Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 272: Tom’s Trip Preview, Disney Destiny & D23 Speculation
1.1k Plays3 months ago
On This Episode
Tom gives a preview of his upcoming cruise and talks about his experience seeing Deadpool & Wolverine. Disney Cruise Line announced new details of the upcoming Disney Destiny cruise ship including a Black Panther statue in the lobby, a Lion King themed restaurant, and a Cruella de Vil themed lounge. DisneyBand+ is launching on the upcoming Disney Treasure. The guys discuss some D23 related merch and recklessly speculate on the park announcements that will be made at the event.
Podcast Sponsors
- DVC Resale Market - #1 DVC Reseller in the World
- DVC Rental Store - Largest and fastest-growing Disney Vacation Club rental service in the US
- Monera Financial - #1 in DVC Financing
- Welcome Home Patreon - Support the Show through Patreon and get exclusive perks!
Episode Links
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Sponsorship
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 Resale Market.
Hosts Introduction & Personal Stories
00:00:35
Speaker
Thank you for joining us on episode 272 of Welcome Home, a Disney Parks and Vacation Club podcast. I'm Tom here with Trevor. What's up? Hey, how's it going today? Uh, you know, it's going. yeah um but I have to tell, go ahead, sorry. I was going to say, yeah I assume you're busy right now. I'm always busy. Yeah, I know. But I mean, you're right. I, you know, as everybody knows, I think I'm going on a cruise in a week here. And as I'm sure people know, ah there's also a hurricane developing currently.
00:01:07
Speaker
Although, it's going to be way past there by the time we go on the cruise, so we we should be fine. It actually might impact us more on the drive down to Florida than put it would for the actual cruise because it's coming through my area right as we would be leaving. ah Yeah, of course. so i mean but you know It's also still early. right that's It's an you know entire five days away and these things change all the time. So yeah. Yeah. But I had to, I had to tell my my other story because i I put this in the discord and I put it nowhere else. And I feel like I need to talk about it. I still need some catharsis on this. yeah So, so early in the week or midweek, I guess, right? I, I, uh, I had some time. It's a free time. I had off of work and I, uh, to get some other stuff done and the other stuff I need to get done didn't take the whole day. So I was like, you know what?
00:01:58
Speaker
Uh, you know, my daughter's at daycare. My wife's at work. Why don't I go and see Deadpool and Wolverine, right? Yeah. We talked about this last weekend. Yeah. You said you were your, that was your plan. So yeah, yeah. did thousand Yeah. So that's, well, first of all, I, you know, it's weird because I, I'm, I'm looking around at like, different showtimes and such, right? And I think I talked about this before. We have like what we call the nice movie theater, which is like 25 minutes away, but you can like reserve your seats and it has recliners and all that. And then there's the not so nice one that's right down the road for me. That's also way cheaper, right? So the, you know, it was the middle of a day on a Wednesday. So like the ticket was $7 to go to the cheap one, which is, i mean which is, you know, the same thing. Yeah.
00:02:46
Speaker
Well, but then, you know, the other theater, it was like they had IMAX, right? So I could go see it in IMAX, but it was like $27. And I'm like, Hmm, do I want to spend $7 or $27? So I decided to spend the $7, which in in hindsight was kind of a mistake. And I'll say why in a moment. So I'm watching the movie and I listen to all this is an extraordinarily light spoiler. Okay, so it's not, you know, it's not going to ruin anything in the story for what I'm about to say. um But if you if you're a spoiler verse, you know, skip by here, it's it's, you know, like I said, it's not really spoiling anything. So
00:03:24
Speaker
I'm watching the movie, you know a couple hours in, ah not a couple hours, right? half hours So an hour and a half in maybe, right? Something something like that. Hour, hour and 15. I don't know exactly how long. um And there's there's a part of the movie where Deadpool and Wolverine are jumping through a portal, you know, like the Doctor Strange sparkly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they're jumping through a portal, right? So, you you know, there's a lot of buildup to this moment, right? There's, you know, the the music is getting, you know, to the there's no dialogue, right? there's just There's music, it's getting really intense and and they're running to jump into this portal. There's a lot of slow-mo going on, right? And as they jump into the portal,
00:04:05
Speaker
and they're going towards the portal, the screen just goes black. And so just completely black. And so everyone sits in the theater for about a minute or so, but only because it was Deadpool, right? so like Because you expect like, Some fourth wall thing or something, right? yeah Yeah, I was expecting to hear like Deadpool start talking on a blank screen. Like they like they portal to nothingness or something, you know? And I think that's that everybody in the theater was like, is this a bit like what's what's going on here? Because it's Deadpool, right? It's like it could anything could happen, right?
00:04:44
Speaker
And sure enough, after about like a minute, the you know the crowd and when I say the crowd, there was like maybe six or seven other people in the theater, other than me. i mean Again, this is a random Wednesday afternoon, right? So some people start start ah start talking and checking their phones, and you know eventually somebody comes in and goes, hey, the power went out. uh but it it was just funny because you know any any other first of all any other movie you would just assume the power went out but also any other scene in the movie where there's just dialogue going on or there's a fight going on like any of that we would have known immediately that the power went out but because it was this
00:05:22
Speaker
Really intense moment. but Perfectly timed. Perfectly timed. Moment, yeah. I cannot describe to you how perfectly timed it was because they were literally in the air jumping to towards the portal. They were going to be in the portal within a half a second. And that's when it went black. So the worst part about this though, and and people on Discord were like, well, what did the theater give you? Well, they didn't give me anything because the theater obviously panicked and had no idea what to do with themselves after this. They they were not in any way prepared for this. And, ah you know, it was Wednesday. so they They probably didn't even have a manager there, right? So they were just like, oh, well, just come back and, you know, show us your ticket and say you were here during the power outage and we'll let you in again. And I'm like, feels flimsy. ah Yeah, I would get like a voucher or something. yeah they They should be able to hand out like
00:06:15
Speaker
free movie vouchers or something to that effect. You'd think so. But again, at the same time, it was like, it was $7. Yeah. But i you know i so dejected, and here's the thing, I have no time to see movies like ever, right? like I never get to go to a movie by myself, let alone a Marvel movie, let alone a rated R movie. like If I'm going to do a movie, it's going to be either with my wife, and she's not interested in this at all, or with my daughter, and for obvious reasons, my daughter cannot go. so um Like, I'm not gonna get to see the rest of this movie until it comes out on streaming.
00:06:49
Speaker
but yeah I was going to say, I i guess this is going to be a watching it, you know, after your daughter goes to bed on Disney Plus thing now. That's that's going to be what it has to be. It's it's it just stinks, man. Like I try to go into something and then this is what I get. And the worst part, too, is that because of where the movie stopped for you. Yeah. Like it was in a transition. So you have like no idea. No. Or like in your head, you're like, thinking about how the story could have played out, but by the time you actually watch it, youre it's not gonna be whatever you had in your head.
00:07:26
Speaker
It's funny you say that because I was talking to my brother-in-law about it and you know he obviously saw the whole thing like a normal person. ands and And I mentioned something. I was like, oh, it'd be cool to see you know where this goes. And he's like, yeah, you didn't see the rest of the movie. It's like, okay, so obviously what I expect to happen is not what's going to happen. um So yeah, I mean, and that was just, I just thought it was, I took it more as funny than anything because like I said, I never see
Theater Experiences & Movie Preferences
00:07:56
Speaker
movies. And of course this would happen when I went to go see a movie the one time I have time available. Uh, and then also the fact that I didn't choose the nice thing. If I had just chosen the nice theater, I would have seen the whole movie. It would have been fine. Yeah. And yeah it's funny, like like, yeah, you know, you know, circumstance and all that is like, I think we've all had moments like that where it's like, Oh, you know, I'm, I'm going to do something and.
00:08:18
Speaker
You know, the universe just says, no, you're not. No, you're not. No, you're not. You're not allowed to have fun. yeah ah I mean, listen, it was fine. It's i'm I'm also not like it's probably blasphemy, but I don't do popcorn at the movie theater. So like, yeah, I'm just not a popcorn person. I you know, my wife is like, she'll eat a ton of popcorn. and My daughter will eat a ton of. but I just I'm not into popcorn. i I'm I'm not a movie theater. Yeah, I will make popcorn at home because I make it the way that I like it. That's which is not loaded down with like Movie popcorn is way too salty. It's my yeah my thing because like you can you can't just buy
00:09:00
Speaker
a bucket of popcorn and like they they kind of force you until you're going to buy a drink and you know something sweet to yeah to get rid of the salty because you know if you don't, you're going to be you know dehydrated 20 minutes into the movie. and and That's why I'm a candy at the movie theater guy. right so like I'm a like I do ah snow caps or and which I don't eat on a general basis, but I love I love those things I wish I probably should eat them more because I love them so much But it's like that's like a movie thing or like the cookie dough bites or like you know a bunch of crunch or something like that It's all the stuff that you like
00:09:35
Speaker
Usually don't get in the regular, you know, in the, in your regular course of your week, you but when you go to the movie theater, it's like, Oh, it's a bunch of crunch. That sounds kind of good. Yeah. this my My family, we were, and actually I realized this is why I even eat Twizzlers is. because I heard strawberry Twizzlers, right? Yeah. um the Because when we were kids, we would go to the drive-in and the my parents yeah my parents would buy a bag of Twizzlers and we would eat the whole bag before the first, because we would always go it would be a double header movie. It's always double feature drive-ins, yeah.
00:10:13
Speaker
Yeah, so so we would so we would always ah we would have like the the whole bag of Twizzers done before the first movie was done. It's amazing. But yeah, but the the funny thing is outside that like I have no desire to like eat licorice any other time. but when I'm at a movie, it's like, oh yeah, yeah, I could eat a bag of liquor. Man, I miss drive-ins, man. Those were like, I used to love when I, cause we, you know, they used to be everywhere. And when I was a kid, we used to go to drive-ins all the time. And there was just something about like sitting in the trunk of your parents, you know, SUV and just eating candy and watching, sitting on a blanket and watching a movie on a gigantic screen. I mean, it was ah just a whole different experience. We, I mean, we have one,
00:10:55
Speaker
that reopened around here. And then like the last time a bad storm came through, it like destroyed the screens and so now they're closed again. so like But i just I would love to go to a drive-in. It's been so long. Yeah. we So we we had one and it was actually it was right next to an oil refinery. Oh fun and yeah and the oil refinery lit up one day oh boy yeah drive in theater with. hes But supposedly we have one there there's one in a like a small town like an hour away from me now so so i could i could go to a drive in and actually it's funny it's funny that we're talking about this because.
00:11:33
Speaker
um I was trying to explain to my son about driving theaters, like exactly what you're talking about, you know, you know, the sitting in the back of the car, you know, yeah just just, you know, watching movies until like 1 a.m., because the 1 a.m. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Because you had to wait for it to get dark and there was always a double feature. and Yeah. And but yeah by the time it was done, yeah, you you weren't coming home until after midnight. But yeah, you're right. I do miss that. Like, you know, the the whole maybe Maybe this is something that you know, they need to to really have a or whoever day is I don't like you know that the movie industry Yeah, people people in general is you know, we need to get back to that kind of stuff because Yeah, you know it It was just nice like like it it wasn't yeah you you didn't need like like I know you're talking about you know going to the movie theater with like, you know the the fancy recliners and everything it's like I just want to sit in my car and watch a movie Yeah, no, i i'm I'm with you. like that's That's really all I want, right? like it's yeah it's like I mean, I do like the recliner and everything because it's is comfortable and I i also, i you know I don't know, maybe this is just me, but I like not having to like rush to the theater to make sure I get a decent seat.
00:12:45
Speaker
Like to know that I have a good seat ahead before I even get there, like makes me feel better. And like, also I could just show up like at the previews and be fine, you know? Yeah. Reserve seating is huge. I agree. I don't, I don't like guessing on where my seat's going to be. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. actually I actually went to a science museum yesterday. I took my daughter to a science museum and they had um they had an IMAX dome screen there, which they do a planetarium show on. and so We went and did that. It's been so long since I've been in an IMAX theater, but it was I mean, it was really cool. I, you know, forgot how cool like I love planetariums. I'm a huge nerd with these kinds of things. um And actually, funny enough, the part of the reason I mentioned this is because it was it was live narrated. And the guy that was doing it was obviously both a huge nerd and a Marvel fan, because he they were talking about one of the moons of ah whichever whichever planet has the moon Titan. And he was like, if ah he's like, if there's any Marvel fans out there, this is the mobile Thanos.
00:13:48
Speaker
she It's Jupiter. It's Jupiter-Saturn. I forget which one. But that was funny. It kind of just brought up a Marvel thing randomly within my planetarium thing. I got it wrong. Dang. I thought it might be Saturn. I kind of remember. Yeah, Saturn's got way more moons than Jupiter, but I know between the two of them, the amount of moons they have is ridiculous. Yeah, that's true. Anyway, sorry, off to off topic. But yeah, so i that was my Deadpool and Wolverine experience. Unfortunately, I did not get to finish it. But I mean, the hope will be that I get to watch it at some point. But I was i enjoyed it up until then. Until that time, it was it was fun. It was you know very different. So yeah it was funny and really
Cruise Plans & Hurricane Concerns
00:14:35
Speaker
enjoyable.
00:14:35
Speaker
so Well, um you know, speaking of things that you're planning to do, you know, hopefully like but let's talk about your trip because yeah you you you alluded to that earlier. yeah Hopefully this doesn't hear that, you know, Deadpool is not a prelude. ah just go I say that only because I've been there with the hurricane too, like where you're like watching it and going ahead like, so I get the, uh, the stress of it, right? Like, you know, and and I know it's not going to hit you while you're on the trip, but yeah, it could definitely throw a monkey wrench into your plans for sure. Right.
00:15:13
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. so i mean it's it's It shouldn't though, right? like As of right now, it shouldn't, but you know there's there's a it's Tropical Storm Debbie. It's still Tropical Storm, although they're saying it will turn into a hurricane in the next 2020. Yeah, pretty soon here. yeah little I saw somebody post like a tone chart with the little Debbie's logo on it. like it was I was like, okay, that's pretty fine. um but ah But yeah, so like it's not really going to hamper my cruise, right? Because it's I'm not leaving until Friday to drive down to Florida, and then the cruise doesn't leave until Saturday. So I should be in good shape. My only problem is that this hurricane is now projected at 8 a.m. Friday to basically be at my house.
00:15:56
Speaker
um But again, though, it's like, you know, it's everybody knows these little cone things, right? Like it is a wide swath of area that it's covering right now because they really don't know where it's going to go. So yeah a a lot can change in five days. I mean, a lot can change in 24 hours. Right. So, yeah um you know, my hope is and then I'm just looking, I just pulled up the the National Hurricane Service here, too, and I'm just looking at the center and now I'm looking and they have a another one that looks like it's forming out in the Atlantic. So hopefully that one is not a problem, um doesn't actually become a storm or it stays away from the the area that I'm going to be in. But I will, so I'll be leaving on Saturday on a six, it's a six night cruise, six day cruise ah on the ah Royal Caribbean adventure is the ship.
00:16:49
Speaker
bit of an older ship, but you know go to you we you know it's fine. We yeah we kind of scheduled this last minute. like We've gotten really bad about scheduling vacations like far ahead of time. and We just kind of got used to, like I could book something through DVC like a couple months out usually. like I could usually get what I wanted, ah which was you know typically Animal Kingdom like four or five months out. Um, not the case with cruises, like you got to really do it pretty far ahead of time, which I was, you know, I just didn't really know. Yeah. I thought, I thought that, or my understanding was anytime a cruise is coming about, you're always like a year out.
00:17:27
Speaker
planning for Yeah, yeah, well, that's yeah, exactly. so Yeah, I, I wish I wish we would have done that earlier. But you know, whatever. So I'll be on Royal Caribbean. i'm I'm interested to see how it's gonna go. I like I've talked about before, I'm not gonna be with my daughter, my daughter is going to be staying with my mom. um This is the longest I've ever been away from my daughter before, which is going to be interesting. ah You know, I think it'd be okay. She's a lot older now. So it's You know, a little bit different, but, ah you know, it's just going to be interesting to see see how that goes. I'm sure it'll be fine. My daughter will enjoy spending a week with my mom while she you know showers her with cookies and candy and ice cream. And, you know, when I come back, she's going to weigh 10 extra pounds from all the treats my mom's giving her. Or she'll say, who are you? No, I don't want to go back with you. It's more fun here. Yeah, so my daughter actually likes my mom's house better than she likes our house. And like, so when she comes back, I mean, that's what's every kid, you know, you know i know, everyone else's house is better than your own house. No, what I mean is she likes the decor better. So she comes back here and she criticizes. She's like, she's like, dad, why are our our walls so boring? She's like a grandma's house. They're painted fun colors. Ours are beige.
00:18:41
Speaker
that' Like what? no Okay, sorry. I mean, I don't know what to tell you. I don't do design work. The answer is, are you going to paint the walls? Because I'm not. and right Yeah, that's exactly what I should say, right? um But yeah, so that's that's what's going on there. I'm going to several different, we have a couple different stops. Um, we were supposed to be stopping in Haiti, but if you've been following the news, Haiti is not a place you want to go right now. Um, so they've got some, you know, things going on in Haiti. So, uh, so they actually moved us to a different place, which, uh, we're going to Grand Turk and also to
00:19:25
Speaker
ah Porta Plata in um in the Dominican Republic, which we've we've been to the Dominican before, so that's that's not necessarily new for us. we have not We haven't been to this port, obviously, but that's so that's going to be something different. and Then we're going to be going to the the private island for Royal Caribbean. I think I talked about this too. like i've I've been a little want to say annoyed, more like surprised, I guess, of like how like they charge for like literally everything. Like there's no, like barely anything is included with the price that you pay for for your cruise.
00:20:03
Speaker
which oh and okay annoys me. so you know So because I'm never going to get on a cruise and I and i don't understand, like is this so so this is Royal Caribbean that you're on. yeah is is that or Is Disney the exception to that or is it the same thing on Disney where they charge for all the extra stuff as well? like I just don't. I think Disney charges for some extras, but not nearly as much as, like, Royal Caribbean does. Like, so, like, okay if I want to drink soda on board, I can either pay for each end but if individual soda or I can buy the drink package. I don't think that's the case with with ah with Disney, right? um Like, even if we at our sit-down dinners at night, like, you don't you can't have a soda if you want one unless you have the drink package or are willing to pay for it. And, you know, like, that is not great. And then, you know, the... yeah it's i mean which Listen, it's it's fine, but like you know obviously it's a lot cheaper than than the Disney cruise. So like I don't know how you do that math like because I'm sure there's a trade off there. It's like, okay, well, Disney, you're really getting pretty much everything included, but it's a lot more expensive. Whereas you know you're paying less for the Royal Caribbean, but you got to they're going to get you with little fees here and there. you know Right. Okay.
00:21:21
Speaker
So, I mean, I don't know. that's that's what it That's what it kind of feels like is, is you know, what they're what they're doing. But like, you know, even on their private island, I think I talked about this, like, you know, they have this whole water park and it's like, you got to pay to go to the water park. It's like, you just have this whole water park on your private island and I'm not allowed to use it like unless I pay. It wasn't even cheap. It was like a Disney ticket for a day. It was expensive. Like $60 for today. No, it was like $100. Oh, that's even worse because I believe Disney parks are like, the water parks are like 60 bucks a day.
00:21:55
Speaker
Yeah, du it was, it was pricey. Um, I was a bit surprised at how pricey it was. Not that, and I don't even really like water parks that much. So of course I'm not going to do it. Right. Like, yeah um, you know, but we did decide it, we did decide to, uh, we're doing like an adult private beach on the private Island. Um, so that'll be nice. Cause we do, you know, this is an adult trip. This is a time for my wife and I to get away a little bit. We haven't been on a vacation by ourselves in like 10 years. So yeah Um, you know, I think it's, I think, I know Damon has a different opinion on this and I, I like going on vacation with my daughter and we've gone on a lot of vacations with my daughter already. It's just, you know, I think it's also good to, uh, for her and for us to to get away for
Vacations & Celebrations
00:22:39
Speaker
a little bit. So I 100% agree with you because my wife and I have done that too. Although we've not done like, like.
00:22:47
Speaker
or the trips we've taken is like, you know, we drive like an hour away and stay like, so we're still like close. But yeah, we've we've done that where, you know, we take two or three days where it's just, you know, just the two of us. And, you know, I agree with you that, you know, it's good to have time for the both of you without your kids, because, yeah, not every vacation can be about your kids. Like, I don't think that's ah I don't think that's healthy because that when you eventually get to a point where you are going to be traveling without your kids like I kind of look at my parents as an example of that where they they were you know we always went on vacation whatever but then when we got to the point where we were grown
00:23:29
Speaker
There was a bit of a struggle that my parents had with particularly my mom because she was like, Oh, you know, no, no, you were coming with us. And it's like, no, we're like, we're adult so we're doing our own thing. and And it was, it was a bit of an issue. Right. So yeah listen I get it, you know, it's it makes sense, right? Yeah, and and listen, I respect Damon's opinion on this, right? Like, I'm not trying to say he's wrong. Like, I just have a different view on it, right? like You're right. this This is not a right or wrong thing. It's just everyone has their own point of view on it.
00:24:03
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I just know for for me, like, especially my daughters, I mean, she's very attached to us, right? So it's good for her to spend a week without us and, and you know, get kind of some, and she's not getting time by herself, obviously, she's gonna be with with my mother and my sister, actually. um So, you know, they're gonna be spending all that time together anyway. So it's, it's, It's just it's good for everyone involved. Of course, the grandparents always want time, you know, with the kids. So there's there's that too. I mean, I, I appreciate it. It's a win for everybody, I think. So yeah, personally, that's what I think. But
00:24:38
Speaker
Yeah, so i'm I'm looking forward to it. I really am. i you know i I don't think I've talked about this on the show, Trevor. For the past year and a half now, I have been ah going back to to school. right i've been I've been in college. I've been doing my master's degree. And I don't think I've talked about this on the show. and and listen um yeah i think Yeah, I don't think we've actually directly... Or yeah, we've talked about it in the escort, I think. We did we do. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think I've actually mentioned on the regular show. Listen, I'm not trying to be private about my life, but it's like you know it's something I've been doing for a year and a half. I'm you know obviously not ah super young anymore, and so I was you know with with a lot of younger people, people that were much younger than me, which is fine. you know It's just something I really wanted to do, and I just finished that. I don't want to say that we I've been a little more distracted from the podcast the past year and a half, but I have. i mean I've had other priorities and and It's been focused, right? like yeah you know we And we knew that. like like that This is the things we all we all understood that you know we were going to be balancing life with this. right so
00:25:45
Speaker
Yeah, it's a challenge, right? and And anybody that's gotten a master's degree like knows that it can be like an all-encompassing thing. it's It's a lot of work, especially when you have a regular job ah you know that you're going to every day. and then i mean Because basically what I was doing for the past year and a half, like every day, I would go to work. I would deal with my wife and daughter in the afternoon, in the evening, spend time with them. Both of them would go to bed. And then I would do schoolwork for a couple hours. like So I've been basically sleep deprived for a year and a half now. But, um, but now it's all over, right? So part of why we're going on this cruise is to celebrate that, uh, you know, this, ah the hard work is done. And, uh, it was also recently my anniversary a couple, like a week ago. So.
00:26:28
Speaker
with my wife. So it's, you know, we're we're celebrating various things on this trip. um And that's, you know, part of why where we decided to do this. and And, you know, honestly, and this is no offense to to Disney, we love taking our Disney vacations, but we've taken a lot of Disney vacations over the past 10 years.
Travel Segment Naming Poll
00:26:44
Speaker
um And so we kind of I don't want to say we we wanted to take a break because we obviously we went in May. So um but it was we just wanted to do something different. You know? Yeah. It's good to get some outside perspective because, yeah, as much as, you know, we all do a lot of Disney trips, it's good to, you know, see see what's better and what's worse, right? yeah Because it's yeah it's not always, you know, it's it's not that Disney is the best place to go all the time. And, yes you know, even like Damon's done the same thing, too. You know, he's he gone to to different places because you can't just go to Disney all the time.
00:27:21
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And yeah, I mean, that's, oh, I think we settled too in the discord. I think we're going to do Tom's tangents. Is that what we're doing here? If, if I travel anywhere else, I think that's, yeah, I was still voting for Tom's tours. I like it too i feel that that is a better, um, Yeah, because detours and tours, right? like Yeah, detours and tours. Yeah, I like the tangents, though, because it's like I'm going on a tangent. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Either way, I'm good with either one. um It's funny, though, Trevor, as I was talking about this, I just decided to pull up the Royal Caribbean website for that water park for the day is one hundred and twelve dollars and ninety nine cents per guest. Oh, ah yeah. Listen, I mean, I don't care how nice the water. I'm looking at it. It doesn't look like it's worth one hundred and twelve dollars a day to me. Yeah. like
00:28:07
Speaker
Like what what what about it? Like are they like is it gold plated or what? 14 slides across two towers. um Yeah, that's in the largest wave pool in the Caribbean. OK, cool. like I'll go to typhoon again. That's this is what I'm saying, man, like you could go to typhoon lagoon for that price. And it's I mean, I think typhoon lagoons cheaper. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, I i have to pay ah to get to the island and then I have to pay again to go to this water park. I'm not going to do that. like Maybe if I had my daughter with me and like we were going to, you know I don't know, we were going to do do it do like she was into like ah water parks, then okay, maybe we would do it. But it's just a lot. I'm i'm not into it. so
00:28:58
Speaker
Okay, so looking at it, so, sorry, I guess my, for some reason, I know why I thought the tickets were cheaper is that years ago that I got a promo on the tickets where they were like, it was like $60 for the tickets, but it's it's like $109 to go to type from Lagoon. But still, it's still cheaper than what you're doing. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, and so, you know, on top of it, and by the way, so some you know cruise people might be like, okay, well, you're doing any excursions or anything like that. We are not. In fact, my wife and I have said we are, this vacation is about us spending time together. So we might not even get off the ship at some of these ports. And if we do, we're not we're probably not going to wander around too long. Like we just kind of want to
00:29:42
Speaker
spend time together. We don't feel like we need to go and do. And like I said, we've been to the Dominican Republic before. We've done a bunch of the excursions already that we would do. Like, you know, Jeremy posted in the group, he was on the same ship as as I'm going to be on. And he did this this monkey experience like where there's monkeys crawling. All of you already did that. So I don't need to do that yet. You know, like I don't need a monkey going to the bathroom on my shoulder again. Like that was fun. Like, but not again. all and And this is exactly the thing, too, is that, you know, it is your vacation at the end of the day. And if you want to spend your vacation on the boat doing nothing, that is okay. do I cannot tell you how much nothing I want to do.
00:30:26
Speaker
but do all for nothing i wanted to Do all the nothing. I Yeah. Yeah. i That's what it is. I just want to disconnect and just hang, you know, I want to look out at the ocean. We got a balcony room. I said to my wife, like, I wouldn't mind some days just getting room service for breakfast and just chilling on the balcony and looking at the ocean. Yeah. That's fine with like, that's i totally fine with me. I support your decision. to but You know, i know if you I know it doesn't matter, but But so many people are like, oh, I got to do this. I got to do that. I got to do this. And I'm like, we'll do some of that. But like I don't feel like I need to go and do every excursion. I don't feel like I need to explore the the port that I'm at. you know like i just it's not there's ah There's a swimming pigs tour on the on the private island. That sounds fun, but I'm not doing it. ah so ah you're You're already on a boat. They're taking you places anyway. You don't yeah have to you know get off and go do anything.
00:31:20
Speaker
I want to eat, I want to swim in the pool, I want to you know maybe gamble a little bit, and and that's about it. like I don't even drink, so like I'm not there for the drinks. right like It's not even easier. Yeah, yeah, super easy. I mean, I might, you know, I might partake a little bit, but I typically don't. Um, yeah. So listen, I'm excited to do this, especially since I will be doing the Disney cruise in May next year. So like I can really have, uh, an interesting frame of reference to to compare the two.
00:31:51
Speaker
You know, yeah, so I think that'll, uh, yeah, that's good. You know, take notes. And then when you're on the the Disney cruise, you can be like, you know, this is better. this just exactly I don't, I can't imagine that, that it would.
Cruise Comparisons: Royal Caribbean vs. Disney
00:32:07
Speaker
I guess I shouldn't assume that you know a Royal Caribbean cruise is worse than a Disney cruise, but it sounds like just from the upcharge point of view alone, I feel like when you get on a Disney cruise, you're going to be like, oh, this is just nicer, right? like Yeah, and that's like the impression I've gotten from everybody is that, like listen, the Royal Caribbean cruise is not
00:32:27
Speaker
bad and and they're getting closer to what Disney offers, but Disney's still the best out there. right like So the sources like service goes and the way that they do things. and i mean even my Even my parents who only basically only go on Royal Caribbean, you know talk about how good Disney's cruises are. right um so you know, I don't know, we'll see. I will say the only two things I'm paying for are the private beach, the private adult beach when we're on the private island. And we are so they, this is another thing, Trevor, right? So like we can have dinner included every night if we want to. And we just go to the regular place that you, you know, you eat the regular sit down dining, but they also have premium restaurants you can pay more for. So
00:33:07
Speaker
I decided to do that for one of the nights, as you know, to go to an Italian restaurant that they have on board because I like Italian and I just sound like a good idea. So yeah. ah But and like you said, you know, it's I guess the thing about the up charges is that you can really decide what it is you actually want to pay for, right? like it's Yeah, exactly. you know if If there are premium things you want to do, you can just pay for those things and not be charged overall more for the cruise. I guess that's a benefit technically. There's an argument to be made there, right? so Because it's like, okay, well, you do Disney and pretty much everything's included, but you're not
00:33:46
Speaker
Maybe there's something included that you don't want to do, right? Like that are you're not interested in. And in this case, I'm doing everything all a la carte, right? Although I was going to do a couple's massage, but that ended up being like $400 and I was like, absolutely not. Oh, yeah, no. Yeah, no, that's not happening. that's As much as I like a massage, I don't $400 like a massage. um that's thats That's a bit excessive. So anyway, so that's what my trip's going to be. I'm hoping we don't get interrupted by any ah ah tropical ah disturbances.
00:34:18
Speaker
So keep your fingers crossed. Yeah. Let's, let's, let's hope not. Um, you know, it's going to be, going to be an interesting trip. I'm, I'm excited for it. It's, it's. it's It's a well-needed vacation, so that's all I got. so so sit Well, that's all you got for your cruise, but you've kind of made this the cruise episode because- To be fair, you've made it the cruise episode. Well, share. um so So we have some cruise news and okay. um So the Disney destiny, let's start there.
00:34:51
Speaker
This is the, this is the heroes and villainship that we kind of, we talked about before. Yeah. And so, so they've announced, uh, there's actually, well, there's a, there's like there six different things on there. Well, listen, they announced a lot. They like did a whole drop of stuff. Like I'm almost wondering, it was cause the 23 is coming up and they were like, we don't have time for crew stuff. Like let's, you know, let's, let's just drop all the, all the crew stuff ahead of time. You know? Yeah. Could be. um But yeah, so so they have the I did see they they previewed the um the Black Panther statue in the the main hall and destiny Which yeah, it looks it looks really really cool
00:35:28
Speaker
I mean, I have to be like a Marvel fan to go on this cruise, I feel like, but true. Yeah. I mean, this is, you know, like we were talking about, you know, you know, this cruise ship is definitely focused at a certain demographic within Disney because the heroes and villains thing like. you know they are so so so this is the big the big offering of it i do see on here there is some uh there's a lion king spire inspired dining experience that's coming which also looks nice yeah and and they're they're doing it says guest favorite
00:36:06
Speaker
experiences returning so it so it sounds like they're taking some things from other ships like the yeah yeah like the water coaster and stuff is going to be on the ship so it's not that they're doing a new experience they're basically just ah It's not fair to say they're copy or i guess yeah they are copying it, but they they're they're it's going to be on more than one ship. They're copying their own thing. yeah Yeah, which is not a bad thing because you know you know it means that you don't if you want to do a particular thing, you're not beholden to being on just the one ship.
00:36:37
Speaker
um Yeah. So, so yeah, there's, there's a lot like, like, sorry, I'm just, well I know I'm just kind of like lightly touching on this stuff, but I mean, I don't know how far we want to get into this because we could spend another hour. i Yeah. i control that I mean, well, first of all, so the Lion King theme dinner event seems really cool, right? i'm kind I'm actually kind of surprised it took them this long to do that. Although does that really fit into the heroes and villains theme? I don't know. Um, need to I mean, yeah, if you're going to do a hero and villain ship, then yeah, I feel like you do, but maybe I'm wrong. Okay. Lion King is still heroes and villains. I mean, there's still going to versus scar. Okay. Yeah, fine. But I'm also looking at the back of the ship here. First of all, they they have, they're going to have a lounge inspired by a Dr. Strange. So they're going to have like a sanctum thing.
00:37:26
Speaker
which they didn't show any pictures of, but I think could be extraordinarily cool. um But also the back of the ship, the stern, ah you know they always have these characters on the back, and this one's going to have Spider-Man on it, ah shooting a web at one of the little spidery bot things. and I think it looks really cool. i It's interesting they're leaning into that one too, um but then they're also going to have Besides the Spider-Man stuff, they're going to have a ah like a Tony Stark, Iron Man kind of inspired suite, which is cool. ah And then they're going to have a bunch of different like, you know, this says Worlds of Marvel and Marvel Superhero Academy. They're also going to have this Marvel themed dining experience, which is also going to be on my ship. So I'm going to actually get to do that. um And I'll find out. I'll tell you how that one's going to be. but
00:38:16
Speaker
But yeah, and then the Lion King dinner thing, I mean, I'm just also thinking of like, it it looks like they're they're theming it almost to like the Broadway show, right? And it's, I mean, or you could say the, you know, what is my blanking on the name of the Animal Kingdom show? A festival of Lion King. Yeah. So like, I mean, listen, and then I'm assuming this is going to be kind of like African-ish food. I mean, that'll be cool too for people that are, into trying some different things. Boma type stuff, I'm guessing. Yeah, probably. Yeah. So that's really cool, too. There were some other interesting things in here, though, that I saw. So actually, one of the lounges is standing out to me as a very interesting choice. I know which one you're going to say. Deville. Yeah. Yeah. So 101 Dalmatians themed piano lounge.
00:39:08
Speaker
which which it's an adult exclusive lounge, which, you know, it looks, it looks very nice. Yeah. And I mean, I also feel like theming using Cruella Cruella de Vil for a piano bar just feels like it makes sense to me. Like it's totally like that kind of, she's got that kind of vibe. you know Um, yeah, I mean, I will say this looks like a, it looks cool, but it also looks very dark, right? Like everything's like black and, Well, I mean, yeah, black and white would be. Yeah, black and white, yeah. But yeah, the fact that the entire roof is painted black, you're right. It it makes it feel very closed in, I guess, is though the way I feel about it.
00:39:46
Speaker
I do say, though, i like I said, I will say that it's, um you know, it I think it's a good idea. I think it's a great idea, actually. I think that um like really Cruella de Vil lends herself to a piano bar. It just that feels right. You know, so I think that's kind of a cool idea that they're doing there. I knew you were going to mention that there, too. That's that's funny because I mean, it's like it's it's it's a. And I mean, I think we both know that, you know, what we're always looking for them to like get away from the the typical cliche stuff that Disney, like Disney loves getting locked into like, oh, it's all about Marvel or all about, you know, whatever the like frozen, whatever the the latest thing is. yeah And it's kind of cool to bring back, like, definitely 101 Dalmatians has had some resurgence and stuff with like the, you know, they did the live action Cruella Deville movie and all that.
00:40:43
Speaker
from Well received I mean I guess yeah, that was yeah, it was good for sure and and but it's nice that they're they're touching on some of that and kind of like digging back into the archives of stuff that they have instead of just continuing to Play on the surface so to speak late like you know the easy stuff because because I can't think of anywhere else that You know, where where else do you have a hundred and one Dalmatians experience like that? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I mean, you can't, right? I mean, or the Dr. Strange thing or, you know, I mean, that's what Disney selling on these cruises, right? It's like, you can't do this anywhere else. You can't even do it in our parks. You know, this is a one of one of a kind thing that you can only do on this boat.
00:41:28
Speaker
That may explain why they took the Doctor Strange meet and greet out of ah i a California adventure. I thought that that was due to a labor dispute, but I could be wrong. To be fair, they also do cycle through different characters in that area. Like actually right now, Deadpool and Wolverine are in that area. so I've enjoyed watching the videos of Deadpool crashing some of the other shows. like I really like what they've been doing with Deadpool in Disneyland because they like you know they have the like that Guardians of the Galaxy dance-off thing and like he's been crashing that and like you know just showing up in a bunch of the other shows that they do. like It's just pretty funny that they're they're really embracing this and like letting letting letting them letting him like break their show standards a little bit. you know Yeah.
00:42:17
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, they need to yeah yeah you know they they need to start getting outside of the box that they put themselves in, right? Yeah, yeah exactly. So the other thing I want to mention too, you we can get off the Destiny for now. I'm sure we'll hear more about that soon. But I wanted to talk about, so on the ship that I'm going on, the treasure, um so this they're going to have ah the first ability to use the magic bands. They're not calling it Magic Bands, but they're calling it Disney Band Plus. So why they're not calling it Magic Bands? I don't know. Stop renaming everything. I don't understand why they just call it Magic Band. Call it Magic Band. Because it even says if you have an existing Magic Band Plus, you can have it programmed to be used on the ship. I wonder if this is an indication of Magic Band getting an overall rename because
00:43:12
Speaker
Maybe I guess to be fair, you know, magic band, although we we know it, it is synonymous with Disney for us. I can see where the term magic band is probably harder to I don't know. Maybe there's something with copyright or whatever, but it's a Disney band. yeah You can't you that it's like. There's no dispute of, you know, well, that could be an aftermarket or whatever. It's no, this is a Disney band. Yeah. That's, that's a, that's an interesting point, Trevor. I hadn't thought about it that way. but Like, listen, there's probably a good reason why they, why yeah right? Like i just hate renaming everything all the time. like I know. I listen, I'm sure the, I'm sure the cast members hate it too. Cause like, it makes things more confusing. It's like, it's the same thing. It's a thing you wear on your wrist that you used to get into your room and pay for things and you know,
00:44:02
Speaker
Which, I'm surprised that the cruise ships have not adopted this sooner. I'm actually surprised by this, too, Trevor. I'm i'm surprised it's taken this long. Because it obviously it honestly seems like like the same way that in the parks, like like I'm sure you know you and I are the same way that you know when you use your magic band, it's like I have it set up for like everything when I'm at the parks. Well, me too. Yeah, because it is convenient. like Like they are, they are meant to be convenient and it is meant to be like, Oh, you know, I don't need to worry about my park tickets. I don't need to worry about my room key. I don't like, I can pay for stuff on it. I can do my fast passes. Like why would you not have that on on the cruise ships?
00:44:43
Speaker
Because then, you know, it's like, it's the same thing. It's like, you know, I'm getting ready to go out and do stuff for the day or I'm just around the ship. And, you know, I can get in it, or you know, my kids can get in and out of my room freely with their magic bands. And, you know, same thing is like, you know, getting into certain experiences and stuff is that why are you not tying it all in? That's I mean, I agree that I agree. So yeah, no, this is great that they're doing this. ah i'm I'm happy that I will get to, you know, use my magic band. i It says only magic band plus. So I'm almost wondering if I won't be able to use my regular magic band, like I'll have to get a magic band plus because I don't have a magic band plus. I only have the original. Yeah, which I feel
00:45:28
Speaker
I wonder if they're going to make a hard cut on because they can do that technically. Yeah. That the because the magic band plus is even though they are underneath using the same RFID technology and everything. they could say you know based on the series because they do track the the series of them that maybe they don't want the older ones, maybe there is something with the way that they're doing this that they don't want to or you know maybe retrofitting it for the older ones may have been an extra step for them.
00:46:01
Speaker
baby right So yeah, maybe. Yeah, maybe. i Listen, if they want to just move forward, that that's fine. I mean, like I, you know, we'll see, we'll see what happens. Or maybe it's the the funny thing is, is it may still be like a, you know, add it to, or I guess they, do they have an an app separate for the cruise ships than my Disney experience? Okay. They do. They have a separate app. So that's probably what it is, is that you, you probably just need to tie it to that app and then. Or yeah, that's probably what it is, is that they don't they don't they don't want to exist between both systems, if I had to guess. Yeah, that would make sense. Which again, the the funny thing is, is they could just tie it all together if they really wanted to. And I'm saying this as an IT t guy, knowing in in the back of my mind that, yes, that would be like a year-long project to do. It's not quick and easy. like don't Don't get me wrong, I'm not i'm not saying that, like you know oh, these things are just a matter of somebody needs to like you know put two plugs together and it works. yeah yeah it's like
00:46:58
Speaker
It's like when ah in in one of those movies where they have like the hacker character and he's like, get him in. Tap, tap, tap, tap, I'm in. like you know like That's not how they work. Sorry, we're going to go on a tangent here about it because that this gets me when when I see that. As as an IT guy, the worst one was there was a show, I can't remember, it was like one of those like CSI Miami or something like that, where one of the characters is typing on the keyboard. And then somebody gets on the other side of the same keyboard, and they're both typing on the same keyboard as if that's speeding up the ability to hack whatever this thing was. And it was so bad. like That's terrible. That's awful. I could find the clip. but or I'm sure other people have seen the clip, but it's, yeah. It feels like it should be a meme. It is. It is at this point. but yeah
00:47:50
Speaker
Yeah, just yeah the IT stuff like or the hacker stuff just gets me. Yeah, sorry. That was a random aside, but it's true. I know, but yeah, you know just just type a bunch of stuff and it'll work. But yeah no I get why they're doing this stuff with the Magic Band. that you know it's you know there There's obviously some back end stuff. It's not a matter of, we know well, why can i just why can't I just use it on the ship? Because obviously the ship is not wired to use my Disney experience everywhere. So. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. ah So why don't we go ahead and do our ad and then we can talk about some some other stuff. All right.
00:48:30
Speaker
Alright, this week our sponsor is DVC Resale Market. DVC Resale Market is a world of DVC company and is the leader in the DVC resale industry with 13 former DVC Vacation Club guides and three former DVC Vacation Club quality assurance managers. If you're thinking of buying DVC, browse the largest selection of DVC resale listings anywhere with DVC experts on hand seven days a week to answer your questions. Your thinking of selling turned to the friendly professionals at DVC Resale Market where over 98% of listings sell within 30 days. In 2023, DVC Resale Market helped over 4400 families join or add on to their memberships. Go to DVCResaleMarket.com slash Welcome Home or call 1-844-DVC-PROS. That's 3827767. And when you speak to them, be sure to let them know that Welcome Home sent you.
00:49:19
Speaker
All right. Thanks Trevor. So all right. 23 is coming up. We're almost here. Uh, it's happening the August 9th through 11th and I'm going to miss all the news, but Trevor will be around with all the news and hopefully there's some good conversation around it, but and so yeah, I will be around
Disney Parks Speculations
00:49:37
Speaker
that. The hard part for me is I know this stuff will be streaming somewhere. The question is, is whether or not it'll be somewhere that I can access it easily. You probably can. I've streamed it like every year the past couple of years. Yeah, but I've had things get region logged on me. Oh, okay. i you Usually they stream it on YouTube, I feel like. I think I've watched it on YouTube, but yeah, I could see that. i've In the past, I've tried to watch these things and it's been like, this is not available in your region. That said though, definitely, even even if I'm not able to watch it live,
00:50:12
Speaker
I am sure that there's going to be lots of places picking up the news and and you know you know it's it's not like I'm not going to be able to find out what's going on quickly. I just may not be able to do it as it's being announced in that moment. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. ah So, but before we talk about like, I would like for us to recklessly speculate before what they're going to announce. And with their and I already did a little bit of this, but let's let's put in our official picks. ah But before that, they actually released some merch that they're going to be releasing on ah Shop Disney. I'm sorry, it's not Shop Disney anymore. It's Disney Store and and also also at D23. And I put this on here because there's a couple pretty cool things. The first one I'm really jumping to is this haunted mansion stuff.
00:50:58
Speaker
Um, where they have a cool haunted mansion shirt, which they're not even talking about in here, but it's, it's more about this, um, Raven shoulder plush that you get, you know, so you've seen like the banshees you put on your shoulder. Yeah. Yeah. They've got like the red eye Raven that you can put on your, on your, your shoulder. And it looks like it maybe does stuff. I don't know. They don't really say in this, but it looks like maybe, you know, it it Like the other ones make sounds and stuff like that. I'm betting this, you know, make sounds and or flaps its wings or its eyes blink or something, you know? Yeah, I mean that that it's going to be popular. I can tell you that much. Like anytime anything Haunted Mansion, especially something like that comes up, you know, it's going to be in high demand.
00:51:42
Speaker
hundred um And as I was saying that, so I was scrolling through that this article yeah and I got to the bottom and um the Ichabod and Mr. Toad lounge fly bag. Oh, yeah, yeah, that is awesome. Like, yeah, it's pretty cool. I love that. I mainly like i I feel again, you know, you know, talking about them not digging into old stuff like like the this is specifically like a throwback to the the, you know, the Adventures of Ichabod, Mr. Toad, like, yeah.
00:52:19
Speaker
Um, move or is it's a movie or it was a combination of like, yeah, like three or four different, uh, animated. Shows within it, but yeah, like it it looks, that looks really good. Like, like that's, I keep saying this as I wish that, you know, it's great that they did a lounge fly of it, but why is there not more merch like that? Like there's the ears and there's the lounge fly, but. Yeah. More, please. I want more of these things. More like that, please. Yeah. i was My eye was on the limited edition spar is Star Speeder 3000. I don't know if you saw that. Yeah, I did see that. Yeah, so it's a Star Tours vehicle replica.
00:53:00
Speaker
which has you can open the top of it. It has a little screen and a real working screen in the front that actually has the original attraction footage as well as Captain Rex and ah and and they talk and it makes the sounds. The little doors even open. I mean, that's really cool. Yeah. It kind of reminds me of the Disney monorail I have where you can open the doors and stuff, but this is like even more, this is even a cooler thing. It is very cool collectible, right? Like that's something that you would definitely have sitting on your mantle and play with it from time to time.
00:53:40
Speaker
That's exactly right. yeah and and actually and i've I have another article about this that has more teach details, but um it's complete with two 3.75 inch scaled figures of R2D2 and RX24. Then ah the vehicle can actually fit 25 figures inside. with They actually have little seatbelts in there, so you can you can put You can put characters in there if you want to. Um, and then it also, uh, the doors open and it plays, uh, the, the chime, the, the, the little chime that, you know, the starters says yeah. Yeah. yeah to to do Yeah. And then it light up to so display stand as well of as light up features for the headlights thrusters cannons on the exterior. And the front of the speeder has a 4.75 inch LCD screen that can be activated by buttons to play authentic footage from the ride, the first ride.
00:54:30
Speaker
the the original ride and with Captain Rex narrating. Now, all that being said, this it's $300. Yep. I was going to say, this this is going to be expensive. Yeah, it's a little pricey and it looks like um there's only going to be 3000 of them. So it's it's a wow pretty pretty limited. um Although it says the 3000 will be available when it first releases at D23 and then online. So maybe they'll there's 3000 only originally available at D23 and then there'll be more on Disney Store. I don't know.
00:55:04
Speaker
But okay they could stay limited. So what what that's telling me is that I'm going to see video footage of a lineup for these things oh yeah hundred percent at D23. They will definitely disappear at D23. Oh, 100%. That's going to be a huge that's goingnna be a huge one, I feel like. I know a lot of people are nostalgic for that, right? And, uh, I mean, not that I'm not, I do, like I do like start tours a lot, but yeah. and And, and the, the original, I like the fact that it's the original footage and that they're using Rex with, yeah like it's not, and don't get me wrong, it you know, C3PO being the pilot is.
00:55:42
Speaker
cool and all, but Rex it definitely has a level of nostalgia to him. Also being that, like I mean, back ah at the time it was released, like i didn't I didn't immediately realize it, but um the voice of Rex is Paul Rubens, who also does Dewey Herman. yeah and You know, it it was at that time where Peewee was like, like and really hype. Yeah, yeah, it was it was it was big and all that. And then to get on the ride and have him have that same kind of vibe to him was like, yeah, yeah, it was the the classic ride. Definitely. You know, I wish that there was a way they could redo it, but I also know obviously they can't now because, yeah, unfortunately, Paul reasons passed away, but yeah.
00:56:31
Speaker
Well, with AI, man, they can learn anybody's voice as long as the families are okay with it. Yeah, I don't know how I feel about that. I don't know how I feel about it either. But yeah, it's interesting too. The original, when it first opened, they actually had movie projectors projecting those images on the screen. Which you know at the time, movie projectors were extraordinarily fragile. And so like you you have this thing bouncing around, pulling some Gs, and they had to like design a whole new projector just to be able to withstand the forces of of the Star Trek vehicle. Obviously, now they don't have a movie projector. You know they can we have
00:57:13
Speaker
better technology now, but um I just think that's amazing. like if you If you look at it, it's like they came up with this idea. you know they always They always talk about this in the Imagineering documentaries you watch. though It's always like, great idea, but if they say yes, now you got to figure out how to do it. They came up with Star Tours and they're like, oh, we actually need to figure out how to have a movie on a moving platform. ah we've never Nobody's ever done that before and so we have to design a whole new thing. um so yeah I'm i ah always amazed by the original Star Tours. It's funny that and so many of us ignore it today but because when it first opened, it was the first of its kind. It was revolutionary and it spawned a whole bunch more simulator rides all over the world. you know
00:57:57
Speaker
I mean, definitely like, you know, I took my son on it. Like that was one of the first rides I did with him when, uh, when he was very young. And so he, you know, he kind of got that same, like the the whole ride, like the queue, everything is definitely an experience. And yeah, yeah like like you said, you know, i it's fair that we kind of take it for granted that it's like, oh, Starters, I'm not I'm not doing that. But there is definitely something to it that that, you know, it does deserve to be revisited. You know, maybe it's not your first go to every time you go to the park, but, you know, you should get on it from time to time because, you know, it's it's still a good ride.
00:58:40
Speaker
No, I agree. i I think it's still a great ride and they, and they still update it so frequently now. Like if they don't let it sit there stale, that's probably one of the most updated rides at Disney. Like they're always adding new scenes and like, yeah yeah, the, the function of it is that that, that, yeah, that it is actually one of the most flexible rides to update, which is kind of odd that that ride of all rides ended up in that state. But yeah, exactly. So. Yeah. All right. So that's, that's all I see on that. I don't know if there's any ah other one you want to mention. So on the but so i I do want to mention it just a bit, a bit of an oddity, but also kind of cool is that they have, um, the cake topper and cake servers from up. So, oh yeah so for, uh, you know, Disney, you know, people do definitely like Disney stuff in their, their weddings. And it's kind of cool that they're, uh,
00:59:33
Speaker
they're acknowledging that. And, you know, Carl and Ellie from up is definitely, you know, it's very cute. Um, obviously if you watch more than the first five minutes of up, it's also yeah you know very tragic too. So yes I don't know how much I would necessarily want that as my cake topper, but yeah, I can tell you right now without even talking to my wife about this, that if this was available when we got married, this would have been on the top of our cake. like yeah i fair tell you like i'm sure I think we would have considered it too, for sure. yeah like it yeah even Even these little, ah the the cutting utensils too, there's they have like um a knife a knife a knife for cutting a cake and like a little server, a cake server too. um so like you know That probably would have made its way and as well.
01:00:19
Speaker
So yeah, no, my wife always kind of, uh, you know, my wife really loves, loves their relationship and up and everything. So like, that's definitely something that she would, she would hang on to. So yeah. Yeah. So, um, so you wanted to do some records speculation about D 23 on top of all this. Um, okay. Let's go park to park. Let's go park to park. Park to park, okay. um All right, let's well, let's start with the big one then, Magic Kingdom. um I mean, I think this is going to be the Beyond Big Thunder yeah announcement. like I can't see how it wouldn't be. As for what that's going to actually mean, this is this is the hard part for me, is that I keep looking at Big Thunder, or like that whole area, it's like, like
01:01:12
Speaker
Frontierland slash Adventureland. And I keep expecting that anything beyond Big Thunder to be a continuation of that, which in my head is like, well, that could be, um you know, more Western themed something. But that but then it's like, OK, what? Right. Yeah. Yeah. what What is that? So so, you know, going or. going back to um or we were actually having a discussion about this on the discord um sorry it was a it was a while it was a couple of weeks back and i'm sorry i can't remember who we were talking about with but there was some discussion of a rumored marijuana attraction like a roller
01:01:50
Speaker
Well, I had said a couple weeks ago that I thought they were going to do a Moana boat ride, but then in the discord, they were saying a Moana roller coaster or something. Yeah. So, so I feel, you know, that that is a potential thing that could be put back there because again, for for the the continuity of Adventureland and all that, like I could see that ending up like could like it it would sight lines and everything wise it it feels like it could make sense that it's like oh you know there you know there's tians by adventure and then beyond that is like another um
01:02:29
Speaker
like Polynesian type mountain, I guess, is like if it was a roller coaster. I'm leaning towards the roller coaster because only because of the fact that yes, they are looking at a boat ride. I don't think the boat ride would end up like it wouldn't make sense to have two boat rides next to one another. Right. Like it because it would be fair on us. And then a Moana thing side by side that that to me feels weird. But it's also like, how do you do anything besides a boat ride for Moana, right? Like, I mean, you know what I mean? Like it's Moana pretty much the whole movie takes place on a boat, you know? Well, but I mean, with the, the sequel coming out that it might be something geared towards that, which may not be as heavily focused on the boat. No, that's true. That's true. Yeah.
01:03:17
Speaker
That's true. so i mean ah It'll be interesting to see if that comes to fruition because we've we've heard of it. it's but There's been a Moana attraction rumored in that park now for five years, I feel like. inc There was a rumor that they were going to build a Moana themed hotel right on the edge of the park too, if you remember that. We we talked about that before, which you know could happen. we don't We have no idea. i mean They could announce that. I don't know. That would be weird if Beyond Big Thunder was a hotel. Well, no, I don't think it's, beyond I think it's separate from Beyond Big Thunder. but ok um But no, I agree with you. I think we're going to get a lot of clarity on what Beyond Big Thunder is going to be. I think we're also going to find out what the fate of Tom Sawyer Island is and and the and the rivers of America. i
01:04:00
Speaker
I still don't really know what they're planning to do there. part of me like Ever since you mentioned this to me, Trevor, about them potentially like rerouting ah Big Thunder Mountain to make room for people to walk past so they could keep it, I can't get that out of my head. like I feel like they would do that, that they would try to basically push big thunder you know back somehow um and you know maybe or or to the side and give it more room so they could both keep the the river and also Tom Sawyer Island and and make a big enough walkway to the to the new land. I just
01:04:37
Speaker
I don't know. I feel like they are. They will try very hard to keep Tom Sawyer Island and and the river there. Yeah. And I just do. And I guess so it's not moving big. for the track like It's not moving the the entire coaster, but like you could potentially. There's enough space on the one side that you could cut it back and still have the ride be functional. But then, yeah, have have space for getting to ah whole other land without and yeah like do you do you really think that they could take out rivers of America? I feel like it I don't know I feel like you can't like yeah rivers of America is just so embedded in the parks like it's
01:05:23
Speaker
It's hard. It's going to be hard, man. it does The thing is, is that if if you, if you take that out, like if you take out rivers of American Tom Sawyer's Island, that's, that is so much space. Yeah, what do you turn that into, just a big yeah what free walkway? like Yeah, exactly. what do What are you doing with it? like and and And this is the thing. People don't realize that like if you actually look at the the satellite view of Tom Sawyer's Island, less than half of it is actually usable as a guest area.
01:05:54
Speaker
yeah like there there is a whole backside to the island that nobody like ah you know there there's no there's nothing back there or i shouldn't say nothing i mean there's there's nothing that we see back there you know there we don't know they may use it for storage or something um and I know you say, but you got to take a boat over there. there ah I don't know if we've ever I've ever explored if there's a Utilador that goes to to Tom Sawyer's Island. I actually don't know. It's a good question. yeah It's a good question. so yeah Again, there's there's a potential there that it's used for storage or something that we don't know about.
01:06:34
Speaker
But again, the the point is, is, you know, fine, you you take out rivers of America for the sake of this, you know, expanding past big thunder. It's not like you're just cutting out that part of the river. It's that you're you're taking, you're demolishing that entire ride. You're taking out all of Tom Sawyer Island. And then and and I mean, that gives you like an amount of space equivalent to galaxy's edge. Yeah. But then what are you doing with it? like like you You're not building another galaxy's edge there. like i just I don't see them doing that, with specifically with Magic Kingdom. like I feel like Magic Kingdom is a little too well established at this point for them to do such a big upheaval. And that's why I feel like Beyond Big Thunder is exactly that, that they're going to
01:07:20
Speaker
cut out or cut out a path going to the other side of the the train or behind the train, and then they're going to expand beyond the train, right? they I mean, they yeah, that could be the route that they go. There is like some green space in between Big Thunder and backstage areas, right? Like it's Big Thunder, the train, and then there's some space there. Not a lot, but I mean, I also don't understand why they they don't go like the drawbridge route. Right? Like, I mean, they could put a couple of drawbridges in that, you know, get you from to to Tom Sawyer Island and then over to that new piece of land. Like, and then the the Liberty Bell could still go through, you know, like, yeah, but then you're having the thing is, is the rate at which the Liberty Bell goes through the drawbridge would be up and down every like five minutes kind of thing. Yeah, yeah it would be a lot. Yeah. And then if the, and then if it broke, uh,
01:08:11
Speaker
That cuts off a whole route for people. Yeah, yeah exactly. So um yeah, I mean, listen, I don't know what they're going to do. I agree with you, though. I don't think that they can get rid of Rivers of America. I just don't think they can do it. um i I would be shocked if they did. And i just imagine Josh Giamara standing up there and be like, hey, we've got this new land coming, but also we're getting rid of Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America. We're training the rivers of America as we speak. Yeah, exactly. Like, hey, that thing you remember from when you were like, you know, five, it's gone. Like we're getting rid of it. And I mean, listen, they're typically not. I feel like they're way more protective over the things in Magic Kingdom than they are elsewhere. You know, like they'll tear apart ah classic rides and all the other parks, but I feel like they care more for Magic Kingdom because it's the only the flagship and all that, you know.
01:09:08
Speaker
Yeah, to a certain degree, like like definitely there's been things like the ah the redo of Fantasyland and all that, where you're it's not that they're shy to redo sections, but I feel specifically that area, just the sheer size of it, the the intent behind it has to be very clear. To say, well, we're just going to replace this with another attraction, you're not. like you're you're like That space is like you're you're doing a whole other land. But then what are you shoving in between Liberty Square, Frontierland, Adventureland? What makes sense there? if Because like again, like you said, you know the thing about about Magic Kingdom is that it does have
01:09:56
Speaker
You know, even if we don't agree with every new ride that's gone in there, the, the theming is still cohesive. yeah So if you suddenly like through and like, you know, people have talked about villains land and everything too, is it's like, if you threw a villain's land in the middle of all of these things, how does that make sense? How do you, how do you convince yourself that, that like, it's not like it's put behind or like that, like there's a connector to it. It would literally be dropped right in the middle of. three different lands effectively yeah i mean i don't think that's i don't think they'll put a land the the lands are supposed to go behind all this right like like so the the rumor for the villain's land was that it was going to go behind like where haunted mansion it's right like that area yeah and then maybe connect into haunted mansion so you know like that area but i mean to your point though it's a huge space it's it's probably not enough for a land but they could probably put some sort of flat right there but who really wants a flat right there instead of
01:10:50
Speaker
ah natural water and, you know, I don't know. Yeah. we again yeah ah So, so, okay. So, so yeah so let's, let's keep moving here. Sorry. yeah like So, okay. Let's let's talk about Epcot for a minute. Really, really quick. I got one more prediction for magic. and and yeah I think reflections is happening again. I think it's happening. I'm convinced it's happening. Whether it's going to be reflections is going to be the same concept art. I don't know, but I think it's going to. I think they' i think they're revitalizing the project. I think it's going to be done in 2027.
01:11:22
Speaker
that That's the based on the the patents and the the rumors that are forming around that. The permits, yeah yeah. The permits that have been going on, ah the fact that they they're they're citing the same construction company that they were before, the fact that they're all of a sudden a month or two before D23 revitalizing these permits, I don't know, man, just saying, reflection is happening. um I'm going to throw it out there. I don't know if, again, I don't know if it's going to be reflections, if it's going to be the same concept, or if they they're going to do something different. I think it's going to be reflection still. That's just my my feeling. So anyway, that's that's what i that's what I'm saying. All right. um Yeah. I was trying to think if there was another, like, what would they call in instead of reflections? But yeah, let's let's put that on the side burner. Yeah. um Okay. So Epcot. Let's
01:12:13
Speaker
Do we, so Epcot's had a lot of work done to it lately and we know that we still know there's, um or the play pavilion's still kind of up in the air. i mean i I feel like it's canceled at this point, right? like They haven't said anything about it in two years. Yeah, but but again, that's a potential there there that space is still there, is the thing. Yeah, it is. At the end of the day, you know that entire space is still there. It may not be the play pavilion anymore, but I could see them announcing something with that. and What do you suppose the chances are that they have any appetite to touch Spaceship Earth right now? I feel like... They should have an appetite for it.
01:12:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's, it's due, but then, you know, for, for all the, you know, construction, everything going on, Epcot, if they suddenly shut down spaceship earth again, yeah or, you know, Oh, this is going to be ran out for the next, you know, two years or. i ever like I don't think they shut down spaceship earth for renovation until test track is back. Right. Right. so So then that's not on the slate for D 23. They might announce that they're going to do it. You know what I mean? Like they might say, Hey, you know, we're going to do this starting in the end of 2025 or something, right? Like they they announced it at a previous D 23 that they we're going to redo all this, right? But like, like you said, spaceship earth needs it. It's, it's in dire need of a redo. Like we, and yeah and so was test track. And you know, i I think we're, we're definitely going to hear more about the test track concept, right? Like I i think we're going to learn a lot more about what's happening with test track.
01:13:48
Speaker
Yeah, that's, that's true. And yeah, I'm, I'm hopeful that maybe, I mean, they never announced a date on when test track is coming back. Have they? No, but I mean, they're doing a lot of work to it. I've seen a lot of videos and pictures, so you know, cause you can get a good look at the construction from the monorail when you come in. Um, and they're, they're working fast. I mean, they're, they're tearing that thing apart real fast. So there's hope I might be able to see it next May. yeah I mean, I don't know, maybe, you know, possibly, but OK, OK. The other one I've got, Trevor, is it's figment. and They're going to do i'm I'm going to say right now, I think they're going to redo figment. I think it's going to happen. You think this is going to be the time they announce this is it? This is it, man. They're going to do it.
01:14:30
Speaker
Figment's gonna have a redo. I saw a lot of people talking about it being themed to Inside Out. I think we even talked about this years ago, and saying that they could do Inside Out in there and also still include Figment, right? Because Figment is the figment of your imagination. So you could make it so that, you know, you're inside Riley's head and yeah. He exists in the same space as Bing Bong. Yeah, she's ah he's a new emotion or a not really emotion, but he's a new thing. that he's He's part of yeah the the the brain and all that stuff. yeah Exactly. like They could make that work. They really could. and i you know Listen, Inside Out 2 has now become the highest grossing animated feature of all time. They're going to do something with it.
01:15:14
Speaker
they yeah yeah You know, now that as I'm starting to think about it, I'm not opposed to the idea of, you know, instead of ah because because the problem with the current figment is that it's shoehorned into the zany scientist universe that Disney used to have with like Flubber and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and all that. So it feels very weird at the moment. But if they took it and it yeah, if Figma was interacting with the emotions from inside out,
01:15:45
Speaker
Like that's yeah, that that's actually, that's actually a very cool idea. Yeah. I think it could be fun. I think it could be fun if they did it like and then there's a way to do it. Yeah. yeah and And that is actually a win win because you still get or figment still exists as like as an attraction in the parks. Yeah. Then you're also bringing an inside out attraction, which I mean, this is this is the sum of both parts being greater yeah than themselves.
01:16:18
Speaker
Really? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I can see some figment purists being concerned about, you know, like, you know, figment can carry his own ride. We don't need all these other characters, but You know, i and ah actually too, I believe in my, to me, bringing Inside Out into the parks is actually kind of bringing the some more of the edutainment back to Epcot because Inside Out, as entertaining as it is, also presents some incredibly complicated concepts about how our memories work and how our personalities are built. And yeah and it's it's almost like, yeah. It's based in actual, like,
01:16:55
Speaker
Yeah, like science behind, you know, emotions and stuff like that. Exactly. And I mean, they used to have in the wonders of life pavilion, they used they had that. um Oh, gosh, I forget what that show was with ah Buzzy. um But I mean, they they did this kind of stuff. No, it wasn't Body Wars. It was basically like Inside Out, like where he was like but it was you know a little bit different. But you know the idea here being like, you know if they're going to be teaching people about how memories work and how your brain works and and how you know your personal personality is formed, like
01:17:26
Speaker
That's the kind of old school ah Epcot stuff that that you know a lot of people want, right? like Some people want to go back to the edutainment and they've been doing a little bit more of that with the Moana thing. um you know it's They've been sprinkling that in a little bit more. And honestly, I think Inside Out fits into that, believe it or not. Because i if you see in the movie, like I said, they do an incredible job of presenting extraordinarily complex concepts and easy to understand ways that, you know, give you a lot of, like, I mean, I just even seen the last movie, I don't know if you saw inside out to Trevor, but I watched it on streaming.
01:18:00
Speaker
I watched it and I was like, wow, this actually gave me some realizations about the way that I react to things as a person, you know? And that's kind of amazing that a cartoon, not a cartoon, I don't want to make it sound like it's like diminished. An animated feature. An animated feature, yes, can do that. But yeah, I mean, the first one did that too, talking about memory storage and all that. Your core memory has become a thing. People say core memory, right? That's a thing. but and and Even the thing, like like i ah for as silly as it is, the whole part about like when they're going through the memory banks and the the two they're talking to the two workers and they keep taking the stupid jingle and firing it back up to the gum memory and anger keeps getting like, ah, why does this keep coming back? right like
01:18:49
Speaker
Like, you know, stuff like that, like, you know, your, your brain loves to like pull back, you know, songs and, you know, you know, they common things, right? That like, you don't realize how much it's all tied together like that. And yeah, like, like you said, you know, I agree that, you know, that inside out in Epcot actually does make a lot of sense. yeah yeah you know and and it doesn't It doesn't hurt figment. like that That's the weird thing is that you know it wouldn't it would not take away from figment as an attraction because his interaction with it, is like imagination is entirely a concept of you know your mind and and all that.
01:19:30
Speaker
yeah so why not yeah i mean if they i'm i'm assuming they've thought of this and that that will be the case so well i mean we'll see i do also tend to believe i'm of the belief that they are going to announce a drone show of some some sort i don't know where that drone show is going to take place epcot feels like a good bet to me But i don't know I don't know where. I mean, I could also see Hollywood Studios. um I feel like maybe Magic Kingdom, but they're not getting rid of Happily Ever After. So to be to me, it would be an accompaniment to Happily Ever After, as it would for um Luminous for at Epcot. um You could also say as well that you know they they could do it at Hollywood Studios and give Hollywood Studios a nighttime show besides Fantasmic.
01:20:21
Speaker
I don't know. I feel that makes the most sense at this point because yeah Luminous and Happily Ever After are both very solid shows. Yeah. And i don't think I don't think Disney needs to change them anytime soon or or add anything to them. But yeah, Hollywood Studios is definitely lacking. i and i think I mean, the drone shows are coming, right? like there's There's no way they don't announce a drone show. Here's something. Okay, so let let's go down a bit of ah a tangent here with this. We're going to run out of time for food, which is fine. but well Well, we'll have time here. but um so so ok
01:20:56
Speaker
that um i'm I'm sure you've seen, I think Damon actually put it in the group was, um so at Epic Universe, they've been doing some testing of flying dragons. I don't know if you saw that or not. I did see it. And then I looked at all the blogs and nobody's mentioning it. It makes me think it's fake. But well, so but but if the if they are so. yeah So let's assume that that, you know, they're they're testing something similar to, you know, we we thought that the, you know, we were hoping for flying um like when Galaxy's Edge opened up. Yeah, they didn't be like X-wings flying over it. But, you know, that that ended up being a huge letdown because it was like, a you know,
01:21:38
Speaker
It was a one-time thing and it was not done well at all but well truthfully this could be a one-time thing too they could just do it at the open I can never do it yeah and and that that was a thought too as I was like you know maybe it's just for the opening and you'll never see it again which that would suck but like you said, with the fact that drone shows and stuff are becoming more and more prevalent, um, maybe, you know, maybe this is an opportunity for them to do something at Hollywood studios in that same vein. Like, like, you know, maybe they can actually bring, um, something with drones for, you know, maybe part of the nighttime show that they do. Um, you know, a star Wars nighttime show using, right? Like, that'd be cool. Yeah.
01:22:21
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's happening and there's also rumors of a new nighttime parade for Magic Kingdom. like a brand new one or even a new daytime parade to replace Festival of Fantasy because Festival of Fantasy is getting a little long on the tooth at this point, which it's still good. Don't get me wrong. It's still a parade that I, you know, will watch and is I'm still impressed by, but might be time for a new parade. So I'll be interested to see what kind of an entertainment updates we get. I think drone show is definitely happening. I just think it depends on where and what kind of application because listen, the thing they're doing at Disney Springs right now was a test.
01:22:54
Speaker
right? For the bigger thing that they're going to do, which is something at one of the parks. Just don't know which one. I mean, I don't know, Trevor, if you ended up watching what they did at Comic Con with the drones, but that was even cooler than anything I've seen at the parks. That was like 50 over 1500 drones. They had drones shooting smoke out like it was it was cool. Yeah, there's definitely like outside of Disney, there have been some really impressive drone shows for sure. i Like, yes, the the the one at Comic Con was was cool, but i like, yeah, internationally, there there's some even better than that. So, you know, I agree.
01:23:30
Speaker
Yeah. Well, and Disney owns part of the company that's doing most of these drone shows all over the place. So, you know, it wouldn't surprise me if they eventually just acquire the entire thing so they can have a monopoly on it like they do. But, um, but yeah, so we're, we're off topic though. So let's, you want to, we got one more park to talk about. So well we're not going to talk about animal kingdom. Yeah, that's, that's what I was going to say. we got hollywood What about Hollywood studios? we I thought we just talked about Hollywood studios. Well, there's a rumor out there that Hollywood Studios is going to be getting a new roller coaster, they're that they're going to be getting the long rumored Monsters, Inc. door coaster, um which I always thought was just going to replace Rock and Roller Coaster. But the rumor out there is that they're going to build it as a a whole new roller coaster over where Star Wars Launch Bay is.
01:24:12
Speaker
Okay, so okay, that that was actually gonna answer yeah my question around that. Because I've said this before, is there's there's a lot of unused space at Hollywood Studios. ah So yeah, yeah you know doing doing another indoor coaster in that, or I guess that space where launch bay is, but I feel it it would have to expand out. oh they would tear down those buildings. I don't think the building could say. Yeah, that would be wholesale new. Yeah. But but the the only thing the only thing i I would say about that is that if you end up with a show building like the same size as like the Guardians building, the difference is is the Guardians building is like off to the side and yeah and it's
01:24:53
Speaker
kind of hidden, like like data really but but but they've been able to like not make it an eyesore within the park. like It's it's yeah there, but it's it's not disrupting anything. The problem with where Launch Bay is is that they built another huge building like that. That is you know right next to Toy Story Land, Galaxy's Edge, and um near Rock and Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. that just kills like any sight lines in that faith like all those yeah areas. like It just becomes a big sore thumb throughout that whole area. like I think they're more okay with the giant show buildings there than they are at Hollywood Studios at Epcot. right like they're they They're okay with those there, but you're right. At Hollywood Studios, the sight lines, I feel, like are a little more important. Yeah, like I said, just thinking about those areas, it's like,
01:25:48
Speaker
I want to believe that there would be a coaster built there, but the space that you need to build, ah like a big coaster, especially an indoor coaster, is like it's a lot of space. yeah There's a fair amount of backstage area available behind Launch Bay though. yeah so so i mean but then the The thing about that, so then it would have to. um But the the backstage area, though, is still like Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge actually go behind that, though, right? No, no, no, they don't. They don't. It's on the other side. On the other side. Yeah, because it's over by it's over by. So like start the back of Star Wars Launch Bay faces the back of or the side of rock and roller coaster.
01:26:35
Speaker
So like, yeah, yeah. but Like there's this space in between that you could build it, but yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I guess, I guess if it connected and then, yeah, if the, if the building went even behind rock and roller coaster, then yeah find that that would work. That's fair. They'd have to get rid of like some backstage buildings, but they have no problem relocating backstage buildings. Like they do that all the time. So, um, yeah. yeah I mean, that's the only room I've heard for Hollywood studios. So, I mean, we'll see, right? But I always thought the door coaster was just going to replace rock and roller coaster. Cause obviously nobody under the age of, you know, 35 at this point knows who Aerosmith is. Like at some point they're going to, you know, only because our parents are, you know, yeah kids parents are, you know, playing their music in the car, which I mean, not even, yeah. Or you saw Armageddon.
01:27:25
Speaker
yeah I don't even listen to Aerosmith. Yeah, I mean, really probably Armageddon. that Yeah, that was like their last relevant song, right? For the Armageddon soundtrack. That's true. I don't know how we got on Armageddon. So, yeah, so that's all I got for Hollywood Studios. But Animal Kingdom, I think we're going to hear a lot of news too, right? Because we've got the whole ah dino land, which is you know we're expecting to turn into the South America area with complete with Indiana Jones. I saw ah somebody post that they've been removing trees around the dinosaur attraction, which is an indication they're getting ready to prepare that site to you know for teardown. um so and i you know get Again, I don't believe anything I read in the internet ever.
01:28:12
Speaker
So ah um I don't really know if that's true or not. But ah I think we're going to hear a lot of details about that. Hopefully we'll get some details about what the Encanto attraction is going to be. um And then maybe we'll hear a little bit about what they're going to do with the Indiana Jones ride, because we've heard that it's going to be different than the one in Disneyland. I know they keep, so story-wise, I know they say it's gonna be different. i I honestly can't see, or maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised, but I can see them just re-theming the existing track to Indiana Jones. Because to me, that that because they're doing so much other stuff in that area,
01:28:53
Speaker
It feels to me like they're not going to spend the money to completely rip out dinosaur and redo it because that's what that would mean, right? If it's going to be different because the track is literally a mirror of Temple of the Forbidden Eye in Disneyland. Well, they can keep the same track, though, and tell a different story within it, though. Yes. Yeah, that's what I'm saying is, yeah, they could absolutely do that. um And I mean, to that end, like, you know, there there is a lot of potential because like, Tumble of the Forbidden Eyes had some updates over the years and and like, even lately, they've they've done a lot of improvement to it. But um it's still it's still showing its age and.
01:29:35
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like that there's, you know, with everything that we've seen now with animatronics and everything, there can be some really, so they could do a really cool Indiana Jones experience. Um, the only thing that I'm worried about is that it'll end up in the same space as alien encounter. Yeah, it's too scary because Indiana Jones is actually like scary if you if you really think about it, like, you know, I don't know about you, but, you know, when I was watching as a kid, like, you know, you know, I wasn't like scary, but, you know, it definitely like.
01:30:10
Speaker
There was some unsettling parts. Oh, a hundred percent. A hundred percent hundred percent. Yeah, I agree with you. Yeah. So so yeah, I I hope that yeah, I hope that that ends up being yeah I don't want a clone of Temple of the Fribinai as much as I love it. And, you know, it is better than Dinosaur, but I agree. I don't want just a clone of it because, yeah, you know, you know, that Disney has the potential to do a lot with it. What would actually be even funnier, so since we're on reckless speculation, is if it ended up just not being Indiana Jones at all. like i don't That would be funny, actually. I don't know what they would do, but it like it it would just be funny if you know everybody had it in their head that it was Indiana Jones, and then they're like, you know oh, this is... Okay. But to be fair, though, they did play the Indiana Jones music when they referenced it the first time they showed it. so
01:31:04
Speaker
Yeah, but how how many times have they yeah done a 180 and you know changed their minds on this stuff, right? It's it's a fair point. ah they They could. I don't know, maybe. Well, what about anything outside the park, Trevor? What are we thinking? like I mentioned a new resort. Do we get the long rumored ah Epcot entrance resort? like Is that happening finally, or is that not going to happen right now? I want to believe that it's still on the slate somewhere. Yeah, I really like, yeah, I, I really hope that we, I hope part of these announcements is that Disney starts thinking about, um, hotels, similar to California adventure where it, you know, it's a, it's a deluxe resort, but it's connected to one of the parks. Yeah. It's part of the park, basically. Like yeah you walk right into the park. Yeah.
01:32:00
Speaker
Yeah, like I it doesn't have to be at Epcot. I even I mean. Hmm, I'm going to hate myself for saying this. You know, even even if they brought back the star cruiser as a different hotel, mean but made it, but again, made like a, you know, connected, not like don't make, don't do the star cruiser. Don't do like a, you know, crazy expensive, like two day excursion, make it a proper hotel and just have it have its connection into the park. Right. Yeah.
Future of Disney Parks & Shows
01:32:33
Speaker
I can see that. Yeah.
01:32:35
Speaker
And sorry, I need to go back just the launch bay thing. I in my head, I was confusing launch bay with um the where was it? I was thinking it was further or closer to Pixar place for some reason. Oh, OK. Yeah. And that's why I was thinking that was going to hit more like Toy Story Land and yeah. And Galaxy's Edge. So I realized like I was sorry, I was looking at the map and yeah, I see now what you're saying that there is space behind it. Yeah, there's some space behind it. We'll see. I mean, I've got a couple other random things too. I think Bluey is going to make its way into the parks. I think they're going to announce it at this event um because Bluey is way too big right now yeah no and there's no way that Disney's not going to do it. There's already been talks. I mean, there's there's rumors out there that Disney's already been talking about buying it outright, but also that they've already discussed putting Blue into the parks.
01:33:27
Speaker
ah well why do why do you hope they don't you feel like they would tri out okay so all right so i' ah first of all unlimit so buck time
01:33:37
Speaker
I'm going to say this because I have no reason to watch Bluey, but because of all the hype around it, we did watch a couple of episodes of it, and it's a really well-produced show. It's fantastic. theres there is a lot of like Even though I don't have young kids, do you hope they don't? You feel like they would ruin it? my son's way past the point of watching or caring about it. I just hope that that show stays like that the people who are in charge of it creatively continue to stay in charge of it because it is a gem of a show on it is but yeah like you know and if anybody wants to come for me about watching blue is an adult I don't care.
01:34:16
Speaker
Oh, no, it's a good show. and There are a ton of adult, uh, bluey fans that don't have kids. Like that show is all in, in a lot of ways geared towards adults too, because like, there's a lot of really funny jokes in that show that kids will not get. Yeah. The, the, the dynamic between the parents and the kids yes on that show is, and even, and even like between like the parents, like there, there was an episode we watched with, um, the, the mom's sister came and that like, it was a very, like yes. Serious serious topic that they were talking about and yeah like i I'm not saying that Disney wouldn't do it justice, but I feel like I feel like they would try and over commercialize it versus letting it be as genuine as it is and that's the only reason that I don't want Disney to buy it.
01:35:05
Speaker
unless they bought it and like had it continue operating on its own. You know what I mean? like Just yeah like let it do its thing. We own it now, but you do your thing. but i mean I think it needs to make its way into the parks. I don't know where. yeah Hollywood Studios maybe, but they need to do something bluey in the parks. We started watching bluey during the pandemic and It was hard to get Bluey merch, right? Like you were just buying knockoff stuff off of Amazon. Now Bluey is on everything. I bought my daughter a Bluey toothbrush the other day. you like you know It is everywhere. It has become so... I mean, I read that it's... that that Oh gosh, what was they they're saying? it's that That property is worth over a billion dollars now. like so It's crazy.
01:35:47
Speaker
um So, I'm going to predict that Bluey's going to show up in the parks. i've I've read that Disney's talked about it. um Maybe that'll be part of the Disneyland stuff. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's absolutely right. So, yeah. it's yeah's s We didn't we even touch on the Disneyland forward stuff. you know you know I think there's going to be some Disneyland forward announcements as well great because they they got that. I'm settled. Maybe Bluey's on the the the docket for getting an attraction or something. Interesting. That would be yeah crazy. yeah because so Yeah. I just actually looked it up. Bluey is estimated ah at to be worth $2 billion dollars right now. Just Bluey, $2 billion. dollars Wow.
01:36:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's insane. um and then you know so But Disney has already talked to them about putting Bluey in the parks. They've talked about the theme park rights. like These things are going on already and I just think it's a matter of time. like it It has to happen eventually. and i mean Yeah, it's gonna it's gonna be interesting. i'm I'm just I'm saying it's gonna happen right now um I also want to say to I don't think there's gonna be a fifth gate. I've said this for many years now I don't think Disney's gonna build a fifth gate. I don't think it makes sense I don't think they want to build a fifth gate and I don't think that that they feel the need to do it to compete with epic universe I just don't think they're gonna do it. i I Would be shocked if they did. I mean, I I feel like we're getting
01:37:12
Speaker
At this point, we know of at least two lands and I'm using air quotes because like we know of the stuff in Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. like But we don't know you know we don't know what else they have planned because you know they have committed a whole bunch of money over the next 10 years. I don't think it's going to be a fiscate. I think it's just expanding on what they have. I agree with you. like like they yeah They don't need to... like Universal needed another gate because they've only got two parks at the moment. yeah Disney doesn't need another gate.
01:37:46
Speaker
Exactly. i mean And you know Universal will always say, oh, we have three because we have Volcano Bay. Okay, well, let's play that game. And then Disney has six. like you know So of course, yeah, they need another park, right? like that's And that makes sense for Universal to do that. They absolutely should. ah But I just don't think Disney's going to do it. i and i But again, to go back to Disneyland forward, they kind of do need another park at Disneyland, right? like They want to add more capacity to that park. They've wanted it for years. Yeah, absolutely. So like that makes sense to me. That math is math. and The magic but math doesn't math for me in in Disney World. It just doesn't. I mean, I know everybody wants it, but I just don't think it's going to happen. Like you said, I think we're going to see large scale expansions of the existing parks. um You know,
Closing & Future Episode Teasers
01:38:30
Speaker
I think that's going to continue happening. ah But I just don't see. And like I said, I also said that maybe we see a water park.
01:38:37
Speaker
I don't know. Maybe another water park gets built, but I don't know. I know everybody read the whole agreement they made with the district and that said, you know, they could build a fifth park, but it didn't say they were going to. It just said they could, you know, like, so, yeah so I'll tell you what, Tom says, I know you're going to be on a boat when all of this is happening. um you can say it If it, yeah, if it does happen, I'm just going to text you fifth gate and I'll just leave it at that. Yeah, no, listen, and i i I fully expect us to be accountable to these predictions. I will take accountability for all the things I'm predicting today. so um so yes so blue What does that mean, taking accountability? I'll just admit that I was wrong. I mean, like we can go back yeah i mean back through it and say all the things we got wrong. I'm fine with that.
01:39:27
Speaker
Um, but yeah, no, that I'm, like I said, I think blue is going to be a thing. I mean, maybe blue even gets its own land. I don't know. Like blue is so huge right now. I can't imagine that they don't do something. If they just did like their, if they did it up like cars land, but did like the, the community that they live in. Yeah. That would actually like, that would be a great like tune town. Yeah. Bang. I'm even looking at it like what Lego land did with Peppa pig, right? Like they made like a, like a land that's like a separate, but still part of the park. Like they could put, they could put bluey somewhere. Okay. No, hear me out. All right. Okay. In fantasy land, the the Mickey's tune town fair. Um, it's not, it's not a good, like, I don't like it, but, but that's also, it's not like, you know, they've got like the Dumbo ride. and everything there and that's fine
01:40:22
Speaker
but take stop trying to make it Toontown, rip that out and make it Blueyland. Yeah, right? Listen, I think if you made i think you put a Blueyland in any of the parks right now that a lot of people are gonna be very happy and that will drive people to the parks. Like 100% that is a draw. if a kid If my daughter found out that Bluey was gonna, that she could meet Bluey at Disney, she'd be asking when we're going. Like I'm telling you right now, like that's, they would be stupid not to. like i Like, literally, it would be stupid not to put Bluey in there. they They have the relationship already. I mean, Disney Plus is pretty much solely responsible for making that show the number one show in the world. I mean, because as soon as it got on Disney Plus, then, I mean, it blew up. Oh, it did. Yeah, I know. I remembered hearing about it. Like, i you heard about it and then all of a sudden it was on Disney Plus and it was like, oh, okay.
01:41:12
Speaker
Yeah you know and and that's kinda where like you know i ignored it for a long time and then it was just like uh you know we kept you know you'd see like like little clips of it and stuff from time to time and i'm like okay what is this and so you know what is that yeah sat down watching it's like okay i see why this show is getting Yeah. Getting the accolades that it is. Like, it's a good show. Bluey totally lives up to the hype. Bluey totally lives up to the hype. So yeah, so like I said, I think it's going to happen. Even if it's as small as a Bluey meet and greet somewhere in the parks, regardless, it's going to happen. I don't know where, but I just think it's going to happen. So I don't think we're going to get any new countries at Epcot, even though that was rumored a couple of years ago. I don't think that's on the table. Nobody's even talking about that. So
01:41:56
Speaker
um Yeah, I mean, I think that's all the things I can think of right now. I also don't think we're going to hear that they're expanding the Skyliner. Just don't think it's going to happen. So not this year. No, not happening. I don't think they need to to touch on that this year. No, no. So we had chocolate. We just had chocolate. We had ah we I pulled it up. And the first thing I saw was chocolate. So I said chocolate. ah We had Halloween eats on here, but I mean, we're pretty far in. I think maybe we should save this for the next. Yeah, I was going to ask. Yeah. Okay. I'll, I'll be honest. you know You know, I love that they're, you know, advertising the upcoming Halloween stuff, but it is August john and I know Disney loves starting Halloween in August, but you know, I'm not ready yet. So yeah, no, we can talk about it in when you get back.
01:42:42
Speaker
Yeah, let's talk about the Halloween food. When we get back, we'll wrap this up and, uh, I'll go on my cruise. So I just started radios. No show next week. Um, Damon may release a golden button episode. I don't know, to be totally honest with you. I don't know. That is entirely up to his schedule. If you can manage that. but So he may put one out, but there will be no regular show until, uh, let's see what date is that the 19th we'll do. We'll have another show on the 19th. Yeah. So, so enjoy your August until I talk to you then. So let's wrap it up, Trevor. All right. So, uh, yeah, as usual, you know, if you want to talk about anything you've heard us speculating about or, or, you know, talk about blue one yeah, if you want, if you want to talk about Bluey, I mean, I guess we can talk about Bluey.
01:43:29
Speaker
I guess, Tom, you can talk about Bluey. I don't need to have an extensive conversation. Talk about Bluey all day, Trevor, all day. Yeah. um But yeah, so if you guys want to reach out to us about anything we did talk about on the show, you can always find us at welcome home podcast at gmail dot.com. We do love hearing from you guys. And similarly, you can also find us on social media. On Facebook, we are Welcome Home Podcast. On YouTube, also Welcome Home Podcast. And on Instagram, Welcome Home Picks. Make sure on Facebook, if you're looking for a good Disney group, check out Welcome Home Disney Waitlist, where um we have all of our listeners that there's great conversations about things that we talked about on the show.
01:44:10
Speaker
People post memes and all kinds of funny stuff and then there's also great conversations where people talk about their own ah Disney trips or you know you know get advice from all of the great listeners that we have because there are plenty of people that are far more experienced with with Disney planning than we are and you know we've got a lot of them in our group so you know make sure you guys come and um you know join our group if you're you're looking for some uh some good disney discussion without all the drama you know that's the one thing too i will i will give credit to our group that we have not had to do any
01:44:50
Speaker
controlling of drama or anything like that, which I know happens in a lot of Disney groups out there. But, you know, we we keep it pretty on track with with being just about Disney stuff. So absolutely. Yeah. So, yeah, you know, please, please come check us out. um Also if you want to help support the show ah you can go to store.welcome1podcast.com you can check out our different merch we've got we've got all the usual stuff you know your shirts and mugs and fanny packs you know mention the fanny packs because you know sometimes you just need a good fanny pack and yeah um
01:45:26
Speaker
Yeah, so you know please check us out. It you know it just helps us you know keep running the show, keeps the lights on. Similar, we also have a Patreon for the same reason. You can go to patreon dot.com slash welcome home pod and check out our Patreon merch, which is we have an exclusive logo for Patreon. And anybody who supports us on Patreon gets access to the Discord server, which we've mentioned throughout the show is yet another place that um you know we have discussions about things that we talked about on the show and other random subjects as well. So, you know, if you if you'd like to join a good Discord group, you know, please check that out. And also, if you're listening to us on iTunes or Spotify, leave us a five star review because it just, you know, we want we want to get to that 4.7 someday.
01:46:11
Speaker
But also, you know, five star reviews are cool. It's, you know, you should just do it. It's cool. um But and and then also, you know, write us a review on ah on iTunes because we love hearing what you guys think about the show. Yeah, so do that. That's important. But also, don't forget to subscribe to Welcome Home Podcast so you can be reminded every time we release a new episode. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Stitcher, Spotify, YouTube, YouTube Music, just about any podcast app out there you can find us. And if you if you're using a podcast app and you don't find us, let me know. i I'll add us in. I'll get us on there. so ah But I'm pretty sure we're on all of them.
01:46:48
Speaker
But just a reminder to our listeners, welcome home podcasts. For entertainment only, we are not employed by the Walt Disney Company. Not as such, all the opinions you expressed on the show are our own, so please consult a Disney cast member or a DVC cast member for more information about anything we talked about today. ah Thank you so much, as always, to DVC Reesaw Market for sponsoring this episode and for World of DVC for being continuing to be our supporters and our sponsor on this show. ah Join us next time for more Disney Parks discussion. Of course, more DVC talk. We hope to see you all real soon. this is Skipper Albert A. Wall, The Voice of the Jungle, signing off from Welcome Home Podcast on the TVC.