Geek'd Con 2024 gets closer by the day and today we've got our eyes set on one magical guest coming to Shreveport this year. In 2009 the world lost Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse, so Disney looked to Wayne's protege, Bret Iwan, to fill in the big yellow shoes left behind.

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Bret Iwan was born in 1982 and from a young age set his sights on the world of cartoons and, no pun intended, the world of Disney. Around the age of 6 Bret's determination manifested itself when he sent a letter to Disney Studios asking for a job, and while he didn't end up getting a job he did get a letter in the mail back from Disney explaining to him exactly how he could get his start in the business, I'd imagine that first step would be something along the lines of "Step 1: Wait until you're older." Growing older Bret found he could do a pretty convincing Mickey Mouse voice, using it mostly as a party trick as he grew up.

Bret went on to get a degree from Ringling College of Art and Design which springboarded him into a job drawing art for Hallmark greeting cards in Kansas City. In early 2009 Bret was sent an email from a college friend who worked at Pixar, the email explained that Disney was looking for someone to work alongside Wayne Allwine as an understudy. Bret at first thought this was a prank but quickly was assured that indeed Disney was searching for a new mouse.

Excitedly Bret called his parents and told them about the opportunity to which his mom said "I thought you did a better Donald Duck." To convince his parents he really could do the voice of Mickey Mouse he told them he would play them a recording of Mickey Mouse and then he would do his take on Mickey's voice for them, instead, he pretended to play them lines of Mickey while doing the voice himself. After revealing his switchero to his parents they were convinced he could be the one. Bret says he took the chance "...just for the hell of it, cause I thought it would be a really cool story to tell."

After Bret sent off his audition tape it took weeks to get a response but Disney asked him to come to Los Angeles and try out in person. Bret happily accepted this opportunity but felt utterly terrified as he had never been in a professional recording booth or done professional recording. The same day as Bret's audition Wayne Allwine fell ill and required immediate hospitalization, sadly Wayne would pass away a short time after this.

Days later Bret got a call back from Disney, while at the exact moment, they weren't ready to give him the role they wanted to bring him out for more auditions, which quickly turned into being passed the torch of the beloved cartoon mouse.