Regis & Disney

 I  have said goodbye to a friend I let into  my living room each morning and I'm sure many of you have as well. True, I may have never meant the man himself but he always had a sense of warmth to him and I wanted to honor him but I wasn't sure how to do so, and then it hit me.  He has been part of the Disney family for quite some time and he has appeared in many different Disney produced things.


Now I actually first took notice of him when on Christmas day, I would tune into the Disney Parks Parade and I saw this funny man, that I had seen somewhere else before sitting in The Magic Kingdom talking about all of the great Disney characters.

Watching Regis and Kathie and then later Regis and Kelly sit there and just  have the time of their lives talking about these characters just made this parade all the sweeter. I have always felt that Regis and Kelly had a great sense of chemistry and were the best hosts for this job.  I always looked forward to them hosting the parade because as much as I loved seeing the park, I enjoyed seeing them. Needless to say when I tuned in last year expecting Regis and Kelly but instead got  Ryan Seacrest and Nick Cannon, I was disappointed.   Now I understand with Regis retiring that he may not have wanted to host the parade that year but you couldn't find better replacement than those two.  I know the parade is pre-recorded but I'm hoping against that Kelly makes an appearance.

Besides that on occasion, the show would uproot itself and go to a special location for a week and they have it Disney World, Disneyland, & the Disney Cruise Line.

Those were always some of my favorite episodes to watch because whenever any show goes on location but you know me being a sucker for Disney, I loved these shows and of  course, it didn't hurt that Live was & to some extent still is my favorite daytime talk show. Because it makes you safe and as if there is a net. Also the humor was great, mix that in with all these great Disney locations, it's a recipe for success.   My favorite is when Regis and Kelly took the show to the cruise,   it was just so magical.


Now one of the biggest successes ever that I have is Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which if you were alive during the good years of that show, you would know that Regis was the host.  It was great and later when now the now gone, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire: Play It in both Disney's California Adventure  and Disney's MGM Studios (now Hollywood Studios) first opened,  Regis was actually  went to both  to tape episodes  of the hit game show.

That just goes to show how good the design of the attraction was and while I never got to see Regis when I went to either park, I imagine for his fans that had to be something special.   RichTV said it best, Regis was the best host and no one can top for this show.  I feel the same can be said for Live as well. I mean Kelly is hot but they need a host with the same kind of spark as Regis.


The  next thing I wish to bring up is an episode of Lilo and Stitch: The Series which I  originally was going to review as my Regis tribute.  That was until I realized how involved he had been with Disney and decided to expand upon that. In this episode, Lilo and Stitch are after an experiment that makes people Drowsy hence the name of the character and episode while Hamsterveil believes Regis is the most powerful human in the world and uses mind control, he tells Gantu to kidnap him.   Lilo and Stitch save Regis, it was funny and a little odd seeing Regis on this. But all the same, it was a fun episode.   In case your curious here is what the alien looked like

Regis has recently been bestowed the title of a Disney Legend which puts him among The Sherman Brothers and  Julie Andrews as people who have been given this honor.   He was recognized for have spent 17,000 hours in front of a television camera and I liked to use a quote from Regis about this.

I got to say, it really is quite an honor. I don't even know I deserve this

Believe me,  Mr. Philbin you do.   I truly feel that they couldn't have picked a better to give this honor too. Now he wasn't the only given this honor as Jim Henson was also bestowed a Disney Legend title they year as well.  Sure, his announcement probably played some part in it but all the same, he is a legend.

You Ladies man, you!

I hope you have enjoyed my look at Regis and sure it wasn't a biographical look but rather some of his involvement with Disney and why I enjoyed that stuff.  To end this, I'd like to use a song from my favorite non-Disney musical, RENT which was reworked for his final show.  I give you  Seasons of Love (Regis Version)





To Mr. Philbin, what can I say? On the days when I was sick, you cheered me up.  I have watched you for as long as I can recall.  Granted, I didn't become a big fan until Kelly came along but you have always been very funny and always appeared to be a very kind hearted man.  Many people's mornings including my own won't be the same now that your gone.  Thank you for everything.  Words cannot express how we feel.  I'd also like to thank RichTV as his tribute inspired me to do one of my own but of course I had to give it that Disney touch.