How Nickelodeon Helped Inspire Disney’s Family Suites

The Disney Dish with Jim Hill

In this episode of The Disney Dish with Jim Hill, hosts Jim Hill and Len Testa explore the evolution of Disney's family suites, tracing how Nickelodeon's

Key takeaways

• Nickelodeon Family Suites' success directly influenced Disney's decision to expand family-oriented accommodations at Walt Disney World.
• The stalled Pop Century expansion led to experimentation with All-Star Music, which eventually paved the way for Art of Animation Resort.

Main topics

• History of Disney family suites
• Influence of Nickelodeon Family Suites on Disney's resort strategy

Notable quotes

"If Bob had stayed on the job, whether by now we'd be looking at an extension of the Skyliner."

Conclusion

The episode concludes by reflecting on how seemingly minor decisions—like expanding family

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Welcome back to another edition of the Disney Dish podcast with Jim Hill. It's me, Len Testa, and this is our show for the week of Shimmer's Day, September 14th, 2026. On the show today, news, including discounts, and your listener questions. Then in our main segment, Jim finishes up the history of Disney's family suites. Let's get started by bringing in the man who wants to know if the person who coined the phrase one-hit wonder... came up with anything else. Speaker 1 (0:25) It's Mr. Jim Hill. Jim, how's it going? It's going well, Len, but I just wanted to share a story in regard to One Hit Wonders, because once upon a time, 19-year-old Al Yankovic was in his Speaker 2 (0:39) bedroom. Patron saint of this podcast. Go ahead. Speaker 1 (0:42) There we go. There we go. But he had heard the next... My Sharona, which, by the way, debuted on radio, became a hit in June of 79. And Al was a fan of the Dr. Demento show that aired every Sunday night. And it was just, you know, he wanted to be on that show. So it took him a couple of months, but he wrote a parody of My Sharona called My Bologna, which, you know, he recorded, sent off to Dr. Demento. Speaker 1 (1:15) December of that same year, it's a hit song on that radio show. And, you know, and again, Al could have been a one-and-done guy. Again, a one-hit wonder, but he got that little taste of, ooh, this is cool, my stuff on radio. And, you know, he began looking for another song that he could possibly do the same thing with. Took him a while. It wasn't until, well, actually June of the following year, Queen, you know, in the summer of 1980, released Another One Bites the Dust. And that, Al, in February of 81, turned into Another One Rides the Bus. Yes. And long story short, folks, now Weird Al Yankovic is a five-time Grammy Award winner and Emmy winner as well for his life story. Did you actually see that, Len, where Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter, played Weird Al in his life story? We Speaker 2 (2:21) live in a strange timeline, Jim. Speaker 1 (2:22) We do. We do. And speaking of things getting strange, it was announced in May of this year. There is a Weird Al Yankovic musical in development for Broadway right now called Dare to be Stupid. And again, this is why Weird Al Yankovic is the patron saint of this podcast. Speaker 2 (2:42) Okay, so hold on. So he's got a Grammy. Five. Five Grammys. He's Speaker 1 (2:46) got Speaker 2 (2:46) Grammys. So if he gets to Broadway, if he wins an award for Broadway, he'll have a Tony. There we go. So this is interesting. Who gets to the EGOT first? Weird Al or Taylor Swift? Speaker 1 (3:01) Oh, all right. I want to put money down on that competition. I Speaker 2 (3:06) was going Speaker 1 (3:06) to say, yeah, this is what Speaker 2 (3:07) bidding markets are for. That's fantastic. There Speaker 1 (3:09) we Speaker 2 (3:10) go. There we go. All right, Jim, let's do a quick shout out to our subscribers. Thanks to everyone who subscribes to the show over to patreon.com slash jimhillmedia, including Michael Beck, Sarah Butterfly, Zach Labrie, Jeff Swaringen, Keith Brown, Ryan Pena, and Sandra Oh. Jim. The Laugh Floor Comedy Club reminds these patrons that they still have open tabs from last night's show and to please contact Roz to settle up. Or else Roz will collect personally. True Speaker 1 (3:38) story. Wow. Okay. No, no. That's a tab I would settle very, very quickly. Speaker 2 (3:44) Here's my Speaker 1 (3:44) credit card. There we go. Speaker 2 (3:46) On to the news, folks. The Disney Edition News is sponsored by BeOurGuestVacations.com. From our friends at DVCRentalStore.com. Jim, kids have been back to school for what, a week now? Yes. And we're all exhausted. So our friends at BeOurGuestVacations.com can help you get some much-needed rest and relaxation at Walt Disney World. as soon as this coming weekend. So you can start next week full of energy. That's BeOurGuestVacations.com. All right, Tim, over in Walt Disney World, we've got Magic of Disney animation previews this week ahead of next week's opening. Yes. And so we've got the Olaf Draws attraction right there. And I noticed that Olaf was kind of in and out during the first couple days of previews. Speaker 1 (4:27) Yeah, I mean, this is a fairly sophisticated... animatronic figure. Likewise, it's literally one of the shows where if, you know, the animatronic goes offline, there's no show. Speaker 2 (4:41) Right. So apologies, but this is what kind of previews Speaker 1 (4:45) are for. And let's just hope that our favorite little snowman gets his act together, so to speak. We've Speaker 2 (4:53) also got Off the Page, which is the character meet and greet spaces. We've got Once Upon a Studio Theater, which shows short films. We've got Drawn to Wonderland, which is the indoor playground. Have you seen the preview video of this, Jim? I Speaker 1 (5:07) have, and I have to admit, I'm enjoying the detailing, you know, between the weird little animation-related props that are scattered around the room, everything from, for example, the map. from Treasure Planet, that weird little brass ball, or for that matter, the insignia that the emperor gave Mulan at the end of that film for saving China. I mean, if you're a Disney animation buff, there's a lot of fun stuff scattered around this room, but also sort of continuing in the spirit. of the Once Upon a Studio short, the thing that was done for the 100th anniversary of Disney Animation Studio. There are paintings around the room where, for example, you have Kronk interacting with, what is it, the dog from Bolt? Bolt, the dog Speaker 2 (6:04) from Bolt? Yeah. Speaker 1 (6:06) Miley Cyrus' best Speaker 2 (6:07) work, but go ahead. Speaker 1 (6:08) Absolutely, absolutely. And the fact that so much of the animation in this room... was done by, you know, recent, well-earned Disney legend, Eric Oldberg. I mean, it's just, it looks like they really, you know, they brought the A-team in for this, and it looks spectacular. Can't wait to get down and take a look at it. Speaker 2 (6:30) Yeah, for a room that is filled with Speaker 1 (6:32) painted flats, it's remarkably appealing and colorful. I'll give it that. Speaker 2 (6:36) Yeah, very interesting. And then, in other news, Jim, we've got candlelight processional tickets are now on sale for the end of the year at Epcot. Speaker 1 (6:45) Yeah, you know, it's just fascinating to me that, you know, we had Chrissy and Amy on the show last week, you know, just talking about it again. This is only, they were only there to talk about the phase one food for this year's Food and Wine. You know, we have the second wave coming in October and it's like. And we've already blown past that. We're now into candlelight procession, which, of course, is the beating heart of Epcot's international celebration of the holidays. Right. Speaker 2 (7:16) The thing that I find interesting here, and it's kind of flying under the radar right now, but are you hearing what I'm hearing about how strong and good the Jollywood Nights ticket sales are going? That's Speaker 1 (7:29) really kind of an interesting bend. Because, again, not to circle back to your sister Chrissy, but remember the very first year of Jollywood Nights. First Speaker 2 (7:42) year was Speaker 1 (7:42) rough, Speaker 2 (7:42) but they've Speaker 1 (7:42) made some progress. In fact, that honestly is my favorite memory of when you and I got to experience Jollywood Nights. Because by the time you and I got in there, I want to say it was the second or third. kind of Jollywood night of the inaugural season. And Chrissy literally walked ahead of us as we were going through that park. That wasn't there before. Speaker 2 (8:07) Chrissy Speaker 1 (8:08) walked through the park as Speaker 2 (8:09) if they were gaslighting her. Yeah. Because they were, like she was saying, those lights weren't there yesterday. There we go. Speaker 1 (8:17) There we go. Sure, Speaker 2 (8:18) Chrissy, Speaker 1 (8:18) sure they weren't, whatever you say. There we go. But no, I'm happy to hear that. And more to the point, Remember, this is the first year that we're getting Jollywood Nights extended into January. And it will be fascinating to see what happens there. Maybe we'll see the footprint of this after-hours hard ticket as we go into 2027 and 2028. Maybe seriously extend into the month of January. Speaker 2 (8:50) Yeah, I mean, I think with Jollywood being that strong, that's a good sign for the studios. Absolutely. Speaking of Epcot festivals like Candlelight, we also have dates now for Festival of the Arts, which is January 15th through March 1st, 2027. And then Flower and Garden dates we got now, and that runs March 10th through May 31st. So there's that nine-day period in early March where we don't have an Epcot festival going on. Speaker 1 (9:17) You got to feel for the poor individuals that show up for – that we can change. It's like, what do you mean I can't get something cool to eat? What do you mean Neil Patrick Harris isn't here? What's Speaker 2 (9:31) going Speaker 1 (9:31) on? Speaker 2 (9:31) He's taking up presidency, I thought. I wonder if it is nine days enough to clean out the fryers in each of the booths. Like is that what's driving that little lull between festivals? Speaker 1 (9:44) Oh, I don't know. I mean, I just remember the stories about, like we were talking last week about Wolfgang Puck leaving Disney Springs, and there were the infamous stories about... You know, when he parted ways with Disney at California Adventure and, you know, the folks at Disney didn't get in there till a couple of weeks later. And yeah, he had left everything. I got the fat blue cheese, Speaker 2 (10:09) blue cheese mold everywhere, even in places where there shouldn't be blue cheese mold. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 1 (10:14) So, yeah. Cleaning up a fryer after the fact is challenging. I'm just going to say. And Speaker 2 (10:19) then speaking of restaurants, Coral Reef at Epcot is reopening November 4th. It closed earlier this month. for a, I guess, refurbishment. But good to see it reopening. Speaker 1 (10:29) Yeah, but again, same thing. Fascinating to see it reopening. Now, mind you, only for dinner, is that correct? I believe so, yeah. Okay, but just ahead. of the holiday festival at Epcot when, of course, because of candlelight, there is huge demand for sit-down restaurants. So, you know, for me, it'll be interesting to see if, you know, the Coral Cafe stays open come January, February. Yeah. Speaker 2 (11:02) It was closed during the slowest part of the year, so it could be a seasonal thing. We don't know Speaker 1 (11:06) yet, but it could be Speaker 2 (11:07) a refurbishment. Who knows? I don't know. Look forward to getting in there and seeing what they did. Fantastic. All right, Jim, over to Universal. Universal Orlando dropped an $85 per day Florida resident ticket offer that includes Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, and Epic Universe. The interesting thing about this, Jim, is that it's valid every day through December 23rd, and that includes holidays like Thanksgiving. Also, it's one part per day, but you can upgrade to Park Hoppers for $17 per day more, which is not a lot. And we put a link to