Disney Insights

We continue our celebration of Disneyland's 70th anniversary. We started this series at Disneyland with a look at Tomorrow. We now wind the clock backwards and start at the entrance of the park. Main Street U.S.A. at Disneyland is a remarkable place. It is the only land in the only park that had an apartment for Walt Disney where he stayed regularly to "walk in the shoes of his guests." That kind...

While it’s been more than 5 years since Disney has opened up a brand new park in Shanghai, there is something to be said for the enormous transformation that has been underway for Disneyland Paris as a whole, and in particular, Disney Adventure World, formerly known as Walt Disney Studios Paris. Since Avengers Campus first opened, work has been spent on improving existing rides and shows, as well...

Since debuting in December just a few months ago, The Disney Treasure has been the talk of the cruise line experience. Part of a new class of ships, and a sibling to the Disney Wish, this Disney Cruise Line offering has become very popular. We're fortunate to have Chris Konecny, also known as DCLCruisingDad, to share with us his family's experience aboard this eight day, seven night journey. We ta...

We visit Walt Disney World to check out Disney's Hollywood Studios and to get an update about everything going on in the park. We canvas the entire property, check out some retail plus food & beverage. Did we mention meeting up with all 7 of the Dwarfs?! Where Star Wars first showed up in this park (and it's not Star Tours)?! How about the best fried chicken in Disney's parks?! Or the cremated...

As if little announcements would keep attention away from the opening of Epic Universe, Disney keeps dropping posts and instagrams about what's on their docket in the next months to come. We'll take a look at this, and give insight to what it means. Disneyland has a big 70th anniversary coming, but what of The Walt Disney World Resort? We'll share what we've learned and what it means, especially i...

With a new live action film out, There is much to be said about the importance of Walt Disney’s classic, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Not only was the original animated Snow White successful in the box office, it has been an important part of the Disney theme park experience world-wide. Since Disneyland opened in 1955, Snow White has come alive for guests to visit and experience. Through chara...

This weekend fans said their final farewells to "It's Tough to be a Bug." This film has entertained guests since Disney's Animal Kingdom opened in 1998. It was the centerpiece of the Tree of Life, which serves as the icon to the park. We look at the origins of how the attraction came to be. We'll look at what was so great--and what was not so great about this attraction. With the official closing...

This weekend a Disney Imagineering presentation was given at the South by Southwest SXSW Conference in Austin Texas. Thinking that it was a Future of World-Building at Disney presentation given by Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D'Amaro, I was surprised to see that there were several Imagineers that made up the presentation. Even more interesting was the fact that Josh was accompanied by Disney E...

When Disneyland premiered in 1955, it was so unique above anything else that was found in the world. And yet, its roots are found in sources that are across the globe. We look at those major influences that shaped not only Walt Disney's interest in building an amusement enterprise, but in how that was actually shaped and created. These sources stem from even before his birth and can be found along...

This month marks the 85th anniversary of The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. While Walt Disney had a couple of other smaller studio locations previously, this location has flourished for decades and has remained the headquarters of The Walt Disney Company. We'll look at how these studios came about, how it became a world-class facility, what set it apart from other movie studios in tow...

Join us today as we take a look at not one, not two but three phenomenal Disney Resorts across Asia. Today we're joined by David and Leah Zanolla of Zanolla Travel. They recently hosted a group along with their family that visited Asia over the holidays. This included Hong Kong Disneyland, where the new World of Frozen premiered last year. In China, they had a chance to share their favorite moment...

Several announcements have occurred in recent days regarding attractions closing to make way for upcoming construction activity at Walt Disney World. That information (and the lack of other information) is starting to tell us much about how attractions are going to come on board in the years to come, and even in the months to come. We look at what attraction building criteria is driving those date...

Welcome aboard, mateys! We set sail to Disneyland Paris to take a pirate's plunge of Adventureland. Here we experience a unique version of Pirates of the Caribbean, where a very different approach to the narrative has been taken. With it lies not just an amazing gift shop at the exit, but a tropical restaurant that rivals the very popular Blue Bayou. We also maroon ourselves on Adventure Isle, hom...

The Epcot International Festival of the Arts gives us an opportunity to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney on Broadway. We'll look at the history of this amazing theatrical portfolio, which began with a "Tale as Old as Time" whose roots were more than 30 years ago at what was then Disney-MGM Studios. Today there are over two dozen major shows that have played on Broadway, The West End, and a...

Ever go into a place of business only to leave asking yourself, "What are they thinking?" How could they be so blind when it comes to how they do business? It's a fair question asked often. We speak of emotional intelligence when it comes to individuals and how they relate with others 1:1 or perhaps in small groups, but we really don't talk about it in the context of how we interact with customers...

Welcome to 2025. As promised, my expose and focus on Disneyland's 70th anniversary is a key part of my podcasts, videos and Patreon experiences this year. To that end, I thought to start out on Main Street, U.S.A. But since we're starting a new year, why not look at the future? So our first podcast of 2025 is on Disneyland's Tomorrowland. There have been several version of this and they add up to...

We are ringing out the old year and ringing in the new year as we review 2024 and give a preview of 2025. I'll cover all of the key moments of last year, as well as what's going on next year, both in the parks here in the U.S. as well as internationally. And then John Frost of The Disney Blog will join me as we give some critical thought as to all that is going on as well as what's on the horizon....

Seasons Greetings! Last week we took a look at how the holiday season unfolds at Disneyland during the day with attraction overlays, holiday shows and festive decorations. We now look at how the Disneyland Resort comes to life in even brighter and more amazing ways at night. At Disneyland we check out how Sleeping Beauty's Castle transforms into winter enchantment. We check out the Christmas Fanta...

Seasons Greetings! There's so much to love about the holidays at the Disneyland Resort! So much that we have two podcasts, one by day and one by night. In this episode we see the garland of Main Street U.S.A. to holiday overlays at The Haunted Mansion and "it's a small world". At Disney California Adventure we check out several lands and see Mickey's Happy Holidays. Did I mention a one-man parade...

Welcome to a corner of the Happiest Place on Earth where we take a look at a big set of changes to come to Disneyland. Tiana's Bayou Adventure opened recently and with it a new land, Bayou Country, which replaces the old Critter Country. We see all of Tiana's from front to back, from queue to ride--and it's a wet one! We also check out Louis' Critter Club and Ray's Beret's--new retail locations at...

Back from Disneyland and we have so much to share! First, we'll talk about announcements that are happening here at Walt Disney World. Then as our main feature, we'll canvas changes to the Haunted Mansion, from Magnolia Gardens to the new extended queue system, to the new store at the exit of the attraction, Madame Leota's Somewhere From Beyond. In the process we'll see there's a lot of really gre...

It's Thanksgiving week and I wanted to share my thanks on this 501st podcast to all of you my listeners with a special podcast and an opportunity that focuses on Mystic Manor in Hong Kong Disneyland. But we preface all this with new announcements made in the parks including the location of Monster's Inc. at Disney's Hollywood Studios and what will happen to the Muppets. It's a busy podcast for sur...

We have arrived at this milestone of having delivered 500 podcasts! As I have canvased these many podcasts since 2017, I have found an entire history of Disney milestones mixed with life itself. We will walk through many of those moments, share the emotion of those experiences and see how it has brought us to the present. More than an opportunity to reflect, it's really a celebration of how so muc...

We have more insights to what's coming to Walt Disney World as we share news that came out of D23 in Brazil. No it wasn't a new World Showcase pavilion, but it along with other insights help us understand what lays ahead for this resort. Then we turn our attention toward the holiday season as we go around the four parks at Walt Disney World to share what's happening in the weeks ahead, to include...

After speaking up about lack of transparency on what the new Frontierland additions would be coming to Walt Disney World, I've settled down emotionally, and decided to give insight to what I think this land is all about. After all, this is Disney Insights. There is a lot of cool stuff here, but it's a different Frontierland, and we need to define it. It is about Cars, but not as in the original mo...