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Episode 504: Let’s hop in our time-traveling monorail, crank up some radio Disney, and set the dial to the decade of slap bracelets, VHS tapes, and Disney dollars… because Traveling with the Mouse, we’re heading back to the 1990s (aka the Disney Decade) and reliving all the things that made it pure magic.

Michael Eisner declared the 1990s would be Disney’s “Disney Decade” and in this episode we are focusing on what we loved about Walt Disney World in the 90’s. We saw some new parks open up like Blizzard Beach and Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Disney opening new parks at Walt Disney World is something that hasn’t happened since the 1990’s. Disney integrated the success of their animated films and the Disney Afternoon cartoons into the parks in some interesting ways.

It wasn’t just about the new rides or the hit movies. It was the feeling that Disney was firing on all cylinders across the board. Animation, theme parks, music, and merchandise!

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On Today’s show we discuss the current state of Disney animated films and what we think the future holds. We go back in time to talk about the Disney dark period that lasted 20 years from the mid 1960’s when Walt Disney died to the time that Michael Eisner and Frank Wells took over and turned the company around in the mid 1980’s. We discuss our favorite films from the Disney Renaissance era of the 1990’s and the second Disney dark time of the early 2000’s before John Lasseter stepped in as head of both Disney and Pixar studios. We try to determine what Disney’s process is for adding elements of Disney Films to the parks…Why do some films get more attention than others? Finally, we take a look at the future of the Disney/Pixar studios. Are we headed for another dark time in Disney animation history? Or is this just the beginning of our current period of hit after hit film? What do you think?