News

Disney Vacation Club has the afternoon announced plans to transform building 9 at Disney's Grand Floridan Resort, Big Pine Key, into 200 resort studios. Sometime in 2022.

Most of these rooms have views of either Seven Seas Lagoon or the main GF pool, so they’re good views.

Here’s a map of the GF:

Complimentary Magic Bands will no longer be issued with Annual Passes as of August 16, 2021

With the launch of Disney MagicMobile, allowing guests to use their own devices for MagicBand functionality, the distribution of MagicBands for passholders will end for new pass purchases and renewals from August 16 2021 and beyond.

Jim: MagicBands going away. FastPass+ switching to a paid option. Other than Mobile Ordering, what’s left from MyMagic+.

Disneyland announces that its upcoming Spiderman ride, WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure, opening June 4, will have optional merch for purchase ($65) that allow you to shoot more spiderwebs (or use other characters’ strengths, like Iron Man) during the game.

Jim, is this the first major theme park ride to offer things for sale that changes the ride experience?

Listener Questions

Follow-up from Becky:

I have a trip booked for this July and we are staying at the Dolphin hotel. I have stayed there many times before and have always loved it for the location and Disney transportation. I was very disappointed to hear they switched to Mears shuttles. Could you please tell me if it would be better for us to walk over to the Yacht Club to catch their bus to get to Magic Kingdom, or Boardwalk rather than use Mears? Also, would this be allowed?

Len: we sent someone over to time the buses at the Swan and Dolphin, and they seem to be running every 30 minutes, give or take.  And that seems like it’s a little slower than Disney’s every-20-minutes.  So your expected wait for a bus is 15 minutes.  But I’m not sure it’s worth the walk, because the walk will take 10 minutes.  

A bunch of people wrote in saying that I didn’t explicitly mention that the Swan and Dolphin buses drop off at the TTC now, not the Magic Kingdom. And yeah, I forgot about that.  But does it change the math?  We sent researches to time the bus ride from the TTC to the MK, and this is what they found:

• The maximum wait for a bus to leave the TTC once you board in the morning is around 6 minutes (that’s way faster than I expected). The trip itself takes under 4 minutes.

So your expected trip time from the Swan/Dolphin to the MK bus stop using Mears is:

• Half of the bus wait (15 minutes) plus the drive to the TTC (11 minutes), plus half the wait for a bus at the TTC (3 minutes), plus the drive to the TTC (4 minutes) = 33 minutes.

• Walk to the Yacht Club (9 minutes) plus half the wait for a Disney bus (8 minutes) plus the drive to the Magic Kingdom bus stop (call it 13 minutes, because you don’t have to stop at the TTC) = 30 minutes.
  

So the question then is whether you’d walk 9 minutes to potentially save 3 minutes of sitting down.  I’m not sure the answer to that is an obvious yes.  So I think my original answer is good: walk to the Yacht Club if you know you just missed the Mears bus at the Swan.

From Marcel:

Hi Len and Jim, Hope all is well across the pond! We're looking forward to visit Disney World again in 2022. Today the new UK/Ireland offer was launched. Before Covid this offer would include a free dining plan. This time we get... a dining credit of about 30$ per day per person. Do you think an offer with dining plan will come later this year or will this be the best offer we’ll get? Thank you! Marcel

From Kathy:

Given the increase in park hours and dining options and reports of cast member call-backs, along with rumors of park capacity increases and resumption of AP renewals - when do you think DVC will lift the 50% borrowing limits? Have you heard anything or have a guess as to when DVC members might be able to borrow all of their next year's points again?

From Lynn,

Hi Jim and Len! Wondering if you’d offer your opinion on a Catch-22 situation I’m experiencing with Disney Dining reservations. We have a group of seven going soon and I was trying to find sit-down restaurants with outdoor seating available.

I was shocked to discover that outdoor seating cannot be reserved and if we decide to take a chance to get an outdoor table, say at Rose and Crown, and are not successful, we must choose between eating inside and possibly contracting Covid or pay the $70 no show for our entire party.

After speaking with several cast members, the consensus is that I should shut-up and enjoy Pecos Bill’s. We are a year into Covid, I can’t be the first with these concerns.

From Vince:

We have a big family trip planned for December to WDW (staying in the Contemporary). Due to Covid, Disney hasn't announced if there will be a Mickey's Very Merry Christmas this year. Although I am sure they will make it happen. For planning purposes, what days of the week has Very Merry typically fallen on? I'd like to book a day at Magic Kingdom with some* amount of certainty. Thanks for your help!

I just looked this up for something else.  In November 2019, most common days of the week were Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday (there was one Wednesday).  In December: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

From Greg:

As a fan of the runDisney races (and marathon weekend in particular), I'd love to know if you have any insights into those races returning? As Florida re-opens and guests return to WDW, all of us runners are waiting with bated breath (which is dangerous for a runner). Thanks and keep up the good work with the show!

Len: I’ve heard nothing. My sources say they’re waiting to see what other marathons do.

Davy Crockett, Zorro & Mandalorian feature piece

Part 4 of 4

Zorro / Davy Crockett / Mandalorian

Final Installment

Okay. When we left off … Because Walt was looking to expand Disneyland in 1959 and didn’t want ABC executives (who owned one third of his family fun park at that time) to complain about all of the money that Walt was reinvesting in Disneyland at that time (which might then prevent the Matterhorn Bobsleds, the Subs and the Monorail from being built) … Walt provided ABC with its long-sought-after “Davy Crockett” replacement, “Zorro.”

This half-hour long show debuted on October 10, 1957. That was a Wednesday night.

Mind you, the “Walt Disney’s Disneyland” TV show was airing on Thursday nights. And the “Mickey Mouse Club” kiddie show was airing Monday through Friday in the 5 - 6 o’clock spot, just before dinner.

So at this point, ABC had three hit television series that Walt Disney Productions was producing for that television network. And advertisers were paying top dollar to have their commercials air during “Zorro,” “The Mickey Mouse Club” and “Walt Disney’s Disneyland.” So the money was just pouring in.

Which -- you think -- would make all parties happy here. But that’s the thing about money. How much is enough? ABC was taking the money that it was making off of all of these Disney-produced show (You have to remember that -- when Walt signed his original deal with the American Broadcasting Company back in 1953 -- of the three networks that were broadcasting at that time, CBS, NBC & ABC, ABC was a distant third. In fact, the American Broadcasting Company had so few affiliates back in 1953 the joke in the industry at that time was that ABC stood for the “Almost Broadcasting Company.”

Of course, by 1957, that had changed. Based on the enormous popularity of those three Disney-produced shows, ABC had now lined up dozens of new affiliates. Which then meant that this network’s broadcast schedule was now far more competitive with CBS & NBC. Not to mention having far stronger penetration in all corners of the country.

By the way, quick aside here: I pulled a lot of the info for this part of today’s story from Bill Cotter’s excellent book, “The Wonderful World of Disney Television: A Complete History.” If you’d like to learn more about this particular era in the Disney Company history, I strongly suggest that you chase down a copy of this 640-page hardcover. Which Disney Editions published nearly 28 years ago back in September of 1997.

Anyway, ABC was using the popularity of those three Disney-produced programs to fund development of new shows for that network. And a lot of that money came from the sales of commercials which would then be broadcast during weekly airings of “Zorro,” “The Mickey Mouse Club” and “Walt Disney’s Disneyland.”

The only problem was … Well, there were only so many ad slots that you could sell per hour (or -- in “Zorro” ‘s case -- per half hour). So ABC execs, to create more slots that they could then use to sell additional ads, began making cuts to “Zorro,” “The Mickey Mouse Club” and “Walt Disney’s Disneyland.” Trimming minute-long chunks out of these shows so that there’d then be more room for commercials.

Which -- by the way -- ABC had the right to do. The contract that Roy & Walt had signed with the American Broadcasting Company back in 1953 then gave that network the right to make these sorts of trims to reruns of those Disney-produced shows. The Disney brothers, as you might expect, weren’t exactly happy to learn about this. But back in 1953, no one was thinking about reruns. They were just concerned about getting that first set of shows on the air. And -- of course -- then getting the money that Walt needed to build Disneyland.

Speaking of Disneyland … We should probably talk about “Zorro Days at Disneyland.” Which was held 5 separate times at Disneyland Park:

    • April 26 - 27, 1958

    • May 30 - June 1, 1958

    • November 27 - 30, 1958

    • November 26 - 29, 1959

    • and November, 11 - 13, 1960

Please note that “Zorro Days at Disneyland” was held at the Park three times in 1958. This was done for several reasons.

    • The first season of “Zorro” aired on ABC from October of 1957 - July of 1958 and was white-hot at that time in terms of popularity

    • Walt -- at that time -- had begun building the Matterhorn, the Subs & the Monorails and needed his family fun park to being making as much money as possible during this period to fund the construction of this $6 million expansion project

    • And -- finally -- with much of Tomorrowland closed / hidden behind construction fences while these three huge additions to Disneyland Park were being built … Well, Walt needed other things to entertain visitors to his family fun park while all of this construction was going on. And special events like “Zorro Days at Disneyland” definitely fit the bill.

If you were a fan of the “Zorro” TV show, these weekend-long “Zorro Days at Disneyland” events were like heaven on Earth. The members of the cast would regularly parade up & down Main Street, U.S.A. And then -- four times a day -- they’d stage a sword fence across the rooftops of Frontierland. The fourth sword fight of the day would end with Zorro & the Commandante on the upper deck of the Mark Twain Riverboat. Where Zorro would eventually force the Commandante to jump into the Rivers of America.

Kind of dangerous. Water’s only six feet deep / eight feet deep at that point in the River. It was a different time.

After the fourth sword fight of the day, the cast would then move to Disneyland’s Magnolia Park (where the French Market Restaurant is now located) where they’d then sign autographs & pose for pictures with fans of the TV show. The beauty part of this scheduling plan is -- if you wanted Guy Williams’ autograph -- you’d have to stay at Disneyland Park ‘til late in the afternoon. Which means that you’d have to buy food in the park / purchase tickets to rides as you killed time. Disneyland made money hand over fist on these “Zorro Days at Disneyland” weekends.

Side note: Imagineers remembers those sword fights across the rooftops of Disneyland’s Frontierland and how hugely popular they were with Guests. Which is why -- when they were initially designing “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge” -- that area in Batuu where that First Order TIE echelon is parked … Well, if you look up about 10 feet or so from that ship and around that section of the bazaar, you can clearly see the railing that circles that area which was supposed to be used as part of a daily stunt show. One that was supposed to feature an exciting battle between the Resistance and the First Order that would have fought along the rooftops of that section of “Galaxy’s Edge.”

Sadly, even after that above-the-heads-of-the-Guests area was installed (on both coasts, mind you. At the Disneyland Park version of “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge” as well as at the Disney’s Hollywood Studios version of Batuu), budget cuts in the area of in-park entertainment as well as safety concerns raised by Disney Legal (Because the helmets that those First Order stormtroopers wear don’t have the greatest sightlines) prevented this stunt show from becoming one of the featured daily attractions at Batuu.

Anyway … Back to Disneyland & “Zorro.” There were 39 half-hour long episodes of this TV show produced for its first season (October 1957 - July 1958) and an additional 39 episodes produced for Season 2 of “Zorro” (which ran on ABC from October of 1958 - July of 1959). Just want to point out that -- these days -- a TV series is lucky if they’re allowed to purchase 22 shows per season. Initially, just 13 episodes are greenlit at the start of each season of television. And if you’re doing well in the ratings … Well, by late November, the network then announces they’re picking up the back 9. Which means that they’re now ordering production of 9 additional episodes. Bringing that show to a total of 22 episodes per season.

Anyway … “Zorro” ‘s doing great, ratings-wise. As is the “Mickey Mouse Club” and the “Walt Disney’s Disneyland” anthology show. But Walt is unhappy with what ABC’s doing with the reruns of these TV shows. Cutting out whole chunks of these programs so that they can then insert additional commercials.

Walt asks ABC to stop doing this. The execs at ABC says “Read your contract. We legally have the right to do this.” Walt’s response is then … Well, we have a seven year contract with ABC which is up in 1961. If you continue to do this, I’ll just take my shows to another network.

It’s at this point that things get very frosty between ABC & Walt Disney Productions. So much so that ABC actually cancels both the “Mickey Mouse Club” as well as “Zorro” in the Summer of 1959. Mind you, both of these are still hit shows at that time. But if Walt is now making plans to decamp to CBS or NBC when his contract with ABC is up in the Fall of 1961 … Well, ABC doesn’t want Disney to have any additional episodes of those two hit shows to offer as incentive for those two networks (who are ABC’s competitors) to sign a deal with Walt & Roy.

In response to this cancellation, on July 2, 1959, Roy Disney filed a lawsuit against ABC. In that filing, Walt Disney Productions officials claimed that …

“Several weeks ago, the ABC network advised us and announced publicly that they would not televise Zorro or The Mickey Mouse Club over their network next season, and at the same time they told us we could not offer these programs to any other television outlet.

“Subsequently, they have interfered with our attempts to offer these programs to any other networks or independent television station. Although we do not dispute ABC's right to discontinue these, or any other, programs on their own network, we will certainly fight ABC's maneuvers to suppress these programs from public exhibition over other television stations."

For the better part of the next year, the two companies were at each other’s throats. Mind you, the “Walt Disney’s Disneyland” TV show (which was now known as “Walt Disney Presents”) was still airing on ABC because … Well, it was still a hit TV show. And the executives at ABC -- as mad as they might be at Walt & Roy -- still wanted some ad revenue coming in from their association with Walt Disney Productions.

It took ‘til June 1960 to finally work out some sort of semi-amicable solution to this problem between the two corporations. Walt Disney Productions agreed to buy ABC's one-third interest in Disneyland for $7.5 million. And then -- in turn -- Walt Disney Productions would be released from their contract with the American Broadcasting Company and then be free to shop their TV shows to another network.

Mind you, ABC was a very tough negotiator. Before they’d agree to sell their third of Disneyland, Inc. back to Walt & Roy, they inserted a condition in that sales agreement that then gave ABC the right to operatd most of the fast food concessions at that theme park through the Summer of 1965.

And given that -- on average -- back then, Disneyland Park sold $2.5 million worth of fast food per year (This was back when hot dogs sold for a quarter at that theme park. Hamburgers were 30 cents), this 5 year extension of ABC’s concession deal translated into Walt Disney Productions forking over at an additional $12.5 million to ABC. Which Walt really wasn’t happy about. But Roy eventually persuaded his brother to sign off on this deal.

Here’s what Walt had to say in 1965, looking back on this negotiation with ABC. 1965 -- by the way -- was the year when Walt finally got control over all of the food service at Disneyland. Which is when you started to see impressive, highly themed restaurants like the Plaza Gardens & the Blue Bayou begin being built at Disneyland Park.

“My brother Roy figured that we’d better buy those guys out. I wasn’t happy with the terms that ABC set.  But my brother figured, ‘If we don’t buy ‘em out now, we’re going to be payin’ a lot more later.’ And -- in the end -- it was a smart move that we did it then.”

What made these tough terms somewhat easier to swallow was -- in October of 1960 -- Walt Disney Productions signed a deal with NBC to move their weekly anthology series over to that broadcast network. That 3 year contract (with options to renew) called for the Studios to deliver 25 episodes for season for a show that was to be entitled “Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.”

After ABC & Disney had come to terms in June of 1960, Walt tried to revive the “Zorro” TV show by having four special hour-long episodes of the show produced. Which then aired as part of the final two seasons of “Walt Disney Presents” on ABC. But sadly -- by then -- the “Zorro” ship had sailed. Just like with “Davy Crockett” back in late 1955 / early 1956, the fans of this show had moved to other programs. So Walt then formally shut down production of this TV program.

Though -- some 17 years after Walt had died in December of 1966 -- Walt Disney Productions did take a stab at reviving this franchise.  They produced 5 episodes of a sitcom called “Zorro and Son,” which aired on CBS from April 6 - May 4, 1983. This show was basically a parody of the earlier TV series, done in the style of the “Airplane!” and “Police Squad” movies. It never found an audience and was quickly cancelled.

In 1988, Disney tried to do something similar with “Davy Crockett.” That year, NBC began airing a brand-new Disney-produced anthology show called “The Magical World of Disney.” And an element of this series was an all-new set of “Davy Crockett” episodes where the now-elderly Davy (who was played by country music legend Johnny Cash) look back at his career as a frontiersman. And then -- in flashbacks -- younger actor Tim Dunigan would recreate Davy’s exploits.

This version of the Disney anthology series debuted in November of 1988 and also struggled to find an audience. It was gone after a single season on NBC.

But Davy Crockett & Zorro live on at the Disney theme parks. Especially at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, where you’ll find the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes (May of 1971, name changed from Indian War Canoes) and the Rancho del Zocalo (Casa de Fritos from 1957, Casa Mexicana in 1982, Casa del Zocalo in February of 2001).

Tie in with the creation of Doritos: In the early 1960s, an Alex Foods salesman noticed that Casa de Fritos was tossing unused tortillas in the trash at the end of each day. He suggested that the cook cut the surplus tortillas into triangles, deep fry them, and season them in the style of a Zapotec Mexican snack called totopos. The cook took the salesman’s advice and fried up the first batch of what we now know as Doritos. Casa de Fritos offered them to customers free of charge, as an alternative to the free bag of Fritos that came with every meal. The new chips were a hit with Disneyland guests.

Without telling the Fritos company, Casa de Fritos added the tortilla chips to the menu. One day in 1964, Frito-Lay marketing V.P. Arch West visited Casa de Fritos and noticed the wildly popular new snack food on the menu. West made a deal with Alex Foods to produce the tortilla chips in large quantities. Officially named Doritos, West test-marketed the chips in southern California. They sold out faster than Alex Foods could produce them.

Soon, Frito-Lay took Doritos production in-house, producing the chips at its Tulsa, Oklahoma plant and distributing them nationwide. The first taco-flavored Doritos appeared in 1967, and today the snack comes in a profusion of colors and flavors.

This week, the whole flamin’ hot Cheetos thing created by a janitor.

Back to Star Wars & “The Mandalorian” … “Galaxy’s Edge” was deliberately created as a loose construct to celebrate Star Wars’ future rather than its past. The only problem is the future of this franchise is its past. “The Bad Batch” is set between “Revenge of the Sith” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”

We’ve got “The Book of Boba Fett” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi” limited series coming up on Disney+. All of which are set after “Return of the Jedi” and before “The Force Awakens.” Season 3 of “The Mandalorian” won’t start running ‘til sometime in late 2022.

Imagineering initially set up Batuu as a place where the characters from the most recent trilogy (Rey, Finn, Poe, and Kylo Ren) could be found. Thinking now is it’s time to start bringing the “Star Wars” characters that people know from the animated series & limited series over at Disney+.

This project is supposed to pick up speed after “Star Wars: Intergalactic cruiser” resort opens next year. What the customers who are paying top dollar want  to see in “Galaxy’s Edge” will start showing up.

Len: Let’s talk about The Mandalorian in the parks.  I was texting with our friend of the show and all-around Star Wars fan Brad last night, and he pointed out that in Doc Ondar’s, you can get a copy of Rey’s lightsaber, which she acquires in Episode IX.  But Batuu is set between Episodes VIII and IX, so Rey can’t have her lightsaber yet. So Disney doesn’t seem especially concerned about canon inside Batuu.

By the way, as I was texting Brad last night about this, I was also watching the movie Galaxy Quest for the first time, and I loved it.  When Tim Allen is being chased by that rock monster and needs suggestions for how to defeat it, and Sam Rockwell says “Can you form some sort of rudimentary lathe?”