Episodes

March 6, 2018

Episode 149: Marvel in Disneyland Paris and What it Means for Us

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.
Feb. 14, 2018

Episode 148: Who Thought 'Minnie Mouse Madonna' Was a Good Idea?

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.)
Feb. 3, 2018

Episode 147: Chronological Disneyland and Is This the Dumb New Name for Hollywood Studios?

In other news, Jim and Len talk about Paid FASTPASS at WDW and toiletries change-out at Pop Century
Jan. 31, 2018

Episode 146: The Be Our Guest Restaurant

News items include monorail doors, potential refurbs at Disney Springs Rainforest Cafe, and some un-implemented fantastic ideas for water effects at the parks.
Jan. 16, 2018

Episode 145: The Finale of SpectroMagic's History / Len's Trip to Disneyland

Jim completes the history of the SpectroMagic parade.
Jan. 3, 2018

Episode 144: 2017 In Review

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.
Dec. 20, 2017

Episode 143: Part 2 of the History of the SpectroMagic Parade

In part 2 of this show, Jim ALMOST FINISHES the history of the SpectroMagic parade.
Dec. 14, 2017

Episode 142: History of the SpectroMagic Parade, part 1

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.
Nov. 30, 2017

(Updated) Episode 141: How Disney's Theme Park Music Affects You (with Gregory Camp)

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…
Nov. 20, 2017

Episode 140: DisneyDish Live Event! "What's This? with Jim Hill"

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.
Nov. 7, 2017

Episode 139: Disney's TV Influences in Theme Parks

Jim starts to answer a listener question about how Disney's TV shows end up in the theme parks.
Oct. 25, 2017

Sneak Peek of Jim's new podcast Marvel Us / Episode 1: Spidey's Long Road Back Home

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…
Oct. 19, 2017

Episode 138 - The Mineral King Project, Part 2

Jim finishes the history of the Mineral King project, which fell apart for a number of reasons.
Sept. 28, 2017

Episode 137 - Mickey's Toontown in Disneyland, Part 2

Jim continues talking about how Toontown was formed, including what happened after it just opened.
Sept. 14, 2017

Episode 136 - Mickey's Toontown in Disneyland

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…
Aug. 31, 2017

Episode 135 - The History of Fantasmic, Part 3 of 3

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…
Aug. 14, 2017

Episode 134 - Remembering Marty Sklar

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…
July 31, 2017

Episode 133 - The History of Fantasmic! Part 2

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 …
July 15, 2017

Episode 132 - What DID and DID NOT Get Announced at D23

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.
July 15, 2017

Episode 131 - The History of Fantasmic!

With the impending re-opening of Disneyland's Fantasmic!, Jim walks us through the history of the attraction.
June 30, 2017

Episode 130 - The History of Pixar in Disney's Theme Parks

Jim walks through the history of Pixar's involvement in Disney's theme parks, from inspiring films, to parades, and rides.
June 16, 2017

Episode 129 - History of Character Greetings plus NintendoLand and Star Wars Hotel News

Jim also updates us on the Star Wars hotel idea that's being considered for Disney's Hollywood Studios.
May 31, 2017

Episode 128 - Is "Tapu Tapu" Samoan for "Opening Day Disaster?" and Guardians of the Galaxy opens at DCA.

Jim attends the opening day ceremonies at Universal's Volcano Bay water park, then flies across the country for the debut of Guardians of the Galaxy at DCA.
May 25, 2017

Bonus Episode - Pandora Food and Merchandise, plus WDW News

Jim and Len walk through the food and merchandise to tell you what's interesting and what's tasty.