In 1972, Bob Cross, who was the entertainment director at the Magic Kingdom, heard Regeneration sing at a rotary luncheon in Winter Garden. He hired the group to come to Walt Disney World for 11 days, performing four shows a day. The Magic Kingdom's entertainment department had desperately been trying to get operations to build them a stage in front of Cinderella Castle. But says Johnson, operations thought that no one would want to watch a show in front of the castle and entertainment wanted to bring someone in to prove that wrong. So Regeneration came to Walt Disney World in 1973 in a show called the Star Spangled Spectacular. Regeneration appeared in February 1973 during I Am an American Week. A tribute to the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. This occasion had been proclaimed by both Orlando Mayor Carl Langford and Florida Governor Ruben Esquieu. Many special events were planned during this week long festival. Regeneration would perform daily at 2, 4, and 7 pm, and guests enjoyed a special Spirit of 76 parade down Main Street at 5:30. following the parade of special flag retreat ceremony was held in town square. I am an American week continued in 1974 where a special ceremony was added after the flag retreat. At 6 p.m. daily a full concert band under the direction of Florida Symphony Manager Bob Landers, combined with a choir of over 400 voices for a salute to our nation narrated by ex-POW Major Glendon Perkins of Orlando. The program had previously been presented at
Disneyland where it was awarded the George Washington Honor Medal by the Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge. In that inaugural year, Regeneration earned that four-court stage with large crowds that lined up down Main Street. The group came back for several more years doing a patriotic program before Disney put Kids of the Kingdom together.
According to Johnson, he was all for that group, but wanting to move on to different things parted ways with Disney. During his time away from Disney, Johnson did several things, including some writing for Radio City Musical. Johnson also recorded an acapella Christmas album with Regeneration during that time, which again brought him to Disney's attention. With the Christmas album garnering attention, Disney asked him to bring the sound back to Walt Disney World and perform there during the Christmas season of 1977. So Regeneration returned to the Magic Kingdom, performing there as Christmas carolers. After four hours of caroling, they would head to the Walt Disney World village, where they would perform three daily sets of the Living Nativity scene, where they provided singing and narration. After this Regeneration became a Christmas staple at Walt Disney World up until the time when Epcot opened.
In the March prior to Epcot's October 1982 opening Disney again contacted Johnson saying that they were considering featuring an acapella group at American Adventure called Voices of Liberty. Johnson agreed to lead the group. According to him, Disney was unable to find singers of the desired skill set so he contacted many of the people he had worked with in Regeneration. The Voices of Liberty, he says, was in many ways a grown-up version of Regeneration. Now that they were rooted in one place the members could settle down and raise families. When the curtain rose on Epcot Center, the voices were there with Johnson serving as show director, producer, and musical director.
