News

Walt Disney World

• New dining search capabilities:

• New ‘calendar view’ allows you to select up to 10 days to check over the next 2 months
• Each day in the calendar shows a green dot for days with reservations still available
• Search by time range instead of by B/L/D
• Our own Christina Harrison has done a short video explaining the new changes:
  https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/tc97ae7s5tqxamhq3tb8y/2025-06-NewWDWDiningSearch.mov?rlkey=g945wpzehvpms6r2mbeyy9cu4&dl=0
• Should make it easier & faster to book sit-down dining

• I’m sure this is part of Disney trying to get more people into sit-down restaurants
• Still surprised they don’t do text alerts or waiting lists for restaurants, even for a fee.
  

• Disney Starlight parade route - parade will start on Main Street and end in Frontierland.

• Disney says this is to make it easier for guests to exit the park after the parade. And that totally makes sense.
• Parades at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., with fireworks at 10 p.m.
  

• Astro Orbiter ride vehicles have been installed and are spinning

Universal Orlando Resort

• Epic Universe Early Admission lineup has changed:

• Removed:

• Donkey Kong - Mine Cart Madness

• Added:

• Constellation Carousel
• Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment
• Curse of the Werewolf

• Still there:

• Yoshi’s Adventure
• Stardust Racers
• Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge
  

• Dark Universe had not been officially opened for Early Admission prior to this
• This should spread out guests more in the morning
• Our advice is still to start in Super Nintendo World:

• Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge
• Constellation Carousel
• Stardust Racers
• Monsters Unchained - should be able to get in this line just before the park officially opens
  

• Also, Epic Universe has been staying open about an hour longer than its advertised closing time. That could change, of course, but it’s nice to get the extra time.

If you’re in the New York City area on Friday, July 11:

Chelsea Table + Stage is hosting a show called “To All Who Come to This Happy Place: Welcome!”, featuring classic music from Disneyland’s first 70 years. I’m going. Tickets are under $40 per adult. And if you can’t make it in person, the livestream is available for cheap. But you’ll have to mix your own drinks.

Interview

Surveys

Matthew Vrbka’s Helios survey

Listener Questions

From Tom Luft:

Why is Tron (arguably the #1 ride at MK) not open for Early Entry with the rest of Tomorrowland?

Len says: It’s not reliability. My guess is that there’s still enough demand for it as LL Single Pass to make it worthwhile.

Also, it probably helps balance out traffic once the park opens to day guests, since you have TRON open on one side of the park, Tiana’s (and eventually Big Thunder) in another, plus Haunted Mansion. So traffic flow is probably the other reason.

From Tom Marks:

Big fan of the show! With MuppetVision closed and Rock N' Roller coaster scheduled for refurb, what’s the plan for Hollywood Studios if one or two rides like Rise of the Resistance and Runaway Railway are down at the same time? Does the place grind to a halt?

Len says: Tom, if I may quote 80’s post-punk legends Echo and the Bunnymen, I’d say their strategy is “Bring on the dancing horses.” And whatever other character greetings they can muster. There’s probably a College Program landscaper who’s been told to collect amphibians for a Michigan J Frog-style musical number. (Yeah, it’s Warner Brothers. They’re tourists. What do they know?)

From Kevin Poplawski, whose friends call him “Tom”, I’m sure:

Now that Epic Universe is open, let’s say the Battle at the Ministry wait time is 120 minutes. How much of that wait time is spent inside the Ministry of Magic (from going through the MetroFloo) and onwards vs standing outside in lines? I can’t seem to get a straight answer but I’m turning to the “Master of Wait Times and all sorts of downtime procrastinating prognostication” for the answers!

Len says: I think the post-Floo queue can easily hold a two-hour wait. I suspect it’s probably closer to 3 hours. The queue is supposed to hold 4 or 4 ½ hours of guests. If the line stretches to the MetroFloo, there’s a significant chunk of additional queue space behind the MetroFloo. And if that gets filled, then the line either closes temporarily or extends out into Paris. I’ve seen both happen.

Future questions:

From Lins:

I like the idea of a future Dish segment on DVC as I lack an understanding of how memberships work. For instance, does inventory ever become available to the general public for individual stays? What happens when a new property goes online (i.e. Poly Island Tower)?

Research/Patents (use query "disney enterprises".as AND "theme park".ab at URL https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/)

2025 Schedule

May - Epic Universe

         May 19-22 Previews for Villains and Little Mermaid shows

         May 22 - Opening

Walt Disney World

         May 27 - Villains at DHS, Little Mermaid show at DHS

Summer (June, July, August)

MK nighttime parade Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away

July 22 - Test Track

September

October

November

December - Zootopia: Better Zoogether

2026 Schedule

Dinosaur closes

Innoventions feature piece

So okay. Let’s talk about Communicore Hall & Plaza. Which opened in Epcot’s World Celebration area a year ago. I didn’t want to be one of those who piled on. I figured – give the Park some time – Epcot’s management team will eventually figure out what to do with this part of the Park.

But like I just said Communicore Hall & Communicore Plaza officially came online on June 10th, 2024. And I just saw a picture of this completely empty space (And this image was taken in the heat of a Central Florida afternoon. Where visitors to the Disney Parks are usually desperate to find spots that have shade & air conditioning. Not to mention places to sit down and plug in their phones).

Visitors to Epcot briefly peer into this bland & abandoned space and then say “ … Nope. Not going in there.” The way this place is designed / set up … There’s just something about the look of Communicore Hall & Communicore Plaza that makes Guests walk on by.

Reminds me of what Tom Hanks said about Walt Disney Studios back in the Early 1980s (This would have been 1983. Just before Tom began working with Daryl Hannah & John Candy on “Splash”). Hanks had driven to the Disney Lot in Burbank with Director Ron Howard (They’re going to have their very first meeting with Ron Miller, who was the Head of Walt Disney Productions at the time).

Anyway … As Tom & Ron are walking up Mickey Avenue past all of the carefully groomed lawns (And you have to remember that – back then – out of the eight major studios who were making movies out in Hollywood in the early 1980s, Disney was eighth. Dead Last. This was back when the Mouse was making cinematic classics like “Gus, the Field Goal Kicking Mule.”

That was seriously a film that Disney made. “Gus” opened in theaters back in July of 1976. It starred Edward Asner, Bob Crane, Don Knotts, Tim Conway, Tom Bosley & Dick Van Patten. It was like Disney hired the cast of “Gus” by opening TV Guide to a random page and then pointing to a program on that day’s schedule and saying “This guy once played a Dad on a television show.  Let’s hire him.”

Anyway … Back in 1983, two then-relatively young white guys (Ron Howard was 29 at the time, Tom Hanks was 27) were walking across the far-too-quiet Disney Lot in Burbank (Because nothing was being produced there at that time). And Tom turns to Ron and reportedly says “ … this place feels like an under-funded community college.”

Which is the same thing that I think when I see pictures of Epcot’s Communicore Hall & Communicore Plaza these days. It looks like the student union at some college built back in the 1970s in the dead of Summer when all of that school’s enrollees are still at home. Classes won’t start yet for another two weeks. “Be careful going in there. The janitor just polished the floor. And it’s still slippery.”

Gotta tell you. Back in the day, Michael Eisner wouldn’t have stood for this. He’d have seen those pictures of the bland & abandoned Communicore Hall & Communicore Plaza and then said “ … We need to fix this.”

On last week’s show, we talked about Michael Eisner just a few months after he arrived at Disney. On this week’s show, we’re going to revisit Michael some nine years into his run at the Mouse House. This would have been the Fall of 1993. When – to be honest – things aren’t going great.

It’s around this time that the financial press reports that – due to its debt load – Euro Disneyland (which opened back in April of 1992) is losing $2.5 million a day.

By the way: NOT Disney’s fault. When work initially began out in Marne La Valle back in August of 1988, this project was on time and on budget. But then when the Berlin Wall fell in November of 1989 (And then – when Germany reunified the following year in October of 1990) … Euro Disney suddenly found itself in direct competition with that country when it came to … Well, construction workers. Not to mention building supplies (Price of steel skyrocketed during this era).

Anyway … Euro Disneyland was supposed to only cost $3 billion to build. Wound up costing $4.4 billion. All of that unexpected, additional debt was what was causing the Disneyland Paris park (which was popular right from the get-go. Drew huge crowds) to still lose $2.5 million a day.

Disney needed some relief from that consortium of banks that were carrying all of those loans that were used to build Phase One of Euro Disney. They initially weren’t up for this idea. But when Disney said “ … Okay. If you guys won’t agree to a new financial arrangement, we’re just going to close this resort in March of 1994 and walk away.”

With that gun now being held to their head, the banks then came back to the negotiating table and worked out a new deal in regards to Euro Disney’s debt load. Which is why what’s now known as the Disneyland Paris Resort is still in business today.

Now I bring Euro Disney up because … Well, back in 1993, the purse strings at The Walt Disney Company suddenly got noticeably tighter. A lot of big ticket projects – like the Port Disney project that was supposed to be built down in Long Beach next to the Queen Mary. Likewise the original version of Westcot [The West Coast version of EPCOT Center that was supposed to built out in Disneyland’s old parking lot} – quietly got their plug pulled.

Meanwhile – down in Florida – the now more-than-10-year-old EPCOT Center was really starting to show its age. Especially in the Future World section of that theme park.

Worse than that, you now had companies like General Electric (i.e., the sponsor of Epcot’s “Horizons” pavilion) reach out to Mouse House managers and say “ … Yeah. I know. Our initial 10-year-old sponsorship agreement is up this year. We’re not renewing. We’re effectively walking away from Epcot in September of 1993. Good luck with finding a new sponsor for that thing.”

So – when it came to EPCOT Center (The theme park that the public thought of as educational, rather than entertaining) – Disney was now dealing with a triage situation. They had to stop the bleeding at this theme park (i.e., sagging attendance levels) at a time when Imagineering had no money to work with.

So what do you do in a situation like that? First you rebrand (That’s how EPCOT Center became Epcot ’94. By the way, this is also why Euro Disney became Disneyland Paris. A new name means a new beginning). And then you look for someone else’s money to spend.

In a moment, we’ll talk about how the path to Innoventions runs through Las Vegas. But first … This.

SECOND AD BREAK

And we’re back.

Okay. Just a quick recap here. It’s the Late Summer / Early Fall of 1993. Euro Disney is losing $2.5 million a day. General Electric has just pulled out as the sponsor of Future World’s “Horizons” pavilion. Attendance levels at EPCOT Center are cratering.

What’s a CEO supposed to do in a dire situation like this? Go to Vegas, baby.

Truth be told, every January (right after New Years), you couldn’t get anything done at Disney (especially over at Imagineering) because everyone was away from their desks then. Not because these Disney employees were still away on some extended Christmas holiday. But – rather – because they were already in Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics show.

Imagineers made a point (And still make a point of going to CES each year. This thing started back in June of 1967. And sometime in the 1970s shifted to that 10-days-after-New-Years date that CES has had for decades now).

Anyway … Imagineers make a point of going to CES every year because you then get to see a lot of truly cutting edge tech in the exact same place. Which then gives you plenty of fodder for future theme park rides, shows & attractions. Elements you can then incorporate to make your next project seem super cool.

After hearing the Imagineers talk about how cool CES was … Well, Eisner began making a point of spending at least a day out in Las Vegas walking the show floor whenever the Consumer Electronics Show was in town. And after doing this for a year or two, Michael began to think “ … we need something like this down at Disney World. Either in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom or someplace inside of Future World. A place where people can then see the sort of tech that they’ll then have in their home 5 years from now. Ten years from now.”

Speaking of 10 years from now … That – to Michael Eisner’s way of thinking – was the real problem with Future World. When Disney signed all of those sponsorship deals with major American corporations to then fund the construction of all those futuristic pavilions in the front half of that theme park, the language in those sponsorship deals specifically said that these companies would NOT have to update the exhibits & shows at the pavilions which they sponsored until that original 10-year-old deal expired.

Mind you, these corporations – all on their own, if they felt like it – could update the exhibits & shows at the Future World pavilions that these companies were sponsoring at EPCOT Center ahead of time (by that I mean: Ahead of when their 10-year-long sponsorship deal with Disney ran out). But few if any opted to do that.

That – to Michael’s way of thinking – was why EPCOT Center felt so stale. The Future World that was on display there was the future circa 1982. 10 years out-of-date.

The other issue here was … Well, because Disney needed whales (i.e., corporations with very deep pockets to fund the initial construction and then underwrite the day-to-day operation of each individual Future World pavilion) … Well, there were a lot of companies who were interested in coming into EPCOT Center / setting up a show or display at that park that then showcases that corporation’s wares that weren't willing to put up the tens of millions of dollars necessary to fund a full-sized Future World pavilion.

But if these same corporations were then given the opportunity to come into Epcot (Now Epcot ’94) at a far lower price point. Like – say – a million dollars. Maybe two million. Executives at these companies would then say “Yes.”

With this new battle plan in mind, Communicore East & West then began shutting down in the Fall of 1993 in phases. By Late January of 1994, the entire center of Future World was behind construction fences as these two giant buildings were gutted. With the displays that had been in this part of EPCOT Center since that theme park first opened back in October of 1982 now being trashed & tossed out in a nearby dumpster.

Meanwhile, representatives of Disney had been reaching out to companies that bought booths at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and telling them “ … we’re about to do something similar down in Florida. Only our version of CES won’t end after just a week. We’ll be running ours all year ‘round. And it will be held inside a theme park that over 14 million people visited just last year (1993).”

Some very big players – SEGA, AT&T, Motorola, IBM, Apple – decided that they wanted into what Disney’s marketing team decided would be called “Innoventions.” (This word is a Disney-invented mash-up of invention & innovation. It’s no Bibbiddi Boppiddi Boutique. But it will do). And the next thing you know, some 149 tractor trailer trucks full of high tech stuff are on their way to Orlando. Where they’re then set up in this new 100,000 square foot display space in EPCOT Center.

Innoventions soft-opens in the Summer of 1994 (Mid-June to be exact). It won’t officially open ‘til the Fall of that same year (1994). And to keep from happening with Future World’s pavilions (i.e., tech on display getting out-of-date), Eisner insisted that the companies coming into what used to be this theme park’s Communicore area sign far more short term contracts. Two years, rather than 10 years. Michael’s hope was – under those terms & conditions, Innoventions would have a lot more churn. That it would then be far more likely that people would say – when they encountered a new piece of tech out in the wild – they’d then be able to say “ … Oh, yeah. I saw that at Disney a few years back. That thing’s really cool, don’t you think.”

Not gonna lie. Innoventions was kind of a mess when it first opened. All of these exhibits competing for your attention. Disney theme parks use that whole “persistence of vision” thing. Things like weenies to then lead you logically to the very next thing that you’re supposed to experience or see. Innoventions initially had none of that. Visual clutter. It was loud in there. Often not a fun experience.

Disney made changes as Epcot ’94 became Epcot ’95 (Went back to being plain ol’ Epcot in 1996). Innoventions West was the first to get overhauled. Tried to clean up some of the visual clutter in there / make that space easier for Guests to navigate.

1999 – Innoventions East was overhauled. That area then got a “Road to Tomorrow” theme, with all sorts of faux highway signs that then gave Guests a clear path as to which exhibits they were supposed to visit in what order.

By the way, the success of Innoventions is what eventually led to the thing that Len & I first bonded over (i.e., the Millennium Village inside of World Showplace at EPCOT Center). The lessons learned in the initial version of Innoventions (an indoor attraction like with multiple partners competing for Guests’ attention really needs to be laid out carefully & have a consistent visual language that then makes this space easy to navigate. It’s important that it be well lit as well) were applied to the Millennium Village.

Millennium Village closed January 1, 2001. The East Coast version of Innoventions lingered on in mutated form ‘til 2019. Which is when the East Side of Future World’s centermost section was leveled to then make room for Communicore Hall & Communicore Plaza.

Maybe what would bring in the crowds, Len, would be if someone were to dust off the “Journey to Jerusalem” ride that used to be in the Millennium Village. 8 minute-long trip aboard a “Time Elevator,” supposed to take you through 3000 years of history. Not saying that this attraction was cheesy. But Len & I both sat through that thing waiting for Mel Brooks’ cameo appearance as Moses.

Israel pavilion 2400 square feet. Sat between the UK & Canada pavilion. Actual Israel pavilion (signs were up on Epcot’s opening day heralding this proposed addition to World Showcase as “Coming Soon” was originally supposed to be built between the Morocco & Japan pavilion. That expansion pad is still there, right?

Did you have a favorite part of Innoventions? Me? It was the Imagineering Lab (located in Innoventions East). Home to the demo of DisneyVision, early virtual reality experience. Put a thing on your head that was roughly the size of a bedpan. Same weight. Were then able to fly through Agrabah on the “Aladdin’s Flying Carpet” VR experience.

Imagineering Lab only up & running at Innoventions East through 1995. Three years later, DisneyQuest opened at WDW in June of 1998 with an “Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride” attraction. Just what Eisner wanted. Innoventions gave you a peek at something that was just down the road.

Did you have a favorite part of Innoventions, Len? Something that you first saw back then which is now part of your day-to-day life?

• Sum of All Thrills (2009 - 2016)
• Habit Heroes (2012 - 2016) My friend Chris Eliopoulos did some lettering for the ride posters. This was the one that closed during guest previews because of feedback that it shamed overweight guests.
• The Great Piggy Bank Adventure (T Rowe Price?)
• The House of Innoventions (1995)

• Electric vehicles charged at home
• LED lighting

Me? It’s the “Medicine’s New Vision” display that RSNA had in Innoventions East. The image technology that I first saw on display there is what made Nancy’s hip replacement surgery possible. Mind you, a good chunk of the work that was done during this procedure involved a robot assisting Doctor Tom, Nancy’s hip surgeon.

But – again – just to circle back to how we started off today’s feature … Michael Eisner was a guy who, when he saw a problem in the Parks, then figured out a way to solve them. Ideally by spending someone else’s money to then accomplish this goal.

And I just wish that there was someone at the Disney Company today who would then see how poorly Communicore Hall & Communicore Plaza are being used today and then think “ … we need to fix this. Let me give SEGA a call and see if they’d send us 140 of their cutting-edge game consoles.

One final note here. I was over at RetroWDW last night looking at some B-roll that they have there of the “Innoventions: Road to Tomorrow” redo from 1999. And there’s this image of three people in the SEGA games section. And they’re all playing Sega’s virtual bass fishing game.

Which just cracked me up. Because – 300 feet away from this part of Innoventions is World Showcase Lagoon. Where you can actually rent a pontoon boat and – with the help of an experienced guide – go out on the water and spent two hours or four hours fishing for a really-for-real bass.

That’s my look back at Innoventions.