When Luggage Flies & Presidents Fume: Disney’s New Travel Perks and the Nixon Moment at the Contemporary (Ep. 558)

The Disney Dish with Jim Hill

Jim Hill Media Podcast Network

Places & Travel, Society & Culture, Leisure

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jim Hill and Len Testa unpack Disney’s expanding multimodal transportation plans, field listener questions on “Dwarfgate” and the state of restaurant seating, and dig into the remarkable story of how Richard Nixon ended up declaring “I am not a crook” at Walt Disney World’s Contemporary Resort. NEWS Disney expands its airport luggage transfer program to include Southwest Airlines arrivals, bringing back a little bit of that old Magical Express magic. A deeper look at Disney’s FY2025 earnings reveals what that surprising 4% Q4 attendance dip likely means. Updates on the Polynesian Tower’s Wailulu Bar & Grill and the return of the Garden View Lounge afternoon tea at the Grand Floridian. After 35 years, the rights to Roger Rabbit revert to creator Gary K. Wolf—sequels may be on the horizon. Universal explores a new 4–5 mile transportation system linking Epic Universe, CityWalk, and I-Drive. Listener questions on Dwarfgate, Tablegate, and how early to line up for key attractions. A look at why Disney still asks detailed spending questions on surveys—even when they already know many of the answers. FEATURE The full story of why President Richard Nixon’s “I am not a crook” press conference happened at the Contemporary Resort, and how that moment shaped Disney’s early public image. Full show notes available here: Show Notes Hosts Jim Hill — X/Twitter: @JimHillMedia | Instagram: @JimHillMedia | Website: jimhillmedia.com Len Testa — BlueSky: @lentesta.bsky.social | Instagram: @len.testa | Website: touringplans.com Patreon Enjoying the show? Support the Disney Dish and get exclusive bonus content at:https://www.patreon.com/jimhillmedia/ Follow Us Facebook: @JimHillMediaNews YouTube: @jimhillmedia TikTok: @jimhillmedia Producer Credits Edited by Dave Grey Produced by Eric Hersey — Strong Minded Agency Sponsor This episode is brought to you by Unlocked Magic, from the team at DVC Rental Store—where you can save 10% on regular and special-event Disney tickets, including Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party and Jollywood Nights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to another edition of the Disney Dish podcast with Jim Hill. It's me,
0:04.4	Len Testa, and this is our show for the week of Schmerzny, November 17th, 2025. On the show today,
0:11.3	in news, multimodal transportation, in listener questions, Dwarfgate and Tablegate.
0:18.3	Then in our main segment, Jim reminds us how Richard Nixon ended up saying, I am not a crook at Disney's contemporary resort. Let's get started by bringing in the man, tired of hearing complaints about the cost of Thanksgiving dinner, like $30 turkeys and $10 slices of pie. Look, the prices were posted on his front door before you came in the house, So that's on you. Please welcome Mr. Jim Hill.
0:38.2	Jim is going. It is going well. This is that time of year where those of us who work in the
0:45.6	kitchen get a little testy. That said, though, it is worth noting. You mentioned the $30 turkey.
0:51.7	If we go all the way back to 1621 to the first Thanksgiving, the menu included venison, wildfowl, which, by the way, not turkey, rather duck and goose.
1:04.8	And then the part I love is they had lobster because they were right down by the water.
1:09.9	But the pilgrims hated lobster.
1:12.7	They actually, if you were an indentured servant, they made you eat lobster because it was
1:18.1	thought of as a lesser food. Like here, eat your lobster and shut up.
1:21.7	Was it Mystic Pizza that had that scene where it's like the lobster fishermen, we're eating
1:27.3	lobster every day and just sick of it.
1:29.7	And then Julia Roberts goes to a fancy dinner and they're serving lobster there.
1:34.8	You're right.
1:35.4	It was a Julia Roberts movie.
1:36.7	Was it Mystic Pizza?
1:37.6	It was Mystic Pizza.
1:39.0	In fact, that's what put her on the map before.
1:41.6	Pretty woman.
1:42.3	But yeah, Turkey was not on the menu because turkeys back
1:46.1	then were fast and lean and hard to catch. You know, we had to domesticate them and turn them
	...

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