Disney’s First Coffee Deal Was a Disaster (Ep. 582)

The Disney Dish with Jim Hill

Jim Hill Media Podcast Network

Places & Travel, Leisure, Society & Culture

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Len Testa and Jim Hill return with a caffeinated mix of Disney news, listener questions, and one deeply researched (and slightly petty) rant about guitar accuracy. They also explore the mystery of Walt’s unfinished apartment bathroom and debate just how early is too early for Halloween. Then Jim brings the main event: the story of how Maxwell House coffee landed on Main Street, missed its big debut, and ultimately got shown the door - paving the way for a quieter, smarter coffee strategy at Disneyland. NEWS Preview dates announced for Soarin’ and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring the Muppets, with guests likely riding by mid-May Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run may finally make the engineer role matter (yes, really) Bluey’s Animal Kingdom appearance may skip meet-and-greets entirely, possibly to avoid crowd-control chaos Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party now starts August 7, because apparently summer needed pumpkins EPCOT Food & Wine Festival returns in late August, continuing Disney’s “why wait for fall?” strategy FEATURE The original deal that brought Maxwell House Coffee to Disneyland - complete with big promises and bigger expectations Why the Main Street coffee house wasn’t ready for opening day (and stayed that way for months) The rain-soaked grand opening that didn’t help Disney’s relationship with its coffee sponsor How Hills Brothers stepped in, kept the New Orleans theming, and quietly made the concept work The evolution of the location from sponsored coffee house to struggling restaurant to retail space For this episode’s full show notes,⁠ click here.⁠ HOSTS • Jim Hill - IG: ⁠@JimHillMedia⁠ | X: ⁠@JimHillMedia⁠ | Website: ⁠JimHillMedia.com⁠ • Len Testa - IG: ⁠@len.testa⁠ | Website: ⁠touringplans.com⁠ FOLLOW • Facebook: ⁠JimHillMediaNews⁠ • Instagram: ⁠JimHillMedia⁠ • TikTok: ⁠JimHillMedia⁠ SUPPORT Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at ⁠Patreon.com/JimHillMedia⁠. PRODUCTION CREDITS Edited by Dave Grey Produced by Eric Hersey - ⁠Strong Minded Agency⁠ SPONSOR The Disney Dish News is sponsored by Unlocked Magic. Get discounted Walt Disney World tickets and plan your next trip at ⁠UnlockedMagic.com⁠ If you would like to sponsor a show on the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network, ⁠reach out today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Because you bought your robot vacuum on your Barclay card, you got 0% interest for up to 24 months, which makes watching it, hypnotically sweeping up your crumbs, even more satisfying.
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1:02.0	Disney Dish podcast with Jim Hill. It's me, Len Testa. And this is our show for the week of Schmer's
1:06.4	Day, May 4th, 26. May the fourth be with you. And with your spirit.
1:12.8	On the show today, news, listener questions, including the most mysterious bathroom in theme park history.
1:19.4	Then in our main segment, Jim brings us the history of Maxwell House Coffee in Disneyland.
1:24.1	Let's get started by bringing in the man whose motivational message is, we're all in this
1:28.2	together, like hostages. It's Mr. Jim Hill. Jim, has he going? It's going well, Len. Though the real
1:34.1	danger of being in a hostage situation is you may fall victim to Stockholm syndrome, which is when
1:40.3	you, the captive, suddenly find yourself having sympathetic feelings for your captor.
1:45.4	And now, Len, where this gets weird is from personal observation,
1:49.6	none of the people that I've got locked away in our basement have ever shown the slightest sign of Stockholm syndrome.
1:55.5	I mean, to a man, they seem pretty ticked off with me.
	...

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