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Episode 302: Vacation Planning, Grand Floridian Lobby & Lion King ride
840 Plays12 days ago
On This Episode
With upcoming trips at both Disney and Universal, the guys discuss their vacation planning. The guys answer listener questions about their favorite WDW queues and DVC waitlist strategies. Disney released a first look at the upcoming refurbishment of the Grand Floridian lobby including a new bar. Due to the lobby refurbishment at Grand Floridian, the traditional Gingerbread House displayed during the holidays will not return this year. Disneyland Paris released new information on Disney Adventure World including details on the new Lion King and Up themed attractions.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsor Acknowledgment
00:00:07
Speaker
This is Skipper Albert A. Wall, the voice of the jungle, broadcasting on the DVC to all voice unknown. If you're within the sound of my voice, you're listening to Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.
00:00:25
Speaker
Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello and welcome home. This episode of Welcome Home is brought to you by DVC Resale Market. Thank you for joining us on episode 302 Welcome Home, a Disney Parks of Vacation Club podcast. I'm Tom. here
Hosts' Banter and Multitasking Fun
00:00:40
Speaker
with Trevor and Damon. How's it going, guys?
00:00:41
Speaker
I almost closed down the window. but Well, that would have been bad. It's not a good idea. Yeah. I almost closed it down. have too many windows open. You know, I pre-plan like what I'm going to do during the podcast as well as podcast.
00:00:55
Speaker
you just You're a multitasker. You like to multitask. I really do like to multitask. um i just I don't know why because like I'll multitask, but then I'll also then waste an hour of playing Wizardry Daphne on my phone. You know what i mean? so like your hey I don't understand myself sometimes. well but When you play stuff on your phone, do you always have something in the background? Because I'm a big like background. No. oh like Wizardry Daphne, like I didn't realize this game existed for like a long time. I didn't realize it's been around for 12 years. I love the heck out of it. and No, I'm just dialed man.
00:01:25
Speaker
like like because i mean like i just recentlyset I like to have background shows. I think i've talked about this before. like yeah where i you know When I'm doing work or like doing stuff around the house, I just like to have something in the background with noise. My recent one is is The Simpsons. and Part of the reason I chose The Simpsons is because I tend to blow through ah background shows really quickly but the simpsons is like great about that yeah yeah so i and i if you start from the beginning you're talking like a crazy amount of episodes it's gonna take me a long time to get through all those which is good it's exactly what i want for a background show but um yeah it's i do that sometimes before i go to sleep but king of queens is like my show king of queens like you have no idea how much i love king of queens like i love that show man
00:02:06
Speaker
that is that is ah That is really, really random. Yes. It's one of my favorite shows, though. Yeah, i once
Damon's Travel Plans to Epic Universe and Disney
00:02:12
Speaker
I get that. All right. So, listen, I did a thing. Yeah, I saw you post this on Facebook. Yeah, I posted this on Facebook. So, you know, after some discussion about what we were doing for Epic Universe. So, we're there three days, but let's talk about the Disney portion first. So,
00:02:28
Speaker
I realized we didn't have a room. um I love my wife dearly, but I think she's a little overworked at work. And like things I've been like, hey, can you do this? Can you do that? I just assume are done.
00:02:39
Speaker
And they're not. So we've been dealing with that. And I was like, hey, so you booked a room for Disney the night before we go to Universal, right? She's like, no. And I'm like, oh, well, we probably want to do that.
00:02:52
Speaker
So we said, you know what? we're Again, i'm looking at the calendar for myself. And I think to myself, well, I have no points this year, but I can borrow, right? No big deal. And I said, am I really going to Disney in 26?
00:03:05
Speaker
I don't think there's going to be anything out that that i I need to go see. And we had kind of talked about, I'm going to try to hit that one day at Disney when I'm before the cruise to do Tron.
00:03:16
Speaker
And in theory, um what's the other fake redone ride? Yeah, thank you, Tiana's. Fake redone ride. So I think I just need to do those two.
00:03:28
Speaker
And I don't, I mean, are we going to really see anything new in 26th? Yeah, yeah. I mean, you're talking about like wholesale new? yeah, yeah, wholesale new. mean, i don' I don't know. I don't think so. Anyway, so I was just looking at my points, and I said to myself, well, I can get by with doing one-day kind of blowout room because I don't think I'm going to need a ton of points in 26. I think that's more of what I was getting. And remember, we also have that cross-country trip to Disneyland planned.
00:03:56
Speaker
So I don't think I'm in any points in general. So anyway, so I said, well, you're going to need points at Disneyland though. No, I'm not, I'm not going to stay on site. Oh, okay.
00:04:07
Speaker
Yeah. I don't think I'll stay on site.
Universal Trip Details and Express Pass Discussion
00:04:09
Speaker
um So I said, okay, so what do I want to do? So we booked a two bedroom Riviera for the night, which I'm kind of excited about. Maybe I think, I think, have you stayed there yet?
00:04:18
Speaker
No. And we own two contracts there. Yeah. Yeah, I think you're going to like it because just when Trevor and I walked through it, we I was like, Damon would like this place. Yeah, I mean, I own two contracts there and i've never stayed there. So i was like, I really have to stay there. My parents have stayed there. So i kind of like, I feel like a little FOMO. Like, wow, my parents have stayed somewhere at Disney and I haven't even stayed there yet. So we did. We had a two bedroom.
00:04:38
Speaker
I think the other part of it too was is because when we go to Universal, we're staying in Portofino's and we're staying in a single room with five of us because it was just so ridiculously expensive to get two rooms. That we kind of felt like, well, at least give them a night of everyone having their own space to kind of sleep.
00:04:56
Speaker
So Portofino's, my boys are going to have to double up. I just couldn't do it. Like it was just ridiculous. where' So we're there three days. So three days, two days is at regular Universal, one day at Epic Universe. Tickets, hotel, and everything. 78, 98 or something.
00:05:14
Speaker
for three days Crazy. What? Yep. That's nuts. But I couldn't, like again, I couldn't tag on another room because I was like, there's no way. So I told the boys, like, listen, you guys just have bunk it out. So what we decided to do because we were doing that is go concierge level.
00:05:32
Speaker
Because then at least they don't have to like hang out in the room. Like, you know what i mean? Like they can just come back and go to sleep rather than having to kind of hang out in the room. So we'll see how that works. i'm I'm curious to see. It wasn't that much more expensive to do that when you're already paying a gazillion dollars. So yes, that all of that money includes the hotel, ah the concierge level, the,
00:05:55
Speaker
We have the free express passes for the universal islands of adventure and the regular park. And then it was like, so we're going to universal epic. And I was like, man, like how disappointed am I going to be if get there and ride three rides?
00:06:12
Speaker
going to be kind of mad. Yeah. And I saw that express passes were selling out like crazy. I was shocked at like, so our express passes for the five of us are like $1,300 for the day. Right.
00:06:27
Speaker
And again, ah let's say i know people love, oh, they want to talk about how much money everything is. Dude, this is important for people to know how much things cost, right? Like it's not me talking about anything other than people understand like what these costs are involved.
00:06:40
Speaker
I don't know if anybody's said like... They have. We've gotten comments about that. But yeah that doesn't matter because I don't care anymore. So too bad for them. But so we're paying that money. But what I kind of said to myself was, well, if I'm not going to go back Universal, I don't see Universal having anything new that I need to see after this, probably for at least three years. That's my guess. Probably more, to be honest with you. But let's just call it three years.
00:07:05
Speaker
I got to pay that money because if I go there and I literally ride three rides, I'm going to be very upset. So yeah I've got the express passes for that day, which I think will be great. We also can get in the park early.
00:07:17
Speaker
And now the question has come up, where do we go first? Right? So there's three rides that are not on express pass. You have Harry Potter ministry of magic. You have the dragon rider coaster, and then you have donkey Kong.
00:07:36
Speaker
So the Dragon Rider coaster it literally looks like a slinky dog, um big bear at Dollywood. It's themed really well, but that's off the list. So OK, now we got these two. Not a priority. So what I said was, I said, well, i like i like I want to do Ministry of Magic by far. But then my daughter came up with something. She said, well, listen. She goes, one, Donkey Kong's a shorter ride, and it's outside. She goes, and there's probably not as much to look at. She goes, look at the Ministry of Magic inside. It looks awesome. Like, even if you had to spend some time in there.
00:08:05
Speaker
So I think we're going to go Donkey Kong and hopefully be on and off Donkey Kong before the park opens to the public. Right. So that's the goal, at least um to do it in that path. And then, like i said, we'll probably skip the other one and then we get to do everything else. So that's the thought here.
Listener Engagement and Content Ideas
00:08:24
Speaker
We'll see how it goes. It's going to be a crazy freaking trip. that i mean Yeah, that is that is really ah interesting. I mean, i you know um my trip, obviously, is is much smaller than this. and you know It's for like a day and a half. yeah but And I don't know what we're even doing next year. I have no idea. And I mean, truthfully, it doesn't matter for me at this point in my life with my daughter if there's new things or not.
00:08:46
Speaker
because a lot of Absolutely. Yeah. we were We were talking about this with my daughter today. So I was kind of having this discussion about like, you know, core memory sort of situations. yeah Like it for the age your daughter is, we were going to Disney two to three times a year.
00:08:59
Speaker
Right. And it was great. um Again, we were going like kind of with ourselves to build that family bond. And then every once in a while we'd go with family as well. But most of the time we were kind of going by ourselves.
00:09:09
Speaker
Yeah. And I think that was kind of key. i always look at my three kids and we always talk about this as, you know, how close they are as as kids. and i'm And I'm surprised sometimes because they're all very, um,
00:09:24
Speaker
Good way to put this with like my kids are all in their own right. Popular is not a good word. That's not really what I'm looking for, but they all have their own interests and are very busy.
00:09:35
Speaker
So it's not like they're like, oh, I got nothing to do. Let me hang out with my siblings. No, they're all very, very busy people with what they do. So it's nice that they still are willing to kind of hang out together. And I think a lot of that was just by going to Disney.
00:09:49
Speaker
when they were growing up. So I agree with you, Tom. Like, I mean, I don't think you need to be looking for new things. Now, at my point in my life, I have to be with the kids. But for you, no. I mean, you could go three times a year and be the same thing and you'd be good.
00:10:01
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. i So I get what you're saying. That makes makes total sense to me so did we get it Did we get a trip report or a DVC tip? we did We haven't yet. I mean, we just started we just started this up, so I'm not... and we really I also realized last week that we had not even advertised it at all.
00:10:18
Speaker
No, we did. I thought we talked about it. We did, we did but it was on the 300th episode, and it was like... Oh, yeah, okay. Yeah, no one actually heard anything about it. So one of the things we did ah want to start doing is we wanted to involve more listener content in the show.
00:10:34
Speaker
And so we want to have this recurring segment, which is basically listener DVC tips or trip reports. but we get We get people emailing us trip reports all the time. ah But, you know, what we're what we're looking for here is like a real kind of condensed trip trip report. You know, just tell us what you, you know, what your favorite house phone style.
00:10:53
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And so we set up, back we actually set up a phone number with a voicemail that you can just call and just leave us a message of the, of what if you don't like it? Can you delete it and rerecord? I that's a good question. i actually don't know, but you can call it's one eight three three WHP tips. So it's it's a welcome home pockets, obviously. So WHP. Yeah.
00:11:13
Speaker
yeah And listen, I ran this number by you guys and you were good with it. So no not know it's still McGruff. But like, yeah, absolutely. It's fair. But so, yeah. So if you have like your best DVC tip, call the number. You can also text it, too, by the way. So you can text it and just send your text and we'll read it. Text. Oh, boy. And you do them just with those texts. Go to you.
00:11:33
Speaker
No, they don't go directly to me. ah Yeah, so if you're going to try to troll me, it's not going to work because I can just do it. So don't troll me. But ah no, no. So yeah, give us your best tips. Give us your trip report. We'll play it on the show. I mean, like that's that's what we're trying to do here. We want to do more of this. We we really you know took a look at ah back at our our show and we decided we we you know kind of got away from involving all the listeners in as many things as we used to. So this is ah kind of our way, I think, to bring more listener content back to the show. And come back to the group.
00:12:03
Speaker
Yeah. Well, that's back to the group and talk. Yeah. Who do we miss the most? Who do you miss
Increasing Fun with Listener Memes
00:12:08
Speaker
the most? Who do I miss the most? Who do you miss the most? You know, if we say a name, then one of the other names is going to be. That's okay.
00:12:15
Speaker
Sometimes you just have to say, no, I don't do that. what I'm going to, cause I don't care. um i think I miss Jeremy the most because I worry that like, I'm starting to run out of maple syrup.
00:12:28
Speaker
That's really my problem. only selfish reasons that you want more memes. 100% selfish reasons, I worry that I may run out of maple syrup. i I do miss the amount of memes that we used to get from like Francisco and Jeremy. like we We don't get as many, I feel like, as we used to. But there were there was a lot of people doing memes for a while that were really funny.
00:12:48
Speaker
ah So yeah, i do but I do miss the memes a little bit. Yeah, I want some more memes. Well, you got to do silly stuff to get memes though, right? A regular show doesn't get memes. Well, yeah. So, I mean, it so I guess I have to do more silly things is what you're saying? Somebody does. I don't think I've ever seen Trevor do a silly thing. So Tom, it kind of lends itself to us.
00:13:07
Speaker
Trevor's too pretty and proper for silly things. What do you talking That's not true at all. I've been memed on multiple times. Yeah, he has been memed. Yeah, he has. Although I feel like I get the brunt of it most of the time. Okay, right now, I will admit, I'm... yeah So you talking about your going to Universal thing, Damon, got me completely distracted from the conversation. Yeah. And I realized that I hadn't bought my express passes for my upcoming trip.
00:13:33
Speaker
Oh, boy. And i am kind of upset because it looks like wait there is no express passes available for the week that I'm going. Wait, wait. So you're doing express passes. Oh, because you're... Wait, hold on. So you're... so Universal proper. We're just... Yeah, we're not going to... But you're... Yeah, I know. But you're not staying on site at Universal.
00:13:52
Speaker
No, we're not. Yeah. So I'm um kind of mad. Yeah, I can't get express passes. And I'm sitting here going like the week before. i That's so weird because Epic Universe doesn't open until the following week.
00:14:07
Speaker
but All the express passes are booked up. And let me tell you, and listen, not for you because I feel bad for you, but it is a very good thing that stuff like this happens that they don't just keep selling. They're like, oh you know what? There's a cutoff.
00:14:20
Speaker
And again, I hate that you can't get it, Trevor, but I would also go up to the window that day. Wait, no, I can get, I can get, one day. i can get one day once. It was, it was funny. So for me, I was like, Oh, I don't have options. Like it's that day or no day. Yeah.
00:14:36
Speaker
Yeah. Mine were $250 for just that big. $250 pop? $250 pop. was $1,300. Mine are $175 each. So...
00:14:47
Speaker
so Listen, I know that's, that's, that's rough. But again, I would tell you again, I'm sure Trevor's thinking the same thing. If he's not going to be back for a couple of years, yeah it's almost kind of worth it.
00:14:59
Speaker
it' No, it is. This is absolutely worth it because my brother and I agreed we are doing all this stuff because this is the only thing. This is a once in a lifetime trip for the two of us. Hagrid's is the only thing you got to worry about. Really? Yeah. Yeah.
00:15:12
Speaker
And i'm I'm not that worried about Hagrid's. I'm just wanting to make sure that I did. Did see today, though? I was thinking that that there should be a new um part of the show where it's, what did you see on the Internet today?
00:15:25
Speaker
i kind of like that as a second. I kind of like that. There was two things that I saw and not. And listen, I'm not saying like random stuff. I'm saying like based on some sort of amusement park, right? Like at least funnel it down to amusement park. Context to our show topics kind of stuff. yeah Ish. Let's say ish, right? So the two things that I saw, did you guys see how packed Epic was? Excuse me, not Epic.
00:15:48
Speaker
Epcot was yesterday. No. I saw tons of pictures of people. It was like wall to wall. Oh, really? Spring break. Spring break. Oh, gosh. That's why. yeah It was insane. And I said, there is no way you could get me to go to a park this.
00:16:02
Speaker
that. I mean, during spring break is like the absolute worst time to go. and and what I guess what kind of led me to think about this was the second part of it was I saw today that Hagrid's was up to like 190. And I was like, oh that kind of hurts. So, okay.
00:16:17
Speaker
okay All right. let Let's talk about that for a second because um so so this is a thought exercise now because I'm going to be there and What's the number?
00:16:31
Speaker
What's your number? Yeah, so this is the thing. It's going to be just my brother and I. So it's just it's not like I'm dealing with a family. It's just the two of us. And which basically how long but Yeah, but but how long would...
00:16:43
Speaker
would still seem reasonable to stand in line. Like I'm still of the opinion, like anything over 45 minutes for me is like, nah, that's too long. I can do an hour 15 is mine. I think an hour is my hour. But if it's Hagrid's and I know like, I can't, I can't express pass it. I can't, you know, it's,
00:17:01
Speaker
the The line is long. How many days are you going to Universal again, Trevor? We're going be there. We're going to have two days in Universal. so I wonder, with everything at Universal and the fact that you're not... Well, you said you could get Fast Passes maybe for a day. You don't know?
00:17:17
Speaker
Well, i'm I'm thinking... That's what I'm debating right now. is get like Do I just buy the Express Passes just to... For the day? Yeah, just to have them for whatever day. kind of would because I don't think that you could do...
00:17:30
Speaker
everything at the park in two days if you haven't been there in a long time. Like for me, like I was looking the last time we were there, like there's things we could skip because it was there.
00:17:40
Speaker
Yeah, I was there. But for you i mean, yeah, that like, yeah, we're we're, we are very targeted and like we're after the big roller coasters and stuff. The Loser Coaster is on Express Pass now. So there's that. and Okay.
00:17:51
Speaker
That by itself, I think is a win. I think Hagrid's might be like one of the only rides that's not on Express Pass. Probably because it breaks down all the time.
00:18:02
Speaker
i mean, maybe. i mean, Tom has to sneak that hate in there. No, no, no, not at all. I think it i i think that's the legitimate problem. of ah like Okay. so So assuming I have an express pass. Yep. And if Hagrid's was still up at like, you know, pushing pushing an hour and a half, like.
00:18:20
Speaker
think you just rope drop that. You could certainly try. Okay. And and here's here's the other rub with that. Rope dropping is actually very hard for me because – because of the time change, yeah. Because of the time change. Not only that, but he's not truly rope dropping when you think about it because he's not there. Like if it opens at 8 and he gets there at 9 when you know people that aren't staying at the park, it's not rope dropping. You have to get there much earlier. can't get in because everyone from Universal Hotels will be there. So he can't actually rope drop. So then when does it not be ah of a benefit, right? Like it's, it hits a point where.
00:18:56
Speaker
I think what people are saying is that, and here's the other kind of rub is that from what I understand, like said, I haven't been on yet, but again, just reading the internet stuff. I love the internet is that the ride is supposedly a lot better at night.
00:19:10
Speaker
So you don't even have the ability to like, Oh, I'm going to shut it down at night when people go home because people specifically wait to ride that ride at night. Interesting. Yeah.
00:19:21
Speaker
If you do it at night, though, you're you're definitely gambling, right? Because like what if it does go down for hours at a time and then you're just stuck? like you know And then it's like, am i am I hanging around? Yeah.
00:19:32
Speaker
I think if you hit Velocicoaster and you miss Hagrid's, I still think it's a win of a trip for you. I'm thinking the same thing, to be honest with you, Trevor. like I want to do Hagrid's, but i I've heard Velocicoaster is the best coaster ever.
00:19:46
Speaker
So I'm okay if I hit Velocicoaster and miss Hagrid's. I'm not going to be that upset. Yeah, but it's still it's an interesting thing, right? You know, talking about, like you said, spring break and like seeing how bad it can really get. Like in a month, it'll be different.
00:20:02
Speaker
But I'm also wondering because of it butting up against Epic Universe, it may actually be worse because or well, do you think it do you think it would be worse because there will be a subsection of people? Like when I planned my trip, I was not thinking about Epic Universe at all. But do you think that there's people that are going now trying to get in the trip before Epic Universe opens?
00:20:25
Speaker
Does that make sense? I don't necessarily think so. I get what you're saying. I don't think so. I don't think Epic Universe, because you can't go whenever you want still, I don't think that's going to – people are going to have to do the other parks. You can't just be like, hey, I'm going and I'm going to go to Epic Universe for four days. You can't do that.
00:20:41
Speaker
So I don't think it's going to be, it's going to impact a lot. I mean, to listen, I think you're goingnna have a fun trip. The question really comes down to, you know, how bad do you need to ride Hagrid's?
00:20:53
Speaker
I mean, I heard it's good, but I don't need to like, I don't you think it's that much different than other coasters you've been on. Yeah. I mean, unlike Tom, I don't hate Harry Potter.
00:21:05
Speaker
So still, yeah, it's still just so crazy to me, but okay. Yeah. Sorry, Tom. This is the new meme. You you started this, so you you have to deal with this now. that' um um i we've gone through We've gone from not riding Space Mountain to you hate Harry Potter.
00:21:18
Speaker
I've always hated Harry Potter. This is not news. Yeah, but but it's a new thing on the podcast. Yeah.
00:21:26
Speaker
I thought I said it previously. You may have. think we may have ignored it just because we were talking about Universal. It was such a ridiculous take. If Disney had Harry Potter, I'd still hate Harry Potter. No, that's true. It's a ridiculous take. It's like hating. I'm trying to think of something else that's at that same level.
00:21:45
Speaker
yeah so so you You talking about all your stuff, Damon, this is actually like, I need to go into some work now when we're done with podcasts. You have some homework. Yeah, I need to get little bit of homework, man.
00:21:55
Speaker
Yeah, you do. Okay.
Booking Challenges at Disneyland Hotel
00:21:57
Speaker
Well, Trevor, you also wanted to talk about Booking on Disneyland. Yeah. Yeah, so so also, so outside of this trip that i'm we have coming up, um my wife and I have been talking about we wanted to go to Disneyland in like close to Christmas time. So um this one is still kind of fuzzy. Like we're we're not sure yet if we're going to take this trip because it is closer to the end of the year.
00:22:20
Speaker
And we're kind of waiting to see how things play out throughout the year here. um But we did i did book a um room at the Disneyland Hotel.
00:22:32
Speaker
So um for anybody that is wondering about this, like I was wondering about this months ago is, you know, how feasible is it to book the seven month window at the Disneyland Hotel?
00:22:43
Speaker
And I will say it was actually like looking at the availability. um it was really good. So, so the Disneyland hotel has actually, i think, solved a problem at, at Disneyland that, you know, for, as a DVC member, you know, it was basically forget it. Like you're not staying at, at a DVC hotel because um Grand Californian is, it's still awful. Like I, and so when I looked at it,
00:23:10
Speaker
Getting my, my booking at the Disneyland hotel, super easy. Got, I'm only there for four days. So we're we're actually going from a Monday to a Friday because you don't need quite nearly as much time in Disneyland. And so, so we're, we're keeping it as a bit of a shorter trip and,
00:23:25
Speaker
Um, so we got the Monday to the Friday, no problem. But then I started looking at, like my wife said, you know I'd like to stay at the grand Californian. And so I started looking at rooms and there was only one day available in like the middle of the week.
00:23:41
Speaker
And everything else was waitlist all the way up to the end of December. So like, so yeah, not, not even like, it wasn't even like, oh, you know, just my week is busy or, you know, you know, around the seven month window is busy.
00:23:51
Speaker
No, it's just flat booked. Like, like people, people book that up. Even like, I think getting at 11 months is even hard to do from the looks of it. so interesting So, yeah. and And we had talked about, you know, in the past, you know, would would the Disneyland Hotel opening up make the Grand Californian easier to book? The answer is no.
00:24:14
Speaker
It's not. At least right now, it's not. so So that that was interesting. I'm still going to wait list it. I'm going to see if i can you know if we can possibly get in there. i'll i'll I'll come back with you know if we do manage to get a wait list in there or not. But as it stands right now, I'm at least happy that having an option on the West Coast is is good. like it's It's good that that you can...
00:24:38
Speaker
you can at the very least get into one of the hotels. I, like my wife kind of balked at when I said, well, we're going to the the Disneyland hotel. She was like, Oh, because it's the furthest hotel away.
00:24:51
Speaker
And if you if you know how Disneyland's laid out, it is not, or it's the furthest walking and there's no buses or anything. The closest is you do have the monorail, but that really only gets you into Disneyland. It doesn't help you with California adventure.
00:25:05
Speaker
So, you know, knowing all that, it's like, yeah, that's it's fine. It's not that big of a deal. But yeah ideally, getting the Grand Californian would be like like that is the prime real estate because it does have the direct access to Grand or to to California Adventure.
00:25:23
Speaker
And it's, you know, very, very, yeah very close to the front entrance to Disneyland. So, OK. you know, it is what it is. But yeah, so i do have another trip booked this year, which feels kind of weird because it's been i have done two trips in a year previously, but it's been more than five years since I've done it. So, um yeah, I'm kind of kind of excited about it, but still kind of waiting to see how things play out if I get what I want.
00:25:52
Speaker
I'm going to need so much help when I go next year. Well, yeah, we we can talk about it when you get there. You're to need a handhold there. and Yeah, man. And point-wise, it was – so for those four days, it only cost me – actually went with a premium view room because I figured, why not?
00:26:09
Speaker
well It cost me 92 points. that's So are you telling me that I really should rethink and maybe use points out there? You got might want to, Damon. I'm against this, but I think you're going to talk me into it now.
00:26:22
Speaker
I'm just saying it like for, for four days, it was pretty cheap. Like I didn't even have to go to my second contract and yes yeah. Yeah. Okay.
00:26:33
Speaker
Just saying. I'll be excited for the episodes next year when Damon's planning this and you walking him through this. Yeah. It's going to be fun. it's It's going to be such a movie driving cross country for sure.
00:26:45
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I feel like you need to do like a podcast while you're driving across the country. could you imagine? think it'd be awesome, actually. The ultimate Damon detour. or Or at least just do voice notes as you're going so we can let yeah compile it all together. like could maybe Maybe I'll call into WHP tips.
00:27:03
Speaker
There you go. Actually, you know what? That'd be kind of funny. I'm just imagining you going like day three. I hate all my children. don't want to, I don't want cancel this vacation immediately. We've made such like, like I've made such a big deal about it.
00:27:23
Speaker
And like the kids are totally like, we're not doing it. We're not doing that. It's like, no we would have 100% done this. like yeah We didn't like if COVID didn't happen, it was on our list of things to do. So yeah, it was funny though. But they're like, it's not happening at all now. Like I'll make it happen. Like, like if that's the case, but yeah, we're going to Dallas first. Everyone like besides me and somebody else, they're going to Dallas and we're,
00:27:48
Speaker
driving from dallas i mean i'll be driving north carolina yeah but not everybody you can have like an rv or you're just doing like a van trip like ah just a van trip yeah okay because again if we're like again if there's only two of us driving from nc to dallas yeah and then dallas tell it Yeah. Yeah. So we'll see.
00:28:09
Speaker
Before we move on here, I just want to tell something that I thought was kind of funny today. i was I drove my daughter to a birthday party and she said, i was asking her about if she was excited for the cruise, you know, for the Disney cruise. And she goes, yeah, I'm really excited to see the Grand Canyon.
00:28:21
Speaker
And I said, what now? Yeah. like You're excited to see the Grand Canyon? She's like, yeah, the Grand Canyon. I was like, but we're we're not seeing the Grand Canyon. And she goes, Mommy told me we're seeing the Grand Canyon. I'm like, okay. And I'm thinking about this, and I'm like, oh.
00:28:35
Speaker
Grand Cayman? Grand Cayman. I was like, oh, okay. Does she think the Grand Canyon's in the ocean? but I just thought that was hilarious because I was like, came and yeah. So anyway, ah but do we want to do ad and then we'll do all the other stuff we actually planned for this episode? Yeah, let's let's do an ad and then I think we should at least go through one or two of the listener questions. Yeah, let's see where we go from there.
00:28:59
Speaker
Yeah, let's let's do that. I think it's me. think it's you this week because last week's ad was unhinged, I remember. Ah, yes. I actually said in the Discord, and this was true, Damon, that this that was the hardest you've ever made me laugh on the show. i you would really forgot what I even said.
00:29:14
Speaker
You were just doing little... Oh, yeah, Yeah, that was fun. Sponsored for this episode is DVC Resale Market. DVC Resale Market, a world of DVC company, is the leader in the DVC resale industry with 13 former Disney Vacation Club guides and three former Disney Vacation Club quality assurance managers.
00:29:34
Speaker
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. If you're thinking of selling, turn to the friendly professionals at DVC Resale Market, where over 98% listings sell within 30 days.
00:29:47
Speaker
In
DVC Resale Market App Features
00:29:48
Speaker
2024, DVC Resale Market helped over 4,400 families join or add on to their memberships. Go to DVCResaleMarket.com slash welcome home or call 1-844-DVC-PROS. That's 1-844-382-7767. And we speak to them. Be sure to let them know that Welcome Home sent you.
00:30:04
Speaker
I do also want to mention, too, that our friends over at DVC Resale Market have launched a new app. So I used their app before, right? i don't know if you guys have ever. did Trevor, did you use the app? Yeah, I did. I did use their app. I was keeping track of some some contracts at one point.
00:30:19
Speaker
Well, so they revamped the entire thing, right? So they like redid the entire thing and they just released it. And now it's like way easier to use. It's got a better interface. it You can track things better. You can get like real time.
00:30:32
Speaker
alerts and stuff like that. ah you know you can manage it You can actually like put all your DVC contracts in there and you can like watch the value of your contracts. like You can see you know what what the value of your contracts are. So in case you do decide you want to sell at some point, you know exactly what your value is.
00:30:47
Speaker
So it's really cool. You've real-time notifications, like I said. You can save searches again. You can customizable you know settings and things like that. So I highly recommend if you're like a DVC resale person, check it out because it's a really well-done app. they they Like I said, they recently redid it. so what even if you're not Even if you're not a DVC resale person, if you're still just like kind of figuring out DVC, yeah yeah it is a good place with a lot of information because...
00:31:15
Speaker
you know Disney will tell you about how to buy things direct, but the resale market has a lot of advantages to it. It does. Yeah, apps like this are a great way to understand what the but the lay of the land really is.
00:31:27
Speaker
Agreed. Agreed. So yeah, check that out. Let us know if you check it out. So we got a couple listener questions, and i don't I say we pick just because of all the other stuff we were talking about today. Let's just pick one. um So ah kind of like Jason's question.
00:31:42
Speaker
But, you know, Philip's question was from last week, and I also... I mean, i we could probably say both. i mean, I don't know. If we want to. So, why don't we do... um Yeah, I think we can do Philip and Jason's questions. Because this is a question I've always had, though, too. So Philip says, it may be too late for this week, but I have a DVC question while this was last week. So thanks, Philip.
00:32:02
Speaker
ah When you select a reservation for a wait list, what's the rationale, advantage, disadvantage for having having it canceled within 30 days or seven days? Why is that an option? You know, it's funny. I've always wondered this. I'm like, why wouldn't I do seven days?
00:32:15
Speaker
You know, like, wi why would I do 30 days instead of seven days for a wait list? I've never really come up with a good explanation in my head for it. I mean, i guess the way I can see it is on the 30 day, it does give you more room to pivot. If there, if you had something else in mind, yeah um, waiting till the last seven days means you don't have any time to react because everything is booked up. So, so 30 day is, you know, if I guess if your plans are, ah you know, a little bit looser, if you're more flexible with, uh, whatever you're doing, um,
00:32:49
Speaker
I think the 30 day leans more into, you know, you just know that you're going to, or I guess a good example is, you know, you had somewhere booked like, you know, a Grand Floridian or something, but you knew that, you know, what past a certain point you'll just stay at, or you'll just try and and, you know, get in at like Saratoga or something. Right. But yeah, let's, or let's say, okay, I guess the scenario there is like, you have another hotel booked, you have one waitlisted booked, but then you have a third backup option.
00:33:20
Speaker
So the 30 days means you didn't get your wait list, but you could still cancel your reservation and go for the other option like Saratoga. yeah Right. So I can see that. And then um also things like um your points go into holding um if you cancel ah correct me if I'm wrong. Yeah. If you if if you cancel a yeah a reservation, your points get put on hold for a certain amount of time. Right.
00:33:48
Speaker
ah Yeah, they go in the holding account. Yeah. so again, the 30 day thing could be the difference between losing your points and versus being able to use them elsewhere, right? I i guess that you see the thing is, yeah. So anytime you cancel, ah ah so a holding basically anytime you cancel or modify a reservation from 30 days to one day before your schedule, check in date, right? So then they they put those points in a holding account, right?
00:34:17
Speaker
yeah And then you have to use those within the use year. like You can't then go and you know do that. So you use those, you know, you can't like go and but bank them or whatever. Right. So you have to use them.
00:34:28
Speaker
You have to use them by the end of your use year or else they just expire. ah But yeah, I mean, I guess that's probably why the 30 day option exists. Right. Is, but yeah, I don't know. For me, like I'm always anytime I have a wait list out there, it's because it's going to replace another resort.
00:34:42
Speaker
Right. Like right now I have a reservation at Wilderness Lodge for the weekend. You and I are going to see each other, Trevor. And I have a wait list out for the Pauly Tower because I want to stay in the Island Tower. Right. But if I don't get it, whatever.
00:34:56
Speaker
already got the Wilderness Lodge one, you know, like so I don't really care. If I don't get it or not, I would love to get it It would be cool if I got it, but you know, probably not going to get it, although it's only one night, so it's still possible.
00:35:08
Speaker
And truthfully, in the past, I've never relied on wait lists for anything, right? Like I, we have talked about this before. I am a ah reservation or booking tool stalker, right? Like, cause you can just go and you can like literally just keep getting refreshed and then, you know, it's all day. And then eventually you get a cancellation that pops up and it and you'll, you'll see it before it even hits ah the waitlist people, you know, and you can book it real fast. And I've done that.
00:35:34
Speaker
pretty much every time I've ever booked DVC reservation. So yeah, I mean, I don't know. I just, I, for me, I always selected seven days because I don't really care. Like it's not going to mess up my plans if I have to, you know, stay at poly or if have to stay at Wilders Lodge is instead of staying at poly, you know?
00:35:51
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah, like I get that. But like I said, I feel like this is more aimed at, you know, like we talked about uh, I feel like there there is scenarios where you're not... yeah Like, seven days is too tight of a window for a cancellation.
00:36:07
Speaker
Yeah, I get it. So... Yeah. But yeah, I get what you're saying. is Yeah. Yeah. I'm the same way that most the time it's, I already know what I'm doing well before then. So the 30 days versus seven days doesn't matter, but yeah not everybody uses their DVC contracts the same way. So I think hopefully that gives at least some insight into why they offer those fill up. And yeah, you know, it's not, it's not for everybody. Yeah.
00:36:30
Speaker
I really like Jason's question because this made me think a lot and I don't feel like you've ever answered the show this question on the show, which is favorite cue at Disney World. I mean, i thought about this a lot.
00:36:42
Speaker
i have I have an answer that is very specific to the music in the cue, but I don't know that I have a cue that is like, this is my favorite cue ever because I like a lot of the different cues for different reasons.
00:36:57
Speaker
It's funny you say that because ah my answer was almost going to be Soarin' for the music and the and the vibe, but there's not really anything else special about that except for the music, right? like so like but yeah So I felt like that almost a not a not the best answer, but maybe that's your answer. I don't know. but It's not. Okay, so so what is what is your favorite cue then since you...
00:37:16
Speaker
ah I am going to say that my favorite cue is Toy Story Midway Mania because of all of the references to toys and all of like the little details within the cue.
00:37:31
Speaker
And then also mr Potato Head when he's working is is very cool. i I will say if I was going to, I would also put Flight of Passage up there because Flight of Passage is an excellent cue as well.
00:37:44
Speaker
yeah ah But, you know, that one's that one's definitely up there because there's a lot of cool stuff going on in that one. um But for me, i don't i don't know what it is about Toy Story. It's just that there's all that stuff in there and the music and it just really gets you in a good place for the ride, you know?
00:38:00
Speaker
Yeah, I get that. Okay, so what's yours? Okay, so mine, so it's not the most interactive queue, at least not anymore. it was better at one point, but Space Mountain, um that so so you know you're talking about like a queue that like gets you amped up for the ride.
00:38:21
Speaker
For me, the vibe of Space Mountain is like it's it's just right for that particular ride. And the music they have going, it's it's based off of – I can't remember. There was another attraction that the music came from.
00:38:36
Speaker
um and then And then there was like like an instrumental version that got worked into Space mountain which is – it's the cue music that you hear now. And and I'm blanking on the name of it It's like Starport or Starscape or something like that.
00:38:48
Speaker
Yeah. um But that music, like as you're walking down the very long hallway – that like you know everybody knows, that especially if you're on the FastPass side, like you're you're booking it down this hallway, and it looks like like a Star Trek like corridor kind of thing.
00:39:05
Speaker
And the music is just very space, almost kind of mystical. yeah um just It hits that vibe right. like like That is just Space Mountain, and it totally fits the queue, and it makes me happy every time I go down that or through that queue because you know, what's coming.
00:39:25
Speaker
Right. like And, and yeah, it's, it's space mountain. And and know I know, know you don't like space mountain the same way that I do, but I love, enjoyed space mountain. I like it. Yeah. The queue for me is just like like, there's not a lot to it, but it hits that vibe just right of being, being the right queue for that ride. Yeah.
00:39:46
Speaker
But outside of that, you know, other cues that are very impressive that I enjoy. ah The Peter Pan cue is very cool. I like the redone one. Yes. Yeah. I like a lot of the interactive stuff in there. it's It's a very fun, like it's a cue that you don't feel bad for standing in because it does have a lot of interesting stuff, which, you know, is a lot of the cues now. But that's one of the first examples of it. and And I do really like how they did it.
00:40:11
Speaker
Um, the guardians of the galaxy queue, I think is very cool just because, um, same thing, like you said with the, you know, with the, the toy story queue, there is a lot of like neat Easter eggs and stuff in it. And just like how they have all the, um, there's all these like models of, of Xandar and stuff. So it's like, again, a lot of like really cool detail. It's not interactive, but it's an interesting queue. So those are, those are probably my top picks for queues at, uh, at Disney world. i think that's I think those are good picks. I i like those picks. i you know I agree with you. And and two to a certain extent, you know i actually really enjoy the small world queue just because of like maybe it's just a nostalgia thing. I don't know.
00:40:56
Speaker
But like all the movement in it and just all the Mary Blair stuff. and like it's yeah I don't know. you know it's it just is Maybe it's the thing I just remember from childhood. And of course, you know my favorite ride to Disney is Big Thunder. And Big Thunder's queue also very fun again. And that one's a little interactive, right?
00:41:14
Speaker
ah But like the the part I like about it the most is that you can like look out and see other people riding the ride and it's just the theming. And there's also like this really cool story behind big Thunder Mountain that you kind of get bits and pieces of as you walk through the queue.
00:41:27
Speaker
Like that is like the classic Disney stuff that I really love. ah Because, you know they all these you know, a lot of these newer queues are more like high tech. There's more, you know, there's a lot more going on. And then that one is just so simple. You know, there's just little posters on the wall and there's, you know, stupid little things you get to play with, you know, yeah but they're not. All the hand cranks and stuff like that. exactly yeah but no i i think i think my my favorite is toy story and i like i said i i also love soren too just for the ambiance like i feel like soren gets you really in the mood for soren you know like you know anyway uh all right so thanks for those questions this week guys keep sending us to your questions we like answering stuff like this so
00:42:05
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, this is an interesting one for me, Trevor, because we're we're getting our first look now. And this is you can almost call this DVC news, maybe because, you know, there is part of the Grand Flaherty and that is DVC. Right. So, yeah.
00:42:20
Speaker
ah
Grand Floridian Renovation Plans
00:42:21
Speaker
The Grand Floridian has been going... There's been a talk of ah a lobby renovation for in the Grand Floridian for ah long time now, right? And they even did some work.
00:42:32
Speaker
right like they They did do some work in this lobby, but now they're they've finally announced the full... redo of this lobby and the interesting thing to me is that i remember and i said this in the discord there were a lot of people a lot of blogs that were very mad about this because there was a lot of rumors that this was going to go ip heavy right that they were going to put like a lot of ip into this lobby where where there really isn't any now you know but now we're getting our first look at the design and there's no ip whatsoever from what i can see
00:43:07
Speaker
Yeah, i'm I'm looking at it right now and and, you know, thinking about you saying there's IP, I'm like, where no ip but no there's no IP. There's no obvious IP besides the particular concept art has a little girl holding a mini plush. But that's not it. It's just concept art.
00:43:27
Speaker
But yeah yeah, I mean, it's and listen, maybe Disney never intended to fill this with IP and it was just Internet chatter. Or maybe they looked at it and saw that people were like, well, now IP is getting into everything. Like maybe we should pull it back. Like maybe they don't need it in every hotel.
00:43:43
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Maybe they decided to pull it back. I mean, listen, this this concept art looks great to me. ah it It very much fits the the vibe that exists there. it's It's a lot more modern. It just, you know, it needs a redo. I mean, the Grand Floridian's been open since 88.
00:43:59
Speaker
eighty eight I mean, it's it's getting up there, you know? um So, yeah, redo this thing. make And, you know, it is it is their top-level resort. So, you know, it's it's the best.
00:44:10
Speaker
I mean, i don't know if you call it the best one or not, but it's, you know, they present it as one of the high end ones. yes they They always present it as the most luxurious one. Right. So, yeah. So like, I mean, that basically they're keeping a lot of the stuff. Really. The only thing that they're seemingly adding is this bar, which, so they're adding a lobby bar that is ah inspired by the lobbies, ah the already existing bird cage that's in the lobby.
00:44:35
Speaker
right So if you go in there, you know there's the birdcage there. ah Now they're going to build a bar that's inspired by that. And it's going to have some stained glass and murals and and stuff like that.
00:44:46
Speaker
and And also, of course, the birdcage is still staying. right So they're still going to have the birdcage with the elevator there. um But I mean, look, it this actually seems like it really fits Grand Flirty into me. it it looks I think it looks very good.
00:45:00
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I guess my initial reaction to it was... i are I guess, to be fair, I said, what are they changing? like it yeah you What are they changing? yeah It didn't look too different to me, but but I will admit I've not spent a lot of time in the Grand Floridian either.
00:45:20
Speaker
um So i I guess I don't know the the level of detail, but I guess the one thing I'll say is that, like to your point about it's been open for a long time and the lobby kind of shows that is, ah you know, looking at...
00:45:33
Speaker
current picks versus what they're proposing here. i feel like they are, they're definitely, you're right. It is being modernized, but I feel like maybe they took some, um, feedback that, um you know, not, it's not about necessarily modernizing, but I feel like this may end up being a little bit more timeless.
00:45:53
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. Like it, it, it feels to me like, um, That, you know, the the the elements that they're putting in, like the chairs and everything, they're pretty similar to what's there today, but they're just getting everything to a point where I think that, you know, this is a ah good example of a resort that they can do this renovation and then they don't have to touch it again for another 30 years and, you know, it looks fine. It functions fine. And, you know, you don't have to mess with it. Like like not everything needs to be messed with is I guess maybe the takeaway from this is, you know, doing fix ups, keeping things, you know, clean and whatnot is good. You know, you know, fresh coat of paint and all that.
00:46:36
Speaker
But it really didn't need to be messed with all that much. Yeah, agreed. you know that That versus you know hearing the the rumors about, you know oh, they're going to IP it and stuff. you know Maybe Disney realized, no, you don't need to IP it. Just make it very definitively the Grand Floridian and that's enough. It'll it'll work.
00:46:58
Speaker
the The one thing that I think is... I think it's kind of weird, but also ah it's not that weird is the bar becoming kind of a centerpiece.
00:47:10
Speaker
Yeah. It's kind of an interesting choice because i'm just looking at other Disney hotels and, they're not big on selling like like they, the other ones do definitely have bars in them in various places or lounges and whatnot, but it's not quite so front and center is the thing. That's true.
00:47:28
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. So, I mean, that's interesting, but you know, I would hope that you're not getting like, you know, people drunk off their feet. No, its iridian that this more seems to me like somebody's just like grabbing a drink and then sitting in the lobby, listening to the piano player. You know what I mean? And I don't have any problem with that. Like, and I, it's, it's the, the whole upscale vibe of, of grand Floridian, right? Like, I think, I actually think it makes sense for them to put a bar there to be totally honest because it, but you're right. It it does look a little bit weird. Cause it's just like a random bars there.
00:48:00
Speaker
Right. I guess it's just like I'm thinking about the other hotels and and again, correct me if I'm wrong. I'll admit like I I'm not spent a ton of time in all of the hotels, but the ones that I have been in like Wilderness Lodge and Contemporary and Pauly and like all the other deluxe resorts.
00:48:21
Speaker
I can't recall there being like an obvious, but like there is bars and whatnot, but it's not like in the middle of the lobby. Right. Like it's just, it's, it's just odd for me. And I, and I don't want to say like, Oh, I don't want to be that person, but I feel like I i feel like it's weird for Disney to have a bar in their lobby. Like, like it doesn't feel like a Disney thing, except,
00:48:47
Speaker
It is, right? Like, it's not yeah or it's not it's not that there's any rule against Disney having a bar in their lobby, right? Well, yeah, and I mean, this this also could just come from a demand of the clientele that stay at this resort, you know i mean?
00:49:01
Speaker
this There is a specific clientele that stays at this resort, and I mean, I know... a few people that stay there and i know for a fact that they would probably appreciate a bar in the lobby you know um so yeah i mean listen it's not for everybody because not everybody's big into drinking or you know having having drinks and uh and that's fine right like but and i to me this doesn't ruin anything though it it fits in it's it's not like it's a sports bar right like it's one of those things you're gonna go up have a drink and then you know probably leave yeah Yeah, that's fair. i mean I mean, the fact that aesthetically it is very well blended into the rest of the lobby is good. You're right. It's you know it's not like there's modders up and they're running like you know whatever football game's on or something. like Yeah, exactly.
00:49:46
Speaker
It's not going to ruin the ambiance. It fill it fits with the ambiance. It does look classy in it. And like you said, it it it's probably to fill that niche of, you know, hey, I'm waiting for my room or I'm waiting for a reservation, sit at the bar, listen to the piano player, just, you know, hanging out in the bar or hanging out in the lobby is something that some people like to do. So...
00:50:08
Speaker
Yeah, it makes sense. And and like I said, it it just it threw me off at first when it was like yeah it it was kind of like one of the big selling points of it. And I was like, oh, that's that's different.
00:50:20
Speaker
I wasn't expecting that. It does fit. It fits nicely with the theming, though. ah One of the things that, though, we we are losing with this and not losing permanently. i think this is just temporary, right?
00:50:31
Speaker
ah Because they're going to be doing construction on the lobby all this year. We're not going to have the ah traditional gingerbread house. And I think people that know, you know, Disney stuff know that that the Grand Floridian Gingerbread House is kind of a mainstay, right? I mean, it's it's the way it would it's been there for 25 years. I mean, they've literally been doing it for 25 years. And then this year, it's it's not going to happen because of...
00:50:55
Speaker
the construction, which listen, I understand. Like, and I understand why you might be upset about it too. You know, like I, I get it. Like it's a bummer, but it it'll be back.
00:51:06
Speaker
You know? Yeah. It's like I said, it's, you don't want dusty gingerbread. No, no. You know, and I feel like it's one of those things too, that if, especially if they're doing construction, it like a ginger I know it like the gingerbread house is very well designed and all that, but if they're working on stuff and like there's stuff vibrating, like you know like tools and lobbying stuff, yeah the gingerbread house is going to fall apart. like like Stuff will fall off the gingerbread house from from like like vibration because royal icing is not that stable.
00:51:40
Speaker
yeah I know they do a good job with it, but it's still not... it's not You know, it's it's not like actual brick and mortar. So I get why they would choose not to do that. And and I'm glad that they also were upfront about it.
00:51:54
Speaker
That, you know, there's there's nobody. There's no way that anybody who's paying attention to this stuff should be surprised that there's no gingerbread house this year. The one thing I would offer is that um a lot of the other resorts do have gingerbread houses. It's just the Grand Floridian one kind of.
00:52:11
Speaker
It's iconic. Takes the spotlight. Yeah. Yeah. It's iconic. But maybe this is a good opportunity for some of the other resorts to, you know, really have some interesting showcases this year. Yeah. Yeah.
00:52:22
Speaker
I agree with that. ah Yeah. I mean, listen, i again, they're still probably going to sell all the treats and stuff like they sell. They're just not going to have the house and they'll bring it back. And, you know, it's it's sometimes you got to do this stuff to to do renovations.
00:52:35
Speaker
And truthfully, listen, we don't know for sure that this isn't coming back. They might change their mind or make maybe they finish early and they do it. Who knows? They they could you know still do it. It doesn't mean they're not going to do it, but they they probably won't.
00:52:46
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I think it's just accepted. It won't be there this year, but I would be concerned if, if they were talking about not coming back next year, but then, you know, that would be the longest lobby renovation of all time though. Yeah. And, and people would really be up in arms. I think at that, at that point, because it it is one of those things, like you said, it's, it's a pretty iconic part of staying at that resort at Christmas time.
00:53:09
Speaker
Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. All right, so let's let's wrap this up with ah some talk about Disneyland Paris. we
Disneyland Paris New Attractions
00:53:16
Speaker
We'll go across the across the ah across the ocean here. and talk because Because they are working on something called Disney Adventure Worlds, which is ah ah basically a new park, but also they're you know doing some some updates around here too.
00:53:29
Speaker
the The really interesting thing is the whole back the the Hollywood Studios thing that they tried to do at Disneyland Paris was not well-received.
00:53:41
Speaker
And in fact, if you if you watch the Imagineering story, current head of of im Imagineering, Bruce Vaughn, said when he first saw it, he was like, is this like a backstage area? like he was Because it was so unthemed. And listen, Disney built it fast and cheap because I believe they needed to build a new land within a certain amount of time where they were going to lose the lease or something like that.
00:54:03
Speaker
there was there was a thing There was a legal thing associated with it where they had to do it. and if they They just had to fill example. basically yeah like they just had to do it right so and and look not great right but so now we have the there's going to be some a new area called disney adventure worlds right and uh in this area called world premiere which is basically there's going to be some different things going on here ah one of the things that i you know and i i talked about this on the episode last week
00:54:34
Speaker
and I'm not a fan of this generally, right? Is that they're, they're doing a new up ride, right? They've never done anything with up, right? They're doing a ride with up, but it's an off the shelf. It's an off the shelf flat ride. It's they, they literally just did an off the shelf, off the shelf swings, right? The, I, I'm trying to think. Yeah, actually.
00:54:54
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. that It's a home. Yeah, i can or yeah it's it's a it's a swing ride, and I'm trying to think what the proper term for it is. but yeah Yeah, me too.
00:55:06
Speaker
but But basically, this one is a clone of the ah um the Inside Out ride in California Adventure, except it's up-themed. It's basically a flat ride that you see at almost every amusement park. and yeah like It's it's a really straight. It's the you know just the swings. But I mean, they are theming it to up.
00:55:24
Speaker
Okay, fine. And listen, i I said this you know last week. I don't love the flat ride where you just theme it up a little bit, especially at a new area. But you know it is what it is. it's It's not the worst thing in the world that they could have. They need to have rides that are...
00:55:42
Speaker
you know, the A ticket attractions, you know, the B ticket attractions, they, not everything's going to be an E ticket. Right. Yeah. So, so this is called, or I'm just looking for it. I think the closest thing to this is a flying swing or flying swings.
00:56:00
Speaker
Yeah. it's probably the closest description for this, but yeah, it's, it doesn't feel great that, you know, that especially, let, let, let's, let's just,
00:56:12
Speaker
Let's just call this what it is. They are selling two new rides as part of this this update. that They're doing a Lion King ride and they're doing an upride.
00:56:26
Speaker
They're doing the Tangle teacups too. ah Yes. Okay, so all of these rides are, from what I can see, they are effectively just clones of rides that we have in North America. Which...
00:56:39
Speaker
is fine. yeah You know, it is Paris, you know, they don't have like, that there's nothing saying that they shouldn't get, you know, equivalent rides because, you know, it's not like, or they don't have like Disneyland there pro or, they you know, they do, but it's different. Yeah.
00:56:55
Speaker
Yeah. But they, they, you know, they don't always have a lot of these things. The thing is, is that these, these attractions, you know they're definitely selling to people that are in Europe, but But for the rest of us that you know have access to the other Disney parks in North America, like the Lion King ride is just looks like Tiana's. It doesn't look like anything you're different than Tiana. Other than, yeah, they're going to have some some different animatronics and stuff. Fine.
00:57:23
Speaker
And then you're telling me that a a flying swing ride... you know it's it's an upride, but it could be anything. It's very like, okay, guys. like i mean yeah like Try. but yeah Disney does the same thing that that you know other parks are doing. i mean Listen, everyone does it. Universal does it too. and they i mean They even have some of the stuff in there in an Epic Universe, which it's off-the-shelf flat rides that they just theme up a little bit. Right. And that's yeah again, it's fine.
00:57:55
Speaker
It's these we talked about this many times, Trevor. You need people eater stuff, right? Like you do need stuff that is simple and not not everything's an e-ticket. That's just how it is. you And sometimes it's fine that it's, you know, it's 20 minute wait and gives you gives you something to do while you're waiting for your dinner reservation or whatever.
00:58:14
Speaker
It's interesting they call it a spinning carousel because I've never heard it called that before. Because, I mean, why would you call it a spinning carousel? A carousel already spins. um Yeah. Yeah. but I mean.
00:58:25
Speaker
yeah Yeah. But like I said, I looked it up and yeah, that those types of rides to have like it. There's 10 different names for it. Yeah. Yeah. There are. Yeah. I'm not as down about this Lion King ride as I feel like you are, because I don't know if it's really like a ah Splash Mountain Tiana clone or not.
00:58:43
Speaker
It very much looks like it to me. Yes, it does. Yes, it feels. So looking at the second article you you posted for, you know, giving in-depth look at it, the the logs look like the Splash Mountain logs, and it looks like a scene that you would see inside of Splash Mountain, except it's Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa.
00:59:03
Speaker
It does say there's three drops in it, too. ah yeah That's weird. Listen, listen. i'm I'm going to hold my judgment until we actually see what it what it looks like. but Do one of the drops go down and come back up?
00:59:20
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, listen, the outside does look different, though, because they don't have, from the concept art we can see, where they don't have boats going around the outside. Yeah. You don't really see as much of it. you know Really, all you're seeing in this concept art is just the last drop.
00:59:36
Speaker
But yeah, I don't know. We're going have to see. But you're right. it feel It does feel like an iteration of that. But it also is like, well, anytime you make a log flume ride, are you just going to think Splash Mountain no matter what? you know i mean It is hard to get away from that. It is. Not going to lie. like even Even I've been on other log flumes outside of Disney, and it's hard not to...
00:59:55
Speaker
but like They're not themed anywhere near as well as Disney, but in your head, you're like, oh, it's like Splash Mountain. yeah Yeah. so and and even you know we We even are referring to Splash Mountain, even though that doesn't exist anymore. in Well, it does in in Tokyo, Disney,
01:00:11
Speaker
Yeah. so that right Well, yeah, it is. Yeah. So, and by the way, so this is, this is taking over Walt Disney studios park. So they're really, they're rebuilding the second park into something that's not terrible.
01:00:22
Speaker
but so Which is fair. And, yeah and I will say this, looking at the, uh, the concept stuff for, or not the concept, but the actual, the model, um, there is a couple of funny things I see in there that, uh,
01:00:36
Speaker
Um, or, well, we know that they have their own version of the earful tower, yeah but it also looks like there's going to be the, uh, something similar to the Mickey hat. It's not exactly the Mickey hat, but there is definitely a large structure that looks like or it looks like the sorcerer's hat.
01:00:53
Speaker
Yeah. rather So I, ah find that funny that it it does like looking at it, it, it, It looks very much like like Hollywood Studios. Well, that's what it was meant to be. It was meant to be Hollywood Studios there. But it's funny how they're now like like, imagine if they dropped Splash Mountain in Hollywood Studios. Like, like that's just weird. It feels weird. Yeah. Yeah.
01:01:18
Speaker
the other I mean, we should also mention that, too. This is also the place. So there's Avengers Campus that's already there and a World of Pixar area. and And they are building a frozen land as well as a whole an area called Adventure Bay, which is yeah kind of like the World Showcase Lagoon. It's just a big...
01:01:35
Speaker
Yes. Round lagoon ah where they're going to obviously have some sort of show. So, you know, that's, that's going to be there as well. So yeah, listen, we're going to, we're going see how this shakes out, but I listen, I don't love the, the, the up thing, but again, it's, know, they're just redoing or adding small stuff like that. And I get it. If you want to sink all your money into the e-ticket and like cheap out on the other stuff, like that's what happens. I mean, it happens everywhere.
01:02:00
Speaker
Yeah. but and I guess the constellation where it looks like the up ah ride is supposed to be is on your way to and from the Lion King ride. So, you know, you you can stop there on your way to or from from that ride. And it does not it looks adjacent to Frozen Land. So it's yeah it's like right next to Frozen Land. It's almost like they built like a like a World Showcase, but there's like Frozen Land and the Lion King area around the lagoon. Yeah, it's Again, imagine if like World Showcase was in Hollywood Studios, but instead of pavilions, it was rides around the World Showcase.
01:02:39
Speaker
yeah I mean, they're obviously moving. It sounds like a fever dream. It does. it does Well, I mean, that's kind of what Hollywood Studios become, though. A hodgepodge of a bunch of different IPs, right? I mean, like that's really what Hollywood Studios is now, right? so That's true.
01:02:54
Speaker
yeah yeah So, yeah, I guess Adventure World is not too far off of... yeah what we already have. Yeah. Yeah. So, all right. Well, let's go ahead and wrap this up. i You know, we we promised we were going to start doing shorter shows. And look at that. We're almost at a shorter show. We're getting there. We're going to work our way down to an hour instead of an hour and a half. Yeah. So, yeah. Give us some credit.
01:03:14
Speaker
We're getting there. but All right. Let's wrap it up. Okay. So yeah, as usual, um if you have any questions, trip reports, anything like that, you can always find us at welcomehomepodcast.gmail.com.
01:03:27
Speaker
I will also mention too, you know outside of the email ah address, we also have our website. 1-800-LINE. 833. say 1-800, but it's say it's a toll-free line. So it's 833-WHP-TIPS.
01:03:43
Speaker
yeah So um you know you know drop us ah drop us a trip report, drop us tips, all that kind of stuff. and We love hearing that stuff. and you know get you know Things that you maybe want to hear on the next episode, you know you don't have to wait for the ah the question.
01:03:59
Speaker
um, posts that we do put into the Facebook group, you could send it to us, uh, through the Gmail or through the, the tips line. So, you know, keep that stuff coming. Um, we are on social media. So, you know, as I mentioned, we are on Facebook as welcome home podcast.
Social Media Presence and Merchandise
01:04:14
Speaker
We're on YouTube as welcome on podcast and we're on Instagram as welcome home picks. And, ah as I already mentioned, we have a Facebook group called welcome home, Disney wait list, where you can come and talk about all kinds of stuff that, uh,
01:04:27
Speaker
That is going on in Disney right now.
Patreon Support and Exclusive Content
01:04:29
Speaker
And if you want to help support the show, you can go to store.welcomehomepodcast.com. It has our store. it has lots of great merch, you know different different shirts, maybe if you need something for your trip or you need a mug, something like that.
01:04:45
Speaker
uh you know please please come check out the store we also have a patreon you can go to patreon.com slash welcome home pod and check out our different levels of patreon support which has an exclusive logo that you can only get on patreon and our patreon listeners get access to the discord server which is yet another place that we talk about all the uh all the topics that go on on the show.
Encouraging Five-Star Reviews
01:05:05
Speaker
And, uh, also our Patreon supporters do get access, get early access to some of our shows, things like food time. ah when we do post those shows, they will come out on, on, uh, discord or I guess patronon or yeah on Patreon before, uh, before they're, they're given to the rest of the world. So, um you know, if if you're looking to get it early, you know, that's, that's one way to do it.
01:05:32
Speaker
and by the way chair i'm just dying for them to put out some food news so we can start a time show it's killing me and we we kind of all right we're in that lull because uh it won't be the next one will probably be uh food and wine food wine yeah so yeah we it will be coming though so don't worry well we we will we will have food time episodes um And last but not least, if you're listening on iTunes or Spotify or anywhere, you can leave us
Podcast Availability and Sponsor Gratitude
01:05:56
Speaker
stars. Leave us a five-star review just to you know help that help the algorithm get us out to more places. And you can also write us a review on on iTunes because you know we we love hearing what you guys think about the show.
01:06:09
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And ah also don't forget to subscribe to welcome home podcast. So can be reminded every time we release an new episode, you can find us on Apple podcasts, Amazon music, tune in stitcher, Spotify, YouTube, YouTube music, just about any podcast app that's out there. You can find us, of course, just a reminder to our listeners, welcome home podcasts for entertainment only. We are not employed by the Walt Disney company and as such, all opinions we express on the show our own.
01:06:31
Speaker
So please contact a DVC cast member or Disney cast member for more information about anything we talked about today. Huge thank you to the sponsor of this episode, DVC Resale Market, and you know also World of DVC, who have been great partners throughout the years. And you know please go check them out. ah They're really, really great. Honestly, we do not.
01:06:49
Speaker
We get other offers for sponsorships. They're the only one we have because they're the ones that we use, and we and we really like them.
Closing Remarks and Future Hopes
01:06:55
Speaker
So join us next time for more Disney Parks discussion. Of course, more DVC talk. We hope to see you all real soon.
01:07:02
Speaker
this is Skipper Albert Wall, the voice of the jungle, signing off from Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.
01:07:18
Speaker
I looked around from pole to pole, found her in a sugar bowl. Look out, here comes my ball and change.