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Episode 273: D23 Announcements…A Week Later
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On This Episode
Tom is back from his cruise and gave a trip report. Damon gave a report from his recent short trip to the mountains. At D23 Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase last week, Josh D’Amaro announced the newest projects coming to Disney Parks and Experiences all over the world. The guys review all of the announcements from D23 and what they mean for the future of Disney Parks and Experiences.
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Transcript
Episode Introduction
00:00:09
Speaker
This is Skipper Albert A. Wall, the voice of the jungle, broadcasting on the DVC to all points unknown. If you're within the sound of my voice, you're listening to Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello and welcome home. This episode of Welcome Home is brought to you by DVC Rental Store. Thank you for joining us on episode 273 of Welcome Home, a Disney Parks and Vacation Club podcast. I'm Tom. I'm here with Trevor and Damon. How's it going, guys?
00:00:43
Speaker
Good. how How are you doing?
Vacation Recap and Internet Decisions
00:00:46
Speaker
Did I miss anything? A little bit. Yeah. Okay. So yeah, no, I, you know, just getting back from a week of vacation, getting kind of back into the flow of things. ah What I was, ah you know, one of the funny things though of the cruise is that I didn't buy the internet package, right? Like I just didn't have internet. I wanted to kind of disconnect for for the week that we were there.
00:01:09
Speaker
And plus, it's just outrageously expensive. Like, there's just no reason for it to be so expensive. But I decided, that you know, we just kind of wanted to disconnect. and And we really, it's funny because, you know, we contrasted it with our Disney trips, which are usually kind of like go, go, go kind of thing.
00:01:25
Speaker
ah and And we don't really have a lot of time to just kind of relax and, you know, just have a drink and like look out in the ocean or whatever, sit on the beach. You know, it's we just don't budget that kind of time in our Disney vacations. It's always like the next, what's the next thing, right? And we had a little bit of that on the cruise, but it was, it was more, much more relaxing. But the the funny thing was, because for some reason, even though I didn't get the internet package, you have to hook up to their wifi to like use the app while you're on board, you know, use their app to see the show times and all that stuff, right?
00:01:54
Speaker
So I, I hook up to their wifi. Um, and so even though I'm not getting internet, for some reason I'm still getting notifications. So like I'm getting notifications of from the discord of everything that's happening around each one.
00:02:11
Speaker
No, I've seen mobile, but it was, I'm getting these, I'm getting these notifications that are popping through, but I can't click on them because they don't have internet. So if I click on it, it just doesn't load the app. I just see the notification and like a brief preview of it. Yeah. So expect to get a charge on your bill. Same thing. No, I was in airplane mode. I was in airplane mode the entire time. Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah. I was in airplane mode the whole time. Yeah. So, so the discord notifications were still coming through on your wifi. Yeah. Yeah, but I couldn't read them.
00:02:38
Speaker
So it was kind of like a tease. I could like see like a little preview, but I couldn't see what the whole message said. So that that was kind of funny. ah But you know know I was getting Facebook notifications and work notifications. But like I said, I was on airplane mode the entire time. I wanted to make sure that I didn't get charged for anything. right So I was on airplane mode and and just had Wi-Fi hooked up and nothing else.
00:02:59
Speaker
Although I will say ah you with my plan with T-Mobile, being on the islands, they did give me it was like five free gigs of high-speed data and and unlimited texting on all the islands I was on, which was helpful like because we were able to you know like call my daughter and say hi and you know that kind of stuff and also just get on the internet a little bit while we were on the island. But you know obviously being careful not to go over that five gigabyte limit because I'm sure they probably would have charged us after that. so So I just got five's a lot. yeah You wouldn't have a good amount. Yeah. i say But we were also doing, we were doing, you know, video, we were videoing. So like, ah you know, yeah you can eat up some data with
Cruise Experience Overview
00:03:36
Speaker
that. Right. yeah Um, but, but anyway, so the trip was great overall. We had a lot of fun. Uh, I will say, I don't know if I'll do another cruise and like the, in summertime like this again, cause it was, it was brutal.
00:03:50
Speaker
It's like going to Disney in July, man. It was you know hot, 100% humidity. You like walked outside and like you're immediately sweating. um you know it's just It was hard to be outside. and you know we So we went to like you know like the ports. We walked around a little bit. We went usually went back on the boat, got got in the pool and ah you know just hung out in the pool. and When we did their private island, which was very nice, by the way, I really loved the Royal Private Island. I think that was actually our favorite stop was that was the Cook OK.
00:04:19
Speaker
ah Just a great time. i mean we Overall, it was a lot of fun. There were some little things here and there that were you know issues like stuff with dining and ah you know the drink package.
Cruise Ship Comparisons
00:04:28
Speaker
They had like four soda machines on the whole and the whole boat for every single person, two of which are not open past 10 o'clock, and then the freestyle machines, and they were literally constantly broken. like Just constantly broken, not accessible. so That was a little frustrating. um But you know the entertainment was great. um Honestly, this trip made me even more excited for my Disney cruise next year because i there are things that were real shortcomings on this that I think that Disney will do better based on the things I've read and seen. You also went on a super old boat, right? You went on an adventure? Yeah. So the adventure was built in 2001 and redone in 2015. So it's not a very new boat. And and actually, when we were in Coco Cay, we were parked next to Utopia of the Seas
00:05:12
Speaker
Uh, so like, you know um but yeah yeah, cause that one just launched a couple of weeks ago. Like that one's brand new. And just to see the difference between the, you know, 20 year old ship and the, and the brand new ship that just launched was, uh, pretty crazy. So, um, I mean that, that utopia, this is gigantic. It's, it's kind of absurd for a day in July next year. Oh, nice. Nice. So yeah, no, it's yeah, good. and yeah so so I was going to say, you know you know noting that you know you had some deficiencies on this. you know ah ah
00:05:43
Speaker
I'll be glad to
Vacationing Without Family Debate
00:05:44
Speaker
revisit this conversation when you go on your Disney trip and you know, really care about, you know, why or what was good, what was bad. Cause yeah, it's, it's interesting to see that comparison. I also, I mean, like, listen, the, the state rooms were stuck in like the early 2000s kind of vibe. Like I had, and and this might be an obscure reference unless if you don't watch the office, but you know, the episode of the office, the dinner party where Michael has his tiny TV, his tiny flat screen TV, that's like basically what was in the room.
00:06:13
Speaker
Like, you know, it's like really, really tiny TV with no channels and, you know, spotty connection quality. And, ah you know, they still had some, you know, they had like ah an actual like Ethernet port in the room, which I thought was like, like, really? um But, you know, why would you not want that?
00:06:31
Speaker
I'm just saying like i you don't use wired internet as much as you use Wi-Fi nowadays. no What are you plugging an ethernet cable into at this point? Anything? why Why would you not? Do do you carry an ethernet cable? carry an ethernet cable around with me. I do. okay then You're the exception because and most people carry a USB cable but not an ethernet cable. Yeah, I think it's less common than it used to be. but I get what you're saying, David. but um But yeah, no. Listen, overall, great trip. Had a lot of fun. Can't complain too much. You know, little rough seas. And like I said, it was it was very hot and we were running away from a hurricane. But, you know. i think I think the problem too is that some of those older boats people get like this kind of, you know,
00:07:10
Speaker
they don't understand that there could be better because the stabilization just gets better as boats get newer. Yeah. And I think that there's there's always that as an issue. So yeah, I kind of always think to myself, it's like it's tough to take a cruise on an older boat as kind of, you know, your first sort of cruise, but you didn't go with your daughter, right? That's one of them. No, no, no, we're saving that for the Disney one next year. So yeah, yeah that was that whole discord thing. I mean, I i think that's crazy talk, but OK.
00:07:37
Speaker
ah Well for everyone that wants to know my opinion just in case you're curious I think going on trips without your family is the most ridiculous thing ever because you have this set amount of time in life from when your kids are born to when they leave and Why would I ever want to waste that going on a trip without them and not knocking Tom? That's just more of a general statement. I think in general, right? No one ever looks back and goes Oh, gosh, you know, I wish I didn't spend as much vacation time with my kids when they move out for the first time So you'll never catch me doing that But it was on Discord. That's fine for you, Damon, because I do it too. like we do take We do take trips without my son because yeah and just my wife and i like to have well yeah again that's fine but you my wife and I like to have our trips together too.
Gatlinburg Trip Details
00:08:22
Speaker
That's what retirement's for. and yeah well we we enjoyed we Honestly, though, I don't know if my daughter would have even had a good time on this boat. like it's We were like looking for the kid things to do and and having a hard time. I think that might be a boat related yes it good for that one. yeah like You won't have that trouble on Disney. No, I will have the trouble on Disney. And that was one of the big things we noticed too. But I mean, like there were like very adult shows that were happening on that boat, you know, some like risque stuff that kids were at and they were even saying, hey, this is 18 plus. But then there were, you know you know, just like people showed up to stitch.
00:08:55
Speaker
right like I mean, alien counter, of course, right? like Yeah, because people don't listen to those things. They don't listen at all. Yeah. so ah But anyway, like I said, it was a good trip. And Damon, I think you also went on a trip? Yes, I was in Gatlingburg, Pigeon Forge for a couple of days. The trip turned ... It was supposed to be from Saturday to Wednesday. It ended up being from Friday to Monday. We had to switch our times around twice just because of my son going to college. and you know, my daughter tried out for tennis and we just kind of assumed that she would be playing JV and that would be that and she ended up making varsity so she had a match on Monday so we ended up leaving 5am on Monday so we did not do Dollywood and we did stay at the place that we stayed at the last two times which is Riverstone. It's it's again, it's a timeshare on a golf course but
00:09:48
Speaker
It's definitely stuck in the the old times, but very nice, but just very dated, but you know they keep it very clean and it was it was fine. We ended up with a three bedroom this time because we just had a few extra people with us. So we ended up doing the new mini golf course there, which is mermaids and air pirates.
Unique Gatlinburg Attractions
00:10:10
Speaker
which was really well done, actually. It's by the same people that made Toy Box and Crave, and we ended up doing their newer one, and I would say that more definitely more themed. It was for... For a mini golf place, it was pretty well themed. The one that was inside was the mermaid one, and you know they had the fog, they had a mermaid walking, well, fake swimming around, right? like they They had places to get pictures with them. They had all sorts of stuff. And even in the air pirates one, there was you know
00:10:43
Speaker
air pirates and character walking around. I was surprised at how well they were done. But I think the best part about it was is that the holes were a little bit more complex. So sometimes, you know, they go for theming and easy holes. And this this time around, it was a little bit more of both. And then, you know, some pretty good holes. We ended up playing the first round where we do the special things that they tell you do in a hole. You got to sit down. You got to kick it the first time. you to And that just was not it. So the second time we just played straight up mini golf and that was pretty good.
00:11:18
Speaker
we ended up doing Anakista for a day, which was okay, I think. um There is one mountain coaster there. What is that? Anakista? Is that it's a place? Yeah, it's like ah an amusement parky sort of place. And and Tom, you you're going to relate to this, and you're you're not going to believe me, but this is so crazy. So they have two mountain coasters, which you've been on mountain up pin coaster. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah But the one that's in the park, instead of being a dual track coaster, right, yeah is a single track. OK, so like a monorail ish, right? OK, it's like a it's a single rail, and single rail. Yeah, I've seen the there's very few of those. though they yeah and So it was so it was we were kind of like, all right, whatever. And, you know, we were trying to figure out when we were going to go on that because we ended up buying a package for Anakista for that. The two coasters.
00:12:09
Speaker
the park and then as well the Astrolumina thing at night, which was phenomenal gift to that. But so we go on this single rail coaster. Tom, I think it was scarier than the Alpine slide.
00:12:21
Speaker
but Oh, really? Which is unreal to me because I don't understand. So we get in because there's a single rail. Is that? Yeah, like. OK. So we get in and, you know, they put the seatbelt on like they do on the mountain coaster. Right. Yeah. And then they're like, oh, no, there's another like strap, like one that you would wear in a car, like a seat belt, like a full on seat belt, a seat belt. And I'm kind of thinking to myself, like,
00:12:43
Speaker
Yeah, all right whatever, right? Like, I didn't think anything of it. So when we ended up, I ended up going first, right? Because it's always what happens. And I'm like, whatever, man, like full throttle, let's go.
00:12:54
Speaker
No, no, it's probably the first mountain coaster that I could not physically hold it down the whole entire time. Oh, yeah. There's no way. So like pushing pushing the pushing the lever forward to make it faster. I mean, I was probably this and I'll be honest, I was probably at like 90 percent. Yeah. But the first one was like, oh, wow. OK, like this is this is not what I expected. It was pretty scary.
00:13:21
Speaker
The second one, I was like, I don't care. I'm still um double seat belted in like I should be good. So I went full throttle and it was like a bruise from the seat belts after I got off the next day. That's how fast it was. That's crazy. It was one of the scarier rides that I've ever been on.
00:13:39
Speaker
which is crazy. Like I was just again, only if you're going full throttle. My wife and a couple of the other ones did not full throttle. And then, you know, that's a different story. But full throttle, single rail, like when you go around the corners is something else. Like it was something else. So Actually, that's the only, I just looked this up, Damon, this is the only single rail Alpine slide in the United States. Dude, it's scary. Oh, really? Yeah, it's the only one. Yeah. It's scary. Like, it really was. And again, like, I came off with, like, the next day, like, I was like, huh? Like, I was like, oh, I must have gotten, like, a spider bite or something. because I had this huge, like, dark spot. And then I was like, no, that's just a bruise from Ryan. It was, it was, it was really good.
00:14:19
Speaker
I'm watching a YouTube video over now, and it looks terrifying. It was one of the top terrifying rides I've ever been on. So we did that, which was fun. And then we we left there in eight. We ate at a lot of
Astrolumina Light Show Review
00:14:31
Speaker
good places. We ate this cookie dough monster place that was absolutely phenomenal. If you go to Pigeon Forge, like it was so good we went twice. um And then we came back for Astrolumina, which I didn't really have high hopes for. So what it is, it's a light show in the middle of the woods.
00:14:48
Speaker
Okay, right. I wasn't really expecting all that much. It was a hard walkthrough. That's the only thing I would say because it's dark, you're on dirt paths, you're on the side of a mountain, right? Because you're taking a, you know, a gondola up, you know, ski lift up and back. So I mean, you're you're on the mountain. It was extremely well done. um It was not a big add on. I think it was less than $20 per person. um it Probably took us about 40 minutes to walk through. It was I mean, it was like serene, meditative. It was really, really cool. like I was surprised at how well done it was, especially for the price.
00:15:27
Speaker
like So I would say that was well worth it. I don't know if you can do it without going to Anakista. I'm not sure about that. But if you can, we're going to go again. Anakista was a one and done for me. It was fine. But I don't need to go again. um But this Astrolumina was definitely well worth well worth it for sure. And I wish we had done it again to get a you know a little bit more relaxing vibe and take on it because my kids were kind of tapped at that point. So we felt a little rush through it. but Definitely well worth it. um We did not get to do the llama trek because they're not open on the weekends. We wanted to do the... They have a ah Bible show sort of dinner theater, which again, I don't know what I was thinking. I thought we could do it on Sunday and then obviously that was not the case closed on Sunday. But we did do the Scooby Doo escape room.
Scooby Doo Escape Room Experience
00:16:17
Speaker
Oh, that's fun. Yeah. And it was, it was well done. Um, we escaped with I think five minutes left, maybe somewhere between two and five minutes. Cut it close. Yeah. We cut it very close. Uh, and we had a lot of people. So one would have thought that like that would have been better, but it was only really our first kind of real escape room. Like we had done one before pigeon forage, but it was at one of the mini golf places. So it wasn't like a full blown one. Like this was like a three room one.
00:16:46
Speaker
um And you know, all the characters and things like that. I thought it was, it was really, really, really well done. ah We did enjoy it. I think we'll be doing some more in the future. And let me see what else did we do. I think that was it. Because we were, again, a little bit on, ah you know, a shorter timeframe. Riverstone does have a nice gym and it does have a lazy river, which is pretty cool for the, you know, the price and the situation. So the kids hung out there for a little bit. But yeah, Kooky Dove Monster. And then there's, you know,
00:17:16
Speaker
you know, Chris put us onto an ice cream place and it's called Cruz, which they had marshmallow soft serve. I don't know if it gets better than that for ice cream. What does that even, I mean, that's going to be a weird consistency, I feel like. No, it's soft serve of ice cream that's marshmallow flavored.
00:17:32
Speaker
not a marshmallow soft serve person. yeah Yeah, yeah. So it's a marshmallow soft serve ice cream. It was really good. it was I mean, I don't know if it gets much better than that when it comes to soft serve. I mean, it was really good. I'm reading the reviews for this ah for this rail coaster. Oh, people are probably freaked out of their mind. Well, it's it's got 4.1 out of 5 on Google, and ah you're not the only one that got a bruise. Several people have gotten bruises from that. Oh, yeah. Because you know you kind of think to yourself like, hey, this is a mountain coaster. I'm just going to full throttle this thing. And again, like it whips you in that corner so hard that like all the seatbelts are doing all they can to possibly hold you in so you're not like flown into the you know Tennessee woods.
00:18:14
Speaker
Uh, we also did see a black bear in the park, which was cool. Yeah. Cause I guess that's kind of a thing for them. So that was neat to actually be able to see one. Yeah. Yeah. No, I, I, all the reviews are that they waited a long time and the ride's only like a minute long. so Yeah. So when we got there, actually we got there, not at the crack of dawn, we did a not crack of dawn park, you know, sort of thing. We're like, ah, what happened? Who cares? We get there at 10 30. It doesn't matter. We got there at 10 30. There was nobody there.
00:18:39
Speaker
we actually could have done anything we wanted to. We did not have to wait at all. Our biggest thing is we were making sure when we did the mountain coasters that we were looking to see who was in front of us because we didn't want to get our experience hosed up by some softies in front of us, right? yeah So we kind of were like waiting it out and like, but that one there was nobody on. So we actually ended up writing that I was the first one and there was nobody in front of me.
00:19:01
Speaker
Um, so that was fine. And then on the second mountain coaster, like I said, we just kind of waited it out and we're like, ah, that family looks a little soft. We're going to just wait. And then we just wait until we kind of had a big gap in between the families. So that way, cause you know, you know, the mountain coasters can be 100% ruined by the family in front of you. Oh yeah. That's true. Yeah. They go too slow. Yeah. Yeah. And then you're just stuck. In fact, when we did it, um, the, the couple that we were with, the, the wife went first and and the husband was behind her and she was going so slow and he's like yelling at her from behind like, go fast.
00:19:30
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I can see that. Yeah, it it can be a little bit challenging if you have somebody slower in front of you, but luckily that didn't happen to me when I did it so. No. And then I think we'll, so we'll be going back next year. So it doesn't look like, I mean, based on everything we've seen, it doesn't look like Epic universe has a date yet. So for me, we've now realized that with tennis, we are pretty much a June 18th to July 18th only vacation for the next four years, three years, three more years. So three more years, those, that's the only month we can vacation at this point. yeah So we booked a, you know, the utopia, July 7th through 11th, we're doing a four day,
00:20:07
Speaker
And then we still have that Disney cruise. I mean, like, did you get it? Oh, yeah, you haven't been on Disney cruise yet. But we got the you know, the 10% off. So the you know, the whatever thing. So we have to use that within two years.
00:20:18
Speaker
No, but I gambled enough on the rail cruise that they gave me a nice discount for another one. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, they i and I didn't get enough. Like my mom gets free cruises because there's like a certain amount of points I guess you can get from gambling in the casino. and Yeah, I heard that it's very like randomish. So like there's no real rhyme or reason. But yeah, I mean, i' that's the only thing I'm kind of like, ah like I love to gamble like Foxwoods person for real, but I just feel like I may end up like being stuck in there because I like it so much. so i don't yeah have to i I get that, Damon. we ah You know, the thing that stopped me was that again there was a lot of smoking going on in the casino and I was surprised that they even allow it. And but just being in there, I was like the new ship has yeah as a both yeah smoking and non smoking, which is nice. Yeah. Yeah, but the smoking one is obviously bigger and they also have better venting from what I understand. But yeah, yeah i I kind of miss that being in the Northeast. I don't think the one's down here. Have you been to the one in North Carolina?
00:21:15
Speaker
Which one? Oh, the casino? No. Yeah. No. Yeah. I just, again, so looking forward to that. So I don't know what our other trips will be, but like I said, I mean, it looks like for me about three more years of vacationing. So we'll probably try to do as much as we can, but I think we're going to be doing a lot of cruising. I truly do. I think we'll be a cruise family for the next three years. I could see us doing a cruise each year now. ah Not necessarily in place of our Disney trip, maybe in addition to if if possible. but I mean, I don't have points till 26. You sell your DVC points, yeah? Yeah, so for me, that's fine. I mean, I may borrow next year to take um a day before the cruise.
00:21:56
Speaker
just because why not, right? So, I mean, I had to stay somewhere like, a you know, old key, which I like anyway. So, for me, I mean, we might do that um just to kind of help us out in front of our crews. The other thing too is is that as I was, I ended up booking my crews for Royal um and the the travel agent I was talking to was trying to talk me into Volcano Bay. So, from my understanding, it's a really good water park. So, I don't know if you heard that they're going to put a water park in Nassau.
00:22:24
Speaker
No. Yeah. So it's going to go. Did you get off in Nassau? No, we we didn't have a, we didn't have a Nassau. Oh, okay. So in Nassau behind the theater, the thing about putting a water park in there. I mean, Royal's Royal Caribbean's Island, basically. You did not do the water park. um We didn't do the water park. It was so expensive. It was like over a hundred dollars and it was for like three slides. It was nothing. They're pretty tall though. Yeah. They're very tall. Trust me. I looked at them and I'm like, I'm glad I didn't. Yeah. we're We're definitely doing that. But my daughter and my wife said they are out on that.
00:22:53
Speaker
Um, and I just don't know what I, again, because we want stuff to do. So did you didn't do snorkeling or anything like that? You know, we didn't really do a lot of excursions. We did like, uh, we went to, uh, we stopped at Grand Turk, uh, and we never been to Grand Turk before. So we decided to do like a golf cart tour of Grand Turk, which you find out very quickly that there's not a whole lot to see in Grand Turk. I mean, it's good looking, but it's a lot of the same good looking. Yeah, exactly. Like the beach is amazing and that's about it. Yeah. And it's also, I mean, it's it's a fairly impoverished place. It's not the most, you don't feel great driving around there to be totally honest. I heard that that Royal Caribbean has a second island too, though. Over by Haiti.
00:23:33
Speaker
No, no, it's been, it was the first one. Labadee, Labadee. Yeah. So that's, we were supposed to go to Labadee, but they, but they canceled us from Labadee because of all the stuff going on in Haiti. So we were supposed to go there. We actually, we actually stopped there in between ports because they needed to drop off supplies for the people living on the island. Um, so we actually stopped there, but didn't get out. They stopped there like in the middle of the night, basically. But yeah, no, I've, I mean, I've heard Labadee is nice. I just haven't been there.
00:23:59
Speaker
so Gotcha. yeah yeah mean what We'll see. I mean i think that the pricing is just so much cheaper than Disney. Yeah, it is. yeah i mean so much I think we're going to end up being at about half.
00:24:12
Speaker
Yeah. And listen, I really enjoy Disney. It will be interesting to see how I feel. I mean, we're going to have the exact opposite, right? Yeah. I've been on Disney a bunch and going on Royal next year and you'll have been on Royal and going on Disney. So that that should make for a good comparison, I think, going both ways. The only difference, I would say, is your daughter's still young. Yeah. So she'll enjoy Disney, I think, way more. Oh, we got being on this cruise, we're like did the Disney cruise is going to be amazing, right? like Because my daughter is going to love all the stuff on there. Talk to her about it. you know The only thing that, i again, for me that was tough is like there's so many cool things for the younger kids to do, but like I kind of want to spend time with my family. it felt like you know She was like, oh, I want to go do this. Oh, I want to go do that. like and i was like
00:24:56
Speaker
but Where is she? Like, you know, I but i see her too. So that was the the only thing that was a little bit of a, you know, for us, it was, you know, like, huh, okay, so. Yeah, I'm really pumped for our Disney cruise next year. Honestly, it's, it's going to be a lot of fun. How many days? It's a seven day. Nice. That will be good. Well, I was actually surprised that the treasure was even doing a seven day because a lot of times with the new ships, they do shorter ones. Like when I was looking up the, it was like three or four days. Like utopia, the seas was like three or four days. Like, so I was surprised to see seven days on the, on the, on the treasures. And I'm, I'm, I'm glad it's a longer cruise that we wanted to do a long The Disney stuff being longer is nice because their shows are just so well done that it's worth going to see every single one of them. I think that's the fun part of a seven day. We get to see all of them. They bring on some pretty good entertainment. I don't know. I may have to think about that cruise because what month are you going? May.
00:25:57
Speaker
Yeah, a little little too early for May. Like the first week of May, I think. Yeah. Because I think, you know again, we have to sneak in this Disney cruise. It's either going to have to be next year, or it's going to have to be early in the season, the year after, because I think it's only two years for that 10% off. Yeah. Yeah. so And 10% off's a lot. its No, it is. It is. ah Yeah, it definitely is.
00:26:17
Speaker
All right. So I'm assuming people want us to talk about, do 23 stuff now, it tired of hearing about our, our vacations, but 26 minutes in, man, skip it all if you want. I mean, yeah, you can do that. Yeah. But so I'm, I was joking that I'm going to call this, was it yeah but What would you say? de and so I'm not skipping any of this. I want to go. yeah There's a lot to talk about here.
00:26:40
Speaker
There's no we were talking about skipping skipping stuff. Yeah, the cruise. Oh, you mean the last 26 minutes that you guys were talking? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so, you know, the first thing we'll and we're gonna go through these. There's a lot. I mean, coming back and just trying to, you know, compile all this was a lot of was a lot of work. A lot of work for Tom. Yeah, a lot of work for Tom a day off vacation, but you know really cool stuff going on So, you know, first of all, well, let's go to the villain's land first and and we just we preface this all though by saying is like we have no idea when any of this stuff is truly honest to goodness happening now and No, but i did I did notice that Josh D'Amero said, you know, several times during his presentation, like, listen, and they actually say it in the post, too, that these are real plans. These are not things that are like, you know, potential. Oh, no, that's fine. But yeah, there's no states on them. yeah Yeah, like, I mean, do we think some of this stuff might not be till twenty nine thirty one?
00:27:40
Speaker
I mean, we did have to preface it by saying. Yeah, I mean, they already started. I mean, they actually said that they're already filing permits permits to start the work for Villains Land and some of them. beyond yeah Yeah. Yeah. For some of the stuff. Yeah. Yeah. but you right but We have no idea. I would like to, you know, just, you know, point out that, you know, when Galaxy's Edge was built, that was like a five year endeavor. So it was a point is, you know, if they're just talking like, even if they've already broken ground on some of these things,
00:28:07
Speaker
It could be another five years before we see them. so Yeah, you're 100% correct on that. i mean It took them what five years for Pandora too, right? like it's It takes a long time to get these things done. and and and This particular project too is going to... There's a lot of work they have to do with clearing land and you know redirecting waterways. It's going to be like the Epcot um what's it called, say the the partitions all over again. Yeah. Yeah. Well cut. Hopefully we don't see too much of of the wall cut here. But I find this interesting because you know the Villains Land thing ah was ah was an Internet thing for a long time. right and Nobody could ever confirm that it was real. right like and and Even like ah one of the Disney historians said that the idea of the Dark Kingdom came from the Internet and that Imagineers never actually put one together, that the Internet just came up with it.
00:28:58
Speaker
So, but now it's actually happening. ah I think this is interesting in a lot of ways. and And Damon, you kind of talked about this on one of the episodes. It's like, can Disney go hard scary with this? I don't think they do. I think this is more of a response to what Epic Universe is doing. Like, I feel like they almost have to because people were clamoring for it on the Internet already yeah for Disney. And now like, hey, look, I don't care what anyone says. Disney has this huge gap.
00:29:25
Speaker
where they're not gonna have as much stuff as as universal. I think you gotta have great announcements, which I think they've done here. yeah um But yeah, I don't necessarily see it as, I think we're gonna see as much scary as we saw in the original Snow White ride, which I thought, I i mean, I guess was kind of scary to younger kids, was the super scared yeah those dark right? Those original dark rides actually were Legitimately scary, especially you know, I remember as a kid being freaked out coming off of those rides because
00:29:57
Speaker
Yeah. They didn't know how to do like timing and like, like, yeah, there there was, there was a lot of stuff that happened in those rides that, you know, became bad core memories. Yeah. I mean, I think that we'll see that. Um, maybe we'll see something similar to stitch, not necessarily early in a counter, maybe something more similar to stitch, but you know, without you walking around.
00:30:22
Speaker
but maybe the same sort of kind of concept. I think the walking around part made it scarier and made it more dangerous. But yeah yeah, I don't see them going full out. But then again, I don't necessarily see Epic Universe going full out either, right? Like, I mean, I think there has to be some sort of balance. I like the idea, though, I think that they didn't have a choice, personally.
00:30:47
Speaker
I'm just looking at the concept art here. and And I mean, it looks pretty dark and, you know, I don't want to call it scary, but I, you know, it's it it looks pretty dark. You have a dragon breathing fire. You have, you know, a lot of creepy elements. Go ahead, Trevor. Sorry. I was going to say, yes. The the concept art always makes it look yeah wonderful in that. Yeah. But did you meant if it looked like that. Oh my goodness. I mean, it does. I mean, it it yeah, it it would be very cool. You know, the juxtaposition of Cinderella's castle and then like off in the background.
00:31:17
Speaker
Like a dark castle and like all these like shadowy things there like yeah that would be very cool to see and and and you know does actually Bring more to life that though a lot of the concepts like like if you look at Sleeping Beauty It's like you know you know they start with very you know bright like no oh fairy tale stuff and then they get into like Maleficent and all that and it is very It is very dark, right? Yeah. Like yeah there is some, there, there is some scary stuff in there. So I think I don't have to look at, Oh, I'm sorry, Trevor, go ahead. I was just going to say I'm, I'm, I'm really, ah the only thing I'm hoping for from it is that there's some representation for Chernobog in there somewhere because I just think he's the best villain. Like, yeah.
00:32:00
Speaker
well That's all I want. I think there's going to be a little bit of, you know, look, let's be honest, there's Disney descendants, right? And you also have zombies. Yeah. And I think that, you know, they're way more popular. It's funny, my my my daughter doesn't watch those shows anymore, per se. But when that new Disney descendants, you know, came out, she was like complaining like, well what are you complaining about? She's like, no, no, no, we're going to watch it during like a sleepover like. They're still like even at that little bit older age still dialed into them So I'm again I'm i'm hoping that it's not gonna be something like that like that You could classify as villains, but it's not necessarily what I would consider What I would want for villains you get what I'm saying like yeah, that's what I kind of hope it's not I I I see this concept art as very very like Maleficent. so I mean, this concept art is stranger things, dystopian, like and kill everyone, run away from monsters, really. and and they And they did say in the presentation rate that there's going to be two major attractions there. And you can actually see in the concept art a ah a ah roller coaster at the bottom.
00:33:12
Speaker
in ah in a cave, in an open cave there. Which, I mean, listen, I would love if they kind of went the went really hardcore with this and like had like a ridiculous coaster, like a Velocicoaster kind of thing, like a really intense coaster. I think we're going to get something along the lines of Expedition Everest, to be honest with you. but Well, yeah. that's what Which isn't bad. Yeah, yeah that's not bad. Yeah, you're right. won't be like Velocicoaster level. Crazy, yeah. ah That doesn't mean that Disney can't make a good experience out of it. Yeah. Well, and I think that's what we're looking for here, right? Is a villain experience not necessarily being scared that you wet yourself but more along the lines of like oh That was cool. That was creepy. That was this that was that more than like being truly honest of goodness scared you You just can't do that because as we said people are gonna take their kids there no matter what and Oh yeah. No matter what you tell them, they're going to take their kids. Yeah. Absolutely. you Unless you check IDs at the at the gate, they're not there's no way that but're they're going to stop some people from taking their kids, right? But to your point, Damon, like there's a difference between creepy and scary, right? Yeah. I think it's the difference between Snow White and Alien Encounters, to be honest with you. Exactly, because like, you know, jump scares and stuff like that, or like alien encounter, like, was the, you know, basically sitting in darkness and you you know, your senses just kind of tricking your mind into thinking things were there, right? And like, that was legitimately scary. Like this stuff, I mean, even in the concept art just looks creepy and, you know, kind of cool, like, you know,
00:34:41
Speaker
Yeah, so so again, it's funny. i i Whoever wanted to skip over my vacation, sorry, I forgot. So we went to the haunted house that they had, the year round haunted house. yeah yeah Right now that we brought up villains. So so this was interesting because it was it was during the day that we went, right? And it's a three level house with a basement.
00:35:02
Speaker
And I think the the thing that you kind of find is in a lot of haunted houses, especially like, let's say, bush gardens or things like that, you're walking along with a bunch of people. Things become less scary. Things become less scary in the day as well, obviously, right? So we ended up going through, it was just me, my two sons, and my one son's girlfriend and you're in this house and it's like an escape how like we had to like push a mantle in to like get through one of the rooms like you have to figure out how to get out of the rooms while you're being scared. Oh, it was it was crazy. It was pretty it was pretty cool. um But again, it was just us. So you're sitting there and that's just you. Yeah, that's not Disney. Right. Like we're we're not going to see that at Disney. There's going to be people around zo this. Now, what I'm hoping what would be the best part of this land is
00:35:50
Speaker
is if you could do something that's a little bit more time based, right? It's okay, we're going to have this land and from, you know, it opens until eight o'clock, it's this. And that's kind of what they do at Busch Gardens, right? Like when you go to follow scream. It's not as scary and then eight o'clock it gets scary. Like, okay. Yes. I like that idea. They do that at Busch Gardens, and I like that. I like that. Maybe something like that could happen. Once it gets dark, then it gets legitimately scary, right? That would be great. That would be great. That would be cool. Yeah. I mean, at least if you do that, you have less of a chance of kids going into it that are true, right? Because my daughter goes to bed at 7.15 every night, right? So, like, my time, it gets dark. She's not awake anymore. So, Most kids are done by fireworks, and so things turned on after fireworks. Some adults are done by fireworks too. Yes, true. But after fireworks, that's when the park really changes, right?
00:36:46
Speaker
Well, you know, I also wonder, too, Trevor, to your point, if this gives them the opportunity to do a Halloween Horror Nights kind of thing at Magic Kingdom to do not so scary Halloween party and then do a legitimately scary Halloween party. I don't think so, but I would love they could do it. They could. I think the problem is it kind of messes with their IP a little bit, it does right? yeah And I think if you were to tell me that they're going to have a Maleficent, like scary, like just you know killing people. like I mean, fired I'm there, yeah right? Like I'm there, but I just, I think their IP is too strong. I mean, really, if you gave me death troopers.
00:37:24
Speaker
I mean, I don't even know what I would say. I'd buy my tickets now. I might go down there and just wait it out at this way. Just sit straight but sit in the park and wait. I don't think they'll do that. I wish they would, but I don't think they'll do that. But the thing is, is that I think they could do it so well.
00:37:43
Speaker
It would top what Universal does. I agree. Yeah. And just because of the IP, like Universal has to bring in different IPs all the time. And listen, I haven't been there. Unfortunately, I just like never been able to make those dates work. But again, it's still different because you're walking around with a bunch of people. But gosh, could you imagine? You got death troopers, you got yeah Maleficent is, you know, yeah flying, trying to bug people. What if ah Marvel stuff?
00:38:09
Speaker
Oh, the whole zombie universe thing. Yeah. universe So much you could do, but I don't see it. I'm on record as saying I don't see it. I think that we're going to be stuck with some wussified version of Villains Land, but one never knows. I can hope.
00:38:25
Speaker
It's hard to know because I even saw like there's there's a prominent person on YouTube that like is always criticizing Disney and they were claiming that this is going to cause a mess. I thought that was me. I wish that was me. It's not. I mean, you know, it's you but more successful at it. Oh, that's terrible. Because they have hundreds of thousands of views. So no, it's it's you know, they were trying to cause brand damage to them. And I don't think that that's true.
00:38:52
Speaker
I don't think Alien caused brand damage to them. I just don't think that that's the case. But the thing is though, I know you were talking about Damon at the Halloween party.
00:39:06
Speaker
redo the the branding of like the not so scary Halloween party to this. But no it does bring up an interesting thing where they they can like they can actually separate it. like There can be the Halloween party. And then it can be like, you know past this point is the serious stuff. right And and and yeah the nice thing actually about Villains Land is that it gives them a contained space where they could actually does push further with that. And it's clear. right you know it's It's not like Alien Encounter where people you know wander into it.
00:39:35
Speaker
and kind of you know don't realize what they're getting i too think this is clear what i think and i think at that point if you're to do something like that you could say no kids yeah under the age of whatever right i think they can only you can make it if they can carry around at your island right past haunted mansion yeah.
00:39:52
Speaker
Yeah, I pass haunted mansion. This is the this is the big kid stuff. I mean, they might just make it purge at that point. It's a purging. They own the purge. They might. I swear i don't know. I don't know. yeah I don't don't think it happens just because of the logistics. And I think they do protect their brand IP in a different way than other people do. um I don't know. I don't know. i Did you see that Mickey Mouse thing, by the way? I don't know why it came up on my feet oh the video game that that's since you no no it's not a video game. It's like you can talk to Mickey Mouse.
00:40:22
Speaker
Oh, no, I didn't see that now. And I thought it was an A.I. at first, but then I read further down and it's not. It's a person that talks like Mickey Mouse and I guess like 15 people were able to try it, but they were talking about doing something in the park that would be A.I. based. That would be kind of cool. Oh, oh, like like it's a sort of talk kind of thing, but it was just a screen. Yeah. Like where you talk to him and he would interact with you and things like that. I mean, I think we're getting there. So, OK, I think I don't know. I was just going to side. were talking about that non-Disney game that's coming out where like Mickey's like, ah you know,
00:40:50
Speaker
Doing a lot of things that Mickey would never do because he's because he's now a public domain. Yeah. Yeah. Now. No, I didn't see that. Okay. Yeah. let's Let's move a little bit further south. The villains land because because, you know, from from where it was mapped villains land is going to be.
00:41:07
Speaker
It is beyond big thunder, yeah but they've said that they are doing some changes to Frontierland. The biggest thing, which you know this has been the big conversation all week, it has is Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island are coming out based on the the concept art, and they're going to be replaced by a two new cars attractions. There's going to be like a smaller kids attraction, and then there's going to be Um, the bigger attraction, which it's not radio Springs racers, but I'm definitely getting that vibe from it, but it's like an off-road version of it, like an off-road version of it, which offer a test track. Yeah. kind of which I'm not mad about either. Yeah.
00:41:48
Speaker
Um, this one was one, uh, Trevor, I, you know, I, I got sound effects for this episode because we made predictions last week and I wanted to see if we were right or wrong. And so this one, I think we were, we' we're a little bit wrong on yeah because yeah we were very wrong on there. I wasn't on there. yeah never why so Yeah. Let's go. There was no way. We thought there was no way that they gave it a Tom Sawyer Island and in America. Yeah, I don't know. yeah Armchair quarterbacking that like, yeah I mean, it makes a lot of sense. It does. No. So I don't know what I would have said. I can't say I would have said one way or the other. We kind of went back and forth on it. I don't think it's a total fail on our part, Trevor, because we kind of said, well, we can also see it, right? like Because it's a huge piece of land. I mean, it's a gigantic piece of land. I think you measured it out, Trevor, that it was like galaxy's edge-sized piece of land just for Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island. And yeah let's be honest.
00:42:39
Speaker
Nobody goes to Tom Sawyer Island anymore. I've gone to the Disney Parks a lot, and I've been there once. Just one time total. and we've Nobody's ever been like, oh, I need to go back to Tom Sawyer Island. like Listen, I understand why people are upset about it, and I i get it.
00:42:53
Speaker
but you know i I also think that that this is a good idea and and I feel like it fits in really well with Adventureland and it's going to fit in really well with Big Thunder. um I'll be interested to see how they're going to do it. and ah you know Somebody on the Discord like shared some of the other concept art where it looks like they're going to really incorporate a lot of water into it. still So there's gonna be a lot of like rivers running through it and waterfalls and so like you're gonna have and and they said in this post You know that the land is actually now gonna have more kinetic energy to it. You know, there's gonna be moving water It's not just gonna be like sitting there and you know You have the boat and and by the way, that's an operational problem for Disney too That boat is a crazy amount of maintenance for them They have to take that thing out of service for a couple months a year just to keep it going So like well not yeah, not just that boat but also the rafts are Yeah. Those are the only free floating rafts that are actually considered an attraction at this point. And there's a lot of safety issues that go with that. So I can see why, you know, yeah, this is an opportunity for them to get rid of ancient stuff that, you know, as much as we all like to keep the stuff out of nostalgia, you know, realistically looking at it, yeah, it's, it's probably time for them to go. in And that's not to say that the Liberty Bell is going to disappear, like they could
00:44:13
Speaker
They can put it somewhere else. or um I saw somebody say you know it would be cool if they they took the Liberty Bell and turned it into the crashed riverboat from rescuers that Madame Medusa was living in. like that I was like, okay, that would be very very cool if they if they did that. yeah But yeah, the the thing about like you were describing the whole like kinetic energy and and you know, like moving water and stuff. um Very much so I'm getting the vibe of or because ah in California Adventure, the Grizzly Peaks area.
00:44:48
Speaker
um it's It's very similar to what they they've described in the concept art. is like It's like a Northern California foresty type area, which, again, very much fits with Adventureland, or not Adventureland, Frontierland. Frontierland, I knew which one.
00:45:04
Speaker
but we We both did that where we were confusing the two lands, but Frontierland, I know when it's done, it will make sense and it won't be like a jarring, you know oh, that this is not Frontierland type stuff. I actually think it'll look better at the end of the day. like It'll actually look a little more cohesive because of the fact that there won't be a large body of water in the middle. As much as we all liked you know looking over at the island and stuff, the problem is is it's just you're just looking at it. You're not interacting with it. right and
00:45:38
Speaker
And you know I'm sure it'll be you know far more exciting of an area. And then the other thing too is that, um yeah, the you know we we talked about the amount of space that that is. um It's huge. That suddenly turns into space that people are occupying again, which overall helps.
00:45:56
Speaker
the park in terms of you know too many people being crowded in one area. I mean, obviously, you know once it's when it's new and everything, it'll be busy, but it will still help with dispersing people around the park more evenly.
00:46:10
Speaker
I am going to be interested to see how they set up the transition between like ah you know like Liberty Square and and this land. right like How that's going to transition, but then also how they're going to kind of um cut it off from Haunted Mansion too. right because like you know Now you're looking at it being right next to Haunted Mansion. How are you going to make it so that those two things don't cross? you know um Which I'm sure they have a plan for. you know i'm I'm sure they do. But yeah looking at this concept art, and and by the way, I want to give credit to you to Chris and in Discord for for for sending this. And and he yeah he had posted ah a a series of tweets from ah from a theme park analyst who who is in the know on this stuff. right
00:46:54
Speaker
And you know one of the things he said, ah major challenges exist to the river system and the drainage in the area. The foundation of the river is not in great shape. It's not great water. like the The nature of this river surrounding the island system also prevents construction on the island, so they really can't retain it.
00:47:13
Speaker
um And then they also, what and this is this is an interesting thing and it makes a lot of sense. It says one of the key drivers to redo this was requested by park management and that's to eliminate dead ends. So, you know, and and that's an interesting point because Hana Mansion dead end, right? And even, and Thunder Mountain, you know, thundermo is a dead end. yeah Yeah, and and that, you know, kind of hurts the flow of people, right? And so this will, you know, have almost, you know, you'll have better flow of people going through these lands because there's not going to be dead ends. It's going to, you know, you can walk around all these things, um which, you know, is not a small thing. um and And, you know, also, I think that logistically these just it was a difficult
00:47:56
Speaker
You know, it was a difficult thing for ah for them to maintain. And it's it's it's hard to because when it's not that popular. Right. Like I went on the the Liberty Bell last time I was there. There was nobody on it.
00:48:07
Speaker
yeah and I was going to say, you know the last time we were there too, um you know for as busy as Magic Kingdom is, I've never seen a line for that Boat Launch at the Liberty Bell. like and yeah Never. I think getting upset about it is more about nostalgia rather than losing something. you know it's It's more about losing an original piece of the park, which I get. right like and and They are usually careful about that kind of stuff in Magic Kingdom more than other places. but You know, I don't think that this is a bad idea. I think cars make sense there, you know, next to Big Thunder. It's the same kind of, ah you know, that that mountain thing they got going on. It's like the same kind of area. It just makes sense. Yeah, it's again, it's it's that northern California mountainy kind of like it. It it all does fit. and And again, you know, if you if you've seen how they've done it with um like Cars Land and Grizzly Peak,
00:49:01
Speaker
um They do like cohesively theming wise they do make sense like like it's it's not jarring and like oh you know this is you know there's a cars ride in the middle this will be like oh yeah you know they're they're like racing through. Through the the forest like okay yeah you know it's it's cars but you know it's really no different than you know you've got it.
00:49:21
Speaker
a train going through the mountains and you know they they built up the story of big thunder as you know it's this whole mining thing and it's like you know i'm i'm sure that they'll do a good job of you know making the cars thing make sense yeah in in the scope of of frontier land so yeah like i said it's it's not anything that uh you know you know all of us have the the rose colored glasses for these things and of course yeah you know Tom Sawyer's Island, same same for me. like you know we've We've been there a couple of times, but you know when I really think back on it, it's like, you know when you're walking around the parks, you're not going, you know oh, I want to go over there. It's more about, I got nothing better to do. Let's go over there, I guess. and but and And then a lot of times it's like, I'm not going over there because it it takes time to get there. like it's It's actually highly inconvenient.
00:50:13
Speaker
to get on and off on the island. It really is. and And yeah, it's it's, you know, unfortunately, yeah, it's just become one of these things that, um you know, we we we want to believe that it'll be there forever. But, you know, nobody remembers that there was a pirate ship restaurant in fantasy land in Disneyland because if that existed. Yeah, it's it's long gone. Right. So, you know, yeah unfortunately, we all This hurts for us right now but you know in when it's done and you know after a period of time it'll be you know oh yeah you know we we have fond memories and and you know you have every right to have. Memories of these rides but that doesn't mean that the rights have to stay around forever.
00:50:54
Speaker
Well, and and the other part to this is putting cars there right next to what's going to be villains land is like a really good. Yeah. It's like a, here's the family friendly thing and here's the maybe not so from family. thing And it gives, it gives that clear line where it's like, you know, the kids can go and do this and then, you know, Oh, don't, don't turn right and go past haunted mansion. Like, Yeah. it's what and And no matter what you think about the Cars movies, they were tremendously successful at the box office. and And from what I've read too, they're they're one of the highest- Who thinks they're bad? Some people do. I mean, some people don't like them, but they're, yeah. What? Yeah. I'm serious. I've seen some people, but Trevor, go have what you can say. yeah I was going to say, I mean, its Cars was a staple in our house forever. Yeah. It was you know a huge part of you of my son's childhood you know you know now he'll say like you know i don't care but you know he still definitely has. Memories of it and yeah again you know you know we've seen like. Seeing what they've done with cars and i'm not afraid of what disney's gonna do with this because cars land is one of their best. Projects that they've done as a themes land in my life.
00:52:00
Speaker
like hands down, it's a good IP. It absolutely is. That's good. the The interesting thing here is they say there's going to be two ah rides, one for, uh, you know, one a little more intense and then one for, uh, the whole family. Like, so something a little, uh, a Mater's jump yard, jamboree kind of thing versus, uh, radio springs. Interestingly though, Trevor, I'm looking closely at the concept art, right? Like the big concept art of what the whole land is going to look like. To me, I see the racer ride, but I also seem to see a boat ride. I feel like I'm seeing a boat ride where there's waterfall, it where the waterfall is. And there's a drop there and there's, you know, the boats going around this river. I don't know if that's what the second ride is, but
00:52:43
Speaker
You think they're going to do like a Cali river rapids? and but These look like regular boats though. They don't look like the round boats. They look like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't really know what they're going to do, but I mean, it's, it's certainly interesting. Like, you know, I didn't consider that as I guess that could be considered the, the more like family friendly ride. If it's not as if it's not as rough as like a, like a Cali.
00:53:07
Speaker
Unless this is, unless I'm missing seeing this and this is part of the, the, the car ride, right? Maybe this is part of the car ride. Yeah. You go through down this mountain or whatever. Like it may, it it could be because I'm just trying to find where the family friendly ride is. And I, I'm not seeing it in this again. It's concept art, right? Like it's not.
00:53:23
Speaker
Completely in my head like there is that building back near big thunder and I feel like that would be it and again just because it like like you know alien swirling saucers it's the same kind of thing where it's like you know just a you know a small you know tea cups whiplash whatever type ride that is you know it's put in the land and it doesn't take up a lot of space because You know, those rides are great because yeah, they do appeal to all ages. like You know, it's not just for little kids. They appeal to all all ages, but it's also self-contained enough that it's not taking away from the bigger attraction. So that that's where my head's going with it. But you're right that it could actually be that what we're looking at is a split between, you know, not one big ride, but maybe like there's there's the the racer ride, but then also
00:54:12
Speaker
a water ride of some sort. that That's an interesting way to approach it too. But I might just be seeing it wrong, right? Like, cause I could also see it being part of, it kind of looks like water, but also kind of looks like roadway. So yeah, it could just I was looking at it as like, like mountain trail. Yeah. I think that might be what it is. I think I'm looking at this wrong. I just need to see where the other ride is going to be. I mean, maybe up in that corner there, I don't know, but ah you Listen, this is this is encouraging. We had talked about a rumor about this a while ago about it being cars, and I think at the time we were in favor of that because it it does mix in so well with Frontierland. It's almost like an expansion of Frontierland as opposed to beyond Big Thunder Mountain. That's really what they're doing, is they're expanding Frontierland. Yeah. This is definitely a Frontierland expansion, but it's also neat though that that they're they're kind of doubling down on the opportunity of
00:55:04
Speaker
they're expanding frontier land but then also using that as the bridge into beyond big thunder yeah versus like um you know trying to do them as two separate things or you know or make a new path behind big thunder mountain or something like that. like This actually lets them better, you know, back to the point about creating, you know, creating loops instead of instead of dead ends, yeah is that they can actually do all this upfront. And I think you'll actually get a path like, you know, where you come out of big thunder, how that's like, just like right on the riverfront, and it's it is the dead end. I think you may see that actually becomes the path up into the cars area slash maybe towards villains land as well. Yeah. and
00:55:48
Speaker
Yeah, I'll be interested to see where villains land ends up because like and initially they talked about it being like behind haunted mansion and then maybe you could walk from haunted mansion to villains land and kind of continue into that kind of creepy kind of vibe. So it'll be interesting to see where they actually put that and where they put the entrances for that and how that you know melds into into Haunted Mansion. and it and it makes you know Now that they're going to get rid of Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island, they're going to have all this space to put paths next to Haunted Mansion. Because you know anybody that's been on Haunted Mansion knows the queue is right next to water. right like It's water. so But now it's going to be land. So now you can make ah a pathway that goes right by it. You will actually have a walking path there. And man, that's what I'm envisioning is exactly that, is there will be a path that you know just continues that up into villain's land.
00:56:36
Speaker
But then I also like I said I see that the past being in front of big thunder and in front of haunted mansion versus I i ah used to think that or it made sense to me that they would take the. um where the the railroad is yeah and connect that, like make that into a path that goes like under the railroad and back behind it. And they could still do that, but like this way feels, I don't know, it it feels like it would connect better in front of Big Thunder and kind of make Big Thunder um like the a bookend of Frontierland, if that makes sense. Yeah, so yeah that makes sense.
00:57:15
Speaker
So ah one more thing for Magic Kingdom ah and and this we actually this was a we got this one right. Yeah. um So all new nighttime parade coming to Magic Kingdom, which I'm excited about. I think, ah you know, Magic Kingdom has been really missing Main Street electrical parade.
00:57:34
Speaker
I've talked about this before. One of my earliest memories from Disney Parks was the Main Street Electrical Parade at night. like I remember being young and getting to stay up super late and you know getting getting to watch this parade. and you know like it's I think that's a ah huge thing and i I'm very happy they're bringing a new one. Although I'm sad that you know i I still love Main Street Electrical Parade, but I'm glad to see a new one. This looks like it's going to be cool. We don't have a lot of details. right We just know that it's going to be called, ah was it Disney Starlight?
00:58:04
Speaker
So that's the name of it. Um, it looks like they're going to really go, you know, ah kind of in the direction, I guess, to paint the night Trevor, right? Like with the really, you know, the newer technology and the over the top led yeah stuff that is just fantastic for nighttime parades. Absolutely. The Encanto, um, float that they're, they're presenting here. I can totally see how that's going to work. yeah like it's It's going to be awesome.
00:58:31
Speaker
Yeah. And this is, I think this is going to be an awesome period. And really we only have like, what, two pieces of concept art for this, but that's okay. You know, they're yeah probably they're still working on it. um This will be, ah they're going to start this, what, when is it? that ah Was it summer next year? I'm trying to find where it's summer 2025 is what they said. That's great.
00:58:49
Speaker
um and I'm excited for this. I really am. I really love the parades in general. I love the nighttime parades. The one thing we did get wrong, Trevor, is no new daytime parade. Yeah. No daytime parade. I forgot, actually, that we we were we were thinking that that was coming. But yeah, yeah I guess they they don't feel that the current one needs to be changed, which is, yeah yeah. I mean, maybe here's the thing though, too. Like let's, let's all keep this in mind, right? There's, they announced a ton of stuff at D23 and they still, they have limited time, right? All this, and they preface this with every single thing we talk about in this
00:59:29
Speaker
in this presentation is happening, right? There's dirt moving. The plans are done. It's happening right now, which means they really couldn't announce anything else that they're kind of working on. You know what I mean? Like so there's other things they haven't announced yet that they're definitely working on that they weren't ready to announce yet because again, that they they made that statement during the presentation. All of the things we're talking about today are happening.
00:59:53
Speaker
So they can't you know talk about like you know a figment redo when they're not ready to talk about it yet, or it's not been approved yet, or it's not completed yet. you know like that's there There could be a lot more things in the pipeline. and And listen, Disney's been known to do this too. They make big announcements at D23. But they'll also announce a new ride through a blog post too. I mean, they've done it. So it's you know we can still see more things in the future. This is just the things that are happening right now. right Yeah. Or yeah. Things that are currently in motion. So exactly, exactly. So I'm pumped for this though. Peter Pan and Kanto frozen. Uh, you know, I don't, I don't know why we keep putting Peter Pan and things, but you know, no offense to Peter Pan fans, but it's like, there hasn't been like a new Peter Pan thing. I feel like in a long time, but Peter Pan keeps showing up and everything. There has been new Peter Pan things, but they haven't been well received. I guess a relevant one, let's say. Yeah. Yeah. but Yeah. That's fair.
01:00:47
Speaker
Yeah, so I mean, in Kanto and Frozen, great. My daughter's going to love both of those things. um We'll have to see you know what else is going to end up being in there. ah They do also mention in here, too, there's going to be a nighttime spectacular called Reach the Stars that's debuting at Tokyo Disneyland on September 20th. And then also in twenty twenty January 2025, can't speak, Disneyland Paris will get its own nighttime spectacular as well um with projections on Sleeping Beauty Castle and down Main Street as well.
01:01:13
Speaker
So that's, that's a whole bunch of new stuff coming for nighttime. I think we should for your nighttime people. We should do the ad and then we do the end we continue the rest. We have a million other things that we only talked about magic kingdom in a half hour. So but some of these other ones won't be as long the magic kingdom was honestly pretty big, but yeah, yeah let's, let's do the ad.
01:01:34
Speaker
The sponsor of this episode is DVC Rental Store. The DVC Rental Store, a world of DVC company, offers magical vacations at incredible value, save up to 60% off retail rates at premium Disney resorts. DVC Rental Store now includes deposits as low as 25% at the time of booking and a built-in cancellation policy for every reservation.
01:01:51
Speaker
And as always, DVC Rental Store pays out the most to members looking to rent their points. Wanna learn more? Go to DVCRentalStore.com slash Welcome Home or call 1-855-DVC-RENT. That's 1-855-382-7368 and be sure to let them know that Welcome Home sent you.
01:02:07
Speaker
All right, we got so many other things to talk about, Mike. Let's quickly talk about Epcot. There's not a lot. I don't think we need to go into this in too much depth, just that we do know that Test Track is opening in, I believe they said winter 2025. Which I actually think we got right. we said like We said late last year, and late next year, I mean. um yeah Interestingly enough, though, i don't and we didn't get a lot about the concept, so we we thought we would get a lot more detail.
01:02:35
Speaker
um But we're really only getting a little bit here, and I'm not feeling great about it, to be honest with you. Why's that? Okay, i'll I'll tell you why. so ah dist walt disney imagine I'm reading directly from the Park's bug. Walt Disney Imaginearies collaborating with Chevrolet to push innovation forward and celebrate humanity's enduring drive on the thrilling road to a brighter tomorrow. But before we get too far down this winding road, Test Track will celebrate today's innovation while while highlighting the past, present, and future.
01:03:01
Speaker
The queue will feature six distinct exhibits and with each room celebrate vehicles and the people behind the vehicles that push the envelope. That just feels like a really big ad for Chevrolet and I just don't don't love that.
01:03:14
Speaker
like i i I love the idea of you know like showing the people behind the vehicle is great. They get credit for the work that they did. But it's just, I don't know. It just feels like, hey, you know here's the people that designed all these Chevrolet cars. you know I just don't love it. I guess I was thinking of it more in the larger scope of, like hey, yeah the original like like, uh, model T and which, yeah, I mean, it's, I, I can, I can see the point there that, yeah, have if it turns into a giant ad, then that's not great. But I mean, the way it is right now, I don't know that it's any better. It's it's a fair point. It's a fair point, Trevor. They do say new show scenes will be added showcasing technology and technological advances and how our lifestyles and relationships to mobility connect everyone. Enjoy a joy ride through scenes focusing on onboard technology, customization, and personalization, followed by a trip through a scenic outdoor route reminding us all of the joys of driving, taking the world around us, and spending quality time with friends and family.
D23 Announcement Expectations vs. Reality
01:04:14
Speaker
I don't know. I have gained nothing from reading that. That's a lot of fluff.
01:04:20
Speaker
It is. Yeah. So general. Very general. And that's fine. like I just thought we'd be getting more details than that. I thought maybe we'd get another piece of concept art, but we got what we got. But again, yeah you know this was just i mean this was not a big thing at D23 anyway. So yeah, we we can come back to this when it actually gets closer to opening and see how bad it actually is. But
Monsters Inc. Land Debate
01:04:42
Speaker
Yeah, for now, let's ah so Hollywood it Studios. This is a big right for us. This is ah this is a we got this one, right? ah So so so the door coaster is happening, which is I was so excited when I saw that. um But OK, so so they're doing a Monsters Inc. land. The big debate I've seen is where is it going to be? Yeah, is it going to be taking over the Muppets courtyard or is it going to be at the animation?
01:05:12
Speaker
um ah care non animation academy. What is that area called? it Yeah, it's the animation. The former animation academy slash Star Wars launch bay, like all that. that yeah like whole the The thing for me is I want to believe that it's going to be over the animation build side. Yeah. Because it's not like that area is not used whatsoever. there There's nothing there. Why would you take out Muppets? like If they take out
Concept Art and Project Updates
01:05:36
Speaker
Muppets, that's just going to be disaster.
01:05:38
Speaker
Well, right yeah yeah yeah, they can't take on Muppets, but they can. But what do what do we have? We just had two Muppets shows, right? So I just feel like why? I would rather them do an update to the Muppets 3D show, right? Like that's that would be much better just to do something different there.
01:05:58
Speaker
The other implication of doing that too is that it wouldn't just take over Muppets Courtyard, it would also potentially take down Star Tours, which again, shouldn't be there anyway, to be honest. It's in the wrong place, yeah. But Star Tours is still close enough to Galaxies. Yeah, I mean, it definitely is close enough. It's like,
01:06:17
Speaker
It should yeah be there but they don't have a choice yeah they don't yeah but so to me it doesn't make sense that they would do it on the muppet side the other thing i saw too is you know the concept art that people were were getting panicked over. What is from four years ago so somebody that the the signature on it was from twenty twenty.
01:06:37
Speaker
Oh, which says, you know, you know, that was that was like early, early concept art and doesn't necessarily. And
Monsters Inc. Ride Features
01:06:44
Speaker
this is something to keep in mind with all the concept art is that, you know, these drawings are done years in advance and is like, you know, somebody showing off the initial idea of it. And it never, you know, it never comes to fruition the way that it looks in the concept art. So I think, you know, they may have been initially toying with the idea of I'm taking over the muppets courtyard but i feel like somebody probably look to my head we have an entire dead space in. and In the park light like you know and we just finished talking about tom sirs island the animation choreard is is a way worse example of that because there's not even anything there like it's.
01:07:24
Speaker
Like if you walk in there, it's literally just a giant empty space with nothing. And so and remember too, that's a much larger space than the Muppets courtyard, right? that That Muppets area is not that big and they don't have a ton of space to put, you know, to put a whole new land in there, especially with, you know, based on this concept are what they're trying to do. I mean, it looks like they're actually trying to build like the little monster worlds, right? Where you can get like, you know, monster ice cream, and there's all sorts of monster themed buildings. Then of course, the Monsters Inc building, but like,
01:07:56
Speaker
To me, and you know by the way I also have an article linked in here that the rumor is that it is not taking over where Muppets is going to be. ah That it is going to be taking over ah the the animation building, which is where Star Wars Launch Bay is. And to your point, like we've been saying this, there's nothing there. It's just take take that out.
01:08:15
Speaker
like there's There's no reason to to get rid of Muppets when when there's all this available space over there. so And there's some backstage area they can use, too. So um I tend to believe the rumor that they're going to ah use the the the animation building over there. ah But you know the other thing we have here with with this Monsters, Inc. piece, it looks like it's just one ride, right? We're just getting one ride there, which is it fine. um But this is the first suspended roller coaster that Disney's ever built.
01:08:43
Speaker
So that's something new, uh, which is, you know, good for that. It's not revolutionary or anything, but it's the first one that they've done. Right. Yeah. Suspended coasters are fun. And for this particular thing, like, you know, it it really adds to the feeling of flying through the doors, right? yeah Because you don't have a track underneath you.
01:09:02
Speaker
Exactly. And actually too, the one thing I i liked the, what did he say? ah That Josh said. ah whereas Oh, he goes, remember in the movie, how those claws grab the doors and hoist them up in the air to take them away. We're doing that too. And you're going along for the ride. So obviously they're doing something where you're going to be picked up you know yeah with the door up onto the track. i I don't know how that's going to work, but um That should be pretty cool. And and you know ah people have been talking about a door coaster forever. I think we all assumed it was just going to replace rock and roller coaster and not be wholesale new. But listen, i this is Damon,
Ride Excitement Standards
01:09:39
Speaker
what you're always saying, build new stuff. Don't get rid of old stuff, right? like so And this is what they're doing. They're building something wholesale new. I just i hope it's thrilling enough because it lends itself to being able to be super thrilling. I just hope it's not like Peter Pan.
01:09:56
Speaker
Yeah, i don't think know yeah hand yeah yeah no I know what you're saying you because you can make like there's like my local theme park has a suspended kids roller coaster, right? Like, and you could, you could make it kind of slow, but I i don't feel like they're not going to. I feel like this is going to be a pretty cool experience. and i I hope the guardians is the bar that they're using for like minimum level of excitement. I'm not saying it has to be a clone
Disney Storytelling in Rides
01:10:20
Speaker
of guardians, but they did some really cool stuff with guardians in terms of like,
01:10:27
Speaker
Yes, it's not it's not a revolutionary coaster but the flow of the ride and how how they presented it They can do the same thing but better with monster saying because yes, you know that There's nothing saying that these suspended cars have to be stationary, you know, they could you know, you know having them turn as well I I hope we see something like that it that it's not just you know, a straight suspended coaster. I hope that that, yeah you know you know, Disney is great at the storytelling through the rides, right? yeah Like it yeah it needs to, you know, have a cool, you know, action seat. Like, like I mean, it should be in the movie. like Like, it should feel like you're in the movie. Absolutely. If if they just make it a coaster and and, you know, don't, or like you said, yeah, i make it like Peter Pan or something. Yeah, you know, you know, they they missed an opportunity there.
01:11:16
Speaker
Well, and also, i'm I'm just looking here. So I'm looking at the ah the the additional article I sent with the actual model of what you know the roller coaster may look like. They were clear that this wasn't necessarily what it's going to be. But you can see at the station, so I was thinking they were just going to simulate the whole picking up the roller coaster thing. They're not going to simulate that. They're actually going to pick the track up. You can actually see it in this model, ah the two different stations where it's going to go from the the bottom to the top.
01:11:45
Speaker
But I also note here that there's no lift hill, right? So this is going to be a launch ride, right? I mean, at least in this concept, there's no lift hill at all. I mean, it doesn't need a lift hill. That's that's the cool thing. If you're lifting it up. yeah but But also, yeah, the the way that magnetic launches and everything work now is that um you you can get going real fast and from from a you know a dead stop. Yeah. And they don't need to... It's nice, actually, that you know they don't need to necessarily do the lift hill, but they can have all the the craziness and chaoticness of but you know flying through the doors, right?
01:12:24
Speaker
Yeah. And, and that's, I also really liked to the concept art for the, for the actual ride vehicle where where they made them look like you're sitting in the, the laugh canisters, which is pretty cool. it's Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's following the same design as the, the monsters ink tech.
01:12:40
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And I mean, this one piece of concept art, you have Sully and Mike and and Boo writing on a door next to you. I mean, I don't know if they're actually going to do that, but if they do that, it will also be cool if they could ride a along. But um I'm excited for this. I think this looks really cool. And I'm glad that they're adding something around this. And I really like Monsters Inc. as a movie as does my daughter. So I feel Like this is a long doing the parks and Trevor, you've been asking for a while now to have, well, you wanted more in between rides though. And this is not really, it doesn't look like it's going to be an in betweener, but no, unfortunately it's not. It's, it's just adding to, you know, the, ah the list of, you know, you know, big rides at Hollywood studios and fine. that That's what they want Hollywood studios to be is that, you know, if it's where all the big rides are, then I guess I know what that is. And I can decide. The only thing for me is that that means, you know, I'll go there for those rides, but.
01:13:33
Speaker
I'm not going to, it's not going to make me hang out in the park. I'll go hit those one or two and then I'll be out in somewhere else because yeah yeah they that that's the only disappointing thing is that you know they they they haven't figured out how to get those those people leader rides into Hollywood studios. Yeah, yeah they just like the yeah exactly.
01:13:53
Speaker
ah So I mean, look, this is this cool. They said they're saying they're going to start construction next year. So, you know, listen, we should probably get used to for the next five years, at least there are being a lot of cranes floating around it's going to be walls in every park. yeah like No matter where you go, there's going to be.
01:14:09
Speaker
construction walls for the next little while. 100%. Let's hope this rumor is true. I think Disney will eventually confirm where they're going to put the land and and that they won't be replacing Muppets. um I don't believe they're going to replace Muppets. I think this is going to go in that unused area where that animation building is, and they're going to create a whole land back there and use some of the backstage area to make this this really big. and i mean Look, at this building,
01:14:38
Speaker
that they're going to house the ride in looks it looks huge. I mean, you know, and in the movie, it's huge, right? But in this concept art, it also looks like it's very large. So, you know, this is going to I don't know if it's going to be the level of like Guardians show building, which is like, I think the biggest show building ever. um But, you know, we'll have to see. but But the funny thing, the funny thing about that is that the like, if you look in Monsters, Inc, like the the building, the the factor. what What was it? The scare factory that they work in? Yeah, yeah. Scare floor. ah Yeah. you know that it was the The funny thing is is that it was just a big building. like yeah didn't It had the front to it and everything. and and you know As long as they do that,
01:15:21
Speaker
design where you know it it fits into the universe of monsters, that's actually the one place where you can have a big show building and it doesn't actually look or it it fits in with yeah what they're trying to do, that which is very funny. like it's yeah it is It'll be the one time where you know the the building, you know it won't be the eyesore. Also, because you know if it does go where the Animation Academy was,
01:15:44
Speaker
um you've already got the uh rock and roller coaster there so it's not going to i think the biggest problem with uh guardians is that there's nothing else around it and there's just this big building if there's right at the entrance of the park basically yeah if there if there's if it's kind of blended in i know you can't really blend in a big building but it's you know if if it's if it's fit in with everything else around it i don't think it's going to be you know, jarring the same way that Guardians was. Yeah, let's hope not. Yeah. So again, I think this is another positive positive development. I think this is great. I'm excited to see it. and And again, these are the great thing about all these things is that we can actually talk about them and and that, they you know, know that they're happening. Like these are not things that are we, you know, they're talking about and that are going to get canceled. These are all things that are moving forward. Yeah, we're we're done with Blue Sky.
01:16:34
Speaker
You never know if they anything can be canceled. No. it's not Let's not say that. But they said pretty clearly that all of these things are moving forward. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah they're They're getting built. So let's talk about the last thing at Hollywood Studios, which yeah this is the most underwhelming thing to me and not because it's I mean, it's cool. They are updating Millennium Falcon Smuggler's run, but they chose to add the Mandalorian and Grogu to it, which Was that really necessary? Yes. like That's true. It's tremendously popular. I know it is, but I just, I don't know. I, like, I feel like it they, they, they went the easy route. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, yeah it's it's the easy way. Like theres there's a lot more stuff they could have done.
01:17:19
Speaker
With it, but but I guess this opens the door to, you know, Millennium Falcon is going to get the same treatment as Star Tours, which is gar where it'll get perpetual updates, which, OK, that that's that's the good thing about this. Yeah, I agree. Well, and also you have to remember, too, they also announced at this event that there's going to be a Mandalorian and Grogu movie, which is going to be, ah you know, out in twenty, twenty six. ah So wait they said there's going to be a movie. I missed that.
01:17:47
Speaker
Yeah, they announced the movie. It's called The Mandalorian and Grogu. And that's in 2026. That's so stupid. Why, though? Right? What do you mean? Why? We have a show. Why do I need a movie? I don't know. Oh, that's a money grab. Probably, yeah. But it's probably going to be a successful one because, like I said, it's tremendously popular. I mean, Grogu is still tremendously popular.
01:18:11
Speaker
I was on the cruise ship actually, I saw a painting of Grogu ah at the art gallery. You bought it? No, I had to think how much it was and it was like $750. I was like, get out of here. Why did you buy it? I was spending $750 on a Grogu painting.
01:18:26
Speaker
i That's more than ah I spent on a lot of things on the cruise. so um yeah but What did you spend extra on the cruise? uh you know drinks here and there uh and and gambling you know yeah it's mostly gambling and drinks really uh i think my my wife did a upgrade at dinner one night but outside of that you know that you but Wait, without you? No, no, no. she did like At the regular main dining room, she like got lobster tail. Okay, I was going to say. It seemed like she went to one of the specialty restaurants without you. i like No, no. that meet I will say we did do one of the specialty restaurants together. and that Which one was that? Giovanni's.
01:19:07
Speaker
Which was very, very good. How can you do Italian food, though? I love Italian food. that's how Yeah, but it's on a cruise. It's not in New Jersey or New York. The only two places you're allowed to. it was It was fantastic, I'm telling you. It was really, really fantastic. Really? Oh, yeah. It was the best meal we had by far on the on the ship. But what did you have?
01:19:24
Speaker
chicken piccata. Okay. What did it rank in terms of all the chicken piccata you've ever had? It's probably the best chicken piccata I've ever had. I might need to just log off. it i had no No, it was really good. There's no way. You have to mando and grogo. Well, yeah, no, I had some other stuff too, but you know it's it was good. It was really, really good, man. I i highly recommend it. Okay.
01:19:46
Speaker
I don't know. I think this is a good thing. I understand your feelings about it, but I also think that they're trying to appeal to the masses with this and, you know, yeah I mean, and and i I'm not discounting. Yes, I know that the Mandalorian and all that is is a big thing, but, you know, I just don't like the fact that Disney like.
01:20:07
Speaker
you know there's so much stuff they could do with Star Wars and you know the Mandalorian started off well but then they keep trying to tie it back into like the or everything has to tie back into like the main movies in some way like he can't like there can't just be things that exist on their own right like yeah I don't you mean Yeah, I that's my only thing with it is that it just feels like, like you said, everything feels like, um at this point, Star Wars is just too much of a ah money grab. But I think that's because everyone hated the acolyte. And I kind of thought it was interesting. Didn't know why I hated it. That's, that's the thing is that, yeah, you know, they they do stuff like that, where, you know, they try and branch off and
01:20:53
Speaker
You know, i I just don't understand why people aren't, you know, more accepting of the fact that there's more stories to tell than the mainline one. And I mean, death troopers, that's it. That's all I ever wanted, is death troopers and holograms. and And I'm happy. I mean, I also heard, you know, Andor was fantastic. A lot of people talked about how great Andor was. um But, no you know, no interest. It's the same like Trevor's saying, it's like, it's the same story like, dude, OK. Well, no, this that particular one, I think, was completely disconnected from the broader story.
01:21:21
Speaker
but But how is it disconnect from the broader story when the whole thing lives in the world? You know, give but but with the in the broader story, we have and or end up being blown up, right? Like so. Yeah, but that's not what the show is about. It's OK. So then make it about, you know, Erpa the other. You know what I'm saying? Like it's still files into the main story. Like why can't we just get something totally out of the blue? Yeah, I get it. I get what you're saying.
01:21:45
Speaker
All right. Now that we've completely gone off the rails. Um, let's get the animal kingdom. Uh, this is something we we've known about. This was not necessarily new news, but they did confirm some of the things that we had discussed. I think that that deserves a right bell from us. yeah and So Indy is coming to animal kingdom, but not the Indy from Disneyland, which is fine. And it's great. I think it's great.
01:22:09
Speaker
Yeah, this is good. that This is really good because it means that they're not limited by what was done in in in Disneyland. And we get a whole new Indiana Jones ride. Yeah, exactly. That's amazing. And then and then the Encanto, so sorry for the Encanto thing, is it Did they, I, I, there was a lot going on and I'll admit, I i may have blacked out at some points, yeah you know but, is, is it a ride or is it it's right like, yeah okay. so So it is a proper ride. Yeah. So, uh, they're saying the concept is a ride through attraction, um, which you'll go inside the casita and Antonio just received a special gift, the ability to communicate with animals and his room was transformed into a rainforest. And then we go along with him to explore the rainforest. Uh, that was, that was in there. So, and it looks like perfectly fine. Yeah, that sounds great to me. I'm looking, I'm trying to figure out exactly what kind of ride vehicle this is. It kind of looks like a trackless vehicle, but I'm not sure.
01:23:14
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I'm seeing I see what you're looking at now. I'm yeah, I'm I mean, they love their trackless vehicles. So I listen, I find tracking stuff to be magical because you don't know where you're going. You know, it's it's I don't know. There's so much cool stuff you can do with it. Yeah. And it does change up the ride every time. And my only thing about that is, you know, there will definitely be screens involved in this. Yeah. Too many screens, though, is a bad thing, in my opinion. You don't have the balance.
01:23:43
Speaker
Yeah, there has to be that balance between between like actual animatronics and like, like real elements and just what do you think about Reddit to eat? Um, Ratatouille is okay. Um, it, it, it does, it does do pretty well with that. I feel that there there's a few spots in the ride where they just, and I mean, Mickey Minis does this too, where like they basically shove you in a corner and you're just watching a screen for like 30 seconds, which I don't like that part of those rides. That that's the one part that I wish they wouldn't do is like put you in a corner and basically like, here, watch this movie for 30 seconds. Like, Well, ah you know I think they partly do that for for like the for the operational reasons, right like where they need a place for you to pause while the other one's on load. That's part of it. And they also charge the vehicles, too, while they sit there, too. If you never notice, there's a charging plate that sits there, and they charge the vehicles. But I actually think the one that gets it done, ah gets it the balance correct is rise of the resistance, where they have a lot of physical sets, and then they complement it with some screens, and the screens are not overwhelming.
01:24:50
Speaker
So like, like, yeah, that, that, that's kind of what I'm hoping for. and And also again, you know, looking at what they've done in the international parks where, you know, there, there is definitely still screens, but it's, like I said, the biggest thing is the, like like, I feel it's the cheapest out when they put you into a corner. And I get, again, I get, you know, they're using it for the charging and whatever, but when it's literally like, you're just watching a screen and it's like, I don't, I'm not on this ride just to sit in front of a screen.
01:25:19
Speaker
I get that. No, I totally understand that. And you know, also from the videos I've seen of Tiana's, I've not gone on it, but it seemed like they used a good amount of physical versus they have some screens in there, maybe a little bit too many screens, but I think they did a lot of animatronics in that ride. So maybe they had a decent balance too. I do think that Disney doesn't want to use as many screens i if they have the budget to not use as many. But yeah, I know what you're saying, Trevor. I do think this has has an opportunity to be very cool. ah The concept art of the of the Casita is really, really cool. And the idea that you're going to be able to walk up into it, I think is um going to be really neat. And what they're saying here is this land is set to begin. They're going to begin in the fall.
01:26:01
Speaker
and it's going to open in 2027. So we've got three years for that. They're also saying that you'll have plenty of time to experience Dinosaur again because they're going to do this in a phased manner. So Dinosaur I think is going going to be there for a little while still.
01:26:16
Speaker
So, OK, so dinosaur is not going to immediately close. It's still going to be there, but dino land will be gone. Yeah, it's exactly. ah My guess is that they're going to start clearing all the stuff that's not dinosaur, um you know, and knock out all that land and just like kind of have everybody continue, like filter everybody continuing into dinosaur. And then once, you know, eventually, obviously, they'll have to close dinosaur to get to that part. But I think in the beginning, they'll keep it open.
01:26:44
Speaker
Um, I, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm excited for this, but I also am a little bit disappointed because my daughter does love Dinoland. Uh, she loves the playground that's there and she loves, um, you know, like the midway games and, and, uh, all, all that kind of stuff. And also triceratops spin, but you know, that's a little sad for me, but at the same time, I think this needs to be done and I'm glad they're doing it.
01:27:07
Speaker
So here's here's the interesting thing and in the concept art, there looks to be a carousel. There's a carousel. Yeah, there's a carousel. Yeah. So I don't think I feel like the area is going to like, I know what you're saying about it's going, you know, you know, it felt like a really great place for your kids. I feel like that's still going to exist. I feel like, you know, it's going to be that still, it's just going to be flavored more towards uh in canto and you know the south americas and all that which again is is great you know you know there should be some unique theming to to these areas and yeah you know i i feel yeah like you said you know it the problem is in the in the short term it's you know you don't have that space where you can go with your daughter and you know you know let her let her go in like and yeah play and all that yeah so
01:27:56
Speaker
Oh, by the way, that this is going to be, uh, the land is going to be called Pueblo Esperanza. That's the name of it. So that's, that's what they're calling it. I'm going to mispronounce that so many I'm just going to keep calling it dino land. where Where's, where's the new dino land? Yeah. Where's, where's dino land at? Uh, you know, can I go ride Indiana Jones and dino land? It's going to be like MGM, you know, people call it MGM. Um, even though it's not been MGM in a long time. Or to dino land. Yeah, exactly.
01:28:24
Speaker
ah there will also be They're also saying ah the there's a large Hacienda which will be one of the largest quick service restaurants at Disney World. So they're building a huge quick service. You can see that in the concept art. like like It looks like it's that space right in front of Indiana Jones. yeah like that's That's a huge building.
01:28:43
Speaker
It's a gigantic building. I mean, is that where, is that where restaurant a sources? Yeah, it is. yeah They're just going to, they're just going to repurpose restaurant a source. Well, I think they're going to expand on it. Yes, probably. It looks like it. Yeah.
01:28:56
Speaker
His restaurant source was kind of set up a little weird, but I think this is going to be ah a redo. A cohesive building. So that's good. And yeah, so you know they're going to have a big fountain in the middle. um they're you know Like you said, they're going to have a a new ah new carousel, which is is great.
01:29:15
Speaker
Um, I'm excited to see that, but they're going to have the two signature attractions in this land. So, you know, we got a couple of years to wait for this. The other exciting thing, um, I have on here is that speaking of scary Disney attractions, um, inadvertently scary attractions. Yeah. i I've talked about this before. Every single time I've done it, it's tough to be a bug. They make like 10 announcements like this will be scary for children. Take your children out. And every single time at the end of it, there are children crying but just every single time. So the good news is it's tough to be a bug is going going away. And there will be a new show themed to Zootopia, which will
01:29:58
Speaker
which actually this makes a lot of sense because they're going to take guests through the different biomes that you see in the film. And if you've seen Zootopia, it's basically ah there's like different like so there's different biomes like all around. So for each one of the different kinds of animals, and it's it's very cool. So I feel like there's this is a cool way to do this and also have a show that's maybe not terrifying for children.
01:30:18
Speaker
Yeah. And and also, like yeah you know give you this lets them play more with a lot of the 4D elements. Yeah, exactly. Because there is, yeah yeah like you said, the different biomes in Zootopia, they can do a lot of stuff in the theater that you know will we'll add to the interactivity of it. and You know, make it make it a good show without, like you said, you know, it'll be it'll be fun and entertaining and not, you know, making children cry because somebody decided that spiders coming down from the ceiling was a good. And also be stinging you. And yeah, no, listen, my wife refuses. do this show. She does not like it. She does not like spiders. She doesn't like the, like it creeps her out. So like, I haven't done this in a long time and now I'm going to be able to do this again. And, and truthfully, I love that the theater is under the tree of life. Like walking up there is an experience, man. Like you get to walk really close to the tree and like, just, it's really amazing theming, just getting to the theater and even being in it, you know, being underneath it. And the AC in that queue is amazing when you get down under the tree of life. You know what, you're right. This is nice and cool down there, right? It is. That's true. That's true. That's all we got for Disney World. I don't think I forgot anything, but hopefully... No, I mean, that's kind of all the big stuff that they talked about. And we do have some Disneyland stuff here, which... Quite a bit of Disneyland stuff, actually. Yeah. So the first Cocoa Ride ever has been announced.
01:31:45
Speaker
Uh, so they're going to build a cocoa ride in a California venture. And I, this is, it's, I guess it's not interesting to me that they're bringing it to California venture because they do a lot of cocoa related things in Disneyland and California venture, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's very much been the place where they've done everything cocoa related. Yeah. But I also still was of the belief that they were going to change three Caballeros into cocoa. I really thought that was happening at some point.
01:32:14
Speaker
not not necessarily now. like I didn't think they were going to announce that now, but I'm surprised they're making a standalone ride now. yeah I'm i'm kind of like i'm i'm kind of glad that ah three Caballeros didn't get touched and that yeah there yeah you know that they are keeping this very um Contained to to DCA, which yeah is like it like you said, you know, everything around this has already existed there. So it is the next logical step. And yeah, honestly, I'm just excited to see like it. So it's a boat ride like like this is the cool thing is that yeah it's a boat ride. But um
01:32:49
Speaker
I'm excited to see what they do with it because again, you know we've talked about all the new animatronics and tech and everything. Coco is a very vibrant show. like like there's a lot of There's a lot of animation. There's a lot of stuff going on in that world. I'm i'm interested to see what this ah what the end result of this ride is.
01:33:10
Speaker
Well, to your point though, Trevor, right? And they actually said, Josh said this, right? So we're bringing our skeleton cast, the characters of life in a big way through the latest audio animatronics technology. These figures will appear and wage. You'll have to see to believe I'm imagining, you know, cause if you see the movie, I mean their heads fall off like all yeah the The skeletons falling apart and stuff like having an animatronic do that is kind of they can pull that off in an animatronic. I will be shocked.
01:33:36
Speaker
Oh, they will. i'm I'm sure they will. I mean, I guess the the biggest question is how good will the effect look? That's thats yeah that's part of the question. yeah Yeah. I will note that this one is not opening in 2026, but they will start working on it in 2026. So that's still... We're a ways off on that one. Yeah. yeah this This one is is a ways away. This is probably more of ah a five years from now as opposed to you know next year or the next couple of years here. so um yeah so That one is i mean that was happening again, but it's it's not until 2026.
01:34:08
Speaker
Yeah. So when it's going to be, being yeah speaking of boat rides. Um, so there, the next thing on here is so they've talked about the new avatar land coming to, to, um, California and it's going to be another boat ride, but this one looks like, it so it looks intense. Yeah. I feel like this is Navi river journey, like cranked up to like, this is, they took Navi river journey and like made it kind of scary. Yeah. Yeah, with ah the big like shark or whale. Jumping out of the water. Yeah, jumping out of the water. And and from what I understand, like so this is part of, they they are working on expansion in in Disneyland. So this is not taking over anything existing. This is actually going to be part of the new expansion area that they're working on, yeah which again, I have no idea how how they're going to do that. Because like it's I know they have a plan for it, but it's really hard to visualize because
01:35:08
Speaker
Disneyland is very cramped in the area that it's in and it's like, okay, there's gonna be a whole area here. But again, I didn't expect them to do with Cars Land what they did and they managed to make Cars Land look amazing in the space that it's in.
01:35:24
Speaker
and so And this thing looks pretty big. I mean, it looks decently big. It looks like you still got some flat floating mountains going around. You have that really cool like circular rock formation thing with the waterfall coming out. um Actually, we predicted this was going to be a boat ride, didn't we we? I think we said it was going to be a boat ride well a while ago. but Yeah, because from the concept art, we were we were looking at that we were like, we were pretty sure we're like that. This looks like it's going to be like a Pirates of the Caribbean type thing. And so, yeah, it it does look like that. But I think this is going to be like the Shanghai Pirates is what I'm feeling. It's even a bit like scary, though, like this yeah the third piece of concept art they have in here is legitimately scary.
01:36:02
Speaker
Yeah, the the ah the dark swampy looking area with yeah the bioluminescent water and everything. Yeah. I mean, if this looks anything like that, it's going to be kind of a terrifying ride. Now, the he does say on here, ah this um what does he say? It's going to be thrilling attraction. So it's not going to be like a kid ride, right? It's going to be um you know thrilling for Disney. But it says this new and thrilling ah excursion will bring all the action, excitement, and wonder of Avatar taking guests all over the wide open seas of Pandora.
01:36:32
Speaker
dynamic, intense, and emotional experience on a grand scale that we know our guest will love is what he says. So yeah, I mean, this looks like it's going to be an intense experience just from the pictures. I mean, um yeah you know, actually, like I'm, I'm kind of glad that I'm going back to Disneyland next year, because I haven't been in a while, but also, you know, it'll give me, I feel I'll be able to get a good idea of where this stuff is going to go. And also, it's you know for me, because i can I do go to both coasts, this is just more reason for me to bounce back and forth between Disneyland and Disney World. Yeah, exactly. I wonder if they're going to, because I don't think I've ever seen a boat ride where it's like legitimately wavy, you know where there's like actual waves going on. And this first piece of like concept art looks like this whale thing jumping out of the water is going to create like rough seas.
01:37:25
Speaker
like First of all, they'll have a way to like pitch the yeah boat like so that it feels like the boat's being affected by the whale. We saw patents around that, right? i mean west We thought it was going to be used for Moana, but it looks like it's maybe something that's used for this. yeah i have one yeah that That's a good point, is yeah that the boat because we were talking about, OK, they're going to like be able to turn the boats and stuff like that. This is exactly this is a good use case for that, right? Yeah.
01:37:51
Speaker
Well, and I wonder, like this scene right here, it actually looks the background of it looks like the outside of Pandora. Like, you know, it looks like the outside part with that that kind of spirally ah part. And there's some outside water there. I wonder, are they really going to do this somehow? I mean, I don't think that they can make an animatronic that jumps out of the water and creates a huge wave. I i mean, maybe they can. ah But because this feels like a very screen based effect, but it also looks like it looks like it's the outside part of the land that it's happening.
01:38:20
Speaker
Well, I have to wonder, because they they're pretty good at also doing... um Like this may be contained inside of the ride, but they may make you feel like you're going outside. Okay. Yeah. Like because they could, yeah they could do that where like, you know, when you're in the ride, you, you never actually leave the building, but you know, they present, you know, similar stuff to what you see in the park, but, or like outside, but, um, yeah, you know, doing all these effects, which again, you know, makes it, you know, that could make it feel more like, you know,
01:38:50
Speaker
you know Wow, I just saw something you know crazy happen and you know and now I'm standing you know in the area where it did happen. Yeah, yeah exactly. yeah No, that makes sense. yeah yeah so ah By the way, there's no timing on this one. They did not provide timing for this, so who knows when we're going to see this. But you know this you know if ah if if Avatar, ah you know if Pandora down in in Florida is any indication like five years from now.
01:39:18
Speaker
But yeah although just this looks just to assume five years. yeah every Everything is at least five years old. this this is the This is definitely a little smaller, though, than Pandora. And it doesn't seem to have as many floating rocks, which I i believe was part of the problem for how long ah Pandora took. So I don't know. We'll see. But we also have two now. This is interesting that at Disneyland, they're going to it's I think this is a new attraction, right? um so where yeah This is going to rotate. so so What they're doing is they're adding a Walt Disney animatronic.
01:39:52
Speaker
yeah um to so It's going to be a different show, but it's going to run in the same building as Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. The idea is is that this is going to rotate between I'm the the Walt Disney animatronic and the the a blink an animatronic. Doing different shows it's still gonna be in the same building yeah i'm the interesting thing about this is i was talking with my wife about this and she was reading that you know, probably some people are upset that they're doing an animatronic of Walt Disney and i'm kinda like.
01:40:26
Speaker
Why would you be upset about that like apparently his great-granddaughter or something is is mad about it too but okay. Disney brought in other family members and they were cool with it so yeah so so if you're that mad about it then you should be mad about the Abe Lincoln one too because at this point Walt Disney is a historical figure in the sense that you know he founded this giant company that it