Len Testa starts off this week’s episode by talking about why WDW’s Coronado Springs Resort may have changed the name of its Pepper Market food court. Then Jim Hill talks about how Southern Californians seeming to lose interest in Disneyland’s “Bear Country” area led to the creation of “The Country Bear Christmas Special” Shownotes here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 21, 2020•34 min
Len talks about how the Spice Road Table restaurant at World Showcase’s Morocco pavilion may soon see a menu change. Then Jim Hill shares the tale of the Southern Californian family which provided Disneyland Park with its Christmas Trees for nearly two decades Shownotes here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 14, 2020•43 min•Ep. 300
Wondery’s newest podcast, Little Stories Everywhere, is the perfect immersive experience to share by the fireplace with loved ones this holiday season. Each episode will be the reading of a children’s classic - some of the most magical stories ever told, now reimagined with enchanting sound design for families to enjoy together or adults to enjoy on their own. Little Stories Everywhere is out now, premiering with A Merry Christmas, a collection of holiday tales by Louisa May Alcott that truly em...
Dec 07, 2020•5 min
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s episode by describing WDW’s new character caravan, which is now making regular stops at several on-property hotels. They then look back at how Disneyland Entertainment director Tommy Walker made that theme park’s earlier holiday celebrations look bigger & grander than they actually were Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 07, 2020•38 min•Ep. 299
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s episode by looking back on the career of Joe Rohde, who recently announced that he will be retiring from Walt Disney Imagineering in January. Jim then concluded his series on the renaming / rebranding of Disney’s Dixie Landings Resort Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 30, 2020•47 min
Len Testa starts off this week’s show by sharing a real Thanksgiving dinner conversation starter, the Cube Rule of Food. Jim Hill then continues his series about the development of the Port Orleans & Dixie Landings Resort for the WDW Resort Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 23, 2020•48 min
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by talking about why WDW officials have decided to hold off opening “Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure” at Epcot ‘til the first quarter of 2021. They then share a recent survey that throws a spotlight on what the WDW Resort is considering offering to lure Guests back down to Central Florida once a coronavirus vaccine is readily available Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 16, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 296
Len Testa shares news about how the Disney Cruise Line must first go through simulated cruises where the boats remain tied up to the dock before the CDC will then clear them for sailings. Then Jim Hill talks about how Dick Nunis once wanted to use the Empress Lilly as the jumping-off point for a Southern-themed expansion of the Walt Disney World Village at Lake Buena Vista Ep 295 Shownotes here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 09, 2020•40 min
Len Testa starts off this week’s show by sharing a survey Six Flags recently sent out, which shines a spotlight on the grim reality that the entire theme park industry is facing right now. Then Jim Hill looks back at the history of River Country, WDW’s first water park. Disney Dish Ep 294 shownotes: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 02, 2020•45 min•Ep. 294
Len Testa starts off this episode by talking about the problems he has with Governor Newsom’s guidelines for the re-opening of California’s theme parks. Jim Hill then looks back on why it took Epcot’s “Wonders of Life” 12 years to move from its initial design phase in 1977 to when this Future World pavilion officially opens its doors back in October of 1989. Shownotes: https://tinyurl.com/y4tuj9kp Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 26, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 293
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by talking about Walt Disney World’s Swan and Dolphin’s decision to switch over from WDW’s bus system to Mears. Then they welcome their special guest, Smithsonian museum specialist Bethanee Bemis, who talks about Disney theme parks and the American Experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 19, 2020•1 hr 9 min
Len Testa starts out this week’s show with an enthusiastic review of Foxx Nolte’s “Boundless Realm” book, which takes its readers behind-the-scenes at the Haunted Mansion. Then Jim Hill concludes his Disney Princesses in the Parks series by talking about how WDW’s New Fantasyland project changed course in mid-construction Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 12, 2020•44 min•Ep. 291
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s episode by talking about the recent round of layoffs at Disney Parks & Resorts. Jim then explains how Tom Staggs swapping jobs with Jay Rasulo impacted WDI’s original expansion plans for Fantasyland at WDW’s Magic Kingdom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 05, 2020•40 min
Len Testa starts off this week’s show with an update on the walkway being constructed between Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and WDW’s Magic Kingdom. Jim Hill then talks about why the Imagineer were initially reluctant to embrace the Disney Princess brand Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 28, 2020•50 min
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by answering a listener question about those “Oseola Class” sidewheelers that used to cruise around Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake. They then discuss the role draining the Rivers of America back in the Fall of 1972 played in the construction of WDW’s version of Tom Sawyer Island. Vintage photos are available on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CFYa1Hyj1OO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/ad...
Sep 21, 2020•46 min
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by talking about how COVID-19 is forcing The Walt Disney World Resort to deck its halls a little differently in 2020. They then discuss why it took WDAS 30 years after “Sleeping Beauty” was first released to theaters to make another Disney Princess movie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 14, 2020•49 min
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by discussing the significance of WDW’s decision to shutter the Polynesian Village Resort until the Spring of 2021. They then check out a selection of 50-year-old slides that a Disney Dish listener was kind enough to share with the show. If you'd like to see those images of 1960s Disneyland that Len & Jim are discussing on this week's Disney Dish, please follow this link: http://superfluffybunny.com/disney-dish-photo-essay-feature/1.jpg (Ch...
Sep 07, 2020•1 hr 4 min
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s episode by sharing some cost savings tips when it comes to staying on WDW property. Then they offer up the long-awaited conclusion to a feature piece about the construction of Kali River Rapids at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 31, 2020•51 min•Ep. 285
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s episode by talking about changes The Walt Disney World has recently made to accommodate more annual passholders at its theme parks. Then Jim wraps up his tale of why “Rivers of Light” went up the creek. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 24, 2020•43 min•Ep. 284
Len Testa & Jim Hill share what they’ve learned from a round of surveys that Central Florida’s biggest resorts recently sent out. Then Jim talks about how Disney’s Animal Kingdom tried to solve its everyone-leaves-this-theme-park-by-1-p.m. problem Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 17, 2020•52 min•Ep. 283
Using his keen deductive skills, Len Testa reveals what year the first scene of “Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress” is actually set in. Then Jim Hill looks back at the circumstances that forced Walt Disney Productions to go from being a privately owned to a publicly held company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 10, 2020•50 min
Len Testa recounts his recent walk-throughs of The Magic Kingdom & Disney’s Hollywood Studios as the WDW Resort continues to tweak its coronavirus-related procedures. Then Jim Hill talks about how Paul Comstock found all of the full-sized trees he needed in order to make Anaheim’s Downtown Disney look like a lush garden district ***Jim had the wrong input selected while recording, so he sounds a bit strange in this episode.. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 03, 2020•42 min
Len Testa starts off this week’s episode by talking about how The Walt Disney Company is still struggling when it comes to the proper way to compensate annual passholders & DVC members for coronavirus-related disruptions-in-service. Then Jim Hill looks back at what it took to change the Disneyland Hotel’s Vacationland Recreational Vehicle Park into the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 27, 2020•1 hr 5 min
Len Testa talks about what’s changed at the recently re-opened Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios & Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Then Jim Hill shares how the Disneyland Resort got ready for DCA’s grand opening in January of 2001 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 20, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 279
Len Testa describes what was done to this theme park -- post-COVID-19 outbreak -- to get it ready for the return of Guests. Jim Hill then looks at Disney’s America and some of the innovative rides, shows & attractions that were planned for this proposed history park Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 13, 2020•1 hr 14 min
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s episode by talking about how the Walt Disney World Resort is getting ready for the NBA. Jim then reveals how the recent redo of Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean Ride” opened the door for retheming “Splash Mountain” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 06, 2020•55 min
Len Testa recounts his visit to the recently re-opened Disney Vacation Club properties that are located around WDW’s Seven Seas Lagoon. Then Jim Hill looks back at the history of Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons program Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 29, 2020•59 min
Len Testa starts off this episode by talking about some of the hiccups WDW’s new Park Pass reservation system experienced during its first morning of operation. Jim Hill talks about ESPN’s report -- keying off of the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Florida -- which has some NBA players saying that they’re reluctant to begin training in Orlando Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 22, 2020•14 min
Len Testa starts off this week’s episode by talking about his first visit to Universal Studios Florida since that theme park began practicing social distancing. Then Jim Hill looks back at when a successful Frontierland restaurant resulted in Quaker Oats being on the wrong side of the Civil Rights movement Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 22, 2020•41 min
Len Testa & Jim Hill share late-breaking news coming out of Orlando. Including how Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party has been canceled for all of 2020 and how Epcot is getting a super-sized version of its International Food & Wine Festival this year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 19, 2020•18 min
