The Disney Dish with Jim Hill

Jim Hill and Len Testa continue their Disneyland history series by revisiting Big Thunder Ranch just after its January 2016 closure. Jim explains how the ranch began as a temporary attraction and describes the ambitious Indiana Jones show once planned for that corner of the park. They also explore Circus Fantasy and other off-season events, then discuss the drone-show proposals Disney was pursuing...

Jim Hill and Len Testa open 2016 by looking at Walt Disney World as a city, with the daily challenges of moving, accommodating, and protecting a large population. They discuss the Christmas Day confusion at Disney Springs, the influence of social media, and historical incidents that complicate the resort’s sheltered image. The conversation then turns to monorail reliability, improved bus service,...

Jim Hill and Len Testa continue their chronological Disneyland series with the park’s 30th anniversary and the early development of Star Tours. Jim explains how Ron Miller’s outreach to George Lucas started a collaboration that survived Disney’s management change, and why an ambitious roller-coaster concept gave way to a motion simulator. Recorded shortly before The Force Awakens opened, the conve...

Jim Hill and Len Testa revisit the campaign to save Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Walt Disney World and what it revealed about Disney’s growing online fan community. Jim first traces the confusing closure of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, then explains how Winnie the Pooh’s arrival sparked protests, publicity, and lasting tributes to Toad. This December 2015 conversation also opens with Thanksgiving in N...

Jim Hill and Len Testa continue their chronological Disneyland series by examining the corporate upheaval that reshaped Disney in the mid-1980s. Jim traces Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold’s push for new leadership, the takeover threats facing the company, and the events that brought Michael Eisner and Frank Wells into power. Along the way, they connect those boardroom battles to New Fantasyland, Di...

Jim Hill and Len Testa examine the changes coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom in this conversation recorded October 29, 2015. They discuss Club Villain’s announcement, the growing market for premium experiences, and new details about Rivers of Light. Looking ahead from 2015, they also weigh construction plans, attraction rumors, and uncertain futures for the Muppets and Osborn...

Jim Hill and Len Testa explore two Disneyland lands that never made it off the drawing board: Dumbo Circus and Discovery Bay. Jim traces their roots in Walt’s Fantasyland plans and describes the attractions, restaurants, and transportation that would have connected these ambitious additions. The conversation also follows surviving ideas into later Disney parks and explains how movie performance an...

Jim Hill and Len Testa explore why Shanghai Disneyland’s entrance was designed as Mickey Avenue instead of another Main Street, U.S.A. Jim traces the ideas considered for earlier international parks and the creative choices intended to introduce Disney’s characters to a new audience. Recorded before Shanghai Disneyland opened, this 2015 conversation tours the planned shops, restaurants, gardens, a...

Jim Hill and Len Testa answer a listener’s question about Disney villains and the events built around them in the parks. Jim connects the success of Descendants and Maleficent with the longer history of villain merchandise, cruise-line entertainment, and Halloween celebrations. This September 2015 conversation also explores the creation of Hades and previews the debut of the Hocus Pocus Villain Sp...

Jim Hill and Len Testa continue their Disneyland chronology with the years 1976 through 1981, when Southern California’s growing competition pushed Disney toward bigger thrills. Jim follows Space Mountain from Walt’s early ideas to its Anaheim debut, then explains how Big Thunder Mountain emerged from a much larger unrealized project. The discussion also covers the Matterhorn’s transformation, Dis...

Jim Hill and Len Testa answer a listener’s question about the history and backstage workings of Disney’s walk-around characters. From borrowed opening-day costumes to the challenges of bringing Baymax into the parks, Jim traces how appearance, performer needs, and movie promotion shaped the experience. Recorded ahead of the 2015 D23 Expo, the conversation also considers why some characters stay fo...

Jim Hill and Len Testa give America on Parade a closer look after listeners asked for more of the story behind Disney’s bicentennial celebration. Jim explains how a complicated national anniversary became an opportunity for Disney to stage elaborate parades, television productions, and astonishing fireworks displays. Along the way, they explore the creative choices, controversies, and surviving pi...

Jim Hill and Len Testa return to their Disneyland chronology to explore how the park adapted between 1971 and 1975. With Walt Disney World drawing attention in Florida, Disneyland pursued new attractions and nighttime entertainment while navigating changes in company leadership and the wider economy. Jim traces the hurried creation of beloved experiences, unexpected audience reactions, and the gro...

Jim Hill and Len Testa continue assembling anecdotes for the 2016 Unofficial Guide, this time focusing on Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. They discuss the operational challenges of a nighttime Animal Kingdom, the evolving plans for Star Wars and Pixar, and the transformation of Downtown Disney into Disney Springs. Recorded in 2015, this conversation captures proposals, expectations,...

Jim Hill and Len Testa pull back the curtain on the conversations that became anecdotes in the 2016 Unofficial Guide. In this extended first installment, they work through Magic Kingdom and Epcot attraction by attraction, discussing projects, operational challenges, and ideas being considered in 2015. It is a snapshot of the parks at that moment, including predictions and proposals whose outcomes...

Jim Hill and Len Testa sit down in Disneyland’s Fantasyland after riding the Storybook Land Canal Boats. Jim traces the attraction from its unfinished opening-day form to the miniature fairy-tale landscapes that became one of Walt Disney’s favorites. Along the way, they explore abandoned ride concepts, intricate design details, and the newly added Frozen scenes. Original Air Date: June 1, 2015 (es...

To celebrate Earth Day, Jim and Len walk through Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge and Kidani Village, talking about the construction, architecture, crafts, and animals that you see around the resort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jim Hill and Len Testa continue their Disneyland history series with the turbulent years from 1967 through 1970. They follow Roy Disney’s efforts to keep the company moving after Walt’s death while financing the Florida project and completing major attractions in Anaheim. The discussion culminates in the Yippies’ visit to Disneyland and a difficult year that tested the park’s management and morale...

Jim Hill and Len Testa explore how Universal turned Springfield into a place guests could eat, shop, and step inside the world of The Simpsons. Jim shares details from his visit to Universal Studios Hollywood and traces the ideas that first proved successful in Florida. They also look at how Springfield fits into Hollywood’s larger transformation ahead of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Origi...

Jim Hill and Len Testa continue their chronological history of Disneyland with the ambitious years from 1962 through 1966. They explore how the 1964 New York World’s Fair, new attractions, and plans beyond Anaheim reshaped Walt Disney’s park. The conversation closes with Walt’s final days and Roy Disney’s determination to carry the Florida project forward. Original Air Date: April 15, 2015Original...

The Grand Floridian’s Victorian style draws on more than one grand old hotel. Jim Hill and Len Testa finish their history of the resort, tracing the design choices, construction, and theatrical details behind Disney’s “American castle.” They also explore royal visitors, the Wedding Pavilion, the Disney Vacation Club villas, and the traditions that keep guests coming back. Original Air Date: April...

Walt Disney keeps finding ways to improve Disneyland, while Roy works on a different kind of park project: buying out its other owners. Jim Hill and Len Testa revisit the early 1960s, from Nature’s Wonderland and the Jungle Cruise’s growing sense of humor to the deals that brought Disneyland under Walt Disney Productions. They also explore how those business negotiations strained the brothers’ rel...

Before the Grand Floridian, Walt Disney World had some very different plans for the shores of Seven Seas Lagoon. Jim Hill and Len Testa explore the Venetian, Persian, and Asian resorts that never welcomed a guest, along with the financial and construction problems that reshaped Disney’s hotel ambitions. Along the way, they connect those abandoned ideas to the Grand Floridian’s beginnings and the P...

Opening Disneyland was only the beginning of Walt Disney's problems. Len Testa and Jim Hill continue their Disneyland history series with the park's first growing pains, from its frantic 1955 debut through the ambitious expansion of 1959. Along the way, they explore the television deals, unlikely sponsors, operational improvisations, and rival parks that helped turn Walt's experiment into a lastin...

Disney’s Value Resorts were created for reasons that went far beyond offering guests a cheaper place to sleep. Jim Hill and Len Testa trace the history of Walt Disney World lodging, from Michael Eisner’s ambitious Disney Decade plans and the financial fallout from Euro Disney to the creation of the All-Star Resorts. They also explain how competition along U.S. 192, pressure from Osceola County, an...