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Episode 332: Holiday Plans, Christmas Day Parade & Disney Gift Guide
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On This Episode
The guys talk about all of their pre-holiday activities. Membership Magic Beyond is on sale for 2026 and the program now allows eligible international owners to participate. New live experiences with the Muppets are coming to Disney parks and cruises in the future. The closing date of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith has been confirmed. Disney announced new details for the Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade. A new Hallmark original movie was filmed at WDW. The guys review Disney holiday gift guides including stocking stuffers, Home Alone merch, and action figures. Yet another innovative drone show is coming to Disneyland Paris, much to the chagrin of Tom. Disneyland revealed more of its 70th Anniversary merchandise collection.
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Transcript
Welcome & Episode Introduction
00:00:10
Speaker
This is Skipper Albert A. Wall, the voice of the jungle, broadcasting on the DVC to all voice unknown. If you're within the sound of my voice, you're listening to Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.
00:00:25
Speaker
Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello and welcome
Holiday Preparations & Family Visits
00:00:31
Speaker
home. This episode of Welcome Home is brought to you by DVC Resale Market. Thank you for joining us on episode 332 of Welcome Home, a Disney Parks and Vacation Club podcast. I'm Tom. Here's Trevor. How's it going, Trevor?
00:00:41
Speaker
Hey. So, yeah, like I was saying, because we were literally in conversation, we're just going to pick this up. this so this happens This happens sometimes where Trevor and I are talking and we have to stop talking before the recording because it's like, no, show. We need to go on the show. Yeah, yeah exactly. so Not yeah off the show. Yeah. Yeah. As I was saying, and um yeah, you know, we're we're getting down to the last couple of weeks before Christmas and yeah I haven't wrapped any gifts yet. I'm... Where have i I'm... me, this is a little bit behind because usually like I try and have all my stuff like wrapped and everything by like, you know, first week of December. So I'm running a little bit late, but it's just because we've had stuff going on. But yeah, like like you is, you know, we're we're kind of hitting that point where it's like,
00:01:25
Speaker
You know, work is winding down, but I'm getting busy at home with, you know, just things that need to be done before Christmas. Yeah, exactly. so I got a lot of home projects going on right like a lot of home projects. And then my wife was like, hey, can you bake your, you know, because I bake really, I like to bake and i bake I bake really good chocolate chip cookies. Right. And it's so one of my specialties, Trevor. Yeah.
00:01:48
Speaker
ah So my wife's like, hey, can you bake some chocolate chip cookies? I want to give them out to like the the the after school teachers, you know, where my daughter goes after school and maybe some of her regular teachers and, you know, so on so forth. i was like, all right. But it's like, you know, I got got some furniture to build, Trevor. I got i got i got projects all over this house that got work on. So it's like, you know, ah do I got just so much stuff going on. But but yeah, it's, you know, you like you said, it's it's the year's winding down. I
Holiday Decorations & Trends
00:02:15
Speaker
think everybody is, I mean, it's been,
00:02:17
Speaker
I don't want to say it's been quieter in my real life and it worked because it hasn't, but it's been a little bit quieter than it was. But, you know, I feel like it's been steady, right? like That's how I would put it is that, you know, things haven't been quiet for the last couple months. It's been steady. Like there's there's just been a constant stream of...
00:02:37
Speaker
stuff to do which you know makes it makes it hard right like when you're yeah um like you know we we have plans like I know like you you know you just did your trip you know we talked about last week but it's like you know that kind of stuff kind of disrupts the flow of everything else and then it's like when you come back it's like like exactly what you were talking about it's like oh I've got like you know a bunch of stuff that I was putting off because ah I had like a trip or whatever and now it's like you have to kind of go through the backlog of Everything. of our story yeah Yeah. And I mean, I've got we have literally I've talked about this for on the on the podcast, but my my parents have been divorced and remarried since I was in like fifth grade. Right. So I have three sets of family. I have, but you know, two for my side. And then, of course, my wife's family. Right. And so during this time of year, you know, they all come to visit us, obviously. Right. And so we have in rapid succession, all of them coming to our house in like, you know, like one of them leaves in the morning and then another one's coming in the afternoon that day. You know what i mean? Like that's the kind of turnover we got coming around. It's almost a Clark Griswold level it is thing that you're doing. Yeah. Yeah. I get it. yeah
00:03:47
Speaker
Except my daughter doesn't have to sleep with her brother because she doesn't have one. So. That makes it easier. Yeah, it does. And I don't have all the lights all over my house. Although, yeah. so it's I have one yet.
00:04:01
Speaker
I've always wanted to do it. Honestly, i just don't have the time to do it. Like, it's such a time consuming thing. I've always wanted to do it. I also feel, though, like I would be Clark Griswold in this in this particular way, though, of I would fall several times from heights. Right. Like or all yeah like i I wouldn't have the luck of Clark Griswold of not injuring myself severely, you know, like, but um yeah, I'm not allowed on the roof. My wife does not allow me on the roof. So roof is not happening ever.
00:04:28
Speaker
Right. But like, you know, other places I could, I could do. um Yeah, we we we relegated ourselves to like I I'm the same way like I don't deal well with like getting up on the roof. It's it's the you know, the the whole thing of falling, but also like for me, it's a weird it's a weird thing where like.
00:04:49
Speaker
i I guess I am afraid of heights, but it's like, I can get on a roller coaster, I can get on rides and stuff. And because that's like a secured environment, yeah it's fine. Yeah. But if, as soon as I get up on the roof or like on a ladder, like to put up lights or whatever, um,
00:05:05
Speaker
like my knees like start giving out on me kind of thing. so safety that That's why like, even if you were like, you know, ripped up to something, it's, it's, it's still like, it's scarier than being on like a roller coaster or something like that. so yeah So, so, so to that point we, yeah so even like our Christmas lights, we, we stopped putting them up on the front of our house because we were like,
00:05:27
Speaker
you know I would put them up and it was like, I would forget to take them down until like May sometimes and they were getting like beat up and whatever. And so we actually, for the last couple of years, last three or four years now, actually, we, instead of decorating the front of our house, we actually decorate our back patio instead.
00:05:45
Speaker
Because then also um we can enjoy it because, you know, we we have like the the windows in our house are we can see out the back yeah more than we see out the front. So we we decorate the back patio and then, you know, when we open up the the windows in the living room and everything, we can see all the lights. The funny thing about that is that I think
Cultural Food Exchange & Regional Cuisines
00:06:03
Speaker
we kind of started a trend in our neighborhood because over the years, there're like there's like five or six houses now it that face you know our back alley that all decorate. like like they There's one house they have like a trampoline out and they like decorate the trampoline and everything. So like...
00:06:20
Speaker
It's kind of become a weird thing where, you know, I don't decorate the front of the house, but the back ah the back patio gets it. And that now everyone else is like decorating their back patio for the same thing. So, yeah yeah I don't know. It's kind of a neat thing. But yeah, a bit of an aside. yeah The trend I'm noticing around here, and I actually saw when I was down in Florida in my mom's, you know, 55 and older community.
00:06:40
Speaker
is the permanent lights that people are getting installed. Oh, the gem lights. Yeah, they're really cool. I like them a lot. I don't know if I could conjure up... don't know if I could get past my cheapness wanting to do that. They're so expensive. Yeah. From what I've heard, a couple grand, and I'm like, I'm not going to drop a couple grand on some lights on the outside. It just feels like not...
00:07:02
Speaker
a thing that I want to do. I mean, they but like I said, they look awesome. And one, you know, one of my neighbors has them on year round. They just do different stuff based on whatever's going on at the time. Yeah. You you can program them, right? Yeah. And you can do it you did it off your phone, right? Like it's all like, yeah, it's really cool. Yeah. I looked into it and up here, um, they quoted me $5,000 to do them on my house, which I was like, I i don't need gem lights that bad. Yeah. That's pricey. Yeah. it's pricey. By the way, so, you know, Trevor, you and your wife sent sent us a nice ah little like Christmas care package, which we appreciated. I don't even know if we talked about it last year on the podcast, what happened, my saga. No, would I don't think we did because that was, I mean, it it wasn't it wasn't a great time. But but yeah, this year we did get the package to you. that's true. So, yes. So last year, Trevor had sent me a package and there was ah there was a a series of things that occurred that caused it it actually is kind of crazy if you really think about it, because the the house next to me was vacant. It was being worked on by construction workers. The FedEx driver dropped the package off to the wrong house and then the workers either took all the stuff in it or threw it away. And so I never got it. it. Yeah. And I was, was out of town when it came it because it was Thanksgiving. And so, you know, long story short, I never got the box. So Trevor sends the box this year. And i I'm, ah I want to go back Trevor to Halloween, 2024. And I, I'm sure you probably know why, because Last year when we talked during Halloween, I discovered for the first time that there's a candy in Canada called Smarties that is not the same Smarties that we have in the United States. They're different yeah Smarties. ever say So for those that don't know or haven't listened to us long enough or never heard that episode, or just doesn't know about this, because I mean, I think most Americans are unaware of this, because every time I mention it to somebody, they're like, what are you talking about? And I was like, there's this whole different candy. Smarties. Yeah, Smarties, right? Yeah. And so in Canada, Smarties are like M&M kind of thing, but they're like, like flatter and like, yeah. i Okay. Hold on. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. But yeah.
00:09:13
Speaker
no but so so I've wanted these for the longest time now. but They're like an M&M, but they're different. They're very different, but they're similar. right so yeah and Then up there, you guys have smart what we call Smarties here. They're just called Rockets, I believe, if I remember correctly. yeah Yeah, we call them Rockets. yeah yeah yeah so but You still have those. but anyway so Ever since then, I've wanted to try these these these other Smarties, these Canadian Smarties. Trevor, you know amongst the all-dress chips and maple cookies that you sent me, my wife is very happy about the all-dress chips, by the way. They sell all-dress chips in the United States, but they're not the same. so she She told my wife, or yeah, they've had the messages back and forth. She's like, oh my God, they all dress chips. And we were like, yep.
00:09:51
Speaker
We knew that that's that's what would happen. so i But I tried the Smarties, okay? I have to say, Trevor, I like them, but I still like M&M's better. I think I prefer M&M's better. But I did like them. They're very different. They're they're flatter almost, and like they're much crunchier, right? like The candy-shell ratio to chocolate is less. It's different.
00:10:12
Speaker
Yeah. Which, yeah, like you said, because it's flatter, you don't get like, like as much chocolate. But yeah, I, I guess I've grown up with them. So I've always preferred Smarties over M&Ms. And yeah, I think it's personal preference. My daughter loves them. She's, she's been chowing them down like, ah like crazy. So, um, and then the maple cookies too, of course, uh, always, yeah we I threw in an extra box because after we talked about it, I, I know you said that you're, uh,
00:10:38
Speaker
Because your stepdad was hunting for them. Yeah, but here's the problem. I figured you had extra. Or I guess they may not survive until you talk with your stepdad next. When he's here for Christmas, the the problem is he's he does keto now. So he won't eat sugar. like right so i But i was like I said something to him when I was down in Florida. i was like, hey, i'm probably ah you know my you know Trevor sent me a ah box. i'm sure there's going to be some maple cookies in them. And he's like, hide them from me. was okay. I was like, ah I'll hide them. Sure. ah Yeah.
00:11:10
Speaker
But I had a few of those. So, yeah, thank you for the for the the the care package there. that was ah That was nice. And we got all sorts of fun Canadian snacks. So, ah you know, looking forward to eating all of those. We have an insane amount of candy in our house right now. Yeah. As you do this time of year, we're yeah we're the same way. But, yeah, i'm glad I'm glad we got it to you this year. i was i was nervous about it um just because of what happened last year. You know, yeah, that was...
00:11:36
Speaker
that That was that sucked. But, you know, hey, we got it to you. And yeah, you know, we my wife was actually tracking that package daily when we sent it. Like she was like, OK, it's over the border. It's you know, it's here. it's like Yeah, we got it. Well, we got it like right after we recorded last week, too. Like it was like an hour later. It was and we had just been talking about it. So it was kind of funny.
00:11:58
Speaker
Yeah, yeah but good good timing too. like It was. was ah Yeah. um Yeah, I'm just glad that you guys got it because, yeah, it was... Me too. I know it's not... Or, well...
00:12:09
Speaker
yeah In terms of perspective, like, you know, the the Canadian snacks and everything, like, to me, they they're not a big deal, like like, in that because I can just get them whenever, right? Like, like the the funny thing is, is you know, we we you know we we talk about like, oh, you know, you guys have this stuff and it's amazing. It's like, yeah, but i I see it every day. So I kind of take it
Podcast Growth & DVC Membership Expansion
00:12:29
Speaker
for granted. But I'm actually, I'm more happy that you guys are enjoying it because it kind of reminds me of,
00:12:36
Speaker
you know, that we all have unique things from wherever we come from. And it's just, you know, it's nice to kind of share that. Right. Like, yeah. So I'm just happy that you guys are enjoying it because like, yeah, I think I, I think my wife asked your wife if she wanted any like specific snacks from here, And I was like, I don't like i don't know if there's anything we have here that you don't have, right? like Well, I mean, I know there is stuff, but I'll be honest, the the hard part for us is that the only time that we, like, I mean, for for years, like, we I used to go various other places in the States when I was younger. But, you know, for the last, like, 10 years, really, the only place we've gone is Florida and to to Disney World. so so
00:13:21
Speaker
My reference point right now is like, what's available in Disney World? And it's like, so I don't, I don't actually know what else there is, or I haven't looked into, you know, you know, what regional stuff, you would be yeah that I wouldn't be able to find here. Right. It's just not something I've looked into. So and that's, yeah that's fair. And I don't like, there's nothing here that I'm just like, Oh, gotta like, I mean, part of it is like, I'm not a big snacker just generally. um But I don't know. I just couldn't think of anything. I was like, I don't know. i but I'm sure they have pretty much all the same stuff. Like, I i mean, I don't know. but But it's funny because like I would say the same thing to myself is like, like, you know, even when my wife and I were like, because we we went shopping for you guys, obviously, like we specifically went and picked stuff out. And like she was grabbing like like coffee crisps and stuff, which, you you you know, you got a couple of them in the box. right Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and like she grabbed them and I and i kind of looked at her and i was like,
00:14:17
Speaker
Why are you grabbing those? and And she was like, well, they're coffee crisps. And I was like, okay, like it doesn't, whatever. like e And then then she's like, they're only available in Canada. I'm like, oh, i didn't i didn't I didn't think about it that way. so so's But I feel like it's the kind of the same thing for you guys is that yeah I can bet, you know. I'm sure there's things. If I came down there and like went to the store with you.
00:14:42
Speaker
I would probably be like marveled at like, oh, you got this? what This is cool. And you'd be like you'd be like, I buy that every other week. What what are you talking? like it's It's a funny thing that you know it's it's hard to kind of like figure that stuff out, right? And yeah, it's also hard too because a lot of stuff, like you said, does come from the States up here. Actually,
Muppet Integration into Disney
00:15:04
Speaker
coincidentally, one thing that...
00:15:06
Speaker
I know my wife was looking for it for, she makes ah a snack mix every year. Like she makes a batch of it and then sends out snack mix to to our friends and stuff. And in the past she would use, that there's a snack called Bugles.
00:15:19
Speaker
yeah um yeah the eagleles Yeah. Yeah. So we don't have Bugles up here anymore. So they stopped please stop shipping them up to Canada. So like we were looking for them and then i like I did a quick Google search. It's like, yeah, they're widely available in the US. I'm like, oh, okay I guess we just don't get them anymore. so So, you know, there's stuff like that where it's like, like i know whether I know what it is, but I'm not like hunting for it every day. And it only came up because my wife was like, oh, I want to put bugles in the snack mix.
00:15:46
Speaker
But it's it's not a thing up here anymore. So, you know. See, the only unique thing that I know of, right, for me, and this is being from New Jersey. It's not something, I mean, you even, i mean, it's, that you know, we live in in North Carolina now. And there's, there's you know, unique North north Carolina stuff too.
00:16:05
Speaker
but Growing up in New Jersey, there's there's there's a thing you call the Jersey sandwich, which is this stuff called pork roll, ah egg and cheese on a roll. And pork roll is my favorite thing in the world. And if you're from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, I mean, like, you know what this is. But it's something you can't get. i mean, I can buy it down here now, right? I buy it down here because there's a lot of Northerners and they sell it. But it's like my favorite thing in the world, right? Like, if I were like, I have, we're having a final meal, it would be that, right? But it's one one of those things that is very regional and you don't find it really but anywhere else. But it's not something could actually send to you. It's refrigerated. it's it's a Right.
00:16:43
Speaker
And like I can't even really describe it to be totally I just Googled it and it says pork roll is a processed meat product similar to a hybrid of Canadian bacon, bologna, and Spam. yeah i But it doesn't taste like any of those things. yeah but but but So it's it's an amalgamation of all, like, of meats that has a unique flavor to it. so Yeah. you You fry it up. You put it in a sandwich. it's i Listen, I could yeah could... I mean, I literally had it for breakfast this morning. so yeah And so I get it. Like, you know you know, the fact that it's, like, sounds like Canadian bacon, you know, like you. I love Canadian bacon whenever I can get it. It's actually, like...
00:17:23
Speaker
We can get it pretty easily, but I'm not like always hunting for it, I guess, is the thing. But, you know, it's, you know, kind kind of like this is it's probably one of those things where it's, you know, it's when you want it, you you have to you have to have it kind of thing, right? Like it's just yeah it's delicious. So i I get that. Like yeah that's fair. And i also get that, you know, I don't know that I would want you to send me some because it would either be, you know,
00:17:49
Speaker
You know, probably or, you know, it would have to be packaged in such a way that it probably wouldn't taste as yeah it would good as. Yeah, it wouldn't make it. Well, and I also know it's not everyone's cup of tea. Right. Like, so it's it's not necessarily thing I would even send you because it's like you might not like it. I don't know. But it's it's a very it's a very unique thing to to New Jersey and and that aspect. area and i grew up having it and it's one of my favorite things in the world and but it is it is a very regional thing so and there's there is stuff like that i mean down here in north carolina there's you know pimento cheese is the big thing right or or there's also a breakfast thing called liver mush which i've never tried because it looks disgusting um and then ah you know if you're in like uh the eastern pennsylvania area there's a scrapple know if you've ever heard scrapple no also gross
00:18:37
Speaker
It sounds like a made up word to me. Scrapple is my dad loves scrapple. It's ah I don't know. How do you put this in a nice way? It's all of like the ah the extra pig parts. yeah um Yeah, it's and it's like kind of like made into like this loaf and then you like fry it up. It's all right.
00:18:55
Speaker
yeah It's a pan-fried loaf made of pork scraps, like head, heart, liver, and skin mixed with cornmeal, buckwheat flour, and spices. it's it's very It's Pennsylvania Dutch. It's a very ah German immigrant thing. And so my dad is like would will eat it all the time. But um it's not something I would eat. It's not my favorite. own stuff yeah It sounds like something on the same level as haggis. Yeah. Haggis a very regional thing yeah um i can't remember if it's irish or scottish think it's scottish i don't remember i should know this but it actually looks apparently it's it's liver mush is fairly can is is comparable to is it's fairly it's fairly compatible to is comparable i'm sorry to scrapple but um it has more liver in it so yeah yeah again
00:19:45
Speaker
These are things that I'm not eating. Sounds great, but I'll pass. Yeah. But Porco delicious. That's so way more attainable. so and and And I guess, you know, to your point about like, you know, regional things, like i do know. um So, you know, I have other friends that I, you know, I've talked with that live live in like South Carolina and whatnot.
00:20:07
Speaker
um
Disney Park Changes & Parade Details
00:20:08
Speaker
You know, I guess from my point of view is from what I understand, like, you know, the barbecue scene down there is very different. Oh, yeah, that's true. Like, we have barbecue here, but I know that there's a different level of barbecue. Like, we not to say we do it, like, we do it okay because, like, you know, yeah we do have a lot of ranchers and, like like, beef production stuff. So that does lead to a lot of barbecue.
00:20:30
Speaker
But I'm sure that there's a different level of of barbecue there. yeah to experience down there, which, you know, I guess, you know, if you were talking about like, you know, you don't know what to like send that's representative of your, your areas. Like, you know, I bet you there's probably spice rubs and barbecue sauce and stuff that I've never seen before that, you know,
00:20:50
Speaker
You probably see every day that you don't think about. if If you were here, that's probably what I would take you to is barbecue. I didn't even think about barbecue because I just I get to your point. You just get used to it. it's ah It's like not even. But yeah, I mean, like the barbecue here. I mean, you know, there's an actual style of barbecue that's North Carolina, you know, barbecue sauce. It's North Carolina's and we have several different. So it's it's it is very much ingrained in the culture here, too. So, yeah, that that is a good point. But.
00:21:15
Speaker
ae How did we even get talking about this? movie We were for 20 minutes. I mean, we we were just kind of talking about what we've been up to and, and you know, the the package and all that. so i do I do want to say. You should put that in the in the title, just, you know, the package. because That just sounds weird, though. but Yeah, well, people will be like, what is that, right? The package, yeah, mysterious. um Sounds like a sci-fi show on Apple TV. um Anyway. Anyway.
00:21:41
Speaker
Yeah, let's get into some Disney stuff. Before we do that, I just I do want to say so ah we Spotify for for creators. where They actually will send out like ah a rat, you know, you know, the whole wrapped thing. Yeah, they send ah they send a wrap for podcast creators, though.
00:21:56
Speaker
And I have to say, Trevor, our our Spotify wrapped for for the show this year was was pretty fantastic. um And I just want to give a shout out to everybody listening on all platforms. But just, you know, if I and if I got a wrapped for all platforms, that would be great. You know, I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty of the podcast industry where analytics are just a hot mess. And, ah you know, Spotify has their own separate analytics from everybody else. It's it's it's crazy. But um we were from them. So yeah the other ones we haven't is the only thing. But we had 100% growth ah in the show last year. We were in the top 5% of ah shows as far as minutes listened go. So that's ah pretty amazing considering. And also top 10% of shared shows.
00:22:43
Speaker
So people out there that are listening are sharing our show to other people. And so ah we we got, you know, they give you give you like these little badges, ah you know, that we we we got. So, yeah. So thank you to everybody listening everywhere.
00:22:56
Speaker
Not just Spotify, but I mean, oh, 20 countries, Trevor. 20 countries were heard in. I mean, that's incredible. Again, like you said, that's just our Spotify data. That's just Spotify. We don't, we, we you know, we we do get sometimes this information from Apple and whatnot, but yeah they don't make it easy. Like Tom said, you know, but it's... It's not that we're we're ignoring other platforms. It's just we have a hard time getting that data from these platforms. Spotify sent me a thing here saying here's how your gear was. if ever but if ever If all the other platforms did that, then I would tell you how what those said too. But I can only go by what Spotify says. But I think we've we've had tremendous growth on growth on Spotify. um ah You know, the video Food Time episodes have ah been, you know,
00:23:38
Speaker
really doing well on Spotify. So, you know, I, I just, thanks everybody. We, we really appreciate it as we've kind of, you know, had a year end of, ah of change and, you know, doing some different things. So thanks for hanging in here with us. We, we appreciate it. so Trevor, ah speaking of things coming to Canada, look at that. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Perfect. That was so perfect. It's a good transition right there. um Good news for you.
00:24:05
Speaker
ah after After all of the, ah you know, I know you were were very frustrated. yeah after all No, I wasn't going to say all of the complaining, but yeah I was going to say after all of the, you know, the the to the year that everybody else got to use it, ah there are reports now. And I'm not going to say that these are confirmed reports because this is coming from, ah you know, I'm going to I'm going to attribute this to DVC fan who has, ah you know, good information. And they actually asked a a cast member about this. But.
00:24:33
Speaker
ah You know, it used to just be U.S. members that participate in membership Magic Beyond. Now, starting in 2026 here, it is now going to be ah available to ah members living in Canada, United Kingdom, Japan and Europe.
00:24:47
Speaker
So look at that, Trevor. now it's available to you. You can have it. It's about time. Um, and yeah, it, you know, I'm, I'm happy that, you know, obviously that they're starting to do this. I, I get why they didn't roll it out to international to begin with, because if it's, you know, if it's new program, they don't want to just, you know, open the floodgates and have everybody, um,
00:25:12
Speaker
you know, using it and it and it causes chaos, right? Like it, you know, it it makes for a negative experience if there's too many people using it up front. Right. So I'm glad that they realized that, you know, or, you know, I'm sure they had this in the back of their head that they were, you know, it was going to be expanded out to all owners at some point.
00:25:28
Speaker
It just, it really didn't feel good was the thing. Like that I think it it wasn't necessarily this, that it was like, um I feel like at the time there was like a chain of things where it was like, oh, this is only available in the US. This only available in the US. It's like a contest. Yeah, there's a bunch of things. So it just felt like, oh, you know, I guess they're just catering to, you know, their...
00:25:49
Speaker
there um the people that are in the U S right. And yeah yeah so, yeah, you know, it, it didn't, that part of it didn't feel good. And, you know, and that's not to say that Disney has to placate to my feelings on this stuff. I'm just saying that's how it was perceived. they Um, but yeah, yeah, they
Pop Culture Influences on Film Perceptions
00:26:07
Speaker
totally should. they Um, but ah um But, yeah, i'm I'm happy about this. The other thing, too, is you know, this is still, this is not for resale um memberships. It's still a blue card perk. It is.
00:26:21
Speaker
Yeah. Which I think that's fair. think. I think you know you know it it it does give something, you know you know reasons to consider blue card. and And they've also said this over the years too. you know i I see people ask this question all the time like because I am reading Reddit posts and stuff where people are talking about like trying to get into DVC. And you know the conversation always comes up of, well, you know they have these perks and you know is this – should I get in because of these perks? And it's like this is a perk.
00:26:48
Speaker
this yeah If this is the reason you're buying, you're buying for the wrong reason. Parks change year to year. It's you never know if they're going to stick around like you can't. I mean, i somebody said it in the discord, Trevor. Right. Whereas like sometimes I i you know feel like I'm missing out on the perks, but like most of the time I don't, you know, just by doing resale.
00:27:06
Speaker
yeah Right. Like and and it's I mean, I guess you don't know what you don't know or what you're missing out on. Right. Like if you don't have it necessarily, like you can see what other people are getting. I will say every time I go to a Disney restaurant and I get that nice discount like it it is. It does.
00:27:20
Speaker
it i mean's It's significant, you know. That you're right. It definitely does help. And i' I'm the same way where it's like, you know, there's there's a lot of sit downs and special events and stuff that I wouldn't have done if it wasn't for having my my direct membership.
00:27:36
Speaker
So, yeah, you know, absolutely fair on that. But, you know, the the thing I'll say, though, is you know, around like, yeah again, specifically, you know, talking about things like membership. magic extras and everything is, you know, you know, I was complaining like, Hey, I want to use this. And i you know, you know, I feel, I feel excluded from it, but I saw people actually like going like, this is, you know, I'm considering whether or not i should buy DVC because of whether they offer this yeah Canadians or not. And I'm like, no you should be looking at DVC as like,
00:28:05
Speaker
You're completely ignoring the fact that if you actually price out the cost of a hotel room, that cost savings alone. For me, my DVC membership has paid for itself at this point. 100%. We're almost 10 years into it.
00:28:24
Speaker
It's, you know, me going is just like, hey, i you know, you know, I get I get cool room like that. That's ah that's as far as my brain goes on. It is like yeah like room is nice. Don't think like that's, yeah you know, you know, you know, that that's how it should be. And then, you know, anything else that comes up like, you know, membership magic and everything, it's like, hey, bonus. Like and, you know, even before before COVID and that, like, you know we did we were getting annual passes because we were doing like two trips a year at one point.
00:28:55
Speaker
And, you know, we realized, like, I was like, oh, this is great, you know, annual passes. But then I realized it was like, you know, that was a that was a bonus at the time. Now it doesn't make sense, right? like Like things change with DVC and it's like, I don't, I can't justify getting the annual pass even with the DVC discount. So, you know, this may be the same thing where, you know, it, it may change to a point where it's not worth it, but for now, you know, I'm, I'm planning, I hope that this stays into 2027. And and so yeah so, so the funny thing is, is that, you know, this is, they're, they're extending this into 2026. There's no guarantee that it'll continue beyond that. you know
00:29:35
Speaker
Probably will because it seems to be getting good reception on it. um But you know my you know as we talked about, our next trip isn't until 2027. So we've got like a whole year, year and a half really before before we're going, which is a lot of time for this stuff to change. And it may not make sense by then, but for now I'm excited that – at least we can try or I'm planning for it. or I'm assuming that I'm going to be getting this because, you know, like you said previously, the, you know, the, ah the, um the cost of it alone, like if you're just planning to even get memory maker, like it, yeah.
00:30:12
Speaker
The, you know, the included memory maker is like, like that's the cost. of anything Yeah. And then everything else on top of it is just gravy. So yeah, it's, it's, I'm excited. Yeah. Yeah. That's good. I'm glad. I'm glad you're excited. That's good news. Yeah. So it's nice to we have good news. um that the The next thing I had on here, Trevor, was actually Dan K in in the Discord shared this like, I don't know, two weeks ago.
00:30:37
Speaker
And we were, you know, we we had a lot of things to catch up on when we came back. But I felt like this needed to be ah needed to be addressed because this is ah a really interesting news. and it's ah And the headline here is that Muppet Live Appearance is planned for Disney Cruise Line. So ah basic And this is from Attractions Magazine, by the way. So this is not like a blog, you know.
00:31:01
Speaker
ah Now, given Attractions Magazine is not, I mean, it's i mean it's more reliable than your your your yeah Disney blog. so It's at least an ah it's an official publication. It's been around for a while. Yes. It's trustworthy. Yeah. Yeah.
00:31:17
Speaker
Yeah, but what they said what they said here, and this this hasn't been announced by Disney Cruise Line. However, the ah VP of the Muppet Studio said, ah where was it? to to do to He said, ah fans may won't want to start booking their travel plans for next year because they're about to see a lot more of Kermit and company at Disney's cruise ships and theme parks, including live appearances from the characters on land and sea.
00:31:40
Speaker
So, okay. All right. I mean, I know we're going to see obviously more of the Muppets because of rock and roller coaster, but I mean, that's, that's promising to me. I, that's exciting to me that they're going to, that they have more plans for Muppet stuff and that they're continuing to do, you know, do more things with the Muppets and not just kind of like burying them after they close Muppet vision 3d, you know?
00:32:04
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, my my initial thought when they said more live shows is I was like, do you think they're bringing back that show that they did in Magic Kingdom? Oh, Liberty Square? Yeah. Yeah, that show was great. It was hilarious. Yeah, that was great. So, you know, but but yeah, like to your point, you know, that there's going to be either stuff like that or more, just more Muppets stuff showing up in the parks, which is cool. Yeah.
00:32:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's great. I think, you know, I think you're still... It's amazing how relevant the Muppets still are. And anytime you do something new in the parks around the Muppets, they get more relevant to a new generation, you know? And so you kind of have to keep doing these things, right? Because, I mean, my daughter knows the Muppets, but she she's not, like, obsessed with them. You know what I mean? like But she's she likes them.
00:32:53
Speaker
But, i mean, Sesame Street has been, like... That's been a thing forever, like, at this point. is sort of I guess our entire lives, the Sesame Street's been yeah relevant. and And it's funny because, yeah you know, the Sesame Street is, like, you know, it it is the Muppets. Like, like you know, it's it's the same, like care like, because you do see, like, Kermit and stuff on on Sesame Street, right? Yeah. Yeah.
00:33:19
Speaker
And, yeah, it's it's just a funny thing where, yeah, it's it's such a like ah it's a such a culturally embedded thing that, you know, you're saying, like, so you know, you know it's it's amazing that they're doing it parks. But like you said, I feel like it's such a it is such a thing that's ingrained in in just all of our heads that it's like, it's you know when you you know, as soon as you say Kermit, like...
00:33:41
Speaker
there The name Kermit the Frog, you know, it was just a name that happened to be picked at the time. it wasn't that they invented a new name for Kermit. yeah. it But if you heard Kermit in any other context, you would immediately like if somebody had like a character in another show and their name was Kermit in the back your head, you'd be like the frog. It's funny you say that because I was watching a show recently and the character's name was Kermit. I'm just like, you can't you can't use Kermit like it. You can't use that. But you that's exactly the point. yeah you know and And so so you know saying that – sorry, I know like it's not what you're saying here, but sometimes the impression is like, you know oh, the the you know the Muppets are going to fade away from yeah from like you know relevance and you know you'll never see them in the park. you know disney Disney knows that the Muppets are relevant, and they know that but they know that they don't have to like throw them in your face either. i think I think Disney might have actually learned some lessons from –
00:34:40
Speaker
Star Wars and Marvel that... yeah um Slow roll a little bit. Yeah. like yeah You know, there there is something to be said for pacing and not like beating people over the head with the same thing over and over again. So, you know, the the hard part though is as fans of this stuff, you know, it's finding that line where we're not getting impatient or going like...
00:35:00
Speaker
why are you taking so long to do this or why why are we not seeing it versus too much of it, right? Like it's it's a weird balancing act that they have to do with this. and And yeah, like you said, the fact that they're kind of hinting at, you know, hey, you're going to see more of this stuff going into 2026, that gets me curious. Like, you know, at the rock and roller coaster stuff has been – a main focus, but now I'm going, Oh, what else are we going to see?
00:35:25
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, they, you know, you see, you're seeing a lot of, a little bit of this, right. With Jollywood nights, right. With the, with the, the holiday party over at Hollywood studios, they have Muppet stuff, but I'm going to be interested to see what they do with it on the cruise ships. Because I think up until this point, there's been very limited exposure to the cruise ships. I know that they appear in one of the, one of the ship games on one of the ships, but like Perry, the platypus thing in Epcot. Like it's a, it's like a scavenger hunt. Yeah. kind of thing. Yeah. And, yeah and we, and we did a little bit of that when we were on the treasure, but you know, it's cool how they have it set up. Cause they have like these, these like, I don't want to call them mirrors, but they have the screens all over the place and you, and you do that kind of stuff. But I, you know, it's saying live appearances. So, you know, we're talking like live shows, you know, akin to what you were talking about in the Liberty square show, stuff like that on the cruise ship.
00:36:13
Speaker
I would, I mean, I would love to see that. So I'm, I'll be, I'll be interested to see what that's going to look like. But um it's it's good. It's definitely a good thing. I mean, i you know, honestly, Trevor, I can't even get my daughter to go see Zootopia 2.
00:36:30
Speaker
Which, by the way, i don't know if you saw this. And I know, Trevor, you really likes utopia right so and i was like I was like, I wonder if this will get Trevor out to the theaters. ah But I did see that, I don't know if you saw this news, but it made it to a billion dollars worldwide in 17 days. It's the fastest. its art It's had the best opening ever for an animated movie.
00:36:49
Speaker
And now has ah reached a billion dollars the fastest time ever in 17 days. It might made a billion dollars, which is crazy. like I mean, it got great reviews. It's getting great reviews. And I've heard it's it's really good. But I just, I'm just really impressed. I like if anybody is, ah you know, I've heard some people say before on on a show and some of the listeners but said, I'm not a big fan of Zootopia. And it's like, obviously there are a lot of people who are because, you know, it does very, very well. So, yeah. Yeah. yeah yeah it It just, just because i don't like something doesn't mean that it's not popular. I guess. Avatar avatar is perfect example, man. Yeah.
00:37:31
Speaker
I've never seen Avatar. I haven't watched the last... There's been two movies that have come out now, I think. Well, no, there's one about to come out. There's the that came out. Yeah, there's Wicked Water and then Ash and Fire or something like that. Listen, I've never seen Avatar, but I am also not saying to myself, like... Well, who's because every time an avatar comes out and makes it over a billion dollars. I mean, it's it's not in this next one probably will, too. So it has a fan base. Right. And it's just just because it's not. It's not me. Yeah. Does it mean it doesn't mean there isn't one there that exists? You know, like I don't like Harry Potter either. And everybody else does. So it's it's see that. OK. And I know it's it's an opinion thing, but that's wild.
00:38:11
Speaker
so how i i'm Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm going to put you on blast for this for a second. well Harry Potter is so good. Before we started recording the podcast, my wife was in the living room watching the first Harry Potter movie was, i guess there's a marathon on one of the channels, probably a free form or something. But, um, you know, there's, there was the, the movie was on and I'm just sitting there. I'm like,
00:38:32
Speaker
just don't get it, man. Like, I'm just, I mean, just it kind of bothers me. I don't get it. Like, it does. Like, it just doesn't do anything for me. And I just, I feel like maybe you need to, I don't know, maybe you need to watch one of the later ones where it gets a little bit darker and more intense. Because because the first one's a little, i will admit, like, it's, it has a few moments, but it's really relatively,
00:38:54
Speaker
um um I would tell you this, Trevor, the effects relatively don't hold up. the The effects do not hold up I mean, yeah, I mean, it was that show was made, what, like 25 years ago or something like that? Yeah, it's 20 plus years ago now. Yeah. Listen, said you say that, but I still watch Jurassic Park to this day, and I think it's maybe the best CGI I've ever seen. And that was the basically the. That's fair. Yeah.
00:39:14
Speaker
The original, you know, I mean, now they just like cut corners and, you know, like, but you go watch Jurassic Park, those effects still look fantastic, you know? Okay. I will say this. and Okay. we're We're going to have, this is the me trying to convince Tom to watch Harry Potter segment of the show. So bear with us.
00:39:30
Speaker
I will say, you know, ignoring the larger, um the larger like story arc of Harry Potter, I personally really enjoy a Prisoner of Azkaban, which is the third Harry Potter. not because of It's actually because of how the story is told and the fact that there's a time travel element to it. And there's a lot of there's a lot of interesting detail because of it.
00:39:55
Speaker
um I think you just need the right hook into storytelling is my opinion. Because I know like you you you have certain like stories and stuff that you you really enjoy. I personally like The Prisoner of Azkaban.
00:40:10
Speaker
and I would say try and watch The Prisoner of Azkaban because also the the kids are a little bit older in that one. So it's not quite like, sorry, the first show is very, they're very young and it's very like the acting.
00:40:23
Speaker
Oh, but, but it's also like kids kind of stumbling into stuff. Whereas as they get, as they get older through the show, it does, you know, their personalities change. Like, like the characters change. Yeah. And the show the show itself gets a little bit more dark and adult. I think like, like I mean, the big switch is honestly in four in Goblet of Fire.
00:40:42
Speaker
But I personally like Prisoner of Azkaban. If you ignored the larger Harry Potter world, just it being a time traveling story. And my pitch to you is that you like Back to the Future. So you would probably like Prisoner of Azkaban.
00:40:55
Speaker
Why? Because there's time travel? Yeah. why here's okay they Don't use a DeLorean, but it's still cool. I promise. Okay. i i don't okay Hold on. Okay. this Let me explain something. Okay. Let me explain something. I'm sorry. I'm just kidding, man. I don't know what it is about me. And my sister's the same way. i have no idea why we're like this.
00:41:15
Speaker
But the more popular something is, the more skeptical I about i am about liking it. like And the more people that like it and the more people that try to convince me to like it, the more I go the opposite direction in hating it. You know what mean? But that's why I'm not saying it's good just because it's popular. I'm saying that there are particular story arcs. I'm not saying that it's the greatest storytelling ever, but it's an interesting story arc to me. And that's what I'm sharing with you.
00:41:42
Speaker
so And i I tend to eventually get into it. Right. But it has it takes time. Right. Like I didn't get into Game of Thrones until like five seasons in. Right. Because everyone was talking about it. It's like, and then i was like, OK, I'm into it now. And then, you know, like Star Wars. I talked about this before. I like I never watched the Star Wars movie. Right. Like and then. After all the Star Wars movies were done, I'm like, all right, let me check out a Star Wars. Maybe, maybe, you know. And, and okay, and I'm going to put a hot take out there, too, because, you know, I am the same way to a certain degree.
00:42:12
Speaker
I have not watched Game of Thrones. I have no intention to watch Game of Thrones because it's just not my, it's not my vibe. That's fine. Same thing with Lost. I know a lot of people loved Lost. No, but, but but i again, I i don't.
00:42:26
Speaker
I don't care that I'm wrong. I'm just saying that, you know, it's... I know. I know. We're we're just... We're having fun. um And then coincidentally, so um I didn't start... or So Breaking Bad, and I'm just... I'm throwing these out here as like big shows that, you know, people were like, oh my God, they're the greatest thing. I didn't watch Breaking Bad when it came out.
00:42:45
Speaker
I actually didn't watch it until my son got interested it because him and his friends, like... you know, a year ago or two years ago were suddenly like into Breaking Bad. And, and you know, they're they're teenagers. And I was like, and so part me was like, you know, we we had the, and okay, before the show, we had a conversation about our kids and growing up and, and you know, and protecting our kids. So, so we were, you know, I was kind of looking at from the angle of, you know, oh, there's like,
00:43:12
Speaker
I don't know if my kids should be watching this. But then I realized, like, you know, he needs to like, it's probably better that he's exposed to it. And, you know, we're talking about it versus me trying to shelter him from it because he was just going to go watch it with his friends anyway. If I did. Well, that's so and I think, you know, I think, you know, the one way to get a kid to do something is to forbid them from doing it. Right. Yeah, exactly. As soon as you tell a kid you can't do this, that's the only thing they want to do. so But to to the point about watching the show was that I had like zero interest in Breaking Bad.
00:43:40
Speaker
But then because my son was watching it, I started like watching it with him. And I didn't watch it like front to back all the way through. But I watched enough of it that I was like, like, yeah, this is really good. But I was like, know, I couldn't suddenly go and be like, hey, guys, have you seen Breaking Bad? It's amazing. Because like my friends would be like, yeah, that was like eight years ago. What do you want it? Where have you been? Where have you been? Yeah, right. It's... So, so I get it. Like, you know, you, you, you find shows sometimes where it's like, you get into it way after the fact and, you know, and I feel like you're like me, Tom, where, you know, it's not about the hype around the show. It's about, you know, just you know,
00:44:18
Speaker
your enjoyment of it. And I feel like, you know, you're looking for, you know, storylines and and whatnot that you engage with. Right. And yeah so, so I get why, yeah, you know, certain things like, you know, a Harry Potter, the hype around it was insane. But if you can ignore that, there are some good shows in there. I'm not saying all of them, like,
00:44:38
Speaker
I have my personal list and I'm not going to start. I know we have Harry Potter fans in our listeners. I'm not starting a war about which Harry Potter is better. I'm just saying Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite.
00:44:49
Speaker
Don't come for me, please. dont yes this is that yeah We'll leave that there. We went down another rabbit hole. No, it's all good. i I don't know. I honestly don't know what my problem is with Harry Potter. I really, really don't. I'm not like, I don't know.
00:45:07
Speaker
I can't explain it. I really can't. it's yeah we We need to get you over to Universal. That's not going to make me want to do it more. I mean me into it i don't know. we We, I really enjoyed, like we, we hit all three of the, the Harry Potter areas at universal. And, uh, I mean, like I guess my, my brother and I were both enough into Harry Potter that, uh, and I mean, his, his girls were really into it. So I guess, yeah, you know, it wasn't a hard sell. i this I've talked about this before. like I, you know, and this is the same way with Star Wars for me, right, where I hadd never seen a Star Wars and I've never watched a Harry Potter all the way through, but I've absorbed enough of it through pop culture that like I know stuff about it and I don't know why.
00:45:49
Speaker
Right. Like we're watching the first movie. Well, like I said, well, i was putting so putting together some furniture. Right. And I. I there's there's something going on in the background. And I said to my wife, I was like, this thing happens in this thing. Right. Or, you know, like, I forget exactly what it was. And she's like, yeah, how do you know that you don't like Harry Potter? I'm like, I don't know. I just do.
00:46:06
Speaker
It's just there. You know, like, I don't know where it came from, but probably from pop culture. It's just, yeah, I mean, yeah, there's there's enough of the, like, they kind of evolve into memes and stuff like that. but, like, you know, there's references and, you know, like, you watch The Office. They make a bunch of Harry Potter references at one time or another. You know what mean? Like, it's yeah other things referenced, you know. You sometimes don't know where it starts even, but it's like you you you know, like, oh, this is a this is a trope. Right. Like, you know, yeah exactly these tropes happen in the show and you go, I get I get the joke or I get what they're referencing. But sometimes it's you're actually like like the office thing is referencing Harry Potter, but you're kind of looking at from the lens of like, oh, I saw that on The Office first. Right. So. Yeah, like I saw Spaceballs when I was a kid before I saw Star Wars, but I understood what they were doing. Which entire... Yeah. The entire show is just like jabbing at like... yeah Mainly Star Wars, but like every... There's like so many sci-fi... movie references in Spaceballs. It's insane. There are, but like that was I saw that before I saw Star Wars, but I still understood what they were doing, right? you know like I knew what they were making fun of. But anyway, I'm sorry, we're way off the Yeah, that's fine. So we were talking about Muppets. Yeah. Let's go back to the Muppets for a second, because we talked we talked to I think last episode, or I don't know, maybe a couple episodes ago, where Disney... No, it was last episode, where they they announced the closing season or opening season for the new Muppets
00:47:31
Speaker
ah Rock and roller coaster but now we have an exact date of when rock and roller coasters close so this is a this is gonna be a quick item but we just wanted to mention it so it's gonna close on March 2nd so the last day to ride rock and roller coaster with Aerosmith is March 1st so if you really got to get your Aerosmith ah fix in ah talk about a thing that's not relevant anymore Uh, but, uh, harsh, I know harsh, but true. Uh, how many, how many kids know two Aerosmiths? I mean, I can't imagine a lot kids going to rock and rollercoaster and go Aerosmith. Yeah. I love them. Like, it's I know I've ridden rock and rollercoaster with my son and I know he, like he, he's, so he's purred like one of the songs on there, but,
00:48:19
Speaker
wait he's he's off at his friend's house right now. When he gets home, I'm going to try and remember to ask him if he knows anything about Aerosmith. Just see what, like, I'm just curious. see the reaction. Yeah. Yeah. He'll be like, he'll probably be like, what are you talking about? like what is the error What is that? Aerosmith? What is that nonsense? But and again, to that point is, you know, if i say like, oh, you know, do you know the Muppets? He'll be like, yeah, cool. Like, yeah so, yeah. Yeah. like reasons why Reasons why Aerosmith is being phased out of rock and roller coaster. I mean, the last time Aerosmith was relevant was like Armageddon.
00:48:50
Speaker
The movie Armageddon. Good old 1998. Yeah. 1998. Right. Like that was that was the the the Armageddon that that music video was, you know. Actually, this that that's not that's not entirely true. Or well, actually, yeah, that that was their last big thing. The last Aerosmith thing I can remember them being involved in was actually the Polar Express.
00:49:13
Speaker
Wait, I've actually never seen Polar Express. Oh my gosh, dude. I don't know why. i just can never seen that. Okay, since it's Christmas time. i know, I feel like I should now. Sit down and watch it. it's it's It's Tom Hanks all the way down. It's Tom Hanks' inception. like He plays like every role in the movie, and it's fantastic. All right, I'll check that out. so But Aerosmith does make an appearance at the end of the movie.
00:49:36
Speaker
Okay. Like, or like, because they're singing, uh, they're, they do a quick song and they're like, and it's all CGI obviously, but it's very clearly like Aerosmith and you'll get a laugh out of it. feel like they would fit in the vibe of that movie, but okay. It totally works. It, trust me, it totally works. And it's, you'll love it. Like, you gotta watch the show.
00:49:54
Speaker
right. Yeah. I would start ah singing Aerosmith right now, but i think instead I think we should do our ad. Yeah. We get copyright stricken for singing bad Aerosmith. I mean, if I sang, ah you know, that Armageddon one really badly, what was it? ah I forget what the name of the song is, but it's the. Don't want to miss a thing.
00:50:12
Speaker
Don't want to miss a thing. Yes. That's it right there. I have it in my head now. Thanks. Now it's in my head too. Yeah. I'm like, I'm actually seeing the music video in my head. Cause I remember, don't ask me why i remember the music video probably cause it was on like ah TRL or something. about like But i remember it very distinctly.
00:50:29
Speaker
ah man. Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis and Buscemi's and then, Oh, what a good movie. It's so bad, but it's so good. Yeah. It's such a bad movie, but it's, I mean, oh, dude. but Yeah. It's a crazy premise is what it is. It's an absurd movie. and That was, that was when those, okay. Anyway, sorry. This episode, I don't even know what's happening. We're so gone. Yeah. All right. All right. All right. This episode is ah is brought to you by DVC Resale Market. DVC Resale Market, a world of DVC companies, the leader in the DVC resale industry with 13 former Disney Vacation Club guides and three former Disney Vacation Club quality assurance managers.
00:51:10
Speaker
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00:51:24
Speaker
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00:51:43
Speaker
I just, yeah, I just can't. That movie. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. like but All right. Let's, okay. Let's recenter and get back to it's Christmas time. Yeah. There is a you know, we're talking about Disney.
00:51:56
Speaker
There's a Christmas parade. There's things happening. um i don't know about you, but we always watch the Christmas, the, the, ah the Christmas day parade on Christmas morning.
00:52:08
Speaker
So like we try to, yeah but it does like we always, I turn it on. some or I shouldn't say we always turn on, but we've turned it on, but then we do get distracted by other things. And I i don't think I've actually watched it all the way through. and Oh, really? yeah We always have it on the background while we're eating, an opening present, yeah you know, all that stuff. so Yeah, I need to make a better habit of like...
00:52:34
Speaker
Yeah, like said, we just kind of forget that it's there because we get excited about the kiss and everything on Christmas morning. yeah. yeah You know, stuff that's going on. But, ah and i'll also, like we we're like, we end up making, like, Christmas dinner. Like, like we always end starting, like, cooking and stuff by, like, 11 o'clock. So...
00:52:52
Speaker
Yeah, get that. But I guess, to be fair, like, you you can – so, okay, the the Disney Magical Christmas Day Parade airs at 10 a.m. m on December 25th. Eastern. It starts streaming Eastern Time and starts streaming at 11 a.m. So, so that's – I mean, for me, that starts – I could – I'm not getting up at 8 a.m. to watch the parade, but um it's available for me at 9 a.m. because I'm in Mountain Standard Time. um Yeah. so So, yeah, you know, I can definitely, you know, turn this on when, you know, it's on it'll be on Disney Plus. So, yeah can we can watch it. Although, oddly, only until January 4th. You'd think that would just be a thing they would leave up. But for some reason, it's it's only until January 4th on Disney Plus. so I feel like they want to have some kind of um exclusivity around it.
00:53:43
Speaker
And also, you know, you're right that they could leave it up all year round. But... If they did that, it would actually become very confusing over time because then people would like – because they do it every year, right? And then people would be like, oh, well, you know, am I watching the 2025 one or the 2026 one or like –
00:54:04
Speaker
yeah you know I get why they only have it up for a limited amount of time. Yeah, yeah, I get it. Yeah. And I'm sure at some point there will be – to be honest, after you've watched one of these shows, in the middle of the year, would you suddenly have a craving to go back and watch a Christmas Day parade Probably not.
00:54:25
Speaker
Yeah. just let Let's be real. Probably not. um You know, it's just's not something I would go back and stream, but you know, it's, it's all good. So I, listen, there's is some really cool stuff, you know, here i would always, right. Like, and it's being hosted again by Alfonso Ribeiro, which is, it's funny to me that I love him.
00:54:45
Speaker
I just have to say that he's, yeah he's fantastic. He's such a great personality. he He's really parlayed his, you know, his his Fresh Prince of Bel-Air thing into being a TV host. like And that seems to be what he does now. He's a TV presenter, which is fine. That's great. He's good at it, right? So um we're also going to get Jennifer Goodwin, too, who's the voice of... ah of um of ah Judy Hopps. Judy Hopps, yeah. Because, you know, why disney never will not take advantage of a... Of opportunity to cross-promote their products, yes, course. Zootopia 2 needs it, because it's doing quite well. but But that's just further cementing the hype and everything. But but also, i again, you know, as far as, like, both Alfonso and Jennifer, I feel like...
00:55:34
Speaker
ah thinking back to previous years, I didn't like, they've had people on as hosts and I'm like, I don't know where this person's relevant from yeah kind of thing. like And these two though, it's like, I know Jennifer from, you know, not just Zootopia, but also, um, what was it? Um, once upon a time.
00:55:52
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, you know she was great in Once Upon a Time and she's done, you know, I've seen her in other shows. Alfonso obviously is Alfonso. So it's like, you know, having having people that are like, you know, hosting the show that you're familiar with makes it a lot easier to like engage with it, I think. Yeah.
00:56:11
Speaker
um Yeah, so that's so funny funny enough, I think like i'm I'm more interested this year than I've been in previous years for the Christmas Day Parade just because of that. Oh, okay. Just putting that out there. I'm going to throw this out there. Big fan of Once Upon a Time. Really enjoyed that series. Oh, yeah, it was fantastic. got a little eh at the end, but I mean, that's... It went off the rails a bit, but it was solid for a long time. Great show. Really great show. Trevor, the other part of this, though, we're mentioning, too, is the girl that plays... And I'm not even going to try to say her name correctly. Maya Kaloa? Kaloa? Yeah. Who played Lilo in the live action, uh, Lilo and stitch, which I don't know if you've watched yet, Trevor, but is great. And she is fantastic in it. The kid's got like charisma, you know, for miles. So like the fact that she's going to be doing kind of, it seems like she's doing, um, like, you know, prayed. She's a parade correspondent. Like she's just going to be going to talk to people in the crowd. I mean, which is great. Cause like I said, she's, the kid's got a great personality. She's, she's really, really funny. Uh, and you know, I think she'll do great in this, but, Have you watched the live action yet, Trevor? You got to that if you have. have because, again, you know, we don't get out to movie theaters a lot. It's, you know, when it hits Disney Plus, we'll- It's on Disney Plus now.
00:57:27
Speaker
Is it? Okay. So, yeah yeah again, I'm not like constantly hunting for movies to watch on Disney Plus. So, you know, we'll probably sit down. We have some time off here coming in a couple of weeks. I'm sure that will probably, you know, hit our radar that, you know, something to sit down and watch. Also, to your point about Zootopia,
00:57:43
Speaker
We may go watch it in theaters, but like it's minus 18 here today. i don't want to go to a movie theater. You want to go outside? Yeah, exactly. but Like yeah this is the hard part about like like stuff that comes out in like, like there is always these blockbusters that come out in like November, December timeframe. It's like, oh, you should go see it. And it's like, yeah, when it's not cold, which means like March.
00:58:03
Speaker
Yeah. so So, you know, I kind of miss the boat. But but we might we might go over the holidays and watch Zootopia. So, you know, to the point of, you know, seeing seeing these people who are hosting the ah the Christmas Day parade and the shows that, you know, that that tie back to this. um I might get out to watch them, but I honestly don't even care at this point if I do, because like I said, just the people that are hosting this is...
00:58:30
Speaker
i It does go a long way to getting me engaged with watching these kinds of things, because if the if the host is not somebody interesting or somebody that I necessarily, you know, have a lot of interest in. And I'm not hating like, you know, anybody that, you know, you know, you know, if you watch previous years, and you're like, oh, I love this person, or whatever, you know, great. Like, it's just for me.
00:58:53
Speaker
I was not really like the the the parade itself is not enough to actually draw me there to to sit and watch it or to remember to have it on on Christmas morning.
00:59:04
Speaker
These hosts actually are like I'm thinking about it more and I'm actually going to try make a point of turning this on on Christmas Day. So. it's It's funny because we've watched it so many times now that we like we know the beats of it, meaning like they always do certain things, right? like They show the part of the parade and they move to like a musical act. The tear-jerky story of the kid that did something nice for the community and they surprise them with a trip to Disney World. and you know Then there's like a preview of some sort of park thing in the future a cruise ship thing. you know like And then another musical act. like that they They have template. It's a template.
00:59:40
Speaker
Yeah. And it works like, listen, it works. So like, oh, okay, great. You know, keep doing that. But I actually, it's funny the Zootopia thing just to go, you know, off for a second here. Cause it was the thing that came up in the discord and Chris made me laugh about this in the discord. Cause I, had said that I was trying to push my daughter to go to Zootopia too. And it got to the point where my wife got annoyed that I was pushing too hard and she was like, you know, cut it out, stop pushing. Right.
01:00:07
Speaker
And I said, yeah, so I'm going to try again in a couple days, which thought was really funny. But it's true. You know, you just got to i just I'm trying. Right. um But I yeah i just can't I cannot convince my kid to go to a movie, man. It is really ah I and, you know, I hate to tell you this, Tom, but like my kid, they're going to start going to see movies without you.
01:00:31
Speaker
Well, she won't see a movie in the theater. She won't watch a movie at home. Like we can't get any movie. Okay. and And again, we talked about this before the show. My son, like we we've gone to movies in the past, but we haven't really gone to movies for really a couple of years. We just haven't. There's nothing that's been compelling enough to to make us want to go to the theater.
01:00:49
Speaker
My son went out with his friends last week to go see. They went to the cheap movie theater because they were playing National Lampoon Christmas Vacation. So he went and watched that with his friends. And, you know, I there's going to come a point where your daughter is going to like her friends are going to say let's go watch a movie and she'll go with them, but she won't go with you. I'm sorry, Tom, but it's going to happen.
01:01:12
Speaker
And, you know, we're here as a support group for you to to work through it. Well, I actually it's going to happen. i think I forgot to talk about this on the show, and it is kind of, this is not unrelated, but ah they are putting Labyrinth back in the theaters in in January.
Movies & TV Shows Filmed at Disney Locations
01:01:29
Speaker
nice.
01:01:29
Speaker
yeah And so we bought tickets to go see Labyrinth because we, I love that movie. It's a weird movie, super weird movie, right? it's But it is ah it's a Jim Henson directed movie, and it's, yeah you know, it's it's, I think, a classic, right? with Like Muppets cranked up to 10 for weirdness.
01:01:47
Speaker
so i mean second to me only grace Second to me only for next to the Dark Crystal. I like the Dark Crystal more than I like Labyrinth. Yeah, but but Labyrinth is, I mean, is basically all of the Muppets in it are populated by all of your favorite Muppet people, right? Like that all do all the different voices. I mean, it's it's yeah it's, you know, it's a Jim Henson thing. So if you haven't seen it's a great movie. But yeah, it's coming back to theaters for like a limited time. And so ah in January, so we actually, we bought tickets to go see it again. I haven't seen it forever, but um but i'm I'm excited to check that out again. It's been a long time, but there you go. See, it's like slightly disinterested, but we are terribly bad at going down the We said we were just going to talk about these things quickly. So, okay, we we've covered the ah we covered the Christmas Day Parade.
01:02:29
Speaker
ah Unless there's anything else you want to say about the Christmas Day Parade. na No, no, no. the The other thing, so since we're still on Christmas stuff, there is a Hallmark holiday film being filmed in Disney World. It feels so low rent for Disney to do this. yeah but But, okay, but so yeah here's the thing. My wife is super excited about this. Is she really? is so my wife Okay.
01:02:52
Speaker
I do get on my wife about this because, like, you know, of like you just talked about with the template for the yeah for the Christmas parade. Yeah, there's a template these. Those Hallmark movies have a template.
01:03:02
Speaker
And and like she loves them, though. like like And I'm not, you know, I'm not, you know, it's fine. like but And she doesn't make me watch them. But i will like you, I'll come into the room. It'll be on in the background.
01:03:13
Speaker
And it'll be like... You know, you know, some lady left her husband and found out that her the guy that she knew from her childhood is there and the and the janitor at the school is actually Santa. And it's just like, yeah trevor there's a synopsis in this. There's a synopsis of this article. So let me read it to you OK, in let's let's see what the Disney version is it's It's not far off from what you just said. In the film, Lindsay and her extended family head to Walt Disney World to spend a magical Christmas together. But the dream of a jolly holiday gets dashed when Lindsay discovers her room is next door to Philip, a disastrous for its first date she recently had, who's also there on a family trip. Coincidences, Trevor.
01:03:53
Speaker
Uh, as Lindsay and Phillips paths crossed throughout their stay, the frost starts to thaw as they learn. They're not so different from each other after all. Thanks to the magic of Walt Disney world, the holiday wish Lindsay made and in Cinderella, the fountain might just turn their rivalry into a romance.
01:04:11
Speaker
Spoiler alert, it does. I haven't even seen it, but I'm telling you now. Okay. Yeah. That's, that is. And sorry, we we are, we are making fun of it, but you know, if you enjoy this stuff, like my wife, it's fine. You know, you Jen is not watching these things on Ironically though, right? Like no one's watching these things on Ironically. Yeah, she, she, she, She enjoys them just because, yeah, they're you know they're they're fun little Christmas shows. They they make her feel happy, and yeah that's all that matters. and
01:04:44
Speaker
We're not making fun of anybody that likes me. I just think it's funny. It's more the it's more the just the fact that Hallmark has got this like formula nailed down with it. And the fact that it's – the backdrop is just – or it's Disney World this time, which – You know, it's better than the New England town that they've been using up until now. Yeah, like New Hampshire or something. It's like, yeah. It's like, okay. i And, okay, I'm going to say this on here. If this actually happens, i i want I want whatever movie credits or, you know, I want somebody to, like, give me royalties on this.
01:05:17
Speaker
But the most hilarious thing, I think, because of all these Hallmark movies, and it feels like they're all being filled in the same town, would be to have a series of these Hallmark movies where there's like three or four of them where there's like different crews all filming at the same time. At the same time. And so like as like one scene is playing out, you can see in the background that there's like somebody from another movie doing so like like there's people from the other movie. But then if you watch the other movie, like it's from the other perspective.
01:05:44
Speaker
I think that would be an amazing way to like. But wouldn't that be that that would make me interested to watch it because I would love that detail of like piecing together the timeline of like it's all happening at the same time, but everyone has their own stories going on. That's how I think Hallmark should do one of those movies. But like I said, if that happens, I said it here first and I want royalties. Yeah. I just I just I just think this this whole the whole like if you would have asked if you would said to me Tom write a Disney World Hallmark movie I'd be like okay I mean it would be similar to this it would somehow the magic of Disney and a wish bring two people together right like that's what's gonna it The hard part for me is that 90s shows that had Disney episodes have ruined for Oh, every single one. Yeah. All I can think of when they said that it was happening, I just kept replaying the Full House episode in my head when they went to Disney World, right? Yes.
01:06:43
Speaker
Which so somebody pointed out that the the feasibility of what they did in that episode is actually impossible because – Like they they were like in Epcot and then they were at the Grand Floridian and then they like, like all these things happen that are just like, there's no way that this would have all happened in a day kind of thing. So, but yeah, yeah I mean, listen, and you know, you got Stamos, Stamos is, uh, you know, obsessed with Disney. So, uh, there's, there's that. Um, but you know, I always think of, uh, I don't know why, maybe this was like around that same time. Uh, I, I just always think of like, uh, all of the shows like boy meets world did it. Um, who I mean, got all the show, all the 90 shows did it, right? It was some, some kind of, yeah, boy meets world, boy meets world did it. Uh, full house did it. Um,
01:07:31
Speaker
There was a whole list of them. i didn't I don't want to say Family. No, Family Matters didn't do that, did they? Maybe they did. I think anything that was on ABC like just had to. Yeah. I know i know no Golden Girls mentioned it. there there was there was like a they did a I remember, again, Golden Girls is baked in my head for some reason, too. I don't know why. But um there was a seat there was one episode where at the very end, like they were talking about going to Disney World and then...
01:07:57
Speaker
The final scene is the ah the star tunnel in Space Mountain, and it's like a voiceover of like it was Sophia and Dorothy, I think, were like kind of talking back and forth like they were on the ride. But they didn't they didn't actually like film there, but they like worked it into the episode because Golden Girls was very much ah like an ABC show. And like, you know, they had like the house on the back lot and everything on the back lot to her. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, so yeah like there's there's like, yeah, there's so many like Disney world references in those 90 shows that, you know, just, yeah.
01:08:30
Speaker
I always also remember the, ah the Kokomo video for beach boys, which they did at the grand Floridian, uh, with John Stamos in it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember that. I used to see that video all the time at, I didn't know until like I was an adult that that was at the grand Floridian.
01:08:44
Speaker
ah It didn't. Yeah. Cause it didn't see like, I mean, cause you know what they're singing about, you know, was like, like Kokomo, which was, you know, yeah Yeah. Very tropical, but you don't like, you automatically assume that they're like somewhere in like Bermuda or somebody somewhere. Because like they say Bermuda in the song. It's the first word in the song. but Yeah. But yeah, but yeah yeah that's ah that's a funny one too. But yeah, so this ah this Hallmark film, i I hope, the one thing I hope for it is that i hope it's good enough or bad enough that it kind of gets cemented in like,
01:09:22
Speaker
Even if it's a bad Christmas movie, that it's something that, you know, kind of like we're talking about now with like all these like shows that have like Disney episodes that it gets cemented somewhere as like, oh, you know, that Hallmark Disney Christmas movie.
01:09:36
Speaker
Right. Like, yeah yeah, I hope that that happens to it. i But, you
Disney Holiday Gift Guide & Merchandise
01:09:40
Speaker
know, I'm the the storyline sounds as fantastic as I expected it to be. from what you said yeah sorry i can't talk now watching the beach boys kokoma video with the carvalerty in the background um where's stamos in this one though it's not the wrong one because stamos is definitely in it where is he was maybe he's later in it i don't know maybe and guy um i remember distinctly well you you you can continue oh there he is way We're in pink tank top. It's great.
01:10:17
Speaker
Oh, okay. I don't know what's happening in this episode, but we're good. We're just squirted. I feel like we, because of your trip and everything, like last week we were kind of decompressing from that. And I feel like we've had a lot of pent up like conversation. Yeah. Just some silliness there. Yeah. Well, listen, I wanted to talk about some holiday gifts, Trevor, because. Yeah. Let's let's go through these.
01:10:40
Speaker
Yeah, because there's a lot of holiday gift guides that Disney put out, and we're not going to go through all of it. We're going to go through these, and we're going to pick out the ones that we like the best. Now, the first one I have on here Stocking stuffor is Stuffers, Trevor. And, um i you know, I'm just looking through here.
01:10:56
Speaker
There's not a lot I'm loving. i will say the one thing that caught my eye, and I think it's on this one, is the... um Oh, yeah, there it is. The ah Mickey Mouse Holiday Gibbets by Crocs, which are those little things just stick in the hole of Crocs. So my daughter loves her. She has Crocs and she loves them and she put she likes to accessorize them and put different things in here. And this is like a little five pack holiday set of holiday. It's got, you know, Santa Mickey and Minnie with a scarf, a peppermint Mickey ear, Pluto with reindeer ears and Goofy wearing like a little hat.
01:11:34
Speaker
a little hat And, i man, i you know i got i got to I got to get this for my kid. ah ah But the other one that came up, too, is this Chip Santa donut keychain where Chip has a mustache.
01:11:51
Speaker
Wait, he has a mustache? How did I miss that? He has a white mustache. It's gigantic. It covers his whole face. You barely even know it's Chip. Oh, Oh, yeah. um Well, okay. that But that tracks with um when they were when they were in the when they were in the tree.
01:12:06
Speaker
And they are... No, they weren't in the tree. he was ah It was the candles on the... ah Sorry, I'm ah'm remembering a very specific episode where um where Mickey and Pluto cut down a tree and it's Chip and Dale's tree and they they're decorating it.
01:12:21
Speaker
And Chip and Dale are in the house. And then at one point... They're on the mantle and and they're lighting the and Mickey's lighting the candles. And and ah I think it's Dale has the Santa hat on, but he's got like the beard and everything. That's what this is looking like to me. and I know that's like a very specific reference. but It is. it is that's yeah Sorry, my my head goes like that sometimes. I have like weird stuff committed in my memory. um But that's what that looks like to me is that it's like that...
01:12:52
Speaker
like seen but like stuck through a donut which again is weird i will admit yeah yeah but this is also in disney store japan it says which yeah i mean all bets are off with japan stuff because they do their own thing yeah well the other thing that got me too though trevor the the last one i have here is the darth vader tamagotchi yeah so Why wouldn't you want Darth Vader Tamagotchi?
01:13:17
Speaker
I just have questions. That's all. ah First of all, I knew that Tamagotchis were a thing again, you know, because they were a thing when I was a kid. But I thought they they like updated them. Like, it's the same exact screen and graphics from We Were Kids, which actually kind of makes me happy, to be honest with you. I kind of like it. But also, I'm thinking to myself, what are you doing with a Darth Vader one? Are you, like, feeding him? Like...
01:13:37
Speaker
like I mean, yeah he has like a feeding tube. So yeah, let's have that. Like, how are you feeding him? Like, what are you trying to keep Darth Vader alive? like that really a thing that you should even want to do? i you know, you're zapping him with force lightning.
01:13:51
Speaker
just I mean, I guess the emperor did. yeah Yeah. Maybe it has a little like every time you hit the button, it's like, do it. yeah that's that's just That's concerning. got one on this list. I want to nominate as the weirdest thing that they put on this list. Okay. yeah um Is the the Tweezerman Disney, the Aristocats manicure kit.
01:14:16
Speaker
ah Because it's literally just like nail clippers and a couple of files. And it's such a weird, like, I know it's stocking stuffers, but it's just weird that like ah they're displaying all these other things. And then it's like a set of nail clippers, which yeah they they have the Disney logo on them, but it's still weird to me.
01:14:34
Speaker
I feel you on that one. That one's a little odd. That one's a little. Yeah. Yeah. like I'm with you. Okay. um Yeah. What else do we got here So, okay. that That's the first one. That's the stocking stuffers. Yeah. yeah So so let's let's go into the Home Alone one. Okay. so I really like this stuff. I'm not going lie. This stuff is pretty cool. Yeah.
01:14:52
Speaker
Uh, first of all, I mean, I might like all of these things. I really like this mug that they have. I have wanted this Lego set. The cartoon versions of the the wet bandits on it. Yeah. Yeah. Although they did Joe Pesci dirty, man.
01:15:05
Speaker
They made him like gigantic. Like, what is that girl about? It's, I mean, it's, it's the juxtaposition of the tall guy and the short guy. I get it. But I mean, our artistic choice. Yeah. he Pesci was a little chubby in that movie, but he didn't look like that. Um, yeah.
01:15:21
Speaker
But I've wanted this Lego set for like a really long time. Actually, I just I haven't gotten it because I don't know where I would put it. But it is a pretty cool Lego set. I'm not going to lie. ah Yeah, I just which is just the McAllister house. It's the McAllister house ah and also the tree house in the backyard.
01:15:39
Speaker
But I think that one's pretty cool. And the van. They got the van, too. They got the van. Yeah. Yeah. ah They've got some cool shirts, which I like. They have a lovely cheese pizza just for me. Merry Christmas to Filthy Animal and Eating Junk and Watching Rubbish. yeah i I do say I actually... The shirts are probably my favorite or the most thing I... The thing I would most likely go for on this list is I do like a good like...
01:16:03
Speaker
reference shirt, right? yeah you know it's You know, it's not like overtly like like having the logo, but it's like you get the joke, right? this is tre I think I've talked about this before. I will not buy a shirt if it says the thing that it's referencing on the shirt, right? yeah Like, i don't want that. I want you to have to look at my shirt and figure out what it's referencing, right? And if you don't get it, then and move on. But if you get it, then we're cool.
01:16:25
Speaker
Exactly, right? Like, I have a Stranger Things shirt that doesn't say Stranger Things on it anywhere, right? Like, you just have to get it. yeah I have one that has, it says it says ah um Hawkins, like it shows Hawkins and it's written in like an an Atari logo and then it says like waffles and yeah adventure underneath and that's all it says and it's like...
01:16:45
Speaker
I have one that says ah Hawkins AV club, right? Like, yeah or Hawkins high school AV club. Right. And again, if you don't know, you don't know. And that's fine. But see, that's why i like this other one too, Trevor. They have a little Nero's pizza one too, that actually has a phone number on it too, which I think is great. I love that.
01:17:03
Speaker
Like, no There's no Home Alone mention it anyway. It's in-universe references. I love it. Yeah. and And I do have to say that one or the other thing that surprised me on this list, too, is these lounge fly bags. Oh, they're very cool.
01:17:18
Speaker
So i like the ah I like the one bag. It has like the 8-bit designs of the characters on it. yeah And then the other one, looks it almost looks like ah Peanuts, right? Like Charlie Brown type of it is animation. Yeah. It's that style. It's that style. Yeah. Which I think, I think those are very cool. Like it's, it's a cool way to like, you know, take, take the home alone IP and, you know, they're twisting it around and, yet you know, you know, making it,
01:17:45
Speaker
Making it appealing to a much wider crowd, I think. Although ah the one thing I wish though is that, you know, these things are, you know, Loungefly made a choice with them. I actually wish I could see these on other merch. Like, you know, you know, this kind of stuff on t-shirts and stuff would have been very cool as well.
01:18:02
Speaker
It's also another good reminder that Disney owns everything. um Yeah. Yeah. I forgot how much they, their home alone was their thing. Cause it was done under a touchstone, right? Oh this was 20th century Fox one. I think. Was it? I thought, yeah. because This morning that touched this isnt a acquired this was one they acquired. Oh, OK. Yeah. So yeah I guess that line's blurring for me. I forget who owned what back in the 90s. It was 20th Century Fox back in the day. So, yeah. So now now Disney owns that. So, ah yeah, crazy. I mean, I would love to know how many holiday movies overall Disney owns, but that's a ah topic for another podcast. So, OK, so these are cool. We also got some action figures, Trevor.
01:18:42
Speaker
All right. I'm not a big action figure guy. Even when I was a kid, I was not really into action figures. I was more into Legos and Kinects and like building stuff. I wasn't into like, you know, take two action figures and go like i remember you know like like fight up against each other. You know I wasn't into that. I was, i was into play sets. So like I had like He-Man play sets and stuff, but I was, i was less interested in the action figures and more interested in the mechanical pieces of it so like like I had like uh Castle Greyskull and it had like a little there was like a little microphone thing in it and like you could you you could make it talk and all that which was very fascinating like some of the characters had like you know you push like a button and things would like
01:19:26
Speaker
Like flip around. Like, like I think there was like a He-Man where like you get like damage across his chest and there's like a little um spring spring loaded thing that would flip around. So, yeah, I get you. like Like these these action figures are like, you know, they're cool display pieces. So like, you know, looking at, you know, these Spider-Man ones, there's a, you know, a Spider-Man and Venom one, which looks very, very intricate. And the only thing that I don't like about it is that it looks too fancy to play with.
01:19:53
Speaker
And that's kind of my problem with action figures. Yeah. And yeah I don't, I don't like that. But then. Yeah, I want to play with things. Yeah. This action figure set is cool. I like the, ah the classic, or it's like the 1967 Spider-Man.
01:20:06
Speaker
yeah Characters. So like it's Spider-Man and Green Goblin and Electro. It's in that style. It's in like the comic book style. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. and Oh, and then we got some Star Wars stuff too.
01:20:17
Speaker
Yeah, there's a talking Yoda figure that you can, that's an animatronic figure you can like talk to and stuff. I want to know though, this, this abomination of a droid below it though, the Star Wars, the Blacks. Yeah. What is, what is going on there?
01:20:31
Speaker
but So it says Black Series Astromech Droid Holiday Edition. And it's, it's, it's a R2 unit with, the with a Santa hat and it's painted in, you know, Santa colors. That one, yeah, I'm not a fan of that one, but I have to say the ah the holiday edition Stormtrooper is hilarious. The reindeer Stormtrooper. i love that. That is so funny. Yeah, for some reason there's porgs with it too. I don't know why there'd be porgs with it, but there are. They're not regular porgs either. They're Christmas porgs. One's ice and one's like a Santa porg.
01:21:08
Speaker
Or not Santa Pork. It's it's ah like a snowman pork. He's got like the snowman. yeah yeah What is going on? And yeah, just a reindeer stormtrooper is so funny. Like I i've almost, I wouldn't be surprised if you see somebody cosplay this at a convention and I would like love it if I saw that.
01:21:27
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Like it's it's in that realm. It feels like, you know, you see like crazy cosplay sometimes of like, you know, twisted characters. That's what this feels like to me. the The only I agree with you. The only other one that I want to highlight, Trevor, is all the way at the bottom.
01:21:42
Speaker
For some reason, we have, I don't know, goth Woody. I don't know what's going on here. like what is Why is Woody dressed in but all but black and white? i What is happening here? It it says black tie action figure set, which I don't. So ah why? Why?
01:22:00
Speaker
Like, just why? okay so it says dress dress your toys to impress with the 30th anniversary of Disney and Pixar's Toy Story with the Toy Story black tie action figure set. So it's it's a sell it's probably meant to be like, you know, they're celebrating their 30th anniversary. So they're dressing fancy. But it's weird because, yeah, like Buzz has a tie on.
01:22:21
Speaker
And Jesse is dressed like, you know, you know she's... little different, but yeah. You know, you know got some some, like, dazzly stuff going on. Woody, like you said, it's the full, like... They could have just done the black tie with him, but the fact that it's, like, full, like... i guess it's supposed to be, like, a black tuxedo. Yeah, it's supposed to be a tuxedo. I get it. But it's, like, it's weird.
01:22:42
Speaker
Yeah. Like I said, if you missed the tie, yeah, it looks like goth Woody. Yeah. yeah it's It's like, what are you doing? And I mean, Buzz is literally exactly the same. They just threw a bow tie on him. Like, why?
01:22:57
Speaker
i actually like the, ah i like, and I'm surprised we haven't seen this up until now, is the ah the Rocket Rescue Buzz Lightyear. Yeah, that's pretty cool. yeah that That's funny too. That like, you you don't really think about that as like a play piece where like, you know, him with the rocket strapped to his back. Yeah, yeah.
01:23:14
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. All right. Well, I think that's enough of holiday gifts for now, right? Good stuff. good You know, that there there is some good stuff out there. But um we do have a couple more things here. I
Excitement for Disneyland Paris Drone Shows
01:23:24
Speaker
know i know we're we we went way longer than. Well, it's OK. but So really quickly, I'm just going to. So there's I have a couple of Disneyland Paris items on here. I just wanted to have this on here so I can yell about the fact that they're doing. They have two new drone shows coming to Disneyland Paris, including one that has water drones.
01:23:41
Speaker
what it is I don't even know what that means. it's a water drone. I don't know. it says revolutionary new air and sea drones. What? Oh, are they like in the water doing the drone stuff, but under like. But why you need a drone for That's interesting.
01:23:57
Speaker
But because so so here's the thing is that you you can have lighting underwater, but then being able to reposition it and whatnot, like you come up from the water or something like or I would assume that they're like little little they can submarine drones. And so they can move around and do do the drone stuff that you see in the air. But doing it underwater with like that's interesting. Yeah.
01:24:20
Speaker
I mean, I see these little globe things. It looks just like they're like like on little RC boats. Is that what they're trying to call a water drone? i don't know. guess, yeah. i was thinking like fully underwater, but maybe that's not feasible. Or maybe maybe they do. go for i Maybe they do. I don't know. I don't have more details on this. But I'm just annoyed because, once again, Disneyland Paris is getting not only an Avatar show, but getting another show another drone show that has revolutionary new...
01:24:48
Speaker
revolutionary new stuff that Tom doesn't get to enjoy. I want to have a Disney world. Is that so much to ask? I don't feel like it is. don't feel like it is. All right. We haven't even gotten a single drone show yet and they're already doing avatar wow and shows. Well, no, there was the drone show at Disney Springs.
01:25:05
Speaker
So... No, no, no, no, no. Doesn't count. Doesn't count. Yeah. Doesn't count. It needs to be in the... I think it needs to be in the parks because, like, that that was... Disney Spring stuff is like... That's like a testing bed. It's not a...
01:25:19
Speaker
yeah to To be fair, I'm pretty sure that the the the drone company that Disney is heavily invested in is based out of Paris, I believe, or based out of France. So that could be part of the reason.
01:25:33
Speaker
But they also have an office in Orlando. I know that's true, too. So get it done, Disney. Come on. you're doing it everywhere else. Okay? You need to start sending them letters. I'm gonna. Send it to their Orlando office and be like, so?
01:25:47
Speaker
When are you doing it? I have a podcast to complain about this, though. i You know, you want me to write a letter like, ah you know, I don't know. Writing a letter is so like but it's so old school. but I feel like if you
Disneyland's 70th Anniversary & Retro Merchandise
01:26:04
Speaker
took the time to write a letter, i feel like they would take it seriously because my grandmother wrote my my my wife a letter ah in response to a Facebook post. Instead of replying on Facebook, she wrote her a letter.
01:26:15
Speaker
And that's what every time I think about writing a letter, that's what I think about it. It's yeah yeah. You know, be, be scolded by your elders. for yeah No, no, it was, it was a good thing. It was, she was praising her. It was, I just, it was weird that she responded to a Facebook post. but My bad. eyes I assume responses on Facebook. A lot of times are negative. I shouldn't assume that, but yeah. Positivity Trevor. Let's talk about Disneyland. Let's talk about Disneyland.
01:26:44
Speaker
70th anniversary Disneyland, which means there's some merch for the 70th anniversary, Trevor. Yeah. And I could have sworn. or We did talk. Yeah. We have looked at this before, but yeah So they, they've added to it.
01:26:57
Speaker
Yeah. um I'm just, I'm scrolling through the list here to see if there's anything that stands out to me. It's. and I do like these old school shirts that they have that are very, ah I don't even know. Would you call this sixties? Maybe is that sixties version of Mickey mouse?
01:27:11
Speaker
The, or the ones where like the one where he's got like the weird eyes and stuff like that. Yeah, it's it's a second item on here. There's this it's like there's two sweatshirts, basically. And they have the old school Disneyland logo on there and ah the the older version of the ah of of the characters.
01:27:29
Speaker
But i don't I don't know when that... I mean, I'm assuming oh i seventyth anniversary it's probably 50s, right? it's probably It's probably from when when Disneyland opened, right? in but Is it really that old? Because I could have sworn that I saw character designs like that in the eighty s Yeah, that's what i was kind of that's why I was questioning myself, Trevor, but it wouldn't make sense to do a 70th anniversary if you're not going to do, you know, from the time period, right?
01:27:52
Speaker
I guess, but they could also be doing, like, throughout Disney history, like, you know, picking and choosing, you know, pieces from different eras. That's my thought. But I guess it's hard because, like, i I will admit I don't have, like, a ton of in-depth knowledge about Disney.
01:28:09
Speaker
You know, all the different phases of Disney stuff, but like looking at this, though, like, yeah, i'm I'm seeing this further down is that there is some stuff that does it looks closer to like the 80s and 90s Disney stuff that I remember. But then those ones you're talking about, yeah, are probably more like 50s, 60s. Yeah.
01:28:27
Speaker
Kind of era. And then, yeah, there there was one here that, sorry, the one I was talking about, there was ah there was one picture, um it's about like halfway down, where there it's somebody with, it's ah this lady wearing a red jacket, and she's got a she has a Disney, or you can see like the Mickey face underneath, but he's like spaced out. she's,
01:28:51
Speaker
Where's that one? Is that what we talked about? Is that from earlier this year? Maybe it's, it's the castle collection. If you go down to the castle collection there, there's one picture there that is just like, like, yeah, it, Mickey looks a little strung out. Yeah.
01:29:08
Speaker
ah Yeah. Oh, okay. I see it. Okay. but now you see You see what I'm talking about. We talked about that one, you know, all the way back in, what when was that? April? It's saying? Yeah, April. This was April. hoof Okay. So, yeah. Okay. That's why I'm remembering this. is Yeah. we We talked about it earlier this year, but I guess they're just rehashing that. They just keep releasing new stuff throughout the year. Yeah. Okay.
01:29:29
Speaker
I actually think we should end it there, Trevor. I think we should end there. i think that's a good place to stop. We did have a Disneyland calendar events, but it's kind of it's just you know reading off events. Who wants to do that? So i think we've I think we've covered it all today that I can, well, I think we covered it all. Who knows? There could have been stuff we didn't talk about. We covered stuff we didn't even expect to cover. So I think we covered It was one of those episodes, which I feel like all the episodes these days, but, you know, which is fine. We like doing that. So, yeah, let's let's wrap her up.
01:29:56
Speaker
All right.
Episode Conclusion & Listener Engagement
01:29:57
Speaker
So, ah yeah, I guess if you have any questions about anything we talked about on the show or comments or, you know, you know any any of your own rabbit holes, because apparently this this show is full of rabbit holes.
01:30:10
Speaker
um ah you can always love We love hearing about that. Yeah, tell us. yeah we can you can always send ah you can send your comments about that to welcomehomepodcast at gmail.com. We love hearing from you guys and hearing what you think about, about what we're doing. And you can also find us on social media. So you can find us on Facebook as welcome on podcasts you can find us on youtube is welcome home podcast. You can find us on welcome us on Instagram as welcome home picks.
01:30:32
Speaker
ah And you can also check out our Facebook group, welcome come home, Disney waitlist and, you know, get in on conversations about ah stuff from the show and, you know, just, you know, you know, sharing your own Disney experiences and trips, you know, you know, shout out to our listeners that, you know, go into the Facebook group and, you know you post your own, um your own trips and and whatnot, you know, love seeing that stuff, you know, love that we're all just sharing our, our Disney experiences and that's really all it should be about. So, um you know, keep that stuff coming.
01:31:03
Speaker
And then if you want to help support the show, you can go to store.welcomehomepodcast.co. You can check out some of our different merch there. um You know, maybe if you want a last minute stocking stuffer for somebody, I don't know.
01:31:14
Speaker
um And then we also have a Patreon. So you can go to patreon.com slash welcomehomepod and you can check out our different levels of Patreon support, which have an exclusive logo only available to our Patreon listeners. And all of our Patreon supporters get access to the Discord server, which as we've talked about through the show, we have and we have all kinds of great conversations on Discord. Sometimes we do early previews on there. of things that we're working on and just, uh, again, more, more conversation about the show and about Disney and sometimes other random topics. Uh, you know, maybe,
01:31:46
Speaker
I don't know. maybe Maybe I'll put this out there. as we We have an off-topic section in the Discord. We should maybe rename that to Rabbit Holes because after this Rabbit Holes tangents and yeah. Rabbit Holes tangents and other wild things. yeah um But yeah, you know, but like I said, we have great conversations there. So, you know, if you want to join that, you know, you know check out our Patreon.
01:32:07
Speaker
And ah last but not least, if you're listening on iTunes or Spotify or anywhere where you can leave us five stars, now please do so. As we talked about at the beginning of the show, you know you know you know appreciate the people sharing us on Spotify and and whatnot, but not you know not just Spotify. you know Any platform you're on,
01:32:24
Speaker
um You know, if you're listening to this, share it with your friends. You know, it just it helps helps us get out to a bigger audience. And, you know, you know, just, you know, we we enjoy seeing those numbers go up and, you know, hopefully we can get more stats like we did from Spotify. But um even if we don't, you know, we just appreciate you guys sharing the show and and continuing to listen. And, you know, if you're on iTunes, you can write us a review and let us know what you think about the show, which also we love. We love hearing that as well.
01:32:55
Speaker
Yeah. And the other thing you can do is not forget to subscribe. That sounds really bad. The way that is that it's not grammatically proper to everyone, I just said, but the other thing you do is, is, is, uh, don't forget to subscribe to welcome home podcast. You can be reminded every time release an new episode, you can find us on Apple podcasts, Amazon music, tune in, Stitcher, Spotify, YouTube, YouTube music, just about any place you can find podcasts. You can find us just search for a welcome home and you know, the one that says Disney parks and DVC and all that fun stuff.
01:33:25
Speaker
So, you know, please do that. If you haven't done so already, consider, you know, ah another Christmas gift to me besides your, your five-star review is also subscribing. So do that too. ah And thank you to our sponsors, DVC Resale Market, of course, of course, World of DVC for sponsoring this episode and also just being great partners over the years. Join us next time for more Disney parks discussion. Of course, more DVC talk. We hope to see you all real soon.
01:34:09
Speaker
I looked around from pole to pole, found her in a sugar bowl. Look out, here comes my ball and chain.