A Look Back at Disney Soundstage’s Great Northern Bean Soup

 by Beth Keating

Lifestyle

DisneyBizJournal.com

December 31, 2021

 

In the past few weeks, while pulling menus together for the holidays, I decided to look for something slightly different for this year’s New Year’s Eve celebration.  In our family, we typically put out an “eat when you want to” buffet of finger foods that people can nosh on throughout the night, as we put on movies, wait for the ball to drop in Times Square, and generally chat with family and friends.  

 

In trying to come up with something special for this year’s table, I decided to take some inspiration from Disney World’s 50th Anniversary.  Throughout the parks and restaurants, the Disney chefs have reached back to the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971 to offer up specialty treats to honor the anniversary.  

At places like Casey’s Corner and Cosmic Ray’s, they are serving Walt’s Favorite Chili on a Chili-Cheese Dog. The Hollywood Brown Derby plates up Walt’s Corned Beef Hash with its filet mignon.  The Skipper Canteen is dishing Veranda Fried Rice with spicy chili-garlic shrimp from the original Adventureland Veranda Restaurant in Magic Kingdom, which closed in 1994. (The Skipper Canteen now operates on the same site, and, by the way, from personal experience, the Veranda Fried Rice is very good.) And at The Plaza Restaurant, they are making the Monte Cristo Sandwich, original to when Disney World opened.

 

In the spirit of looking back to the gastronomic history of Disney, I pulled out my beat-up, coffee stained copy of Cooking with Mickey (Gourmet Mickey Cookbook) Volume II: The Most Requested Recipes from Walt Disney World and Disneyland, published somewhere around the year 2000 (there’s no actual copyright date in the book.) 

 

I love this book as much for the memories of the meals represented by the recipes as I do for the many restaurants in the book that no longer exist.  It’s a fun way to reminisce about long ago trips to Disney World. The cookbook itself was a souvenir purchase on one such vacation.

 

I usually put out some sort of hot food in a crock pot for guests to help themselves that evening, and this year, I spotted a recipe from the now-defunct Soundstage Restaurant at the since-renamed Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park.  I can remember taking our oldest son there and having a character meal with Aladdin and Jasmine among the “celebrities” we met that day.  I thought the recipe for their “Soundstage Great Northern Bean Soup” would be a fun and filling addition to the hot selections on our buffet.  After preparing the soup as directed in the book, I poured it into a crock pot to keep warm for guests to help themselves when they wanted.

In case you’d like to revisit the old MGM-turned-Hollywood-Studios, here’s the recipe, direct from the Cooking with Mickey cookbook.

 

Soundstage Great Northern Bean Soup

 

Ingredients:

½ pound great northern beans, dry

10 cups water

4 chicken bouillon cubes

¾ cup celery, diced small

1 cup onion, diced small

1 cup carrots, diced small

1 cup smoked ham, diced small

¾ cup tomato, diced small

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon white pepper

¼ teaspoon thyme, ground

¼ cup cornstarch, diluted in 2/3 cup water

 

Soak beans in cold water overnight.  Drain beans, rinse well, and place in a large soup pot with ten cups fresh water and bouillon cubes.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook beans for approximately 1 hour until tender but still firm on the inside.  Add celery, onions, and carrots and cook an additional 30 minutes until vegetables are tender.  Add ham, tomato, salt, pepper, and thyme and mix well.  Cook for 10 minutes. Add cornstarch mixed with water and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes until mixture thickens.  Remove from heat and let soup cool for 10 to 15 minutes.

 

Mix well and serve.

 

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Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.

 

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For you and as a gift! The Disney Planner 2022: The TO DO List Solution is here! It combines a simple, powerful system for getting things done with encouragement and fun for Disney fans, including those who love Mickey, Marvel, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Pixar, princesses and more. Also, “The Disney Planner 2022: The TO DO List Solution” comes with a handy spiral binding for easy use. 

Disney Hollywood Studios at 30 and What Lies Ahead

by Ray Keating

Analysis

DisneyBizJournal.com

April 30, 2019

I admit it. Disney Hollywood Studios has long been my favorite park at Walt Disney World, to the bewilderment of some family members. So, I understand the act of celebrating the 30^thanniversary of Hollywood Studios on May 1^st.

When it opened on May 1, 1989, it was called Disney-MGM Studios, with Disney cutting a deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to use its logo and name. While the idea for the park had been in the works, it got fast tracked by then-CEO Michael Eisner with the announcement that Universal Studios Florida was going to be a thing. In fact, Disney-MGM Studios opened a year before Universal. The MGM deal came to an end in January 2008, with the park renamed Disney Hollywood Studios.

On May 1, 1989, the park only had two rides – The Great Movie Ride and the Studio Backlot Tour. However, the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular opened in August of that year, and four months later came Star Tours. A couple of years later, Muppet-Vision 3D opened. 

But a big jump forward came in 1994, with Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, the new Sunset Boulevard, and reconstruction of the Theater of the Stars. Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith arrived in 1999.

Other changes, of course, occurred. But the next major leap was the opening of Toy Story Land on June 30, 2018. That was the first step in a dramatic series of upcoming changes. Toy Story Land in fact was the largest expansion in Disney Hollywood Studios’ history. As Disney noted at the time: 

“After months of anticipation, guests can now enjoy everything Toy Story Land has to offer – on a daily basis! They can step into the land and explore the fun that Woody, Jessie and many other “Toy Story” friends are having in Andy’s backyard. Guests can glide along with Slinky aboard Slinky Dog Dash, a family coaster Andy built from his Mega Coaster Play Kit that whisks guests high above and around a scattering of Andy’s favorite toys – including Wheezy and Rex. Families can take a spin on Alien Swirling Saucers, play their way through Toy Story Mania!, or stop to enjoy tasty snacks – like Raspberry Lunchbox Tarts and S’mores French Toast Sandwiches – at Woody’s Lunch Box.”

A new nighttime show, “Wonderful World of Animation,” opens on May 1, 2019. Disney describes it this way:

    This excitement-packed projection show will take you on an incredible journey through more than 90 years of Disney and Pixar animation. 

    Watch in wonder as the façade of the Chinese Theatre is magically transformed—displaying this stirring tribute to animation. Behold spectacular sequences celebrating themes like magic, family, adventure, romance and friendship. Each theme is brought to life through unforgettable moments from beloved films—like Sleeping Beauty, The Incredibles, Coco and many more.

    Of course, since we can never lose sight of the fact that it was all started with a mouse, the show fittingly begins and ends with the one-and-only Mickey.

And most anticipated is the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on August 29, 2019, with the “Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run” ride, to be followed later in the year by “Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.” No date has been set for the opening of the immersive Star Wars hotel.

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway will be coming to Hollywood Studios in 2020 as well.

Also, on April 30, 2019, Disney announced that a new rodeo-themed table-service restaurant will be coming to Toy Story Land.

So, in a sense, the celebration of Disney Hollywood Studios turning 30 is not just about marking the past 30 years, but it’s also very much about the many attractions and events on the way. Indeed, it’s pretty clear that the best days for Hollywood Studios are in front of us. 

One way to join in the Disney Hollywood Studios celebration would be to tune in to the Disney livestream of the May 1^stcelebration, with Disney noting that “we’ll have an exciting ‘look ahead’ at some of the amazing experiences coming to the park as we transform Disney’s Hollywood Studios into a place where you can live your own adventures in your favorite stories.” The livestream can be found at 9:55 EST on Wednesday, May 1, “on the front page of the Disney Park Blog.”

Disney Hollywood Studios arguably stands at the center of the massive investment Disney is making in Walt Disney World, and at least in terms of this particular park, Disney is hitting on all thrusters.

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of the Pastor Stephen Grant novels, with three books - Reagan Country: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel, Heroes and Villains: A Pastor Stephen Grant Short Story and Shifting Sands: A Pastor Stephen Grant Short Story –published in 2018. In addition, the second edition of Warrior Monk: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel was published in January 2019. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.