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I Love Disneyland Book: Interview with Ry and Skyla Castles
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On This Episode
The guys interview Ry & Skyla Castles about their new book, “I Love Disneyland: 100+ Surprising Facts, Fun Quizzes, Fan-Favorite Trivia, and More about Disneyland!”. They geek out about Disneyland's history and trivia, like the surprising truth about the forced perspective on Main Street and the historical significance of the monorail. They debate the differences between Disney World and Disneyland and which one they prefer. Ryan and Skyla also reveal some fun tidbits, including a ride that didn't make it into the book, what a "weenie" is, and their favorite changes to the park. They discuss their love for attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean and Rise of the Resistance, and what they think is the park's greatest addition.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Reveal
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.
Interview with Ryan Skyler Castles
00:00:29
Speaker
I'm really excited for our interview today yeah with with ah ah Ryan Skyler Castles. First of all, I keep wanting to say Ryan Sky because I feel like that just feels like, you know, ah nice little rhyme there.
00:00:43
Speaker
i so like I want to make sure I add the Skyler on that. But secondly, you guys are, we we we got your book, which is, you know, you're here to talk about your your new book, which is I Love Disneyland
Skyla's First Disneyland Experience
00:00:53
Speaker
or High Heart Disneyland. disneyland is it i love or i heart it's i love disneyland and okay you go i love okay yeah great uh and and so you know we we actually you know we got this book and we we read through it and it's it's uh it's really great and i you know trevor especially really enjoyed this too as a disneyland guy i am on the east coast i'm more of a disney world guy not to say i don't want to go to disneyland but we can talk about that as we go here um but but it's i'm really excited to to welcome you guys here
00:01:17
Speaker
So, yeah. So thank you guys for joining us and and and talking through us, ah you know, talking through your book with us. I think this is it's going to be really neat for to to talk through this. So, um you know, kind of tells you like your background, where you guys had you started doing this, you know, where where your you know love for Disneyland comes from. Like, where does where does all that begin?
00:01:35
Speaker
Okay. ah For me, I've grown up with the park. ah I grew up very close to the park. My parents made a point to make sure we had annual passes. So like Disneyland has been part of my DNA for a long time and being part of that community around the park.
00:01:48
Speaker
ah For Skyla, she got involved in the park later in life. Yeah, ah my first visit to Disneyland was 2015 with Rye, actually, ah when I was in my let's go with mid 20s.
00:02:00
Speaker
um And and at the end of that visit, like I literally knew nothing. i I did not even grow up with like I knew that Disneyland existed. But outside of that, my awareness was nothing.
00:02:14
Speaker
um So at the end of that visit, I said, hey it'd be really cool if we could do this again. And he was like, well, let me tell you about annual passes. um And then, yeah, ever since then. So he ruined me. so it was great.
00:02:26
Speaker
they didn't have to like drag you
Disneyland's Cultural Impact in Southern California
00:02:27
Speaker
there, though. You like you just you just were you just were completely open-minded about it. You were like, let's you know let's try this out, right? Yeah, I was actually alarmed to learn about how much Disneyland is in the DNA of Southern California.
00:02:41
Speaker
i just didn't realize that it was that like just a thing people did like going to the mall. I had no idea. um So yeah, definitely opened my eyes too to what that meant to this, to here, the history of Southern California.
00:02:56
Speaker
You know, it's it's funny. your Your story is actually kind of similar to mine and my wife's is that I grew up same thing. It's like um even though I was coming from Canada, we went to Disney all the time when I was growing up. And it wasn't until I met my wife and she was about 20 years old and we brought her with my family. And she was the same way. She was like...
00:03:13
Speaker
I don't know what this is. And then we brought her and she was like, oh my gosh, like we need to go back. And and so, yeah, we, but I understand how that kind of works out for, for somebody new to, uh, to Disney or that. gets Yeah. Yeah. yeah yeah we We, we actually had a couple friends that went to Disney world for the first time, a couple of times, like a different families, like three different families.
00:03:33
Speaker
And like all three of them, as soon as I got home, we're like looking at different trips again. And one of, one of them texted us was like, I guess I'm a Disney adult now. Uh, you know, like, Whoops, just happened. I was like, that's how it happens. No, you know, you just go and then all of a sudden it's like, oh, this is like a thing I can do all the time. Like, this is this is great.
00:03:51
Speaker
Yeah.
The Disneyland Community
00:03:52
Speaker
yeah And this community we're part of now, like is Disneyland regulars like we've made a lot of connections with not just like other content creators, but people who are regulars at the park. So when we spend like regular time there, like we see the same faces and it is ah community of people. And like, this is something that is our shared interest is our shared home for like how, where the community meets.
00:04:14
Speaker
And that's and that's I feel like ah one of the big differences between Disneyland and Disney World. Not that there's not frequent visitors to Disney World, but Disney World is so much more tourist centric, whereas Disneyland is so much more local.
00:04:25
Speaker
And I think it's it's cool that you can build that community around people that are frequently going like yourselves and kind of have that group of people, you know. Yeah, it's really special. It's not something that I expected. And having it now, I don't know.
00:04:38
Speaker
I don't know what I would do with my days if I didn't have them. I get that. So um we do actually have some questions here that we lined up ahead of time. So were we're just going to kind of go go through them here. And so I guess I'll start it off with...
00:04:52
Speaker
um you know Obviously, with you guys running the community and everything, and now you've had to transition from being like content creators to publish
Balancing Authorship and Other Roles
00:05:01
Speaker
authors. How has that transition been for you?
00:05:04
Speaker
as i assume was a bit of ah an adventure. it is a bit of an adventure. so like Before the book, we made a point to try to like live stream at the park two to three times a week. ah since the book, because like now that's something that we're doing in addition to everything else.
00:05:20
Speaker
It has kind of like eaten into time that we were using for like being at the park and creating content. ah We still have our full-time jobs and that is about the same. It's actually like probably more hours this year than previous years.
00:05:31
Speaker
ah The book is more hours than previous years. So like our strategies just do all the things. everything just do everything it's like yeah how how do you do it uh we just do it i guess with a lack of sleep probably yeah did you guys don't need sleep yeah you need sleep sleep's unnecessary uh when you can go to disney all all that all that often to i mean go to disneyland all that often that's that's who needs sleep i can take a nap at the animation academy it's fine
00:06:01
Speaker
No, you know, see, if if we were talking Disney World, someone would say, what, Carousel Progress or Spaceship Earth. Yeah. Everyone's got their nap spots there. But that's that's that's great. So how did the book come about? Like, how did you, you know, decide, to let hey, look we're going to write a book about Disneyland. We love Disneyland so much. Let's write a book.
00:06:18
Speaker
Well, we got an email. We got an email from the publisher. Yeah. asking us if we wanted to write a Disneyland book. ah We definitely did not think that it was real when they reached out, mostly because didn't realize that publishers could reach out to people and ask them to write books. I wasn't I didn't know that's how the process could go.
00:06:39
Speaker
I thought that authors just wrote books and then found publishers. Nope. Turns out it goes all ways. It goes both ways. Yeah. And then we learned that they um that they were working with the Dapper Danielle for the Magic Kingdom book series. Right. Yes.
00:06:51
Speaker
ah so So, yeah, we got to take over the mantle for Disneyland. And as they worked with her and worked on her book and like what that looked like, then we applied some of the lessons to what our book was going to be and what that would look like. So just a really collaborative process. Yeah.
00:07:06
Speaker
And we actually had the opportunity to talk to Debra Daniel about her book as well, so that was which was which was really great. And you know your book is is also really interesting as well. Like like I mentioned, i you know i've I've actually never been to Disneyland. So this is a thing I need to do at some point. but you know howham many Yeah, let us know when you're at.
00:07:22
Speaker
You know I will. I absolutely will at some point, maybe next year. might do the Disneyland Hawaii thing. We'll see. Ooh, that'd be nice. Sorry, go ahead, Trevor. I was going to say, actually do have a bit of an observation about your book versus the Dapper Danielle's book. Yeah.
00:07:37
Speaker
So my – obviously, I say you know my history with with Disneyland is you know from when I was a lot younger. So when I was reading her book, I know a lot of the more recent stuff about Disney World, but I didn't know the history. So i was much more interested in the history aspect of it.
00:07:52
Speaker
When I've been reading your book, i actually – it was backwards for me because I know a lot of the like stuff that I grew up with in Disneyland and I knew a lot of that historical stuff. but I don't know a lot of the new stuff because we've been going to Disneyland since like 20 or sorry, Disney world since 2016.
00:08:07
Speaker
So I haven't been back to Disneyland in like the last 10 years. So was really interesting to kind of see how like, I guess for anybody wondering about it, it's not the same book as the one Dapper Danielle wrote. You guys brought some very interesting stuff, both from the historical side and all the new things that have happened at Disneyland. So I really liked that, that we were
Creating the Disneyland Book
00:08:29
Speaker
able to... Or I was able to approach it from both sides, if that makes sense. Yeah, different takeaways. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I really like that. And it was certainly a balance because... I mean, Disneyland has more lands than Magic Kingdom, but we have the same amount of...
00:08:42
Speaker
book space that she has. So same number. of So um so like trying to figure out what made it and what didn't, um how much history we're talking about and how much current stuff. Definitely a dance there to figure out but the the right mix.
00:08:56
Speaker
Definitely, because there is so much really interesting history around Disneyland and um and not everybody knows all of the history. Right. And so not everybody is going to pick this book up going into it, thinking, you know, knowing every single thing that, ah you know, how Disneyland came about. Right. So yeah it's ah that that kind of stuff, I think, is really cool. But it's also good to talk about the new stuff, too.
00:09:15
Speaker
So, yeah, we we don't dive like deep into anything because, again, like Skylar said, the book is only so many pages. Yeah, of course. But I think like for people who are. again, people who have grown up with Disneyland or people who haven't been to the park before, I think it's kind of something that hopefully like what's people's appetite to want to learn more about the park?
00:09:33
Speaker
Because i mean, while we don't deep dive in any topic, I think that we cover a lot of different things in a way that hopefully is fun and engaging. ah Most people we've talked to about the book, like people who are theme park regulars, they're like reading this book puts a smile on my face.
00:09:48
Speaker
Like it's a fun book to read. It's a light book to read. We don't, hit you over the head with Haunted Mansion facts and everything that, like, has ever happened with the attraction. i mean, you could. I wouldn't be mad if you did. You'd be okay with that, too. Yeah. My my problem with that was Tomorrowland. I needed Ry to pull me out of the hole ah because I was like, it was like Tomorrowland history for, like, a decade.
00:10:09
Speaker
And i I'd already written, and the whole book was done. It was 200 pages. And I was like, whoa, but that's not, we can't do that. That's just Tomorrowland. So I needed him to, like, kind of be like, all right, we need to focus on what's there now and not everything.
00:10:20
Speaker
that died in Tomorrowland. Is that just because you have ah a particular love or attachment to Tomorrowland? Or is there just that much history that you wanted to include in or both? Maybe it's both. I, um, I have a soft spot for Tomorrowland and what I feel like it could be.
00:10:38
Speaker
I feel you there. I do. I I've seen the changes over the years. I understand that. yeah Yeah. Yeah. And then and because of all of those changes that it's gone through, because it's it's ah it's had an identity crisis from day one. yeah That it was super interesting to write about. So, yeah, I'd write a whole Tomorrowland book.
00:10:59
Speaker
yeah that That's you should pitch that. you that's now that you have the Now that you have the one book, you should pitch the Tomorrowland problem, right? Tomorrowland problem. Yeah, that's just write that book. ah you know, ah I'd read that. That's that's I'm I love Tomorrowland as well. I totally agree with that. So.
Challenges of Retelling Disneyland's History
00:11:18
Speaker
ah So, you know, you guys, ah you guys kind of this is kind of like a like a love letter to Disneyland, right? Because you guys love it so much. I mean, what did you have the most fun doing when writing this book? Like, what was the most fun part of it?
00:11:30
Speaker
I mean, I think it was like diving into history and talking to people who love Disneyland like we do, because like when trying to like put the book together, we so much of Disneyland's history is an oral history.
00:11:42
Speaker
Like the original Imagineers, very little of that is written down. yeah Like it's the stories that they told each other and how people have told that stories. So like for us, it was diving with other people who are deep in Disney history.
00:11:54
Speaker
Here's where we're at for the book. Here's stuff that we've learned through Imagineering story behind the attraction, other things have been written and trying to fact check as much as that as we could. Like a there was one interesting story that like I wanted in the book, but like we couldn't prove.
00:12:07
Speaker
So this is something that got cut was a forced perspective for main street that Disneyland's main street feels longer when you're coming into the park and shorter when you're leaving because of the forced perspectives of but the buildings.
00:12:19
Speaker
The buildings closer to the entrance are taller. The ones closer to the castle are shorter. But talking to people like people, original Imagineers, like people have that oral history, they're like, that actually wasn't intentional. That's not real.
00:12:32
Speaker
like yeah yeah So like because of those conversations back and forth with people involved with Disney archives, we pulled that out of the book because like we didn't want facts that people were going to argue if they were true or not.
00:12:44
Speaker
That's understandable, I think. so But I think the fun part about the book was diving into this with other people who will love Disney history, hearing their stories and doing what we could to like fact check things with the book to make it as accurate as we could.
00:12:55
Speaker
Yeah, I've talked many times on our show about how much I loved the Imagineering story just as an Imagineering nerd and and and really loving like the history and stuff like that. So that's that's cool that you guys got to do a lot of those things, you know talk to Imagineers and are part of that you know kind of community with Imagineers.
00:13:13
Speaker
We definitely have a have a friend, shout out to friend if he listens to this, that um that ah argues ah about the Imagineering story. He's like, I found three things that are wrong just in the first episode. Really? Okay, okay. ah But I think that, again, because Disney is just a lot of tales sometimes that just kind of have to go with...
00:13:39
Speaker
what they have info for and that's the closest you can get um yeah a lot of a lot of a lore about disneyland that's kind of i mean kind of what you're saying there wasn't records right so it's like there's you know there are things that are said at at some point a story that someone's told that might not necessarily be true it might be a little embellished it might be you know but it's just and it might have grown over the years but it's just what we all what we all think you know so yeah well just it was kind of a troll like uh so like for example uh petrified wood where i was going to mention that yeah i saw that in the book yeah But yeah, I mean, like he told the story, the plaque literally says it's a gift from Mrs. Disney to the park.
00:14:15
Speaker
And like the whole story, that was something that Walt Disney made up to tell that story. Lafitte's anchor that's supposed to be like Jean Lafitte, like that anchor apparently isn't the real anchor.
00:14:26
Speaker
But like the plaque in front of Haunted Mansion says it's the actual anchor from the boat. So like so much of this is... Walt Disney telling stories that weren't necessarily true. And some of those things made like the record of the park. They were magical. They didn't have to be true.
00:14:39
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it's it's not a museum is the thing. Yeah, exactly. yeah Exactly. it's ah It's a stage, right? So that's, I mean, you can. It's a movie set. It's a movie set, not a his they're not a museum. Like people want to treat it like history in a museum. and And there are parts that are historical.
00:14:55
Speaker
But yeah, it's it's a movie set. It's a stage. Like. cast members, backstage, all of these phrases was because like Walt Disney was a filmmaker and treated the park like a movie that you could edit after it came out.
00:15:07
Speaker
Exactly. Right. Yeah. So that makes a lot of sense. Go ahead, Trevor. Sorry. I want to go back actually to you know, you're talking about, you know, some of the different people that you talked to. Was there, was there a particular meeting or interaction with Imagineers or anybody or you know, any of the people that you talked to, was there anything that really stood out to you as like either like a really cool or unusual interaction you had because of the book as you guys were were writing everything?
00:15:30
Speaker
I mean, i think like unusual interaction. don't know, Skylar, if you want to talk about the DM of the person was involved with the park about like trying to get us connected with people. Yeah.
00:15:42
Speaker
No, you it. Okay, cool. i like but know But I think like but interesting interactions like things, like ah the number of opening day attractions, because like that is something that is apparently ah debate for some reason, ah that like how many attractions were opening day, because like the state of the park on day one, what was actually finished, what was actually operational, how do you define that based on the state of the park on day one? So like that to me was like one of the most interesting back and forths was Trying to find a solidified answer for the number of opening day attractions for Disneyland, because even something like that is apparently not an easy answer.
00:16:18
Speaker
and I mean, if it's within the first three days, is it an opening day attraction? if in Yeah, I mean, sure. And that was the argument. Like, is it or is it not? it but If it was intended to be opened, but wasn't open for a week, like, does that count as an open day attraction?
00:16:33
Speaker
Yeah, it's really just the definition of opening day. Like what what that means. Right. I think we ended up going with actual events. ah things have worked on opening day at least for a little bit yeah yeah if guess it real yeah so so i was thinking about like the the mark twain like had capacity issues and it tipped over yeah they have too many to people on it it tipped over the the tea all the way over uh corrected they had to have like people welded on day one because the teacups like weren't
00:17:04
Speaker
set up the right way. Yeah. easy Yeah. Yeah. I always, i always remember that. I think it was an imagining story. The video of the, of, of the, of the Mark Twain just, and it looks like it's about to sink. Like it's literally just like, it's, it's barely above waterline. Yeah.
00:17:19
Speaker
Disneyland has always been like this. Yeah. That's that's really funny. um So, you know, I i actually i do have a Trevor. i yeah I'm going to I'm going to deviate from our our outline of questions. Yeah, all good. As I do. yeah um We do this, by the way, we we go off on tangents and rabbit holes. We don't really we don't we don't like following outlines or or questions or anything like that, because that's no rules.
00:17:44
Speaker
No, there's no rules here. No, there's no rules here. ah I did want to ask you about Disney World. Are you are you guys Disney World people? at all I mean, do you have you gone or is it more you are very focused on Disneyland and you only only stay in that realm?
00:17:57
Speaker
Yeah. I went ah sometimes as a child and then me and Skyla went together for a trip in 2023. So Skyla got to experience Disney World for that first time. um We haven't really been able to make a trip back just because like work and life has been busy.
00:18:11
Speaker
So it's not an issue that we don't want to go back to Disney World. It's just been hard to make the time. But yeah, we did a trip together to Disney World in 2023. I'm curious how you guys feel about the differences between the two. like what one just They're not the same. And I know that a lot of people ah either seriously or jokingly like to pit the parks against each other.
00:18:33
Speaker
um But i just they're not the same. Disneyland is ah you know a quaint, at-home place. like almost cozy sort of at home very locals park.
00:18:45
Speaker
um It is, is just much smaller in scope, but we feel like things like ah character interactions and stuff like that is just a little more magical. It's different in Disneyland.
00:18:58
Speaker
um Walt Disney world is the like Costco. Yeah.
00:19:04
Speaker
interesting prescript reasons for different reasons uh it's gig it's more of like this epic vacation right that it's it's so much bigger in scope it's like everything got x'd by a hundred and yeah those are just very different experiences we did try to take some of our disneyland didness uh with us to disney world which was ah leaving room for magic is what we like to say about Disneyland when you're planning a trip.
00:19:30
Speaker
You know, don't don't plan morning to night. Don't plan every single moment of your day. You need to leave room for magic. Walt Disney World doesn't really work that way. ah You don't have time for it. you got A lot more planning. Yeah, because it's just so much bigger. There's so much more planning. So I'll say it worked for us for most days.
00:19:46
Speaker
We had like, a we had one dining reservation every day. You know, we made a short list of things that we definitely wanted to see and then just kind of left room for the rest of it. ah That worked everywhere except for Epcot.
00:19:58
Speaker
Epcot, you can't. Everything's so far away. It really is. It really is. Just for size comparison, so any two spots from Disneyland from the furthest spot, if I want to go from the furthest corner from Disney California Adventure to Star Wars Galaxy's Edge, the furthest corner of Disneyland, that walk is shorter than one circuit around World Showcase and Epcot, which is just one area of Epcot.
00:20:22
Speaker
uh Kilimanjaro Safari the one attraction Animal Kingdom is physically bigger than our Disneyland park your one attraction I was just gonna say that yeah it's so much bigger but we knew Disney World was bigger again I had been there as a kid but like that's not the same thing as going together and realizing like that we can't just go from Ratatouille that broke down and get to our you know return time for Cosmic Rewind because like we never make it back to French Pavilion Yeah, it's it's exactly right. And and it's we we kind of talk about that that a lot of how how different it really is, you know. and and But also, too, like you don't really appreciate stuff when you're a little kid as much as you like when you're an adult. You really like appreciate Disney for different things than you do when you're a kid. And, you know, the details and the and and a lot of the other things that you just when a kid, you did just go over your head because it's, you know. yeah
00:21:09
Speaker
it's It's not something you see. And then but then when you go and as an adult and you actually get to appreciate those things more, it's it's it's really it's it's a very different experience, you know, but and I'm sorry. I know we're talking about Disneyland book. I just think it's interesting to talk about the difference between the two because its it does the thing that come It's something that comes up a lot. So.
00:21:27
Speaker
I always say to Tom that, or like when we started going to Disney World, um the best way I could explain it was like, it felt like a bizarro version of Disneyland.
Comparing Disneyland and Disney World
00:21:37
Speaker
And I'm sure you guys felt the same way. It was it was like you're in another universe.
00:21:41
Speaker
And it was like, everything was kind of there, but not quite right. And Galaxy's Edge was the one. I walked in and I was like, ah! That's actually surprising.
00:21:52
Speaker
around yeah so i actually haven't I haven't thought about that because I've only been to Galaxy's Edge in Florida so far. I haven't been to to Disneyland. so I didn't realize how different it actually was. i actually kind of assumed that excuse me, that, that it was like a carbon copy because it like, it felt like something where they could have just like one for one copied it, but they didn't even do that. it sounds no It's all the same differences, but it's laid out differently. Like it's all the same ships, but the ships are in a different place.
00:22:20
Speaker
ah Some of the, like to your point about Bizarro, I feel like there's a different shade of paint that they use for rocks in each park. So like we go between the parks and like, it's like, why is the shade of color that way?
00:22:32
Speaker
Uh, land our transition to galaxy's edge is like very intentional where like you come from frontier land and you like are teleported basically to a galaxy far far away and at disney world like it's that weird i feel like going through the awesome panel or whatever and i yeah there there's there's just like a whole open space and you walk through it it's like what's oh it's over there oh okay uh yeah its and then you leave and it's like toy story oh god yeah okay yeah docking bay seven docking bay seven the menu was different like our menu is very like a source from different like ethnic foods and like disney world like when we went there was like but the same meal it was the same name was like chicken tendies and i was like okay well that's interesting or skyla recently heard something about like uh the two different the black cat the coffee
00:23:19
Speaker
So the black calf, I learned this on a VIP tour fairly recently. So just one people enter it just real quick. So Disneyland, our black calf with like the Coco Puffs on top or whatever they're supposed to be called the galaxy far, far away is incredibly popular at Disneyland.
00:23:33
Speaker
At Disney World, this is not popular. And when Disneyland people go to Disney World, they grab their coffee. That is like their favorite coffee. They're like why does it taste awful? so yeah yeah I don't even know what you guys were talking about. and that explains why it's not something coffee. though That's my fault. yeah there is And then here. So we learned that.
00:23:52
Speaker
um So all of the parks serve Joffrey's coffee, yeah um but the parks individually get to pick which blends they use of that coffee. So apparently the blend that they use in Walt Disney World is just more gross than.
00:24:05
Speaker
Than the one that used to Disneyland. So if you're a Walt Disney World person and you come to Disneyland, please try our Black F because I promise it's good. It's it's better. Okay. Okay. I feel like this is something we could never or that we never find in the book. I actually appreciate you divulging this kind of stuff because we we don't or but like I said, you know, we we're not...
00:24:29
Speaker
We're not at Disneyland enough to realize the nuances of the difference. and And I think for a lot of people listening to the show and, you know, maybe wondering about the book, you know, this is exactly why I think reading these books and understanding these differences is important.
00:24:42
Speaker
And I've said this to Tom, like like Tom doesn't, you know, he he doesn't think I'm crazy. But, you know, he he does he does understand that. I'm like, i' I'll be like, noh it's not the same at Disneyland. Like, you don't, but you don't understand.
00:24:54
Speaker
i haven't been sure, but I am also a nerd about this stuff. Right. So, like, I feel like I know a lot about Disneyland without ever having been there. But it's different when you experience it. No, no, you're right. It's very different. It's like watching a ride video on YouTube as opposed to going and actually experiencing the ride. It's ah two totally different things, right?
00:25:13
Speaker
and And I get that. But I, yeah. No, I'm going to make it there. It's just like, just have it. I'm going to. I promise. Yeah. but But yeah, like I think, but but just basically to put a bow on that, it's like Disneyland because it's a regulars park. I think a lot of our quick service needs to be better because like you have people who are there, weirdos who are there every day. And then like Disney World is mostly people vacationing. So I don't think like especially the quick service stuff needs to have as much of attention because like if you get a quick service thing, it's just you don't have the best churro of your life.
00:25:43
Speaker
Like you're still going to go to Disney World. Yeah, exactly. And I didn't have a churro at all in Disney World, so not a single one. I couldn't even find them. I was like, where are they? Trevor, you won't do the corndogs or the churros at Disney World, right? Haven't you said that before? I mean, I'll skip on the churros at Disney World. And yeah, the corndogs, I know about the Red Wagon, so it's very hard to have the Disney World. Yeah, once you that, there's nothing else. Yeah, it's hard to have a Disney World corndog.
00:26:08
Speaker
but So let's, sorry, let's go back to Disneyland. I'll end the book in a little bit more, but um so, you know, you guys talk a little bit about e-ticket rides, right. And, and the term e-ticket, which I always find, i love the history of the ticketing system.
00:26:22
Speaker
Cause I, I think it's funny if you try to explain to people ah now, like, Oh yeah, you had to like, you know, You had to like choose which ride you wanted, and you had to give a ticket each time, and you had to pay for that book and all that stuff. like If you try to explain to somebody that didn't realize that, then I think it probably would blow their mind a little bit, considering how things are now. ah but you know so Why do you think that term has just kind of been around for so long? But I also want to ask you guys, too, favorite e-ticket attraction of all time, current, former.
00:26:50
Speaker
oh Well, I think it's stuck around because we do have this just nostalgia thing about Disneyland and you just want to refer to something that you know.
00:27:03
Speaker
and what else? Like, i don't know. I don't now you don't even know what else I'd call it. Like, really good ride. Like, it doesn't. Yeah. Top tier ride. Yeah. It's so synonymous with this thing. And we just really grasp onto it. Yeah.
00:27:16
Speaker
i'm gonna let ride do the ride part okay so when ticket books were available ah so e-ticket attraction there was an e-ticket book would have probably been pirates of the caribbean for me and okay and then as far as like what the definition is today i would say rise of resistance to me it feels like your best example of like an e-ticket attraction because like just how immersive that whole experience is going through rise yeah that makes sense that makes sense I do not think the monorail is an e-ticket.
00:27:45
Speaker
No offense to the monorail. But that was an e-tailed challenge. Was it an e-ticket? When they added a ticket, it was three things. It was monorail. It was Matterhorn and submarines.
00:27:58
Speaker
It was three. we It's in the book. they They were added at the same time. When when they all when they added the ticket books, they added the e-ticket to the ticket book. It was three things that were added. i think it was those three. Yeah. and And they're not the same. Like Matterhorn. Yeah, I would consider. Yeah, Matterhorn I see.
00:28:14
Speaker
Monorail, I don't fully get. yeah i do They're all historical like first ups. Like the first operating monorail and the hemisphere. Right. You have the submarines, this whole thing.
00:28:26
Speaker
And then Matterhorn was the first tubular steel roller coaster. So they were all historical firsts that all hit around the same time. So like, I understand like why Imagineers made that decision to call them all ticket. But yeah, I agree with you that like submarines today is like me and Skylar joke. That's like the worst attraction, the the best looking lagoon, but like op pretty.
00:28:44
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the other ride is not great. Like, even though I haven't ridden it in in a long time, the last time we rode it, it was not great. It's no difference. No difference except for more vibrant now. yeah You know, but according to your book, I did find in your book, it was Matterhorn Bobsled, Submarine Voyage, and Disneyland Monorail were the first E-Tip connections. There we go. Submarine? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like Monorail, because of the fact that we have the Mark 7s in Disney World and they're just like transportation method, it's just weird to think of it as like an e-ticket attraction because it's like the thing you do when you can't get on any of the e-ticket attractions.
00:29:19
Speaker
I rule riding the Monorail in a loop forever. I i don't care. Yeah, but but if I have a Fast Pass for Guardians, I'm not... I'm not using the monorail over that. yeah yeah Yeah. But I think it's hard for us to like think of like the late fifties, early sixties, because like how different that period of time was like, true there wasn't really mass transportation. Like Autopia is interesting for people because we didn't have freeways yet. Not really.
00:29:42
Speaker
And the idea of Autopia was like, think of what freeways could be if you were all just driving along with people. And for us today, we all do freeways. like It's a regular thing for us. It's not novel.
00:29:53
Speaker
But I think monorail probably for people at the time probably did feel futuristic and interesting. Where to your point about Disney World, it's like, now I'm tired at the end of my day and I guess I have to wait for this thing.
00:30:04
Speaker
Yeah. Well, and to your point, though, when when the monorail was built at Disneyland, I believe it was the first ah operating monorail in the United States. So at the time, yeah, it it was. So, I mean, you to your point, yeah, it probably was an e-ticket attraction then because it was something that no one had ever seen before. And so it's it was a very unique thing. And then a bunch of other parks after that, you know, tried to copy that and and tried to, you know, put monorails.
00:30:27
Speaker
But then monorails were everywhere. yeah I mean, I i joked but with Trevor before my local theme park that's a Six Flags park had a monorail at one point back in the 70s just because. And it's 100% because Disneyland had one, right? So it's, yeah, it's it's an interesting thing because that was a very revolutionary thing at the time. So that's a great point. I hadn't really thought about that.
00:30:44
Speaker
mean, the house of the future, right, was such a was such a thing. And it it was like microwaves and flat screen TVs and like so plastic. plastic like We didn't have plastic. and So like well in the future, things will be plastic. Everyone's like, no, plastic, whatever. yeah now we are 30 percent plastic. Yeah, that's right.
00:31:02
Speaker
Yeah. I always think of the one video and I have the floating, the floating ah frying pan and with the eggs on it where they, you know, you remember that one, Trevor? No? Trevor's looking at I'm crazy. They had like, that it was like the magnetic, it was like a frying pan that was floating in the air and the woman's cooking there. And, you know, it's, I think they played at Sci-Fi Dine-In actually over at Hollywood Studios all the time. I'm trying to, I'm, yeah, yeah yeah yeah like look at us You'll know what I'm talking about.
00:31:27
Speaker
Yeah, I'll have to Google it after. We'll continue continue on your book here because we want to talk more about this. go ahead, Trevor. ah Well, so actually, you know, speaking of, I guess, food, because, you know, we so we we have we have people who who enjoy us talking about food on the show. um The book does talk about how smells are an intentional part of the theming and adventure land.
00:31:48
Speaker
And and i I didn't really think about that at the time, but it makes a lot of sense. But what we want to ask you is if you could create a signature scent for another land, what would it be and what would it smell like? so So kind of expanding on, you know, they did something there, but what's your take on it?
00:32:06
Speaker
signature smell for me i see skyless wheels are turning i go to the pirates water yeah the pirates water because i feel like walking through new orleans square especially around pirates like that's such a something to me specifically like i knew that i was in that place because of the smell of that water and that's not just in the building itself it's like ah around in new orleans square and all of those places there so like right to me that feels like a signature smell that's very disney disney But I think I cut Skyla off. I see the look on her face. so No, you didn't cut me off. I was thinking about a land with like smells that I feel like could could be a thing. Toontown.
00:32:42
Speaker
Oh, yeah. What what would Toontown? Okay. Yeah. I'm here for this. Yeah. Goofy's house is this candy factory now. So you could definitely be doing some sort of candy scents in there. Mickey, when you're waiting for him in his house, you're in the movie barn. You could definitely do popcorn or something like that in there. Or even a runaway railway because our queue is so different than the studios one, right? now yeah So yeah, you go through like this movie theater and there could definitely be smells piped in there. Movie theater-esque smells.
00:33:12
Speaker
um Otherwise, very silly, but hot dogs. It should be hot dogs. Hot dogs. That's so obvious. You got to be careful with hot dog smell, though, because hot dog smell can be nasty, too. That's true. You got to be careful.
00:33:28
Speaker
ah You can get a good ballpark hot dog smell, yeah right? like yeah You know that. yeah but ah but so But to point about hot dog smells, like did you guys realize like how important the hot dog smell was to Walt Disney when designing the park? Or is this something you guys have heard the story of Walt Disney and weenies?
00:33:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, the weenie thing. like So at the time, like hot dogs were new. yeah And any type of theme park, if people smelled hot dogs, that would drive them to some direction because it was a new thing and people were excited about it.
00:33:53
Speaker
so so when he was So when he was designing these big things at the park, like he called the castle a weenie because he wanted people to see the castle, much like at a sporting event where people would smell hot dogs and go look for hot dogs. He wanted...
00:34:06
Speaker
Disney weenies like would drive you to go through the park. So you saw the castle, you'd walk that way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah rat but my ah wal disney worth but no yeah yeah That's a, that's a, it's a, that's a really interesting word. Cause it's a, it's all the, the park icons and and things like that are, are the weenies in the park, right? Yeah. yeah yeah but yeah we yeah you see tomorrow land and so Yeah. I say that was in the book, but it had to come out. And i think that was one of my favorite little bits was talking about the weenies i was like man we're reading the audiobook that's gonna be real weird um it's something that got cut from the book because like each chapter needed to be equal weight and while we were excited about it like where does that fit in the book and what's that fit what thing did we cut to like put that back in there because i think it's an interesting part of disneyland history but it's not necessarily something that is like more important than anything else we have in the book
00:34:54
Speaker
Speaking of things that are cut from the book, I'm going to ask you a question. Do you know what ride is not in the book? What ride is not in the book? Let let let me eat i think that's I think it's just one.
00:35:07
Speaker
Hmm. Which ride is not in the book? That's a hard question. i am i look through your but Are you talking, you're talking, and you're talking current, like operating. Current operating directions. So not like the people mover.
00:35:18
Speaker
Right. Oh, yeah. Okay. Although I do think we mentioned people mover in the Tomorrowland chapter because our register at the one shop is the people mover vehicle. Yes. Yes, you did. and So what ride is not in there?
00:35:32
Speaker
I'll give you a quick hint. So they asked for each chapter to be equal weight, same number of words. So which land has more attractions that we would perhaps need to remove one to make room in the book?
00:35:42
Speaker
I want to send you for this che land. Okay. wait and huh Wait. No, you talked about the teacups. Talk to Dumbo. Yep. Yep. Yep. Dumbo's the one we cut from the book. Yeah, it is. Yeah.
00:35:56
Speaker
Sorry, I was literally like running through Fantasyland. was like, ding, ding, ding. Yeah. Okay. Nice work. Nice work. Yeah. Wow. just I totally didn't think about that. Yeah. For rides that go in circles, that one just, you know. It's a fair point. that Don't have a lot to say, but it's there. mean,
00:36:13
Speaker
I mean, it was one of the originals. so It was? It it's it Very early. Because there is a lot of those rides, in especially in Magic Kingdom. Yeah. They have multiple versions it. They have magic carpet and like, yeah. Which we don't have.
00:36:27
Speaker
They have two Dumbos. Two Dumbos? They love Dumbos so much they put in a second one. We got double Dumbo. Yeah. and and And they go opposite directions. but Yeah. One's for lightning lane. One's for not, usually. yeah What?
00:36:38
Speaker
Yeah. So interesting. I had no idea. Keeps it moving. Yeah. but But again, that that's interesting, though, that, you know, you're right. There's not a lot to talk about specifically with Dumbo. Like like the ride system's interesting, but yeah. Yeah. yeah like but we had it We had a section, like it was Dumbo. And like, I think an interesting thing, so that organ that's next to Dumbo was actually before like we had like a electronic soundtrack. Like it was actually, that was what made the sounds for Dumbo.
00:37:06
Speaker
And now it's an electronic system, but like we still have that pipe organ there for history. Like we did have something written for the book. It just, didn't make the cut as we were trying to like fit everything in there because our fantasy land like is crazy because it like it goes from the castle to Matterhorn to small world like fantasy land is actually much larger than I think people realize at Disneyland just because how they like laid out that that land.
00:37:29
Speaker
and Actually, and and now that you're you're talking about Fantasyland and things that were there for history, I am actually surprised that you didn't mention the Skyliner or any of the former Skyliner stuff. I know a lot. of I really wanted to. there but Yeah, I'm guessing that it was it was kind of hard to work that in.
00:37:47
Speaker
Yeah, because it's like yeah how to focus on history versus like what's there. And it should be for people who are going. But yeah, i because the Skyliner. But I love that kind of stuff too, though. Yeah. And so and here's a neat little piece of trivia for you. So you say so sky like the Skyway is gone.
00:38:02
Speaker
Like there's still parts of that Skyway station and Fantasyland as you leave Fantasyland start heading towards either Frontierland or Galaxy's Edge. There's still that stairway that would take you up there. It's all overgrown now.
00:38:14
Speaker
Creepy stairs. yeah Yes, creepy stairs that still take you to the station that they let become part of nature. but Which is now a yeah where they feed the cats, if I'm not mistaken. Probably not wrong. I saw a picture of the stairway to nowhere where of of that. and ah that's kind of it's kind of fun I would love to do some urban exploration of the areas of Disneyland that are like not accessible now i would love that on the non-map areas yeah you don't want to get banned though no i can't do it for real i'm not gonna be like that guy who slept on thomas lawyer's island during covid but you know like approved exploration of the stuff yeah approved but weird things i geek out about so like skyway closed in the 90s because with the incident at disneyland it's been about 30 years uh because disneyland there is a lot of nature at disneyland like that area has overgrown where that skyway station was in 30 years
00:39:03
Speaker
So like thinking about that, like how that whole area was once the station and they just left it alone. And now it's practically nature. Just, just, just nature has taken it back. I mean, that's, there's a ton of that at Disney world. Cause they just, when they're done with something, they just leave it.
00:39:15
Speaker
And then it just, yeah you have all kinds of abandoned things around, right? Oh yeah. Yeah. There's lots. There's lots of that. Yeah, for sure. But um I did want to I want to ask you guys, you know, you did a lot of history, obviously. And, um you know, what's the most obscure piece of Disneyland history that you found fascinating for this book or what didn't make it in the book that was fascinating? You guys told us a couple of them so far, but I bet you have more.
00:39:39
Speaker
We probably do. um I'll think the the thing that was fascinating. it was precious to me. Like I forced him to let me keep it in the book was the corridor of murals and tomorrow land.
00:39:50
Speaker
um And how those are. So those were Mary Blair painted and designed murals. Right. And um you know, from what we know, they sound absolutely gorgeous.
00:40:02
Speaker
um And then they've been covered up with the star tours and the buzz light year facades and, And allegedly some parts of it are still under there, but like, who knows if you ever take down that, that Star Tours stuff. or Yeah. It may not be intact.
00:40:18
Speaker
Yeah. How recoverable that is. But, um, it makes me a little sad because I know we just talked about it, right? Disneyland is not a museum, but some of that stuff, some of that loss does make me a little bit, a little bit sad.
00:40:30
Speaker
That's fair. I appreciate that. Yeah. Yeah. ah For me, it's like the impact of the 1964 World's Fair. So like I knew about World's Fair, I knew about World's Fair attractions, but like until I like we were working on this book and diving deep, like I didn't really appreciate how much of an impact that made, not just on Disneyland, but like theme park technology.
00:40:50
Speaker
So 1964 World's Fair, nobody knows how to do attractions. Disney is kind of like its first 10 years, and Disney gets tapped in a lot of different ways to make all of these different attractions for the World's Fair because they've proven that they can do it.
00:41:03
Speaker
No other company does, and they want to innovate in the space. So World's Fair, are the two big things for Disney for technology, it's a Abraham Lincoln, the animatronic. And it's Small World. And Small World's interesting because of the ride vehicle technology was the most capacity of riders you've ever had.
00:41:19
Speaker
And animatronically, we didn't really have audio animatronics before Lincoln. And all of those learnings from World's Fair impacted things like, for example, Pirates, where it's the ride vehicle technology from Small World and also the audio animatronic technology from Lincoln.
00:41:33
Speaker
Right. Yeah. yeah Those building blocks are really, you're right. I didn't think about that. You know, we look at small world and kind of go like, oh yeah, it's small world, but yeah yeah it was really, it was one of the original building blocks for a lot of the rides that we enjoy today.
00:41:49
Speaker
Yeah, so exactly. And I feel exactly the same way, Trevor, because Small World as a kid was the right I didn't want to do. It's like, oh, the song's going to get stuck in my head. Oh, no, the dolls are going to try to get us. like Whatever. like But ah yeah it's it's interesting now to appreciate for different reasons. like Sherman Brothers writing that song, and now ah the last verse was added to, I think, both of our Small Worlds, right? like You guys have that in years as well? Mm-hmm. So like and Sherman brothers who are such a big part of like storytelling through music and ride vehicle technology and Mary Blair and art and all of these different things. And also like our small world building is physically bigger than our castle.
00:42:24
Speaker
So it's a different kind of canvas that we have for evening entertainment, a different spot to watch fireworks and like a different kind of canvas to put projections on. So like, it's a big deal for our park and also a big deal for like think the the history of stuff. So the history of that is something I geeked out about More than I probably should have when writing the book.
00:42:42
Speaker
Yeah. Tom, when you go, sorry, you'll it'll blow your mind when you see the fireworks and the everything on Small World. Somebody asked us last week if Small World was our castle. like we were live streaming from the small world building and they're like your castle looks really different than disney world so it's like that's not a castle this is a small world building like just a facade this is just i i i love the whole world's fair thing especially because walt disney also figured out a way to basically build attractions for his park without having to pay for them yes other people pay for it yeah yeah yeah which is amazing really if you think about it he was like hey you guys pay for these things we're gonna put them in and then we're take them afterwards like yeah because they were just gonna throw them out so like so yeah so you built small world in the forever home gets to be disneyland you build lincoln and forever home gets to be disneyland like yeah 100 like
00:43:30
Speaker
This is this is, ah you know, it's in just why Carousel Progress is always a a soft spot for me, because my mom actually went to the World's Fair when she was a kid and went to Carousel of Progress and got to actually like see it then.
00:43:43
Speaker
And now it's amazing. We had a woman at a book signing party that was at the 64 World's Fair was telling us the same story on Tuesday, like when we were doing like the release for the book. it's it's It's just a it's like a thing we always have to do, because to me, it's like my mom did it in 1964 when she was a kid. She got surprised to go to the World's Fair.
00:44:01
Speaker
And now it's still here and it still exists. And it's just a cool thing. You know, it's so sweet. And it's the same thing with Small World and all the other ones that that are still there. You know, it's it's it's really, really neat. So. And I think that's what makes Disneyland special.
00:44:13
Speaker
It's like the these experiences we've had in different generations and the stories we tell. Because like, yes, you're never going to get that experience. Like none of us are going to get to go to the 64 World's Fair because that's how many decades ago. But we have these things that remind us of a different time.
00:44:27
Speaker
And we get to tell these stories with family or members of the community and like hear those stories. So like, even though like, Trevor and Tom, like you and me have never been to Disneyland together. We're telling these stories and we immediately know what each other are talking about because of like, we're all part of this community together.
00:44:42
Speaker
Absolutely. Totally. Yeah. Well, a hundred percent. Right. It makes sense. It's weird when you, when you put it that way, like I don't think about it that way, but yeah, when, you when you know that it's like, we're all, we're all just as enamored by this.
00:44:57
Speaker
Like it's really, it's a very impressive thing if you think about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just as much as my mom was enamored by in 1964, it's still it's still that amazing to to all of us. So it's yeah, it's great.
00:45:09
Speaker
um I did want to ask one of our listeners had a question, which I really like. And this is Joe via our our private discord is he he wants to know ah greatest edition or change to Disneyland over the years.
00:45:24
Speaker
and um And conversely, at least favorite change or disappointing change. I like that we're stumping them here. So this is good. yeah I'm waiting to see it because I can see her face. I'm saying if she wants to think about it's going to go with it. Oh, no, don't see where I'm going to go with it because my OK. so I guess I mean, it it sort of depends on if it's like my personal experience with how personal. Yeah. like Yeah. or How it's been over the decades. um So I guess medium take.
00:45:51
Speaker
ah It's a lukewarm take. ah But I do really, really enjoy ah the addition of Galaxy's Edge. um I think that it adds something interesting to Disneyland ah that it didn't have ah before.
00:46:04
Speaker
ah The level of theming, though not a lot of people... necessarily participate in the role-playing in Galaxy's Edge. I still think it's very cool. ah What they aspired to do. um Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and Rise of the Resistance is... I just... I remember... I mean, the first time we rode it, it was just three of us in a vehicle, us and a friend.
00:46:24
Speaker
Like, we basically got a private show on Rise of the Resistance, and it was it was the day it opened. It was amazing. um So I've got a lot of good memories of of when that part of the park opened. um Change that I'm not...
00:46:37
Speaker
It probably would have to do with evening entertainment. um I think I would love more of it. And Disneyland seems to be wanting to do less of it. wow Still better than Disney World, though.
00:46:48
Speaker
That's fair. Yeah, Paint the Night is still top tier. Yeah. Yeah, well. So yeah I'm going to go in a different direction than Skyla's answer. So I think best addition is probably mobile ordering. Being able to mobile order food. oh So what we do is like we often will stack our days. we have a busy Disney day, we'll mobile order hours ahead of time, like snacks, lunch, dinner, and have that all ready for us.
00:47:09
Speaker
If we just change your minds, we never hit the I'm here to pick up button. But like mobile ordering food is something for me and Skyla saved us a huge amount of time in the park.
Mobile Ordering at Disneyland
00:47:17
Speaker
And I think it's like one of the best additions that we've done and then you guys have a Disney world too, but like, yeah love mobile yeah but but yeah it's, it's interesting that you do take it for granted.
00:47:26
Speaker
yeah yeah do. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Because like when we go to other parks and we don't have that option, like that's immediately like one of my frustrations that I can't like go mobile order a snack and plan my day at like knots and universal like I can at Disneyland.
00:47:38
Speaker
yeah And then on the flip side of that, I think the thing that, controversial take it's uh removing like fast pass for lightning lane because i think fast pass was a system that like made a lot of rides accessible for people who helped people plan their days better and while lightning lane like is certainly interesting like as a paid option and like adds value for people i think like it's a it's a kind of setup that like isn't necessarily better for everybody who's visiting the park Yeah. Yeah. There there is a, like a barrier for entry on lightning lane where fast pass was a lot more convenient. I do, I do still have some of my fast passes from. Sky was done a couple of art projects, but like old fast passes that she's put in frames with pictures. Like, I think like, again, it was something that like,
00:48:20
Speaker
was a neat system. You had that paper like souvenir of like the FastPass. The fact that we're talking about that we all have these saved like yeah shows the impact of that on us. like So I think it's sad to have seen that go.
00:48:31
Speaker
And like while we use Lightning Lane sometimes, ah it's not really ah system that I'm excited about. Yeah, we do way less rides now, I think. Yeah. and I've had that comment from like friends yeah family that have gone that that like, you know, they didn't go for years and then they came with Lightning Lane. They're like, this is like way more work to it is to get the same thing. Whereas as fast passes were very just like you walk up, you know, grab a ticket, and go. Yeah. It tells you the time and you know the time and you have the evidence of the time where, yeah, I think like, especially like my older family members struggle with things like lightning lane and the mobile app and trying to figure that out. And you didn't hit it the right time. So now your return time is hours in the future. Maybe you are aren't here. Like, I think it's just the thing that is more complicated for people and not necessarily in a good way.
00:49:19
Speaker
Yeah, the park being being able to navigate the park effectively with and with your phone has has been one of the bigger, just general complaints I've seen. that like You basically have to be on your phone the whole time.
00:49:33
Speaker
um That's something, yeah, it seems people don't like.
Navigating Disneyland vs. Disney World
00:49:35
Speaker
Totally fair sentiment. Yeah. I can see the kiosk. I can see the kiosk nostalgia for Disneyland because everything's more compact, but I have no kiosk nostalgia for Disney worlds because running all around the park, just trying to get your different fast. Like I was, to I loved, I loved the, the, the, once it was on an app and on online and didn't have to go up to the kiosk. I hated that.
00:49:56
Speaker
but what you my son the name It's huge. You know, and my son was very little. i I did do the tomorrow land to splash mountain to get a fast pass run. yeah i but up of times It's not nearly the same as Disney World. It's it's way easier. Yeah, it's like six minutes for us. yeah Yeah, and that's totally fair. Like, again, our experience is like at Disneyland, which is very walkable. like I didn't even think about like the Disney World, like changing that system, like how much of an advantage of that. But compared to our story about like going to Epcot and like,
00:50:24
Speaker
trying to get from Ratatouille to Cosmic Rewind, like just not realizing and not thinking about that size and scope. Yeah, yeah it's it is. it's ah It's a whole different thing. And that's that's part of why I didn't I didn't always love the kiosk, because if you wanted to do all this, you had to walk so far and then crisscross your way around the park. And you don't really have to do that as much. I feel like it doesn't like because it's so so compact. So, yeah.
00:50:44
Speaker
yeah it's go Those are good choices. I'm surprised you didn't go attractions. I like that, though. I like you didn't go attractions with it. that That was a good take on that. I like that. We do have one last listener question here. that so again, we we have Becky in our our Discord asked, ah have you taken the Walk and Waltz Footsteps Tour? and And if you did, was there anything in there that you learned that you never knew beforehand? Like, was there any unique stuff in there?
00:51:11
Speaker
And then she also says, were you able to not geek out in the apartment? Oh, it's so sad. So we actually haven't done any of the, like, main street walking tours. The Haunted one, the Flowers one, the Walt one. We haven't done any of those. Oh, wow. Which is sad because I always see people talking about it, and I have a lot of FOMO. Like, I really would like to do it. and We just haven't.
00:51:33
Speaker
um But even if we wanted to, very unfortunately, it i mean, it doesn't exist right now, but... The Waltz apartment portion has been moved to a different tour that is more expensive than a VIP tour.
00:51:50
Speaker
Of course. Of course it is. Of course it A tour, yeah. Yeah. but So i actually learned that right on the same VIP tour where learned about the coffee. um I learned about this and I was like, What?
00:52:01
Speaker
ah this new tour that they have is relatively new. So I can't remember the name of it right now, but I know it's not the same experience, but at least right now. So in ah the opera house, that's where Lincoln and the animatronic Walter, we actually have a fake Walt's apartment in the glass window in there where they have some of the original, like prompts is the wrong word. Like his items from his, yeah his items from his thing are literally in the opera house right now. So they've redone kind of like a wall from his apartment.
00:52:28
Speaker
And like pictures of his family and chairs and like stuff. Like, so we can see that and have that experience without spending, you know, $10,000 to go see Walt's apartment. i ah we Trevor said it was the last question, but you brought up the Walt animatronic. And I'm curious what you guys think of of that whole thing.
00:52:45
Speaker
I was expecting something else. In a bad Good way. I don't, it doesn't look like the version of Walt that I was picturing for an animatronic. Okay. So it's it's a nice experience to have. It's nice to have that there, but like the animatronic doesn't quite look like what I was picturing a Walt animatronic would look like.
00:53:05
Speaker
Okay. It does look better, I think, in person. than in any of the videos that I've seen. um i was a little nervous, but no, we went saw it in person. i was like, oh, the lighting's fine. Like, everything's fine. It's fine with my eyeballs. It's just not fine when you record it.
00:53:19
Speaker
Which something about cameras. mess Yeah, it just doesn't quite come out right. But it does look better in person. um I'll say I kind of... Silly. kind of forgot the flow of Lincoln.
00:53:30
Speaker
And i I didn't recall that Lincoln only talks for like... 60 seconds right it's like nothing which always the same with the walt animatronic he stands up he does a little ditty but the rest of it is screens and history and not like not just him talking at you for 15 minutes and i did i sort of forgot about that and we went i was like oh yeah that makes sense oh yeah i get it well we haven't seen him break down though which is which looks terrifying I can only imagine how that is if he breaks down. Yeah, because I mean, I've you've i've seen other things. I mean, just i going on The Little Mermaid ride and and, you know, The Little Mermaid is like, you know, like, and i you can't see me, but when she just freezes in one spot, it's a little creepy.
00:54:08
Speaker
um And I can't imagine that with an actual real human being. That would be kind of creepy. Yeah. kind of creepy but On that note, thank you guys so much for joining us and doing this interview and for sharing your book with everybody. So before we before we go, can you tell us, first of all, where think everybody can get your book? If you guys have any events upcoming, tell us your social media, why they should buy the book, all that fun stuff.
00:54:26
Speaker
um So our book is available ah wherever you buy books, but I'll say ah Target, Barnes & Noble, Amazon. It's called I Love Disneyland. It's by Rye Castles and Skyla Castles.
00:54:39
Speaker
So you can find that wherever fine books are sold. It is out now. Our next signing, assuming this is going up before this happens, is in Tempe, Arizona on Friday, October 24th.
00:54:52
Speaker
at Changing Hands Bookstore. um And then our one after that is on Saturday, November 15th in Pasadena at Roman's Bookstore. So we got a couple coming up.
Book Purchase and Signing Events
00:55:04
Speaker
um So yeah, if you're in either of those places, come come out with us. loved and Where can they find your social media and everything? and We are at sometimes castles everywhere. TikTok is our primary platform. You can also find us on YouTube and Instagram and to a lesser extent, Facebook.
00:55:22
Speaker
um And also sometimes castles.com. Great. Ryan, you looked like you wanted to say one more thing before you go here. No, I mean, Skyla's great. though I think she's on top of that. But the one little thing I'll add. So we left a small pile of signed copies at the Huntington Beach Barnes & Noble.
00:55:38
Speaker
And they said that anyone that wanted a signed copy, they would ship it to them. So like us right now, we've been very busy. So trying to ship things to people has been challenging. and We appreciate the Barnes & Noble and Huntington Beach offering to do that for us. So if you're looking for a signed copy of I Love Disneyland, if you call the Huntington Beach Barnes & Noble, they'll ship that to you.
00:55:54
Speaker
That's great. wonderful Well, thanks so much, guys, for joining us. This was great. This really informative. And we really we really enjoyed your book. And yeah, thanks for joining us to talk about this. yeah appreciate you guys making the time to chat. This has been fun.
00:56:06
Speaker
This is Skipper Albert the voice of the jungle, signing off from Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.
00:56:23
Speaker
I looked around from pole to pole, found her in a sugar bowl. Look out, here comes my ball and chain.