Triviateers
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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.

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.

"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!'"