Chat with the Chief Magic Official

[Justin M]

Hello! My name is Justin Muchoney and I was recently elected as the first ever Disney Parks CMO (Chief Magic Official).

Back in January Disney partnered with CareerBuilder.com to give one lucky Disney fan the ultimate dream job - a twelve month (part time!) position where the winner would have the opportunity to travel the country as a goodwill ambassador for the parks who helps to create magical memories for guests and serves as one of the faces of "The Year of a Million Dreams".

After a lengthy application, interview, voting, and competition period, I was announced the winner in a ceremony in the Rose Garden in the Magic Kingdom on April 22nd.

I thought that this thread would be a fun way to share my stories and experiences with you all - as well as a great place for you to ask questions and learn more about what it really takes to make the magic happen! I will post here as often as I can and I will make every attempt to respond to your questions.

For now, you can learn more about the CMO contest by visiting www.dreamcmo.com. On that site they still have links to the competition videos from April as well as a couple of photos and a 'thank you' note from me. I will be posting periodic updates there and it will be the most central location for all the details of my journeys. If you have a 'facebook' account, you can also find me on there (Justin Muchoney). I'll keep posting pictures from my trips as I get them to my facebook.

Welcome to this thread!

 

[disneytraveler]

Hi Justin
Glad to meet you. I wanted to participate in the contest but i could not get my webcam operating. I am sure others used a video camera. I thought with my background in performing magic and ventriloquism for family audiences i would fit right in. Plus as people said 'You go to Disney each year! on vacations
Please tell us how you are doing and what
Steve

 

[nts4wdw]

Great to meet you! I heard you on Lou Mongellos podcast and you sound like a super guy! Our family is looking forward to hearing about your adventures!

Good luck and Congratulations!

 

[bellaDisneydncr]

Awesome to meet you and congratulations!!!

And i saw you are from north of Pittsburgh- I am from just south of Pittsburgh! it's a small world!

 

[Justin M]

Hi Justin
Glad to meet you. I wanted to participate in the contest but i could not get my webcam operating. I am sure others used a video camera. I thought with my background in performing magic and ventriloquism for family audiences i would fit right in. Plus as people said 'You go to Disney each year! on vacations
Please tell us how you are doing and what
Steve

Steve - it's great to meet you too! Thanks for checking in! I'm sure your skills in magic and ventriloquism (did I spell that right??) are fantastic! I'm also quite certain that with talents like that you are making an awful lot of magical memories for kids and families all the time! When was your last trip to one of the parks and where do you most often visit?

I'll keep you as updated on my adventures as I can!

 

[Justin M]

Great to meet you! I heard you on Lou Mongellos podcast and you sound like a super guy! Our family is looking forward to hearing about your adventures!

Good luck and Congratulations!

Thank you so much, Lynn! I'm glad you caught that podcast. Lou is a great guy - I finally had the chance to meet him at the Press Event for Toy Story Mania! at Disney's Holloywood Studios the other week. Thanks also for your very gracious compliment!

As I said above, I'll work to keep you as up-to-date on what's going on as I can! Be sure to bookmark www.dreamcmo.com, though, as I'm guessing that will be my main page!

 

[Justin M]

Awesome to meet you and congratulations!!!

And i saw you are from north of Pittsburgh- I am from just south of Pittsburgh! it's a small world!

Great to meet you as well! Where do you live? I'm from the Cranberry area - about 15 or 20 miles north of the city - and I work in the North Hills.

I see you are headed on a trip soon - - -when do you leave and what are you planning on doing?

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Congrats! We look forward to hearing more about your adventures!

 

[Azure]

Nice to meet you Justin and congratulations on being the CMO!!!

(rooting for the Penguins to win the Stanley Cup)

 

[Justin M]

Congrats! We look forward to hearing more about your adventures!

Thanks!!

As a "filler" until I have time to write more, here's a teaser list that I posted on another thread. These are some of my adventures from my first official CMO trip . . .

1) Disney's Hollywood Studios at 5:00 in the morning (two days in a row!)

2) Taking two familys on to Toy Story Mania along with members of the Disney/CMO team and Homer from the Dream Squad . . . and we were the only people in there.

3) Visiting "Dream Central" - the backstage home of the Dream Squad at Epcot.

4) Eating a Mickey's Premium bar in the back stage home of the Magic Kingdom Dream Squad with at least 20 or 30 members of the squad.

5) The Utilidors

6) The control towers for Expedition Everest and Dinosaur.

 

[Justin M]

Nice to meet you Justin and congratulations on being the CMO!!!

(rooting for the Penguins to win the Stanley Cup)

THANKS! And you're a Penguins fan to boot - - -that's awesome! Hopefully Game 2 will go a little better than Game 1!

Nice to meet you as well, Azure! Please keeping checking in for more info!

 

[Azure]

THANKS! And you're a Penguins fan to boot - - -that's awesome! Hopefully Game 2 will go a little better than Game 1!

Nice to meet you as well, Azure! Please keeping checking in for more info!

(gosh I hope it does...20.00 of my own money is on the line)

So, what exactly do you do? It sounds really cool.

 

[bellaDisneydncr]

Great to meet you as well! Where do you live? I'm from the Cranberry area - about 15 or 20 miles north of the city - and I work in the North Hills.

I see you are headed on a trip soon - - -when do you leave and what are you planning on doing?

I'm from Uniontown (alright so i'm not JUST south of the city, but i still consider myself from the Pittsburgh area- i love pittsburgh!)

I leave on May 28th and we will be in the World for 10 days. I'm really excited! We are hitting all the parks and BB. I'm most excited for the P&PP on May 31st. This is my first time going to a special ticketed event, so I can't wait!

 

[anabelle]

Justin,
Congrats!
I see you are from PA. My husband is from Evans City (by Butler) Have you heard of it?

BTW,
We live in the Detroit area, so it is tough having a house full of Red Wing fans vs. one lonely Penguin.

 

[Justin M]

Justin,
Congrats!
I see you are from PA. My husband is from Evans City (by Butler) Have you heard of it?

BTW,
We live in the Detroit area, so it is tough having a house full of Red Wing fans vs. one lonely Penguin.

Hello! Thanks for the congrats! Yeah, I know where Evans City is . . . I live about 10 miles from there! Good luck holding your own against those Red Wings fans!

 

[Justin M]

I'm from Uniontown (alright so i'm not JUST south of the city, but i still consider myself from the Pittsburgh area- i love pittsburgh!)

I leave on May 28th and we will be in the World for 10 days. I'm really excited! We are hitting all the parks and BB. I'm most excited for the P&PP on May 31st. This is my first time going to a special ticketed event, so I can't wait!

Wonderful! Have an amazing time! Who all is going with you? Please make sure you stop back in after your trip and tell us all about it! I'd love to hear about the Pirates and Princesses Party as that's on the list of things I've yet to experience!

 

[bellaDisneydncr]

Thanks! My mom, grandma, and aunt are going with me. It's a nice girls trip I will definitely keep everyone updated on how it goes!

Let's Go Pens!!

 

[DISgeeksfromDC]

Justin: 'Just wanted to pop in to say, "Hello"! It's great to see that you have your new thread up and running!

(I'm sure that plenty of other folks from "The Adventurosity Club" and "We Be Trippin': The Great DIS-nee Road Trip" threads will stop by as soon as they get the "memo"! )

 

[catotigger]

Hey Justin!

Glad to see you stirring up interest on your own thread!

I have a question - during the competitions at WDW in April, which was your favorite?

-Stroller Derby
-Throw in the Towel
-Loudest Crowd
-Know the Show
-Making Faces

(For those who didn't see them...the competition videos are HERE)

I know which one was MY favorite...how about YOU?

Cat

 

[eyeore]

im very pleased to meet you justin. congrats on the new job. wow youre gonna have a great year and i cant wait to hear all about it