for wood working again and combined that for my love of Disney and started making replica signs an crafts.
It was at that point when I started filming my creating and posting to YouTube. Because of that, I’ve some really great and popular YouTube woodworkers, like Izzy Swan, Jimmy DiResta, Paul Jackman and many more, plus joined a local Facebook group a met other incredible wood and metal artists such as, Eric (and family) from Make a Wood Sign, Ty from Monoloco Workshop, Sadie from Awesome Orange and more. And because I was making Disney themed crafts, I started meeting Disney Vloggers as well, like Justin Scarred, Alex the Historian, Heyman with Jayman and LMG Vids and that eventually led to meeting Disney Legend and former Imagineer, Bob Gurr and getting to hang out and chat with him on many occasions. Bob, for those who don’t know, they say, had a hand in designing pretty much anything at Disneyland that has wheels. This also includes, the Monorail, Peoplemover, the Haunted Mansion Doom Buggys, Autopia cars and so mach more.
This is how I met my fellow co-host Steve. He was a follower and friend of Alex the Historian and at some point, Alex and I became friends and Steve started following my channel, which led to us talking and eventually me asking him to do these Ride Thru Commentary videos. Those videos, which we still continue to make, had some awesome conversations with just the 2 of us or with any guests we had on. Naturally, we had to start a podcast to expend on those conversations, and include interviewing other creative individuals and/or fans of all things Disney, play some armchair Imagineering games and more. Then this Goofy guy named, Jeff, came along, to fill in an empty seat we didn’t know we had, until he sat in it.
Personal Bits
Current Location:
- Surprise, AZ
Hometown:
- Redondo Beach, CA
Hobbies:
- Spending Time at Disneyland
- Playing Guitar
- Woodworking
- Graphic Design
- Programming
- Watching, Learning From & Creating YouTube Videos
- Enjoying a Movie on the Big Screen
Favorite Movies:
- Star Wars
- Shawshank Redemption
- Tron Legacy
- Hudsucker Proxy
Favorite Disney Characters:
- Jiminy Cricket
- Stitch
- Chip
- Wall-e
Featured Media
I created this iPad holder in the style of a retro TV for Ernie of Haunted OC and Fandom Productions. Ernie also happens to be Disney Legend and Imagineer Bob Gurr’s manager. I presented this product to Ernie while he and Bob were in my neck of the woods, Pheonix, AZ as Bob was doing one of his talking events at Porter Barn Wood, a place that is owned by a fellow woodworker and Disney fan, Thomas Porter.
Bob Gurr has created/designed some of the most popular rides at Disneyland and just about anything with wheels.. from Autopia to the Haunted Mansion doom buggies. He also happened to create one of my favorite rides as a kid, the Peoplemover. Seeing him this excited about something I created, was one of my greatest days, and well, made my year!
This little TV, originally built to draw attention to Ernie’s booth at the Antique Station in Orange, CA, can now by seen on the set of Bob Gurr’s podcast, The Bob Gurr Show.
This is a brief overview of my build process creating a custom 4ft version of the classic Disneyland landmark sign. Included is the history of the signs Disneyland has had so far and some related facts, photos and videos.
If you’d like to see the full build video of me creating the classic sign, head over to my first YouTube channel, Interactive Realm, where you’ll not only find that video, but tons more and not only theme park related content.
This was a fun short movie I made with a neighbor for Halloween. We also created a Halloween decoration / sign for his yard, which you can see is this video, but a video of us building that sign, can be found here.
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Interactive Realm
Signs of Amusement
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