Jim credited me during the Shmursday 5/4/26 DD for submitting the idea for the show about coffee. It’s based on this piece of emphemera I found in my parents house from my Grandmother’s trip to DL in 1963.
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Very cool!
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Loved the shoutout to Maifest in my hometown of Covington, KY!
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Awesome! Always fun to learn about these obscure corners of Disney history.
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I chuckled at the reasoning of pulling people to the front of the park during busy afternoons. My grandmother would have been 63 in January of 1963–just a few years older than I am now. I doubt she had any interest in the e-ticket rides in the back of the park. (Unlike my sister and I, who were on most rides during our trip in December.) My grandmother and her sisters were likely perfectly happy to drink free coffee, buy pastries and chat amongst themselves, while her niece, husband and their kids (who moved from the Midwest to CA in the mid 1950s) hit the rides. I’ve reached out to those kids — now retirees— to ask if they have any photos or 8mm from the trip.
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Len and Jim talked about all the refurbished rides at WDW on this week’s episode!
- RnRC Starring the Muppets: Len raved about this and loved all the details, gags, and theming. He actually said he thought this made losing MuppetVision3D worth it!
Very repeatable. The one question he didn’t answer is whether the ride is still as jarring / headache inducing. Anyone else experienced it yet? - Soarin’ Across America: Len loved this one as well. He said it was better than Soarin’ Around the World. @ryan1 will be pleased to hear that he said they did not overdo it with CGI or gimmicks. He also said the pacing was better – you sit with each location long enough to appreciate it.
- MFSR: Also a big improvement. They didn’t talk much about the changes, but from what I’ve seen elsewhere, I’m sure I will like it better than the original.
- BTMRR: Len said it was smoother, felt slower (though someone reported that a CM told them it is technically faster), and is overall an improvement, but he didn’t notice much in the way of new effects. He rated this the lowest of the four refurbs.
They also mentioned that there is no word yet about when Olaf Draws is going to open at HS. 
Side note: I just saw on Instagram that Robert Irwin is doing the narration on the Wildlife Express Train in AK! Almost makes me want to ride it out there to see the Australian animals. 
I don’t think I would want to wait to see Bluey.
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This is great to hear.
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Had some speculation about a survey a listener sent and how it could relate to future plans of the area surrounding the upcoming Villains’ land. Any time Len “speculates”, everyone should listen since so much of what he says comes true.
In short, any below average guest satisfaction attractions with large footprints could very well be on the chopping block in the future, and there is one that is directly attached to the upcoming Villains’ land’s south side that, if it wasn’t there, would opening up current and future foot traffic in the area. Sonic you are one of the few who has “It’s a Small World” among your favorites, you might want to get as many rides in as possible.
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I completely agree with where Len was going when he was talking about how unnecessary it is for the Magic Kingdom to have rides like Small World and the Teacups. There are so many areas where DL and MK are distinct from each other, why not embrace that further?
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IASW has always been a must-do ride for us, and as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to appreciate it on a whole new level. I went from barely tolerating the ride to actually looking forward to it. Plus, it is a people eater. I don’t think Disney would be able to utilize that space in a way that “eats people” as effectively.
Tea Cups is taking up a very small footprint, so there would be very little advantage to replacing that with anything else. What could they possibly put in that space? Plus the young kids seem to love it.
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Len was actually lumping the area of the Teacups, Barnstormer, and Pooh as an area that could be replaced because those rides all exist elsewhere.
I see your point about IASW being a people eater, the conversation was more based around guest satisfaction and lighting lane drivers, for which the aforementioned attractions are on the lower end of the scale. Specifically for Small World the question was with Villains land coming the real estate that IASW occupies will be more valuable, and large as it is could house two attractions that would be better guest satisfyers and a quick service location for Villains land.
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Those aren’t really terribly adjacent, though. And while I agree Barnstormer could be replaced (it is the opposite of a people-eater), Pooh is an example of a ride that the entire family, including hand-held infants, can ride together. But Barnstormer is kind of tucked away on a rather small piece of land next to the train station. They could eliminate the train station (moving it to Villains land) I suppose, then then utilize the space where Barnstormer, the station, and the big tent where they do meet and greets, etc. They wouldn’t want to eliminate Dumbo. It is a fan favorite (where they not long ago double the capacity plus put int he play area) among families.
The space with Pooh and Teacups could be combined into a space to do something, I suppose, re-routing guests. But to what end. I’m not a fan of them removing such a family-friendly ride, which is definitive MK. Retheming it (again) perhaps, or replacing it with a similarly family friend ride, maybe…but Pooh is rather beloved, and ALWAYS has a wait plus the meet and greet.
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I think the Teacups, Speedway, and Barnstormer area would be ripe for the picking. My gut feeling is that they’d keep at least one spinner (Dumbo) and remove the other (Aladdin).
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I don’t think they could utilize that space for anything else. Unless it costs a lot to run it, I don’t see any reason they could get rid of it.
Speedway definitely would appear to have it’s days numbered.
I have a theory that one of the next major overhauls we will see after AK and Villains will be Tomorrowland, both at MK and DL. It is many years away still, so I think they are likely developing plans…but that Speedway space looks like prime real-estate to do something, perhaps even Marvel themed or something. Not sure, but I agree Speedway will be on the chopping block.
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I think Len talked about Aladdin,Treehouse, and Jungle cruise being removed. Jungle Cruise has been rumored for a long time due to the large footprint.
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Oh, wow. Hard to imagine. I am not a JC fan at all, but wouldn’t have imagined it being on any chopping block!!!
(Can the Tiki birds go as well? I utterly despise that show )
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Yes! That was mentioned as well.
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This. One of the continued comments about HS is that there needs to be more for younger families to do. If I’m reading recent posts correctly, the talk is to super monetize MK by removing non LL attractions (ie family friendly rides).
I agree that there is more wasted space in Tomorrowland than the non-connecting Pooh, Teacups and Barnstormer areas. A better use of apparently finite money is to upgrade 45+ yo Space Mtn from essentially a Wild Mouse coaster to something more up to date and possibly mag-lev. And for pity’s sake, upgrade the Speedway to something other than fossil-fueled vehicles. 
What is in where Stitch was? And remove Astro Orbiters before Teacups.
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Hot take: WDW could probably get rid of any of these attractions without much being lost, if replaced with something better:
- PotC
- Jungle Cruise
- Speedway
- Dumbo
- Barnstormer
- Ariel
- Winnie the Pooh
- Mad Tea Party
- Magic Carpets
- MILF (
) - Space Mountain (
) - Haunted Mansion (I said what I said)
Probably a lot more. The only “sacred” attractions:
- PeopleMover
- Carousel of Progress
- Peter Pan
- 7DMT (but they could improve this)
- Cinderella Castle
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I think they are doing this at Disneyland - I believe they talked about it on last week’s show.
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