WDW Monorail Voice


Tannerman

Member
My wife and I were recently at WDW for a conference (our last visit was back in 2001). I had noticed that the voice on the monorail was different from the one I remember in the 90's.

Poking around the net a little, I pieced together a list of folks who had done the voiceovers on the WDW monorails. My incomplete list is as follows:

1. Jack Wagner
2. Kevin Miles
3. Matt Hansen
4. [New guy]

I believe Hansen is the voice I remember during my trips to WDW (with Jack still doing his classic "please stand clear of the doors" spiel). From what I've read, Hansen now works for Disney Cruise Line in Florida. I believe he does the intro to WDW's new podcast as well.

Does anyone have more detailed info about the monorail voices of WDW, perhaps with dates of when certain voices were used (or additions to the list above).

Personally, I'm not a fan of the "new guy", but maybe that 's just tradition. The spiel has also been heavily loaded with advertising more than before. Just comes off as somewhat robotic.

I've got audio clips of the Hansen and Wagner spiels... can't say I remember what Miles sounded like. Anyone have insight on this "Monorail Guy" story at WDW? :)
 

BLM07

Member
Matt Hansen must have been there for at least the mid 90s till 2004.

I found some information from the hidden mickeys site:
Throughout the 1970's and into the 1980's the voice heard on all Disney monorails, as well as most all the voiceover work for all the parks was the legendary "Voice of Disney", Jack Wagner.

...

to my knowledge Kevin never did the spiels. Kevin is from my home town and I've talked to him several times
http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/WDW/Secrets.html

I've never heard any monorail recordings with anyone besides Jack Wagner or Matt Hansen but then I also read somewhere else that Kevin did the narration up until the 25th Aniversary. The only other performer on the monorail is probably Chris Sanders as Stitch (or a sound alike).

I checked out the podcast and Matt does do the intro and outro, its kinda cool to hear that familar voice again.
 

Tannerman

Member
I was going through some of my older Walt Disney World Forever CDs the other day and came across one that I had made in '01. On this particular disc, I have the following monorail-related tracks:

1. Walt Disney World Monorail, "Jack Wagner Spiel 1972 #1" 3:16
2. Walt Disney World Monorail, "Jack Wagner Spiel 1972 #2" 2:21
3. Walt Disney World Monorail, "Safety Spiel (Monorail Spiel 1998)" Part 1 2:53
4. Walt Disney World Monorail, "Safety Spiel (Monorail Spiel 1998)" Part 2 4:10

The first two obviously have Jack Wagner as the monorail voice. #3 and #4 are the odd ones, however. I think this might be a case of mislabeling in the on-demand service at the time. #4 is definitely a monorail spiel, though it runs 2:55, not 4:10 as stated. I believe this voice is Matt Hansen.

#3 is the issue. It doesn't seem like a monorail spiel at all, and actually runs 1:04, not the 2:53 that is listed in the liner notes. I can't identify the voice either. Can any of you? If this track is not a monorail spiel, then where was it used? Here's a sample:

Excerpt of #3
(MP3, 0:18, 296k)

Thanks,
Steve
 

SoccerMickey

New Member
That track is the Magic Kingdom entrance spiel played at opening time in the Magic Kingdom. I am not sure if that voice is currently used but it might sound odd because usually in the park there is music that accompanies it.
 

Zarpman

Member
As of July 05 they were still using that Magic Kingdom voice over intro.

The Forever system had the track incorrectly labeled for several months. The track was corrected in the latter days of the system. The Magic Kingdom intro was never "officially" offered, only as this error.
 

Tannerman

Member
The Forever system had the track incorrectly labeled for several months. The track was corrected in the latter days of the system. The Magic Kingdom intro was never "officially" offered, only as this error.

Thanks for the update, Zarpman. Would you happen to know the exact name that was used for the track when it was correctly labeled?
 

Zarpman

Member
I recently moved and its in a box somewhere. Maybe someone here has it more readily available? If not, give me a few days to track down the box labeled "Disney Music, Box 17" :)
 

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