Episodes
Episode 152: Indiana Jones and Star Wars in Disney's Parks, Part 2
March 19, 2018
Jim continues the story of how Disney ended up getting George Lucas and Steve Speilberg to create rides for Disney's theme parks (Part 2 of 3)
Episode 151: Indiana Jones and Star Wars in Disney's Parks
March 14, 2018
Jim details the personal history of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas' involvement in Disney's theme parks. It all starts with Disney not being able to produce a hit movie for general audiences for almost 20 years. Along the…
Episode 149: Marvel in Disneyland Paris and What it Means for Us
March 6, 2018
Disney recently announced a huge expansion for Disneyland Paris, including Marvel, Star Wars, and other new rides. Jim looks at what this means for domestic parks, especially Disneyland.
Episode 148: Who Thought 'Minnie Mouse Madonna' Was a Good Idea?
Feb. 14, 2018
In the late 1980's, at the height of MTV's cultural relevance, Disney decided to make Minnie Mouse into a pop star along the lines of Madonna. (We're not making this up.)
Episode 147: Chronological Disneyland and Is This the Dumb New Name for Hollywood Studios?
Feb. 3, 2018
In other news, Jim and Len talk about Paid FASTPASS at WDW and toiletries change-out at Pop Century
Episode 146: The Be Our Guest Restaurant
Jan. 31, 2018
News items include monorail doors, potential refurbs at Disney Springs Rainforest Cafe, and some un-implemented fantastic ideas for water effects at the parks.
Episode 145: The Finale of SpectroMagic's History / Len's Trip to Disneyland
Jan. 16, 2018
Jim completes the history of the SpectroMagic parade.
Episode 144: 2017 In Review
Jan. 3, 2018
In what turns out to be a much longer episode than expected, Jim and Len walk through what happened in Disney theme parks in 2017.
Episode 143: Part 2 of the History of the SpectroMagic Parade
Dec. 20, 2017
In part 2 of this show, Jim ALMOST FINISHES the history of the SpectroMagic parade.
Episode 142: History of the SpectroMagic Parade, part 1
Dec. 14, 2017
Jim gives the history of the SpectroMagic parade by starting out with an explanation of *why* Disney needed a nighttime parade to begin with, and what they tried to begin with.
(Updated) Episode 141: How Disney's Theme Park Music Affects You (with Gregory Camp)
Nov. 30, 2017
We talk with musicologist (and Disney parks fan) Dr. Gregory Camp about how Disney chooses music to convey mood and theme inside its theme parks. We've added music to the re-release of this episode, so you can hear what we'r…
Episode 140: DisneyDish Live Event! "What's This? with Jim Hill"
Nov. 20, 2017
In this live event at Walt Disney World, Len shows Jim a set of around 60 slides culled from the Disney archives, and asks Jim to explain what's being shown.
Episode 139: Disney's TV Influences in Theme Parks
Nov. 7, 2017
Jim starts to answer a listener question about how Disney's TV shows end up in the theme parks.
Sneak Peek of Jim's new podcast Marvel Us / Episode 1: Spidey's Long Road Back Home
Oct. 25, 2017
In the first installment of a brand-new series of podcasts, Jim Hill and Aaron Adams use "Spider-Man Homecoming" as an excuse to look back at the past 15 years worth of Spidey movies. They also talk about the "Venom" project…
Episode 138 - The Mineral King Project, Part 2
Oct. 19, 2017
Jim finishes the history of the Mineral King project, which fell apart for a number of reasons.
Episode 137 - Mickey's Toontown in Disneyland, Part 2
Sept. 28, 2017
Jim continues talking about how Toontown was formed, including what happened after it just opened.
Episode 136 - Mickey's Toontown in Disneyland
Sept. 14, 2017
Jim starts telling us the story of how Mickey's Toontown came to Disneyland. It all started - and who'd believe this? - when Disney found itself in need of a quick attraction to boost short-term attendance numbers. And by "s…
Episode 135 - The History of Fantasmic, Part 3 of 3
Aug. 31, 2017
Jim finishes the history of Fantasmic at Disneyland. After the initial success of the show, Disney faced challenges in updating it and in rolling it out to Walt Disney World. Jim tells those stories, as well as what we can e…
Episode 134 - Remembering Marty Sklar
Aug. 14, 2017
Jim and Len look back at the career of Disney Imagineer Marty Sklar, who passed away on July 27. Marty started his career editing the Disneyland newspaper in 1955, working directly with Walt. Over the years he was responsibl…
Episode 133 - The History of Fantasmic! Part 2
July 31, 2017
Would you believe that Maleficent's flames involve non-dairy coffee creamer? In this episode, Jim and Len continue the history of Fantasmic, talking about how Disney Imagineers came up with some of the show's iconic effects …
Episode 132 - What DID and DID NOT Get Announced at D23
July 15, 2017
Jim is back from D23 where he interviewed lots of people attached to lots of projects, some of which got announced and some that didn't. Jim tells why the things that didn't get talked about, didn't get talked about.
Episode 131 - The History of Fantasmic!
July 15, 2017
With the impending re-opening of Disneyland's Fantasmic!, Jim walks us through the history of the attraction.
Episode 130 - The History of Pixar in Disney's Theme Parks
June 30, 2017
Jim walks through the history of Pixar's involvement in Disney's theme parks, from inspiring films, to parades, and rides.
Episode 129 - History of Character Greetings plus NintendoLand and Star Wars Hotel News
June 16, 2017
Jim also updates us on the Star Wars hotel idea that's being considered for Disney's Hollywood Studios.