Disney Insights

Season's Greetings! There's so much to take in during the holidays at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Often in the past we've compared parks, but this time we're going to compare holiday attraction overlays between both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Some of these you may never have heard of, or knew that they offered a holiday version. We will rate attractions as they are given a special yul...

It's been a while and there have been many developments in the construction of new attractions at Disney Parks worldwide. We take a look at the latest and greatest happenings, particularly here at home in Walt Disney World with Magic Kingdom, Epcot and even Disney's Animal Kingdom. This includes some personal insights around what I'm referring to as Genie+ Inflation. But then we head out to parks...

It's been a little over a year since Space 220 opened at Epcot in Walt Disney World. As part of World Discovery, it complements the out-of-this-world themes found in Mission Space and in the recent Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. So we take the opportunity to grab a reservation and dine among the stars--as well as a few floating astronauts. We'll share what this experience was like, in ter...

There has been much said in the last week the firing of Bob Chapek and the reinstallment of Bob Iger as CEO of the Walt Disney Company. It's difficult to know exactly what happened and when, but it is clear that this is a tale of two leaders, neither perfect, but one with fatal flaws that contributed to a fall of confidence in Disney. We look at a tale of two Bobs, not just to sort out what happen...

Recently I had the opportunity with my daughter along with David & Leah Zanolla to visit Cirque du Soleil: Drawn to Life. This show has just recently achieved its first anniversary this month. This is the second show the Cirque group has hosted at what was originally Downtown Disney, but is now Disney Springs. We will look in depth as to whether this show is worth the ticket to attend. We'll take...

In a Sunday Night special Disney Cast Members received notice that Bob Iger was being reinstalled by Disney's Board of Directors to return as CEO again of the Walt Disney Company. Minutes later media reported the news as well--and all used words like shocked and surprised. This means Bob Chapek has now been entirely removed from the company and that a new chapter has started. We'll look at what ha...

We are overdue for sharing a review of five different formal dining experiences at Epcot. Three are restaurants I've dined in before. One is a new restaurant, and one has been around for a dozen years and I had yet to eat there. It may have been the best experience. Find out as we do a review of Le Cellier in Canada, La Crêperie de Paris, La Hacienda de San Angel, Via Napoli Ristorante e Pizzeria,...

Many people know some thing about Disneyland Paris. They certainly know that it's somewhere around Paris. They may know about the amazing catapult-style launch of Space Mountain, or the Big Thunder Mountain on an island inside the Rivers of America or perhaps the dragon in the dungeon of Sleeping Beauty Castle. But today I'm presenting insider Baseball when it comes to Disneyland Paris, because th...

In previous weeks we have been highlighting the 1971 Handbooks given to new Cast Members as they opened up the Walt Disney World Resort. There was a handbook for every land of the Magic Kingdom, and one for Disney's Contemporary and Polynesian Village Resorts. Make sure you check those podcasts out, as well as our show notes found on Disney at Play. But there was no Handbook written for Fort Wilde...

I am thrilled to present this podcast on the rebirth of Fantasmic! at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World. My torrid love affair with this beloved entertainment classic is a long one. I'll share my experience with Fantasmic! and what this attraction is like behind the scenes. We'll talk about its sister shows (yes there's more than just Disneyland) and how they compare. We talk about t...

This is the last of our 50th anniversary series on the Walt Disney World Resort and the Cast Member Handbooks created in 1971. We have covered the entire Magic Kingdom, and Disney’s Contemporary Resort, and now we look at the final gem of Walt Disney World's opening, Disney's Polynesian Resort. We’ll look at how the resort was presented originally. We’ll take a look at the original shops, restaura...

It's the first of November and so many things have been happening around the world of Disney. We cover many of the highlights today, From price increases to lawsuits, closures to cancelations, drones to barge fires. The last four weeks have been both busy and controversial, and we take a look behind the magic as to what is happening. From Shanghai to Tokyo Disney, from Disneyland to Walt Disney Wo...

We return to our 50th anniversary series. We have covered the entire Magic Kingdom, and now we are going to cover the Vacation Kingdom of the World. We'll take a look at Disney's Contemporary Resort, which was a whole new operation as Disney had never been in the resort business before. We'll look at how the resort was designed, and how it stood out from the conventional hotel of the day. We'll ta...

The Global Attractions Index Report was recently released by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and the Economics Practice at AECOM. We look at how Disney has fared in the last four years from 2018 to 2021. This includes both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. And we compare those numbers how Universal is doing on both coasts. Of course COVID played a big role in every park dropping attenda...

What happens when a Disney cruise you take is longer than the time you spent planning for it? That's nearly what happened when we chose to go on the Disney Dream with little notice. At the heart of that decision was a change in vaccination policy that allowed our son to board. We'll go into that and the challenges getting everyone on board. But at the real heart of this cruise was the time we spen...

We return to our 50th anniversary series where we see the Magic Kingdom as brand new Disney Cast Members learned about it back in 1971. We've covered Main Street, Adventureland, Frontierland, Liberty Square & Fantasyland. The smallest and most unprepared of all the lands was Tomorrowland. Technically it opened with only two attractions. Yet the handbook offers insights that we don't seem to have f...

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of hosting a dozen senior directors and managers from a non-profit organization in a week-long program at Walt Disney World. These individuals were wanting to improve the workforce experience back home. This experience encompassed four Disney theme parks in as many days plus visits to two world-class organizations, JetBlue and Give Kids the World. Since many of...

Welcome to Fantasyland! We return to our 50th anniversary series where we see the Magic Kingdom as brand new Disney Cast Members learned about it back in 1971. Again, Walt Disney World is set to open. You have thousands of new Cast Members, most of whom have never seen a Disney theme park, and you need to orient them to that experience. The only problem is that the park isn’t open or ready yet eit...

On this the 40th anniversary of Epcot, I feel it well to ask the question: "What is Epcot?" For most every Disney fan out there, the answer is Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. We explore what that means and what its implication is to the world we live in today. Beyond the idea of a physical city, or an eventual world's fair-style experience, I believe that Epcot is more than a brick a...

Hurricane Ian has just come and gone from Central Florida. Being in the middle of it and so many others like it, perhaps it's time to share some of my experiences dealing with hurricanes, their cleanup and most of all, my experience with Disney during those times. But we want to cover more than hurricanes. There are tornados, earthquakes and even typhoons. And no, we're not talking Typhoon Lagoon....

After a break for all things D23 we return to our 50th anniversary series where we see the Magic Kingdom as brand new Disney Cast Members learned about it back in 1971. Again, Walt Disney World is set to open. You have thousands of new Cast Members, most of whom have never seen a Disney theme park, and you need to orient them to that experience. The only problem is that the park isn’t open or read...

Disney Parks D23 Presentation has come and gone, and it's left a lot of uncertainty in its wake. Many podcasters and bloggers have already expressed their confusion. In truth, the crowd at D23 largely seemed like they were very pleased with the presentation. And if everything that was even mentioned was created or actually built, it would be fairly amazing. There was nothing presented that wasn't...

Disney's official fan convention, D23 Expo, just concluded at the Anaheim Convention Center. It's where thousands and thousands of fans gather, and we are bringing you down through the expo floor to see it all. In this vlogcast, we'll showcase exhibits Disney has put together from the Disney Archives 100th anniversary to the Mickey One, Walt Disney's own personal plane. We'll look at the vendors a...

Welcome to the Happiest Place on Earth. We bring to you a walk through of Disneyland on the eve of D23. We start from the JW Marriott hotel where I am staying to show the spectacular views of the Disneyland Resort in the distance. We then move into the park to walk through the entire guest experience from Main Street, U.S.A. to Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Galaxy's Edge, Critter Country, New Orleans...

With D23 just days away many podcasts include ours have all called out the need for a new Tomorrowland--particularly at Disneyland, where it has idled poorly over the years. Since Disney desires new and revised attractions to be linked to intellectual properties they own, we first visit what those options are and their suitability for being in the parks. We also look at the overarching direction o...