The Disney Dish Podcast with Jim Hill and Len Testa
Dive into the fascinating world of Disney with theme park historian Jim Hill and Len Testa as they uncover the stories behind the magic. From breaking news and in-depth analyses to quirky historical tidbits and behind-the-scenes secrets, The Disney Dish offers a unique blend of humor, expertise, and insider knowledge.
Whether you're a die-hard Disney fan, a theme park aficionado, or just curious about the history and future of Disney parks and resorts, this podcast has something for everyone.
What to Expect:
Breaking Disney News: Stay up to date on the latest happenings at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Disney's global parks.
Historical Deep Dives: Learn how classic attractions were created, the stories behind Disney's biggest decisions, and the Imagineering ingenuity that brought it all to life.
Listener Q&A: Get answers to your burning questions about the parks, attractions, and Disney culture.
Exclusive Insights: Gain access to insider details and stories you won’t find anywhere else.
Fun & Humor: Enjoy the wit and camaraderie of two Disney enthusiasts who know how to make even the most technical details entertaining.
With decades of combined experience and an unmatched passion for all things Disney, Jim and Len guide you through the parks, the stories, and the magic in a way only they can.
Your journey to the happiest podcast on earth starts here. Subscribe today!
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•Transcript available on Metacast
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/adchoi...
Sep 21, 2020•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast
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•Transcript available on Metacast
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 (Change the...
Sep 07, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast
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•Transcript available on Metacast
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•Transcript available on Metacast
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•Transcript available on Metacast
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•Transcript available on Metacast
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•Transcript available on Metacast
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•Transcript available on Metacast
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•Transcript available on Metacast
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•Transcript available on Metacast
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•Transcript available on Metacast
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•Transcript available on Metacast
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•Transcript available on Metacast
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•Transcript available on Metacast
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•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s episode by drilling down into a new annual passholder survey, as Disney World tries to get a handle on what Guests expectations are out ahead of next month’s re-opening of that Resort. Then Jim Hill talks about how changing “Splash Mountain” over to a “Princess & the Frog” theme would be a lot tougher than it looks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 15, 2020•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s episode by discussing a survey that the Disneyland Resort recently sent out seeking input regarding when it seemed right to re-open the Company’s theme parks in Southern California. Then Jim shines a spotlight on how -- back in the 1960s & 1970s -- Disneyland used to turn a blind eye when it came to in-park weddings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 08, 2020•43 min•Ep 273•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s episode by discussing Disney World’s recently-announced plans to re-open its theme parks in July. Jim then goes on to reveal the hidden history of Epcot’s Millennium Icon Tower AKA the Mickey arm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 01, 2020•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast
In a special Disney Dish minisode Len Testa & Jim Hill discuss WDW's decision to cancel all FastPasses dining reservations & dining plans out ahead of the Resort's mid-June re-opening Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 29, 2020•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa starts off this week’s show by sharing some listener suggestions when it comes to keeping costs down when vacationing at the WDW Resort. Then Jim Hill looks back at some of the seasonal events that Disneyland staged back in the mid-to-late 1980s to get Southern Californians to visit that theme park during the slower times of year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 25, 2020•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa starts off this week’s episode by sharing some patents that are sure to impact Guests’ experiences at WDW’s still-under-construction “Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser” resort. Then Jim Hill looks back at all of the shows that have been presented at the “Monster Sound Show” theater over the past 30+ years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 18, 2020•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s episode by discussing how the phased re-opening of Shanghai Disneyland might impact the Company’s stateside parks. Jim then reveals how Mr. Toad -- a character that Walt didn’t much like -- got his own ride at Disneyland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 11, 2020•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill answer listener questions about the challenges that the WDW Resort faces as execs there search for ways to safely reopen those theme parks. They then look back at how “The Wind in the Willows” (a book that Walt himself said was “… awful corny”) wound up being animated by Disney Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 04, 2020•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s episode by reviewing some of the safety policies & procedures that Disney & Universal may employ as they begin to re-open their theme parks. They then look back at the Summer of 2002. Which is when EPCOT’s Norway pavilion received a royal makeover. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 27, 2020•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week by talking about which of the Bobs is really in charge of the Mouse House these days. Then they discuss how DCA’s Twilight Zone Tower of Terror got transformed into “Guardians of the Galaxy -- Mission: BREAKOUT !” in just 5 months Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 20, 2020•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa starts off this week’s episode by sharing a survey that was recently sent out to Disney Vacation Club members. Then Jim Hill looks back at the Fall of 1997 and the role that the “Jurassic Park” franchise played in Disney’s decision to change out three attractions at WDW’s Magic Kingdom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 13, 2020•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by discussing the 26.3 acres of land that Disney just bought to the west of WDW’s Magic Kingdom. They then go on to discuss how the construction of Innoventions impacted Future World Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 06, 2020•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s episode by offering an update on the impact COVID-19 has had on Disney Parks & Resorts. Jim then shares a story about the “Carousel of Progress / Horizons” hybrid that the Imagineers once pitched to General Electric Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 30, 2020•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast