WDW Radio: Your Guide to Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise and More Disney Magic!

883 · Disney In or Out? Do We Agree on Disney Parks, Movies and Food? Is The Magic of Disney Animation a bigger addition to Walt Disney World than Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind? Should the original Star Wars saga ever be remade with a new cast? And can a Disneyland churro really settle an argument about which coast has the better snacks? This week, I invite you to join me and some of our...

882 · Marvel in Disney Parks: Behind the Magic with Brian Crosby How does Marvel come to life in Disney Parks... and what does a little boy meeting Peter Pan have to do with it? This week, I sit down with Marvel Studios' Brian Crosby at the WDW Radio booth at D23 for a conversation about turning the characters we love into places, adventures, and memories we can experience for ourselves. Brian spe...

881 · The Magic of Disney Animation: An E-Ticket Without a Ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios The Magic of Disney Animation gives Disney’s Hollywood Studios a new way to explore how the movies we love are made. But I kept coming back to a bigger question: what makes a place feel like a studio when the movies are no longer being made there? This week, join me as we discover what’s inside, which det...

880 · Tasting Disney History: The Unofficial Disney Parks Retro Cookbook What if you could taste your way through Disney Parks history? This week, I’m joined by theme park and travel journalist Carly Caramanna , co-author with Julie Tremaine of The Unofficial Disney Parks Retro Cookbook: 60+ Nostalgic Recipes and Stories of Yesteryear . And while “cookbook” is in the title, this conversation becom...

879 · Return to Progress City: Imagining Walt Disney’s City of Tomorrow What if the most interesting thing about Walt Disney’s Progress City isn’t that it was never built, but that it was never really finished? Recorded live at the WDW Radio booth at D23, former Walt Disney Imagineering President Bob Weis and artist, architect, and former Imagineer Eric Robison join me to explore Eric’s extraordin...

878 · D23 Disney Parks Announcements: Sightlines Into Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Fantasy The loudest cheers at D23 weren't necessarily for what Disney was building next. They were for what Disney was willing to bring back, repair, and finally acknowledge. In a presentation built on a little faith, trust, and pixie dust , Disney asked fans to believe in an ambitious future, but this time it also show...

877 · Disney Worldbuilders Interview with Leslie Iwerks Disney Worldbuilders asks a question most of us have never thought to ask... where does a Disney world actually begin? Not the land. Not the ride. The moment before any of it existed, when it was still just a feeling inside one person's head. This week I sit down with Leslie Iwerks , director of The Imagineering Story and Disneyland Handcraft...

Two years ago, Disney made us nearly 50 promises at D23 Expo 2024. This year, they have to keep them. So what will Disney actually reveal at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event? I'm going park by park, resort by resort, and all the way around the world with my predictions for the Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase . Villains Land. Piston Peak. Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress. Space Mountain a...

875 · The runDisney Companion: Your Race Day Guide from Fantasy to Finish Line Before sunrise at Walt Disney World, thousands of people round the bend toward Cinderella Castle and fall in love with running in a way most guests never will. That is runDisney - and whether you are eyeing your very first 5K or chasing your next Dopey, there has never been one book to take you from registration to the...

874 · The Walt Disney World Time Capsule - What Would You Put in the Box? It is 2076. Someone digs up a sealed time capsule in Walt Disney World. What did we choose to leave them? This week on WDW Radio, we build a Walt Disney World time capsule - a snapshot of the parks exactly as they exist in 2026. And there is one rule attached to it that changes every single answer. One attraction. One resort...

873 · Your Disney Questions + Our Disneyland Halloween Special Events What would you bring back if you could restore any extinct Disney attraction exactly as it was? What is the weirdest piece of Disney merchandise you own? What's really next for Tomorrowland? Where should you go if want to visit the Disney Park in Asia? What is the TRUTH behind the Tomorrowland film's famous 1952 mystery blueprin...

872 · Why Disney Changed the Rules… and a D23 Tease This week I am doing something I almost never do. I am taking a piece of my Wednesday night live show and turning it into an episode, because you have been asking me about it... a lot. There is a new Disney Springs transportation rule, and online, people are melting down. So let me pull up a chair and really talk with you about what changed, why...

871 · The Most Surprising Hotel Near Walt Disney World: My ette Hotel Review One of the most exclusive hotel awards on the planet - harder to earn than a Michelin star, given to less than 1% of hotels worldwide - belongs to a boutique property sitting just one mile from Disney's Animal Kingdom. Yet most Disney fans have never heard of it. Lou Mongello has stayed at virtually every Disney resort an...

870 · 10 Reasons to Visit Shanghai Disneyland... and Why This Trip Changed Me China is a long way to go for a theme park... but Shanghai Disneyland is not a theme park. It is a destination that happens to have a Disney castle at its center. Lou Mongello had the privilege of being invited by Disney for Shanghai Disneyland's 10th anniversary celebration, with time alongside the Imagineering team who...

869 · How Disney Magic Changed Baseball - Jesse Cole and the Savannah Bananas What happens when someone takes Walt Disney's philosophy and applies it far beyond Disney? In this episode, I sit down with J esse Cole , founder of the Savannah Bananas and creator of Banana Ball , during their sold-out appearance at Walt Disney World's ESPN Wide World of Sports. What began as a conversation about baseb...

868 · Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress: History, Debate & What's Next The Carousel of Progress reimagining announcement sparked one of the most passionate Disney fan conversations in recent memory. Some fans are excited. Others are heartbroken. Many are somewhere in between. And all of it makes complete sense - because this attraction isn't just a show. For a lot of us, it's a memory. A pers...

867 · Walt Disney World Just Got Major Upgrades - and This Summer Is the Best Time to Visit This might quietly be one of the biggest overall summer upgrades Walt Disney World has had in years. Not because of one giant new land - but because every park, every age group, and nearly every type of guest got meaningful, real enhancements at the exact same time. After being invited by Disney to their Su...

866 · The Best Food at Walt Disney World Isn't Where You Think It Is The best food at Walt Disney World isn't where you think it is. In WDW Radio # 866, Lou Mongello spends a full day eating his way through Disney's Animal Kingdom - stop by stop, bite by bite - and makes the case that this is Walt Disney World's most extraordinary culinary destination. Colombian arepas and globally inspired rice b...

865 · When Wishes Assemble: The Story of Disney and Make-A-Wish 45 years. 175,000 wishes. One out of every two Make-A-Wish wishes granted in America is a Disney wish. The Disney Make-A-Wish partnership is about far more than theme park vacations. Every single hour, somewhere in the world, Disney helps grant a wish for a child battling a critical illness - creating moments of hope, joy, strength, a...

864 · What Does It Actually Take to Lead Disney? Chairman Thomas Mazloum - His First Interview What does it really take to lead Disney at a global scale... while still making every single guest feel like they matter? In this episode, Lou Mongello sits down with Thomas Mazloum in his first interview since stepping into his new role as Chairman of Disney Experiences - overseeing 12 theme parks, 57 r...

863 · 10 Disney Adventure Cruise Surprises (What You Need to Know) What are the biggest Disney Adventure cruise surprises - and what should you know before you go? After sailing back-to-back voyages aboard the brand-new Disney Adventure from Singapore, I can tell you this… I thought I knew what to expect. I didn’t. Not even close. In this episode, we break down 10 things that genuinely surprised u...

862 · The Happiest Factory on Earth: Disneyland, Automation, and the Future of Theme Parks What if the magic of Disneyland isn't just what you see - but how it all works? In Episode 862, Lou Mongello sits down with Roland Betancourt - Guggenheim Fellow, UC Irvine Professor of Art History, and author of Disneyland and the Rise of Automation - for a conversation that might just completely change the...

861 · Daredevil Born Again Season 2: Spoiler-Free Review Is this the Marvel show that changes everything? What stood out after watching Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 wasn’t what I expected - and having seen the full season early thanks to Marvel Studios screeners, I couldn’t wait to talk about it. In this spoiler-free Daredevil Born Again Season 2 review, I’m sharing what stayed with me most… and...

860 · Inside World of Frozen Disneyland Paris - Disney Adventure World Disney Adventure World and World of Frozen may represent the biggest shift in Disney Parks design we’ve seen in years... and you can feel it from the very first step. Something felt different the moment we stepped onto Adventure Way. Before the gates even opened to the public, Lou Mongello was invited inside Disney Adventure Wo...

859 · EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival Sweet 16 Bracket-Style Tournament What happens when you take the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival Sweet 16 desserts, and put them into a bracket-style tournament, recorded LIVE at the Festival ? You get delicious chaos. After the success of last year’s Savory 16, we’re doing it again. But this time we’re diving into the sweetest side of EPCOT’s most beautif...