Episode 372: The Music of EPCOT, Solara & Indiana Jones Upgrades

Transcript

Speaker: This is Skipper Albert A. Wall, the voice of the jungle, broadcasting on the DVC to all points unknown. If you're within the sound of my voice, you're listening to Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.

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 372 of Welcome Home, a Disney Parks and Vacation Club podcast. I'm Tom, here with Trevor. How's it going, Trevor? Hey, pretty good. Well, kind of kind of good. Welcome to cold and flu season.

Speaker: I'm just going to put it out there. Trevor's got a cold. He's not feeling great. I'm a little under the weather and I'm sure it probably doesn't sound great. You know, I couldn't tell from your voice. I didn't realize you were not feeling well until you said something.

Speaker: Okay, well, I mean, maybe that's because I have a large cup of tea and a bunch of throw lozenges next to me, but yeah. It's that time of year, right? like it's It is.

Speaker: yeah It is that time of year. i I was telling you before the show that I'm traveling for work tomorrow, and I was thinking to myself, like, oh great. Perfect time year to be on a plane with a lot bunch of people. Yeah. You know, you know what the nice thing is, though, is that it's socially acceptable to just throw on a mask and bring excessive amounts of hand sanitizer with you.

Speaker: So, yeah, you know, there is that there is that there is that. um I don't know. We'll see. We'll see what happens. But hopefully I don't get sick. I'm going to try not to. I mean, I do that when I'm traveling to Disney. Like I the our last couple of trips, I was like, I don't care. i'm You know, you know, if if people are offended that I'm wearing a mask.

Speaker: I don't care because that's, that's the thing I worry about the most, like getting ready for vacation is people getting sick. Right. Like that's like, yeah. ah The thing that gives me the most amount of anxiety is like people getting sick.

Speaker: I think that's where for us, the the amount of packing that we do is mostly like planning for mitigating how people get sick because we, we've had that happen. We've had like, like we've all been sick at various points on,

Speaker: on our trips. And it's, it's exceptionally hard to, when you're away from home where it's like, yeah you know, Oh, how do I find, you know, cough syrup or, yeah you know, whatever. Right. And it's like, you know, when you when you're somewhere that you're not familiar with stores and stuff like that, i yeah, it's, it's definitely, it's a lot of energy that for something that might not happen, but it's so much easier when you're prepared for it. No, I agree. And when we go on vacation, we tend to like, you know, pack the pack the pharmacy in our, you know. like We always have whole bag.

Speaker: We have an entire like toiletries bag, just like pharmaceuticals. Yeah. It's always good to have that stuff, you know. I, yeah, I, by the way, ah I was laughing at, um, yeah I, I, uh, I was laughing at the discord because i yeah I would have, yeah, yeah, we do need to talk about that. You're right. Do we need to talk about it? It's not really a news item or anything. It's not, but it's, it's a very funny thing and it's going to happen. It's going to continue to happen. It's going to happen on this episode. Now that we're pointing it out though, no it's going to be more in my head. Okay. And I didn't want to say it on on the Discord. I didn't want to reinforce what everyone was saying, but I do the same thing they do when you're going through it, is I'm waiting for you to say, you know, Stitcher.

Speaker: stitcher Let me. Okay. So let's. So Dan, ah Dan in the discord said question for Tom on the outro. How hard is it not to say stitcher after tune in each time? There's always a pause there now. And the voice in my head fills it out with stitcher every time. So yeah those of you that have listened to us for a long time, when I, when I do the outro, I mentioned all the places we are. And for the longest time,

Speaker: I would mention Stitcher. Well, Stitcher doesn't exist anymore, right? So we stopped mentioning Stitcher, but we, I mean, how long have we have what have I been saying it for? Eight years? it's Yeah, the problem yes is it's it's not a matter of like,

Speaker: saying the word, it's a rhythm thing. It is. It's a rhythm. Because you had a rhythm and a cadence to it. I did. And that's disrupting the rhythm and that's why there's the pause in it.

Speaker: Yeah. Maybe you need to like add like, you know, not Stitcher or, you know, the the platform formerly. No, no. Like, well, because it because it's Amazon. Yeah. Or Stitcher was owned by Amazon, right? So it's like, yeah I don't know what happened to Stitcher. Yeah, I looked it up a while ago. I'm pretty sure it was it was ah it was an Amazon platform.

Speaker: I remember. Okay, okay. Yeah, I just, it's, ah i somebody else said to it said said one time, I forget where it was, I don't know if it was in Discord or if for it was just like a comment on something, like, I think was a post on Facebook, they were like, why do you mention all those at the end? And it's like, I mention them because like, i don't know, maybe you're listening on, you know, YouTube and you instead would like to be listening on Spotify, you know, like it's, obviously if you found us already, you're listening to us somehow, but just, you need to know that there's alternatives too, right? I mean,

Speaker: ah Sorry, i'm I'm incorrect. I thought it was an Amazon thing. Stitcher is owned by SiriusXM. Oh, okay. So they moved Stitcher into the main SiriusXM platform, which is why it doesn't exist anymore.

Speaker: um But here I've been, Trevor, now for, i don't know how long ago I took that out, thinking that... I was doing a good job with it and no one was noticing that the hesitation was happening in my brain. But apparently the hesitation is coming out of my mouth as well. so it's OK. I just thought it was a funny thing for him to point out. And it gave me a good laugh. It really did.

Speaker: Yeah. i I think maybe because because you say. Um, was it, you say Amazon, and was that tune in to Amazon music, tune in Spotify, Spotify, YouTube.

Speaker: think There's another one we could add in there. Like, like a different one. Yeah. I mean, I could, ah I, is does I heart radio still exists? We were on that one. Hmm. I think, uh, there's, I'm just actually looking right now. There's radio.net. apparently,

Speaker: Okay. Yeah. odd bay There's <unk>s lots of other ones you could say. I don't know that any of them particularly. i I looked up our stats at one point and I was actually really surprised that a large portion of our audience listens to, I think it was Pocket Casts.

Speaker: Oh, um yeah. So I don't know. But, you know, it just was it's just funny that it just got brought up like that because I do think about it every time. And in my brain, i mean, and I've actually said it before accidentally.

Speaker: and And I'm not going to lie, edit it out later because I feel stupid about it. so i don't think you should. I mean, it's not. Yeah. no Like you said, it's not really a big deal. It's it's more of just a funny thing because yes you're right. You know, it's it's been so many years of that rhythm that when you when you take that beat out of the rhythm, you notice you notice the change, right? and And it's not, and and and you know, you know, the people pointed it out on the discord are not saying it as like a, you know, Oh, I know. It's just a, you know, Hey, this, this is a, this is a thing that I noticed because it did have a flow to it. And that flow has been disrupted. Yeah. No, I, I didn't, I don't take it as a bad thing. I just think it's funny that they all seem to notice it. And then, but they also are all saying that in their head that they're adding it. Yeah. Yeah. I do it too. As I go, like, I'm actually waiting for you to be like,

Speaker: You know, tune in Stitcher. not And I go, yep, Stitcher. Like it's. Yeah, of course. Stitcher. That thing doesn't exist anymore. Doesn't matter. But I just had to laugh at that. I just that that cracked me up. So, oh, by the way, so last week's show, we were talking about the Christmas there and holiday, you know, like merch and stuff. And we were talking about that Stitch ornament.

Speaker: So I bought it while we were on the podcast. I bought that. Nice. Because, you know, why not? And I got it. you know, so I gave it to my daughter because my daughter really loves Christmas and she really loves Stitch. So was like, oh, okay, two things together, you know, instant win for dad.

Speaker: And she liked it. And then I said, well, you know, you don't seem that excited, man. She's like, she's like, it's like a 70%. It's not like a hundred percent. It's like a 70% excited. I'm like, okay, well, I'll guess I'll have to take that.

Speaker: but But it's a huge ornament, by the way. it's it's really large. Yeah. Yeah, those Mickey ear ornaments are way bigger than you realize. But i have so I have a couple of those, and this feels even bigger, and I think it's probably just because there's stitch pieces on it. Makes sense. But yeah, it looks really cool lit up. I will say that. ah in you know the I also got the other stitch one, too, that we talked about, so I you know just went all out. But anyway...

Speaker: Trevor's sick today, so we are going to to keep this to a shorter episode. And we say that every time all the time. will tough through. It'll be fine. We should try to keep it shorter, though, too. We we just do we should just try to do shorter episodes in general. that We almost did two hours last week, and I'm still not even sure what we talked about. But, yeah, I mean, it's it's fine because, you know, when we have the shorter episodes, it's like i I don't know. i I very much like the time that we put into this, I guess. So so the fact that, you know, you know we've even said, yeah you know, the amount, like even, you know, the interview we did, which i know wish I don't want to keep bringing it up, but it's like. I know. Time flies by so fast when you're enjoying something you do.

Speaker: That's true. Yeah. And I think that's that's our big challenge is that we enjoy ourselves too much. And so yeah it's hard to put brackets around like you should only do this for an hour. It's like... Yeah, I know. Honestly, it's the same as telling me like... Or when I was a kid, i would get told like you can only play video games for an hour after school. And I'm like, well, no, that's hardly like I'm just getting started. Like, you know, a game of, you know, Super Mario 3, it's not...

Speaker: you're spending more than an hour on it. So, you know, anything, yeah, like anything that you enjoy, it's, you know, you know, it always, it always doesn't feel like you have enough time to do it, but we'll still, we'll try anyway.

Speaker: And we'll, we'll actually start, I guess, by, um we'll get into the topics sooner than we have for the last couple of episodes, because it's because we usually talk for like the first 20 minutes of the episode. That's true. but Look at that. We only talked for 10 minutes. Yeah. So, hey we're you know, we're already giving you that improvement. Yeah. Progress. so ah So this is the thing we probably knew about already. But um so for the ah Mickey's Very merry Merry Christmas Party this year, ah those ah DVC members that are listening right now that are going to the party, ah you're going to want to stop by McKim's Mile House to get a free giveaway item, which I'm glad that they keep doing this. They've been doing this for the party nights.

Speaker: uh, in, you know, where they're giving away these, these free things that I'm, I'm a big fan of, of them doing this. I, owe I, mean, listen, I love free stuff and I especially love free DVC stuff. Yeah, and and the the stuff that they're giving away at, ah you know, through the McKims is, there there it was an ornament last year, wasn't it? If i remember correctly. Yeah, they've done ornaments before.

Speaker: Yeah, I'm trying to remember the item last year. I think i think you're right. i for when I feel like they did a tote bag at one point or something. i don think They might have, but but I guess the point is is that it's always it's always something nice and it's always something that's worth Like, if you're there for the party anyway, you might as well plan to stop by McKim's and, you know, get your DVC-specific gift. Because, mean, why shouldn't you? It's ah it's a perk. Exactly. yeah it looks like, i just I just Googled this last year, it was a complimentary holiday magnet, according to two an AI search here. So, I don't you know i don't know if that's...

Speaker: Yeah, I don't know if that's correct or not. but I was confusing it. i Now that realize it, I was confusing with the ornament we got from the Christmas party when we went, which which wasn't a DVC ornament. It was just yeah like ah it was for the party.

Speaker: but They also used to do, though, like you could just go every year. And like if you were there during the holidays, that you could just go get a free ornament from them. Like it wasn't exclusive to the holiday parties.

Speaker: You know, because we used to go and always get the free thing if we were there around the holidays. um You know, they they and I remember in Epcot, they had a distribution area for it ah where they were giving out some. It was like, I think i think it was I'm pretty sure it was an ornament. And a couple of years we got it.

Speaker: but um But yeah, I mean, now they've just been doing it during the ah during the um the Christmas parties and also some of the Halloween parties, too. But I don't think it's all of them.

Speaker: Yeah, I feel like it's like it's one of those things where you know you know people always ask about like yeah you know DVC discounts and like extra perks for DVC, which like you know if you're already going to the Christmas parties and whatnot, you do get to utilize the DVC discount if you're you know if you've got...

Speaker: um a DVC membership, which, you know, that, that in and of itself is nice, you know, it saves you a bit of money, but then I feel like this is them just trying to like offering it specifically at the Christmas party is them trying to like further justify like, Hey, you know, you've, you've paid for this DVC, they are, you know, for DVC,

Speaker: you're at a party that's already, ah you know, an extra ticketed event, you know, you know, try and try and give you something that feels a little bit extra special because, you know, it's something that DVC members I think are always looking for is like to not just feel like, you know, you know, congratulations, you bought DVC. You're, you're, you know, you're one of many, right? Like it's, you know, giving, giving you, you know, a little bit extra reason to go and,

Speaker: and engage with what they're offering, right? Which, like I said, at at the Christmas parties, I know, um ah i know McKim's Mile House is not actually open during the Christmas parties, but it's nice that you can pop by there and visit. And and honestly, like, you know, part of it too is like, you get a little bit of a chance to interact with cast members and stuff for DVC stuff. And I always find that they're always very enjoyable.

Speaker: Like it's, it's usually, a you know, even if you, you know, what you get is not like a huge item or or, you know, anything overly complex, it still is a nice, you know, a nice memory on top of everything else that you're doing. Right. So, yeah, yeah, for sure. i Listen, I, I think I'm always a big fan of, uh,

Speaker: Like I said, anything free. ah And i but I was looking, but don't know if you saw this, but I, this is just to, you know, talk about free stuff.

Speaker: I was, when I was looking to to do the rundown ah for, you know, for the show here, i saw the pass holder magnet right now. And I was really, i was really mad that I'm not a pass holder. I have not looked at the pass holder magnets. and it's it It's Mickey dressed as a dapper Dan. Yeah. Oh, really?

Speaker: It's Dapper Mickey. Yeah. Oh, yeah. i so Oh, man. Yeah, that's. I know. I want it. So, yeah, it's a bummer. um But, yeah, it is what it is, right?

Speaker: So. Yeah. But, I mean, hey, either way, if you if you happen to be going to a Christmas party, make sure you do pop by McKim's Mile House. Yeah. See what they got, because you never know. Also, I really like McKim's Wild House. We've been in that lounge, want to say twice now, and it's like it's a great lounge. i really I really like it. It's small, but it's they got some you know got some good cookies in there, and it's ah it's got kind of ah its a cool little environment, you know? Yeah, I still need to get in there because we didn't get a chance to stop in there on my last trip, but... yeah

Speaker: yeah You kind of have to have the membership Magic Beyond or get on the wait list early for that one because it is so small and it is Magic Kingdom. So, um I mean, we didn't wait that long because we had magic membership Magic Beyond. But, um you know, if you don't have it, then, you you know, you it's if you don't get on that wait list early, then you're you're not getting it. Yeah, exactly that. like And like the logic with that on my last trip was i was there with my brother who had, you know, hadn't been to Disney World in a long time. And, you know, I was more focused on us doing things we would enjoy. And I wasn't going to be like, hey, let's go line up to go sit in this place that you have no frame of reference to. yeah yeah you know, it's it's a lounge. And I mean, to be fair, like we we did go sit in the the lounge at Epcot.

Speaker: Which, you know, he he very much appreciated like or he understood why the lounges are great because, you know, when you're walking around all day, you know, having having a place to stop is nice. But the Kim's is a little different that, yeah yeah, you know, getting on the reservation list and all that without...

Speaker: Membership Magic Plus. Also, it wasn't offered to me last year, and I'm still a little bitter about that. But now you can get it, though. You can get it now. Yeah. yeah our Our next trip, for sure. we will like i will be utilizing it for for that.

Speaker: For sure. Yeah. ah So some news that i I saw, Trevor, that made me really happy ah is... is ah So back at d twenty three they were putting out ah and a vinyl of ah at of the... um ah the The music of Epcot.

Speaker: so he's a is a yeah So it's a record of the music of Epcot. And now they've made this available streaming. And i you know I love Epcot and I love the music of Epcot. Although...

Speaker: Some of the choices here are very interesting, but I was listening to it last night and remembering some of these old Epcot songs. Yeah. Such as the computer song, ah ah which was, which is a really old Epcot song um and the magic journeys. But I have to tell you, Trevor, this, and I, I made it, I posted this in the discord and nobody responded to it. And then I wasn't making a joke. I'm serious about this. The Canada, you're a lifetime journey song is a fantastic song.

Speaker: Like, I love that song. You know, it's funny. i'm I'm trying. I'm sure I've heard it. You definitely have. it But I'm like trying to place or I'm sure it's one of these things that once I listen to it, it'll be like, oh, yeah, I remember that.

Speaker: Yeah. It's great song. Okay. Yeah. i' try I'm trying. I think they were. I think they used it in the Circle Vision ah that they had for. Yeah.

Speaker: Oh, gosh, it was it i could be wrong about this, but I have to look it up now. But they go, Canada. Oh, yeah. i yeah i've That one. i That's the only part I've heard of. Yeah. And they also, part of it's in French, too. It's it's it's the best. ah Of course. Yeah. yeah But no, it's seriously, i I love that song. And I i we actually, you know, if I wish I could just play it right now while we're talking about it. But we can't. um so But it has, you know, it has like the you know New Horizons on it from Horizons. It's got, of of course, Universe of Energy.

Speaker: You know, it's it's got ah to the two different versions of Universe of Energy. There's Listen to the Land, which was one I forgot about um until I heard it. And i was like, oh, I recognize this one. I mean, they've even got, you know, From World to Motion in there. They've got a Kitchen Cabaret.

Speaker: i mean, yeah, i I will admit, I actually was looking at some history stuff on Kitchen Cabaret because i know I realized there's a lot of stuff at Epcot that I've seen. Like my experience with Epcot is much newer than a lot of people. So like stuff like this, I just don't have a frame of reference for it. But it's always curious to for me to hear it and see some of this stuff because it's like, oh, that's so like.

Speaker: it's so weird yet familiar, right? Kitchen Cabaret is a tremendously weird show. like know i've I've seen, yeah it is definitely weird. um But yeah, it I will say, like, i I see where they're going with the, um like some of the,

Speaker: the music selections on this. Yeah. Um, one or for me though, the one track that I'm surprised didn't make it on here is the, interventions song. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. Which is called, uh, actually on, which is, yeah so it's funny you say that because I thought the same thing, Trevor. And my, my biggest problem with this streaming album is,

Speaker: I like, you know, they have like the, the new, well, okay. So let me just back up for sec. They have newer songs and they have older songs, right? So it starts off with the older songs and then it goes to the newer songs, which I, you know, great. I like that they have both, but to your point, Trevor, when I want to listen to Epcot music, I want to, I want like a loop of the background music that you just hear walking through the middle of the park and For, you know, hours on end, whereas, you know, they just have three minutes of the of the entrance song and it's like, OK, well, I, you know, I want more than that from the main entrance medley for Future World. I want the loop of it. And and to your point, there should be 10 hour versions that. give me a 10 hour version because that that exists you can listen to those things on youtube and actually and that's actually one of the first things my wife said to me too she's like she's like wait but where's the where's she didn't she couldn't think the word end of interventions but she's like where's that music that you know you that we just think of when we think of old epcot like all the time yeah the the song is called papillon which is french for butterfly but that's how i remember it so yeah Yeah, but I mean, I just think of it as interventions background music. um

Speaker: But yeah, you're right. There's no interventions on here. And then I also thought it was interesting that the version of Soarin' they chose was Soarin' Around the World, not Soarin' Around California, which yeah i i which I thought was a little bit of an interesting choice.

Speaker: But... I actually like sort around the world. I, and when I started, uh, when I was playing it, I, so I think I've said this on the show before that Soarin' is my, uh, alarm.

Speaker: So like when I wake up, I wake up to Soarin', uh, around California and uh, it's a little jarring in the beginning of the original to, to wake you up to.

Speaker: And then I was listening story around the world. So it's like, Oh, I kind of want to do this one. Cause it starts a little gentler and kind of builds a little slower. and so maybe that'll be better for me waking up. Yeah. That, that can be dangerous though. Cause I like, I don't, yeah my, my alarm needs to be abrasive. to Okay. Like, yeah, I, I, I've tried the, the like soft soothing alarms and it's like, no, that doesn't work. I need like, it needs to hit me. Yeah. I actually go, i use some of the default stuff because some of it's pretty obnoxious.

Speaker: Yeah. And and ah that way it's specifically the alarm and I don't like associate it with anything else. and And that way I move when it goes off. Yeah. To your point though, Trevor, when I think Epcot music, I think of the Interventions music. I really do. Like that's, I they said, i'm I'm looking, I was looking through this and i was like, oh, maybe I missed it. But it's like, yeah they they covered everything else. Like they even went so far as like there there is, obviously there's, you know, the stuff from the Canada Pavilion, but like they're they're giving representation from all the different pavilions, which is, you know, makes sense. Some of them. They don't do all of them.

Speaker: Yeah. first Yeah. So yeah, yeah you're right. not Not all of them, but their choices for songs, are like some of them are like kind of catchy like oh yeah i remember this and like you said that it's like really far back but it's like there's this in-between section that they're ignoring well is first of all yeah you know what i mean right like how is there no illuminations first of all yeah like give me one song from illuminations like that was a huge miss for me i need illuminations in there Yeah, that there's, again, there like, for, yeah, is yeah even, good because they have ah Luminous in here. do They do. don't have Illuminations, which I guess the the hard part is, you know, they don't want to rehash ah stuff. Or, well, it actually, i say I say that and I catch myself because I'm like, but they are rehashing old stuff. Yeah. But they're picking and choosing what they want to rehash, which I find weird because, like, it's hard

Speaker: You know, some somebody clearly made some choices on this. Yeah. And they don't align with our choices. But then it makes me wonder, like, who did you pick some of these tracks for? Well, mean... If not for the people that, like, listened to...

Speaker: you know, yeah Disney music. at At this point, like, it's fun to be free from Worlds of Motion. Worlds of Motion has been gone for a long time. Yeah. like You know, like, but it's cool to hear it. It's it's cool to hear, like, like you know, it's same with Kitchen Cabarets. It was the same thing. Agreed.

Speaker: But it's, but then, yeah, like you said, like, it's like they skipped over other parts of it. I don't, yeah. it's It's a weird, like, it's not,

Speaker: I'm glad that they've done it. And maybe, maybe, you know, there'll be follow up to this, right? You know, maybe there'll be another, you know, you know, track list that they do that has more of these ones that we're talking about. It's just, I, I was in my head when I, when you, you sent the link for it on discord in the back of my head, I immediately went to the interventions music. Yeah.

Speaker: i was like, Oh, that's going to be there. And when I'm looking through it now, I'm like, Why didn't they do that? They should just bring back the, in I feel like that interventions music still works in Epcot of today. Like it just does.

Speaker: It does. Like, I feel like, duk yeah, I feel like everybody goes to that. Now, listen, if you, if you think we're wrong about this, if your mind goes somewhere else, when you think Epcot music, you know, let us know. Yeah, absolutely. We're talking about just to our experience with it. if you know I guess you know for anybody, you you know we're you know we're talking about the music of Epcot. If there's something that sticks out to you, either that's on this record or not, that you know bring it up. yeah you know Because i I would be curious to see what other people resonate with

Speaker: from the e caught Epcot music because yeah i know we all have things that we resonate against. Also, I'm going to call out Disney on a huge missed opportunity with these vinyls. Okay.

Speaker: the the The vinyls have a small sticker of Spaceship Earth in the middle. They could have done the entire vinyl printed as Spaceship Earth, and it would have been amazing.

Speaker: That's true. I do like the image on it, though. It is. yeah It's a nice image, but you but you could have made it the entire record. Yeah, you could have. They could have made the entire record, like, the the lit up Spaceship Earth. It probably does look cool when it spins, though. Oh, yeah. but But make it the whole record. Like, sorry, missed opportunity, in my opinion.

Speaker: ah By the way, before anybody yells at me... I would say soaring around California. I mean, soaring over California. I apologize for my incorrectness. I knew what you meant.

Speaker: Yeah, I'm sorry. I just, yeah, I, it's been a, it's been a long week. My brain's not working. it It's soaring, soaring over California and soaring around the world. Yes. My bad. My bad, everyone. I caught my mistake though. I was like, soaring around California doesn't sound correct in my head. And I'm like, who yeah, that's right. It's over. Okay. Okay.

Speaker: Wandering around someplace that I've never been. Yeah, exactly. There you go. Well, it's funny though, Trevor, that because like listening to, yes, but so this is all available in all the streaming services, by the way, right now. So it's called the music of Epcot is the, is the album. So, um, you know, look for that. Obviously the, the problem is it's hard to find because if you look for the music of Epcot on any streaming service, it, kind it brings up a million things, you know, like, Yeah, because there's so many playlists and so like those 10 hour loops and stuff like that. Yeah, it's all kind of buried in there at the moment. So you have to specifically look for the Disney music of Epcot to find it.

Speaker: I will say, though, now Epcot Suite, which is the new music, every time I hear it, I can't, like, I see the light show on Spaceship Earth in my head because it's to that music.

Speaker: And it it gets it, like, hits me. in a I've talked about this before. lights on Spaceship Earth. then do do yeah it's a Yeah. Yeah. It's that whole thing. Yeah. And it's for some reason, the that show that they do with that song on spaceship earth, it, it like gets me emotionally. Like, yeah yeah I don't know what it is. I love it so much. And it like, every time I hear that song now, I can, I see it in my head, the, the, the, you know, the actual show happening. So it's like, yeah, I, I, I like that that's on there, but you know, like I said, I thought, yeah.

Speaker: I get what you mean because we we actually bought a little 3D printed. um app It's a half globe of Epcot. Oh, I've seen that. Yeah. Yeah. yeah But it has LEDs in it and it plays the the song and it does like it does it does the it does. Yeah. It does a smaller version of the show. That's amazing. but But we do that because like, yeah, same kind of things. Like I can turn that on sit there for a few minutes and just like vibe with the with Epcot.

Speaker: as As much as I love still music, the new music is also great. I really love what they've done too. um yeah so But I think, yeah, there's... And actually, I know in the new area loop, I'm pretty sure that they, I'm pretty sure they sampled something from Papillon.

Speaker: okay. remember seeing something about it. so but But it's one of these things like they do with with the newer tracks where it's like they'll sample something in and it's like you can so you can sometimes miss it like because it doesn't always, like it's not always like...

Speaker: obvious that they sampled it in but yeah um but if if you listen close enough you can probably find it and i'll be honest like i've i need to just go stand abcot and just listen to the music and see what's there yeah but um yeah i i still think i think it was a huge miss for them like i i'm sorry i'm really hung up on them not putting the interventions in there i know like why wouldn't you like it's so iconic i mean ah listen in vinyl form you are very limited right and they already this is already a two a two record uh you know release so i understand why you can't throw like a 30 minute song i mean like i get it They do singles. They do they do the little, right like you could have done a single. Yeah, I'm just, it's, you know, records are just so limited on that stuff. So it's like, yeah, I don't know. But I would love to hear what people associate. Like if you, if I say, you know, Epcot music, what is the thing that you you associate it with? i I, you know, I would love to hear that because I think it's an interesting conversation because I don't know, maybe it's just you and I have that it that feel that way. Maybe, you know, other people don't.

Speaker: I think there's a subsection of people or like everyone has their passions about things at Disney. It's not that everybody is looking at like, yeah you know, there's people that look at like the the design aspects. There's people that look at like costuming. There's people that look at music and and all these things.

Speaker: ah like everything resonates differently for everybody else for us i think you you and i both understand it's like area music has it has a certain effect on you and it has a certain effect on memories oh yeah related to it and i think that's why we kind of gravitate to it but i also know that like some people are like i don't know what that song is but also like even outside of disney stuff it's like i can i can cite songs from video games that i've played and people are like i don't know what you're talking about like No, but this is iconic to me, man. Like, I remember being a sleepy child, like, you know, wanting to go home after the fireworks show and just hearing that music playing, you know? Like, it's in my brain forever.

Speaker: for For me, it's, um we we did our honeymoon there, and that was like, yeah like that that trip particularly stuck with me. And yeah, that the music, like, walking through interventions and by electrical umbrella and all that. Like, it's all that.

Speaker: music which I know is like it's all different now but it's like hearing that music still invokes a memory for me so they should just bring it back every once in a while you know Yeah. Like, I mean, i'm a nostalgia month or something and just do all old school music. you know They're doing it with rides. I mean, you know, they you did that with Guardians where, you know, you know, September runs on the 21st of September. So, you know, why can't you why can't we have a ah week of like, you know, old school Epcot vibes or something? amazing would a a show ah on the a light show on Spaceship Earth to that song

Speaker: be like you oh man it'd be so good oh yeah you okay you you've hit on something yeah right just do it do it do it it's like as they do special things on that all the time they did like rainbow connection they did all the old stuff like there was an encanto one that we saw that like yeah you're right i know they did some old epcot songs on there too at one point and for the anniversary but i don't think they did the intervention song If they did, I didn't see it. but I really miss Interventions. I'm not going to It was one of the coolest parts of Epcot to me. That's like the thing I always remembered from Epcot. And it makes me, so I mean, I understand why it's gone, but it's like, it's just a bummer.

Speaker: Yeah, it it had it had so much potential, but I understand why it wasn't sustainable. No, I understand, too. like it I mean, at certain points, it got I mean, but there was a time where there was really cool stuff there. I mean, yeah yeah, it was like really legitimately cutting edge stuff. I remember I drove a Segway there and it was like at the time the Segway was like a brand new thing and it was like the coolest thing in the world to get to do that.

Speaker: And they did, like, all the, like, like futuristic house stuff. and Yeah. just It was... I wish they'd bring some of that. Like, it it gave off a very, like, World's Fair vibe without like like without having actually been to a World's Fair before. Yeah.

Speaker: it Which was the yeah was was the point of Epcot, right? I mean, that's what they were trying to do. so ah But it it it gave us that feeling, and I wish that there was something... something like like It's just like a cool show and tell thing, right? Like it was just do it on like a smaller scale, right? Like just do like one exhibition, you know? Yeah, I feel like it's hard to do or it's hard to justify space in a theme park for it, right?

Speaker: You know what they should do, Trevor? You know what they should do They should reconstitute the Wonders of Life Pavilion into the Innoventions Pavilion. You just make that, the right? yeah You got a building there. I'm sure there's some cool new technology, you know, out there.

Speaker: ah You know, I mean, listen, you do before touchscreens were everywhere, they were they were in Epcot. Like it was, you know, they weren't a thing. And you could go see that. at up I mean, there was it used to be that where you would see these things that you could not see anywhere else. And it was pretty cool. But again, like you said, it was it's very hard to sustain because especially right now in the current time when things are just technology accelerates so quickly, you can't.

Speaker: You can't keep up with that. so I mean, we we have some things further on the rundown talking about new technology. So, yeah, even, yes yeah you know, even on a week-to-week basis, it moves too fast sometimes.

Speaker: It does. All right. Well, we talked about Epcot Music. You let us know what you associate with Epcot and how mad you are that Illuminations isn't on there. Although some of our listeners have professed that they did not care for Illuminations, which, you know, boom.

Speaker: i Why? Even if you weren't mad about Illuminations not being on there, i I'm still saying Poplion. And if you don't know track, go find Poplion. It's fantastic. Let me ask you this without getting a long answer out of it because we we should move on. Yes or no? if they and Would you have been happier or less happy than you are now if they had included it but only included like five minutes of it?

Speaker: I would been fine with a five minute rendition of it. Okay. Like a five minute clip. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Just something like just, just something of it. Yeah. All right. Okay. Yeah.

Speaker: yeah Well, Disney ah to move on here has been continuing to do this thing where they trickle out holiday birch. Yeah. Which is kind of annoying because it's like, we have to talk about it, but like, well, yeah. I mean, I think there's only one thing on this list that we need to talk about and it's a candle. Yeah.

Speaker: Is that the one that you're looking at? Yeah, I mean, because there are some kind of boring. I'm not going to lie. Okay, yeah, you have to admit that the candle set is pretty awesome. The fake candles. Yeah, those are pretty cool. I do like that.

Speaker: the The three of them, right? Yeah. but yeah Yeah. Yeah, the fake ones. See, I thought you were going to highlight the Muppet Christmas Carol ah sweatshirt and sweater.

Speaker: um No, because I'm, like, it's okay, but it... Yeah. it Yeah. it It doesn't jump out to me the same way that those candles do.

Speaker: Yeah, those candles are pretty cool. So it's a set of, ah you know, it's three candles and it's ah the one on the end has no Santa hat and beard. And Chip is in there. I'm sorry. Dale is in the middle.

Speaker: And he's got ah he's got a beard and a Santa hat on a little candle on top. And then there's just the regular Santa all the way to the right. is from that one of the scenes from when Chip and Dale get brought into Mickey and Pluto's house. Yes. On the Christmas tree and they're causing havoc, which. Yeah, it's it's that's why I like it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. it's da yeah da Dale hiding and Pluto getting mad about it. ah It's a great reference.

Speaker: It is. Yeah. that That's why I like it. It's like it's ah it's a very direct reference to an old cartoon, which even if you didn't watch it, like yeah it's been around for so long. like It's on Disney Plus. So it's like if you haven't seen it. Yeah. For those that haven't seen it, it's a short. You can go. It's like not long at all. So exactly.

Speaker: Yeah. So, yeah, i I like that. I like those kinds of things that that draws my attention more than like, ah you know, the Muppet Christmas Carol. um sweater is nice, but this is more getting my attention.

Speaker: Yeah. and you get and you go watch that one and you can see the 1950s version of Mickey. Yeah. Which is funny that Mickey like oh like you know like changes so much throughout the years, but like Donald changed a little bit from like the beginning, but it's pretty much been the same. The same with Pluto and Chip and Dale, really. like They've all kind of stayed the same.

Speaker: oh Donald has changed a lot over the years, too. I mean, like like I mean, in the very from the very beginning. Yes. But like, I feel like we've had the same version of Donald for like a long time.

Speaker: No, no, he's he's changed a lot, too. I'll say like he's he's changed alongside Mickey. I think Pluto. I mean, Pluto is a hard one because there's not a lot to change with Pluto in terms of features like it's.

Speaker: You know, you know, the collar hasn't changed. Like it's, it's very, very identifiably Pluto every single time. like Every other character I think has had, like, if you actually like lay them out like decade by decade, they change pretty substantially. But I mean, i don't want to say that Pluto hasn't changed, but I feel like he's changed the least of all the characters.

Speaker: Yeah, I just, i don't know. i just just feel like Donald's has generally looked the same since the 30s, basically. Are you just talking that, like, the sailor uniform? Yeah, and the look. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for the most part.

Speaker: i mean I feel like there's been, like, details and stuff changed yeah yeah to the outfit. Whereas, like, or yeah but yeah, I guess ah i I hear what you're saying. It's like, Mickey has gone through, like, Bigger modifications, I think. You know, wearing shorts versus, like, fully, like, you know, even in that short, like, he's fully, like, in, like, winter jacket and everything outside.

Speaker: Yeah. And... Yeah, like Donald, and I guess in the entire time that they've been animating them, Donald's never found pants. So, mean... He can't seem to find those pants. There is a funny ah Mickey short about that where, where ah was it doesn't Mickey mickey so and Donald swap? Yeah. Oh, they're they're trying to get food on the boardwalk. Yeah. Goofy says no shirt, no shoes, no service. Yeah. And so so Donald's trying to get Mickey's shoes and Mickey's trying to get Donald's shirt. And then, yeah, and then yeah it it ends up it ends up with Mickey being naked at one point. Yeah. And hiding behind a bush.

Speaker: Yeah. That's a good one. Anyway. ah All right. So why don't we move on and ah why why don't we do our ad? and Yeah, I think that would be a good idea. Yeah, let's do that before we lose your your voice here. ah ah The sponsor for this episode is DVC Resale Market. DVC Resale Market, a keyholder vacation 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.

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% of listings sell within 30 In 2025, DVC Resell Market helped over 4,400 families join or add on to their memberships.

Speaker: Go to DVCResellMarket.com slash welcomehome or call 1-844-DVCPROS. That's them know that Welcome Home sent you. three eight two seven seven six seven and when you speak to them be sure to let them know that welcome home sent you So Trevor, i i this is um this is a Disney Cruise Line thing. um but And I think you're aware of this because I think we talked about these before. But um during during ah Halloween, that each of the ships have, of the Disney Cruise Line ships, have their own like kind of unique like haunted kind of tree.

Speaker: Which yeah a Halloween or pumpkin tree, I guess. Yeah, it's a pumpkin tree. Yeah. Which it's a huge thing, um meaning like it's like size wise. It's very large.

Speaker: um So for them to even put that up for like that short amount of time is is kind of amazing, you know, because it's it's such a short period of time. but And they're so intricate. Right. I've always wondered to myself, do they store this on the ship somewhere or like do they like keep it offshore and then they just bring it on for I don't know. I've always wondered these things. but I feel like they have a space where they maintain these things outside of the ship. I would think so. Yeah. I would think can't imagine them just like having these in storage. Yeah. So, but ah this is, ah you know, we have the ah the newest pumpkin, Enchanted Pumpkin Tree ah for for Disney Cruise Line. And this is for the Destiny, ah which, you know, this is would be the Destiny's first ah ah Halloween. So we, we you know, are just getting a first look at its...

Speaker: at its tree and they of course you know these all have a ah background story and so this one is called solara or solera solera solara solar i guess yeah you could go either way with that i think but i was thinking solera because yeah and uh solera is uh is is really cool looking so and let's see it's i'm trying to see the uh ah the story here.

Speaker: um But it doesn't. Yeah, good. Yeah, there's there's supposed to be all this like world building behind the the the pumpkin trees are all supposed to be connected together. Yeah, they are. Yeah. And because the other ones was it Zion Gamble are their names.

Speaker: Yeah. And then and then apparently they they did something that caused Solera to come into existence is what it sounds like. Yeah. So it's, yeah it's really cool.

Speaker: Yeah. It's really cool looking. It's, I mean, i don't even know how to describe this, right? It's obviously like a figure of a woman that looks like she's turned into a tree and her arms have turned into branches. And often they're like hands reaching out with the pumpkins hanging from It's actually kind of, I mean, it's kind of creepy. it it's i It's doing its job then.

Speaker: It is. Yeah. But it's, you know, it's a really incredible story. work of art, honestly. And ah the branches have ah these lit up pumpkins hanging off of them. Some of them are more are like, you know, more traditional carved pumpkins. And then some of them are like, you know, stretched out kind of. They're like almost like ah what do you call them? ah or They're distorted. Yeah. Yeah. They're distorted and they're green and they have like kind of kind of scarier faces on them.

Speaker: Yeah. i yeah I think that plays, or so it's it says something about, like, there's different ways to interact with Solera, and part of it is, um you know, with their storytellers, apparently there's there's something where you can pick a side and join in on a spellbinding chant for delight or fright, and I'm wondering if that's how, like, depending on which...

Speaker: Which side you lean towards, either you get the more scarier pumpkins or you get the ah the happier pumpkins yeah lighting up, which I think that's cool. I think that's a cool way to, like, make an interactive thing and kind of, like, make it lightly competitive for for yeah people on on the ship, right?

Speaker: Yeah, it says her carvings are a secret until the show. She's truly a new hair Halloween character people will want to meet. So it's, yeah, so like you said, it's, you get to choose ah if it's delight or fright. So yeah, that's a good point.

Speaker: It's, listen, this is, this is why you do things like go on Disney cruises because, I mean, you get this really incredible, beautiful art that you get to see on there. So, and why a lot of people like to go on during like Halloween and stuff like that. So, I'm a big fan. just like, I love this.

Speaker: yeah even though I'm not like heavily invested in, I very much appreciate world building or that like the fact that they're like, not just being like, here's a, here's a thing we did, but it's like, everything has a story behind it. Here's the thing. And here's the story behind it. And here's how you participate in that story, you know, which is great. Yeah.

Speaker: So, yeah, I mean, not too much outside of that. I mean, honestly, I don't know what else to say about it, but it's cool. Yeah. Yeah. 26. Sheesh. Okay. Let's, so i okay You keep finding stuff that says AI in it.

Speaker: And I'm just going to, I'm going to go on record. I know we've talked about this is like, whenever I read AI, i immediately go like, oh, like, i know what are we doing now?

Speaker: But when I read a little bit more into this, this is a patent. um Yeah. I understand what it's doing, but the way it reads is far, feels far more scary than what it actually is. I have, and we kind of talked about this in the last episode, I have a weird thing with with AI in general where I think you and I, Trevor, are both tech nerds. Like, we love, like, new tech and, like, really cool things.

Speaker: We're exposed to it a lot more than... Yeah. we like But we might love those kinds of things. But at the same time, it's like... is this really creepy? Maybe.

Speaker: So like, I love the idea that it's new tech that could be do something really cool. But it's like when I was just talking about the fact that I could get drone deliveries to my house or testing drone deliveries. And I took a video of it and I showed it to a bunch of people and half the reactions were, well, that's really cool. And the other half were, oh, that's kind of creepy. you yeah It's like, I get it. I get both sides of it. But you know, anyway.

Speaker: Yeah. So, okay, so let's start by, so this is the high-level summary. that This came from this article on it. Disney files patent for AI characters that form emotional bonds using guest memories, which sounds very like...

Speaker: over the top crazy. like it's like that It sounds like a sci-fi movie that like, you know, like technology going wrong kind of thing. yeah But when I read the article, the what is actually happening or or what the intent is with this is that Disney already has ai characters. so So like the main flagship one right now is Olaf.

Speaker: And, you know, everybody thinks Olaf looks amazing and it's it is it does have AI built into it because they've got, you know, or you know, these little robots need some kind of AI engine to help run them.

Speaker: The intent with this is that um honestly, what what they're trying to do or what this technology is doing is they they want it to be that somebody can have a conversation with one of these AI things. So like imagine you're talking to Olaf and the the idea is Olaf says, you you know, you know, tell me about a memory of something or or, you know, you know, you know, something that that happened to you. Right.

Speaker: And then you tell Olaf a story. Right. And then what's supposed to happen is that it's, so you know, Olaf's supposed to listen to it, take pieces out of it and relate it back to Olaf's stories. And then, you know, talk back to you as like, oh, I remember a time where I did this with Anna or whatever. Right. Which.

Speaker: the actual way that this plays out is not any different from interacting with characters when you go for meet and greets. That's right. Yeah. But, but they're trying, the the whole point of this patent is to have it so that AI characters can,

Speaker: um can do that kind of, you know, relational conversations. The fact that they say form emotional bonds, it's like, you know, the outcome is like, the the expected outcome is like, oh yeah, you know, I had this conversation. They, you know, I talked with them and it was wonderful. And it's like, yes, yes,

Speaker: That's, I guess, you know, maybe I've formed emotional bonds with characters that I've talked to in the past. I'm not like, this makes it sound like the AI is going to follow you home. And yes, that is, that is a, like, yes, I know it's a Haunted Mansion reference, but yes, that's what the title makes it feel like. Right. Yeah. so I mean, i don't,

Speaker: Yeah. Hate this. This is i can imagine if, you know, this works correctly at being a cool thing. Like I could imagine my daughter having a conversation with Olaf and telling him something about her, you know, like telling her a story and then him. or I mean, but to your point, sure this is what the live performers do. Right. Yeah.

Speaker: This is exactly what they do. So, like, they ask a question, right? And then the kid answers it. And then based on how the kid answers, they compare it to, you know, they they relate it to something that that character ah has done, or you know, or is, you know, something in that character's backstory, right?

Speaker: Yeah. and And I guess the the thing about this, or part of the other thing that they said about this is that if it doesn't have something that's like, easily relatable back to it then it can, it can update the data structure to include, like, it it it doesn't, like, invent stuff or or, or it doesn't just, like, make a random,

Speaker: lies about stuff, but it tries to like build, it tries to keep building on the information that it has. And and I think that's whole the whole intent of this this patent is that they want to be able to set up these characters that, yeah, you you know, you can go and talk with an Olaf and, you know, every person going and having that interaction doesn't get, yeah what they're trying to get away from is like the canned responses. Yeah. Right? Where where it's like,

Speaker: You know, you know, they're they're just looking for like, oh, you said the key word and I'm just going to say x right? like Like that. And that feels very flat. And like, you know, that you didn't, you know, get anything out of it. Like, i I think back, actually, this is like the same kind of ideas, like turtle talk with crush.

Speaker: Where, you know you know, Crush has some prompts. He asks you certain things and then you respond back. But then it kind of forms the rest of the show based on what that back and forth is. And this is the same kind of thing, is that like your interaction with that character is formed from, you know, your memories, you know, them relating their memories. And it makes for it feeling feeling like a more...

Speaker: satisfying, cohesive experience and not just, you know, somebody repeating stuff from a script, right? Yeah. So i I get it. i get what they're trying to do. My.

Speaker: to To your point about, you know, we're kind of into we're further into this techie stuff than some people. is it talks about how you have this AI and and it has the ability to like form new things based on like if it doesn't have a reliable reference to whatever you're talking about, it could potentially like form new data points and like make up stories in the universe of what it's doing. But the The dangerous part I see it with that, or I guess what I've seen in AI is people doing manipulative injection into these things, which yeah which ah my... That's what would happen immediately. Yeah, yeah. This this is the like extreme side of this, and I hope it doesn't go there right away, but I guess me putting it out there, maybe somebody at Disney will think about this and you know you know figure out how to head it off, is you know you'll get a subset of people that'll go to the park...

Speaker: You know, basically with like, you know, you know, say the secret word and Olaf will respond to you this way. And then you like, like it kind of becomes. Yeah.

Speaker: It becomes a thing where you like you end up with a viral moment where Olaf says something that is like completely inappropriate or completely out of character. Yeah. Because people are manipulating the inputs. Right. Well, it's it's the same problem with Turtle Talk Crush, though, and, you know, like, and all of those things, right? Because people try to get, you know, to get Crushed. as They ask crazy, I mean, can the kids ask crazy questions sometimes, right? And sometimes there's just viral things, you know? Yeah, but but the difference there is Crush is a, you have somebody with a microphone running Crush.

Speaker: Yeah, yeah, no, that's true. And, you know, can make calls in the moment and stuff like that. AI doesn't have... like you still need somebody supervising it, right? Yeah. So I'm just, yeah, there's a really great video by defunct land. It's four hours long. So if you have four hours to, to, to spend on a video, ah there's, there's a great one on it. I think I told you about it, um which was, it's about um ah the, the Disney's living character initiative, right? And it talks, it talks a lot. And the, it says the failure of the living character initiative, right? And, and it talks a lot about,

Speaker: Turtle Talk with Crush and ah the the predecessor to that, which was this brief thing they did with Stitch, actually. um But he he shows some clips, that because I don't know if if anybody has hasn't watched Defunctland. Really funny. He's very, very funny.

Speaker: um But, you know, he plays some clips in that of... people trying to get the, the, the character to say something that it shouldn't say. And then it says some responses that are definitely not things that Disney would want them to be saying. And, you know, he jumps in as narrator. goes, do you guys see why we can't do this with Mickey mouse? Do you see, do you see what the problem is here? Um,

Speaker: But it's it's it's a good video to watch. But um but anyway, yeah, it's I think to your point, ah it's it's got to be – it would be hard to control that because you have to be really careful that it doesn't say anything that's really, you know, off-brand for Disney. And, you know, the guardrails on it would have to be pretty pretty strong, you know. yeah which but But I get why they're exploring this. And, and yeah, like it it it makes sense from the stance of like – Hey, based on how guest interactions are structured right now, yeah I see where this could be very successful.

Speaker: The only difference between this and those current character interactions is that if somebody says something really off base to like a Disney princess...

Speaker: um the Disney princess will shut it down and, yeah you know, that person will get flagged and yeah know you know, they know how to get out of those things. Right. They're trained to do that. So it's, as the AI could potentially like, again, you need someone supervising it so that, yeah yeah or, or the, or the scope of how you talk to it has to be very, very limited. But then that kind of undoes what they're trying to do here, which is like, Oh, share a memory. It's like, well,

Speaker: I can make something up that is, yeah you know, i can fabricate something just for the sake of manipulating your response. Yeah. Yeah. which I know that sounds, I know that sounds crazy, but in my line of work, I get to deal with all the like people figuring out the ways to manipulate things, which is why I i tend to kind of default to like,

Speaker: yeah you know, how is somebody going to manipulate this? and And I don't want to see it happen. I'll be honest. I really don't. Like, like, I hope this just becomes something cool that, you know, you know, just adds more to, to people's Disney experience.

Speaker: Um, I hope that however they choose to implement it, that they minimize the chances for people ruining it. But to your point, you know, this is why we can't have nice things sometimes. Always why we can't have nice things because people will ruin it immediately.

Speaker: right, Trevor. Well, that's enough we talked about. I'm going to have to create a new AI patent yeah something, you know? Yeah. We shouldn't have a whole section for AI. I'm joking. I was joking. I know, but it feels like there's just a lot of AI stuff coming out right now.

Speaker: but Yeah. There is. Yeah. Anyway, but, but you know, let let's end on a let's send on a Halloween note. I feel like— This is a Halloween note? Really? Yeah. Well, I feel it is because there's talk of spiders in it.

Speaker: Oh, okay. Well, that's fair. ah Yeah. So this is actually a really nerdy article. is, but I i like it. i I like this. I i love a nerd nerdy article. And this is one of your favorite Disney rides, which is Disneyland's Indiana Jones Adventure, which was closed for a six-week refurbishment.

Speaker: And just reopened. But I thought there was some interesting things in here. Because normally you don't really have a lot of you know crazy stuff that happens in a six-week refurbishment. But there's some interesting things that in here that they did.

Speaker: Which i thought was kind of cool. um One of those things was that they were able to increase the capacity by about 125 people per hour. Which is, you know, a lot.

Speaker: and's so That's a lot of people, actually. it's i mean It says a thousand more guests a day. I'm wondering what that actually looks like. or I'm guessing it's something in the protocols of how they're loading the rides. Yeah. So they actually explain it. And i this is I found this fascinating, Trevor. So I don't know why I found this fascinating. So I skipped down to the – or i yeah, I skipped that whole thing because I was reading about the doors. Yeah. Stuff like that. So there's, there's two things that they did to do this, right? One of them is they, uh, they took the, uh, the doors that lead to the, the face to face with Mara, the, and, uh, they made it electronic instead of hydraulic. Yeah.

Speaker: ah Which is, you know, seems like a nothing thing, but they were talking about how the high the old actuators would fail fairly frequently and that would slow down the ride because they could they could they had to dispatch fewer cars.

Speaker: And hydraulic fluid leaks are yeah very difficult to deal with. yeah Yeah. Yeah. And so they, it says they would have to dispatch fewer cars because they didn't want, you know, riders to see the vehicle in front of them. So they'd have to do it slower. And it also kind of ruins the storyline. Right.

Speaker: ah And so, you know, the new ah electric door ah doors are much more reliable and ah you know, require less maintenance. So, okay. One small thing, but the second one is the thing that I found really fascinating.

Speaker: Is that ah the other problem they had was that the vehicles were not parking or not always parking precisely ah in the loading and unloading positions. And because of that, anytime that happened, they would just have to send a V an empty vehicle through to reset it. There was no way to fix it outside of that.

Speaker: Oh, yeah that's what that happened. yeah Which i I, listen, again, like I said, this is a really nerdy thing, but I find this fascinating. Okay, but but, like, I can recall multiple times, like, standing on the loading platform or, like, coming up to it, where you would see, like, you know, people would, a car would roll up, people would get off, and then it would... um And then, you know, the next group may get on, but then sometimes it would be like people would get off or they would, like you said, it would just be like an empty car would go through, but it would go off like into a maintenance bay or something like that. Yeah. Which it it always seemed like, oh, like like they knew something was like wrong with the car or something like that. Or yeah like, that's what it always seemed like. I didn't realize it was because...

Speaker: the vehicles weren't stopping correctly. And so they were like recalibrating. Yeah. Starting and stopping. That's, that is funny. Like it's because, yeah, it's such a dumb issue, but it really does lead to less people being, getting to go on, you know?

Speaker: i didn't, I didn't think about that. And then, yeah, every, every time they do that, that's a whole car's worth of people. Yeah. That are just not going through the ride. Yeah. Yeah. Isn't that, isn't that crazy? I just think that's a really weird, but interesting thing.

Speaker: So yeah, that I I didn't even clue into me that that could be a problem. Like, its but but I guess like in the larger scope of like, you know, when you're waiting in line for rides and stuff like I've seen it on so many rides where it's like, oh, you know, they have like one car that's blocked off for because like, you know, the bars don't work on it or something like that. Right. Like it's.

Speaker: Like you see it yeah you see it so often that you don't really think about it, but in the scope of something like Indiana Jones, having an empty car pass by is really like way more impactful than like Peter Pan.

Speaker: Yeah. Right. Yeah. where Absolutely. You like one one car on Peter Pan that's out of commission is like, yeah, whatever, but it's like three people. Yeah. Yeah. or Every time, yeah you know, you're talking like, you know, was it's like 15 or 18 people? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. it's yeah and i I need to do the math on that. Yeah.

Speaker: But the other thing almost I can't remember the other thing they mentioned in here, though, too. And by the way, they mentioned that that was completed back in May. I don't know if they actually announced that or if it just I mean, I doubt they announced it. Right. Because it's just a weird thing to announce. Like, yeah, we fixed the parking problem. Like, OK, what? Yeah, i think I think it's just part of the larger like we're we're doing maintenance. Right. Yeah.

Speaker: But the other thing they did and they mentioned this, the number one downtime driver. And I think most people realize this is guests. guests cause the biggest problem um because if something falls out of, you know, the vehicle and it's, you know, obviously a bumpy ride, then you, you, they have to shut the whole thing down.

Speaker: Right. And this, you actually see this happen a fair amount, like on a, like a Mickey minis, which is why like they, they're always like, you know, yelling at people not to be eating or, you know, whatever. um But I thought the, the, that their solution to this was interesting. They just put a bigger pouch on the ride for you to put your stuff in.

Speaker: Yeah, just put a bigger patch in. yeah Because I know when when i was younger, we took much bigger bags with us to Disney. Yeah. And you try and, like, you know, you know take, like, a back a full backpack and put it into those bags. It doesn't work. So I'd always, like, you know, wrap it around my feet so that it doesn't go flying out. Yeah. because Because, you know, I don't want my stuff flying out either. But, yeah, how how many people... part Part of the problem with Indiana Jones is, yeah, people don't secure their stuff and then it lands on the track and...

Speaker: causes all kinds of disruption. So, yeah, they're it's interesting that it's a very simple thing, but if people can actually get their stuff into the pouch in front of them, that does make a huge difference. Yeah.

Speaker: I like the fact that they are, and i I feel like I'm seeing this across the parks, and i know I don't know if it's Josh, I don't know if it's the the new head of of parks, but I feel like they're trying to not only increase the efficiency of these rides, but fix a lot of the things that are broken. You know, like not they're trying to it seems like they're trying to make maintenance more of a priority.

Speaker: Yeah, I think it's I don't know if this is a Josh thing. I feel like this has actually been in the works for a while. Like if you actually look back on. But then it would be a Josh thing because he was the one that was in charge. what Well, yeah, i guess yeah yeah i I mean, I guess tailing back from when he was in charge of the parks. Yeah, um it it feels like there is an effort to.

Speaker: future-proof things because there's there's lots of things that, you know, you know the the hydraulics in Indiana Jones are good example. They were built, you know, you know decades ago. And, you know, at the time, hydraulics made sense.

Speaker: Now, so, you know, now not so much, you know, they they are very cumbersome and, and you know, tricky and all that. Whereas, you know, electric motors can do the same thing as, or for for this use case,

Speaker: Replacing it with electric makes a lot more sense because, yeah, it's it's more lightweight. It's easier to maintain if they, you know, if they break sourcing parts is a lot easier because, I mean, I've i've not had extensive exposure to hydraulic stuff, but I've seen enough of it that...

Speaker: you know, you know, anytime you have a hydraulic system that, you know, anything breaches or, you know, if the fluid breaches out of it, it's, it's a huge problem, right? It's it's not something where you can just like ignore it. It's, but if like,

Speaker: Yeah, I guess it kind of goes back to the same thing as like the Yeti is, you know, for for even these doors for the, the ah you know, switching to electric is that it's probably a lot quicker and easier to put them into B mode if something does fail versus the hydraulics, right? Yeah, yeah. It's, yeah, i I get it. I get why they're they're doing all these things. And yeah, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but...

Speaker: it it really is in terms of how long you're spending standing in the park waiting for these things or, you know, you know, the, the hope of getting onto Indiana Jones was always like, you know, Oh geez, I hope it doesn't break down today. Or, yeah or, you know, making, making the choice when you're standing in the cave for everybody that knows, yeah you know, deciding if you walk back out through the queue or if you stand there and wait until, you know, hopefully the ride comes back up in, you know, 15 20 minutes. And I've done that. i've i've

Speaker: I've done that, you know, standing there going, I hope we're not here for an hour. yeah And, you know you know, this just minimizes that, right? so yeah Yeah, it does. And, i you know, this is all this is all good stuff, I think. you know It's good that they're doing things like this. And also, they as you mentioned, they add a lot of spiders. They added... So there's one particular cave, and again, you know, you... know you when you get there, you'll understand Tom, yeah there there's one part that there is, there is spiders in a cave and they made them bigger. So, you know, for anybody that has arachnophobia, I'm sorry, but, but yeah, so that there is there is more creepy crawlies in it. They also, the other thing that I like to, that they talked about that they changed that again, I didn't even think about this is, um, the final scene, which the, it's the comparable scene to when you go by the T-Rex in, uh,

Speaker: um, in dinosaur, right? Like when you go underneath. So there's the final scene and Indy's in that final scene. And previously he didn't move a lot, but it sounds like they've made some improvements where you can see him actually moving more. And the other thing that they did was the, the, the space that you go down underneath, um, the, the final element, um,

Speaker: I'm trying to remember this because I feel like this was something that was in my head, but it kind of went away over time and I didn't pay attention to it is that they actually tried to paint the track that it looked like stairs and because it's meant to feel like you're going down set of stairs. Yeah.

Speaker: But that kind of wore off over time and they've redone all of that. So, you know, if you're sitting or not even if you're act towards the front of the car, but really from like anywhere in the car, you can kind of see like down the slope that it feels like you're going down a set of stairs, which is far more scary in that scenario than just going down a ah ramp. Yeah, true. Yeah, that's true. Yeah.

Speaker: it It makes sense. if If you know, you know, it makes sense. i'm I'm trying, I'm trying to be cagey about not spoiling it too much. But yeah, it's that all these things amount to like, it's just, they're just making it an overall better experience. Yeah, which is great.

Speaker: I mean, like I said, a thousand more people a day is huge in theme park terms. Like, that's a lot. That is a significant reduction in, you know, wait times, essentially. if that And I hope, too, that, like, not just that capacity, but also minimizing the downtime on it is huge as well. Because part of, like, it wasn't even, like, the the throughput on India is definitely...

Speaker: an issue, but the downtime is yeah like that kills it quite a lot as well. So yeah for sure, hopefully less of that is better. Cause I do like my, I do like a good ride on India every once in a while.

Speaker: it I don't want to, I want to wrap this up, ah but I, and I don't want to get, go down a further rabbit hole here, but ah in that defunct line video I was talking about, one of the things he brings up is, you know, how there's this cycle of where Imagineering like shows these really cool, like, ah you know, like robots or like, you know, roaming things or whatever. And then they never end up in the parks. And it's,

Speaker: It's an interesting and what he what he's pointing out is the fact that when Imagineering shows something, it's because they did it and all that. And then they turn everything over to operations of the park. And that's a whole different thing.

Speaker: Like there' there' it's almost like i don't want to say it's like a different company, but it's like you turn it over to them and then their their budget is now responsible for maintaining these things. And sometimes they just don't have the budget to do these things. And that's why they don't happen.

Speaker: And I thought that was a really interesting thought of, you know, Imagineering designs all these things, but then, you know, someone's got to maintain them. And if you don't have, if you don't have the budget or the manpower to actually maintain these things, that's where you and end up where, you know,

Speaker: Things don't work or things are, you know, that's what happens, right? ah You would think it, you know, oh, they're all the same company. Why don't they just, you know, make make that work? I understand what the maintenance budget is going to be. But, you know, and I don't know if it's true or not, but it it was just an interesting point, ah you know, in that video that i'm talking about. So.

Speaker: Yeah, I, I, yeah, it is an interesting point. Like, I think for me, I relate it back to and my own job is like project versus operations work is, you know, I do projects. I understand it's like, Hey, I'm, I'm implementing a project. I'm doing this thing, but i I've seen this happen firsthand, and you know I try my best not to do it, is you know you want to hand over to the operations people something that's sustainable. You don't want to be like, you know here's this amazing thing, but it's going to cost you you know hours and hours to yeah to maintain it. right And I feel like that's a lot of what we see from Imagineers, is that you know they they have this stuff and they want to to bring it to the parks. But when they get to the conversations of, you know great, you built this thing, great.

Speaker: who's going to maintain it. You know, like we don't, we don't have a skillset for like, you know, coding or, yeah you know, maintaining these things and they have to either adjust to make it maintainable or they have to completely change gears and do something else because, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't something that, you know, unless you had like a senior person babysitting it all day long that, you know, it doesn't work. Right. And they and they can't afford to do that under like day to day ops. Like you can't pay to have, you know, my ride is amazing, but I needed an Imagineer 24 seven, like making sure that this thing is working.

Speaker: Right. Like that that's not sustainable because, you know, Imagineers time is more expensive than operational people's time. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. yeah All right. yeah i I get it.

Speaker: Well, this these are good updates. so ah But yeah, like why don't we why don't we wrap up unless you have anything else to say? No, i I like it. I'm happy that India Jones got some love. And, you know, I feel like, or just a bit of an aside to that, I feel like that's also partly, you know, they they know that this is going alongside the Tropical Americas opening of the new Indy Ride. Oh, yeah.

Speaker: That, you know, the both of the rides are going to be getting a lot of attention. yeah. um you know good on them for realizing that you know they gotta they gotta fix up the old indie stuff too yeah yeah exactly uh trevor do you want me to do to to wrap us up so just save your voice a little bit there i can get through it here i i got i grabbed a drink and everything so i should be able to get through this last part right yeah All right. So, yeah. So, ah you know, for anything we talked about on the show or, you know, if you have questions or want to submit trip reports or anything like that, um you can always email us at welcomehomepodcasts at gmail.com.

Speaker: um We love hearing from you guys and, you know, hearing what you think about the show. And you can also find us through the website, which is welcomehomepodcasts.co. You can just hit the ah the contact us section in there and it'll it'll open up ah an email there for you and you can reach us through there as well.

Speaker: Um, if you want to find us on social media, you can find us on Facebook as a welcome home podcast. You can find us on YouTube as welcome home podcast. and You can find us on Instagram as welcome home picks. Make sure on Facebook, you also to check out our group, welcome home Disney wait list where we have lots of good conversations about Disney stuff and just generally, yeah you know, generally good Disney vibes and people asking questions, trip planning and sharing, sharing their own experiences, which I think we all, you know, want to see more nowadays with, uh,

Speaker: with social media and Disney stuff. So, know, if you want to join that group, please, you know, please come, please come check us out. And if you want to help support the show, you can go to store.welcomeonpodcast.co and check out our different merch there.

Speaker: um If there's something you would like to see in the store, you can send us ah an email and we can see about adding more stuff to the store. And we also have a Patreon. So if you want to go to patreon.com slash welcome on pod and check out that as well, we have different levels of Patreon support, which have an exclusive logo that we only offer to our Patreon supporters.

Speaker: And all of our Patreon supporters get access to the Discord server, which as we talked about earlier in the show, we have even more conversations about... um about the show and just, you know, stuff in general, um you know, not even Disney related. Sometimes it's, it's, you know, sometimes fun seeing what but people bring to that conversation as well. So, um you know, if you're interested, you know, you know, check us out through Patreon and, you know come hop on the discord.

Speaker: And last but not least, if you're listening on iTunes or Spotify or anywhere you can leave us a five-star review, please do so because it just helps more people find the show and you know you know just gets it out there to more people. And you can also write us a review on iTunes and let us know what you think about the show.

Speaker: You know, the other thing you can do, Trevor, I was just going to sing the Canada song from ah from the Canadian Pavilion, but it the other thing you can do is subscribe to Welcome Home Podcast so you can be reminded every time we release a new episode. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Amazon, you say it's YouTube, not Stitcher because Stitcher doesn't exist anymore. Yeah, I'm very excited.

Speaker: Yeah, there it is. Yeah. No, no, no stitcher. Spotify, YouTube music, YouTube, pretty much any podcast app that's out there. You can find us. Huge thank you to the sponsors of this episode. do Now I'm rattled. you Sorry. It wasn't wasn't off our intention. Sorry. Sorry. Continue. No, it's fine.

Speaker: ah Huge thank you to our sponsor, DVC Resale Market and Keyholder Vacations for sponsoring our show and and being great partners us for many, many, many, many years now. ah Join us next time for more Disney Parks discussion. Of course, more DVC talk. We hope to see you all real soon.

Speaker: is skipper albert awall the voice of the jungle signing off from welcome home podcast on the dvc when we had a chair how she can cover it's no man's affair i look around for all the folks found her inner sugar bowl he look out here goes my ball and chain