The Disney Tech That Worked - And the Stuff That Didn’t (Ep. 100)

The Jim Hill Media Podcast Network

Jim Hill Media Podcast Network

Tv & Film, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2026

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jim Hill and Lauren Hersey celebrate 100 episodes of I Want That Too by diving deep into one of Disney’s most fascinating recurring patterns: the company’s obsession with technology. From the rise and fall of Go.com to MagicBands, My Pal Mickey, Disney Infinity, and interactive park experiments that never fully worked, Jim traces Disney’s long history of swinging big on tech innovation. Along the way, they also cover Toy Story 5 fast food partnerships, Alice in Wonderland’s 75th anniversary, and new Small World anniversary merchandise. NEWS • Toy Story 5 teams up with Papa Johns in Disney’s latest fast food collaboration push. • Burger King’s Mandalorian promotion sparks conversation about Disney’s growing restaurant partnerships. • Alice in Wonderland celebrates its 75th anniversary with restored screenings and limited merch. • Disney launches America 250 merchandise across Walt Disney World. • New It’s a Small World 60th anniversary pins and collectibles arrive for Disney Parks fans. FEATURE • Jim revisits the rise and rapid collapse of Disney’s Go.com initiative and why the company struggled to compete with Yahoo and AOL. • The history of Disney’s biggest tech experiments, including holograms for The Black Cauldron and Journey Into Imagination. • Behind the scenes stories about My Pal Mickey, Glow With the Show ears, and the unrealized ambitions of MagicBands. • The original interactive plans for MagicBands included personalized Small World dolls, reactive character greetings, and real-time park tracking. • Disney Infinity, Epic Mickey, Lucky the Dinosaur, and Turtle Talk with Crush reveal how Disney repeatedly reinvents its approach to immersive technology. • Josh D’Amaro’s latest comments about Disney Plus suggest the company may once again be trying to build a digital centerpiece for the Disney brand. HOSTS • Jim Hill - X/Twitter: @JimHillMedia, Instagram: @JimHillMedia, Website: jimhillmedia.com • Lauren Hersey - X/Twitter: @laurenhersey2, Instagram: @lauren_hersey_ FOLLOW • Facebook: @JimHillMediaNews • YouTube: @jimhillmedia • TikTok: @jimhillmedia • Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/jimhillmedia/ SUPPORT Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at https://www.patreon.com/jimhillmedia. PRODUCTION CREDITS Edited by Dave Grey Produced by Eric Hersey - https://strongmindedagency.com SPONSOR Thanks to UnlockedMagic.com, your go-to source for great deals on Disney and Universal tickets. If you would like to sponsor a show on the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network, reach out today. https://www.jimhillmedia.com/sponsor/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:24.0	Welcome back to I want that to the podcast where Disney merch meets Disney history.
0:29.7	I'm entertainment writer Jim Hill and as always I'm joined by the lovely Lauren
0:34.8	Hersey on this very momentous occasion. Yes?
0:38.7	Momentous occasion, 100 episodes? I mean, like, I didn't think we would get here. Did you? I'm kidding.
0:47.6	Well, you know, yes, you know,, we were the right brothers.
0:57.0	We, you know, got the thing aloft and it kept flying.
0:57.6	Go figure. Listen, I mean, I think that we've had a heck of a run for 100 episodes.
1:04.3	But which begs me to ask you the question, Jim, if we're talking about Disney celebrations, do you have a favorite?
1:14.7	Oh, you know, I think it would have to be Disneyland's 30th anniversary, because again,
1:26.7	that was the one that I personally attended and that kind of
1:32.3	kicked open my career for covering the company. I mean, it was a 30-hour long party held out
1:41.1	in Anaheim, and this was the trip where, because I was there as a reporter,
1:47.4	I got to walk the rooftops of Main Street USA.
1:52.9	Wow.
1:53.2	And by the way, you know, you don't want to be up on the 30-year-old rooftops of Main Street, USA.
1:59.2	I looked at some of the oldest, weakest-looking plywood up there and was thinking, you know,
2:05.0	I'm on top of the Emporium, and I very soon will be down inside of the Emporium because this
	...

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