Kelly McCubbin

King Kong

King Kong and Universal or: Is That a Banana in Your Pocket or Are You Just Glad to See Me?

A movie masterpiece turns into a theme park masterstroke.

Disneyland

Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure and the Giant Ice-Maker of Doom | The Lowdown on the Plus-Up

A deep dive into the attraction that reshaped Adventureland forever.

Disneyland

Disneyland — Can We Still Find Walt? | Lowdown on the Plus-Up

We search for traces of the dreamer himself.

Disney

Disneyland Abu Dhabi — Does Disney Know What They’re Getting Into?

What does Disney want, what do they expect and what do they really understand about the motivations of an emirate?

Disneyland

Big Thunder Mountain — The Mine Train that Ran Away from History | Lowdown on the Plus-Up

Roaring out of the mythology of American history and the shattered dreams of one of Disney’s greatest Imagineers, comes the story of Big…

Playland

Ghosts Of Playland At The Beach | Lowdown on the Plus-Up

The long gone park at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach.

Disneyland

This Hidden River Is Disneyland’s Quiet Magic | Lowdown on the Plus-Up

An hidden feature from 1955 might be the most impressive feat of engineering at Disneyland.

Universal Studios

How Jay Stein Invented the Modern Theme Park — Lowdown on the Plus-Up Takes the Glamour Tram to a…

Kelly and Pete go deep into the life of the late Jay Stein, the genius behind Universal Theme Parks.

Universal Studios

Universal Studios Theme Park Visionary Jay Stein Dead at 88

He was the man who took a simple movie studio tour and changed theme parks forever.

Knotts Berry Farm

Boysenscary! The History of Knott’s Scary Farm on Lowdown on the Plus-Up

Pete and Kelly Dive Deep Into the Godfather of Theme Park Haunts

Ray Bradbury

The True Story of Ray Bradbury and Theme Parks with Dr. Phil Nichols

Or… Pete and Kelly Become Desperate for Validation and Call an Expert!

Film

The Poet and the Boy Wonder — Orson Welles in The Fall of the City

The strange tale of how a single poem created an auteur.

Disney

Ray Bradbury’s Theme Park — The Great Electric Time Maze

You’ve never seen another theme park like this!

Alien Earth

Alien: Earth and Disney’s Obsession with the Xenomorph

The Walt Disney Company has been chasing a monster for forty years. Was catching it worth the cost?

Star Trek

The Lowdown on the Plus-Up: Star Trek — Roddenberry’s Dream Escapes the Screen

The enduring science fiction franchise and its forays into the real world.

The Lion King

Disney A to G(#) — Part Four: The Lion King Completes a Circle

Two composers, almost a century apart, meet in a Disney film.

Disneyland

The Lowdown on the Plus-Up: Jungle Cruise Evolution: The Indy Years

Indiana Jones reshapes Disneyland’s most famous attraction.

Universal Studios

The Amity Inversion — Jaws at Universal

The Lowdown on the Plus-Up Season 2, Episode 2

Mystery Spot

America’s Addiction to Gravity — Mystery Spots

The Lowdown on the Plus-Up Season 2, Episode 1.

Disneyland

A Salute to Attractions The Disney Parks Never Should Have Closed (But Mostly Muppet*Vision 3D)

The closing of a masterpiece leaves us thinking about earlier retired attractions.

Doctor Who

The Uncertain Future of Doctor Who

After a thrilling finale, has the longest science fiction show in history come to an end?

Disneyland

When the Motion Stopped: Tomorrowland Live at the Hojo!

The Lowdown on the Plus-Up Episode 21

Film

Why I’d Bring The Archers Back From the Dead for One More Film

Why we need a spiritual successor to Colonel Blimp

Disneyland

RunDisney Places Indefinite Pause on Disneyland Races, but Why?

Disneyland Half Marathon, we hardly knew ye.

Universal Studios

Fire and Baby Oil — Conan: A Sword and Sorcery Spectacular

The Lowdown on the Plus-Up Episode 20