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 by revealing which Epcot attractions have already received their seasonal overlays. Jim Hill then finishes up his history of McDonald’s relationship with the Walt Disney Company Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 28, 2022•38 min•Ep 403•Transcript available on Metacast
en Testa & Jim Hill share everything that they’ve been told by Mouse House insiders about Bob Iger’s return. Likewise how long Chapek’s dismissal has actually been in the works Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 23, 2022•32 min•Ep 402•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa and Jim Hill start off this week’s show by sharing a trip-planning surveythat Disney Visa recently sent out. They then continue their look at Disney Corporate’s decades-long relationship with the McDonald’s restaurant chain Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 21, 2022•48 min•Ep 401•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by paying tribute to the late Disney Legend, Alice Estes Davis. They then talk about Villains Lair, the new fireworks dessert party being offered at the Top of the World lounge at Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 14, 2022•46 min•Ep 400•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by sharing a survey which suggests that WDW officials are getting increasingly concerned about the Universal Orlando Resort. They then take a look at when the Disney Vacation Club began concentrating its expansion plans around Seven Seas Lagoon. Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 07, 2022•50 min•Ep 399•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by talking about the entertainment line-up for this year’s International Festival of the Holidays. They also look back at what led up to the ill-fated 1999 update of Future World’s “Journey into Imagination” pavilion. Show notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 31, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep 398•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by revealing that the recently re-opened Monsieur Paul now has a dress code. They also talk about how Walt Disney World will soon begin cutting back on character greetings across property Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 24, 2022•56 min•Ep 397•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa and Jim Hill start off this week’s show by discussing the price increases that were just announced for the Disneyland and WDW Resorts. They then continue their look at the controversial “Journey into Imagination” redo that went live in October of 1999 Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 17, 2022•51 min•Ep 396•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by talking about the entertainment line-up for this year’s International Festival of the Holidays. They also look back at what led up to the ill-fated 1999 update of Future World’s “Journey into Imagination” pavilion. Show Notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 10, 2022•45 min•Ep 395•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show with a brief recap of their recent “Disney Dish on the Disney Wish” event. They then take a look at the dark rides that the Imagineers were originally development for WDW’s Magic Kingdom back in the late 1960s Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 03, 2022•38 min•Ep 394•Transcript available on Metacast
In a show that suddenly became far more newsworthy than they’d initially intended, Len Testa and Jim Hill talk about how the WDW Cast readies that Resort when a tropical storm is bearing down on Central Florida. Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 26, 2022•31 min•Ep 393•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this Journey of Water and Blue Sweek’s show by talking about why the opening of TRON Lightcycle Run has been pushed ‘til the Spring of 2023. They also discuss the Blue Sky Projects that were talked about at the Parks presentation at this year’s D23 Expo Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 19, 2022•59 min•Ep 392•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by sharing what may turn out to be Universal Orlando’s next big promotional campaign. They then look back at how Michael Eisner started adding celebrities to Disney theme park attractions in the mid-to-late 1980s Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 12, 2022•51 min•Ep 391•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by musing on when performances of “Fantasmic!” may begin at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. They then look back at the Fall of 1995. Which is when Magic Kingdom managers snookered Michael Ovitz, the then-President of The Walt Disney Company. Show notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 05, 2022•43 min•Ep 390•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by discussing some long-needed changes that were recently made to Disney’s park reservation system. They also take a look back at the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship Restaurant at Disneyland Park show notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 29, 2022•43 min•Ep 389•Transcript available on Metacast
Jim Hill welcomes Chrissy Harrison from TouringPlans.com. Who then shares her impressions of the latest booths to open at Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival as well as the 2022 edition of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 22, 2022•42 min•Ep 388•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by talking about the most recent Disney earnings call. They then wrap up their series about WDW’s Millennium Celebration. Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 15, 2022•45 min•Ep 387•Transcript available on Metacast
en Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by sharing a survey that reveals Universal Orlando’s keen interest in people’s most recent trips to WDW. They then take a look back at Epcot’s Millennium Celebration Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 08, 2022•50 min•Ep 360•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa and Jim Hill welcome Mrs. Shannon Ford, who talks about her experience aboard the Disney Wish. They then discuss what’s happening with Disney’s “Hercules,” which may be the Company’s next animated feature to be headed to Broadway Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 01, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep 385•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill welcome back Christina Harrison from Touring Plans, who talks about the 2022 edition of the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival. They then share Josh Gad’s memories of working on “Frozen Ever After” Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 25, 2022•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by revealing which three WDW restaurants will begin offering character dining again. They then talk about why Epcot’s “SeaVenture” attraction got its name changed to “Maelstrom” Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 18, 2022•50 min•Ep 383•Transcript available on Metacast
Banks Lee joins Jim Hill on a special edition of the Disney Dish. As they look at how Cypress Gardens (which was a favorite Central Florida attraction of Roy O. & Edna Disney) spent the past 10 years transforming into the 5th LEGO Park in the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 11, 2022•52 min•Ep 382•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by discussing Bob Chapek’s contract being extended by Disney’s Board of Directors. They talk about where the Brightline Train Service may be stopping in the Orlando area now that a station at Disney Springs is no longer in the cards Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 04, 2022•47 min•Ep 381•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by sharing some surveys that Guests who stayed at WDW’s monorail resorts recently received. They also talk about Michael Eisner’s 1985 trip to the Chautauqua Institute inspired him to start offering education-based vacation experiences to WDW visitors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 27, 2022•43 min•Ep 380•Transcript available on Metacast
Christina Harrison reports on her recent stay at Disney’s resort & spa on Oahu. Then Jim Hill looks back at the history of the House of the Future at Disneyland Park Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 20, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep 379•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa starts off this week’s show by sharing a fairly blunt survey that the WDW Resort recently sent out about Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park. Then Jim Hill talks about how – once upon a time – Pioneer Hall was supposed to have been the very first part of Florida’s Frontier Town project Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 13, 2022•52 min•Ep 378•Transcript available on Metacast
en Testa & Jim Hill welcome Arthur Levine from About Theme Parks, who then talks about his new Substack project. These three then talk about an intriguing bit of construction that’s now underway at WDW’s Blizzard Beach water park Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 06, 2022•55 min•Ep 377•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by sharing some tips about how to score an ILL for “Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.” They also answer some listeners' mail related to DVC members still being unable to purchase annual passes to the Disney Parks Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 30, 2022•42 min•Ep 376•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa and Jim Hill start off this week’s show by sharing yet another survey. This one revealing that WDW officials have grown very concerned about visitors to Florida preferring Universal Express to Genie, Genie+ & Lightning Lane Show notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 22, 2022•53 min•Ep 375•Transcript available on Metacast
Len Testa & Jim Hill start off this week’s show by sharing a recent survey that the Universal Orlando Resort sent out to Harry Potter fans. Jim then continues his look back at “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” and how that film series made its way into the Disney Parks. Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 16, 2022•48 min•Ep 374•Transcript available on Metacast