Well, the latest gossip going ’round at Disney World’s ye-old-campground is that a Hoop Dee Doo return is just over the horizon. It all started when some of the former cast members of the beloved dinner show were called back to work. And then Streaming the Magic wrote a speculative article lean on solid facts, but not exactly fiction either.
And for a brief moment, there was hope.
I just had actual TEARS thinking about Hoop Dee Doo 😭
— Morgan Miles (@MorggMiles) April 26, 2021
And then nothing.
As you may recall, one of the many casualties of 2020 was the longest-running dinner show in America. Though slapped together quickly way back in 1974 (that Watergate year), the countrified, vaudeville-style dinner show quickly became hotter than a metal bucket of fried chicken.
(Update/Correction): Hold your horses, Wilderness Princess! According to a response to this article from the show’s original producer, Ron Miziker, the 1974 debut was actually the result of a long process and NOT “slapped together quickly.” Although it appeared effortless and seamless to us (even back in the 70s), it required a team effort by talent from many different areas across WDW with competing priorities.
For example, Miziker’s group “fought hard with WED to reduce the size of the columns supporting the balcony for better sight-lines,” he wrote. So, it actually took quite some time to work through every detail, down to the menu (and installing a kitchen that wasn’t in the original plans for the building). In the end, Miziker and colleagues were delighted that it showed up on the top-10 list of guest favorites.
it’s just too DANG quiet at fort wilderness SETTLEMENT
Way back in 2019, Fort Wilderness’s Pioneer Hall was hoppin’ from about 3:30 til 10:30. The famed building (that looks like jumbo Lincoln Logs) held dozens of guests who had scored their prized reservations months in advance. For their time and up to $74 a ticket, they got first-class song and dance and a family-style chicken dinner. And endless beer and sangria. Note – if and when it does come back, go easy on the sides and save more room for the Pioneer Salad and strawberry shortcake.
But since the Fort reopened last June, the once-crowded Settlement Area feels like more of a ghost town. You see, many of those Hoop Dee Doo patrons weren’t campers at all. They came by bus or boat or some other modern transportation for the sole purpose of attending the show. They blocked our pathways to Trail’s End, filled up our shuttle boats and ran over our sandaled-toes with their double strollers. And now that they’re gone – well, we kinda miss them.
I mean it’s weird how we think we hate crowds, but then we long for all those sweaty, half-drunk strangers when they’re not there. You’ll know what I mean if you’ve ever been to the parks when it’s almost empty. Sure, it’s super cool to ride Thunder Mountain over and over with nary a line. But when it’s too void of people, it’s eerie and unnerving in a brooding and twisty way.
Kind of like a Walking Dead scene or something. Or wearing high-heeled Louboutins in the house when no one else is home.
A return of Hoop Dee doo would be like a warm and fuzzy blanket
Okay, so other than the sense of an everyday celebration, I suppose we also miss just things feeling like we always remembered them at the Fort. Because Disney is about never growing up and escaping dreaded thoughts of aging, mortality, and anything but the rose-colored memories of our childhoods. And that’s why we hate it when Disney changes anything. Anything. (And I’m looking at you, River Country. It’s been 20 years and we’re still hurt about the way you left us).
I just want to live in a world that is exactly like hoop Dee doo revue
— Annie Goldman (@annielara97) April 22, 2021
SO IT IS HAPPENING OR NOT?
As of today, Disney’s website still indicates that Hoop Dee Doo is “temporarily closed.” So, we can’t make reservations for any future dates right now. We also don’t know whether former cast members were called back to rehearse for that show or fill some other roles.
But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel on this virus thing. Once more of the worriers get their shots (friends, I swear it’s not bad and I’m a big baby), we can squeeze back in tight quarters together again.
And this fall brings both the 50th anniversary of WDW (October) as well as Fort Wilderness (November). The Hoop-Dee-Doo itself has an anniversary date of June 30. So, I’m thinking that would be one swell way to celebrate.