The Triviateer Logo, created by six-time finalist Gary Pyle.

Disney animation had the Nine Old Men. Club 55 was an assemblage of original cast members from Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom. And from malls across America came the Disney Store National Trivia Finalists, also known as Triviateers. A total of 50 cast members would earn the title of Triviateer as their knowledge of all things Disney took them on a special journey from onstage at their individual stores to onstage at the Happiest Place on Earth.

Though the contests began in 1989, the Triviateers did not technically come into being until October 19, 1992 when six-time finalist Gary Pyle coined the term and began a newsletter to help the contest participants keep in touch with one another.

"You know how people always trade addresses and phone numbers and promise to write but never do? I thought I'd actively keep everyone in touch. Just write to me and I'd put it all together as news for all of us trivia friends to share," said Gary.

The Disney Store Trivia Champion Trophy. This would be passed on from winner to winner and displayed in the store's Disneyana display case for a year.

Through the years, the Disney Store National Trivia Competition would continue to evolve but the basics remained the same. Cast members in each store would work together to solve 12 monthly trivia questions from January through July. If a store maintained a certain percentage of correct answers, it would be eligible to have one of its hourly employees - chosen by winning an in-store contest - represent the store at a regional competition. The eight cast members with the highest scores at these regional competitions from across the country would then be sent to Disneyland to compete against each other for the title of National Trivia Champion. Once a cast member won the competition, he or she would no longer be eligible to compete in future years.

"It was fun seeing how the concept seemed to expand each year," said Barb Ogorek, a five-time representative of stores in the Woodfield and Charlestowne malls in Illinois. "The first year I was there, it was held at the Golden Horseshoe and was just this small, kind of intimate little theater. Then they moved it to the Fantasyland Theater (Videopolis) and it became a true Disney 'production.'

"There was one year when they made a trivia competition training video for the stores. After the competition, we had to go all over Disneyland and be filmed in costume on the carousel and the tea cups, running through the castle, etc. Regular Disneyland guests had no idea who we were but they were taking our pictures like crazy, figuring we were 'somebodies' since we had our own film crew following us around!"

Triviateers onstage at Disneyland's Tomorrowland Terrace during The Disney Store National Trivia Competition in 1995.

The Disney Store did a great job of making sure that each Triviateer felt like they were a "somebody." There were many perks to participating in the contest beyond a free trip to Disneyland. Highlights for many included a parade down Main Street U.S.A., lunch at the exclusive Club 33, a train ride around the park in the private Lilly Belle car, a tour of Walt's Apartment above the firehouse and the chance to meet honorary Triviateer Dave Smith, the head of the Walt Disney Archives, who wrote each year's questions.

"I felt that we received almost the royal treatment while in California," said Steve Burns, who represented the now-closed Oak Court Disney Store in Memphis, Tennessee. "In 1993, at our rehearsal in Disneyland after the park had closed, we all had cake for Dave Smith's birthday. That was also the year that we toured Feature Animation and Imagineering. I believe those tours, along with Dave's tour of Walt's apartment, were the highlight of that trip."

The creation of the Disney Store National Trivia Competition was a reflection of the company's corporate philosophies at the time. Still a unique idea in retail, the themed experience of The Disney Store was meant to complement the Walt Disney Company's other business units, to serve as a synergistic kiosk in malls across America. The stores were outposts of happiness.

1995's trivia contest was themed to "Doctor of Trivia." Here Triviateers are showcasing their flag-waving skills in the "entertainment" portion of the contest.

Sue Ann Finstick, who in 1995 represented the store at the Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, said, "To me, the Disney Store wasn't just another retail job. It was an opportunity to be part of the Disney magic, and knowing Disney history and sharing that with guests was part of the fun, and made me feel like part of the magic."

"When I first started working at the store, the atmosphere was really Disney," said Lorraine Gordon, a representative of stores in the Danbury Fair Mall in Danbury, Connecticut, and Jefferson Valley Mall in Yorktown Heights, New York. "We were told that the stores were the park experience at the local level. Managers wanted people like me who not only loved Disney, but who knew a lot about Walt and Disney animation. Back then, many of the guests still came in just to talk Disney and were expected to find answers to any questions they had. We were encouraged to share our knowledge and enthusiasm."

John Kurowski, 1996's trivia champion from the Emerald Square store in North Attelboro, Massachusetts, agrees. "In the 1990s, people came into the Disney Store as it was an extension of the theme parks. That was something even the cast members were taught to believe. That is something the store does not believe in anymore, apparently, and it shows."

Becoming a Triviateer was sometimes a life-changing event and many of the participants still look back on their competition with much affection.

Final trivia champion Kevin Burk is crowned winner at the 1999 competition and presented with the trivia trophy as confetti falls all around him.

"My time with the Disney Store and with the trivia competition was an experience I will not forget," said 1990 champion Michael McNiel from the Disney Store at North Park Center in Dallas, Texas. "I always hope there is more to my life than just that, but it was a great piece of my life. The best thing about all of it was not winning - that's great to start a conversation with, though - but the enjoyment of the trip and the people I met made it the experience that it was. The people I know from the Disney Store make up the very core group of the best people I know in the world. I can't think of many times I could say that about a job or a contest."

Donald Smith, a Triviateer from the first two years of the contest's existence, reflected, "One experience I'll always cherish is that the second year, Home Base (Disney Store's corporate headquarters) notified local newspapers of the participants, and I was interviewed by 'The Tuscaloosa News' and the Sunday before the finals, my picture and the story appeared on the front page. For several months afterward, if I met someone and told them that I worked for the Disney Store, they would often say that they remembered reading in the paper about a Disney trivia person, and it felt great to say, 'That was me!'"

Continued

We Were Started By A Mouse Too!  •  When In Cyberspace ... Disney Link Directory  •  

  •  Purchase Walt Disney World Tickets here - DISNEY TICKETS via DWTickets.com  •  

  •  Receive discounts on ORLANDO VACATION HOMES near Disney World from OrlandoVacation.com  •