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Episode 266: New DVC Lounge, D23 Parks Announcements & Little Mermaid Show
1.2k Plays6 months ago
On This Episode
DVC gives a look at the new pool coming to the Island Tower. A new DVC lounge has been confirmed for Magic Kingdom. During a recent media event, Chairperson of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Josh D’Amaro mentioned that D23 will have parks announcements outside of Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. The guys speculate on what those announcements could be. CommuniCore Hall and CommuniCore Plaza open at EPCOT, marking the end of EPCOT’s transformation. The new version of Country Bear Musical Jamboree has an opening date. Disney gave a preview of the new Little Mermaid show coming to Hollywood Studios.
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:09
Speaker
This is Skipper Albert A. Wall, the voice of the jungle, broadcasting on the DVC to all points unknown. If you're within the sound of my voice, you're listening to Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.
00:00:31
Speaker
Hello and welcome home. This episode of Welcome Home is brought to you by DVC Resale Market. Thank you for joining us on episode 266 of Welcome Home at Disney Parks and Vacation Club Podcast. I'm Tom, here with Trevor. Hey. No Damon this week. Damon's ah busy preparing for his own vacation. Yeah, he he is in vacation packing mode, which, ah I get that.
Packing Strategies and Challenges
00:00:52
Speaker
I don't like packing for vacation. I don't know about you. i I don't I don't know. Maybe it's like a travel like anxiety kind of thing where it's like, I've never left the house for vacation thinking that I have everything that I'm supposed to have. you know i mean but Yeah, I mean, for me, it the way that I alleviate that is and and my wife, my wife hates that I do this is that I start packing like a month ahead of time. And and it's not like, I don't have like all the clothes and everything packed, but it's like,
00:01:23
Speaker
I will checklist everything and I will like make sure that we have all the things that we can pack packed. And then the week before, it's the like it's funny because I do that to to make myself you know less stressed. But then, yeah, the week before, I'm still stressed for exactly the same reason is that you know you're getting everything packed and then it's like, oh, did I remember this? did i like Yeah, you just can't. It's hard because you can't, um or well, at at least for me, it's like if I forget something, it's I know that there's places nearby I could probably find it, but it's way harder for me to find equivalent things to for that I need. Because in Canada, like we have a lot of the same things, but they're either they're under different brands or
00:02:11
Speaker
it's not like it's similar but not quite the same similar but not the same yeah oh yeah yeah i i get packing is stressful and especially like like damon's doing a cruise which is even i i can't even fathom actually packing for a cruise the thing about that is that you're like like i said you know if i go to disney it's like oh you know i miss something like yeah i can i can take a an uber over to walmart Yeah, you can't do that on the cruise. ah who You're on a cruise. like there's but I mean, they have stores and stuff. I mean, they have stores and stuff, but it's you know if there's something critical, you forgot that you can't get on like a cruise ship, then yeah, that that's a advantage. It's not always everything exactly that you need, right? like yeah i mean But I guess you don't need everything on a cruise either, right? Yeah. It's it's different.
00:03:04
Speaker
Yeah, no, agreed. I just em bet I just hate pack. I just don't like it. And i I'm also like a really I'm an overpacker. You know, I've always seen these memes where it's like, you know, I'll wait for three days, bring 12 shirts. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. I'll wear yeah i wear the same shorts for four days, break 10 pairs. You know, um that's me, though, like I i like to have op I joke with my wife that I like to have options, right? Because they do. And it's not even like I care about what I'm wearing. I really don't like I'm not the type of person that in any way is trying to impress anybody with my clothing choices. yeah oh But I just like to like know that like if it's you know, maybe it's going to be a rainy day, I have the shorts with me that are, you know, like the fast dry ones that are more like the bathing suit kind of material bathing suit kind of material, you know, like or I want a different color for a certain day or you know, it's
Disney Themed Clothing and Matching Shirts
00:03:59
Speaker
It's that kind of stuff. and And I also bring specific shirts to Disney with me too. Like, you know, I buy Muppet's Haunted Mansion shirt, which is always everybody's favorite. um Well, all the cast, ah literally every time I wear that, I have like every cast member says like, that shirt's amazing. um and And last time actually, I was wearing that I was there, my wife had bought me, my wife decided to do matching shirts. Um, which we've never, we've never done. Oh, I'm sorry. i will live yeah Okay. It wasn't that bad. Okay. okay yeah Two, two people is fine. Okay. So it was with my, my in-laws too, though. So it was with my, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and the kids. Like we were all doing it.
00:04:39
Speaker
Okay, that makes it worse. No, when it's two people, it's like, yeah, that's okay. But when there's like 12 people all wearing the same shirt that gets Yeah, but at the same time, so it was like me and my brother in law had the same shirt. And then my wife and her sister had a similar shirt, right? Or maybe it was the same shirt. And she was like, Oh, well, we can do this on different days. And I'm like, No, I'm not wearing a matching shirt with my brother in law on a random day where the rest of you are not wearing matching shirts. If we're doing matching shirts, we're all doing it. Like I i But they weret see the thing was, they weren't all matching, right? So my match my shirt matched to my brother-in-law, my my wife's s matched to her sister's, and the kids matched, right? so But they were all different things, you know? Okay. So so that that's better in that you're like you're you're matching, but it's like broken up. where And I hope it wasn't like lime green shirts. No. he says we wearing
00:05:32
Speaker
It's a great it's actually it was a gray shirt that has some some X-wings on them and it says pew pew pew pew pew pew all over it. So my wife and I have always made like jokes about the like we've always like you know with the Star Wars sounds like pew pew pew pew you know like that's we we joked about that all the time so that's why my wife bought it for me but I got a surprising amount of commentary for people on that one Like cast members were talking a lot about it. okay So I was envisioning like the like family vacation 2024. No, we didn't do that. Okay. Thank goodness for that. Okay. Yeah. so And you know, if anybody that has done that, you know, that is your choice, you know, if you're listening to this podcast and you're mad because I'm saying this, um, don't be mad because I'm allowed to have my opinion, but those are the worst shirts period. Like, I mean, yeah. Cause the thing is, is, you know, you, you guys were matching shirts, but you still had people commenting on them because there was. The shirt had at least some thought put into it or, you know, it conveyed something other than like, like we're on vacation, right? Yeah. yeah
00:06:44
Speaker
like I feel it like like I get what you're saying is it's like you know I don't care about what I'm wearing either but when I'm at Disney I do I don't know if you do this but I actually think about my shirt selection based on the park that I'm going to like. yeah i I try to avoid wearing like an Epcot themed shirt at Magic Kingdom because it doesn't feel right. right like like you know yeah I get what you're saying. yeah you you try to like like you know like and I know the thing is is like you could wear it and people would be like, oh yeah, you know you know Epcot, you're over there kind of thing. But I feel like it's like you know you kind of try and focus it to the area that you're in.
00:07:24
Speaker
right Well, no to your point, and like i don't I won't wear my muppet my Muppet's haunted mansion shirt outside of Magic Kingdom. like That's amazing. You could wear that to Hollywood Studios, though. I think that's fair. That's true. You're not wrong. It yeah it crosses both, so that's not that's not the worst thing. I know it and people are listening to us going, we're making up all these rules about like, where your shirts now. Yeah, i I sent you the shirt. Or it's I don't think it's the exact shirt, but it's it looks it's similar to this.
00:07:56
Speaker
Oh yeah yeah, I've seen this one before. yeah yeah yeah I like that actually. that's yeah yeah that That's not the worst matching shirt to be wearing. No, you know because like you said, it's not the you know family vacation 2024. What year is it? um yeah no i When my wife said she got matching shirts, that's what I was envisioning, but that's not what it ended up being. so yeah I just had a ah bit of an unhinged ideas. that The next time I go, I want to make a I'm i'm planning to go in like 2025. And I want to make like a family vacation 2027 shirt.
00:08:33
Speaker
Oh, okay. That would be funny because because then people will be like, wait a second. What do you mean? and and And then you can, you know, you know, uh, you can make like a weird conversation about time travel or something. like yeah That to me would be funny and and like meta, but. yeah and'm i'm sure nobody would get it but i i i would do that because to me that would be funny ah yeah no i i've actually seen some people and i think this is actually really cool where they have like on the back of their shirts they have like a like a timeline and it has like each one of their vacations over the years you know
00:09:09
Speaker
and i yeah like ah Like a concert shirt, right? where yeah Yeah, you're like a concert shirt. Yeah. yeah And people have like customized them that way. And I was like, oh, that's pretty cool. like Although if I were to do that, I'm terrible at remembering when I went on vacation. like I don't remember years and you know dates or anything like that. like Google Photos will tell me. Well, that's you know what that's what it is, right? That's what it is. How did we get on this conversation?
Listener Review and Island Tower Pool Discussion
00:09:33
Speaker
yeah Because we were talking we went from packing to t-shirts. It was a fair line of discussion. It wasn't like we went over until like ping pong or something. should Should we read a review and get into our topics for the show here? Let's do it. All right. This review is from somebody who looks like they fell asleep on their keyboard when they were typing out their username. um I don't know what that's supposed to say.
00:10:01
Speaker
Uh, yeah, I'm not going to try and no figure that one out either. No. Uh, I think you should read this one though, because I feel like this is in reference to a thing you said. All right. So, um, uh, yeah, so, so it says great discussions about all things Disney. Um, awesome podcast about all things waffles, Disney. Okay, fine. You got it in there. um honest opinions talking about the positive and negatives. I like how they will tell you you if something is worth it or not. And the rhubarb just flows like good conversation.
00:10:34
Speaker
it's dk she shunned i Like literally, it looks like they just like did a thing where you like, you know, pound on the keys, like, you know, and did some random keys or, or it's, I'm guessing it's probably an amalgamation of of like first and last names because people do that too. So I and and it looks random. So and but yeah, thank thank you for the review. just because so holdll double yeah Let's put that one into AI and see what it does. it' I'm sure I probably struggle with it. I just want to know what a random person that's never listened to the show before is like reading interviews and sees the waffles and rhubarb thing in there and it's like, wait, what? I mean, then maybe you need to listen to the show.
00:11:17
Speaker
There you go. Yeah, maybe that will get people to listen. I don't know. ah let's Let's talk Island Tower, Trevor. I know we're talking about it a lot, but they keep like giving us little pieces, you know? Little pieces. And I'm sure they will all the way up until December when it actually opens. But yes um so far, what or the latest thing is there's new rendering showing the pool. And I mean, the full studio or deluxe studio interior, we've already seen that in a video. So I mean, that's less impressive to me, but I'm kind of I'm more interested in the pool area because I was trying to figure out what um I knew kind of where it was going to sit, but how that's going to look compared to like the main pool at the Poly.
00:12:04
Speaker
Well, it's the standard, I feel like it's the standard DVC resort pool, right? Where it's like nothing fancy. It's it's like it's a standard auxiliary pool is what it is. Yes. It's not even DVC specific. It's that that Disney does their main pools and then there's auxiliary pools because they know that they can't have everybody in one pool. But the secondary pools honestly always look very boring. Yeah, they do. and Yeah. And I mean, like, I'm not that bothered by it, to be totally honest. Like, it's it's fine. Like, even when I was at Saratoga, you know, that's that's the way it is at Saratoga, right? it Is you have like the main pool that's highly themed and then the rest of the pools, which may be themed a little bit or may not have any theme at all. Right. Like, and that's that's just kind of what they do. But this kind of looks like it's it's in that kind of category. Like you said, Trevor, I will say, though, the one thing you do get from this pool is is a nice view.
00:13:01
Speaker
yeah mean the pools out Yeah, the pool's right on the beach there. So that that is definitely one win that the island tower has over even over the other um secondary or that because there is a DVC pool on the other side at the Poly as well. And um the thing is, though, is that that that pool that any view is blocked, there's there's one of the ah the buildings blocking the view going towards Magic Kingdom. This pool has a wide open view of the lake, like you said. So, um you know, for for anyone that's staying there, you know, that's a real easy comeback to the room with the kids. You know, the kids are playing in the pool at night and then the fireworks go off. Like, I mean, yeah how great is that, right? You could watch the fireworks from the pool. I mean, like that's. That's one of the redeeming qualities of this for sure. Like I said, I know it's like the secondary pools are boring and I didn't expect it to be like a fully themed pool. I was hoping maybe they would have, but um yeah, yeah it's it's it's a pretty standard pool, but like you said, it has a very nice view.
00:14:05
Speaker
So it's, I mean, it's not even a little bit themed, which again, it's fine. Like it's, it's what I kind of expected it to be. It looks like the other pool, honestly, like ah just yeah it's just a basic pool. Like, yeah, which is, you know, okay. It's, if you want a fancy pool, you go to the fancy pool. That's how that, yeah I mean, I mean, that's true. I guess they, like, they don't always have to have water slides and whatnot. Um, but yeah, it's. i mean I mean, I guess, yeah, if if you just want somewhere to float for a couple hours, ah that's all I would do with it. Well, I mean, so you know as somebody who goes to my you know the pool in my neighborhood pretty frequently um and is annoyed on a fairly constant basis by rowdy children that are unsupervised,
00:14:55
Speaker
like I feel like the side pools can be kind of nice for those kinds of things because they tend to be a little bit quieter. ah you know Like you said, you kind of like can just go over there and like soak for a little bit. you know It's not like a thing you have to deal with you know getting sprayed in the face with a water gun or getting hit in the head with a football. Two things that have happened to me at my pool. that This sounds very specific. It is very specific because they both happened. Anyway, that's a different conversation though. i see I don't think they even allow like playing with balls and stuff in the pool, or at least I've never, that's actually one thing I've never seen at Disney is like like, you know, kids play in the pool, but I don't think they allow a lot of extra stuff. Like I think that it feels to me like they're cognizant of that, but also I guess the fact that people are on vacation at Disney, they're not bringing like sporting equipment yeah to the the hotel with them, I guess. So maybe that's part of it. Yeah.
00:15:53
Speaker
By the way, I don't know why we didn't cover this. I guess it's my fault, really, because I write the outlines. But DVC News, where we get a lot of our stuff from, and they're a very good, reliable source. They actually broke it down by view type, the expectations for views, which obviously- Yeah, I did read that as well. So it is an estimation. Yeah, it's a guess. It's a guess. So like, you know, they're saying obviously there's going to be theme park view rooms as the ones going to face Magic Kingdom. there And they're saying preferred rooms that'll be like a pool view, maybe. So but we don't know though. um So because you might get like preferred view, you'll probably still get some
00:16:37
Speaker
like view of Magic Kingdom, right? Like, yeah, maybe I wonder if that's maybe like lower floors because I feel like the lower floors just may have things blocking them so then they can't, they don't want to sell it as a theme park view necessarily. That makes sense. Yeah.
New DVC Lounge at Magic Kingdom
00:16:52
Speaker
Yeah. And then they also broke out here what they're estimating the room mix is going to look like, which, again, is interesting because they're saying there's going to be this an estimation, right? And there are 268 total rooms. And basically what they're saying here is two persons, duo studios, 34 deluxe studios, 97, one bedroom is 24, two bedrooms, 17 lock off, two bedrooms, 46 and four of the two bedroom penthouses.
00:17:19
Speaker
Um, it, so it's interesting that they don't have a three bedroom, right? At all. Um, there's no grand villa here, but they have that two bedroom penthouse thing. Um, so, you know, that's that, that exists. I'm assuming cause it's a penthouse is on the top floor, right? Like that's. Oh, it should be. I mean, yeah yeah, I'm assuming you're getting if you're getting the super fancy suite had better be on the top floor. Yeah. So, you know, I just for some reason hadn't seen this article, but I mean, it all makes sense. um They're pretty good at estimating these things. They've done a good a good job with this in the past um because they can actually, ah you know, they can they they do it based on they don't just like guess, you know, they do it just based on like ah the dimensions of the resort and and the filings that Disney does and stuff like that. So yeah.
00:18:06
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, that that's the thing is, ah like you said, it's not just a guest, they're looking at a bunch of information. and And based on the information that they have, they're kind of like, putting Lego blocks together, well, you could fit this many rooms onto a floor of this type. And and yeah, they're they're doing it. that way, which, yeah, I mean, they' they'll probably be pretty close to what what it actually is. ah And I guess ah for some reason, I and I should stop thinking like this is that, you know, when when when the um ah Disneyland Tower opened, there was something like
00:18:43
Speaker
It was 300 suites, but I realized that not all of those suites are um studios. like Like I was thinking like 300 studios for some reason, but when you when you actually break it down, it's like, oh yeah, it actually kind of makes sense that it's like, yeah you know you know, there's like a hundred, you know, a hundred studios, a hundred or not. Yeah. I'm sorry. I can't remember that the breakdowns you gave now, yeah but But yeah, like like it it makes sense how how they're broken out. And um for some reason in my head, I thought that that this was going to like vastly increase the amount of rooms at the Polynesian, but really it's not because there's like there's three other buildings that it's competing with. And I guess maybe it's total doubling the size of it, but
00:19:31
Speaker
It just felt like it was a lot more than what it was, right? Like like yeah like looking at looking at the construction of the building and everything, like the last time we were there, it felt like there was going to be way more people at the Poly, but also looking at the pool and everything too. I don't think it's going to be, I don't think anybody who stays at the Poly now is going to notice too much of a difference. Yeah, absolutely. Well, and that's, you know, that's kind of the case though, like with most resorts, right? Like, cause we look at it and we're like, Oh, there's these giant resorts and, and, and they are big, but then, you know, you're talking to only a couple thousand people are there, right? You know, which is not that many in the grand scheme of the giant Walt Disney works or sword, right? Yeah. yeah when When you're dealing with, you know, 30,000 plus people at magic kingdom. Exactly. Yeah. yeah It's, you know, a few, a few more people at the hotel doesn't make that much of a difference.
00:20:24
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. and And, you know, like with that amount of rooms and, you know, like, I don't know, say like an average of like three people, you're you're talking not that many people, ah you know, are are going to be saying there. It's, you know, it's it's really not that big of a like you said, it looks big, though. It looks like a huge resort, so especially since you can see it from Magic Kingdom, you know. Yeah. But anyway, so you want to talk about the but the big controversial thing now? Let's yeah, let's talk about Magic Kingdom and let's talk about the hot topic of the week, which is they have announced a new Disney Vacation Club lounge in Magic Kingdom, which I believe we actually we did. We talked about this as a rumor a while ago. It is actually happening that as of. So let me make sure I got the date right, because this is coming up in like the next week.
00:21:14
Speaker
Uh, they're closing the, um, frontier land shooting arcade. Yep. And I thought they've wrote a date on here or did I miss it? No, there's a date somewhere. I don't see, it's not on this article, but there's, there's dates out there. I don't have it on this article though. Yeah, so so it's either the 21st or the 24th of June. I can't remember the exact date, but it's coming up in like a week here. Like from when this podcast released, you'll have like maybe a week left to go to the Frontierland shooting arcade, which um it's funny. So so I saw, um so I, you know, i I read some forum comments. I read some Reddit comments on this. And um so so my personal take on this is,
00:22:00
Speaker
You know obviously as a dbc member i'm looking at it as okay great you know we're going to get a lounge and you know as a dbc member. um I you know i will definitely make use of that lounge and you know positioning wise. It's it's a decent place we'll have to see like the only thing i can see is you know for the parade this could end up being like. You know, I feel bad. Yeah, I feel bad for the cast members every day at around like two o'clock when everybody's swarming in there to try and watch the parade from there. But maybe they'll leave it as a closed space and you won't be able to like, if there's no windows looking out towards the parade, then it's just a lounge. and And maybe that will be their intent is that, you know, they don't want it to be like an advantageous.
00:22:45
Speaker
viewing place necessarily. But like I said, you know you know having it as a space to go and relax in the middle of Magic Kingdom, um great as as a DVC member. Now, that some of the comments that I read about this or some people's point of view is that um the Actually, I think the silliest thing I read was that somebody actually said, you know well, that's great for DVC members, but what about annual pass holders? To which I i immediately thought about the fact that you know everyone gets on annual pass holders as being entitled and whatnot. and
00:23:24
Speaker
You know, the thing is, is that they're making it sound like, you know, annual pass holders. It's like, yeah, you bought an annual pass of one year commitment to, to staying here. DVC members, you're like the amount of money that you're You're in it for the long run. You're in it for like 25 plus years, right? Yeah. You're going to have the pass holders matter, you know? Yeah. Well, no, I've been a pass holder too, but it's funny that it's like the perspective on it is just kind of crazy from some people that they think that it's
00:24:06
Speaker
that that you know everybody should be entitled to everything. And the reality is, is that not everything at Disney is for you, right? that's right Like like that that's, I think, a hard pill for a lot of people to swallow is that they go, well, this they're doing this thing and I don't like this thing. It's like, yeah, it's not for you. right yeah Yeah. I'm just i'm just go to i'm i'm excited for the comments on this. Well, I'm being honest here. like You are here. I'm not disagreeing with you. i just For me, you know you know this is cool.
00:24:39
Speaker
I do also see you know there's a lot of nostalgia comments going around on this. speaker because and And I forgot about this, because like in my head, i initially when I thought about this, I was like, well, you know you know it makes sense that the shooting arcades going away. because and i And I'm crossing my wires between Disneyland and Disney World, because the one in Disneyland um I remember having to put quarters in to use it, so it yeah it was yeah like you you had to pay quarters. the What in Disney World, i I forgot about this, even though like we did it a couple of times, was that it's it's free, you don't have to- That was a recent change though, it did cost money previously.
00:25:20
Speaker
True, but yeah but um but that that whole reasoning of, well, you know you had to get coins to use it, um you know you know nobody uses coins anymore. like it it's earn and I shouldn't say nobody, but like the amount of people that are carrying cash to do stuff like this, I can see where it kind of fell off and and especially where people may have had the perception, even if when it went free, that it was still like, oh, we you know it's it's just an ah you know it's like ah any arcade game where you got to drop quarters into it. I can see why the popularity of it fell off. But then you know there's all these people commenting on
00:25:56
Speaker
Well, what, you know, you know, I remember going there with my kids. Yeah, I went with my kids too. But, um, do you go there every time? Like, like I, I would, I would pose the question of if it was, you know, such a great thing, how many times did I walk by there and there was nobody there or there was like one person there using it? Like, I, it's yeah I guess I, I don't see it as, Necessarily a loss, but again because you know for me personally it is I'm getting the benefit of I will have a lounge that I can go to in Magic Kingdom
00:26:34
Speaker
Yeah, well and and no matter what you do, right? like No matter what they take away or replace or whatever, there's always somebody that's going to have some sort of nostalgic memory at that place, right? True. um And i listen, I fully believe that, ah first of all, they did, um and this wasn't in the article I sent, i I think I did see somewhere that it's going to be about 2,500 square feet, right? I think somebody posted that in our Discord is what the the size of it's going to be. Because we had talked a little bit about that, like, well, that's not that big of a space, like you know how big of a space is this going to be? Um, so the reporting is that it's going to be 2,500 square feet, which I mean, you know,
00:27:09
Speaker
Is that going to get uncomfortable quick when you got multiple hot sweaty people? Well, they're going to have limits, right? like They're going to limit it like the the imagination pavilion, right? But it's goingnna be yeah it's going to be challenging. But but imagination pavilion, like there's space that everybody's spread out. yeah like There's not a lot of people in there, but there's like the space between you and the next nearest people is like eight to 10 feet usually. yeah i mean This is only 2,500 square feet. I don't know. How many people are they actually going to let in there? Yeah. Well, yeah, that's that's a good point. I am interested to see. I wanted to try to figure out how big the square footage was at the current Epcot one, right? But it was it was kind of hard to define that information, right? So um it didn't I didn't see it anywhere.
00:27:59
Speaker
Um, but yeah, just to compare, you know, I would like to compare and see, you know, how big one is compared to the other. But what one of the things I thought was interesting about this announcement, they said it's going to be a pioneer inspired space influenced by the bygone era of exploration and adventure. Now, when I hear exploration and adventure, I think of one thing, Trevor, and that's the idea of explorers and adventures. So I do wonder if I know it's Frontierland and typically they throw the SEA references into Adventureland more, right? Like it's more Jungle Cruise, like Skipper Canteen, that kind of area.
00:28:38
Speaker
But it's pretty adjacent. It's pretty adjacent. Yes, but and yeah I actually I actually found this out. I didn't realize this because I um I watched a video on like lore of Big Thunder Mountain. Yeah. And Big Thunder Mountain actually has some ties. Oh, it does. Yeah, you're right. To see as well. So it does. So yeah, but I know what you're saying is typically Adventureland is the place for the Society of Adventures and Explorers, but it definitely does extend into Frontierland. And the interesting thing, too, like like where this building is positioned and a lot of these buildings is that they are on that line between Frontierland and Adventureland, right? yeah get Like that's this is coming or this is like right near like Country Bears and all that, where it's like you can walk
00:29:27
Speaker
you know On one side, you're you're on Frontierland, you walk to the other side, you're in Adventureland by the Tiki Room. Yep, exactly. so and and That makes me wonder too, is you know are they going to open this up that entrance-wise, will it be accessible from both sides? That is an interesting question. Yeah. yeah And also, we we talked about this too in the rumors. you know am i Am I going to be able to, you know by that knowledge, you know can I go grab a dole whip and bring the dole whip into the lounge? Because that's that's a pretty amazing prospect. What if they had free dole whips within the lounge? Oh, don't even. Don't even.
00:30:07
Speaker
I mean, listen, that would be like there. There would there would be fights. I just going back to. Yeah, just going back to SEA for a moment. Like i I feel like that is the ultimate Disney Easter egg, right? Like they put references to that. so many places that you would never notice. Like you were talking about Big Thunder. Like I know it's in there, but like they're like really, really like, uh, you know, careful about where they put these things and how they mentioned these things and, and like, and how they reference it. It's like, it's almost like a secret.
00:30:46
Speaker
you know Yeah, and and well and it's it's meant to be discovered and and yeah it's not meant to hit you in the face. Exactly. And also, yeah, like like you said, you know that it's part of, they're they're not just, the rides are not self-contained, they're part of a larger universe is what they're trying to do. is they're They're trying to build butre trying to build like that the lands and experiences into one cohesive thing that kind of connects it all together, which I mean, do you need to do that? No. Is it fun to to do that? Yeah, absolutely. so And like what you were talking about, right? So I actually just decided to look this up ah for and for Big Thunder in the queue of Big Thunder Mountain, there's a letter.
00:31:31
Speaker
that's addressed to Barnabas T. Bullion from Jason Chandler and identifies him as the president of the Society of Explorers and Adventures. So it's like interesting, interesting like little like thing. If you're not paying attention to the queue, you might not see it, but it's there, right? I mean, and I mean, they have those kinds of references all over the place too. It's not just Big Thunder. It's it's a whole bunch of other places. So, yeah, it's just it's I mean, like there's even one over at Abracadab bar on the boardwalk, too. They have an S.E.A. reference. Yes. Like so I just I mean, it's one of those things I really love. But I hope based on that. You're hoping for. Yes. You're hoping for a DVC S.E.A. lounge. Yes. That's 100. Yes. That's what I want. Make it because think about it. Right. Like.
00:32:22
Speaker
the the The society is all like kind of secretive and stuff, right? So this is like our secretive meeting spot, our secret lounge that we get to meet to go to. Right. That exclude everyone else from. Then DVC needs to be rolled into the mythos of the CA. It is. Yeah, it does. It would be the DVCC Lounge. Oh, I like it. I like it. DVCC. Yeah, DVCC. I like it. It's great. I mean, we don't have a really good name for the Epcot one, right? We just call it the Epcot Lounge. It doesn't have a fun name to it. Yeah, because it sits on top of the Imagination Pavilion.
00:33:03
Speaker
I mean, people what was it people you all commented because it's hot up there that it's like a goldfish bowl. I always thought it was pretty well air conditioned up there, but you know, that's one of the reasons you go up there, right? Yeah. I mean, some days it can get hot because it's just all glass. Because you're basically in a greenhouse, yeah. But right but yeah you know back back to this one, like I said, you know you know people are people are understandably upset because things are changing. But you know I'm still of the opinion, like you know many other people, that you know that is kind of the whole underlying um ethos of the parks. is that
00:33:44
Speaker
they will constantly change. And and it's funny because um you know people talk about, you know oh, current Disney or you know you know classic Disney is better. And it's like, did you know that there was a pirate ship in in fantasy land at one point? like No, you didn't because it's been gone for so long that everyone's forgotten about it. So so you know the point about, well, you know things are changing and I don't like it is that, yeah, you you have you're seeing the change, but you don't realize how much change came before you even got there. like like yeah like you know the The moment that we all walk into the park, the first time you walk into the park, that's your image of the park. yeah But that's not that's not what the park is. like like it's It's your image and your view and your memories of it.
00:34:31
Speaker
But like though the Disney parks have changed so much over the years that you know if you really sat down and looked at it, they're not the same as what you remember at all. like but but it been That was always the point though, right? They're always supposed to evolve. And especially you know Disney does this. when they have i mean Listen, I know you guys, like there's a lot of people out there that probably have a lot of fond memories at the shooting academy. And like you said, When's the last time you did it? right It's the same thing with country bears. right like A lot of people love country bears, but when's the last time you actually went to country bears? When have you seen a line for it? is the thing and Exactly. and That's not to say that you know you know everything needs to have a line all the time, but but it kind of does. if if If there are certain attractions or if there's certain spaces that are
00:35:19
Speaker
falling off. it and i'll use um I'll use Odyssey as another example, too, where yeah you know the Odyssey building sat empty for a long time. and and and it was it was like You would walk by it and all of a sudden you'd look over and go, oh, like what's that building? right yeah you know Why are they not using that building? right again This is the same kind of thing. is like If you walk through Frontierland, The way that I think about this is that this space where like Country Bears and the Shootin' Arcade and all that, I never stop anywhere along there because I'm always walking from somewhere in Adventureland or from um from Tiana slash Splash Mountain. um And I'm walking over to Haunted Mansion.
00:35:59
Speaker
like Nowhere along that space am I stopping for or anything, right? like Which, you know, I'm sure Disney's asking themselves, well, why are you know why are people not stopping here? like the The only reason that I ever see people anywhere along here is because that the one side is shaded during the day and they're just trying to get out of the sun. like Other than that, yeah no like like I hate to say it and you know people may not want to hear this, but the shooting arcade was
00:36:32
Speaker
It's not a good use of space and and just because they turned it into a dbc lounge you know you know that could be gone in five years and it could be something else but. It doesn't matter what they turn it into the the fact of the matter is is that it was it's a space that you know it's not just about them expanding but also looking at their existing spaces and making sure they're being utilized yeah. Right. Like, yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, so if the space is not being utilized properly or, or, you know, you know, cause you know, if if somebody from Disney, if they stood in this area for a day and found that a total of like, you know, 40 people went to the shooting arcade, it's like, well, we have this, you know, 2,500 square foot area and you know, 40 people are using it throughout the day. Like exactly what's the point? Right. Yeah.
00:37:23
Speaker
Well, and to your point about the nostalgia thing too, who talks about wishes anymore, right? Like, and we talked about this when, when happily ever after came out and we were like, well, everyone's going to forget that wishes existed and stop complaining about it.
Disney Nighttime Shows and Future Speculations
00:37:37
Speaker
Cause happily ever after is going to come out and then eventually happily, happily ever after will go away. And then people will complain about that, which is exactly what happened. Right. he like Yeah. But, but happily ever after went away too fast. was It did. It did. and You're right. You're right. But but also ah the thing. so So this is what I'll say about wishes versus happily ever after. I watched wishes and wishes was good, but happily ever after built on wishes. So so it's not it's not that it's not just saying, you know, it's better than wishes. It's that they took some some things from wishes and they built on it and they made a better show and and
00:38:16
Speaker
It shows in that when they released out, I can't remember the name, like there was that other show that they tried to replace it with. It was Enchanted, I think. Yeah. name of it yeah and chan But, but yeah, enchantment. Yeah. So, so that shows that, you know, the new show is not always the better show. It's just Happy Ever After did end up being better than Wishes. Yeah, I mean, listen, even if you come at me in the comments, I mean, even if you don't, even if you don't like happily ever after, you can look at the two and objectively say, yes, this is a technically better show. Right. Because I mean, all they did with wishes was just like light the castle up purple. Like there was nothing else happening. It was fireworks and music. And listen, there was an emotional thing, connection to wishes like
00:39:02
Speaker
The Wishes song always made my wife you know like tear up a little bit, but like she gets that with Happily Ever After too. And in even um Illuminations, you know my wife tears up at that in Epcot. like like it's It's not exclusive to Wishes. Listen, I still listen to that soundtrack sometimes. so Illuminations is good. we are We are down a weird rabbit hole here. but we need to We need to do our ad and then we're going to talk about some other things. Okay, this week is DVC Resale Market. DVC Resale Market, a world of DVC company, is the leader in the DVC resale industry with 13 former Disney Vacation Club guides and three former Disney Vacation Club quality assurance managers. If you're thinking of buying DVC, browse the largest selection of DVC resale listings anywhere with DVC experts on hand seven days a week to answer your questions. If you're thinking of selling, turn to the friendly professionals at DVC Resale Market where over 98% of listings sell within 30 days.
00:39:55
Speaker
In 2023, DVC Resale Market helped over 4400 families join or add on to their memberships. Go to dvcresalemarket.com slash welcome home or call 1-844-DVC pro-PROS. That's 3827767. And when you speak to them, be sure to let them know the welcome home sent you. All right. All right. So let's let's talk about um I see. I'm like always like gun shy now to say this guy's name because like I get so much like for some reason I'm always saying it wrong. but Josh, domesticnare it's di tomorrow, d tomorrowro tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. I don't know. Tomorrow. I don't know. um So at tomorrow. Hey, it's like paging Mr. Tom Morrow. Mr. Paging Mr. tomorrow.
00:40:41
Speaker
you go So he said at a ah media event this past week, ah he had said that um more that many projects are going to be announced during D23 this year in August. And he specifically said that Disney fans can expect Disney World announcements about more than just Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, which is an interesting thing to say because We kind of know the things that are going to be happening at, I mean, not really, but we, we know vaguely, right? Like what's going to happen at Dynaland, we know no Big Thunder. Yeah. We know work is happening beyond Big Thunder and and the tropical Americas in Dynaland or previously Dynaland. So you're right. We know, but.
00:41:29
Speaker
that then he But then he says that there's gonna be more, or more outside of that. So that that implies Epcot. Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and I mean, I guess potentially that, I mean, that could also mean Disney Springs and the water parks. So based on, okay, so i this is this is what I wanna speculate about, right? Because based on the agreement they just made talking about minor parks, I'm almost wondering if Disney's going to build a new water park. And I don't know if they're not in addition to, but maybe close one of those theme parks, one of those water parks down completely and and do something new.
00:42:10
Speaker
and Because, I mean, you guys were talking about, you know, a Volcano Bay, right? It's really nice, right? and And part of that's because they built it recently. Disney's parks were, you know, of really high standard, but they're old at this point. and they were They were built in the 90s, correct? yeah Yeah. Yeah, I think that's that's it. but So they're 30 plus years old at this point. Yeah, exactly. So, I wouldn't be surprised if they maybe, I mean, because I feel like the water parks don't get nearly as much love as they should. So, Typhoon Lagoon was 89, so it's 35 years old. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, I mean, it's- I still love Typhoon Lagoon though. I really hope that, I mean, Typhoon Lagoon feels like they're like flagship water park of the two.
00:42:56
Speaker
Well, interestingly enough, i mean according to this Wikipedia article in 2022, they were still the top the toppa ah visited park above Volcano Bay too, as far as water parks go, so which is you know interesting to me. i and and ah looks like ah um blizzard beach. So oh by the way, blizzard beach was 1995. So that's probably the one you were thinking. So that's 95. So that was only about 30 years old, right? Yeah, you know, only 30 years old, only 30 years old, you know, but
00:43:30
Speaker
I don't know, I could just see them doing something you know really big to to you know around that. I don't know, I could be wrong. i'm just but This is reckless speculation speculation time, right? This is like, what are they gonna do? I also, Trevor, i know I've been having my fingers crossed about this one forever. I got two things for Epcot, right? Even though they just finished all the Epcot work, right? New country and finally doing something with the wonders of life pavilion. but Oh, that is a good point. because So i as you were saying that, I was thinking in my head, I'm like, what are they going to do at EFCOT? Because, yeah, they just finished like doing the whole center area, right? Yes. um which And they could do that without making Walcott again, right? They could do those two things without putting Walcott in. Yeah. I mean, the the the thing is is, yeah, you're right. that the Because they had that whole area planned for Wonder's Life Pavilion.
00:44:23
Speaker
And then they shelved that. So maybe that's back on the table. That that's fair. But yeah, I hope that they revisit because because they remember we talked about it a while ago. They had this plan for um like a Pixar friends area or something like that. Well, that's the Magic Kingdom one there, right? the That was at the Beyond Big Thunder, right? Where they were going to do like a no or or no, I thought it was a it was a It was a, um not just Pixar, I guess, a bit late like it was like animated characters. oh no Not like interventions, but like- I don't remember this. Yeah. is i this The funny thing is I can see the, cause you had a concept art that you found for it and I can see it in my head, but I can't remember what they what they proposed.
00:45:15
Speaker
Oh, I had thought that you're, you were referring to like the Frontier Landy toy store. No, knowing that they no, no, no, this was like, um, when we talked about it, it was supposed to be like an interventions type space. So like like an indoor, like, like, um, like play area, like Pixar play something or other. And it was, ah but it was all going to be themed. I remember specifically or they were talking about was going to be like, like, I guess not just Pixar, but like animated characters. So like, yeah, yeah like Wreck It Ralph and stuff like that. We're all supposed to be in the mix of it.
00:45:47
Speaker
And we we had talked about that. And and then, yeah, that like I think that this was actually back like either during COVID or at the beginning of COVID. So so obviously that got scrapped. But yeah, yeah yeah yeah you know I guess I forgot you know that's a whole space that can be expanded upon. But then you were talking about another country. like Yep. where okay Well, do you remember D23? I want to say 2018, 2019? Yeah, we talked about this a long time ago. yeah yeah It was heavily rumored that Brazil was going to be added to the World Showcase.
00:46:21
Speaker
that was that That's what I remember it being. um and I mean, we're talking, I think it was 2018 or 2019. I forget which one. But I mean, we definitely talked about it on the show and it was heavily rumored that there was going to be a whole new area there. They also you know had kind of sort of announced too, remember in a previous D23 that they were gonna do that whole Mary Poppins thing back in in the England area of the World Showcase. um So that's on the table again. Yeah, you know, it's funny. I forgot how much stuff that they had planned about that or that they had talked about doing or that was yeah in planning that completely fell off. Oh, yeah. And yeah, i guess I guess there is more there than than I initially thought for Epcot. So so OK, so so there is definitely some potential for like, I guess it won't be like on the scale of like new land size. Right. It could be. It could be.
00:47:18
Speaker
I mean, you know, well, I see, I see it more probably for like Epcot and Hollywood studios is, Hey, maybe they add another ride to, to, to galaxy's edge. Maybe they add another ride to toy story land. Um, you know, maybe they, so let's, let's talk about Hollywood studios now. yeah yeah So, and so we know, so we know there's potential for stuff at Epcot. Okay. Hollywood studios. Um, and I know I've said this before there, there is so, so much. unused space at Hollywood Studios. and And this actually goes back to talking about the shooting arcade closing down and in Magic Kingdom is um that like there's that whole area like like heading towards Star Tours, the like the what's it called? Echo, Echo Lake? Yeah, Echo Lake. Yeah, yeah, yeah. um Where it just feels
00:48:14
Speaker
dead. Like, like, and, and someone's going to get mad at me for saying this, but it feels dead. Like, like there's a whole space there. And I'm, I don't want to say that they should take out Echo Lake because I do, like, get rid of Gertie. I'm gonna have a problem if we get rid of that. Okay. and And that's the thing is that, you know, I, I feel, I feel that, you know, you know, having, And it's a weird thing because it's not it's not like I want to jump in the water, but I feel like having having lakes or having water in the park feels better. like like From an aesthetic point of view, like there should be stuff like that in the park. So I don't feel like that should go away, but all the all the buildings around there,
00:48:55
Speaker
All that stuff just doesn't feel like it's being used. right like like yeah yeah you know You know what I mean? like like Even like going towards Galaxy's Edge, like like like heading towards Star Tours, it's like it's not until you actually get close to Star Tours where like the the aesthetic changes to your jungle and there's and there's an ad ad and all this stuff. right um yeah that you know it it actually like starts to get interesting it's like when you first come into Hollywood Studios that whole section off to the side there feels just like there's nothing going on right and and to me that like and I'm not saying like the the problem is is if you said well you know redo that whole thing you're creating another wall cod
00:49:42
Speaker
yeah Which, you know, I don't like that either, but they have to do something with Hollywood Studios because but they're leaning too heavily on Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story Land, in my opinion. But so I mean, but it's been breaking the crowds, man, like i that that park has been busy constantly. Yeah, because of those two lands. Yeah, I mean, usually because of those two lands like and that's the problem, you right? You got you could have made that a fifth gate. Like this is the thing is that they could have made Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story Land a fifth gate away from Hollywood Studios, and they'd still be just as busy. And the rest of Hollywood Studios would still be
00:50:22
Speaker
not busy. if you Right? Yeah, exactly. Because that that's what I noticed when I was there is that like, you know, we, we you know, we were walking around and it was like, there were was spaces where it's like, oh, there's there's nobody here. And then you go around the corner. And it's crazy busy, because, you know, the entrance to galaxy's edge and, you know, heading over towards um Tower of Terror and all that, like like those areas, it's like those side areas are busy. But The central area is not, which is funny because like when you look at Magic Kingdom, like the hub in Magic Kingdom and Main Street and all that is always busy. Yeah. And so so it it feels off in in Hollywood Studios. So I I would love to see them redo that. But then also um I would really love for them to do something with rock and roller coaster, not replace it, but redeem it would be nice if they would announce something like that, because
00:51:18
Speaker
People have been talking about for way too long. And it just going about it going away. Well, well, not not going away, but just not being Aerosmith anymore. Yeah, like like it doesn't need to be an Aerosmith coaster. Right. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah. I'm just realizing by the way, the D 23 this year is going to be while I'm on a cruise ship. So which is going to be really just, no, it's going to be, that's going to be terrible. I'm going to be wanting to know what's going on. You don't think they're going to have it like broadcast somewhere? Like I'm sure you're going to be able to find somewhere to watch it. Well, no, cause I'm not going to be on the Disney. I'm not on a Disney ship. I'm on Royal Caribbean ship. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's what I'm saying, man. Like I'm going to be totally. Yeah. You can get spotty wifi on your phone and watch it.
00:52:06
Speaker
um I'm just going back, by the way. So 2019 was the year they announced the Play Pavilion over at the Wonders of Life Pavilion. And then they also had announced the Mary Poppins attraction that was supposed to be at ah in in in the UK over at ah World Showcase, which listen, this stuff can still happen. um i mean like did ah Imagineering has always said that they don't let good ideas die, meaning like if they had a good idea at some point but didn't do it, they still will keep it around and eventually it might get done. It may come back in five, 10, 20 years. Yeah, exactly. so i mean It's totally possible they still do this Mary Poppins thing. um I remember this D23 because it had all these really cool like resort posters, I mean, these ah attraction posters.
00:52:51
Speaker
um that they were doing. This was the year that they redid all of the World Show... Well, some of the World Showcase ah videos, you know the um the the movies, ah like the Canada one and the China one, and they did the Beauty and the Beast thing. ah that they This is when they started doing harmonious. ah um i Listen, ah we've talked about it many times. I really liked harmonious. i It just was it could have been It could have been so much better if they just figured out a way to make it go away during the day. And yeah and also make it so that everybody could have seen it and you didn't have to be straight on. So yeah, but anyway.
00:53:31
Speaker
Yeah, the the Stargate was not a great. No, the Stargate was not great. Stargate and tacos, right? um Yeah, I mean, listen, I think it's going to be interesting. And, you know, he may be teasing this and it's not going to be like, you know, it's going to be minor things, but I don't feel like it's going to be because, you know, now that we have seen this agreement that they've made with the the district there, they They have to, in the next 10 years, invest a lot of money. ah So that's going to start soon. like that's you know i mean Heck, we might even get like a new hotel ah you know hotel ah announcement. right like Maybe they announced that Reflections is starting back up again or or the long rumored Epcot hotel. you know i mean there's
00:54:13
Speaker
A lot of that could be happening. we And, you know, we have no idea because they even though like a lot of these ah blogs have like decent sources that they can like, you know, get, you know, or even like the message boards, right? Where they can, um you know, get some really good information. Disney still surprises people a lot. Like there are still some things that they announced that nobody knew was coming, you know? Yeah. Yeah, you're right. it Like they they absolutely ah that they they selectively let rumors I think so. yeah like like It's weird to think that they actually have somebody, like there's probably a board meeting somewhere where they're like, so we can we can let the should we know ah yeah we can let this leak this week or you know you know you can you can you know let this out to your your associates or whatever.
00:55:03
Speaker
like like ah It almost feels like um like FBI-level intelligence. like They probably have like different levels of security, where it's like you know if it's like crazy high security, then you know only a handful of people, or you have to like you know sign something to say that you'll never speak about this or whatever. like yeah That's what it feels like. It does. It does. I agree. I agree. So, okay. Well, listen, I, I think there's got lots lots to, lots to speculate on, but let's, uh, let's wait and see. you Yeah. I'm sure there'll be more as we get closer to August to talk about this and yeah hopefully some of these things that we're speculating about actually come to be again, it would it would be nice. Like you said, for them to come back around and, you know, do some of these things that we talked about, geez, like five years ago. Yeah. i Well,
00:55:55
Speaker
Listen, I have to believe, too, if they're going to do something at Hollywood Studios, like expanding like so Galaxy's Edge. Like, I feel like it's going to be Mandalorian themed, right? like Because Mandalorian was too big of a thing for them not to take advantage of that. Right. But I guess which way would you expand it? Because there's the road is like right behind Galaxy's Edge. I don't know yeah that they have much more room to actually expand. that the other thing about Hollywood Studios as well is that I don't like it or I guess the expansion feels like I could go past where Star Tours is, which is yeah. I mean, they could take out a bunch of parking though, too, right? I mean, there's there's a whole bunch of parking right there that they could just
00:56:40
Speaker
And actually, right behind right behind Galaxy's Edge, there is some like tree area and some roads that they could just bust out. um Although, you know, the star cruiser is not far from there. But, ah you know, listen, we might also hear about what they're going to do with the star cruiser, too. I mean, they've fairly recently hinted that they were going to do something with it. um They just hadn't announced it yet. So I mean, maybe we'll find out what's going to happen there to be a new Starbucks. At least a very large, literally Starbucks instead of Star Wars. Yeah. It's easy, just replace Cruiser with bucks. Just take a piece of paper with a Sharpie, write bucks, and then just cover up where it says Star Wars. And yeah you know just the wars part. And you know there you go, done, Starbucks.
00:57:26
Speaker
um ah But yeah, listen, there's there's a lot they can do. And I'm really interested to see what they're going to announce. I really, I would love a new pavilion at, at Epcot, that would be really cool. Because we haven't got a new pavilion in a very long time, so. Yeah, I agree. I'm just, I feel the biggest hurdle I see with that is they they have to negotiate with countries on it, right? Yeah, that's always a challenge, yeah.
CommuniCore Hall and Event Space
00:57:54
Speaker
All right, so let's talk about the newly opened Communicore Hall, ah which I missed by a little bit, by like, you know, a month, basically, which is really disappointing.
00:58:05
Speaker
Yeah, so but I mean, okay. so So you posted this article talking about seven seven things to know about Communicore Hall. Yeah. um Okay. What are they trying to tell me here besides the fact that there's character meats? Not much. because Because I don't really see, I'll be honest, like this building looks nice, but I don't know what there is going on here. Like it doesn't
00:58:38
Speaker
Well, they have the plaza stage where they have that temporary and Kanto show, right? And they're going to do they plan to do, you know, a bunch of different things for like all the festivals at that space. Like that's a flexible space. And then they have the character. meanres okay that That's fair. that And I guess the problem is, is that I know like there's a temporary show there, but it feels like that a like they've opened up this space and it's not. It's not being used, but I guess if it's dependent on shows, it's gonna take them some time to ramp up to that. So that's fair. Well, from what I've seen too, there's a fair amount of open space around it though too, which is like, you know, I've seen like a lot of places to sit and like, you know, a lot of, like I said, a lot more like open space. And then also to the, like you said, the character greeting. So, but yeah, that's also, this place at night is awesome.
00:59:30
Speaker
I have not seen it in person, but I'm seeing all the pictures and videos of it, and I really, really want to see it, especially with the show on Spaceship Earth with the lights. I know it all coordinates, but um the pictures of this at night are are awesome. I love the whole theme in the building ah just because of you know the way it really correlates with you know all of the theming that they they do in in Epcot. it just It just looks great to me. so But I know what you're saying. like i It's like more of an amorphous space, right? Yeah. Here's something weird that i I saw. So I was confused about this at first. So they're talking about a kitchen space in Community Core Hall, yeah which apparently they've moved. So so you could watch the um the culinary team make stuff at at ah connections, but apparently there's a show kitchen going in over at Community Core Hall. So you can like watch people make these waffles and
01:00:29
Speaker
Well, because they they've done that before during the they've done that during like the food and wine festival where they've had like demonstrations, like, you know, they've had like events like that before. So that's this is their permanent spot to do that. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. That's what this is supposed to be about, right? And then like so this, yeah, exactly. All right. So yeah, I guess I was having a hard time understanding like what the space was actually for, but like you said, it the fact that it's like an adjustable space just makes it like, I guess when everything else feels like it has a very specific deliberate purpose,
01:01:04
Speaker
Community core Hall feels it feels off at the moment, but I think it's because we haven't seen it actually in full swing yet. Exactly. Exactly. Right. So I mean, I like the fact that there's these big spaces that, you know, you can go and sit and eat and and relax. And and the the stage is like an outdoor you know It's a whole like outdoor stage area, that's pretty cool, ah you know where you could just walk up and watch stuff and and and you know just hear it as you're walking by too if you want. um But there's also like grassy areas around it too, so like you can sit on the grass. like One of the things I love that Disney does sometimes is like you know for being the biggest theme parks in the world, for putting like grassy areas out and space that is just kind of open and that you can just sit in and just relax. It's it's a weird thing.
01:01:51
Speaker
you know like it's you would think like okay it's there's ah there's all this business going on around me like why is there just a lawn here for me to hang out on but those are the great spaces though i i love that they do that and uh this has a lot of that because they they put a bunch of those grassy spaces right outside the stage so you could just sit there on the grass and watch watch whatever's going on on that stage right right so yeah but like you said it's it's a little bit I think it's just because they they haven't filled it with things yet, you know? Yeah. And I think that's that's the bit of a hard sell on it right now is that, you know, we waited so long for all the stuff to be done. You know, we we've talked about this for years where it's like, oh, you know, these walls and, you know, they're making these buildings and hurry up and all that. And it's like, it's open.
01:02:37
Speaker
and I mean, because it's not a ride. It's not an attraction. It's, it's like an event space, right? So it's like, can you get excited about an event space? I don't know. ah Right. but But I think about like, you know, you know, even the, the um, journey or the Moana space, right? You know, the journey into water space is it's like, you know, you know, that's not a ride or anything. Like it's an attraction and it, and it has a purpose, but it was like, you know, when that opened up, it was like, Oh, you know, I want to go in there and look around. this space right now because it's like it's not clearly defined what it is or what you know why you're going there at the moment. because And and you know reading all this stuff about them talking about, you know you know there's gonna be you know special guests coming for like culinary demonstrations and all this kind of stuff. And it's like, but right now it's like, okay, but why am I going there? like it's
01:03:30
Speaker
It feels weird to have like a brand new shiny space that you're walking by because you have no reason to go in there to even like look around, right? Like like like if there's nothing going on, like you're you not the economy're not just going in there. its seeing kind Right. but and And the thing is, but the encounter thing is also it's limited time, limited run thing at the moment. well Because once I think once food and wine starts you're gonna see a lot of events happening at this Oh probably and and you're right that that'll probably make more sense is you know, you know I think I feel like Disney over the summer here is there they're not they're not overtaxing themselves with like bringing a whole bunch of stuff into Epcot and you know,
01:04:13
Speaker
i I guess you know the more I think about it is you don't want to start something new in the middle of summer because you know people are already hard to deal with when it's that hot out. You don't need ready to figure out yeah yeah yeah you don't need to be trying to figure out an entertainment space like that in the middle of summer. And and like you said, I think, yeah, going towards food and wine means, you know, into the fall, they can kind of focus more on what makes sense and what doesn't make sense about the space. Because I know, like, they they put a lot of thought into it. But I think Disney doesn't realize or or they do realize, but it this is the same problem. Like, it doesn't matter um how much planning you do, people always find a way to, like,
01:05:01
Speaker
break your plans that it's like, yeah yeah you're like, Oh, they should use the space this way. And then you'll find out that, you know, people don't want this, they want, or, you know, they're doing something else. And so then you have to, but like, they they're always having to adjust. And I feel like, you know, maybe Disney is, you know, we're having this lull where it's open, but not really doing anything. Because you know they They want to wait until they can actually like plan and focus with something like food and wine and see how people react to it. and then yeah and This kind of goes back to what Damon said about you know you know when things are first open, you know it it runs a certain way, but then they'll change it because you know they'll find that there's like a part of the show that doesn't work or whatever. right I feel this is the same kind of thing as an entertainment space. is that
01:05:47
Speaker
you know, maybe maybe this isn't CommuniCorps final form that we're seeing. Well, I think it's meant to be that way, right? though it's It's a flexible space that they can use for a variety of different things, right? So I'm sure they're going to use it in ways that we haven't even thought of or will think of, right? Because it's it's going to be, ah you know, whatever they want to use it for. I mean, they they were already doing like these demonstrations and stuff with uh with with uh food and wine and they just were you know they were in random spots you know because there's a bunch of random spots that are available so this is just supposed to be the dedicated spot by the way they also did open a quick service over here too called festival favorites which is uh i guess uh some some of the festival uh favorites from the festival booths so oh so maybe maybe year out like things that are popular from a particular festival actually get like
01:06:36
Speaker
you can actually get it outside of the festival. is that Exactly. Exactly. They were doing that for, yeah, they were doing that for awhile. I feel like at the Odyssey, I want to say that they were doing that, but, um, but now they have a, like a dedicated spot for it. So, and yeah the Odyssey stuff though is, or every time I go by the Odyssey, it's always like, it's, it's something very specific. It never felt like, It never felt like there was or it felt like just another honestly space as part of like food and wine or flower and garden. Like it never seemed like they were doing like exclusive stuff there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah But but if this is like, oh, you know, you know, food and wines over, but you can still get this food and wine stuff, you know, year round at this place or, or, you know, maybe an amalgamation of all the, the festivals, like the most popular things.
01:07:23
Speaker
Well, I will say the only two things that they have right now are two different kinds of a ripas, uh, and then a coconut trace leches cake. But yeah, your ripas were good though. You have to, they worked. Yeah, they worked. No, I love a ripas. I do. I just, I'm just saying that they only have two options. It's not like a, like they have like 10 things on there from like, you know, a bunch of different booths. It's just basically, and they're probably going to rotate, right? It's probably going to rotate pretty frequently, I would think so. so Maybe it'll be you know based on popularity. you know The most popular thing gets a ah year in that space or something. yeah Exactly. all right so What else do we got to talk about? We talked about country bears. and you This is not something we need to talk about a lot, but they have announced the reopening date of country bears, in which which is going to be July 17th. It's only a month away.
01:08:15
Speaker
It is. It's very soon. This is a very fast ah refurb. I mean, which, you know, it why wouldn't it be? But, ah you know, it's not like they're replacing roller coaster tracks. you know and It's just animatronics. you know Yeah, just some animatronics and some songs, right? Like, you know, not that big of a deal. um But and you know, because they they probably were able to much like, you know, things like Tiana, right? Like they program those things off site anyway, right? And then they just bring them in and hook them up. And, you know, of course, they refine it once they're there. But it's, you know, they're not sitting there programming it in the theater from from scratch. Right. Yeah. So they're they're already prepared by the time they close this to to bring that stuff in.
01:08:57
Speaker
It's weird to think that there's probably another country bear type space somewhere that's not open to the public. What do you mean? Well, because you you just said, you know, they they had to like program these. Oh, like Imagineering. There was just a bunch of country bears hanging out at Imagineering. well Well, I feel like they wouldn't just be hanging out, but they would be like figuring out like positioning. So like it would almost be like the show because they would want to figure out how everything plays together in the show, but it's just like the show sitting somewhere with no audience or something. That's a weird idea. It's funny, though, too. They might not have replaced these animatronics. They might have just given them new outfits and reprogrammed them, right? I don't think anybody thinks- Do you really think so? I don't know.
01:09:46
Speaker
the The only reason I'm saying that is because they don't mention anywhere that they replace the animatronics. And I feel like they would have mentioned that. I don't know. I mean, I feel like they would have to because those animatronics are really old. They are. And if they have like, they have these new ones that they've been advertising with Tiana's like, that's what I'm saying. Why wouldn't they advertise it if they did it, you know? or But I mean we're a month out maybe that'll be one of the one of the things here that they Yeah, yeah, yeah maybe I don't know. Yeah. Sorry. I'm just I'm just reading or I'm trying I'm reading this article to see if there was any hints at it But yeah, I don't see anything that hints at they're just talking about the song selections and stuff right now but Yeah, which seems to be the main thing, right? Yeah
01:10:34
Speaker
So ah yeah, I don't know. I have not seen anything speculating one way or the other, right? But listen, maybe keeping the same animatronics will keep some of the term of it. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Until they break. Until they break. Yeah. Until maybe they've replaced some of the, you know, insights of them whatever, you know, the just the motors and stuff. Um, anyway.
01:10:56
Speaker
Oh man. Okay. So I guess
Behind the Scenes at Hollywood Studios
01:10:58
Speaker
we'll see. I'll definitely watch a video of it once it comes out. So. Yeah, for sure. All right. And this last one here, go ahead Trevor. Yeah. So yeah, I was going to say that this last one, so we have some, uh, it's some behind the scenes of the new little mermaid show coming to Hollywood studios. Which time they put that back into the studios that ended yeah op and yeah. Yeah, I almost forgot about this or actually I did completely forget about this. Um, that it was happening because they announced it a while ago. Yeah. Yeah, they did. Um, but, um, the, the interesting thing is to me is that, um, you know, it it is a live show, um, but that they're showing off what the combination of different things that they're doing here.
01:11:47
Speaker
it is pretty interesting. like So so they're there's going to be the the puppetry that that was originally in the show. But then it looks like they're doing some um motion capture, some projecting. some like there's There's a lot of different imagineering things going on in the show, which is kind of neat. Yeah, it' they have a quote here. We're using some really cutting edge tools like motion capture technology, which you've seen in blockbuster films. Basically, we have a live performer in a suit covered in sensors. And the data captured from their performance helps us create digital animations of the character, which are animators then used to bring them to life on stage. So it I don't think they're going to be doing like it's not live motion motion capture, right? They're just using it for the animations that they're creating, I'm assuming. I've actually seen that there is some
01:12:36
Speaker
I've seen some stuff not, or there's been some live shows that have actually done live motion capture. Like the ability to do that now is way easier. Like, um I mean, if if you watch like like, I don't know if you you probably don't go on Twitch very often. Like I go on there because of gaming, um but I've seen like like people do like digital avatars and stuff. that um that's exactly what it is. It's motion capturing whatever movement they're doing live. So they could absolutely do this on stage where where they have you know some somebody basically driving driving a character on stage from a motion capture.
01:13:20
Speaker
um Yeah. Scene, right? like Yeah. It says this cutting edge digital imagery will be used throughout the show to accent what's happening on stage, bringing characters to life like King Triton, Ursula, and even Ariel sisters. so I do like that they're using the Blacklight puppets again. I always like that as an effect. Blacklight puppets, yeah. can Because it's just like it makes for a really interesting... like Because because you you can't see the puppeteers, right? like it's It's specifically designed that... you know that the it It almost creates like this... I remember this from like when I was a kid. there was I remember seeing shows where people were doing
01:14:01
Speaker
uh puppetry but they're using like the black lights and it's like oh you know stuff is like floating like it like it looks it looks very um like otherworldly yeah the best way i can put it and yeah i mean it it works with this show absolutely so i'm glad that they didn't like drop any of that for entirely for like well we could do all of this digitally and and then it's technically it's a live show but it's all digital so then is it like I don't know. It doesn't doesn't seem like a live show, right? Well, the interesting thing that too here, just to read more quotes from the Imagineers, we're really blending the line between real and digital in ways we've never done before to completely fill the stage for showstopping scenes. You're going to see ah the ah these large new physical sets we've created blend seamlessly with ah a digital environment in a way that really fills the stage. You'll see digital puppets transform into real ones before your eyes.
01:14:54
Speaker
You'll even see animated characters performing in the same space as real actors. It's going to feel like magic. That's really interesting. Right. Okay. so Yeah. Yeah. the i'm I'm trying to even imagine the whole digital puppets transforming into real one thing. I mean, you know, that effect with, uh, that we've seen with the beauty and the beast ride. Oh yeah. hong kong Where the, the, uh, the transformation that, uh, from the beast into the prince or. Yeah. I don't even know what his name is. Someone's going to kill me for not remembering. I forget his name too.
01:15:28
Speaker
but Yeah. But yeah, you know, that kind of transformation, like maybe we'll actually get to see something like that. Right. like Because yeah, like they Disney has access to a lot of different techniques for doing stuff like that. Yeah, absolutely. And I find this the interesting thing to the animated characters performing in the same space as real actors. Like, obviously, that's something they've been doing in movies for a very long time, right? I always think of Roger Rabbit. But of course, you know, Mary Poppins and and all the way, you know, back at they've done it with a lot of things. But
01:15:59
Speaker
But those are I've never seen it in a real setting, though. you know Yeah. Yeah. the The thing about those is that they're in a closed space and they're very like they can retake and they can like they can fine tune it, that it it works 100 percent. The problem with doing it live is that, you know, people are not always on their mark or, you know, you're not like you do have to interact with with the the other characters. And yeah, transitioning between digital and live actors, that's, again, I'll be impressed to see how they do that.
01:16:31
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. this is like It's funny, because we largely ignored this show ah its entire existence. And then there was one day we decided, and this is before my daughter was born, that we ah went to three different parks in one day. like we We started off the day at Imagine Kingdom. We went to Epcot. And then we went to Hollywood Studios. And Hollywood Studios happened to be really busy that day. And the only thing that like didn't have a line was the was the Little Mermaid Show. We're like, let's go do this. We've never done it before. Let's do it. right and it was It was a great show and i it was sad when it went away ah you know during COVID, but ah for it to come back like this with all sorts of cool new effects, I'm going to make a point to go and see this next time we're there. Well, and I mean, understandably, you know I'm sure your daughter will love to see this too. Well, there's that too. yeah for For me, it'll be, you know you know my wife and I will probably go see it. um
01:17:21
Speaker
You know, if if my son is with us, um I don't know if I'll be able to convince him to go watch a Little Mermaid show. Fair. I mean, work we're in those teenage years where, you know, I can't hardly get him to do anything. That's fair. That's fair. Yeah, um yeah no, ah my daughter loves Little Mermaid. In fact, somebody had asked her, you know, they were like, oh, how was your Disney trip? And, you know, she said good. And they're like, what was your favorite ride? And she said the aerial ride. So, yeah, and to be fair, I think we wrote it four times while we were there. um You know, which is fine. It's a good ride. Yeah, it's a great ride. Yeah, it's it's fun. She loves it. um So, you know, I don't mind, you know, riding on it, but ah it's.
01:18:04
Speaker
My daughter loves Little Mermaid and loves Ariel, so I think it'll be right up her alley. And, you know, I like a good show. I mean, I'm i'm one that's not a huge fan of the Beauty and the Beast show that's at Hollywood Studios. And i I haven't seen it in years, but I remember the last time I saw it, I was like, they just stuffed an entire movie storyline into like 10 minutes and like half of it doesn't make sense unless you've seen the movie. Like if you didn't see the movie, it makes no sense at all. Right. I mean, it's well done and there's good singers and you know and stuff, but it's very basic. like This is, like to me, next level of what the stage show should be. you know Now, do you think they're going to do the same thing, though, where they try and condense the entire movie plot line into- Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean- That's what they do on the ride. I mean, you know this the ride is like- Yeah, fair, but i guess like I feel like they could be a little smarter about it and only like take
01:18:58
Speaker
a subsection of it out. Like, I don't know, it's like, Hey, we just met. Oh, I love you already. Let's get, back yeah you know, they could start from like, you know, you know, you know, Hey, they, they met and you know, the, you know, Eric's trying to figure out what Ariel wants. Like like start it like in
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
01:19:17
Speaker
the middle yeah yeah of the show instead of, yeah, I don't know. I feel like trying to condense an entire movie into a 10 minute stage show is not the right move. I agree. I agree.
01:19:32
Speaker
All right. Should we wrap this up? Yeah, i think I think that's it. Yeah. Wow. i We actually got through everything. OK. I know. but I know. It's great. And it wasn't it wasn't as long as we typically go either. Look at that. Yeah, that's true. um Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, we can wrap this up here. I guess I'll start. If you guys have any questions about anything you heard on the show or you want to share your own trip reports or anything like that, you can always find us at Welcome Home Podcast at gmail dot.com. We love hearing from you guys. and you know just sharing in in all the the Disney stuff that we talk about. We are also on social media. 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. Make sure if you're on Facebook, you can you also check out our group called Welcome Home Disney Waitlist. It's a great place where
01:20:22
Speaker
where we have you know our listeners talking about their you know stuff from the show, but also you know sharing their own thoughts, um talking about trip planning, talking about stuff going on in the parks, memes, all that kind of stuff. So you know if you want to if you want a good Disney Facebook group to hang out in, please come check it out. And if you'd like to help support the show, you can go to store.welcomemompodcast.com. You can check out our our shirts and mugs and stuff like that. um but you know I said, hey, yout we were talking about shirts at the beginning of the show. If you need ah you need a shirt for your next trip, you know maybe check out check out the store. I guess you could do the whole, you could do the family shirt thing as welcome home podcast shirts, but I don't think that would work very well. No, no, I don't i don't think so either. but But you can still get matching shirts. I mean, I won't stop you from getting matching shirts. I know just, I mean,
01:21:18
Speaker
you know and if It's like 12 people, it might be a little much. But yeah, you know if you need a shirt, you know please check out our store. And we also do have a Patreon. You can go to patreon dot.com slash welcome home pod. You can check out our the different levels of Patreon support there, which has an exclusive logo that is not available on the store. And our Patreon listeners also get access to the Discord server. So um you know if you like Discord and you want to have Another place where we talk about the show and all kinds of random stuff as well. yeah um you know please ah Please have a look at that. And last but not least, we we talked about iTunes reviews at the beginning of the show, but I'll mention it again here that if you're listening on iTunes or Spotify, leave us a five-star review. It does help more people find the show. And you know write us a review because we love hearing from you guys and hearing what you think about the show.
01:22:12
Speaker
Yeah. And also, don't forget to subscribe to Welcome Home podcast and you'll be reminded every time we release a new episode, you can find us on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Stitcher, Spotify, YouTube, YouTube Music, pretty much any podcast app that's out there. You can find us just search for Welcome Home, you know look for the one that says Disney and DVC and the castle with the microphones on the top. That's us. ah So just a reminder to our listeners, welcome home pockets for entertainment only. We are not employed by the Walt Disney Company. And as such, all opinions we express on the show are our own. and So please consult a DVC representative or Disney cast member for more information about anything we talked about today. Huge thank you to our sponsors, as always, ah DVC Resell Market and World of DVC for sponsoring our show and being supporters of the show. Please check them out for any DVC related needs. Join us next time for more DVC Parks discussion. Of course, more DVC talk. We hope to see you all real soon.
01:23:04
Speaker
This is Skipper Albert A. Wall, the voice of the jungle, signing off from Welcome Home Podcast on the TVC.
01:23:20
Speaker
I looked around from pole to pole, found her in a sugar bowl. Greedy! Look out! It's my ball and chain!