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Episode 301: Epic Universe, Water Parks & Key to Disneyland
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On This Episode
The guys take a break from talking about Disney and discuss recent preview events at Epic Universe. With the return of listener questions, the guys give their thoughts on where the next DVC resorts should be. Disney announced that both of their water parks, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon, will be open at the same time for the first time in 6 years. Disney Resort Airport Luggage Transfer Service, discontinued during the pandemic, is coming back to the resorts with a limited pilot. To celebrate the park's 70th anniversary, Disneyland is offering a new interactive activity with a magical key and hidden pin.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:07
Speaker
This is Skipper Albert A. Wall, the voice of the jungle, broadcasting on the DVC to all voice unknown. If you're within the sound of my voice, you're listening to Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.
00:00:26
Speaker
Hello and welcome home. This episode of welcome home is brought to you by DVC rental store. Thank you for joining us on episode 301 of welcome home in Disney parks and vacation club podcast.
00:00:39
Speaker
I'm Tom here with Trevor and Damon. How's going guys? Hey, doing all right. how are you?
Post-Celebration Reflections
00:00:45
Speaker
Good. Good. I'm surprised Damon's not coming in with like, you know, what's next?
00:00:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's 301. Like this is, yeah, whatever, man. da Damon's crashed after the high episode. No, but here's the good thing, though. Here's the good thing. The good thing is, is that I'm free and clear to talk about whatever I want and to to be rude and obnoxious. So there's that, right? So that you brings it back. You are. yeah I love that. do you know how thrilled I am to hear that, Damon? I love that. I love to hear that.
Event Challenges and Personal Commitments
00:01:15
Speaker
Well, i I have to just, you know last week, guys thanks to everybody that showed up to the event. It was a lot of fun. The food was good.
00:01:22
Speaker
Yeah, food was great. Because of the pretzels. Pretzels were just okay, man. Oh, really? They usually have good pretzels. I mean, I just don't think I love pretzels like that anymore. Oh, okay. you know and i fine But the the barbecue was really good.
00:01:33
Speaker
Yeah, I was eating barbecue for like days after that. there So many leftovers. But it was a fun crowd. i We had a good time with it. I know, you know, and and obviously if you listen to the last episode, I put a little disclaimer in the front because the audio was quality was not great. Terrible would be good, yeah.
00:01:52
Speaker
You know, a lot of that was just the room. ah But also, you know, we were different equipment and and to Tom did did pretty good with what he had to work with. Let's put it that way. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
00:02:04
Speaker
We don't have like, yeah, yeah like... I don't know, what's like newscast-worthy equipment, I guess. like I wasn't bringing anything. Like, if I brought stuff, I think it would have been easier, but Tom had to do it all from one. The one thing I will say, though, I didn't realize how big that place was.
00:02:21
Speaker
Like, thats huge it's huge. Yeah, it's great. It's huge. I was really just shocked by the size of that place. But it was fun. Again, shout out to, like, the North Carolina Facebook Disney group, right?
00:02:35
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. For coming. Actually, I think they're doing one. I was talking to Earl about this. I think they're going to try to do one in Raleigh area. Oh yeah. here's monet This month, this month.
00:02:47
Speaker
But the problem is like, i got tennis, man. Like, you know how like kind of annoyed I was that I had to miss tennis that one week, like just to come do the 300th. But I mean, obviously the 300th Trump's tennis. Well, yeah, kind of sort of, um, but like that was it. Like I can't, I'm not missing another one. Like that's just not happening. So. Well, yeah, I, I thought you were going to be absent from the show a lot more. Cause I know you have tennis every weekend. So it's a little, yeah. I mean, so it's been on Saturdays.
00:03:14
Speaker
Um, So we haven't necessarily had too many Sunday issues, but usually it's my other son's soccer. But he's got like only a few more weeks of school. Like once school is out now, right? Like then it's going to be – I'll be here every week minus any tournaments, tennis tournaments, I guess, and vacation.
00:03:32
Speaker
And vacations, yeah. Yeah. I mean, ah listen, I'm going to tell you guys now that I can talk about other things.
Disney vs Universal: Immersion and Innovation
00:03:37
Speaker
The universal stuff looks ridiculous now that people are posting. Oh, my goodness gracious. i thought we weren't doing Universal. I thought that was... I'm talking anything now. No, I'm good. I'm free. okay know you're doing that anywhere But i thought that I thought we were not going to go into that because we... No, no. I have to talk about that.
00:03:55
Speaker
No, hold on. you don't You don't get to change the rules. That's what we agree with. Because here's the thing. What I would tell you is is that what they've done around the lands is what Disney needs to be doing in their lands. Like I was surprised at how much just random stuff and animatronics exist outside of rides. Yeah.
00:04:16
Speaker
Now, hopefully with Cars Land and things like that, that happens. But man, man. They some that stuff at the other parks, like the the foreign parks. They don't do it as much here. I don't know i don't know why, but i was that was one thing I think that really jumped out to me that I saw and was kind of like, huh, why doesn't Disney do that?
00:04:36
Speaker
Because it was kind of cool. It was immersive. I mean, listen, this the Epic Universe is kicking Disney's hiney right now. Like, they really are. oh you're You're absolutely right. and And I feel like, yeah, there there definitely has been ah very big decline in exactly what you're talking about is like all those like...
00:04:55
Speaker
Little things that it doesn't have to be in a ride and it doesn't have to be like part of some bigger showpiece. like Like, why can you not just do an animatronic that people can see and interact with? And and talk and just take pictures in front of it. them And that's kind of what they've done.
00:05:11
Speaker
I was more impressed. Listen, they didn't show the rides and that's understandable. And I don't think I really want to ruin the rides, but I was curious about the land. But the thing is is like the immersion,
00:05:22
Speaker
Level, I think, is just a notch up. Now, listen, I'm hopeful that Cars Land does something like that, and I'm sure that they will, but I was surprised at the level of immersion um just from these people walking around.
00:05:34
Speaker
was a little jealous I didn't go, but other than that, like it was it was pretty neat. So I'm curious to see how that all pans out for Disney, right? As everyone keeps saying, if Universal is currently in the lead, which I would think that they are, it only makes it better for Disney people in the long run because you know it's a competition. That's what it has to be.
00:05:52
Speaker
I mean, yeah you know by the numbers, they're not in the lead. but but We'll see. yeah it's yeah the The thing is is that they they do very much have everybody's attention at the moment. Of course they do.
00:06:06
Speaker
yeah but But because of that, like like dis Disney is not offering anything on par with that right now, which is, you know, you know, people, people are like, this is how these things shift, right? You're right. You know, you know, Disney is in the lead in that, you know, they've got more parks and they've always had more presence and stuff, but attendency if people start, you know, you know, if the focus changes from, oh yeah, Disney. Yeah. they're They're okay. But universal, Hey, you know, they've got all this stuff.
00:06:37
Speaker
In five years, you could see that start to flip in Universal's favor. Yeah, and it was interesting. I think some of the things that I kind of took away from, i gosh, rabbit-holed this morning and just kind of watched a whole bunch of different people.
00:06:50
Speaker
I would say that the the fact that I heard multiple times that I've never seen or thought about a ride like this for two of the rides there, I thought was interesting when what we've gotten at Disney the past two rides have just been a rehash and a redo.
00:07:06
Speaker
right and And I think that I was surprised to hear. And that's what I want from Disney. What two rides are you talking about, though? And Tron. No, no, no. I mean at Universal, because from what I've seen, pretty much all the rides there are pretty the same. I'm not even going to argue with Tom. He's just such a fanboy. No, no, no. Hold on. This is legitimate. You have to say that and walk away. You have to explain yourself. Yeah, I'm going to. I haven't been on them. I'm just telling you what people have said.
00:07:36
Speaker
I'm just curious, because I honestly don't. Harry Potter and then the dark ride. Well, you're fair that's that's fair. I was talking about the How to Train Your Dragon one, which are flat rides that
Universal's Appeal and Pricing Strategies
00:07:44
Speaker
you can find. but I didn't even mention that. like i was just I'm just saying like that one disappointed me because I was like, okay, well, I saw two of those rides at Legoland. All they did was throw a dragon theme on them, which, you know, listen, fine. Again, I don't know the ride at Legoland, the flying one, but I don't think that you can do as much like turning and twisting on that one, if I remember. Maybe. Maybe. I don't know. But I'm talking about the boat one, too. The boat one. Well, the boat one's been at Dollywood. And I'll tell you the truth. I missed it at Dollywood because they closed it down. So i'm kind of excited to see it somewhere else.
00:08:12
Speaker
It's so yeah yeah we do not get off the shelf. Right. That's that's all I'm saying. But and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm not even criticizing them. I would agree with you. yeah I didn't think we were going to get 12 fully innovative. Never done before. Well, Because, you know, listen, everyone does the flat ride thing. Disney does that, too. It's it's not like ah I'm not even criticizing them for that. It's you know, I want to see those innovative things to Damon. So like, I'm not I'm not against those things either. I mean, like I was looking at the the monster ride thing, and and that seems to be kind of the same ride as the Harry Potter ride. It's the it's that robot arm thing that they're doing.
00:08:42
Speaker
yeah but so So what they said today, though, was is that it's mostly animatronics, not screens, which I was kind of impressed about because i think the Harry Potter one relies a little too much screens. It's all screens. Yeah, it's not all screens, but there's a lot of screens. Yeah. So I think that having animatronics will be interesting.
00:08:59
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, i think I think there's a place, and we've kind of talked about this before, where it's like, there's you you can't use all animatronics, right? you can but and Especially when you have the screen technology, too. And there just has to be a good mix of it, you know?
00:09:11
Speaker
And I think that's okay, too. I think she Star Wars does that. I think yeah that's they took a good job at that. Yeah, they they do a good mix of both, you know? um Yeah, no, listen, I'm not trying to like, ah but i also was laughing too at the the monster makeup thing. We were talking, joking about this on Discord. I was like, it's adult face painting. Like, what's going on here?
00:09:30
Speaker
Yeah, I don't, I'm not too worried about that, but that land looks pretty cool. And actually the yeah the food places, I was surprised at how themed the food places were, which to me was also kind of that immersion level, the the dark universe food area. Yeah.
00:09:45
Speaker
Looks ridiculous. Yeah. Right. I just want Disney to give me more immersion. I feel like it's very like hop to hop to hop to rides. And the in between part is literally just walking.
00:09:56
Speaker
It seemed a little different. So I'm curious and I hope they take away the the biggest, the biggest takeaway I would say is, you know, does I hope it makes Disney kind of. redo their immersion, right? Like, and kind of rethink their immersion for certain things. I think that they did a decent job at certain rides, but certain rides are just... I think they do a good job with immersion. I mean, with the past couple lands they've built, of I mean, Star Wars is pretty immersive. It's, you know... Star Wars is pretty good, but then, yeah again, you're talking about, you know, the fact that they've, the two new rides they've redone, like, I don't think there's... well yeah Again, I've been to Tron, but I don't think the immersion of that it land exists at the level that we're talking about Because that's not even like there. I mean, I'm not saying they're not going for immersion there, but it's it's almost like you have it's that's in the Tomorrowland area. It's not based on a specific IP, right? It's like you can try try future. a mutmere Excuse me. um No, but it's a pod and stuff is that Tomorrowland is what I'm saying. Yeah.
00:10:54
Speaker
The thing about Tron, and and I mean, Tron as an IP, like the grid is very like sparse. Like like it's yeah by default, there is nothing to theme because it's a computer. That's true. The whole thing is a big motherboard. I'd be all right with that.
00:11:12
Speaker
i mean I mean, like when you get into it, it it does. It is definitely themed to Tron. But you're right that like the outside area, it's like, oh, there's this canopy. It looks great. It's it's beautiful. And it does fit the Tomorrowland theme.
00:11:23
Speaker
But you're right. It's not. want to be walking around everywhere and feel like I'm somewhere. Right. Like parts of Disney feel like. There's weird gaps. I agree with you there. Do you know what i kind of hope, you know, all this, likely you know, obviously we're all talking about Epic Universe and everything.
00:11:42
Speaker
i hope yeah You know how Disney does, you know, they stop people for the surveys and stuff? Yeah. I really hope that people start saying like, ah yeah, you're, yeah or, you know, when they ask about what do you think about the park? It's nice. But, you know, Universal did it better. i Like, I want people to say that. I do, too. Because I want two great parks.
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah, they they need to hear that, honestly. like like They need to not believe that what they're doing right now is and enough because it it it it's not enough. or Honestly, like I agree with you. it's like What Disney's doing is not enough compared to what could be done right now. And an Epic Universe is showing us that.
00:12:20
Speaker
But and it is interesting, though, because they are still geared towards a different age group. Right. And and i think Disney semi satisfied with just owning that younger age group and and not caring.
00:12:31
Speaker
um But but they're not the ones spending money, though. Well, yeah, but that's true, too. they that's That's the thing, right? like it's it Every time they make like a roller coaster or whatever, right like it's not they're not doing Velocicoaster, and they're never going to, because it's just I just think their philosophy is just general like family rides. Donkey Kong could be something they could do. I think that's a good mix.
00:12:54
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely they could. yeah yeah Although we were talking about on the Discord, too, that it looks it looks kind of slow. I don't know if maybe it was just the video I saw, but it looked very slow. kind get disappointed with Donkey Kong. I got to ride it before I say that, because being on the track, on the track I got to see what that feels like before I kind of Well, that's the other thing. does i Because if you look at it from like ah the outside, like the the illusion obviously doesn't really pull it off, right? But if you're on it, I would like to see how it feels, you know? but like Watching the ride POVs, it did not give me the feel that... like It feels like it's maybe a step... Or or it feels about the same pace as Slinky Dog Dash.
00:13:31
Speaker
Yeah. Which like the mine carts in Donkey Kong, and you know, i'm I assume we've all played yeah Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Country. Like the mine cart levels do not feel calm.
00:13:43
Speaker
Yeah. And that coaster feels calm. Right. Yeah. yeah Well, it's it was my same criticism about the Mario ride, though, too. And I said this in the Discord, is that it like you're relying on the AR really heavily to make it feel like you're going fast, right? Because the thing doesn't move. It it goes so slow, and and which is fine, because it could you can pull that effect off, right? like I mean, Soren does it, and Ratatouille does it.
00:14:06
Speaker
You can do it if you do it well. it's just the and And again, we've talked about this before. When I've seen like the POVs of it, it doesn't really capture it very well, right? Because you can't... Yeah, it's tough. You really can't film I don't think that's, that's not even like one of their e-ticket rides at this point. Right. is I mean, is it not? don't know. No, it's not.
00:14:21
Speaker
um So the other thing is I heard, yeah, I heard that there's um going to be an express pass just for Epic Universe. oh boy. but How much is that going to cost? I don't know. But like, I feel like I like, if I'm only going for one day. Like I kind of might have to do. well that's what they're banking on. bigots Yeah. That's what they're banking on. Right. But it might be expensive.
00:14:41
Speaker
The three day trip I'm taking is $2,000 day. Yeah, that's... It's crazy. I was going to say, because you you have to do... You have to buy two days at the other parks to get one day at Epic right now, correct? Yes, which is what I have.
00:14:53
Speaker
And then the thing is, since I'm staying at um Portofino's, I think. So we get the free fast pass to the other parks, but not Epic Universe, obviously. yeah of course So it's like, do I just pony up for that? I don't know. $2,000 a day is already kind of pricey. It's like $6,400 for three days.
00:15:14
Speaker
yeah that's that's a lot I don't remember if I have two rooms or one room. Like I didn't, I didn't do it. Like I said, my wife is the trooper when it comes to like setting everything up. But I know that we're on concierge level because she was like, she tells me after and I'm like, yeah, 6,000 or 6,400. Yeah.
00:15:29
Speaker
it doesn't matter Listen, I'm honestly not trying to just fanboy this. I do think that it looks really great. I'm not in any way criticizing that. I'm i'm saying that, you know, it's the shiny new thing. Of course, we're going to be hyped about Let's see how different it is. Because, yeah again, like, I'm all about the immersion and the rides. And listen, I'm just going to say how it is when I get there. I'm very curious. But the only thing is I haven't seen the new animatronics at Tiana.
00:15:55
Speaker
So I can't necessarily compare, which I kind of want to do. So I don't know. Maybe if I go to, we're asking, do I go to Epcot or Magic Kingdom before my cruise? And I think it's going to be Magic Kingdom because um it's been to Epcot so often.
00:16:09
Speaker
It's like, all right, well, can I do Tiana's and um Tron? I can, right? I mean, I can lightning lightning, so it's not a big deal. And I might do that. And then kind of see that comparison. But I'm very curious. A dark ride that's 80% animatronics. And again, listen, I'm pulling this from what random people I don't know are saying. internet are saying yes But if that is the case, that will be kind of cool.
00:16:33
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, i i did, I mean, I felt like, and I haven't been on Tiana, but from the videos I've seen, it seemed like they did a lot more animatronics than they have in in the past. And it seems like they're kind of skewing that way um a little bit more. But it's also, you know, like, it's hard to do that, too, because those things break. i mean And they're expensive, yeah. And they're expensive, yeah. It's hard. i feel I feel, you know, they kind of previewed that, you know, with the animatronics, they figured out a system where, you know, they're 3D printing a lot of the parts They're printing, yeah. True, yeah. Which...
00:16:59
Speaker
Which I think that the whole process of doing that is actually going to make one making animatronics in general easier, but then also maintaining them um easier as well. Because even if they do break, it's, you know, they're not hitting a point where it's like, well, these parts aren't haven't been made in 30 years and yes exactly, you know, too bad. Right. So I think, I think what happened here in general, right. Is that, know,
00:17:24
Speaker
You know, Disney's had all these parks for a long time now, right? We haven't had a new park from Disney's in in Disney World since 99, right? That was last night we had Animal Kingdom. And so instead of building a brand new park, they've been just, you know, tearing down old things and building up new things at the current parks. So it's it feels a lot more hodgepodge, right? And i so I kind of get why it's happening there, where they're not like...
00:17:48
Speaker
creating brand. I mean, they have they have created a couple brand new lands. I mean, you have Pandora, which I also think is pretty immersive. And then, you know, it's just small. Yeah, it is. Yeah, no, I would i would agree with that. But it's some and so, I mean, I think they they do it. It's just yeah we're not seeing it on a scale of a whole brand new park that's super immersive because they they haven't built a whole brand new park in a while.
00:18:09
Speaker
You know? um But, yeah. I think if they did, would obviously have a lot of hype. don't think we even new park. We just need new areas. Well, yeah. We got Monsters, Inc. coming. We got the... Yeah. I mean, kind of a long time away, but sure. Well, yeah. Of course. Yeah.
00:18:24
Speaker
But I also think that for the longest time that Disney could get by on coasting, right? like they They were like, we're keep we're going to keep doing the way that we want to do it because Universal was doing it, but it...
00:18:35
Speaker
they've They've taken it to another level recently, you know, in the past like decade. Yeah. Right. yeah yeah Universal was. And I think, you know, the whole point about these new rides being a lot of animatronics like Universal, I feel, got burned for a long time with all their stuff was with screens. Right. Yeah. yeah And everybody just was brutal, dude.
00:18:54
Speaker
Yeah. So the best furious one was terrible. Yeah. but yeah Yeah. Sorry. Keep going. So, yeah. And I think because of that, yeah yeah, you know, Universal realized they had to go back to the drawing board and, and you know, compete on on the same level as Disney.
00:19:09
Speaker
And now that they are, you know, they they have stepped ahead of Disney in terms of like the hype. and And it looks like the quality of what they're doing definitely is on par or better than Disney.
00:19:20
Speaker
The other thing that's interesting for them is they also have the Hollywood Horror Nights, right? Which is a big deal for them. which Disney really doesn't have anything that competes with that. Maybe the Christmas party, but definitely not their Halloween, right? like I mean, they'd sell out the holidays. They could sell out all they want, but it's just handing out ki bags of candy, honestly. No, it's different. it's It's a different event, though.
00:19:40
Speaker
It's a whole different event. I mean, it's you talked about this already. Universal is appealing to older people with that, right? Correct. But what I'm saying is is that when you go to Universal, right, there's all these haunted... There's different experiences. When you go to Disney, you're not getting a different experience.
00:19:55
Speaker
You're getting some extra characters out. That's really it, right? Different characters, different different fireworks. But yeah, I what you're saying. But yeah, not an entire... Experience. Yeah. And I think that's interesting because I think there's a lot of money for Universal there.
00:20:08
Speaker
So... Yeah, I mean, I looked to go into going to one of those nights, though, and it was going to cost me, like, a small fortune for just one of those nights. Like, they charge a lot. People talk about Disney being expensive. Universal has gotten extraordinary. Oh, no, I think Universal is at least as expensive, if not more. If not more, yeah. The thing is, it's tough for us because we're DVC members, so we're kind of like, well, I don't pay for hotels in theory, right? Yeah. So it makes it lot different, so.
00:20:31
Speaker
Anyway, all
DVC Resorts Expansion Concerns
00:20:32
Speaker
right. Tangent released. But honestly, though, listen, I'm not trying to hate on Epic Universe. no problem. Oh, you definitely are. no, I'm not. I'm being honest about you're not. You're definitely hating.
00:20:44
Speaker
No, not at all. Not at all not all. I also am just not interested in really any of the IPs that are there. That's cool, man. Yeah, like i the monster thing is... You hate Nintendo. That's okay. No, no. Nintendo's the only one I am interested in.
00:20:58
Speaker
Nintendo's the only one I am interested in. And then the monster one I'm you know kind of interested in. But outside of that, like i as we know, I don't care about Harry harry harry Potter. And I almost actively hate Harry Potter. I've talked about this before. I don't know why, but I just do. I am sending you pics when I go to Universal. I'm just going to ignore them. I'm going to send you random pics from both of the Harry Potter...
00:21:20
Speaker
It doesn't mean nothing to me. I don't know anything about it. I'm going to send them to you, Tom. don't want to see you turn on Max and watch one of the new Harry Potters because then I just don't want to hear it. No, I don't. You're not allowed to. When it comes out, you're not allowed to watch it. Harry Potter does nothing for me. It really just doesn't. I've watched the movies before. My wife is very into Harry Potter and I've watched the movies and it just doesn't do anything for me. And maybe the over-obsession and over-saturation of it has got me to this point. But it's, I don't know. I just feel like they're doing the same thing that they did with Star Wars, that Disney did with Star Wars, where it's like, there's a million things involving Harry Potter and it never ends.
00:21:57
Speaker
Yeah. Dude, I can't even. Yeah, I can't even argue that because you're just so offing. They making movies, rebooting all the old movies. How many movies are we talking about? Star Wars has like 10 series. Like, you're not even close to that. I We're not.
00:22:09
Speaker
We're not anywhere near close. I'm just saying they're getting over-saturated. I'm not saying that they're at the level of Star Wars. I'm just saying I feel like it's getting to that point where they're doing so much very You're just such a hater that it feels that way to you. That's all it is, man. oh i i think got better but I think after Fantastic Beasts kind of fell over, I think they backed off. and yeah But isn't the land based on that movie, though?
00:22:32
Speaker
Isn't it based on that? No. no I thought it was. No, it's based on the Ministry of Magic, which was in the original books. Okay. I don't know why I thought it involved that movie that that new movie. that Because you're not in England. You're in France or something, aren't you? And you take a trip between the two. I don't remember the full storyline of the land, but yeah i think there's a little bit of everything.
00:22:51
Speaker
Yeah, I just, like I said, not interested in Harry Potter at all. I mean, like I'm not trying to hate on it either. I'm just saying not interested other people. You definitely are, but that's okay. No, I just don't like it. We need to actually get back to what we planned. We got a question, man. I'm Jeff.
00:23:06
Speaker
Okay, i I do want to throw this out there, though, before we do or before we get off of Epic Universe. is The vibe of Epic Universe is very much feeling to me like the 1964 World Fair, like how Disney used to do stuff.
00:23:19
Speaker
and or like like It feels very um yeah like like mid-century, which I am very... but like i know you can say like you don't like Harry Potter all that, but I feel the aesthetic of the park is really good, and we need more of that. Yeah.
00:23:35
Speaker
Yeah, no, i listen, I've seen i've outside the themed areas. like like Like, even the non-themed areas are themed very well, if that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. Listen, I'm not saying, man, you guys are getting me wrong on this, because I'm not trying to hate on it, honestly. You are, but that's okay. You can think you're not, but you are, but that's all right.
00:23:54
Speaker
I'm not allowed to be critical of anything in it. I mean, it's just all and sunshine and roses. You think Harry Potter is overdone. Everyone can have a hate day. It's okay. Have your hate day, man. If Disney built the Harry Potter land, I would feel the same way. No one's saying you you wouldn't, but you're still hating. There's something of a Harry Potter that I don't like. I don't know what it is. i can't explain it to you.
00:24:18
Speaker
I just, I don't know. It's it just is something that annoys me. Sure. Yeah, it's ah whatever. Okay. Like I said, i'm I'm not against checking out the other stuff. And I honestly know nothing about the how to train your dragon series. Like i know I know nothing and I'm not really interested to find out to be totally honest.
00:24:35
Speaker
Okay. How to Train Your Dragon is so good. Like, yeah, my we watched that like, you know, my kid was at an age where like he grew up watching a lot of them. they But outside of them being like kid shows, they are really good. Like and and I know like they were based on the books, but but the movies alone.
00:24:51
Speaker
Do we need a live action though? Yeah, little that's the second one. Yeah. I don't think we do, but that's okay. Yeah, I mean, that that's a larger issue with just live action in general. That's just the move nowadays, right?
00:25:03
Speaker
Yeah. that's just move you The original How to Train Your Dragon movies were fantastic, and so, you know, having a land based on those, that's fine to me. But you know what's what's funny is is that I feel the same way about the live action of that as I feel about Lilo and Stitch. Like, something's just off with... I don't even like this, the dragon.
00:25:22
Speaker
Yeah. like I just feel like, yeah yeah, there's just something a little off with him. Like, I don't think he makes the transition from like animation to real life. Well, yeah, I get that.
00:25:34
Speaker
That makes, i mean, that makes sense. I mean, I've seen the drag. I've seen like the IP around it. I've just never seen the movie, so I don't know like any of the lore, but I know what you're talking about. I i saw the, ah some of the pictures of it in different articles and I was, I thought it was kind of, I kind of agree with you, David. It kind of just looked a little weird.
00:25:49
Speaker
yeah you know But listen, i i'm I'm sure there's going to be a lot of stuff coming out about this in the in the next you know month or so here. Well, I guess two months as it opens and everything. So we'll you know if you guys want to talk about this stuff, we can. i don't i mean i'm you know I'm just sad that I'm not going to actually be able to go to it, but I'm not changing my trip.
00:26:07
Speaker
I know. it Doesn't that stink, though? That's happened to me sometimes, too. It's like, why was I three days away from going on a new ride at SeaWorld? Like, oh, brutal. Trevor, is I just want you to get your face painted like Frankenstein's monster and take a picture like that. So, i you know, you got to go back to Epic University. Yeah, I don't think that's happening. but But funny enough, you're talking about... that I feel like it's a waste of time, but I would do it just for the memes.
00:26:30
Speaker
That's an attraction to the Epic Universe, and I'm like, what? Who's doing that? if If the podcast pays for it, maybe. It's the time, Trevor. It's the time. Who wants to waste that time sitting there? That's true. We have a lot of stuff we want to do, and that's exactly it. I don't know if I want to necessarily waste my time Because, you know, it's not like it's going to be done in like 10 minutes. or That's what I'm saying. Yeah. yeah yeah Yeah, like, I mean, are you going to walk around with your arms out going, fire bad? Like, what are we going to do? Like, what are we doing that? Or just sweat it all off in the next 20 minutes. Yes, just sweat it off in 10 minutes. But also, it's adult face painting. Like, what are we doing here?
00:27:13
Speaker
and you know the line will be out the door. so I mean, probably. We know this. I mean, I'm not doing it, because I feel like that would just be weird. I i don't know. But, yeah, it's just it's an odd one to me. Because when I saw that, I was like...
00:27:26
Speaker
Why are they doing that? like That just seems weird. But you might be right. Maybe it'll be popular. I don't know. Anyway, sorry. okay So talking about like just missing out on things. so um So this trip actually for me, it's funny because so my brother and I, we're both very big we're very very big rollercoaster enthusiasts. and um But you know we we like reading about and learning about rollercoasters and stuff. And my brother is actually like he's gone to more places than I have for rollercoasters. But Um, he went to universal just before, um, lots poster ah no, uh, dueling dragons actually. So this was like, last long doling dragons were so good.
00:28:05
Speaker
Right. So, so he, so he was mad because he was there just before dueling dragons open. He's like, Oh, I really wish I could have ridden that, but he, he missed it it by a couple of weeks. Same thing is happening for him with stardust racers.
00:28:18
Speaker
that we're going to be there like right before it opens and he's not going to get a chance to ride and did he And did he miss out on Dueling Dragons altogether? He did, yeah. like he he you He went right before and he's not been back. to you like this So this trip for us coming back, him and I have not been to Universal in like 20 years.
00:28:37
Speaker
Yeah, since Dueling Dragons. Yeah, since before Dueling Dragons. And actually, yeah, for Hit Me it was because the last time we were both in Florida together was in 2006.
00:28:48
Speaker
And we didn't even go to Universal on that. True. So, um yeah. So, so the funny thing for, for like, it's hard, right? Because yeah there's all this new stuff there. And there's a part of me that, you know, I could almost say like, well, we could push this two weeks and, you know, go to all the new stuff. But,
00:29:07
Speaker
yeah you know Like you said, the the problem with being a DVC member and all that is that the cost to do that is so much higher. like It costs so much money to just... like Because it's not like one for one, just, oh I'm just moving my dates. It's like yeah you know you know rooms are are different price points going into June.
00:29:25
Speaker
um Yeah, like it just... it just It sucks, but it's also like, you know, part of the reason that we're going is because it is cheap at that time. You haven't been in so long, though, Trevor, that you'll have more than enough to do. I know. Yeah, like we we are doing Velocicoaster. We're doing all the coasters that we can over there. so Wait, is what's it called? Shutdown yet?
00:29:47
Speaker
The Hollywood... whatever coaster. I forget when it shuts Riding thing or whatever. but rocket one. Yeah. one yeah It shuts down soon. I think it's going to be there though when you're there.
00:29:58
Speaker
Okay. Well, we're going to try either way. We've even been going so far as there's a, there's a wood coaster. My brother wants to ride at one of the lesser known parks in the Orlando area.
00:30:09
Speaker
So like we're even doing that. Yeah. i I know, but, but he, safety wise, that's a big no for me. He said he really wants to try it. And it's like, I'm not a fan of wooden coasters either, but I'm going to do it because, you know, it's something he wants to do. And, you know, it'll be an experience at the very least.
00:30:28
Speaker
Yeah. Anyway, sorry, we are way off topic here. We're like 30 minutes into this episode. it. And we even get to the listener question.
00:30:38
Speaker
i'm i'm just I'm just confused as to what happened. Because like two months ago, Dave was like, I'm not talking Universal larry anymore. Now we're talking everything, whatever I want, whenever want. But you can't you can't ignore the fact that Universal is open, or the Epic Universe is open. Because it does affect Disney course as well, right? so Yeah, no, of course. Of course.
00:30:55
Speaker
I do just say this Stardust Racer thing looks ah like a pretty... You're never going on that. No, no, but what Oh, I would love that. That was actually... I was going to say that that one is one of my disappointments as far as theming goes. It looks like Six Flags to me, but... That's in the central hub. That's okay.
00:31:12
Speaker
I get it. I'm just saying that one... Keep hitting, Tom. Keep the hate strong, man. no no no no we're just not i you're just finding more and more things okay no no i i like the themed things that's what saying like that just like you know i mean it just looks like a coaster you know but do dueling coasters are a thing in and and of themselves yeah yeah yeah i'm just talking theming wise that i'm not obviously it's gonna be a good coaster it looks it looks pretty crazy so yeah yeah Oh God, this is a mess. Okay, we promise we're gonna do shorter episodes too, and we're like, this is a- Oh no, it'll be shorter for me, but oh that's okay. Okay, fine.
00:31:47
Speaker
Well, which question do you want to do? Let's do Jeff's. yeah okay this is I'm going to preview everything. I want to talk about Jeff's question. I don't care about Phillip's question. And I want to talk about the double water parks.
00:31:59
Speaker
And that's... Oh, and that's it. That's fair. All right. right So Jeff says, based on historical point sales, there's room for probably three more DVC resorts after Lakeshore Haunted River Country. Thank you for calling it the correct name, Jeff.
00:32:12
Speaker
ah Opens before 2042. Where would you like to see the last three months? Nowhere. no where No more. Stop building DVC resorts. There's too many people in Disney as it is.
00:32:22
Speaker
Stop, stop, stop. Well, it seems like you guys think everyone's going to go to Universal going forward. There's too many DVC resorts. It was so much better when there wasn't as many of them. And it feels like that's part of the reason the parks are so crowded.
00:32:35
Speaker
i mean That's how I feel. Whether it's true or not, I have no idea. that's how i i mean i mean let's Let's talk about saturation for a second because you know we were talking about that with IPs. Saturation of DVC is dangerous as well because if there's too much of it, it it does lose its luster in that you know when when when every resort is a DVC resort, like what there is what's special about it for the DVC, um what's it called? The the lounges.
00:33:07
Speaker
like Even before the new one came out, yeah last time we went to Epcot, we still had to wait. you know Prior to all this, you know buy the $99 thing and all that. like Dude, am I really waiting to get into the lounge? The whole point of the lounge.
00:33:20
Speaker
I've never waited to get into the lounge. No, I haven't either. Yeah, well... Can you also make the argument that more resorts means more choices for us as members and also... How many more choices do I need?
00:33:33
Speaker
It's a lot of choices. But I'm saying... We're already at 14 plus. But also, yeah more members also means more benefits at some point, too. I mean, they'll keep adding to this. I mean, why wouldn't they?
00:33:45
Speaker
what More benefits and how? Like lounges and, you know, parties. Okay, so you can you can add 100,000 people and give me one more lounge, and guess what? It's still worse than it was. the lounge Yeah, the lounge is just over full anyway. The lounges are over full.
00:34:00
Speaker
There's too many DVC people. Like, no, I don't like this. But you're going to force me, where would they be? One has to be at the entrance to Epcot or the exit. Yeah, that's the obvious one. i Yeah, I know you've been waiting for that one for a long Waiting for that one for a long time. think...
00:34:14
Speaker
i think Again, you're asking, e we're asking me, i give myself another animal kingdom one that doesn't have food I hate. And that would be fine. Give me like a mythical animal kingdom. Give me dragon stakes. Like I'm good with that. yeah you track it things And then the third one is at a water park.
00:34:35
Speaker
I mean, because how could it not be? Yeah, I mean, that'd be kind of interesting. A water park one would be awesome. What if would if you could take a water slide from the hotel into the park? Like, that's how you entered in, is you took a water slide. No, because my wife would never go into the park. No, no you just sit stop it's just an option. Oh, it's an option. yeah I think what would be really nice if you give them, ah you make me a DVC by the water park, and then you only allow that resort to have access to it at night once or twice a week as the advantage for that one, then i would definitely be in.
00:35:07
Speaker
Uh, but those would be my three. All right. That's fair. Uh, I, I mean, i agree with you with the, the Epcot one. i I think they need to do a few more of these resorts that feed that like good you, where you can walk right into the park, right? Like there's just, it's, they've, they've done a ah couple of them, but it's not, it's not really as many. And I think it would be nice to have, I think you, you really, uh, like pump up that park when you do something like that. Right. And I, I think they could do it at Epcot.
00:35:34
Speaker
I think they, uh, I, I, Listen, I'm all for more at um at at Animal Kingdom, but ah it would be interesting to have another. You remember a while ago we were talking about a rumor of like a wasn't like a volcano theme resort or like a Moana theme resort that was going to be yeah right next to Magic Kingdom where you were going to be able to like walk right into the park. Wasn't there like a heavy rumor about that?
00:35:56
Speaker
If I remember correctly, that would be cool. Yeah, it would be. Yeah, that was last year sometime. Yeah. Yeah. yeah I mean, but yeah, that's probably, i mean, I think they're going to keep building a ma around Magic Kingdom because that's, you know, where the a lot of the demand lies. But I mean, yeah, I don't know.
00:36:12
Speaker
a Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom, though? That would be kind of cool. I mean, yeah, it would be kind of cool. Yeah. So I don't know, Trevor, if you have thoughts on this, but... um Okay, so i'm I'm actually looking at positioning right now.
00:36:25
Speaker
You're actually looking at like a map it's instead of just like... um i I'm looking at the map because logistically, um you know, just saying it would be nice to be near these places is one thing. But um so the Epcot entrance, I'm there with you, Damon. that That's again, that that's the obvious.
00:36:40
Speaker
Like there should be one there. um The next one. So if we were going to talk about connecting a water park, I actually think there's space between Blizzard Beach and the. um hollywood studios that you could actually have a connector where you where you have at like you have ah something where it has access to blizzard beach or it's like like a you know walking path or something and then this is gonna sound unhinged but a tunnel under world drive connecting into um and into uh star wars land
00:37:16
Speaker
oh okay okay because that's tattooing like a tattooing connect so it gets the beach access like you go from blizzard beach yeah very tattooing yeah yeah so so so so that's that's actually how they should have done the uh the star wars hotel yeah but um so so that would be the second one and then the third one i agree with you that there should be something in um animal kingdom but um Wilderness or sorry, yeah Animal Kingdom Lodge is um like on the same side as as Pandora.
00:37:50
Speaker
yeah I think the other one should be on the opposite side, like going towards where um Everest slash um the new America or the the tropical Americanas.
00:38:01
Speaker
And I think it should actually be like like cocoa themed hotel. No, I'm a cat. Oh, that's what I am. Sorry. That's what I meant. yeah yeah i That would be pretty cool. you can use That how to be yeah would be obvious. like like you know just The whole thing is is the the Casa Madrigal and you do an entire hotel like that.
00:38:20
Speaker
yeah what people Those would be nothing my takes on that. yeah yeah I like that question. As as a comeback question, like that was solid. That's a good one. I was very strongly um actually like Phil's question too because I've always wondered this. but We'll save this for the next episode.
00:38:35
Speaker
ah at first I've always I've always wait we talk about water parks first because yeah yeah so let's do our ad and then we'll talk water parks and then we'll talk about luggage and Disneyland stuff how's that sound sounds perfect work why we do this every time just record this man I don't know I think we're at that point now no okay yeah you think we can record it we can we can figure this out okay so make it special Trevor Oh, make it special.
Water Parks: Disney vs Universal
00:39:03
Speaker
That's a lot of pressure. it's lot fresh Oh, making me think on the spot. but No, okay. No, I'm just doing this and however it turns out, I'm sorry. I'll ad lib for you.
00:39:14
Speaker
this This week our sponsor is DVC Rental Store. DVC Rental Store is a world of DVC company that offers magical vacations at incredible value. Save up to 60% off retail rates at this premium Disney resorts.
00:39:27
Speaker
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00:39:41
Speaker
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00:39:52
Speaker
Or use the dropdown. Use the dropdown. Yeah. See, like, see, that's why it's, it's fun to do that. I do that though. Yeah. I mean, listen, we, it's funny. Cause somebody actually reached out to us or, or mentioned to us one time, they thought that all the ads were pre-recorded. And I was like, no, we do all this like my like every time it's different, you know?
00:40:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. all right but water parks are open in yeah so but water parks this is like this is a long time yes very long i really wish that there was like a new ride though because of it to be honest yeah yeah so so since the first time since 2019 starting on may 21st both water parks are going to be open at the same time uh this is of course right after trevor and i are there like what a week yep You don't like water parks. I like water parks. Somebody doesn't like water parks. My wife doesn't like water parks. yeah so In fact, we we talked over doing the the free water park thing on the first day that we're there, and she's like, let's get a ticket.
00:40:48
Speaker
and let's Let's go to Epcot. She's like, I prefer not to. Don't worry. My daughter's going to get in there and be into it for 10 minutes and then be like, all I don't want do this anymore. Then you just leave.
00:41:02
Speaker
i know, but then we don't have a ticket to go anywhere else. I think that's you know well but You can go get it. like it's You could just walk up and get a ticket if you really needed to. That's that's what I'm saying. We could do that. But yeah, so this is the first time since 2019 that we've had both parks open at the same time. love it.
00:41:19
Speaker
i mean like but in this time in this five you know six year time period you know, it's been one parks open, one parks closed, you know, basically back and forth. Right.
00:41:29
Speaker
And so now we're going to have all of them, which is, which is great. I mean, I think it's good that they're doing this. I don't know why they didn't do it before. I don't know if they were just trying to save some money or if they i don't know needed to do refurbishment work. I know they were doing a lot of refurbishment stuff, but I think a blizzard beach, right. It needed a little touch up. Yeah.
00:41:45
Speaker
I mean, i mean, that that probably is a lot of it is that they knew that they, you know, the the the water parks are pretty old at this point. Like like they're pushing 30 years, right? They are. Yeah.
00:41:56
Speaker
So, yeah, you know, they need touch up and they probably took this opportunity to say, you know, hey, you know, coming out of covid, people were not, you know, they weren't getting the numbers that they were before. So, you know, alternating them back and forth definitely worked.
00:42:12
Speaker
But yeah, you know, you know, I agree with you, Damon, that it feels like they could have spent the time putting something new in. But um I mean, maybe is just an interesting doing.
00:42:24
Speaker
Yeah, maybe maybe they will plan to put back a third water park again. Oh my God. Maybe that's. so Think about that for. Yeah. yeah more Because the thing is, is that, that upgrading the current parks is fine, but you're competing with volcano Bay at this. Yeah. And everyone loves volcano Bay. I have not been, and it's like been such a major disappointment in my life because I haven't. I'm going, I'm going to volcano Bay in May and I'm so excited. Like it just, it looks so good.
00:42:52
Speaker
and it definitely does And yeah, needs to step it up. But the thing is, though, it's like, what kind of more water rides can you even make at this point? That's true, yeah. Have you seen some of the ones they have over in Europe? They've got some crazy water slides that we don't have here. I just don't feel they would happen here, though.
00:43:09
Speaker
but like There's stand-up water slides. d like I want to do a stand-up water slide. Those look awesome. to To go back to what you're saying, though, Trevor, like I think this is kind of where Disney's you know fall it in a way falling behind Universal because Universal's building brand new stuff that they didn't have before.
00:43:24
Speaker
Disney did this stuff like 20 years ago, and they just still have that stuff. You know what I mean? Like, and they did it first, and from being first, they are ending up, you know, having the old thing instead of the new shiny thing, right? Like, they can tear it all down and start over if they want to, but, you know, they i they obviously don't see an incentive to do so, right That's all I'm saying.
00:43:45
Speaker
It's different. you know You're right. i mean It's like he's playing Darth Vader today, Trevor. You just have to let him just hate it up all day. and that but No, but yeah you're right you know They are resting on their laurels. Absolutely. no but it's not even that. It's just they did it for they did it a long time ago. right so like it's they They've had these water parks. like Why are they going to tear down and build a brand new water park to compete with Volcano Bay? They're not.
00:44:05
Speaker
universe They're not going to tear down. no no They don't need to tear down. That's the thing. I know. But that's my point, though. like is Universal didn't have the water park, and then they built a water park, and you know they built it to current standards and technology and all that stuff. And so, yeah, it's it's nicer, right? he's like you know Otherwise, you know Disney would have to tear down one of the parks and start over again, or build a third one, like you're saying, to to compete with that, because the ones they built They create a new ride in the water park?
00:44:33
Speaker
but they No, they could. I'm just saying like the general... name know They have. i mean, it's not like they have it. yeah But again, that was nothing like different. it wasn't it wasn't a new ride system or a new water slide. It was taking a minute. not a bad ride, though. but yeah Listen, Blizzard Beach is 30 years old, and Volcano Bay is what?
00:44:54
Speaker
Five or six years old? Tom, what we're saying is they built a new ride, and it still wasn't anything new. They had the opportunity to make it new, and they didn't. They just made it old. No, no, I'm not disagreeing with that. i might my That is not my point at all. They can obviously add new rides, right? like and they And they could, but I don't think they want to.
00:45:13
Speaker
Yeah. So anyway, my point is just that it's not new. If they're going to tear down rides and build new ones, yeah, sure, they'll have new rides. They did build a new ride. That's the whole point, though. They did build a new ride, and they didn't make it anything advanced. They just sat on their laurels and made it what it was.
00:45:29
Speaker
yeah that's pointss us to they They built two rides in Typhoon Libido. Yeah, what was the other one again? Yeah, that there's the one that has the electronic in it.
00:45:40
Speaker
it's It's the water coaster one. so Yeah, the water coaster. Yeah, so that is new. i mean but well But it was, when again, like when it came out, that was new. like Yeah. whether they're all um as yeah the yeah The problem is is that they they haven't done anything else new with it since then. and there Like I said, there is lots of stuff. If anything, um Blizzard Beach is sorely in need of something new.
00:46:06
Speaker
some like yeah like but They've never put a new... ride into blizzard beach that i can now i think the thing though though with blizzard beach that's kind of nice is and i think that as like you kind of get safer and safer less and less stuff can be done like i'd like the rides at blizzard beach right the only thing that that really disappoints me and i know was such a money sink was the snorkeling i just wish that yeah that back that was so cool but i like the snorkeling was fantastic yeah Yeah, listen, I'm... You say I'm being the Darth Vader here. He's Darth Vader today, man. He is definitely the guy. No, no, I'm really not. I'm just saying that there's a difference here, right? Like, Disney built four parks and hasn't built a new one in 25 years, and Universal's just building up to the same point now.
00:46:49
Speaker
You know what I mean? It doesn't matter because they're building new rides. Yeah, they are. Yeah. it's Well, so is Disney, though. they They're building new things. No, no, no. What I'm saying, Disney's building new rides. Yeah, they all are. Yeah, obviously.
00:46:59
Speaker
I think it's going to be an arms race, you know, like now, because it's obviously Universal is investing in the parks a lot more than Disney is going to be investing in parks a lot more. And it's it's going to be better for all think going to be a seesaw more than anything. I don't necessarily see an arm. Well, I mean, I guess an arms race can kind of seesaw as well. Yeah, yeah I think it's going to be a seesaw. I think Universal.
00:47:15
Speaker
And again, it's it's depending on what age you're asking, because the thing is, Younger age kids are still going to Disney. like Disney still has that in their pocket. They still have the IP. That's the other thing, too. They still have very strong IP.
00:47:27
Speaker
And they always will. yeah all All ages means you're you're always going have kids there. You're always gonna have adults there. and And I think that's the thing people forget is that all ages doesn't mean just for kids. yeah like there There is things there for kids and adults, but...
00:47:42
Speaker
the that does have a limit because of the fact that it is all ages. yeah Whereas Universal, they're not targeting kids. They're targeting... and have stuff but you have kids to go, right? But that's not their main... It's not their main focus.
00:47:58
Speaker
They're not doing princesses and cartoon characters. I'm going to ride the i am goingnna ride the ah the Popeye... Oh, on a ride. Yeah. I don't think, I don't think you get wetter on any ride than that one. Like that one, like yeah I'm looking forward it though.
00:48:12
Speaker
Yeah. You can ruin your day though. Just so you know, like the squishy feet is not fun. I mean, if I'm prepared for it. Okay. long you're prepared for If you have the right shoes, you're good. And, and I mean, listen, it I don't mind being soaking wet in 95 degree weather. I feel like it feels kind of squishy. It's just feels like she is a problem. Yes.
00:48:32
Speaker
It feels like fungus in your feet is coming. Like it's just unavoidable. and night listen I agree with you. I think if you have the right shoes though, you're good. My shoe situation is, is ready for that because I yeah i was to say, I do plan for, i have been caught in one of those monsoon rainstorms where,
00:48:53
Speaker
There's no dry land to walk on. so So what are you talking about shoe wise? You're talking about like a croc sort of shoe or no, no, no. I've got, I've got, I've got proper like running shoes, but um they're very well vented. And i actually have so you have socks in your back pocket in a Ziploc. Is that what you're going for? yes That's actually, yeah. not a bad idea yeah okay It does work. i have Here's the question. Do you just throw away the wet socks then? Cause I think that's what I would have to do.
00:49:20
Speaker
No, you don't them in the Ziploc. Yeah, and then you dry... and We have dryers back at the hotel. carry around wet socks all day, though. i I'm just asking if that's what you're doing. I mean, they're in a Ziploc bag, and you just get rid of the Ziploc bag when you're done. This is a strange conversation.
00:49:37
Speaker
know this is This is real like park touring stuff that happens. You know originally, but you guys never were on board. I wanted to make socks. I wanted to make Welcome Home socks. I always thought that was our our next level up move. right We never figured out where to find like i could that's contractors.
00:49:56
Speaker
Like you'd have to get them done overseas, but I feel like we could have made socks. That would have been perfect for like maybe but we could had some edge transitioning from a water ride to walking. We have your socks. What do we do? Water socks.
00:50:08
Speaker
You do water socks. Yeah. All right. You've gone so far off. This is good though. This is back to what it used to be, what it should be. Yeah. Ah, this needs to be shorter.
00:50:19
Speaker
This is us. Like we do need to talk about how we, we do like traveling at the parks and stuff because people, I assume want to hear this, right? You know, i we all have our tactics and stuff. so I like the randomness of it even though i I'm the one that writes the rundown. like I don't really care that much about the rundown. If we talk like this and people enjoy it, then I'm gone for it.
00:50:39
Speaker
yeah i think i'm almost slightlyty yeah I would almost like to see the like the the tra transcribed episode ah next to the rundown and like where it matches up. yeah The problem is you guys still got another half an hour of stuff to talk about. Well, lu we're going to cut it back. So yeah well we'll cut it back.
00:50:58
Speaker
ah But yeah, I know what you're saying. By the way, just to go back to the water park thing for one second. I don't think that this is purely Disney wants to have both the water parks open. I think this is ah also a marketing thing.
00:51:14
Speaker
Because it's a free, yeah. Yeah, but also look at the free entry day. well But also, it's like, look at the look at the second paragraph. For the first time since 2019, Disney World will have all six of our parks, right? Ah, there it is.
00:51:28
Speaker
There it is. So what I'm saying is they're going to start counter-programming against Epic by trying to say, like well, we have six parks. You know what I mean? like This is what their their marketing is going to be. I'm telling you. That's why they're that's why they're a part of why they're doing it, I think.
00:51:41
Speaker
but I just think the other thing, too, is, though, that I think they didn't realize how many people would utilize this and make it part of their travel plan rather than just being, right? So they had to do something because the border park was probably mobbed.
00:51:53
Speaker
yeah You know what? you That's a really great point, actually, David. Like, I probably underestimated the the yeah ah the freeness. can never underestimate freeness with people. Never, can never ever, ever.
00:52:04
Speaker
Yeah. Like, people that have never been to a water park in their life and don't care about water parks are like, well, maybe we'll go to the water park. It's free. Oh, wait, it's free. Yeah, I'm there. I absolutely work. Like, water parks are a part of my travel plans.
00:52:15
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, sure. yeah Because they are, I actually consider them a downtime day. Like, even though it's like, but you're out. Yeah, I get it though. They're not as intense. Yeah. But, but it's, it's a good way to spend like a break day because you're still doing like, because you always feel like you have to be like, you know, best utilizing your time when you're on vacation. Yeah. Or when you when you're on a trip specifically, I mean, you know, and vacation should be about relaxing, but if you're on a trip like this,
00:52:44
Speaker
you know, utilizing your time, I feel is important. And I feel the water parks are a good way to feel like you're still doing something, even if it's not, you know, you know, charging through all the parks every day. Yeah.
00:52:56
Speaker
So yeah no will like the but it's more relaxing. it's It's more chill. You're not running from ride to ride. You're not, you know, you can actually get out of the heat, you know? and And there's plenty of us that come from climates that we like the closest water park to me is a three hour drive away And it's it's a water park that's like pushing 40 years old.
00:53:16
Speaker
So it it's not even as good as... i mean, so it's an okay water park. I'm i'm not good. Sorry. West Edmonton Mall, for anyone who knows, it's... It's a decent water park, but it's you know it doesn't work in the winter. or I mean, it's open all year round, but you don't want to go to the water park in the winter around here. So these water parks are far more valuable to people traveling to Orlando than think even Disney realizes. like you know And like you say, know people taking advantage of, hey, you're going to give me a free day at the water park.
00:53:49
Speaker
Yeah, like I'm gonna I'm gonna make use of it if I can like I i if if my flight wasn't coming into Orlando at like 6pm, I would be going to the water park. Like, that's, I just, I just think the timing of this is interesting with epic universe and the fact that it's starting May 21. I mean, come on.
00:54:07
Speaker
Yeah, it's I know that they're playing the kickoff to the summer, but I also think it's a little bit of a marketing gimmick by them, which is fine. Listen, Disney knows there's no amount of things that they're going to do that are going to compete with a brand new amusement park. They're just not going to. It's not going to happen, especially with one that has this much hype. But they're going to do the little things that they can do to keep attention on them.
00:54:31
Speaker
but But that's why they're playing the game, because because yeah Universal kind of started it. where they you know they they said, we have four parks now. Yeah, exactly. So Disney immediately went, well, fine. If we're counting water parks, then we have six parks. Exactly, yeah. They did start it. you're You're totally right about that because they were doing that for a long time.
00:54:50
Speaker
ah Because that you would see people go, oh, well, they've got three parks and Disney has four. And it's like, well, no, we're doing the same math, they have six. And yeah, so i i think it's a little bit of marketing. I also think it's just a little bit of, ah you know to James' point, I also do think it is a little bit of capacity too.
00:55:06
Speaker
so So, Trevor, why don't we just talk? i want to talk about this luggage thing, and then yeah want to talk about the the new key thing that's happening at Disneyland, and then we can save all the other stuff for next episode.
00:55:17
Speaker
Okay, sounds good.
Disney's Luggage Service Revival
00:55:18
Speaker
All right, so, yeah. so All right, so luggage. Yeah. One of those things that died during COVID was, you know, you used to be able to back in back in the day before pre-pandemic days, you used to be able to at your resort drop off your bags if you were taking a flight ah right at the resort and they would transport the bags to the airport for you.
00:55:39
Speaker
What a fantastic service, right? I mean, I never used it because I never knew. Yeah, the other way to have your luggage delivered from the airport to your hotel. so exactly. yeah Even stop at your hotel. If you were you know coming in, you could go right to the parks and then have your luggage waiting for you when you got to the hotel.
00:55:55
Speaker
Exactly. And that went away during COVID along with Magical Express. Although I seem to remember this one went away because the they were using a third party company for this and the third party company went under. But I don't remember if that's the case or not.
00:56:09
Speaker
But anyway, ah so they're bringing it back. They're bringing it back ah and it's starting. ah they They kind of did like a little pilot, like a quiet pilot where they didn't tell anybody about it. They just kind of had someone standing out there and then it was like a word of mouth thing.
00:56:21
Speaker
And now they're expanding this pilot to all value resorts and actually kind of advertising it. Now, it it seems like Trevor. Well, first of all, it's very limited. It's only with Southwest Airlines right now. Yeah.
00:56:33
Speaker
Yeah. So only Southwest. And it seems like it's only one way. Right. It's it's not. They're not ah delivering luggage. Or are they? Wait. No, they theyre they're not delivering luggage from the airport to your hotel room anymore. This is just drop off at your resort. It looks like from what I'm reading. I could be wrong about that.
00:56:49
Speaker
Yeah, I'm i'm looking through this, too. I don't see. Yeah, it doesn't say anything about dropp dropping them off at the at the airport anymore, like with the luggage. had Well, it used to be the luggage tags, right? So you would have the luggage tag. They would pick it up off the carousel for you and take it right to the resort.
00:57:05
Speaker
They're not doing that part. It's more of they're just doing the drop off at the resort. Yeah. So so this is yeah. So it's just the one way thing, which it makes sense that they they wouldn't you know, this is a this is a baby steps thing. And a, um you know, i actually saw somebody comment. I was reading about this in in one of the subreddits or one of the Disney subreddits that said.
00:57:29
Speaker
um You know, somebody was like, well, you know, why are they only doing this for limited um resort or limited to airlines, limited resorts? like Like, it seems stupid that that it's so limited. And um the somebody else pointed out and I agree with this, that, you know, like you said, they haven't done anything like this since before covid. Yeah. yeah so So saying, well, just start up this this service again or start up what you're doing again.
00:57:54
Speaker
It takes time to build these things up. It takes time to like like, even if it's something that you've done previously, if you shut it off for, you know, even six months or a year, if you turn it back on, you're going to find that things don't quite work the way that they used to, or there's something logistically that changed you you know You know, there's there's you know hundreds of different reasons why this may or may not work the way that they think it's going to work, which, again, like you said, is why they're they started with a small pilot and they're kind of gradually expanding it out. But the fact that they're even entertaining it and the fact that they're doing it
00:58:28
Speaker
Um, you know, and we all, we're all looking at the implications of this and you, you mentioned it already is, you know, Hey, does this mean that we could start seeing things like the magical express coming back as well too?
00:58:41
Speaker
Like, like, you know, is this, them actually starting to open back up again to, you know, there's enough people coming back to the parks. There's enough, you know, stuff going on that they want to restart some of these services that they had before that, you know, effectively we're part of the Disney bubble.
00:58:57
Speaker
Right. Yes, absolutely. So, yeah you know, the fact that it's only one way and only affects one airline is it's unfortunate. But but I'll be honest, like, you know, the the the luggage thing for me, um we used it once and I never used it again after that because i actually found it was more inconvenient than just taking my luggage with me because um we did it. And then um Or again, just because of the timing of when we travel, um when we land, it's always the evening when we when we get to Orlando.
00:59:29
Speaker
we were waiting We ended up waiting until like 9 or 10 o'clock to get our luggage, which, you know, we got to our hotel room and it was like we were kind of sitting around like, you know, we we couldn't go to the – or at the time, we could have gone to the parks, but we didn't because our son was younger at the time.
00:59:45
Speaker
um So we we found that the luggage service was not as useful. that' That's not to say that it's not useful to everybody. like like you know I know there's lots of use cases for it, but you know I'm glad that at least Disney is trying this out again. And they're like you said, you know they it sounds like they found some third party. maybe they're all Maybe they're dealing with Southwest directly on it. That's what I'm wondering if that's why it's only Southwest. Maybe Southwest is paying for this.
01:00:12
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And that that could be it is, yeah, maybe maybe this is going to be just a special deal they with Southwest. But I guess if it becomes popular enough or if they're if they see enough um return from it, because because the weird thing about is, you know, it's something that they're paying for that.
01:00:29
Speaker
it It doesn't have any immediate like, you know, people are not throwing the money because of it or or not directly throwing the money. But but I guess that they see an uptick in, you know, hey, people are staying at the value resorts and they're making use of this program. Yeah.
01:00:46
Speaker
you know that That may prompt them to say, okay, now we're going to expand out or we'll start partnering with other airlines or you know maybe, again, Disney will just find another company to to do this with.
01:00:56
Speaker
I don't know. but it's Yeah. yeah it's It's always hard, I'm sure, because I know, i mean, just if you if anybody listening to this works in the corporate world, it's always hard to do a thing where it's like,
01:01:09
Speaker
yeah, this is a benefit we're going to give. It's not going to generate us any revenue whatsoever. In fact, it's going to cost us a lot of money, but we're going to do it anyway. You know what I mean? It costs money on the surface, but there's return that comes back customer satisfaction.
01:01:22
Speaker
customer satisfaction Right. Absolutely. And i I totally agree with that. It's funny, though, because if you want, i just to go back to that defuncting video about FastPass, they actually, ah well, actually, wait, was it that one? There was one about magic bands where they're talking about the magic bands and how when magic bands were first invented, like it was going to cost Disney a billion dollars. And at that point, there was no real...
01:01:44
Speaker
tangible benefit to it as far as you know revenue goes. right like they i mean At the time, remember, they used to give them away for free. it was ah you know They gave the gave you free Magic Bands, and it was you know but they didn't know if that was going to lead to people buying more of the parks. They didn't know if that was going to lead to... you know I'm sure they didn't envision at the time selling special designs of ones because obviously that's become a revenue stream. But the the video talked a lot about this where it was like when they first came up with this, it was like, here's the thing they're spending a billion dollars on that nobody knows if it will ever or make ever make its money back.
01:02:16
Speaker
You know, not obviously this is not going to cost them a billion dollars. So, But this is a smaller thing. But I understand sometimes why like some of these services are are hard to to get back. you know But i I do think that maybe they might shift back to this. Maybe they might bring back a Magical Express. I mean, it wouldn't be that hard for them to do, honestly.
01:02:34
Speaker
They had it before. the same partner that they used last time, Mirrors, still exists. I mean, they could just contract with them again and get it back, back up again. I mean, it's, it's certainly possible.
01:02:45
Speaker
So, I mean, i don't know. I do wonder though, if that's the next step, the one thing I want, forget all this. I want them, I want them to bring back, uh, sending merchandise back to your hotel. That's what I really do. Do that again.
01:02:57
Speaker
Please bring that one back. And that one died. I was sad. That was the best service. We use that so much. We use it all the time. Like every day. Because, you know, we we found stuff all the time that, you know, we were buying in the parks that it was like, I don't want to carry this around. Like, you know, my, my kid wanted like a sword from Pirates of the Caribbean. It's like, I don't want to carry this around the park. And, and, yeah and,
01:03:20
Speaker
you know having to be dealing with this on every ride. So you know we sent it back to the room. You think you there's a tangible benefit to that, right? Because like you said, there how many times have you gone to buy something? You're like, I don't want to carry this around all day, right? like That service like made it so like you know that excuse isn't there anymore. like It takes down a barrier to buying. you know it's like it's You would think that they would jump on that, but I don't know. Maybe there were...
01:03:44
Speaker
Again, we we don't really know anything that goes on behind the scenes. you know You don't know how difficult that was operationally for them to do. Maybe it was a huge problem. I don't know. it seems like it probably was challenging. but you know I think it's a matter of they... I don't know if they have the people right now to do it. Because it seems like they're they're running on less people than they were previously. Sure. But...
01:04:05
Speaker
But i think I think it's a result of that. is you know if they If they justified having more cast members, then you know they can they can have more people to do this kind of work.
01:04:16
Speaker
But I think that also comes from, too, the hard part is is that we all remember this stuff from you know five or ten years ago. yeah As time goes on, though, the people coming to the parks, you eventually hit a point where there's people that go to the parks that have no idea that this stuff existed.
01:04:32
Speaker
True. That's true. And... And if, you know, and to them, you know, they don't know what they don't know what better looks like. Right. Like it's sure it's a matter of, you know, not knowing what you're missing out on because you never experienced it. So, yeah. So, yeah, that's the hard part, too, is, you you know, kind of getting people to real like it's it's as much on.
01:04:54
Speaker
the consumers and the people going to Disney, you know, saying to Disney, Hey, we want these things to come back. But if nobody's saying that, because I guess we don't know what people are saying when they're giving feedback, but you know, if you're not saying, you know, Hey, we, we want these things back. You know, I would spend more money if you did X, I would, you know, I would stay here if you did this thing. Um, if people aren't saying that, or they're just not giving Disney the feedback, Disney's not going to out, go out of their way to investigate it either.
01:05:22
Speaker
Right. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, I agree with that. I agree. So we'll see what happens. I mean, you know listen, they might. we i mean, Iger said this before, and ah we've we've seen this in practice.
01:05:36
Speaker
Disney likes to space out their announcements purposely to keep conversation going. So you know if they're going to bring Magical Express back, you know they're going to do this. And then maybe Magical Express they talk about in a couple of months or announce something.
01:05:49
Speaker
Other things, I'm still amazed that we don't know what Test Track is going to look like, ah that they haven't said anything more about that. And that's like a couple months away. ah But, you know, I don't know. it's It's interesting how they how they release this stuff, you know?
01:06:03
Speaker
So the last thing I want to talk about, Trevor, unless there's anything else you want to talk about with the the luggage service. No, because i won't be using it. So, yeah. All right. Fair enough.
01:06:15
Speaker
I thought this was kind of cool. And i you know I don't know what the conversation in the Discord was around this, if it was positive or
Disneyland's 70th Anniversary Interactive Game
01:06:21
Speaker
negative. But ah one of the things they're doing for the 70th celebration over at at Disneyland is they're doing this thing where they can.
01:06:29
Speaker
It was called Key to Disneyland. Yeah. where you buy this, ah you know, fairly large lit up key. ah That looks kind of like the keys that they used to open the Disney stores back, you you know, when those were still, remember that?
01:06:43
Speaker
Yeah. And they would give it, you could even buy a small version of key, but it's like, it's, it's like a big key and it's got lights all over it. And what this is get, what you're going to do is you go to all the different lands and then ah it says, ah you what do you do? you like put the key up to these lock stations?
01:06:59
Speaker
And then so looks like you put it in a key. like or or so yeah, there's like a lock and you put the key in. And um from what I can tell, the key, has it looks like it has a bunch of different LEDs inside of it that light up when you visit the different stations. So, yeah, the more you visit, more the key lights up and lights.
01:07:19
Speaker
Well, the other part of this, though, too, and this is actually really cool, I think. Once you go to all nine lands and i unlock all of them, the key actually opens up a hidden compartment, which has a keepsake pin inside.
01:07:32
Speaker
which I think that's actually kind of cool. ah Okay. So, so each key has a a random pin. Oh man. It says one of nine though. So like I guess there's, there's nine hidden compartments. So I guess there's, you get nine keys somehow. I don't know how you get all nine.
01:07:48
Speaker
Is it every, each land you get a, so, or is it after you do all nine lands, you get one, whereas yeah each land you get one. Yeah, I don't know. No, I think it i the way they they make it sound, it sounds like you get one of nine pins. And if you wanted to get all of the pins, you would have to buy this key at least nine times or do this activity at least nine times.
01:08:13
Speaker
okay I'm wondering, yeah, the the thing about that is that you know the pin traders are going to go nuts over this. Of course they are, yeah. and yeah yeah think it's cool I think it's cool, though. I think it's fun. It reminds me of...
01:08:28
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it's a neat idea. And, it you know, definitely brings back, I said on the Discord, you know this reminds me of, like, Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. Yes. Where, you know, it's an interactive thing where you go around the park and whatnot.
01:08:39
Speaker
um The things that detract from it is, one, it's a big, like, it's a big clunky key. This thing's bigger than a popcorn bucket, which... It's big, yeah. um You know, that's that's a bit of a turn-off to me, but...
01:08:51
Speaker
i wouldn't be though yeah I wouldn't be running around with this. and It doesn't even look like the Keyblade from Kingdom's Heart. like Anyone that's played Kingdom's Heart. and Yeah.
01:09:02
Speaker
Like it's big enough to be a key blade, but it's not a key blade. Um, I mean, it's not, this is obviously for kids. I mean, yeah, you know, for sure. But, but then also the, the pin collecting part, I feel like that, that actually makes it worse because you're right. It is meant for kids, but there's going to be that subsection of people that, um, are going to become strangely obsessed with this.
01:09:27
Speaker
And just, yeah, you know, i just yeah yeah you know It's cool that they're doing an interactive thing and it's cool that, yeah you know, this in this by itself, I feel would have been a fun thing.
01:09:39
Speaker
Putting the pin on the, on the end, it's an incentive, but I feel, unfortunately, it's going to ruin some of the fun and excitement behind it. yeah Maybe. when Especially if your kid gets ah ah one of the rare pins or whatever, you got some... I don't know if you've ever dealt with some of the the pin traders in the parks. I have.
01:09:58
Speaker
Yeah. the yeah you know they They can be overly aggressive and... you know People take their pins very seriously. They really but And it feels like, you know, i'm I'm looking at this picture of, you know, this little girl. I can imagine her getting a pin and some guy being like...
01:10:13
Speaker
you know I'll trade your three pins for that, but they're all aftermarket you know the the the defect pins that and people try and trade. like it Sorry, it just it's a cool idea and I hope it works out, but I also see where the potential for it to fail is because It's just one of those things that I don't know. like like that This feels like a weird intersection of like Somebody's trying to do the good things that you know make Disney feel better, but they're incorporating all the things that don't make it feel better.
01:10:54
Speaker
I don't know, man. They had me. You know what I mean? like i'm i'm not I'm not trying to... like you see You seem like you have an issue with pin traders. i I have an issue with people that are too overzealous about pin trading. I i do.
01:11:08
Speaker
I do enjoy pin trading and I did enjoy pin trading. What turns me off is the people who treat it like a part-time job or a full-time job. Like that's yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, I get that. i Listen, i this thing had me as soon as I read ah that that yeah a a hidden compartment will open up and revealing a pin.
01:11:27
Speaker
I don't know. That's just I love that kind of stuff like that you can go and do all that. Also, it saves your progress, too, which is kind of cool. um But it's just like a neat little quest. like I can see my daughter getting really into this. And then like you know I can just see her face with ah when a hidden compartment opens and gives her a pin.
01:11:44
Speaker
like I totally feel like she'd freak out. Yeah. So here's a question. What happens if you don't get to all of the key stations and your key is done and you, and but you shake it and you can hear the thing rattling around. Are you, are you busting this key when you get a hammer?
01:11:59
Speaker
You get a hammer. Yeah. Listen, it's made out of plastic. I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. It looks plastic. I'm sure. I'm sure a good swing against something would but crack it open.
01:12:11
Speaker
Yeah, probably. listen say i this is I think this is a cool thing. I like it. i I think it'd be fun for kids to do this. And, you know, it's it's it's a neat little interactive thing. so Yeah, absolutely. i just I agree. I just hope nobody ruins it.
01:12:26
Speaker
ah yeah Yeah, no, I get that. i understand that. Yeah. right, let's wrap up because we've already broken our promise of one week of doing shorter shows. Remember that when I said that a week ago that we're going to shorter shows? Whatever.
01:12:36
Speaker
yeah Whatever. It's fine. Yeah. We're going to try to do shorter shows. I guess I i never... We will. yeah But, I mean, to be fair, this is also the first week after the 300th. Yeah. you know Because we didn't... Like, last week was not a proper show either, so...
01:12:50
Speaker
I do have to say, Trevor, I'm really pumped for our food time shows. um So i i I said this on the Discord, and I don't know if I said this on the episode last week. I don't remember or not. But we are breaking up food time into its own show. I think I did say that last week. And it's going to be on Thursdays is when we're going put it out. If there's food. Now, this week, there's not food.
01:13:09
Speaker
But you know next week, there might be. But this is going to be the first one that we're doing on video. So this will be a video podcast. I will promise all of our audio listeners that we will still describe things in detail, even though we are on video and we will be showing the pictures.
01:13:24
Speaker
um But we do want to try some some video stuff with this. So we're going to do that. um You know, of course, that'll be out there like ah anywhere where you can watch video podcasts. You know YouTube is the... the main one. um But we are going to try something a little bit different with doing food time. And, and, and like I said, we will, I know there's a concern. We talked, you know, a lot of people in the discord were like, well, I hate when there's video podcasts and then they don't describe things that are happening, you know, for the audio listeners.
01:13:49
Speaker
And I get that because I don't watch any video podcasts and even the ones that are video I listen to on just audio. So like, I feel, I feel that criticism and we will take that to heart and be sure to describe everything a lot, but I am very excited. I'm sure you saw the logo I made Trevor.
01:14:04
Speaker
I'm, I'm pumped for this. It's going to be fun. ah so Yeah. I, I think it'll be great too. And I'm, I'm excited to try something different because. Yeah, we we haven't we've never done a regular like yeah video podcast before. So, yeah, it should be interesting.
01:14:20
Speaker
I think food time is perfect for it, too, because just being able to show the pictures of the food that we're talking about, I feel like it's just is is key to all this. So it gives better context for sure. Agreed.
Upcoming 'Food Time' Video Segment
01:14:30
Speaker
and And like i said, we'll still describe everything.
01:14:32
Speaker
And also, we want to hear from you on this one, too. Right. So like, you know, one of the things we've heard, it's like, well, you're not actually eating the food. Well, if you have eaten the food that we talked about, email us with your review of it. We'll talk about it. You know, like we want to hear all that stuff.
01:14:43
Speaker
So, um yeah. So anyway, I just wanted to put to throw that out there. So everybody no knew we're not going to have one this week, but we will soon. As soon as there's food, you'll start seeing them soon. Yes.
01:14:54
Speaker
And we'll let everybody know. Maybe we'll also plan. We we are going to have an actually, we should start planning for this is that there's going to be a week where you and I are two weeks, two weeks where where we're going to have to do something.
01:15:07
Speaker
Because we're both going to be out of town. Yeah. So in that's very soon here too. Yeah. My cruise is, I just checked into my cruise. You're like a month out. Yeah. We're, we're literally, well, we're yeah. A month out, like you said.
01:15:21
Speaker
So yeah, cause I leave for my cruise a month from my Saturday. So, I'm a month and four days out from my trip. I need to start packing. Oh my gosh.
01:15:32
Speaker
Yeah. I don't pack that early, but anyway, let's wrap up. I, yeah, I need to buy stuff. So, you well okay. So I do need to do that. i i want to buy some stuff. Yes. Yeah.
01:15:43
Speaker
So, yeah, it's coming. But yeah, like I said, stay stay tuned for hopefully more food time and more more different stuff. we're We're trying stuff because, you know, we're allowed to shake it up.
01:15:54
Speaker
But, you know, in the meantime, if you guys have questions for us, if you you know want to share your own trip reports or anything like that, you can always find us at welcomehomepodcasts at gmail.com.
01:16:05
Speaker
We love hearing from you guys. Also, you can find us on social media. so you can find us on Facebook as Welcome Home Podcast. You can find us on YouTube as Welcome Home Podcast. And you can find us on Instagram as Welcome Home Picks.
01:16:16
Speaker
Make sure you also check out our group on Facebook called Welcome Home Disney Waitlist, where we talk about all the stuff that you hear about on the show and just um general you know general fun Disney stuff, memes, people sharing their own expert trip reports and and all that kind of stuff. So um make sure you check that out. And if you'd like to help support the show, you can go to store.welcomehomepodcast.com. You can check out our merch.
01:16:40
Speaker
If you do buy something, you know you don't send us a pic. We love seeing that you guys are enjoying the merch, you know mugs and It's all the usual stuff, mugs and shirts and all that kind of stuff. um So, you know, you know, check that out.
01:16:52
Speaker
And we mentioned it earlier that, you know, we do have a Patreon and you can go to patreon.com slash welcome home pod and check out our different levels of Patreon support, which have the exclusive Patreon logo that only our Patreon supporters get.
01:17:05
Speaker
um That also gets you access to Discord server. And like Tom said, you know, things like um the... The food time episodes are going to show up on Discord before they show up for everybody else. So, you know, if you want to get you want to get that stuff early, um you know, maybe have a look at Patreon.
01:17:21
Speaker
That's a new Patreon benefit we're going to start doing. You'll get it several days before it gets posted. So that's that's a new one. Yeah. And last but not least, if you're listening on iTunes or Spotify or anywhere where you can leave us reviews or stars, you know leave us a five-star review.
01:17:37
Speaker
um Just you know helps helps us get more visible and get us out there more. And we love hearing what you guys think on iTunes. We love seeing those reviews and what you guys think about the show. Yeah, there was actually a review I wanted to read and I forgot to pull it up.
01:17:52
Speaker
that was from a couple of weeks ago, wasn't it? Because you said you're going to save it for after the 300th. Yeah, I think the 300 threw me off. It did. was a lot of work around it, man. Yeah. And I mean, that was an eternity ago. Episode 300 was forever ago. That felt like it was three weeks ago, but it was last week. It feels like it was so long ago. I don't know why.
01:18:11
Speaker
um Yeah, i it's I get it. ah So anyway, yeah, it's... it's ah I forget which one I even read or was going to read. the ah somebody Somebody did give us a five-star review and asked for more DVC stuff. So we are going to do more DVC stuff.
01:18:31
Speaker
And we we are going to try to do even more that. but and And also, like we said, we're going to cut out like... ah cut out like all the video games and movie stuff for the most part. We're really going to focus more on DVC and also on the park. So anyway, ah but if you want to leave us a review, please do that. And also don't forget to subscribe to welcome home podcast. So you can be reminded every time we release an 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 a reminder to our listeners. Welcome Welcome home podcast is rent entertainment only. We are not employed by the Walt Disney company. And as such, all opinions we express on the show our own.
01:19:07
Speaker
So please consult a ah DVC cast member or Disney you know cast member for more information about anything we talked about today because we really don't know anything. We just like to read the news and talk about it. So big thank you to our sponsor of this episode, DVC Rental Store.
01:19:21
Speaker
ah They're a great company to work with. If you want to rent DVC points, give ah DVC a try out before you buy it. a Great way to do it. So join us next time for more Disney Parks discussion. Of course, more DVC talk. We hope to see you all real soon.
01:19:34
Speaker
this is Skipper Albert Wall, the voice of the jungle, signing off from Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.
01:19:51
Speaker
I looked around from pole to pole, found her in a sugar bowl. Look out, there comes my ball and change.