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Episode 306: Trevor’s WDW, Universal Studios & Epic Universe Trip Report
0 Playsin 48 minutes
On This Episode
Trevor and a special guest give a report on their recent trip to Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, and a preview of Epic Universe.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:06
Speaker
This is Skipper Albert A. Wall, the voice of the jungle, broadcasting on the DVC to all voice unknown. If you're within the sound of my voice, you're listening to Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.
00:00:25
Speaker
Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello and welcome home. This episode of Welcome Home was brought to you by DVC
Guest Introduction: Evan
00:00:34
Speaker
Resale Market. Thank you for joining us on episode 306 of Welcome Home, a Disney Parks and Vacation Club podcast. I'm Tom, here Trevor. How's it going, Trevor? Hey. Welcome back.
00:00:42
Speaker
Yeah, thank you. Really excited to be back on this episode because... We've got a lot talk about. Yeah, we've got a lot to talk about. And we also have a special guest here for this episode. Whom? I would like to introduce my brother, Evan.
00:00:59
Speaker
So Evan came with me on the trip. And thank you for joining us, Evan, on on this episode. Because, yeah, i figured it was better for both of us to talk about it rather than me just run through the list. Because, you know. and yeah Yeah, exactly. So welcome, Evan.
00:01:14
Speaker
Thanks for having me. Yeah, I find it funny because I you we and we talked about this on the show before, Trevor, obviously, but for the longest time, we've been playing mini golf in VR. And and we you know yeah also play with your brother. And right. So like for forever, I just have heard Evan's voice. Right. She's like for years now. Right. I mean, it's been years.
00:01:32
Speaker
And so my wife, while we were waiting to see you guys at Magic Kingdom, my wife goes, well, what does Evan look
Virtual and Real Adventures with Evan
00:01:39
Speaker
like? And I go, i don't know. i mean, he looks like ah an avatar of some sort, a snake ah or yeah you know floating head or a floating head. Yes.
00:01:48
Speaker
He looks like a floating head to me because that's what he looks like in VR. So ah I was like, no, I haven't seen him before. And she's like, oh, yeah, i forgot that that's how it is. So. um So, yeah, it was it was great to get to meet you. evident And also just, you know, it was nice to have dinner with you guys, too. That was that was a lot of fun. So, yeah, you too.
00:02:04
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, all right. So, Trevor, you have a lot to talk about. We have nothing else on the rundown except for your stuff. And I'm just going to sit here quietly and listen.
Orlando Arrival and Polynesian Stay
00:02:13
Speaker
so So just so everyone knows, I took a whole bunch of notes and I've got just bullet points here.
00:02:19
Speaker
I'm going to be going through this basically chronologically, I think is the best way to do it. um So we're going to just start from when we arrived and and, you know, try and highlight as much as we can.
00:02:31
Speaker
And yeah, you know you know, Evan and I will just kind of share what we saw and did as we went. yeah. um So yeah, I guess we'll we'll start with, you know we got into Orlando, and um you know we we came into Orlando Airport, and we started with a shuttle ride to the Polynesian through Mirs.
00:02:54
Speaker
And I do actually just want to shout this out, is that our driver on Mirs Connect, his name was Randy, He was actually really good. i was pleasantly surprised by um like a lot of times the drivers just they get in, they they turn on like the the TVs and they'll run like cartoons or whatever.
00:03:13
Speaker
But he was actually doing trivia with us the entire trip. And actually, yeah there was a couple of things that he he brought up that I didn't know, which like or it wasn't obvious to me. Like, I guess Minnie's full name is Minerva.
00:03:29
Speaker
Which kind weird truth. Is that true? Apparently. I actually didn't fact check. I was going to say, did you fact check this? I should. I should actually do that now. But you keep talking. I'll fact check. Yeah.
00:03:41
Speaker
Yeah. There you go. He had a lot of just, yeah, of information in general, but a lot of also real estate based trivia. he He knew a lot about how the purchase of Disney World went down.
00:03:52
Speaker
Yeah. So, yes, yeah that is according to Wikipedia. Correct. Yeah. So, yeah, that that was very interesting getting getting to the hotel. so So we kind of started off, I feel on a good foot with that.
00:04:06
Speaker
and then And then we got in and Evan and I just had to take time getting settled. yeah You know, all the usual stuff when you arrive on a trip. And um and then one of the things that we had to do was... um So Evan needed a magic band because he didn't have one.
00:04:21
Speaker
And so we went on yeah you got exactly yeah and And so we went and got on a magic band. And um we... Sorry. Sorry.
00:04:31
Speaker
You have to correct me if I'm wrong. this e I think we we initially did we. or yeah, we we got our stuff or we got like the the ah the food that we ordered for for the room. But then you wanted to set up your magic band because um it was set up by default that like everything was going to my card and we wanted to make sure that, you know, both of us using our magic bands were getting built to the correct card.
00:04:54
Speaker
So we went back to the front desk ah to get them to set that up. And we spoke with this gentleman, Timothy, there, who um I need to call out his his poise in handling, um for for lack of a better term, um we we actually ran into a legitimate Karen at Disney World. yeah Not cat's number, though, right? or no No, no, no. This was just... Like a Karen in the wilds.
00:05:23
Speaker
Yes, exactly. so So we were talking with... um Well, you also had dinner with my wife too, who's named Karen. you Oh, yeah. No, no, no, no. that on Not that Karen. No offense to people actually named Karen. Yes, exactly.
00:05:36
Speaker
Sorry. So, so yeah. and so So we were talking with Timothy and and he was helping Evan get his magic band all set up. And then all of a sudden this lady walked up and just started talking to him. And we and so so Evan and I kind of...
00:05:49
Speaker
Like you we deliberately like turned away from her and we're kind of ignoring her, but he just, or so she just started like talking to him. She was upset because ah the most I heard was like, she spent like $700 or something. She was very disappointed. at and and when she said that, I was like, okay. I i know what we're dealing with.
00:06:07
Speaker
But Timothy was actually very great with her that he and this this I think is, you know, it highlights, you know, cast members have to deal with a lot. And he was very nice. And so he didn't like stop what he was doing with us. He like he was kind of talking to her, but he was still like like working on his tablet, doing what he needed to do.
00:06:28
Speaker
And he he kind of like. just, he he was like, okay, let let me deal with the, or like, or he was very polite with her. Like he didn't like dismiss her or anything, but then he came back to us right away.
00:06:39
Speaker
And then he was actually like, like just let her sit there for minute. And you could see that she was like very, she was just getting mad or like whatever it was, you know, you know, I don't know what the situation was, but um he, he found that balance of, you know, you know, he didn't, he wasn't rude to her, but he also didn't brush us off either you know,
00:06:59
Speaker
entertaining whatever it was was her problem because honestly like regardless of what her issue was the fact that she just walked up and like like we were in the middle of a conversation um you know he he handled it very well so um who does that i know like that's insane yeah Yeah. i mean So, yeah, she she was not the the last on this trip either. We'll we'll get to that later. seriously Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We we did.
00:07:23
Speaker
That's right. i I almost forgot. We did have a second instance of this, but it was not on Disney property. This will come later in the trip.
Magic Kingdom Highlights
00:07:31
Speaker
Yeah. So, um, yeah, so, so, so that was, that was interesting, um, to experience that. Um, so, so we had our first night there, we kind of got all settled in and then we started our first day in magic kingdom. So, um.
00:07:47
Speaker
so we we got to Magic Kingdom. We had so for for Magic Kingdom, we had debated um between doing the premier lightning lanes or just doing a lightning lane multi-pass and single passes.
00:08:02
Speaker
And because of the price of Magic Kingdom, I decided it wasn't really worth the money. to do the premier pass at magic kingdom because it like, it's, it's like $400 and it was hard to justify for just one day. So dude, and I got a ton out of the magic kingdom day was the same as yours. Like, and I got like, I think I did eight different attractions with my regular lightning lane that day. It was great. So, so we did the regular lightning lane as well. We did, we didn't, we didn't do the premier pass at all that day or that for magic kingdom that day.
00:08:30
Speaker
um We did end up doing it at Epcot we'll get to that in a minute. Um, but so, so we, we were able to get on Tron in, in the, or no, ah Tron was in the afternoon, I believe it was after we met up with you guys because Uh, again, just timing of, of when I was able to book and all that. But, um, I think we had a pretty successful, like you, you know, you know, we were getting around magic kingdom in the morning and it wasn't, uh, you know, wasn't too busy. Uh, uh, I think,
00:08:58
Speaker
Correct me if I'm wrong, Evan, I think you were just kind of getting your your sea legs, so to speak, again, because you hadn't been to Disney World in a while. Well, and yeah I mean, the the last Disney park I was at was Tokyo.
00:09:11
Speaker
Right. Which was yeah six years ago. um Which, I mean, i don't know. i didn't I didn't feel like it was like difficult to get back into it. um I think the biggest thing was just, I was going along, like, you were running all of the, you were driving the lightning lanes and kind of like our our schedule and whatnot, which I was happy to let you do, because...
00:09:31
Speaker
From my perspective, all of that was like, I have no idea what's going on, and I just trust you that then you've got this. um And so I think that was kind of it, is I was just kind of there vibing and going along with, like, you're like, okay, we're going over to here now. I'm like, cool.
00:09:46
Speaker
um so So yeah, it was it worked out really great for me in that regard. Yeah. And, and again, I was, I was more than happy to do that because I, again, I knew that, that you, you, you, you hadn't had to deal with any of this stuff in a long time and lightning lanes and all that stuff has changed so much over the years. It's, it's very overwhelming. So yeah, the first day, um, you know, we we basically just did the the normal, um, uh, you know, get on get on as many rides as we can. We, uh, um, you know, we hit all the normal stuff, space mountain, Tron, all that kind of stuff. And then, uh,
00:10:21
Speaker
As we got towards the evening, um or or actually, for yeah, so so before we got to the evening, um yeah we had met up with you, Tom, yeah and you know you guys were very nice to invite us to to meet you for dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. So you know that was that was a very nice surprise that we hadn't planned for you. We we hadn't assumed we were going to have dinner together or anything.
00:10:43
Speaker
um No, we didn't we didn't plan ahead. And it was amazing that I was able to modify that last minute. Yeah, exactly. So, so yeah, we we were thrilled with that. And so we we just kind of did, you know, we were doing the laps around Magic Kingdom. And and actually right before, ah not right before, but so before we we got to having dinner with you, um a couple of new things that we did at Magic Kingdom for for anybody who hasn't been recently is we did Tiana's Bayou Adventure and we did come of Country Bear Jamboree.
00:11:11
Speaker
I know you talked about this on on your trip report, but yeah i want hurt your bears yeah kind of Country Bears was actually really great. i I very much enjoyed it. And don't know about you, Evan. I think i assume, you know, or we we both kind of i think, laughed at the same parts, I feel, from what I remember. It was cute. They they threw it in enough, like, you know, recent nods to things. And and it was, yeah, it it made me laugh at a few parts. it's it's ah It was cute.
00:11:38
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. So it's, you know, you know, definitely a great improvement over the old show. I feel like like the old show definitely was showing its age. So i'm I'm glad that it's there. And, you know, it's actually something that I would hit up, you know, again in the future, just as a, you know, kind of like how you do ah Carousel of Progress as, you know, just somewhere to sit down and take a break. Like, I think it's great for that.
00:12:00
Speaker
um The other one, though, that threw me was Tiana's Bayou Adventure because, you know, i've I've ridden Splash Mountain a lot and I was expecting it to be... um you know just yeah like not or like i mean In terms of the ride, the ride was the same. like Nothing changed in terms of the track. But the the experience of the ride really kind of surprised me. like like All the ah the music that went into it and the story. what like Even though um you know we were kind of commenting like, oh, you know it's not based on the movie. ah you know you know there's the the um Dr. Facilier is not in it or anything like that.
00:12:37
Speaker
It's still it's still surprised me how much I enjoyed it and how much they they definitely stepped up um the use of animatronics combined with um screen effects and all of that like it it really
Review of Tiana's Bayou Adventure
00:12:51
Speaker
it really. Yeah.
00:12:53
Speaker
The ride had a glow up, I guess is the best way to put it. I think they've been doing a good job recently of of using screens when it's appropriate and then using ah animatronics when it's you know when they can. You know what i mean? Yeah, absolutely.
00:13:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And I was glad to see it on Tiana's. like it It definitely brought some life back to the ride for sure. That's good to hear. Yeah, I thought it was great. I'd like definitely a good, good redo.
00:13:18
Speaker
Much needed. Yeah. yeah I mean, I know like I've heard comments that like, oh, it's the same ride and and all that. But I mean, it's it's it's a much improved. Yeah. And you didn't even actually see Splash Mountain when is when it was in its worst state, when like the animatronics were like breaking down.
00:13:34
Speaker
super part that's true ah Yeah. So yeah, it was yeah that that was ah that was a great surprise. And then so so we did those. And then we came to meet up with you for dinner.
00:13:46
Speaker
And the timing of it was very perfect in that um we we kind of showed up. I think about we were there about like 10 or 15 minutes before um we were scheduled to have dinner. And we we just took that as an opportunity to just kind of sit and rest for a few minutes because we had been running all day.
00:13:59
Speaker
And it started raining, i think, like just as we were going into the restaurant. Just as we walked in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, well, so one trevor what was funny is that like, I walked up right.
00:14:10
Speaker
And I'm talking to the lady, you know, in the front that like, you know, checking reservations and she was like, Oh, what's the name? And I was like, well, this is the name, but my whole party's not here. I don't know where the other two are. They'll be here later.
00:14:21
Speaker
And then all of a sudden you're just right behind me. And you're like, Hey, we're here. and but we i Okay. Okay. We got the whole party now. We're standing just across the street, like against a wall. And we watched you walk up and like, Oh, oh, hey, there he is. And then, yeah, you just didn't.
00:14:36
Speaker
It is funny. We were both there all day and never ran into each other again, right? Like, we were both doing, were all doing different stuff and we never saw you guys again until that point. Yeah, I mean, I think, yeah you know, Magic Kingdom is big enough that yeah actually, no, that that is not true, Tom, because,
00:14:50
Speaker
um when i was sitting in was sitting in cosmic rays uh evan had gone up to get his uh food you walked by the window and waved at me because you guys were on your way i think to winnie the pooh or something like that yes i really yeah yeah so so yeah you did you did run into we did you're right we just happened to be around there yeah you're right exactly but you're at liberty tree convert now right that's a Yeah. I mean, i Liberty tree was, was um I'll be honest. when When you told us we were about Liberty tree, you were like, it's Thanksgiving. And, and I said, I said this to Ev after we, we, we left you guys. I was like,
00:15:27
Speaker
I don't know if I want Thanksgiving dinner. like like it didn't feel like something that I wanted in the moment. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. But it it was fantastic. Like it it was a great meal.
00:15:39
Speaker
um Very much loved it. ah Something that I'm definitely, you know, when I go back with my family, I'll, ah you know, I'll be pushing to go and eat there because yeah, it's, It's a great meal. that The dessert was really good. That toffee cake was was delicious. So, yeah, we we really enjoyed that.
00:15:56
Speaker
So, after we after we had our great dinner with you guys, um and and so that this this is this is where things get weird. um So, we left and, you know, it was raining. So, we threw on our ponchos and I believe we had...
00:16:13
Speaker
We had a Pirates lightning lane at that time because i booked one. and i I booked it later in the evening. And yeah, so so we walked over to Pirates and initially, um correct me if I'm wrong, Ev, I think we didn't use the lightning lane at first. We just walked on.
00:16:32
Speaker
Or no. We did use the lightning lane first. Right. but But it was still like a five minute wait. So we were just like, yeah, we were just going to do it back to back anyway. um So we got up. Magic Kingdom was like legit dead that day, Trevor. Yeah. Like, I mean, at one point I saw like Peter Pan was at 30 minutes and I was like, wait, what?
00:16:49
Speaker
And then Seven Dwarfs is at 40 minutes. And I'm like, what is happening today? Like, this is insane. Like, I've never seen wait. I've never seen Peter Pan at 30 minutes. So like that doesn't shock me. You was walk on. but But the rain definitely pushed people away is what we noticed. Like Evan and I noticed this was that as soon as it started raining and we threw our ponches on, like people were just clearing out. And because it was the evening too, right? It was that was like that perfect time of people wanting to leave because – ah You know, they they just didn't they didn't want to um stay in the park while it's raining, which I mean, sorry, but that like that is really the best time to be
Pirates of the Caribbean Experience
00:17:25
Speaker
there. So hundred we walked up.
00:17:26
Speaker
We walked up on the pirates and said it was five minutes, but it was actually a walk on. So we walked right up to the front. And we go up to the cast member we're like, hi, you know, you know, there's two of us here. And, and she immediately goes, okay, so we can do this the normal way or the weird way.
00:17:43
Speaker
And so you're going to choose the weird way, right? So, yeah. Yeah. So, so if a cast member ever says to you, do you want the normal way or the weird way? Take the weird way. And, um so the picture is in the discord and actually Tom, uh, Evan, if you're cool with it as well. Um, yeah that's fine. I would like to have this picture on like the ah and the Facebook um on the facebook when when we when we publish this episode.
00:18:08
Speaker
um Because when you take the weird way, that's when you get the fun stuff. So so because of the way Pirates of the Caribbean is, they have to keep the boats balanced. And so the normal way is they would just put us in row three so that so that the boat was evenly weighted.
00:18:24
Speaker
But the weird way was she put one of us in the front of the boat and one of us in the back of the boat. Yeah. Which was absolutely hilarious. And you can see in in the picture that we got that we, as we were coming up to it, I think I yelled back to you and i was i was like, you know, point at me and I'll point at you.
00:18:41
Speaker
and um and yeah, and and I have some short videos of it too. Like it was just, it was such a funny experience to just be in there and and there was no other boats. like Like there was nobody in front or behind us. It was just us going through the ride in the front and the back of the boat.
00:18:57
Speaker
Yeah. that just kinds of That's almost kind of creepy in a way, right? like Because you're by yourself in there. I mean, i mean it's cool. but we We were laughing. I was having the best time with it. Yeah, I think if we if we were like taking it really seriously, it would be creepy. But I mean, it was it was just so funny.
00:19:12
Speaker
So I think, yeah, it was it was great because of that. funniest part about it is that it wasn't your idea, right? like Yeah. Yeah. I think Trev kind of debated a little bit. He's like, oh, which one do you want to do? And I'm like, the weird one. like forest I was trying because, okay, again, because I was trying not to like, like I know we had talked about like, I was kind of leading things around all day. And I had said to you, you know, I want your input on things. So I was trying, like, I wanted to do the weird way, but I didn't want to just like... and Make that decision for the group. Yeah, exactly.
00:19:44
Speaker
So, yeah yeah. But, yeah, definitely glad we did the weird way. um And then, so after that, we went, we got on to Jungle Cruise, which we were so close to getting our own boat on Jungle Cruise as well. Oh,
00:20:00
Speaker
The same thing, like there was just nobody there. And so they actually they had a sitting in the boat and they were about to take off. And then a family of four came and got on the boat with us. but So there was I mean, there was only six of us on the boat. And yeah, it's still cozy. um And actually, and before that. um So so we had ridden it earlier on a lightning lane as well.
00:20:20
Speaker
And we had gotten this ah this cast member. as His name was Keaton. I had it written down my notes here. um He was just going off. Like, he was singing. He was just going for it. At which, um you know, I find, you know ca or you know, jungle skippers can be hit and miss. It was great to have one that we, like...
00:20:42
Speaker
you really went for it. And then funny enough, when we came back and we were like, when it was just the two of us, um, he wasn't our skipper, but he was, he was like loading people onto the boat dock. So we actually got a chance to talk to him and we're, and we're, and we're like, Oh, is he the, he's the skipper from before. And and and like Evan, I kind of went back and forth and we're like, you were really good. Like we, we just told him like, you know, keep doing that because you know, it was a super fun experience. So I, you know, I was glad that we got to actually talk to him and, uh,
00:21:12
Speaker
And, you you know, let let him know, like like, he definitely appreciated the compliments and everything. But then the other skipper as well, like, he he he was having fun with it, too. Like, the fact that there was so little people on the boat.
00:21:24
Speaker
And the the one, the dad on the boat that was in this family, he seemed to, like, not be reacting to anything, which I thought was kind of weird.
00:21:34
Speaker
That happens sometimes. You're not getting the sarcasm and the, you know, the silliness of it. Yeah. I mean, I think that's part of the reason why they didn't want to just send us on our own either, because I imagine that's a really tough gig for the skippers to perform to a crowd of two, not knowing if they're actually going to give any reactions. Like, that's, you know, something that they probably want to avoid. More people is better.
00:21:57
Speaker
but But I felt like like we were pretty excited on the dock that we were going to get our own boat. So, ah you know, I feel like they just didn't want to send an empty boat. Like, like that seems to be their big thing is that they just don't want to.
00:22:09
Speaker
go empty but yeah i said that sorry it's it's interesting because there's so few like attractions left where the cast member really like the the the cast member that's doing it is like really makes the ride right like yeah like i mean you know um movie uh what was the what was the movie one at hollywood studios why am i forgetting it oh my gosh great movie ride Yes, Great Movie Ride was the other one, right, where it was very hit or miss. But if you got a good one, like it was excellent. Right. But like if you got one that was just kind of meh, it was just it kind of ruined the ride experience. the only other one I can think of is Rise the Resistance, which you haven't done yet. So um but, you know, like you don't really get that as much anymore. It's it just kind of went by the wayside.
00:22:48
Speaker
But Jungle Cruise will always be there for that. Right. but Yeah, that's true. I don't see it going away anytime soon. So, yeah. So, yeah so this all like this this all happened on a Sunday night. And ah so, we we had a great, great first day.
00:23:01
Speaker
um we We finished off and then, um you know you know, went back. I don't think we were... or We started Epcot a little bit later the next day. So so on the Monday, we went to Epcot. And the reason for that was that I decided that that was the day we were going to try and do the premier lightning lane, which I'm actually really glad we did for that because um it did take. So so from my point of view, um you know, you know, what at Magic Kingdom, I was busy in the app like.
00:23:32
Speaker
You know, you know checking for lightning lanes and all that. And and that was fine. like You know, I'm used to that. But having the premier lightning lane took all of that away on the Monday. So, so you know, we talked about this in the past. Yeah. About, you know, you know, you know, do you know, having to book lightning lanes versus paying for the the premium one.
00:23:50
Speaker
the The premier definitely does give you that. you know if you If you only have one day in the park and you can justify the price of it, um it is worth it. Also, the bonus too of doing the premier was we actually got two rides on Guardians because of it because I had booked a single Lightning Lane on Guardians and then the premier came with and a Lightning Lane for Guardians. So we were able to do it twice in the day. But it also it worked out really nice too because even though... um Epcot was, it was rainy that Sunday. Yeah. um I feel like it, correct me if I'm wrong, if but it felt like it was like very on and off. Like it wasn't like super rainy, but um but enough that we were definitely throwing our ponchos on at various points from what I remember.
00:24:35
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, we generally had to put them on each time we exited a building um and it was, it wasn't like downpouring all the time, but yeah it was ranging from just like a light drizzle to, I mean, sometimes it was, it was pretty heavy.
00:24:48
Speaker
Um, yeah, I know my shoes quite wet. ah Yeah. but Yeah. and not Not as wet as they actually got later on. Oh, we'll get there. Yeah. Yeah. We will get there. Don't worry.
EPCOT and Premier Lightning Lane Benefits
00:25:00
Speaker
um I should mention to Trevor really quick to just go back. We had talked to, remember we were going to play mini golf and that yeah the rain also killed our mini golf, by the way. true Yeah. yeah We did not get to play mini golf together after all that. Yeah. Yeah. I forgot. Yeah. but On the, on when we arrived, it was raining that night. So yeah, we, It rained pretty much the whole time.
00:25:17
Speaker
Yeah, that that we were there. So it did. Yeah. yeah And for us, like it it rained, it rained Sunday and Monday and it rained some on Tuesday. And again, we'll get to that. But Monday felt like it was it was raining most of the day.
00:25:30
Speaker
But um but like i said, using the premier lighting lanes was pretty much just I think Evan and I just kind of started from. um from Guardians and then just did a loop around the park and just hit every ride, um which again was nice. like You know, like things like Ratatouille and Frozen Ever After and all that.
00:25:46
Speaker
um Not having to like, oh, what's the wait time? Or, or you know, when do we come back for a lightning? Just literally like walk up and go was it was super nice. Like it's um Again, you know, so not something I would do for every trip, but I can definitely see where if you have the money to justify it, that it is you know, premier lightning lanes are worth it from a, um I guess, a...
00:26:12
Speaker
quality of life aspect it's yeah it yeah i was thinking about this and like i like i understand how it's a tough sell because it is a big upfront cost um if you can't afford it i mean if i could go back and do it again and i could afford it i would absolutely do it because i'm just thinking about like the amount of time saved and like, if you equate your own time to like money, like I do think it's worth it.
00:26:40
Speaker
Um, it's just, it is that hurdle to get over. That is true. and And I guess for that this particular day, because we also had, um we had done um the day in Epcot and then we had taken a break in the evening and then we went and did the after hours party in Magic Kingdom. So because of the fact that we got and everything done in Epcot so quick, we weren't feeling like pressed for, exactly what you're saying, you know we weren't pressed for time to go back and like, like try and do more at at Epcot. Like we were, we were very,
00:27:11
Speaker
I felt very satisfied with, with, you know, what we'd done at Epcot and then we were able to just break off and go back to the hotel for a bit rest. And then, um you know, we had a late evening in magic kingdom after that. Um, but so, so back to Epcot though, um, I do want to touch on some of the food booths that we, we went to because as we were walking around Epcot, we did decide that, uh, you know, instead of really stopping for food, we we hit up some of the food booths. And so we did stop in China and got the, I tried the bao and the, wasn't the ah the dumplings. It was the, or no, was it the du she ra dumplings? the crab dumplings.
00:27:49
Speaker
they Yeah, the crab dumplings. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, it was it was the crab and cream cheese dumplings. So I need to actually thank you, Evan, because i don't think I said this when we were there, but there was actually, like, I had, like, my own list of things that I wanted to try there, and because you were with me and you were like,
00:28:07
Speaker
wait, I'm going to try this. I kind of like changed my mind in the moment just because, just because we were having the conversation about it and I wouldn't have tried those, uh, those crab dumplings otherwise.
00:28:18
Speaker
So, um, so that was great. And then the same thing at, uh, um, at the African pavilion, we had the, uh, the Jamaican beef patties. Yeah. Those were fantastic. Like, about they were really good.
00:28:31
Speaker
And, uh, And I had the ribs from, uh, trowel and trellis as well. Again, like, like all just, you know, great sample things. I do actually have a worst item though, that I tried, which I will never have again.
00:28:46
Speaker
but um And it's the, I had the conch fritters from, okay yeah, yeah for so that it was it's the booth like- It's the Florida booth, I think, right? Yeah, yeah exactly. Yeah.
00:28:59
Speaker
So I had the conch fritters from there, which um they actually did upset my stomach. So i wasn't I wasn't feeling great after I had those. And so, yeah, you know never never doing conch fritters again, learned a lesson there.
00:29:13
Speaker
Wait, do they taste bad or they just upset your stomach? No, they they upset my stomach later. Like, like it was, I ate them and it was like, yeah, they were good. But then it was like got it later on. I, I wasn't feeling well. And, and I knew it was like, I was, i was perfectly fine up until that point. Like it was, i don't, I don't, I don't know what it is about seafood stuff like that.
00:29:34
Speaker
Um, but yeah. And then, yeah, I had peach cobbler there and it was amazing. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say Evan had the peach cobbler and I think we both had the watermelon, uh, cucumber slushy as well.
00:29:47
Speaker
i got gin in mine though. Nice. That's right. Um, so, so yeah, like like lots of great, yeah you know, lots of great sampling stuff at, uh, at Epcot, you know, we kind of did the whole, the whole loop around with it. uh, and then, also I need to point out that, um, I, I did try uh,
00:30:07
Speaker
I went to Club Cool with
Beverly Soda Prank Gone Wrong
00:30:10
Speaker
Evan. Wait, did you did you do it to him? Well, is okay. okay this this so So, first of all, I made him try the one from China, the smart soda, the one that that tastes like barbecue sauce.
00:30:23
Speaker
To me, it tastes like cigarettes. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. yeah yeah Yeah, it's very smoky. so So he tried that. And of course, I didn't record his reaction to that because what I was waiting for was Beverly. Of course. and And so he he got the Beverly. I got my phone out and started recording him.
00:30:41
Speaker
And he went, oh, not bad. Oh, come on. ah Right. hope So Trev has this like poop eating grin on his face. He's got his phone out looking at me as I'm trying to sing. And I'm kind of looking at him like, OK.
00:30:57
Speaker
and I drink it and I'm like, yeah, it's kind of fine. it It reminded me of like a Fresca or something. And he keeps looking at me. He's like, well, what do you think? I'm just like, it's all right. I then went back for seconds just to make sure I wasn't missing something.
00:31:12
Speaker
Still fine. i think later I went back for a third taste just because i was like, And he actually, he got me to even try it again to make sure that it wasn't like, because was like, did they change something about it? No, it's still Beverly.
00:31:25
Speaker
It's still like, ugh. Let me be clear. It would not be my first port of call. Like, if i man if I'm in Italy and and I, you know, at a restaurant and someone asks what I want, I'm not going to ask for a big glass of Beverly.
00:31:39
Speaker
But like, if someone handed me a bottle of it, I'd drink Wow. That really backfired on you, Trevor. Yeah, it did. i was so disappointed at the time. And I just, I was so flabbergasted that you like didn't, didn't react to it at all.
00:31:55
Speaker
and That's like a tried and true tradition is to treat new people with it. Yeah. He literally looked crestfallen and disappointed. I felt was, I was so sad walking out of Club Cool.
00:32:07
Speaker
It's like, oh, man. Yeah. Yeah. so so So that backfired. but But, you know, if that was the worst thing that happened to us that day, like, yeah. I mean, it was it was it was a great day all around. So we so we did Epcot.
00:32:21
Speaker
so we did appco We did the after hours party, which I've talked about after hours parties before. And, um you know, this was no different. We we went in with, ah you know, we we got on everything we want to get on. i don't I don't feel there is anything super eventful that happened while we were there unless ah there was the fireworks on on Speedway.
00:32:43
Speaker
ah Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, we we were riding Tomorrowland Speedway just as the – so the they were running Enchanted during the the after hours part, as they do. but But we just got the fireworks. So we so we were like – I actually have a great video of – Evan was in the car in front of me, and you know he's he's driving, and the fireworks are going off over his head. So – and So, yeah, it was it was great. like Like, you know, you know very very just like picture perfect. Like, you know, you're in the middle of Magic Kingdom kind of stuff for for an after hours party.
00:33:15
Speaker
all Everything was lock on or did you wait for anything? um Seven dwarfs was the only thing we waited for. and that But that's kind of par for the course. think we waited about 20 minutes for it. Yeah, it like 15 or 20. It didn't feel very long at all.
00:33:28
Speaker
Yeah, and that's not bad. So we went to that right after we went on Tomorrowland Speedway. So the fireworks were still ah happening. So I think that did help the the wait time.
00:33:39
Speaker
Actually, oh, I did remember something that happened. um ah weird thing. So we actually saw a – so you know in um Winnie the Pooh, how there's the the honey screens ah in the queue?
00:33:51
Speaker
Yes. ah One of them actually failed. And it had brought up like an error screen and had like, like you could see like the program and everything running. and It's like a Windows blue screen. like it That's hilarious.
00:34:05
Speaker
Yeah. So so that that was funny. you It's nice to kind of see, you know, I mean, would fail yeah, exactly. So so that was good. um So, yeah, that those first two days where, you know, these these were typical Magic Kingdom ah or Magic Kingdom Epcot days that we did.
00:34:22
Speaker
um After the Monday, we started into... oh sorry. I was just going to say, I just wanted to point out that like from my perspective, because I haven't done that before. Like I said, I've been to been to the parks before, but I've never done an after-hours party.
00:34:37
Speaker
um And it was it was really cool from my perspective as an outsider, let's say. like I did think that was a really great experience. Fair. fair Yeah, I'm sorry. Sorry, i I shouldn't downplay it just because I have done it before. But yeah, you know, we we had a great time. And I guess I knew what to expect. for So for me, it was, you know, it was as great as I expected. You know, I'm i'm glad, you know, we we never really talked about it, I guess, after the after hours party. But yeah, I mean, that that's how after hours parties are. And, you know, I'm glad that you enjoyed it. So
00:35:08
Speaker
um So, yeah, that then after that, um we so now we get into the weird the weird part of the trip or the the really weird part, which the next three days we were not at any Disney parks. so we spent the next week.
00:35:23
Speaker
Can we, before we do that, can we do our ad before we get into the ad and then we'll into the natural break. I feel like, yeah, it's a good natural break. The sponsor of this episode is DVC resale market, DVC resale market, a world of DVC company is the leader in the DVC resale industry with 13 former Disney vacation club guides and three former Disney vacation club quality assurance managers. If you're thinking of buying DVC, browse the largest selection of DVC resale listings anywhere with DVC experts on hand seven days a week to answer your questions.
00:35:51
Speaker
If you're thinking of selling, turn the turn to the friendly professionals at DVC Resale Market, where over 98% of listings sell within 30 days. In 2024, DVC Resale Market helped over 4,400 families join or add on to their memberships.
00:36:03
Speaker
Go to DVCResaleMarket.com slash welcome home or call 1-844-DVC-PROS. That's be sure to let them know that Welcome Home sent you. and when you speak to them be sure to let them know the welcome home sent you So now the universe, the weird part of your trip, that's really interesting way to preface it.
Universal Studios Ticket Trouble
00:36:20
Speaker
i yeah so So it's weird because, you know, you know, one, I've not been to Universal in like,
00:36:27
Speaker
I don't remember. Yeah, forever. So this this was entirely new ground for me. And, and um you know, Evan hadn't been as well since what I want to say, like 2008 or something like that was. I think no, I think it was 2001 that I went with. Oh, yeah and I was at just the regular like Islands of Adventure hadn't opened yet.
00:36:47
Speaker
Right. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So, yeah, yeah you you'd never been to Islander Adventure, which so neither neither of us had been to these parks. And, you know, I should preface, you know, as you were doing the ad, Tom, i was sitting here sipping out of my my Coke Freestyle souvenir mug from Universal as you're getting ready for that. So we will get into. So so my this is an overall observation. There are Coke Freestyle machines everywhere at Universal, and I wish Disney would do that.
00:37:15
Speaker
Um, so, so we'll, yeah, that, that, that's a first observation. So Evan and I, um, we got to islands of adventure and we agreed that the very first thing we were going to do was go ride, uh, Hagrid's, uh, coaster in, uh, um, sorry. I remember it was Hogsmeade or I confused Harry Potter or something. Yeah. Yeah. Harry harry harry Potter village.
00:37:38
Speaker
Yes. Yes. Thank you. So, so we immediately went over, or we made our way over to there and we, we got in line for it was about a 60 minute wait. Cause, um, because we had been at the, uh, the after hours party the night before we didn't get to universal, like right at open. I think we got there about 10 o'clock. So, you know, like an hour after the park opened.
00:37:58
Speaker
And we also had to screw around a bit with, uh, with tickets getting in. Yeah, yeah but that was when I messaged you, Tom, because, yeah, we'd be... Sorry about that. Yeah, that's that's all right. Yeah. so So little bit behind the scenes. So Tom helped us with purchasing the tickets just because of conversion rates and all that. And so because of that, I needed Tom's help to actually get the tickets onto our account.
00:38:21
Speaker
That is one thing I will say about Universal is that they're not... or or So how we had the tickets set up um at Disney, like... Evan and I both had our own accounts and everything worked.
00:38:33
Speaker
Universal made it far more difficult. So... Yeah, you were, like, calling me while I'm at work. I'm like, why is Trevor calling me? He's, like, like what what is he calling me for? Yeah. yeah I was panicked. and I'm sorry. It's funny. that No, no, it's fine. i's it's it's my I didn't realize. i didn't think about that, that that was going to happen. But, you know, it's all good. Well, need it neither did we. Because i I thought that, you know, because, like, I had my ID and my name was on the tickets and everything. I thought that be enough. But they were like, no, we need we need to see Tom's ID. And I was like, oh, all right. Yeah.
00:39:01
Speaker
So, um so yeah, once we got in, um, yeah, you know, that was fine. And actually, Oh, i I should also, I'm going to say this upfront too, because we did take, um, we did use ride shares going to and from universal every day. So, so we, we kind of alternated back and forth because I think Evan had the, uh, Uber on his phone. I had Lyft on mine and, and was kind of a good, like, you know, seeing if there was any real differences between them. So we just alternated, you know, to and from between those, um,
00:39:29
Speaker
Doing ride shares, that the ride shares were a great experience. you know We never had issues with our our drivers. um you know They were always very nice. um The one thing, though, is if you're staying at a Disney resort, traveling to Universal, going up and down that highway is um It is a challenge
Transportation Challenges to Universal
00:39:48
Speaker
for sure.
00:39:48
Speaker
like it's it it and And we we we even talked about this with one of ah with one of the drivers. that you know He was saying that you know it's been under construction for way too long and it's way overdue to be expanded.
00:40:00
Speaker
And because of that, it does like you do really need to budget that into your time getting to and from Universal specifically if you're staying at a Disney property. So, oh, it's it's a hot never a hot mess. I mean, we had to drive in there.
00:40:14
Speaker
We had to drive on there on the on the way from the, you know, to to the resort, too. And it was just backed up traffic for miles. that it it's not great. Yeah. so So, yeah yeah, you know, we we we dealt with all that. we We got through CityWalk, got into Islands of Adventure.
00:40:30
Speaker
So, when we got to Hagrid's, it was about an hour wait to get onto Hagrid's. Evan and I figured that was a good time to test, um ah or we had we had made an agreement that...
00:40:42
Speaker
and We were going to actually use single rider to see if that actually sped up our time to get on the ride, which um it was a posted hour wait. And I want to say it took us about correct me if I'm wrong. I want to it was about 45 to 50 minutes.
00:40:55
Speaker
I think it's about 10 minutes. Yeah. So and they're probably not worth it. Well, I don't know. it It felt like there was something weird going on because the single rider line just did not move at all for a while.
00:41:10
Speaker
And I remember thinking, like, statistically, there should be at least a few people getting on. And it seemed like they must have been doing something at the front for a while. That ride does break down a lot, though, too.
00:41:22
Speaker
That ride is notorious for being the other. There wasn't a breakdown announcement. Oh, there wasn't? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So there was there was something weird going on. So I feel like it could have been shorter. And there was other people in the line with us that were also kind of like confused about this.
00:41:36
Speaker
So yeah I think we just like maybe got unlucky. It did ultimately save us some time. but And the nice thing, too, was that because we did the single rider, Evan and I both got to ride on the ah the bike side of the the coaster because didn't.
00:41:52
Speaker
from what I understand riding in the sidecar versus the bike, it does feel differently. And, um, because we were both single rider, we got put in with different groups and we did both get the bike. And so I do, I need to shout out to, uh, the lady that I was paired with. Her name was Anne.
00:42:07
Speaker
She was very nice. And she was like, Hey, i've I've ridden this before on the bike side. Do you want it? and I was like, yes, please. I've never been here before. So she was more than happy to let me ride on the bike side. So, um, it was, yeah so Hagrid's was a great experience yeah because of that. And just the the ride, I, I put the ride in the same tier as, uh, guardians.
00:42:28
Speaker
Like it's, it's just a great roller coaster. Great. Like there's nothing extreme about it, but it It just feels really good. Like there's there's lots of cool elements to it.
00:42:40
Speaker
so um Great deeming, great pacing. Yeah. Just, yeah, really, really great overall. Yeah. And so so that was like, we started off on a real high note at that.
00:42:54
Speaker
So immediately after that, we went over and rode Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey. Now, it's probably worth mentioning, you didn't mention, we did have express passes for for Universal.
00:43:05
Speaker
Oh, yes. Hagrid's is the only ride that does not use them. So that's why we have to wait. Yeah. so So actually, yeah. And and i youre thank you for reminding me on that, Ev. Yeah. So we did we did get the Premier passes, which, um you know, in terms of price and everything, Premier passes, and I know a lot of people know this, but Premier passes at Universal, right?
Universal's Premier Pass Value
00:43:25
Speaker
They feel a lot more valuable to me or her sorry, a lot more value than the ones at at at Disney only because of the fact like we actually didn't need to we didn't need to make use of them in this way. But the fact that it's just unlimited rides, um you know, like knowing what I know now about Universal, like if I went back with the Express Pass, there would be certain rides that I would, you know, do like three or four times in a row with the Express Passes.
00:43:52
Speaker
Versus trying everything once, which is what we did on this trip. um so ah So, yeah, like i said, the the express passes there were great, you know, for the same reason as when we were at Epcot is that it really saved us on, you know, not having to, you know, outside of Hagrid's, we weren't wrestling with lines. We were just like, oh, let's just go to this, go to this ride, you know, you know, we're riding this next kind of thing. So,
00:44:14
Speaker
Um, so yeah, we got on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Um, it's, it's an interesting ride. Um, it, it uses too many screens. I know Evan, I believe that this was the one that actually made you kind of sick when we got off. Like you had to take a minute and is it yeah It really did me in. It's not the fact that it uses screens. It's the fact that it uses the big full panoramic ones as like a motion simulator.
00:44:40
Speaker
yeah And it it did me in. The parts in between with animatronics were totally fine and and great. And i I wish they had done the whole ride without without those screen sequences.
00:44:51
Speaker
Agreed. all Although I do fully admit i I did very much scream out loud and jumped when Aragog... popped up in the ride, the giant spider from Harry Potter, um legitimately scared me.
00:45:06
Speaker
So so that that was fun. um But yeah, so so we did that. And then we did do Velocicoaster. And, you know, the the funny thing, so we we went, um we actually kind of got lucky with Velocicoaster that it was actually down for a little bit.
00:45:23
Speaker
And we kind of waited outside and it came back up. I think within inside of like we we were standing outside for like maybe five minutes. I think we'd like wandered into the gift shop and then they announced that the queue was open again.
00:45:35
Speaker
um This was where we learned about... the, um, about the lockers at universal and how challenging they can be.
00:45:46
Speaker
oh really? not Well, so, so the, the, or, well, one, um, I wasn't prepared for this that, you know, they're very strict about, you know, you got to go through the metal detector. You can't have anything on you that could follow your pockets, which is understandable because of how the ride is.
00:46:03
Speaker
But it did kind of throw me for a loop because, you know, outside of Tron at Disney, there's there's no other ride that like makes you use lockers it the way that they do at Universal.
00:46:15
Speaker
So we we were kind of scrambling a little bit, I felt. or like and Initially, I was it and even like i I had to go through the metal detector twice because I'd forgotten something in my pocket and I had to go back and put it in the locker.
00:46:29
Speaker
um so So that kind of like um soured the experience of Velocicoaster a little bit, I felt, just because I was i was unprepared for that. and But then the ride itself, i I may get some hate for this, but I feel Hagrid's is better than Velocicoaster. Wow. Even though Velocicoaster is, it is a more extreme ride and it it was fun.
00:46:53
Speaker
I actually didn't, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I was going to is, I don't know how else to put that. so I'll, I'll say this. I think I enjoyed Velocicoaster more than, than Trevor did.
00:47:06
Speaker
Um, yeah I do generally agree. I think Hagrid's was overall a better ride. like It had a better thing going on. Velocicoaster is insane, and it's great, and it was a ton of fun, and it was scary.
00:47:19
Speaker
and like ah like It was really, really cool, ah for sure. but But overall, I do think yeah Hagrid's was was a little bit better.
00:47:31
Speaker
my My sister's review of Velocicoaster was that she thought she was going to die. yeah like oh yeah The last inversion on it, I rode the whole thing with my hands in the air, except for the last inversion I had to grab on because I legitimately felt like I was about to get thrown out.
00:47:44
Speaker
yeah but yeah and yeah And that was me for about half the ride because like we we had talked about this, that I think just how the ah how the lap bar kind of clicked in for you, I felt like I had more...
00:47:57
Speaker
more wiggle room. And so every time we hit an inversion, I was, i was holding on because I felt like I was going to fall out. Um, so yeah, for, for me, it was definitely, it was extreme and it was fun, but, um, I think it was just, it i I wasn't expecting it to be that extreme, I guess, or I didn't think that the inversions would be as,
00:48:19
Speaker
intimidating as they were.
Hagrid's vs. VelociCoaster
00:48:20
Speaker
So for me, that kind of took away from it a little bit. I'm not saying it's an awful coaster, you know, don't get me wrong. It's, it's still a great coaster. It's just given the choice between Velocicoaster and Hagrid's, I would go back and ride Hagrid's again or Velocicoaster.
00:48:34
Speaker
So, um, Yeah. And then after that, we, so it started raining a little bit at this point. And, you know, us being Canadians, we we figured, you know we could tough out a little bit of rain. and And we also thought it was a good time to get on to Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls, which. Because it was raining.
00:48:52
Speaker
but Yeah. which Which, yeah, you know, it's like you get on the wet ride when it's raining. and Why not? Yeah, exactly, right? Yeah, you're already wet, right? Dudley's was fine. like it it was It's a tight um log ride. like like The way they make you get into it is very... like they They say not to bend your knees, just to like slide down into it because there is not a lot of room.
00:49:13
Speaker
and um so my i'm a I'm a really tall guy and I struggled getting in and out. like it It was yeah really tough. And also, if I was any wider, I don't think I would have fit.
00:49:27
Speaker
Yeah. yeah so So, yeah, that that was okay. Like, we we got a little bit wet on that. But because we had, we decided at that point that they have the lockers right there. So, we'd rented a locker for, um you know, a bit. We threw both of our bags and we're like, we're going to ride this. And then we're going to ride Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges, which, you know, looks like Cali River Rapids.
00:49:49
Speaker
um It's one of those, like, circular tube rides, right? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And we we thought, um you know, again, silly us. We were like, hey, it's raining. You know, if we get a little bit wet on this ride, it's fine. have never been so completely soaked.
00:50:06
Speaker
like Like, just, but and they could have thrown me in the lake in the middle of the park and I feel like I would have been less wet. than what it has on this ride. I'm pretty sure we were less wet in the pool at Volcano Bay than we were after walking like just walking around after this ride.
Unexpected Soaking on Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges
00:50:24
Speaker
It was insane how much water they dump on you.
00:50:27
Speaker
Yeah. And and we were so we were on there with some other people that also were not wearing ponchos or anything, because, again, we we figured, you know, hey, we don't need ponchos for this um huge mistake.
00:50:37
Speaker
Well, and the other thinking that we had is, OK, it started to rain. It wasn't supposed to rain that day. It wasn't even supposed to be cloudy. And so we're like, yeah, this is going to clear up. We'll dry up quickly.
00:50:48
Speaker
it stayed cloudy and raining for like three more hours, I think. Yeah. Yeah. so marta but So we we were just walking around soaked. we We actually, we tried using the, the people dryers to dry ourselves off, which didn't do anything.
00:51:02
Speaker
And so eventually we just kind of, ah you know, gave up and we, we threw our ponches on to stop from getting any more wet, but, I don't think it was until after Hulk that we, uh, we dried off or we started drying off. Like, like we started feeling kind of dry. So, and yeah.
00:51:18
Speaker
So I'm going to interrupt for a moment here. Yeah. Go for it. So, I typically don't listen to this show. Just full disclosure. Thanks. I don't like one of the hosts.
00:51:29
Speaker
um which It's Trevor. He's talking about you, Tom. think I assume that. But, but I did.
00:51:40
Speaker
So earlier today, I listened to one of your previous episodes of where you were talking about like universal and and stuff like that. And, Trevor said, he's like, oh, don't worry. When I go on Builder at Barges, it'll be fine. I've got some good shoes and I've got a plan. It's going to be totally fine. And I think yeah I did not. You're going to get really wet.
00:52:02
Speaker
Trev completely ignored that advice. Just totally YOLOed it. I abandoned the plan. what Yeah, I did. 100% we ignored it. And I mean, it was it was a blast. It was a ton of fun.
00:52:14
Speaker
um But yeah, I'm so glad you listened to that, Evan. Yeah, you're welcome. ah Yeah. Just thought I'd bought it thought i call that out. Thank you. Thank you for that.
00:52:25
Speaker
You're right. You are absolutely right. Yes, I was being very cocky on that episode and I didn't think about how wet we actually were going to get. And I figured I would just have to, you know, maybe replace my socks and my shoes and that would be it.
00:52:37
Speaker
I didn't expect that I would need a full wardrobe change after that ride. um But, you know, we lived through it. It it was, like you said, it was it was fantastic. And I think after we we had done, so we'd gotten off of that, we'd done Hulk, which i you and I both agreed have that Hulk was cool, but the G-forces on it were just way too much. Like, it was was a little too much, I feel, just...
00:53:03
Speaker
for just Yeah, I think like yeah it was a very yeah very intense coaster. I mean, the thing for me is, yeah, just on some of those twists and i think the big loop, um I almost, like, I felt like if it had gone on longer, I would have started to black out.
00:53:22
Speaker
It was that intense. jeez. um And and like that does kind of take away a little bit of the enjoyment where it's like, it's not just that it was fast. It's not just that there was inversions, but like you really feel those forces.
00:53:34
Speaker
And if you're not like super into that or ready for it, i I could imagine it making for a bad time. Yeah. and And I will say, like yeah no other coaster that we rode the entire time we were there made me feel like Hulk did. like like The rest of the coast coasters did not pull G-forces the same way.
00:53:51
Speaker
Yeah. you know You know, take that for what it is, ah you know, for anybody who's looking at these rides. um So, yeah, after we finished up with Hulk, we went over to Universal Studios proper after this.
00:54:02
Speaker
And um so, yeah, we we got on the Hogwarts Express, which was, it was weird. like Like, we kind of commented on, like, it it's it feels like a ride, but then ah obviously you get off and you're somewhere totally different.
00:54:16
Speaker
um It just, it felt a little forced, I guess is the best way to put it. Yeah. It kind of goes back to like Universal's over-reliance on screens, because like it was a train ride, um but it didn't feel like a train like ride. It felt like I got in a tiny room with a couple other awkward strangers, and we watched a screen. Watched a movie. and yeah We were just in an enclosed box watching a movie, and then when we got out on the other side, we were somewhere else.
00:54:44
Speaker
um So like I think there was a lot of cool stuff they could have done with that that they just kind of didn't. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like it it had a neat premise. But yeah. and And to be fair, it is a good way to get between the parks. But that's really the only thing I think it has going for it.
00:55:02
Speaker
um So, okay. So now we're over at Universal. um We won't spend a ton it or I guess we'll just we'll just go through kind of so our experience with the ride. So we went on Men in Black, which feels like I i called it like a budget Buzz Lightyear. Yeah.
00:55:20
Speaker
Wow. Budget even to the old Buzz Lightyear. Well, no. Okay. No. I mean, I guess in its current state, it's a little bit better than Buzz Lightyear, but I can see where when they do the updates to Buzz Lightyear, it's like, it's not going to look very good.
00:55:36
Speaker
It's going to look a lot worse. Yeah. Yeah, so so that that was okay. You know, it wasn't awful. It wasn't off it was was a fun ride. um We did the ET ride, which was the most confusing experience I've ever had.
00:55:52
Speaker
What does that mean? ah get It doesn't, like, end up on ET's planet, and it's just... I went on it when I was a kid, but I don't really remember It's such a weird... a bit of a fever dream.
00:56:05
Speaker
it very much is. And the fact that, like... It follows the movie for like the first like third of the ride, and then it just goes completely off the rails. Yeah. And I've ridden it... like The last time I was in Universal, I had ridden it, so I remembered it. And so I knew what to expect, but this was new to to Trevor. so Yeah, I'd never ridden it before, and I was like, this is just weird. Which, you know, I guess is it's not a bad thing, it's just...
00:56:32
Speaker
the The thing, I guess, that kind of got me was like the beginning of the ride is like, you know, Steven Spielberg is in like the pre-show being like, I'm so excited to show you this. And it's like, what what happened?
00:56:43
Speaker
but yeah Oh, you're going to make people mad with this. i'm so Okay, but but to be fair, Steven Spielberg has redeemed himself with Epic Universe. So we will okay we'll get there.
00:56:54
Speaker
I also, I mean, I had... a nicer opinion, I think, of E.T. It was like, it was like riding Peter Pan. It was just kind of a cute little, like, whatever, we'll ride over things. It's a classic ride.
00:57:04
Speaker
Yeah. I just found the aliens. I think Trev was a little creeped out by the aliens. that's Yeah, the the the aliens on the planet were just creepy to me. like Like, they weren't, like, cute. It was just downright creepy to me. Also, so we rode it right after, you you kind of skipped us, we rode it after the worst experience that we had.
00:57:25
Speaker
Oh, that I'm sorry. I forgot. You're you're right. I guess... i guess Maybe I pushed it out of my head. to block it out. Yeah. yeah cause So we rode the Simpsons ride right before e t And this that was the worst experience ever.
Simpsons Ride 'Karen' Encounter
00:57:41
Speaker
But before we even got on the ride, this was actually our second Karen encounter of the trip.
00:57:46
Speaker
um so So we had used our express passes, you know, and we walked in through the express pass line. We got up to the front, and there's two lines. There's, like, like there's one label number one and a number two line.
00:57:59
Speaker
And the the the ah the ah guy running the the line, he's just, you know, shuffling people into each one because it's like, you know, the line to get to the loading area. Right.
00:58:10
Speaker
So there was a lady in front of us with her three grandkids and but just just her and her grandkids. And she, uh, or they, they initially were going to go up the, the number two lane, which kind of goes up a ramp and around a corner.
00:58:26
Speaker
And he was like, Oh no, wait, go into number one. And so he put them into the number one line, which just kind of goes like, it's, it doesn't go up a ramp or anything. just goes around the corner, but it's the same thing. Like you're just queuing to get onto the ride itself.
00:58:39
Speaker
And so then he puts us right behind her and then she's talking to her kid or to her grandkids. And she's like, they put us in the wrong line and we're like, and we're kind of listening to this and we're like, okay, whatever. And we're watching like, you know, they had like the Simpsons clips going and, and you know, if the Simpsons clips are very funny because they, they felt, they felt almost meta to like the, the, uh, the employees that were working there didn't seem very enthusiastic about working at the Simpsons ride. i kind know And it kind of emulated what like was going on in the Simpsons episodes they were showing. Very apathetic.
00:59:17
Speaker
I said to Trent, ironically, this might have been the best-themed ride just because the employees really sold that I was in like a terrible amusement park. like they just They did not care. They weren't moving fast. They they just didn't seem to have their heart in it. Yeah.
00:59:35
Speaker
so And this was kind of in general for all of like Universal, not Islands of Adventure, but like Universal Studios proper, is it just seemed like that was where they put their worst employees. and i Because they took all the best ones for Epic. Yeah, yeah that that's what it did kind of feel like is that, yeah, you know, all the good ones were over Epic and they were just filling gaps at Universal. So, you know, keeping that in mind, we have this lady in front of us in line who is She's getting upset and she's like leaning over the rail, like trying to yell at the guy or get the guy's attention that put us into the line that, you know, trying to explain that, like, she's like, I was supposed to be in the express pass line. And he was like, yeah, you were.
01:00:18
Speaker
And he, and he was like kind of ignoring her and she kept like going back. And then she was like, She got on the phone at one point and was like god making a phone call. And it was just very comical to watch. She was we were just very adamant that they were, you know, that they had put her in the wrong line, that they ignored that she had express passes. and And she was very adamant that an express pass should mean that she shouldn't have to wait a second to get on. yeah and And the sad part was, at you know,
01:00:47
Speaker
her grandkids were far better behaved than her. And they were actually the ones saying, Grandma, come on. Come on, Grandma. Like, you're embarrassing us. Keep up with the line. Like, calm it down, Grandma. Yeah. So I felt bad for her grandkids, unfortunately. But like I said, it was very funny to watch. And then when we actually got onto the ride, she was actually on her phone.
01:01:09
Speaker
as the ride started and then, and then when it started, like it there was a simulator. So it started bouncing around. Then all of a sudden she, whoever she was talking to, she's like, Oh, I'll have to call you back. And we're like, you're on a ride. you're on a ride yeah but what What are you doing? like When I, when I was on, when we were at Disney, I went to carousel of progress. Someone took a phone call in the middle of carousel of progress. Someone was loudly talking. I'm like, seriously.
01:01:30
Speaker
was like, I mean, I know it's carousel of progress and people like to take naps here, but for real, like who does that? You know? Yeah. And yeah, it was the same kind of thing. And so we had a good laugh about it. And and and then, yeah, the Simpsons ride, unfortunately, because again, it was it was that domed 3D thing. And it honestly went on like, again, it just speaks to the overall reliance on screens at at Universal.
01:01:54
Speaker
yeah um That was actually the ride that got me that I was like, by the time I was done, I was like, I just need to get off this ride and not do another screen ride. So um we agreed not to do any more screen rides.
01:02:06
Speaker
After that. And that's why we ended up getting on ET because we were like, we just needed, we needed something a calm to, to get on.
One Day at Universal
01:02:14
Speaker
And, uh, so yeah, that, that was our experience with like universal. And then, and then the last thing we did at universal was we actually rode the mummy coaster, which um i feel is a very good hidden gem of a of an indoor coaster that um you know it's intense it's fast and it was fun had a lot of cool effects like like you know the way that they did the pyrotechnics in that ride and everything were super impressive um i feel like it does like people don't talk about it a lot and and so and and just kind of where it was too like it it you know it's kind of
01:02:49
Speaker
put into, um, it's like on the street with like all the other rides, which, you know, this is something that universal proper has a big issue with, I think is that you feel like you're just walking down like streets, like, like there's the, the theming is not anywhere as good as like Island adventure with, you know, like the different lands, like Jurassic park and,
01:03:09
Speaker
and Harry Potter and all that. It's just like these flat buildings. And so if I feel like if we um if we didn't deliberately say like ah or I knew I wanted to ride the mummy because I was like, hey, I i liked the the mummy movie franchise and I wanted to ride it. But I feel like it's one of those rides that you could have very easily walked past because they don't do a good job of honestly theming anything there.
01:03:34
Speaker
It feels like like Universal just really needs a lot of love and is my opinion. Yeah. um So, yeah, we we so that this was all just in the one day. So we we we very much started off on like, you know, a lot of great experiences. And by the end of the day, um we we kind of hit some of the low notes ah Universal, I felt.
01:03:53
Speaker
But um overall, still, you know, very, very great day. um i was actually worried that we wouldn't be able to cover everything we wanted to do. But going between Island of Adventure and Universal in a single day is very much doable. Like it's like, like you know, people, people kind of talk about like, um you know, you know, doing all these parks. um Universal, I feel does not take nearly as long as Disney or at least our experience with with it wasn't.
01:04:21
Speaker
like you know you know disney still has way more ground to cover than universal so we did skip some stuff i mean it's worth yeah like we didn't ride hollywood rip ride rocket um because by that time of the day like said i think we were both done and not feeling great and we were like and i've heard things that like that's a rough coaster and i think both of us were like we probably shouldn't do this it'll probably make Our lives are worse right now.
01:04:47
Speaker
um so So we skipped that. We skipped Spider-Man. skipped Transformers. Again, because there are screen rides. Yeah, all screen rides. And actually, you know what? i realized I forgot to mention this. We did ride Kong.
01:04:58
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Kong, too. I forgot about that. yeah at which Yeah. This is the weird thing is that Kong wasn't it wasn't a bad ride. But again, it it had a very heavy reliance on screens. And honestly, until I just thought about it. Entirely forgettable.
01:05:12
Speaker
Yeah, it it wasn't super memorable. but Yeah, I watched a video of it one time and I was like, what what is this? like Because I remember the you know that the original one, right?
Universal's Older Rides Discussion
01:05:23
Speaker
like And that one was pretty cool. But like this seemed like they kind of... Again, it's screens. It's all the screens. you know but yeah was it ah What was it originally? Was it the earthquake ride or something? Yeah.
01:05:33
Speaker
No, it was, it was the Kong ride. There was, um, Oh, yeah but it was different though. It reminded me of like, I remember going to universal one time and they had this like earthquake thing. And it it reminded me of that where you're like, just in this like big truck and it kind of like moves to the side. It's just, they replaced it with these big screens instead. Well,
01:05:51
Speaker
so Yeah, so the original lipscars like the behind the scenes or the um kind of like the backlot tour they used to do at Hall of Fame Studios. i might yeah I might be conflating two things, but yeah, it felt like that, where it was just like, you're on this big tram and it's just going to kind of shake around a bit.
01:06:06
Speaker
Yeah, the the original Kong ride is where Revenge of Mummy took over the original Kong ride. And that's that one was was cooler, for sure. um But yeah, I watched a video of one time was like, oof gosh, what is this? like It was also exceedingly violent.
01:06:24
Speaker
If you sit on that, I would be like worried about terror, like scaring them. Yeah, that that is one thing with Universal overall is that, yeah and and we've, you know, we have talked about this is, know, Universal is, you know, they're they're definitely attracting an older crowd and they're not afraid to um you know do that do yeah do do things that you know on disney rides would look look appalling from that lens yeah yeah yeah like the kong ride there there was there was a lot of uh fighting between kong and and and dinosaurs and stuff and it was it was graphic so yeah we'll we'll leave it at that um so yeah we also forgot to mention uh escape from gringotts and diagonally
01:07:12
Speaker
Oh
Escape from Gringotts Review
01:07:13
Speaker
yes. Thank I'm sorry. Yeah. Thank you. I i forgot. Cause we were, um I was so excited to talk about the Simpson ride. i Uh, so yeah, yeah. Gringotts, uh, again, so the, the interesting thing is Gringotts is, it's a good coaster. Like, like, like you know, both of the Harry Potter areas are well themed.
01:07:32
Speaker
We very much enjoyed when we got off the train in universal and, you know, we saw Gringotts, you know, the big dragon, everything was super impressive. Um, the ride itself, uh, I wish that they didn't use the 3D glasses.
01:07:46
Speaker
Like it, yeah it, again, it's, it's one of those things where universal, you know, they have really great ideas and they have like, like there's lots of solid experiences there, but little things like too many screens or, you know, you know, you know, Gringotts felt like it it was done at a point where i was like, we got to use 3D glasses to like, you know, you know, do effects and stuff. And it's like, I feel like the ride would have done just fine without 3D glasses.
01:08:13
Speaker
base They oddly like detracted to me just because like because of the way these 3D glasses were and how much of my field of vision they actually took up. like I found I just couldn't see very well out of them. They were kind of like murky and and just like...
01:08:30
Speaker
There was so much going on in the ride, and it was a dark ride. And and it's a coaster, too. It's a coaster, too. And it seemed like it would have been a lot of fun, but I just i almost couldn't focus on what was going on because of these 3D glasses. And I probably should have just taken them off and said whatever. But but yeah, it it did suffer from it.
01:08:48
Speaker
Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. like and And again, you know, the hard part is, is you know, we're we're not saying these things to say like these rides are bad. It's just, you know, you know you you notice you know what's the difference between like well-constructed rides versus like somebody really trying to leverage a gimmick.
Epic Universe Overview
01:09:07
Speaker
Right. and And that's what these rides felt like was that they all had a gimmick to them. And not to say that, you know, Disney does this as well, definitely, but it it felt like the way that the gimmick was done at Universal, just, it it wasn't good execution on it.
01:09:20
Speaker
And yeah you know that that that kind of hurts. It hurts it overall, but you know, there's still, yeah I'll say, you know, from my, from my personal opinion, I will go back to Islands of Adventure again.
01:09:32
Speaker
And, you know, there's lots of great stuff there. Universal, um maybe if I'm bored, is kind of my my thought on it. so and I think Diagon Alley is worth visiting just to see.
01:09:44
Speaker
Yeah. And riding the mummy. Yeah, fair. We could have easily skipped. Yeah. I think everyone's waiting for your main thing there. Okay, so here we go.
01:09:55
Speaker
Okay, so so now we're on to Wednesday and Epic Universe. So we... We went to Epic Universe and oh my gosh. All right. um For anybody saying that this... Okay.
01:10:08
Speaker
Anybody saying that this park is going to kill Disney? I will say this up front. No. No, it will not kill Disney. The only reason I say that is that for them to actually be on par with Disney in terms of the...
01:10:22
Speaker
quantity of good park experiences, they honestly need about two and a half more parks of the same caliber as Epic Universe before they're really competing with Disney.
Stardust Racers Excitement
01:10:33
Speaker
Yeah. might But it doesn't take away from the fact that Epic Universe is truly epic.
01:10:39
Speaker
Amazing. Yes, absolutely amazing. Okay. So we started our day. We got through the gates. We went straight to Stardust Racers. I know you were super excited for that one. Oh, yes. That was what you were definitely going to do.
01:10:53
Speaker
Yeah. so So we got there, and i feel like it was about like a 30, 35-minute when we got there. like it wasn't okay wasn't super long, but you know it was it was still like early in the day. And we got there. The the locker situation for Stardust Racer... So they do the same thing as Velocicoaster, where um you got to go through the metal detectors and everything. And again, super understandable because of how the ride is structured.
01:11:19
Speaker
But the way they do the lockers there is so much better. they You don't have to scan your ticket or anything. They actually use facial recognition. So... um You know, very, very cool system there. And the lockers are about the same size as the ones that you get on Tron. So for anybody that, you know, you know, is wondering about it, you know, the lockers are not, you know, they're big enough, you can fit all your stuff in there and, you know, very smooth experience getting, ah you know, you know, in and out of there from from the locker standpoint.
01:11:48
Speaker
Yeah, compared to like the the lockers at Islands of Adventure were all very small ones that we really had to jam our stuff into. um And also the locker areas were often like either like difficult to access or were just very narrow. Like I remember that was my issue on Velocicoaster was that it was very cramped um versus Stardust Racers was a very like open, easy to access area. So it just kind of made the whole thing like quick and easy.
01:12:14
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. So ah so we we got through the locker situation fairly quickly now. um So we we got a pro tip from one of our Lyft drivers.
01:12:29
Speaker
I know we talk about this on on the show about, you know, get it you know so taking the bus driver's advice or whatever. um But so one of our Lyft drivers, or as we were coming home the night before, we were you know are talking with our Lyft driver.
01:12:44
Speaker
And, you know, we were telling him we were excited to go do Stardust Racers. And what he said to us was that, so there's two sides, there's green and there's yellow. And he said the green side or or the simplest summarization of it is the green side, you get a little bit more hang time and the yellow side, you feel a little bit more G's, which um we we did test this.
01:13:06
Speaker
So, and and we can, we, we agree with that that assessment of it. So we, we ended up doing the green side, right? um in the morning which um again was just it was an amazing experience uh i feel okay i don't know how much of it i want to spoil here but i i guess i mean skip ahead if you don't want to be spoiled all right so okay so yeah any anybody who doesn't want to hear the details of the ride you you can skip past this part but the launch on this ride like we We were both very taken aback by how this launch went on Stardust Racers because um it comes around the corner and you start going
Stardust Racers Launch Experience
01:13:47
Speaker
down this tunnel. And we were like, okay, yeah, it's accelerating.
01:13:50
Speaker
And i felt like it was accelerating about as fast as Tron was going. Like like it felt it felt fast. But then it has a second phase to the launch and it goes even faster.
01:14:01
Speaker
like so i So I remember sitting there thinking like, this is a long launch tunnel. And I remember kind of thinking to myself like, wow, okay. And like, it it when's it going to start in a way? And then all of a sudden it just kicks you.
01:14:16
Speaker
yeah With a second like launch that and it kicks you in a good way. like it was It was crazy and like very surprising and amazingly fun.
01:14:28
Speaker
like like learning to look at idea and or kind of play According to Wikipedia, goes miles per hour, whereas i believe Tron goes about So they're about the same. Okay, but but I guess the two-phase launch very much changes how that feels. So, ah so yeah yeah, you know, we we rode the ride. um When we got to the end of it, I was uncontrollably laughing, which, like, I can't remember a time where I've come off of a ride and just been, like, that giddy.
01:14:57
Speaker
And also... um This is the only ride that every time people were coming into, like people were coming out of the ride into the, uh, the spot where you get off the ride, the, the people coming off the ride were clapping every single time.
01:15:14
Speaker
Like, like everyone was applauding this ride, which I've, I've never seen that before for a ride. And, so yeah, so we did that, um Just, you know you know, great experience. We went back and did it twice again in the evening because we really wanted to experience it at night.
01:15:31
Speaker
And we also took the opportunity. Crazy enough, when we came back in the evening, um it was actually a 15-minute wait, which at the first time it was actually walk-on. It wasn't even 15 minutes. Like, we just we we got in there really quick.
01:15:43
Speaker
So we did we did the yellow side, then we went back and did the green side again. just to compare the two. And, uh, yeah. And we found like what, what that lift driver told us was true is that the yellow side, the, the turns, like it's a little tighter on its turn. So it feels like it's pulling a little bit more G's and the green side is a little bit wider, but also the green side does this cool thing where it goes up.
01:16:05
Speaker
Like there, there's a, there's a hill that both of them go over and the green side actually inverts at the crest of the hill. So you're, you're upside down looking down at the, the other um the other cars which is just such a mind-blowing experience they do a phenomenal job of sinking both sides like it's a really good racing like dueling coaster because they actually like there's a second launch halfway through and was i was looking this up and they do actually like adjust how fast each train is going at that point so if one's lagging behind they'll speed it up so it catches up so that they can sink again over that
01:16:42
Speaker
It's this double inversion down this hill, which is... Yeah, it's it was phenomenal. Yeah, and that makes sense because yeah every time we rode it, it felt like the cars were like not... They weren't always accelerating at the same point. But yeah, the ride itself is actually sinking them, which again, is just such a good ride.
01:17:02
Speaker
um So, okay, so we did that first thing in the morning. And then we went over to Burke right after that. So Isle of Burke,
Isle of Berk Theming Impressions
01:17:10
Speaker
which... um You know, How to Train Your Dragon is one of those rides or one of those um shows rather that, you know, I watched it when my son was younger, very much enjoyed it.
01:17:21
Speaker
um Didn't have a lot of expectations for the area when we went into it, but my expectations were very much blown away by Burke and just how well... themed it was, how like alive it felt. like like you know They had like character actors going around you know as the Vikings from the show.
01:17:41
Speaker
um you know You saw the there's animatronics of the dragons like poking out at different places and stuff like that. And um yeah And I think also just in general, the scale of it was like it didn't yeah feel fake. It didn't feel like I was walking into like a set like they had a really good sense of scale of like, oh, yeah, I'm i'm in Burke right now.
01:18:05
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, it was it was great. um Absolutely loved it. we We did Hiccup's Wing Gliders, which is the coaster there, which, you know, it's funny. After we went on Stardust Racers, you know, going on Hiccup's coaster, yeah you know, you would have thought that it wouldn't yeah could have been a disappointment, but Hiccup's is...
01:18:25
Speaker
I want to put it in between like it's it's faster than Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, but it's not nearly as extreme as ah something like Guardians. Like it's yeah I feel like it's a kid's coaster or like, you know, you know, maybe maybe in the same areas as like Slinky Dog Dash for, know, you know, and people that, you know, if you're trying to like equate it to like coasters that we've done at Disney. Yeah.
01:18:49
Speaker
Uh, you know, it's not a super intense coaster, but it felt fantastic. And it had some, uh, again, you know, very well themed, had some cool elements to it. And, uh, you know, did it wasn't just a coaster. It had like a little bit of a show to it with, you know, there's animatronics and stuff in it. So, um, very small, like backwards section sort of, where they like, you go up a hill, but not quite and kind of coast backwards for a bit.
01:19:14
Speaker
ah Yeah, there's yeah there's there's a lot to it. It was pretty long. the Like Trevor said, the the curves were done in like a very high-flying kind of way, so it really felt like you were gliding on a dragon, um especially when you're like out over the water and you go under like a bridge and stuff. A lot of really, really nice, fun elements. It felt great.
01:19:36
Speaker
Yeah. Um, so yeah, you know, can't, can't say enough good things about Isla Burke. Like it's, it was such a good area and it, and it's a good, like, I don't want to call it a kid's area. It's very much an all ages area.
01:19:50
Speaker
Like it didn't, you know you know, there's definitely stuff tuned to kids, but, um, you know, it felt like there was something there for everybody. And then also, you know, you know, like the, the, um,
01:20:01
Speaker
Actually, you know what? I'll save the food for later. what We'll come back to the food in a bit. um because there there was or you know We'll talk about the the places that we ate, but I should just mention it. is that you know there There was that that quick service that had like those big cone things. that We almost went there to eat, but we ended up deciding to go to to the other meal place there instead. Yeah.
01:20:24
Speaker
Yeah. The meat hall. Yeah. So, um, so yeah, so we, we did, we did Burke. Um, we had lunch there. We'll come back to talking about the food here in a bit. Cause I feel it's a larger conversation of how universal is doing their food versus Disney.
01:20:39
Speaker
Um, but we left Burke and then we went to, um, or no, we went, we went to, uh, Harry Potter after that, didn't we? To the ministry.
Ministry of Magic Queue Experience
01:20:49
Speaker
that right? Yeah. um the The scale... or Okay, so Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley and all that in the other parks were nice, were quaint.
01:21:01
Speaker
um The ministry in Epic Universe is on another scale. It was so huge. like I couldn't believe how big the the area was in terms of... like It felt like...
01:21:16
Speaker
but You know how normally they do like forced perspective with the buildings where like they they they try to make them feel bigger, but they don't quite get the scaling right? This felt like we were in Paris, like like like on a street in Paris. Like it was so was so incredibly well done.
01:21:33
Speaker
And detailed. Everything was very detailed. like Yeah. They didn't skimp out on anything. Yeah, super detailed. Lots of like little little things happening around. you know you You saw people doing stuff with the wands and all that.
01:21:47
Speaker
um There was performers on the street, which again, you know you know all very wonderful to see. We didn't get to do Ministry of Magic, the ride, but they did let us tour the queue. which So we yeah we we walked through the queue, which um I've never...
01:22:03
Speaker
I've never been in Raikou that was so incredibly accurate to a movie before. Like, I don't know, Tom, I assume you've are you watched all the Harry Potter movies, I assume.
01:22:17
Speaker
I mean, no. I've seen bits and pieces of them, but I'm not. You know i'm not a Harry Potter fan, so I don't. Yeah, I know, but I hope maybe you had. but I mean, you know i've I've seen some of them here and there, but I wouldn't know like deep details. So in the sixth and seventh movie, like when they're in the Ministry of Magic, it this ride is so bang on to that.
01:22:39
Speaker
and there And again, you know you know, the detail, the... And you had actually talked about this when you were on your cruise, how there was like paintings that, um yeah that you know, were moving and all that. And the hot of magic.
01:22:49
Speaker
Yeah, that was very much in the Ministry of Magic. So they had all the the pictures that were animated and like... you know Some of them were talking to one another in the queue and there was just stuff going on everywhere. like It was it was so was so incredibly well done. That was even without getting on the ride. like Just the queue alone was was an experience in and of itself, which, I mean, that says something.
01:23:12
Speaker
like when when you When we didn't even get on the ride and we still walked away from the area impressed, like... Like they did a great job. I think I heard someone say that has been on the ride that the queue is more impressive than the ride. Okay. But that yeah that fair track. Yeah. I watched a video of it, which I know doesn't quite give, you know, the, the same feeling as being on it, but like, yeah, it, it didn't look like it would have been a special ride, but the queue itself was, uh, was, was incredible.
01:23:42
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Well, um then I guess if we didn't miss out on anything, you know, that's fine. Because we after we left a Ministry of Magic, we went over to Dark Universe, which um Dark Universe housed a lot of surprises for us, it turns
Monsters Unchained Ride Review
01:23:57
Speaker
out.
01:23:57
Speaker
So first of all, we we went straight to the ride. We went and we got on Monsters Unchained, which I know this was one that Damon had been talking about. that he was very, very excited to do this.
01:24:09
Speaker
I can see why. it So I would say, you know, in terms of the Rai itself, it was, you know, we talked earlier about ah the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, how, you know, it it would have been better if it was more of the animatronics.
01:24:23
Speaker
Yeah. um Monsters Unchained is that. they There's way more animatronics. there They do use screens, but they use the screens in a very... um, creative way that they use them to add depth to the scenes instead of just like throwing you in front of a screen. So like the, the, uh, you know, that they use it to like do stuff in the background and stuff like that. So there are still screens in the ride, but the animatronics were like, yeah i mean I mean, the whole ride, the the story of it, um, the crazy thing is, is that, you know, we went into it, you know, zero expectations and,
01:24:58
Speaker
I felt like, you know, I could have watched a movie of this and it felt um ah like because, you know, it's all the like, like classic monsters and everything. um i I remember I said to you, Evan, that it it reminded me of. um So for anybody, you know, you know, old, ah old arcade games, there was a game called House of the Dead.
01:25:18
Speaker
that um it kind of touched on like all the different vampires, werewolves, zombies, all that kind of stuff. Right. And this had the same kind of thing. Like it, like it it was so cool how they incorporated all that stuff into the ride and it didn't feel forced at any point. Like it, they, they made the story feel very cohesive and there was a lot going on in the ride, but you felt like you were in the middle of it. And the way that they use the ride to like the, the robotic arm thing,
01:25:48
Speaker
um i I was worried that because, you know, we we talked about how they're going to be doing that at Disneyland with that. with that It's the same. The Kuka arm. Yeah. Yeah.
01:25:59
Speaker
And and they they had the sum of all thrills that I've caught back in the day that had the same. It was the same. ah This is not the same as sum of all thrills. I'll take that. No, no, no. I'm not saying it it. I'm just saying it's the same arm system. It's still the Kuka arm system. They just the the ride that you're talking, you know, that ride has it on a track. right like whereas some of all thrills it just was the arm right yeah so so yeah because it was on a track and and how they how they used it to move you through the scenes it it was so like it felt so real like or real real and like like you felt like you were
01:26:30
Speaker
in the scene like like it wasn't just like watching stuff happen it things were like very much coming at you and they use the arm to like really get you it felt like a lot closer than it felt like you should have been to some of the things um but yeah like just phenomenal ride i would absolutely like between that and stardust racers like those are actually my two favorite rides at epic universe um interesting ah yeah it showed like a really good evolution of like universal studios in general like we talked about uh you know universal studios and then islands of adventure and like how like you know the old rides at universal were very like we're gonna latch onto this one gimmick and just do it for all it's worth and then islands adventure kind of dialed some of that back a little bit but you know they they seem to start to learn their lesson and it feels like an epic universe they've kind of learned that like
01:27:24
Speaker
using restraint is actually often better. Like you can, you can do more by moving people around less by, by making things happen around them. So like the, even the arm on this thing wasn't nearly as jerky and intense. Like they didn't have to overdo every movement to really make you feel like you were,
01:27:42
Speaker
like really moving around uh was smooth and yeah and like just overall just really enjoyable they learned subtlety yeah that's that's really it and learned the art of subtlety they've learned that you can do more with less you can you don't have to over exaggerate everything to make people feel like they're really there and in fact that makes sense yeah you're gonna end up better off by by not Yeah. And, and the other thing too about it, you know, in terms of the storytelling and everything, I actually feel that, that, that I, or the, the monsters on chained IP or whatever, I don't, um or dark universe, whatever they're calling i guess dark more is the, it's just the classic universal monster. Yeah. But it's not even really like, it's a broad IP, you know? Yeah. But, well, but it, it actually does like, like when you go to the area, it does kind of feed into like, it is, it's its own universe in, in that, like it's,
01:28:37
Speaker
It has like, you know, the ride has some deliberate storytelling to It's not just like, oh, vampires and whatever. Like it's it it it actually feels like it could be a timeless IP.
01:28:49
Speaker
Like it doesn' it doesn't need a movie. It doesn't need um it doesn't need something else propping it up. It feels like everything they've done with it in the park could stand the test of time is what I feel like.
01:29:04
Speaker
It's case in point. yeah um After we got off the ride, we ran into from the ride. He was just walking around like interacting with people, and he was ah he was hilarious.
01:29:18
Speaker
A ton of character. like just ah like i wanted to see more of him. Yeah, exactly. Like, like, they like without knowing, like we, we had had, I think about like maybe half an hour, an hour of exposure to it at that point. And I feel like we were both like, Hey, this is really cool. And we actually wanted to like see more of it.
01:29:40
Speaker
Right. So That says something, I think. yeah you know that That says a lot about you know how well that they built out these areas in general in Epic Universe. so So, yeah, we we went and... Or we did um Monsters Unchained.
01:29:55
Speaker
Yeah. We did stop at the Burning Blade, which was, i I just want to point this out, is that the Burning Blade is this cool little bar. And I emphasized little bar because we were heavily disappointed when we actually walked inside and found it was this tiny little space.
01:30:11
Speaker
But they have like the big, um that that's where you've seen like the videos of the windmill that lights on fire is yeah over top of this bar. um It's kind of weird that like it's such a cool set piece, but then the place that you walk into was like,
01:30:27
Speaker
it it was the smallest place in the park. It felt like maybe like an afterthought. Yeah. I don' i don't know. I mean, it felt like it was just a kind of a vibe that they were going for. Like it it was less of a restaurant and more of just like a pub you could kind of stand around in. But yeah, it did feel oddly cramped inside.
01:30:44
Speaker
um so like still immaculately themed like it it looked oh yeah yeah yeah you're right that that's fair like everywhere we walked into like like the theming was just off the charts like like all the all the you know quick services rides everything was all themed very well we will come back to um we so we went to the burning blade thinking we were going to get food there we ended up walking out and we we We foolishly – or, i you know, at the time, we kind of laughed because when we walked in, we walked by. There was another um restaurant called Das Steakhouse, which we laughed at the name because it's like –
01:31:22
Speaker
You DOS Steakhouse. Like, what is that? Right. that's right And we didn't think anything of it. But um but yeah, we'll come back to to DOS Steakhouse and what we actually ate there. But we ended up eating at DOS Steakhouse, which turned out to be the other great surprise we had when we were there. But after we ate at DOS Steakhouse, we went to Super Nintendo World.
Super Nintendo World Experience
01:31:41
Speaker
So Super Nintendo World is, it's stimulation overload ah in in the best way. Like it was, it was so amazing walking into that area and just like the music, like, you know, anybody, obviously, if you have any kind of, you know, you know, fan or if you're any kind of fan of,
01:32:02
Speaker
of Mario in general, it was just like, you know, stuff everywhere. There was like, you know, coin blocks, there was all this stuff. It, it, you can see the videos of it, but you know, we walked in there, we immediately were just like taken aback by it. And how much, um How much stuff was going on.
01:32:22
Speaker
It kind of took us a minute, I think, when we got there. Like, we were we were feeling, i or at least I felt a little overwhelmed. But I also admit that by that point, it was like getting to, what it had to have been like 1 or 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
01:32:35
Speaker
And we were kind of getting, it was hot. And so... I was feeling like we were one needing somewhere, like we were needing to cool down a little bit, which something about, um, super Nintendo world that we, we kind of agreed on later was that the other areas felt very open and there was a lot of airflow.
01:32:53
Speaker
Um, super Nintendo world felt very boxed in it didn't feel like that there was a lot of air movement in there. And because everything was like all these white colorful colors.
01:33:04
Speaker
Yeah. The, the heat just coming off of it was just crazy. So like if you're going to super Nintendo world, be prepared that it can get hot there, like hotter than anywhere else in the park. I mean, the rest of the park can get hot too, but, um, we really noticed it in super Nintendo world.
01:33:22
Speaker
Um, and then, uh, so we got in there and we we bought power bands and we, we, uh, cause you know, you gotta do that. but The power bands are fun. They, they have the cool, um, there's actually mini games tied to the power bands and,
01:33:37
Speaker
um They also have or it's tied to an app or it's tied to the Universal app. I will say, yeah you know, we talked about this earlier about how like Universal doesn't do well with or they didn't do great with like assigning tickets in their own app and whatever.
01:33:51
Speaker
Getting to this app for Super Nintendo World was the most convoluted thing ever. yeah Like it was so hard to find in the app at like, when I bought my power band, the lady at the counter is like, so Oh, I'll show you where this is. You got to go down here, scroll over, but not too far.
01:34:06
Speaker
Click on this thing, scroll down, click on this other thing. And then you get into where all the mini games are that are tied to your power band. Which, like I said, they were a lot of fun. um You know, you could easily spend like half a day just going and doing that kind of stuff. Because there was there was actually a lot of minigames. Like we didn't we didn't do everything you could possibly do with the minigames. But we saw like as we were in line for rides, there was interactive points and stuff that actually played into the minigames. So like they kind of want you to ride the rides, but then also explore the park. Yeah.
01:34:39
Speaker
So once we lot of stuff that like there were there was things that were like multiplayer where it's like you needed multiple people with power bands playing to activate it. and and then yeah and And yeah, just just a lot of things. And I think there was like hundreds of stamps you could collect in the in the app for doing all of these things.
01:34:57
Speaker
I think the key was there was there there was five keys you could collect, but you needed to get yeah three of them. And if you did that, then you could access this other minigame where it was like a boss battle against Bowser Jr. And that was that was a nice, like fun surprise. I don't think either of us knew what it was going to be going into it. we just i knew there there was these three keys.
01:35:18
Speaker
We went and did that, and it turned out to be a ah fun surprise. Uh, I say it was like 10 minutes or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It yeah it was, it was a total of about 10 minutes we spent in there, but yeah, like you said, it was, it was super fun and, you know, just, you know, you know, a great place to explore. Um, so we, we, we were doing all that and then we decided to go get on, uh, the Donkey Kong country mine cart ride.
01:35:42
Speaker
Um, So when we got there, um we got in line for the ride. And um I think, what was it? It was something like, it was originally like 45 or 50 minutes for the ride. Yeah, I think it was supposed to 45.
01:35:55
Speaker
Yeah. so So we got in line for the ride. And um the the first part of the queue, and this was kind of a general thing with the queues at Universal, was that... um Like half the queues, they're partially outside or uncovered and then part of the queues are covered. So, um you know, we were outside for a little bit and it was getting hotter. And then um as we got into the building and we were on the inside part of the the ride, the ride actually broke down.
01:36:21
Speaker
Oh. Yeah. So, so we, um, which happens with new rides, you know, exactly. Yeah. Because it was, because it was a preview, you know, we knew that and they, they were announcing like, you know, they were trying to get it fixed and we ended up sitting in that queue for another hour, which,
01:36:39
Speaker
I know on the surface that sounds like a crazy thing, but it actually ended up working out being the best case scenario because um it was like that this was like during the hottest part of the day. So it was it was getting to you know, like two, three o'clock in the afternoon.
01:36:54
Speaker
um being inside of the large concrete building that was the ride was way cooler than it was outside. So we were actually more than happy to have the rest in there. And and it was funny because, um you know you know, people were kind of standing at first. So then and it actually hit a point where I think like,
01:37:12
Speaker
80 or 90% of the people in the queue, we were all just sitting on the ground or like sitting on the ah the ropes along the queue. Like we all, everyone just sat down because um most people didn't get out of line or like over time, certain people like like people would give up and just, you know, walk back out of the queue.
01:37:28
Speaker
that was fine. But there was a lot of like, like us, there was a lot of people that were... so I feel like it was like it was the only day there. And, you know, Evan, and I kind of agree. It's like, well, you know, we don't we don't have anywhere else to be. Let's just stick this out.
01:37:41
Speaker
And also, you know, it it worked out that we didn't have to be out in the ah in the hot sun. So, you know, it was kind of a nice break in the middle of the afternoon and the longest that I've ever waited for a ride, I think, ever in my life. But it wasn't a bad wait. Like it was it was relatively um comfortable in there compared to outside.
01:38:04
Speaker
And yeah, so um we got on the Donkey Kong ride and it was the worst of the roller coasters that we did. That doesn't mean it was bad, But it definitely did not feel as great as as Hiccup's Flyers.
01:38:19
Speaker
And definitely not nearly as exciting as Stardust Racers. It's a lot slower coaster. And I think the biggest thing, yeah like we talked about this, that you know it didn't look as or it didn't look very fast. It was not. It looked very slow.
01:38:30
Speaker
Yeah. It was slow. and And the parts, like it had a couple of fast parts to it. But then it's like you would do like a really quick drop. And then it would immediately slow down afterwards because there was like...
01:38:41
Speaker
there was like a scene or something that they were like, like showing you. So it was more, it was very much more stop and go than the other coasters, which, you know, that's not really what you want in a coaster.
01:38:54
Speaker
So I think Trev and I both agree that like us being like, you know, Donkey Kong and Nintendo fans and whatnot, and having played those games, it's like, it's supposed to feel like this hectic thing. And like the gimmick of the ride was like, oh, you're on the, you're jumping between tracks because the actual track is hidden.
01:39:13
Speaker
My takeaway was that, unfortunately, they didn't quite pull that off as well as as I think they could have, because I didn't really feel like I was ever on the the quote unquote fake track on top.
01:39:24
Speaker
It felt like I was floating above it. And like any time that the ride kind of skipped between tracks, it just kind of like almost smoothly took you over to the next one. And not that I want like a really rough, you know, roller coaster, but it also didn't have that feeling of like hecticness that I would that I would have wanted out of it.
01:39:43
Speaker
I think yeah I took you out of it a little bit. Right. because yeah just she I think what they wanted to do with that, at least not in my mind. um Again, like Trevor said, it wasn't a bad ride by any means.
01:39:55
Speaker
Probably not worth a, ah you know, hundred minute wait. on any other day. um But like, it was, it was still a fun ride. and There's certainly some cool set pieces and stuff. and And yeah, some quick parts. It just, it didn't quite hit, I think, what they probably wanted to achieve with
Donkey Kong Ride Critique
01:40:12
Speaker
it.
01:40:12
Speaker
Yeah. And I think like, to your point about like the, how like the track hopping worked, like, you know, when you think about how it worked in the game, it's like, you wanted to feel like you were hopping from the track and it very much felt like you were just floating.
01:40:25
Speaker
Like, like every time, every time that we, we hit those parts where it was like, it was supposed to be like you're hopping between the track. It just it felt like the car was just gliding. It wasn't like it didn't feel like it was like taking off and landing on the track. It was just kind of sliding from one to the other.
01:40:42
Speaker
Right. Like, yeah, yeah, exactly. It was out of it a little bit. Yeah, I could see that. So that's yeah what it looked like from the videos, though, too. Like, it just looked like it didn't go that fast. And then I think we even said that. I wonder if they're going to pull off that effect because it didn't feel like they were going to. And so I'm not surprised by that.
01:40:57
Speaker
that They definitely tried. It just, it they, I think they just missed what the essence of the mine cart levels were in Donkey Kong, unfortunately. So, um, yeah. And then, uh, and then after that, we, we did the Yoshi ride, you know, you know, it's, I think it's fair to to mention that, you know, the, the Yoshi ride is, you know, for every, for every person that doesn't want to do the roller coasters, the Yoshi ride is perfectly fun.
01:41:23
Speaker
We, we enjoyed it. and, It's, you know, just like really a simple Omnimover, but, you know, it's all Yoshi themed and there's nothing wrong with that. There's a little interactive element where you're supposed to like hunt out the eggs as you go and you got to press the button as as you see the egg. And it was cute. It was pretty short.
01:41:41
Speaker
um But I mean, definitely. and And again, another one where the queue was really impressive. you know, i'm ah I'm a fan of like Yoshi games and just being in the queue was like, oh, cool. It's it's like the Yoshi games.
01:41:53
Speaker
Um, yeah. Like once again, they did an amazing job on their cues. Yeah. And that that, that seems to be the general thing is like the, the, the overall, like the, the rides themselves are good, but they are like front to back making sure that it all
Unique Dining at Universal
01:42:08
Speaker
feels good. Like, like, you know, you know, the cues don't feel like they're taking you out of any of the rides.
01:42:14
Speaker
Um, yeah. Yeah. um Okay. And then, all right, last thing. So I've got one more ride to touch on and then we'll get to the food. And then um we do have a quick bit to talk about with um Volcano Bay.
01:42:27
Speaker
And yeah, I think, I think that I know we've been going for a long time here, but there I knew there was going to be a lot. But okay. Mario Kart ride. Um, you, you know, we had talked about it, Tom, that, you know, you weren't sure about it, uh, you know, how it actually would look with the VR glasses.
01:42:46
Speaker
The VR glasses are fun in it, but it actually, i think Evan and I agreed that it took ah took a lot away from the ride itself because there is so much going on in the glasses.
01:42:59
Speaker
So it's it's better than it looks in videos. I can confirm it's a lot better than it looks in videos. I assume it would be, right? Yeah. like yeah The actual effects, I think, that that they do with the VR glasses and whatnot are are good. The problem is more like the AR minigame that goes along with it. Unfortunately, like really takes your attention away as you're like trying to like hunt down these racers and shoot them and stuff.
01:43:23
Speaker
Is like, there's so much cool stuff going on in the ride that in retrospect, I wish I was paying attention to instead of trying to look for like, you know, whoever. Shells. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
01:43:35
Speaker
So I think so that that was the main takeaway from it. Yeah. Yeah. So like I said, yeah, you know, ah all in all, you know, none of the rides were bad by any means that, you know, they, you know, they had high and low points to them or, you know, we're we're just, we're trying to be,
01:43:49
Speaker
objective, I guess, for anybody that's wondering about the rides, you know, definitely if you can get there and ride these rides, do so. Um, we're going to go back now and just talk about the food for a second before we, we talk about volcano Bay.
01:44:01
Speaker
So we, we had, um, but we had three major or two major meals there. And we had, uh, we had, uh, a snack ah there. So we ate at meat hall in, um, Isle of Burke.
01:44:15
Speaker
Which, again, wasn't expecting it, but it was it was a very nice sit-down and... or sorry, it was a quick service. But the way that they did it was you ordered through the app and then they have a QR code on the table and you scan it.
01:44:32
Speaker
And then they bring your food out, like how they would at like a sit-down service, and you get like silverware and all that. But it's a quick service? Like, it's...
01:44:44
Speaker
It felt a lot nicer than anything we had done at Disney. but Well, that's that's how the that's how the Beauty of the Beast restaurant and at Magic Kingdom was. i don't know if it still is, but that's how it was.
01:44:55
Speaker
but When you would order on your phone and then you would sit and they would track your Magic Band and come to your table with the food and bring you somewhere and all that. Yeah. yeah They write it had a QR code on the table that you would scan instead, but same idea. And and we should say, like this wasn't just at Epic Universe. They did this at Islands of Adventure, too.
01:45:10
Speaker
That's true. Across all of the Universal parks, they did this. and And it was great. It was better than any of the Disney ones, frankly. yeah Yeah. So, so yeah, you know, you know, Isla Burke had, you know, it had a good, we had like these sausage links, which, you know, came with potatoes and stuff, you know, you know, really, really good sit down meal. We had, we ordered, we both ordered the, uh, the toothless plasma blast drinks, which were, you know, it, it was, you know, all, all in all good food for, for, um, for being theme park food. Like it was, it was really nice. Yeah.
01:45:47
Speaker
um So that was our first meal there. The second meal we had was at Doss Steakhouse. And this was actually the highlight meal of the entire trip, I think, for both of us um in terms of the theming of the food, the theming of the food.
01:46:05
Speaker
um a restaurant of The restaurant. like everything about it was just it was insane um honestly um they the so so just to to give some context to it like i were this they called it the crimson charred pork And they brought it out and the lady, so the the ah the team members, you know, they were very much in character when we were ordering. Like, you know, they were very like almost like haunted mansion type type vibe to them.
01:46:35
Speaker
And she comes out and then she has this little um saucer thing and she pours the sauce over top of my my um pork and it looks like blood.
01:46:46
Speaker
Well, that's kind of creepy. Yeah. which which But it very much fit with light like the theme of Doss Steakhouse, which is you know it's very gothic, very... It was like eating in drcu in Dracula's castle, right? Yeah. it ah Just creepy stuff everywhere, which, I mean, it it wasn't like so creepy that it you know that it you lost your appetite, but like once again, very immaculately themed...
01:47:15
Speaker
And just a lot of like ambience and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, just don't, don't overlook that place. And then, yeah, for dessert, Evan had, uh, what was it called? The labada cotta? Yeah. Excellent.
01:47:28
Speaker
Uh, not only did it look like I was eating a brain, which again, ah it's better than it sounds. Um, it tasted delicious. yeah so it was a panna cotta with raspberry sauce basically now what's it what's the brain flavored i don't know i've never eaten the brain can't say okay but if if they do taste like that then then sure then you're gonna be a brain eater now but they also had these little chocolate covered pop rocks with it which were also at a surprise i didn't know what they were and then i put one in my mouth and it was like oh hey that's delightful
01:48:01
Speaker
Yeah. So, so yeah, the, the food there was amazing. And then the last thing we had was we had these donkey Kong floats when we were in super Nintendo world, which were, it was banana and pineapple soft serve banana soda.
01:48:16
Speaker
And then had like a waffle cone that it was all served in, but the straw was sticking through the waffle cone into the soda And then there was popcorn and toffee bits in it. Oh, it's one those.
01:48:28
Speaker
yeah Yeah. But it it was so good. like and And yeah, we we got the souvenir mugs with them, which I have on my desk right now. And yeah just like yeah, I think that that Donkey Kong thing is going to be a big attraction of Universal. You're going to see a lot of people talking about it as you know the park gets going here.
01:48:50
Speaker
Um, like I said, nothing and nothing bad to say about anything that we had at universal. Like just, I, I said this earlier. I really hope that universal keeps doing this kind of stuff because they will catch up to Disney. If they do, they're not there yet. Like, you know, for anybody saying that universal or the Epic universe was going to be a Disney killer. It's not, but it definitely makes it's, it's getting there and it's making things better for everybody.
01:49:15
Speaker
So yeah. yeah Yeah, I don't see it ever being a killer. It's it's a nice supplement, I think. and And I think the two could very easily exist ah harmoniously. like I don't see why one has to kill the other at all, because they were both great experiences. They were very different experiences.
01:49:31
Speaker
Exactly. but yeah talk about this so o saga oh no But we talk about this all the time that, ah you know, you're getting something different at Disney than you're getting from Universal. and And one isn't better than the other. Right. But you're getting princesses and fairy tales and, you know, that kind of stuff. And you're getting more of the intense. It's I feel like they're almost different audiences that they're going after. But they are. Yeah. Yeah.
01:49:52
Speaker
But I mean, at the same time, to your to your point, right, it's. ah Disney is probably pretty happy about Epic universe because what's good for Disney, is what's good for universal is good for Disney and vice versa.
01:50:03
Speaker
Like they both want more things to be built because it brings people to the area and they spend money in the area. Like that's, and they've said that before they said, you know, yeah, that's great that they're doing that. Like it, it's, it's good for them. It's good for, for us. You know, it's, it's, it's good all around. Like you said, Evan, it's a compliment.
01:50:20
Speaker
It's, Yeah, exactly. And there's things that they can learn from each other for sure. like there's Oh, absolutely. you know We didn't really mention this, but like one of the overall vibes that I felt was just that Universal wasn't nearly as good at crowd control as as Disney was. like All of the cues, all of the just in general flows of things just didn't feel as welcoming, as as nice, as calm.
01:50:44
Speaker
It was very much go, go, go, more like a theme park versus Disney. It was just a very nice experience always. And so, like, right Disney's got that right now over Universal, even at Epic Universe. like I still think they didn't quite nail that.
01:50:57
Speaker
Yeah, that that's true. that There was definitely a couple of points where it felt like that like the the ah the employees there kind of assumed that we should have known where to go or that we should have been, like...
01:51:07
Speaker
like They weren't like yelling at us or right anything, but it was like kind of that like go this way. Whereas, you know, at Disney, they're very like, you know, hey, you know, we know like, you know, go around this corner. you know, they had people like directing traffic where at Universal there there was a couple of points where like we we were um actually, yeah, even at a I think it was in Gringotts. Like we got off of ah an elevator and we were like, there was a group of us standing there and we were confused about where we were supposed to be going. Like they just didn't, they didn't manage that well.
01:51:38
Speaker
But yeah, like Evan said, you know, you know, both sides have notes. I think at the end of the day, you know, there's things Disney can do to, you know, emulate what they're doing at at Epic Universe. But, you know, Universal still has some work to do to catch up with Disney.
01:51:51
Speaker
um I know we've been talking here for almost two hours and um I just, I want to just touch on this real quick for Volcano Bay. um You know, Volcano Bay is a great water park. The slides are much more intense than anything you'll find at Disney. Yeah.
01:52:07
Speaker
um You have to decide if that's actually what you want, though. I actually don't think Volcano Bay... Like, it's definitely targeted at, again, an older audience. I don't think it's a good water park if you've got younger kids.
01:52:20
Speaker
Like, it did it didn't feel... Or, know, it had, like, the splash pads and stuff, but a lot of the bigger slides didn't feel as... um Like, you you couldn't, like, take your kids on some of the slides that we were doing.
01:52:33
Speaker
So... like um Yeah. So, ah but, you know Volcano Bay was, it was a lot of fun. we We had a lot of, we had, we had a good time there. um We got the reserved seats, which were, it was like a sectioned off area, which honestly, the only thing we really used them for was they had a private locker that we we kept our stuff in, but,
01:52:52
Speaker
um I could see where they would be more benefit if there was, if you had people that weren't running off on the slides because Evan and I were both off on the slides most of the time. It wasn't really as useful as it could have been.
01:53:04
Speaker
And um also don't ignore the refillable mugs there because they were actually, they were very useful. And I highly recommend getting a refillable mug when you're there.
01:53:15
Speaker
So Yeah, it's so Disney just needs to expand their refillable mug thing from the resort to the to the ah to the actual parks is what you're saying, right? Yes. yeah i Get those freestyle machines in.
01:53:26
Speaker
like That yeah was one thing Universal nails as well. yeah Yeah, that's what we found. like like even Even just for refilling water bottles, like we didn't even use the freestyle mugs when we were in the other Universal parks. But but you could just refill your water bottles at them, which was way more convenient than like trying to find water fountains or go to quick services or anything like you have to do at Disney.
01:53:47
Speaker
the The freestyle machines are accessible enough that you know i feel like you know Disney, yeah, they have them at their their resorts. They should expand them out into the parks at some point.
01:53:58
Speaker
And, um yeah. Oh, and I'm sorry. I quickly completely forgot to mention. We did go to the new Island Tower at the Polynesian. This was actually on our last night when we were there. Yeah. So we went went to Wailulu Bar and we had we had lunch there.
01:54:13
Speaker
um had a poke bowl, which was fantastic with tuna. And I don't know what you had, Evan. It was... It was ah like a salad, a chicken salad. Yeah, chicken salad. Yeah, all not nothing you know nothing crazy, but it was it was really delicious. and actually, I think the highlight for me was the I ordered a Spam Misubi as an appetizer, which was really good.
01:54:37
Speaker
Oh, okay. but The Misubi was good. So yeah, we we had a Spam Misubi, which nice did actually turn me on to... like Evan and I talked about this and, you know I didn't think spam was something that I would like, but if spam is prepared correctly, it's actually really good. so Oh, yeah.
01:54:52
Speaker
Absolutely. yeah Yeah. so So that was good. But I actually think the highlight for me at Wailulu Bar was the Dole Whip Sunday. Oh, yeah. okay Right. That was also yeah amazing. Yeah, so so the Dole Whip sundae actually has meringue on it that is made from dried hibiscus leaves.
01:55:08
Speaker
Interesting. And it's it was and like, so Dole Whip, you know, is good on its own, but they added in like these berries that had this like, tangy sour sauce on them and then the meringue and it was like it was next level dole whip experience for anybody that's looking for that yeah i was did did you was the i mean was the resort really nice and like the restaurant really nice too because i mean yeah i mean yeah the restaurant was beautiful and uh i mean from what we saw of the tower it looks very nice inside it looks a lot more modern
01:55:38
Speaker
yeah we we were We sat in the lobby, I think, for about 30 seconds before our table was ready. So so we didn't we didn't have a lot of time in there. But um yeah, you know the tower looks nice. um the the Yeah, like like nothing nothing bad to say about it other than for for me personally, um or I guess i would say it's closer to the ceremonial house than the other DVC house.
01:56:03
Speaker
rooms are. So, it so it was actually a shorter walk, but yeah um the big detracted for me from that is that it's actually further away from the TTC and everything. yeah, It's kind of no man's land for transportation a little bit. Right. It's like it's like halfway between the Grand Floridian and the TTC. So like you're you can you can walk either direction, but it's like that it's not going to be a short walk either either way. Probably. Yeah. and And we talked about that, too. Like we we kind of had a look at, you know, if you're going to walk from there to Magic Kingdom, you're you're it's a long walk.
Island Tower Dining at Polynesian Resort
01:56:34
Speaker
It's a haul. Yeah. Yeah. I would not recommend it.
01:56:36
Speaker
However, yeah, they did have Coke Freestyle machines there. Yes. they did Yeah, we did use the Coke Freestyle machine at the ah at the tower because we we took our resort mugs over there.
01:56:48
Speaker
And yeah, so so yeah, they do have a Coke Freestyle machine. And I hope that they get them at the other DVC ah rooms at some point at the Poly as well.
01:56:58
Speaker
um So, yeah, that was, I think, you know, that that was the last day of our trip. And, yeah, I think I covered off all the major stuff. and I would hope so in two hours. Yeah. i know i know I know I talked for a long time there, but I had lots of notes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:57:16
Speaker
It's all great. Listen, you had a lot of vacation to talk about, so it's good it's all good. did. Yeah. As someone who hasn't been there in 20 years and you know just, I guess, not necessarily in the same zone you guys are, um I did have a great time. it was It was all around just a really good trip.
01:57:38
Speaker
um And a big thanks to Trev for planning it all, basically. Like, there's something to be said about having this kind of knowledge at your disposal. So thank you. And I guess thank you both for, you know, all you guys do to learn this stuff. I mean, it definitely came in handy.
01:57:58
Speaker
Yeah, and it was a fantastic trip. I'm glad we got to do it. it's It's always funny because like when we talk to friends, sometimes they'll be like, like, we want to go to Disney with you because you'll like take us. but you You'll do the real Disney trip with us. you know i mean you'll You'll take us all the place. You know, all the places to go. You know, all the things to do. You get the access to the lounges and the bar, like all that stuff.
01:58:20
Speaker
Like, so people always say that. to And I mean, anybody that's like a big Disney person that goes a lot probably has those friends, you know, that says that stuff. and And we got so much done in such a short amount of time, but it didn't feel rushed.
01:58:32
Speaker
um And, you know, like it it was I really enjoyed my time in in Tokyo Disney, but this was like a different sort of experience just in terms of like how easily things kind of flowed.
01:58:46
Speaker
um So it was it was nice. It was really nice. now I'll admit i'm I'm amazed at how much ground we covered just ah like across all the different parks. Like i i was actually concerned with the universal stuff if it was how difficult it it could have potentially been. But yeah, you're you're right. You know, everything just kind of.
01:59:06
Speaker
worked the whole trip and it was just it was just great all around so yeah i think the only time we were rushed was when we had to get back to epcot for uh lightning lane on uh uh guardians yeah but yeah that's true when when we left volcano bay we we did have another guardians lightning lane so we uh we we rushed back i know yeah you know so so so difficult um yeah so we we got We got back to Epcot and yeah, it was, uh, but I mean, even at that, we weren't like super
Transportation to Volcano Bay Challenges
01:59:34
Speaker
rushed. It was just like, you know, or actually, yeah, I guess I should, I forgot to mention this is, know, we talked about the ride share, but getting to Volcano Bay is if you're not staying at a universal resort, it is so difficult. It's hard. Really? Yeah.
01:59:48
Speaker
Yeah, because so we had to take a rideshare to CityWalk. We had to get off at CityWalk, walk down to where the buses are, wait for a bus to pick us up to go over to Volcano Bay.
02:00:00
Speaker
Oh, so you couldn't go directly to Volcano Bay? No, you can't. That's a huge pain. And it's not a giant bus station either. Like it it was hot. it was It was a long wait. It wasn't great.
02:00:13
Speaker
Yeah. So, so yeah, that, that was probably the the most unattractive thing about like not, so, you know, anybody who sits thinking like, oh I'll stay at Disney and go to universal.
02:00:23
Speaker
It takes a lot longer to get to and from places universal. And it was the same thing coming back. And that's why we were worried about missing our lightning lane for guardians was that by the time we left volcano Bay, it was like, oh, now we got to get on this bus, go back, get through city walk, get up to where they pick up for the ride share wait for our ride share, then get back to the hotel, then get on, then get on the, uh, it's a lot of steps, the monorail to Epcot.
02:00:49
Speaker
Like, yeah, it was, i mean, I guess we could have gone just straight to Epcot, but, uh, but actually, yeah, we came back to the hotel because we wanted to get changed and everything after being at Volcano Bay. So that makes sense. Yeah. But yeah, so anyway, I feel like we should wrap it up here now. We've just passed two hours. I feel like I need to take a nap. um Yeah.
02:01:08
Speaker
Sorry, everyone. I guess, you know, it's a long episode. Inside information here, too. This is also the second day in a row we've done podcasting. so Yes. Because we did we did our interview yesterday with the with the Dapper Danielle, which will come out a couple days after this episode. So tired.
02:01:25
Speaker
Yeah. <unk> retired Yeah. Yeah. I'm I feel I am done talking, but I will still do the wrap up here. And then just go then i will so fast. yeah Yeah. I'll stop talking after that.
02:01:37
Speaker
So. All right. um OK, so as usual, you know, if if you ever want to reach out to us, you can always find us at welcomehomepodcast.gmail.com. ah You know, we love getting your questions there. And, you know, if you want to share your own trip reports, all that kind of stuff, we love we love getting that from you.
02:01:54
Speaker
You can also find us on Facebook as welcome home podcast. You can find us on YouTube as welcome home podcast. You can find us on Instagram as welcome home picks. Make sure on Facebook, you check out our group, welcome home, Disney wait list, where we talk about all the things that we talked about on the show.
02:02:08
Speaker
know, people post fun memes in there, share their own experiences, you know, have lots of great discussions about Disney planning and and all that good stuff. And, uh, If you want to help support the show, you can go to store.welcomehomepodcast.com and check out our different merch.
02:02:24
Speaker
you know We got all the usual stuff in there like t-shirts and and fanny packs. you know you know Everyone needs fanny packs, so make sure you get a ah fresh one from us. um And if you if you want to um to help support us on Patreon, you can go to patreon.com slash welcomehomepod and check out our different Patreon posts.
02:02:44
Speaker
levels of support, which also gets you access to the Discord server, which is yet another thing that that we mentioned earlier in the show that you know we have all all kinds of other conversations on the Discord server.
02:02:54
Speaker
um you know we We do also try to post things early on the Discord server as well. So you know all all our Patreon supporters get um you know, they get access to things sooner than than everybody else does. So, you know, please check that out if you're interested in, know, maybe getting some insider information.
02:03:11
Speaker
Last but not least, if you're listening on iTunes or Spotify or anywhere where you can leave us a five-star review, please do so. You know, it just helps more people find the show. And, you know, you can write us a review on iTunes as well. You know, we love hearing what you guys think about the show.
02:03:24
Speaker
What was Evan just going to say? Said, I did. I left you a five-star review. When did you leave a five-star review? Today. Just just now? Wow, it's not even up there. Okay, it's not up yet. I would love to read it. Okay, well, thank you.
02:03:40
Speaker
Well, Evan, the other thing you can do is subscribe to Welcome Home Podcast so you can be reminded every time we release an episode. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Stitcher, Spotify, YouTube. YouTube Music, just about any podcast app that's out there.
02:03:51
Speaker
You can find us. Just search for Welcome Home. Look for the one that's, you know, Disney, DVC, all that fun stuff. ah Just a reminder to everybody, we are Welcome Home Podcast. This is for entertainment only.
02:04:02
Speaker
We are not employed by the Walt Disney Company and as such, all opinions expressed on the show our own. So please consult your DVC representative or Disney cast member for more information about anything we talked about today. but I guess universal cast members since we talked almost completely about universal today. um Yeah. but What do they call it? Universal or team members, right? They're not cast members. Yeah. yeah So thank you, a huge thank you to our sponsor, DVC Resale Market, for sponsoring this episode.
02:04:26
Speaker
And of course, World of DVC for continuing to be our very good friends and and awesome ah partners. Join us next time for more Disney Parks discussion. Of course, more DVC talk. We hope to see you all real soon.
02:04:37
Speaker
This is Skipper Albert A. Wall, the voice of the jungle, signing off from Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC. Music