One of the longest running dinner shows in the country – Disney’s Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue – turns 40 years old this month.
The show started out in June 1974 with a cast of college interns and after a summer of performances Walt Disney World decided to hire a permanent cast and the show opened on September 5, 1974.
“Hoop-Dee-Doo was upbeat, and guests came for the corny jokes, good food and lots of fun,” said Forrest Bahruth, show director, Disney Parks & Resorts Creative Entertainment and the original choreographer for the dinner show. “Forty years later, the heart is still in it, the energy is still there.”
The show gives guests “old-fashioned family fun and heaping helpings of good down-home food.” The six performers put on a 90-minute show three times each day. And the menu has only seen one change in the last 40 years – the strawberry shortcake that was added to the dessert menu.
Every night the kitchen serves about 900 pounds of fried chicken, 400 pounds of pork ribs, 120 pounds of corn, 400 pounds of potatoes, and 30 gallons of baked beans. The kitchen also uses 15 gallons of strawberries and 12 gallons of whipped creams to make the strawberry shortcake.
Pioneer Hall – home to the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue was built with 1,283 hand-fitted pine logs from Montana and more than 70 tons of North Carolina stone in order to create building that looks as if it was straight out of the late 1800s.
There are three shows each day – 4 p.m., 6:15 p.m., and 8:30 p.m. and Advance Dining Reservations are highly recommended.
