Wdw Fan Zone Show

Our hosts are just coming back from trips to Walt Disney World and Disneyland. We'll share our thoughts on what Kurt observed including new experiences such as the Disney Starlight parade and Test Track and other takeaways from his trip.

Disney and Pixar have been together for 30 years now, so it’s natural that Pixar can be found at Walt Disney World.  However, you might be surprised how much Pixar there is in the form of attractions, character greetings, restaurants, and resorts.  We’ll explore these as well as retired Pixar experiences, upcoming projects, and how Pixar seems to stand out from other Disney acquisitions in WDW.

Walt Disney World has been built on stories that are embedded in attractions both relaxing and thrilling.  It seems that there have been more thrilling rides lately, but what is the right balance and what do guests want?  In this episode, we share our opinions on how thrills do and don’t work in the parks and how they figure into the future.

As we approach the 249th birthday of the US, we will share places where you can find obvious and subtle references to US history and basic Americana in the parks and resorts.  Some of our examples will come through pop quiz questions for our podcast hosts!

Crowds and Walt Disney World go hand in hand. In this episode we discuss where we see crowds and their impact - lines for attractions, ability to obtain dining reservations, entrance to parks, virtual queues, space on transportation, and more. We'll talk about how Disney manages crowds, how well we think they do it, what we think about how they do it, and share our ideas for avoiding them or dealing with them.

The Magic Kingdom is the first park at Walt Disney World Resort and is the most visited park in the US. Visiting Walt Disney World for the first time can be daunting for many reasons, but our podcast hosts try to help with our list of must-do activities for a first visit to Magic Kingdom from attractions to dining and more. Our ideas might vary for those who might never get back to those who will return to the park in the same visit.

Walt Disney World has announced that the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island will close next month and shared some details about Piston Peak National Park - the new land based on the Cars franchise. We don't know everything yet, but we'll discuss what we each like and don't like so much about what we know so far and our hopes and expectations for the future.

We return this week to talk about what factors we think make attractions and shows worth experiencing over and over again, which ones we think are most “re-ride-able” and which we think are least so.

The Disney parks have been driven by stories for the past 70 years and Disney does story better than anyone.  In this episode, we share our favorite examples of where and how Disney imagineers have infused story into parks, lands, attractions, resorts, restaurants, and even restrooms!  What are some of our favorites and let us know if you agree with ours.

The Dole Whip is an iconic snack at Walt Disney World with countless fans.  This week, our podcast crew discuss other iconic food choices from the parks and resorts, what they are, where they can be found, why we and so many other guests like them, whether we think they deserve to be iconic, and any other thoughts we have about them.  Mmmmmmmmmm!

Universal may be opening a new park up the street, but Walt Disney World has several new experiences planned for 2025 also.  We will each count down our Top 5 new WDW experiences for 2025 from number 5 to number 1 with number 1 being the experience we’re most anticipating.  What is your top 5 and what is your order?

There can be lots of waiting at WDW - attractions, transportation, rooms, food - counter service and mobile order and table service, coffee, park entrance, rope drop and more.  Our hosts will remind listeners about these impacts, ideas on how to minimize the waits, and how you can make your waits more effective including doing other things while you wait.

There is a lot to see at Walt Disney Wold and visitors often get caught up in experiencing attractions and shows.  This week we share two things at each park that new visitors often miss as well as one thing at each park that even recurring visitors miss.  If we have time, we’ll do the same for the rest of the Walt Disney World Resort (resort hotels, Disney Springs, and other parts of the Resort).

Our podcast team discusses 3 things we like and 3 things we don’t like about each of the transportation options around Walt Disney World.  Transportation includes buses, monorails, rental cars, the Skyliner, Friendship boats, ferry boats, Uber/Lyft, Minnie Vans, walking, and maybe some miscellaneous items.

Fresh off John’s visit to Walt Disney World, he will share some insight on new offerings and the other hosts will discuss the findings and ask their own questions.  Other topics include scarceness of straws, Garden Rocks concert approaches, Mobile Ordering, Astro Orbiter, Lightning Lane Tier 1, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and more.

With all the news of rising costs at Disney and elsewhere these days, we share our ideas of things you should do and things you shouldn’t do if you want to make your Walt Disney World trip more affordable.

During March Madness, there are lots of brackets with top seeds and Cinderella stories. Tonight, we focus on the CInderella stories for some of our unsung heroes and under-appreciated attractions, shows, dining, resorts, activities, and more,

This is a continuation of last week’s podcast.  We discuss each of the Walt Disney World deluxe and DVC resorts which we didn’t cover last week, sharing 3 things we enjoy about each, as well as 3 things that might not connect with us quite as much.

We unpack the variety of Walt Disney World deluxe resorts and each share 3 things we enjoy about each one, as well as 3 things that might not connect with us quite as much.

As we move forward as a podcast team, we cover this week's news, reconnect with our hosts and their Disney backgrounds, and share some of our guilty Disney pleasures, whether it's dining, attractions, resorts, shows, shopping, or whatever.