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Episode 303: More Epic Universe, Test Track & Hong Kong Disneyland’s 20th Anniversary
744 Plays5 days ago
On This Episode
The guys continue their “discussion” of Epic Universe and answer listener questions on topics including the best DVC resort to relax and how many points they’d spend to stay in EPCOT. Walt Disney Imagineering shares a first look at reimagined Test Track vehicles. V.I.Passholder Days are returning to Walt Disney World Resort this summer. With Hong Kong Disneyland celebrating their 20th Anniversary this year, Disney gave a preview of the new castle stage show, a new parade, and a special anniversary edition nighttime spectacular.
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Transcript
Introduction & Hosts
00:00:06
Speaker
This is Skipper Albert A. Wall, the voice of the jungle, broadcasting on the DVC to all voice unknown. If you're within the sound of my voice, you're listening to Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.
00:00:25
Speaker
Music Music Music
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello and welcome home. This episode of welcome home is brought to you by DVC
Episode 303 & Sponsorship
00:00:34
Speaker
rental store. Thank you for joining us on episode 303 of welcome home a Disney parks and vacation club podcast. I'm Tom here with Trevor and Damon. How's it going guys?
00:00:42
Speaker
Hey, what's up? how How's your Easter weekend going so far? My Easter weekend is going, you know, it's going. Yeah, we're going to church soon. So yeah, getting in on Saturday. It's yeah, might it's it's going.
Universal POV Videos
00:00:55
Speaker
so I've been watching all the POVs of the stuff from Universal. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know how I feel. yeah I think it feels. I don't know how I feel.
00:01:06
Speaker
Yeah. that that This is the thing is that there is so much coming out right now that i feel like we can't, or we can't ignore it because this is a big thing and it does it definitely affect, you know, even if we are mainly about Disney universal, absolutely. what facts so So for me, I have to watch it because my daughter needs to make a decision whether she's going to go on it.
00:01:29
Speaker
Right. So that's what we do. So we, we take the POV, we watch it a little bit of it. Now, Star Chaser, Dust Racer, whatever it was called versus what it's called now, because they changed the name like a million times. But that one was one we had to watch all the way through, because I was like, well, you know, are you going to go on it? The rest of them, we really just watched to see what the ride looks like, you know, kind of what the vibe is and and is it something that that she would want to do.
Virtual Queues Frustrations
00:01:56
Speaker
um I don't think Harry Potter is the ride. I think it's monsters on chain. I mean, from what I've been hearing from other people, the queue at Harry Potter is phenomenal, but the ride, I think monsters might be the ride might be the big ride. Yeah. whole Virtual queue thing also is so annoying. I hate that.
00:02:15
Speaker
I hate it. I have to, have to agree with you, Damon, that I feel that, ah I feel that the Harry Potter ride is very samey. Like, like i so I will say, though, looking at it, the animatronics and the way the screens are done is is superior to what we've seen.
00:02:34
Speaker
um But the problem I have with the virtual queues, I like virtual queues if there's the ability to lightning lane. I think Disney does that part right. You're forcing me to miss out when maybe that's a one in five year trip for me. That's not fair.
00:02:47
Speaker
If you give me the option to say, hey, listen, if I want to use my hard earned money and I know I can get in. Well, I mean, listen, it's not guaranteed, but right at Disney, you're pretty close to guaranteed if you want to pay.
00:02:58
Speaker
Like, let me have that option, man. Like, that's the thing I don't like about it No, I mean, I get that. but that's That's frustrating. But they I mean, they Disney did do that with Rise the Resistance at first, right? Like there was no pay option for Rise Resistance. Yeah, because they didn't have it at all.
00:03:14
Speaker
But it got me – what happened was is after looking at all this stuff, you know
Innovation in Amusement Parks
00:03:18
Speaker
it had me thinking. I said, well, I saw an article. you know It's my – whether you guys are or not, I'm doing that what I've seen on the web you know that interests me.
00:03:26
Speaker
There really has been no amusement park innovation. So if you look at the past five years of actual innovation, do you know what it is? It's trackless ride system.
00:03:38
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's it. That's true. And that's nothing. like Well, trackless isn't even really new because that's, I mean, with it's pretty much existed for a long time, just in a newer form. Yeah. That and the robotic arms seem to be the only two paints. Yeah.
00:03:51
Speaker
Robotic arm things were past that. Like they're older than that. So like just in the past five years, it's just trackless. Right. yeah And I think to myself, well, that's pretty disappointing. That's all we got. I thought that we would have listened. I think that universal is going to do a better than what they had previously, as well as what Disney has in terms of what they're doing.
00:04:12
Speaker
But there's still the innovation that that I just like am yearning for as we continue to see these, you know, TikToks and videos of them walking on that, you know, special floor that
Immersion vs Innovation
00:04:23
Speaker
moves with them. Like, oh, yeah, man, there's there's really been no innovation.
00:04:26
Speaker
So I guess it's immersion. I mean, I think the immersion is going to be great, but man, I just, it made me sad that there really has been no real innovation. And and I don't think anything Disney's announced either really is going to get us there. It might be, you know, a better mousetrap.
00:04:42
Speaker
Well, that's the thing, right? There's only so many ways you can move people around. No, but they they have, that they again, the the floor. like why yeah Holograms, the floor. like We have options. Where are they?
00:04:54
Speaker
It's funny because i every time I see a video of that floor, they always do that one demonstration where they're able to track somebody's hand and they do like the force kind of thing you know where you can pull somebody. like So almost feel like you know I don't know if that's just a use case that they developed for it or if they actually have a plan to use it on a Star Wars attraction in some way, shape, or form, but I just don't even know how you do that.
00:05:14
Speaker
Just not sure. Yeah, doing that safely is yes a hard thing because because as cool as it is movie you like having people or objects move across the floor...
00:05:26
Speaker
you know If you're ready for it and somebody pushes you, that's one thing. But there's a lot of people that don't have great balance. And you do like the floor moves them and people just fall over.
00:05:39
Speaker
Right. And i I think that, you know, the void was such an interesting thing because I really think that was it was. It was innovation at the time, and and it might not be now, but it was definitely innovation at the time.
00:05:53
Speaker
And that's where I kind of look for this floor. Like, why aren't we getting something like that with, you know, a higher cost that exists at, you know, maybe it doesn't have to necessarily be in the park.
00:06:05
Speaker
um But yeah, i like I said, it was just interesting. And then I know we're going to talk about Test Track, and I was just so blah about it. Like, oh, dude, really? I didn't even know it's on the inside yet. Oh, it doesn't matter. we like dude like Listen, the whole point of like Test Track where you design your car, dude, give me an LCD screen car. like Can you can do that? Can you make the paint be the color of what I chose, at least if nothing else? like you You can do that. I know we can do that.
00:06:32
Speaker
Why can't we do that? I mean, you know, it's it's weird because the original version of it almost felt like they didn't spend any money on it at all, right? because he was Because it was like, you know... i don't know. I think the second version with the Tron lines was still worse than the first version, but that's fine.
00:06:50
Speaker
no No, no. Most people feel that way. I'm just saying, like, it's it's weird because, like, it's... i don Listen, I think maybe it could look cooler. I don't know. But who knows? I like the ride. I mean, I think the ride itself is interesting. But again, like...
00:07:04
Speaker
we can do something innovative with these cars and we just didn't, we didn't do anything. Yeah. I, I, I don't even, I, yeah. I just think, listen, if the car changed color to what I picked, like, that would be cool. That would be cool. You know, it's, it's funny because they do something like that in a radiator Springs racers, but it's, it's an effect they do where, um, depending on which, cause there's two sides you go to either to Ramones or Luigi's. Yeah.
00:07:34
Speaker
And actually, i think, yeah, in Ramones, they fake give you a a paint job. But again, the car doesn't change color. But on the on the Luigi side, they do like the white wall tires and on the vehicle, which... Oh, is it like that mirror effect that they do? It's like project you're going by the mirror and the mirror showing you with that change on it, right? Yeah, exactly. That would have been cool too.
00:07:56
Speaker
Yeah. yeah like Like at the very least, you know, give you the illusion of a projection. Yeah. the Project onto my car. yeah Every car is white yeah and you just project onto it. Like, and actually if you did that, you could probably project even more, right? Not just the color, but maybe any decals that you decided to put on or pinstrips. Totally.
00:08:14
Speaker
Yeah. got to be hard to do projection mapping on a moving object though, too. But but if you, if you've not, it's way, way more developed now than it was. Oh, it is. Yeah, that's true. And the thing is, you're not talking about like, it has to do with the whole ride. No, no, just so one part. yeah Yeah, just one part, man. I mean, it's possible they do it because we haven't – they might do the same effect they do in Radio here Springs Racer because we haven't seen what happens on the inside of this ride at all yet, right? Yeah, the color of the cars, though. they The cars are all black. yeah Sure, but I don't know.
00:08:42
Speaker
But who knows if they – do we even know if that's like the final color of it? I mean, is it or is it just like – I mean, we're making assumptions, but I would think so. they They look like they're all just matte black. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that they didn't really do anything with these things before that made them look all that cool. So I wasn't expecting much out of this.
00:09:00
Speaker
um But I mean, i mean, I'm interested to see that if they have that cool, like light ring across the front, ah you know because that is kind of cool. But I mean, I don't I don't know. They are low, dude.
00:09:12
Speaker
What's that? the but Well, no, I just would every say that we'll make it look cooler. I'm not saying that that's like, you know, ah ah makes it way cooler, but I don't know. um I mean, yeah, I get i guess to to that point is like that.
00:09:26
Speaker
I've seen people do very cool aftermarket modifications to their car. Oh, yeah yeah. That, you know, people can afford to do this stuff on a one of basis. Like, you know, Disney could do it for an entire ride if they really wanted to. They could do all kinds of.
00:09:41
Speaker
modifications to these vehicles they just chose black vehicles I mean but that that could be the theme though too I mean you know that's what they're going for is the theme it's boring and welcome to new test track we're boring like I think no matter what they do they're going get criticized for it because that's what happens every time with test track so what do you care what color the car is if you still enjoy the ride so but but it's something Yeah, it's it it is something else to bring it to that next level. See how I bookend that back with what we just talked about? well yeah
00:10:16
Speaker
Yeah, but it's... I mean, i just don't know what the storyline is. If you're not going to innovate, you have to have immersion.
Disney vs Universal: Immersion
00:10:23
Speaker
I'm also looking at like the epic thing is like... It ah they're reporting that it costs seven billion dollars to build, which means it's going to be the most expensive theme park of all time by a lot.
00:10:33
Speaker
Right. No, I know. It's fantastic that they did that. I know. But what I'm saying shows, I guess what my point is, Damon, is like you're complaining that there wasn't enough innovation there. They're spending seven billion dollars, I guess, just on the immersion piece. Right. Really? and Yeah. Yeah.
00:10:48
Speaker
yeah But that's what I'm saying. like there's There's this trade-off. like So if you can't give me innovation, you should give me over-the-top immersion. And Test Track doesn't either. And that's what's disappointing. But again, we don't know what the inside of it's going to look like. We have no idea what the inside of it is.
00:11:01
Speaker
We're getting black cars. And there's no projection on them. so <unk> I'm making a prediction right now. the the truck is still going to be in there. ah well yeah of course I hope so. yeah but Is it going to be any better than what it was or no? and i well hope it has like It has to be because the leaving the current version is not. oh be yeah What if it's not?
00:11:22
Speaker
ah How could they make it worse? they could no Not worse, just the same. yeah it's It's like a puppet show almost. like That's how bad it is. Like it really is. So, but what, i mean, what they're saying in this video is they purposely purposely made it black to blend in with the environment to make it so you can't see the, you know, to see other cars.
00:11:42
Speaker
That's, that's what I'm seeing, what I'm seeing in this video. Okay. But I mean, that's, that's all I'm saying, but i listen, I just want to see what the inside of it's going to look like. I think we're going to find out by the way, Probably right around the time that Epic starts open, they're probably going to start more announcing more stuff about this because I'm sure they have pent up announcements that they're just waiting to do to get some attention.
00:12:01
Speaker
you know There's point right No, but they're going to try to do something. I don't know. I think you let it die down first because I think you just get lost in the sauce, man. Don't you think it's weird, though, that we haven't heard anything?
00:12:13
Speaker
This is like literally the first thing. think there anything. No. No. It's odd. But you're right, Damon. The thing is that there's going to be hype even after Epic opens, like for the next two months after Epic. Yeah, you've got let that die down. Yeah.
00:12:27
Speaker
yeah i still think china that They have to let that simmer because if they try and throw anything out during that, it is going to absolutely just get lost. And and even if it is something cool, people are going to miss it entirely.
00:12:40
Speaker
So yeah maybe you know disney Disney is playing their hand close to their chest because you know they they know as well as anybody else that there's a lot of hype around Epic Universe, and rightfully so. like like i think sure mer i think i think if anything, i hope Disney is taking notes right now Because, you know, like you, Damon, I've been watching videos of Epic Universe because I'm not going there anytime soon. So i'm like, I'm just going to check it out and see, you know, see what I'm missing out on.
00:13:06
Speaker
Yeah. And it's like, wow, this is this is really cool. And I really hope that Disney realizes how far behind the eight ball they are on the immersion piece.
00:13:17
Speaker
I just disagree with that. The last two months they opened were super immersive. What are talking about? No, not. Wars and Pandora, are you kidding? not the same, No, they are. i I just disagree, man. I don't think they're behind on this at all. They're just having built a whole new theme park that they could make everything immersive. Stupid. They're building little lands once at account one at a time. yeah Okay. So so let' let's let's just quickly compare um the monsters area. Yeah. It has a frigging flaming windmill, by the way. Yeah. so So at what point does the Millennium Falcon take off?
00:13:49
Speaker
a Good one, Trevor. I like that. Because... Also, that was six years ago. it was also six years ago it opened. Really? Six years ago? Okay. They they did they did a one-time, hey, we got a little TIE fighter drone.
00:14:06
Speaker
It went up, went down. That was it. They have flying dragons at Epic Universe. Yeah. Flying dragons. How long is that going to last? How long is that going last? Really? Longer than the one X-Wing. And that was only press, wasn't it? It's not going to last. It's not going to last at all. This is a hype thing. It's not going last at all. But even – OK. Even outside of the Flying Dragons, like they – have you seen those – the animatronic – so there's the Toothless meet and greet. Yeah. But then there's the little walking around like Toothless's kids. Yeah. Again. I'm sorry but – have these things. It's not – this is not a – What do they have?
00:14:42
Speaker
What do you talking about? What do they have? They've had animatronics like this for – they had 20 years ago they had animatronics. Where are they in the land that you're talking about? You're right. They aren't doing that anymore. They were doing – That's exactly the point. No, they should be doing it in Star Wars, right? they yeah when they wanted They initially said they were going to do this. just said Star Wars and this were the same and what we're telling you is they don't have X, Y, and Z.
00:15:01
Speaker
That's fair. No, I'm saying that the Star Wars is an immersive land. It's not that it's not as immersive. Again, it was six years ago. so a star Star Wars felt like you changed it. You just contradicted yourself. You said they've had these things for 20 years, but it was six years ago. So why didn't they just do it?
00:15:17
Speaker
No, I'm not contradicting myself at all. i'm taught I'm not talking about Star Wars from six years ago. I'm talking about they did they had Lucky the Dinosaur 20 years ago. like that's you're You're right. but that's literally contradicting okay but hold on hold on i think i'm gonna tap out on this i'm out anyway shape or form i'm out i'm out too trevor he doesn't get it that's fine no all right any dvc tips disagree i just disagree it's it's not it's not it tom it's okay though there's dvc tips or trips reports did we get no no no no hold on hold on hold on let reset for a second this this is nonsense okay
00:15:49
Speaker
No. So so if we're if we're talking but like I know you're bringing up like Disney has done all this stuff in the past. They're still doing it. All the lands they're opening, they're still doing it. No, but they aren't. but no that That's the thing is that. Oh, boy.
00:16:03
Speaker
OK, the latest thing that they did at Disney, which so Batuu has been open for like five years. They're just getting the droids that we thought what they were going to do at open.
00:16:14
Speaker
Five years later, in they should have done doing them. And, but the thing is, is Epic is doing all this stuff out of the gate. And then also the, so because it was built now, that's hold hold on. No, hold on. Hold on. like Hold on. let Let me finish. Let me finish i think my point here at all.
00:16:31
Speaker
The difference that I see between Star Wars Land and what I'm seeing at Epic Universe is Star Wars Land feels like I'm walking onto a set or Batuu feels like I'm walking onto a set.
00:16:41
Speaker
I don't think it's very static. There's not a lot of movement to it. Besides, yes, they do have character actors and They have animatronics out the open,
Animatronics & Immersive Features
00:16:50
Speaker
too. i mean there's No, they absolutely do.
00:16:52
Speaker
Where? Ron, that the the restaurant, they have that one animatronic that's cooking on the outside. They have other ones, too. They have the robots walk. They had the I've seen R2D2 floating around there before. I mean, it's not, you know, but but so i I don't see videos of this. And the times that I've been there, I've not seen those things moving. I'm just saying I did. I mean, this is every day you walk into the park at Epic.
00:17:15
Speaker
The thing is that all I've seen at Epic is... Who knows? that The windmill effect is amazing. Ridiculous. The the stuff in in Burke and and how to train your dragon. Again, there's there's lots of movement. There's lots of... there's lots of like Outside of people interacting, there's things that are just happening. like Even like the the the ice dragon or the ice wraith that's like up in the corner. It's like...
00:17:40
Speaker
You're not seeing that stuff at Disney right now. Like Disney does need to take notes on it because yes, you're you're right, Tom. They did. They did these lands and we're not taking away from the fact that those lands are cool.
00:17:53
Speaker
Yeah. But this is the next level that like the immersion part. so tre has yeah Did you see the food place in the monsters area? No, I have not Okay. So you have to look because this is one of the things that really gets me. So there's the, the chairs that exist in the eatery are awesome, but it looks like there's like a few chairs per table maybe.
00:18:17
Speaker
And on the top of the chairs, there's like a carved bat or a carved gargoyle, right? Things like that. And when I saw them, I immediately thought to myself, How long will those chairs be around? Oh, and and the silverware This is what I'm talking about.
00:18:33
Speaker
Yeah. Right? How long will there be black silverware there before people continue to take it? And will somebody actually like try to knock the tops off the chairs? See, like yeah you're making the point exactly, Damon. This is exactly what I'm saying.
00:18:47
Speaker
This is all happening now. They have all this cool stuff now. But when it breaks or people start stealing things or, you know, are they going to keep maintaining those dragons flying in the air when it costs them, you know, hundreds of thousands dollars to fix one? Probably Grab a dragon? Like, I'm just talking about silverware, man. No, but it's all of it. did that silverware work out of Pandora, by the way?
00:19:08
Speaker
it ah The silverware? No, you're talking about Star Wars. Yeah, the sport. And Pandora, too. Yeah, people stole them, and then they eventually started selling them. Which is why I feel like I have to go early, Trevor. it's like This is my point. It's like I have to go to see like all the stuff just in case something happens to it.
00:19:25
Speaker
This exactly what I'm talking about. Tom's comparing silverware to immersion. I'm just saying you always have the cool stuff at the beginning, and then things change as they go through operations. That's all saying.
00:19:36
Speaker
But you have to concede, Tom. Epic won only ah like if we're talking just about the flying animatronics. Oh, yeah. They've already won because they've had theirs in the air longer than Disney had theirs in the air.
00:19:49
Speaker
Yeah. But also think about let's think about six years ago where drones were then and where drones are now. right? So you're right. Yeah. could Absolutely. Go. I mean, sure. Disney could go and invest the money and start building what they, you know, a drone to fly around star Wars land all the time. Absolutely. They could do that.
00:20:05
Speaker
Right. So yeah, you're right. But I'm just saying we're, we're comparing something that, you know, obviously they haven't built ah a wholesale new land or a wholesale new park. And I mean, they've built a wholesale new park in 25 years.
00:20:17
Speaker
Right. So in, in, in Florida anyway, that's my only point. I'm not trying to say what they're not doing is better. It is better because it's, right now. It's happening right now. You know what I mean?
00:20:27
Speaker
Technology is moving so quickly, and the amount of stuff that they are able to do now that opposed to what they did, and i mean, even Star Wars Land, right? like Even though it opened, what? I'm so i saying six years. I think that's right. i i It was right before. It was right around there. It was right before COVID, yeah. But even then, the the technology that they used was three or four years before that. The stuff that's out there for an immersion factor is not new technology. It's just immersion. Right. Well, no you're no, because you're talking about flying things. You're talking about... I'm not.
World-Building Capabilities
00:20:56
Speaker
I'm just talking about the about the robot thing. You're talking about all all that stuff is newer technology. Disney wasn't doing the walking... Yeah, that's what I'm saying. like it's not I'm not saying that they're not doing it better. I'm just talking about just the world building itself.
00:21:09
Speaker
Yeah, sure. Even if we take out all the animatronics, the worlds look better. Like Trevor said, the the Star Wars stuff looks like this weird set. It doesn't feel immersive.
00:21:21
Speaker
Yeah, I don't I don't feel that way. But wait like I said, with without all the the the thing that gets me is, you know, when you take away all the like animatronics and everything else, there's very little kinetic movement is what I find.
00:21:38
Speaker
like Like that. Like, yes, it it looks like a canyon somewhere in on a on a planet yeah But nothing's moving. like like Disney used to do... And this gets me all the time. like you know When you look at at old pictures of Tomorrowland, back in like the 70s and 80s, there was so much kinetic movement. there was so like sure sure You saw stuff... you know you know like you know I know the people move are still a thing. it still zips by, but...
00:22:07
Speaker
they They stopped doing that. And in these new lands, it's like they built the set and they're like, yeah, here we got we got the whole set. But there's nothing there's nothing that draws your eye to it. Like, like again, i'm going to sorry I'm going to compare even Batuu to Cars Land. Like Cars Land, without Lightning McQueen showing up or anything...
00:22:30
Speaker
It has movement to it. There there is lighting. there is yeah There is a feel to it that it has that immersion. Like Disney can do that. They just seem to have dropped the ball on it the last couple of times. i Maybe in Florida. I mean, if you look at like some of the Asian parks.
00:22:47
Speaker
You're right. I'm not going outside of Florida. Yeah. But I guess that's what my point is, though, too. It's not that Disney's not capable of it. It's just like they're doing it at their other parks in Asia. They just haven't done it at Disney World. But is that a money thing? They wake up. It is a money thing. They start doing it. It's 100% a money thing. Because they don't own the whole parks over there. They basically have... They don't have unlimited budgets at the Asian parks, but they have much higher budgets, right? So they can do lot more. It makes me think about the Millennium Falcon, too. I just dislike... I don't know, man. Something... Even when I saw it for the first time, it just wasn't it.
00:23:19
Speaker
i thought i mean I think it looks ah looks pretty cool. but i mean yeah it looks it's so It looks pretty accurate. yeah but But it needs... There has to be stuff going on with it. I know that they have the sound effects. They have the smoke coming off of it sometimes.
00:23:33
Speaker
But yeah it needs to be more it needs to be more prevalent because you know this is what like you can't stand around for two hours hoping to see it. It has to be something that yeah happens enough that you catch it as you're walking through the land. I agree. I i guess what my point is, I'm saying as a company, they can do it.
Children & Immersion Perception
00:23:52
Speaker
They're doing it in their other parks. they just not doing it at Disney World like they could be. You know what i mean? That's all i'm saying. Yeah. like and And I hope that they wake up to that soon. Yeah, sure. Epic is is a you know that's a call out to them that you know Disney needs to pay attention to what Epic is doing. And I'm sure they are. Absolutely. I'm curious what was the food's like.
00:24:09
Speaker
I think I might have hop on a Food Time episode when I come back. You're not allowed on Food Time. Just to talk about the universal foods. I mean, we're not, i we weren't going to do a special intro for when he's on that. So it should just change the song to say Damon is here? Because he went to Universal and he needed to eat the pretzel, garlic pretzel steak.
00:24:30
Speaker
Which looks kind interesting. i just saw an article, by the way, that if you do like the monster experience that you're not allowed to drink afterwards, like they won't serve you alcohol if you've done the monster paint thing. And I'm thinking maybe they just don't like drunk monsters. That totally tracks. It does track. I just thought it was funny. What if I got face painted?
00:24:49
Speaker
What if I did it? oh i would But see, that would be funny, Damon, if you got your face painted and then posted a picture of yourself with your face painted because you're not showing your face. I would do that. Listen, the podcast I would have to pay for, it I couldn't possibly in like any good faith like pay for that volunteer for that even if i had the money like i couldn't in good faith do such as as the entire board of welcome home podcast llc i i approve i approve this expense it depends the problem is is how long is it that's still the dilemma feel like but i would totally do it like i just don't know what i would even want do i go frankenstein don't go dracula yeah like wolfman like i don't know i would i would go wolfman
00:25:29
Speaker
Wolfman would be the way to go. I think Frankenstein's monster would be kind of cool too, I guess. Yeah. Look, I listen, I don't, I feel like my, my opinion on these things is getting, maybe it's getting skewed by myself by not explaining myself well enough.
00:25:42
Speaker
Epic universe looks awesome. They did an amazing job. I'm just saying that I think Disney does that too. They're just not doing it here. Like they should be like, that's really what it is. But hopefully to your point, Trevor,
00:25:53
Speaker
you know, having this down the street from them pushes them to do it here and actually commit to doing it here. It just, know we haven't seen anything in the cut to suggest that yet. So we just hope. Yeah.
00:26:04
Speaker
and And that goes back to the point of, you know, Disney's not announcing anything right now. They're probably waiting until... hope Cars Land is, like, going to be fire. Like, I hope Cars Land is just, like... mean, if if it's anything like Radiator Springs in in California Adventure, like, it'll be amazing. Yeah, I mean, yeah. Like, that that was that's one of the few places, like, the first time I walked into the land, I was like, whoa.
00:26:26
Speaker
Like, this this is really cool. Yeah. And that's the thing. We know so little about the projects they're working on. And that's probably, like you said, it's probably on purpose, right? Like they, they know that Epic's going to suck all the air out of the room, right? Like that's, you know, they're going to release things after thing, you know, things quiet down a little bit more, but you know, it's somebody posted this in the discord. And i this is, I think the correct read on, it and I've said this for a long time. And, and it was Scott Gustin, the guy that does, ah that does probably like the foremost theme park journalist, if that's a profession, but he said, yeah,
00:26:57
Speaker
Nobody at Universal expects Epic to be a Disney killer and nobody at Disney expects Epic to be you know Disney killer. And both of them hope that that's true because neither one of them, they would be in a lot of trouble if if ah they do well because each other is anyway. I still think there's a very distinct audience skew each part. course yeah you're not You're not seeing princesses at at Universal, right? like You're not seeing sign a Dracula now.
00:27:24
Speaker
That's a little different. it's It isn't apple to apples to apples. You're right. I don't think it will ever be. No, it won't be. But there's no reason they can't take notes from each other. Sure. They're running a different race, but they can both. So here's an interest interesting note.
00:27:40
Speaker
Do little kids even care? I mean, my white like it's interesting now because now it's like, hmm, do I need that immersion for kids that are four? Well, that's so care about immersion. I don't know. yeah I will argue that, you know, if you want talk about that immersion, like some of my memories my earliest memories of Disney became like core memories that.
00:28:02
Speaker
stuck with me for years even though i like when i was a kid it was five years between trips for me yeah and just that going to those parks was enough that it stuck in my head for years so well i mean and did the details do that though like because i feel like i didn't really appreciate the parks until i was older and really noticed the the level of detail of things But that's, that's the wild thing is that I think when you're a kid, you like, you do kind of fill in some of the blanks with imagination yeah and you know, you don't notice all the details, but then there's, there are things that you may notice that, that like for me, like the, the Yeti in, um, the Matterhorn, like that stuck with me. Like, like it was, it was like a split second thing that happened on the ride. If you think about like, it's, it's like maybe a second that you see it, that stuck with me.
00:28:53
Speaker
So I get that, you know, there is something to be said for, yeah, you know, they don't have to go for like the lowest bar, you know, oh, nobody's going to notice. But and also the same thing, like my son with with Cars Land, like he was very into cars the first time we went there and you could see it on his face. Like, you know, he was he was all about it. And and again, that was something where like it even after we left, you know,
00:29:16
Speaker
it It was a source of excitement for him that, you know, when we said, oh, we're going back to this. like, we're going to go to cars again. It's like, yes. You know, yeah how it does. It does matter for the kids as much as it does for us, you know, as the the adults, like, you know, combing through all the details with a fine tooth comb.
00:29:32
Speaker
But it does need to be there for the kids, too. And, and you know, sure kids deserve to be wowed as much as the parents do. I mean, I think it's a lot easier, though, to impress you when you're five than when you're 30.
00:29:44
Speaker
thirty You know, but that but that's actually the beauty of it is that that thing that impresses you when you're five, yeah when you become 30, you appreciate you appreciate it more. The thought that went into it and how they did it. Right. Yeah.
00:29:56
Speaker
Yeah. so yeah i Listen, i it's it's really it's it's this it is an interesting conversation around this, right? Because i you know I totally understand what you guys are saying, and I agree with you. They've they've created extraordinarily immersive park, right?
Star Wars Land's Unrealized Potential
00:30:10
Speaker
Do I think if Disney built a wholesale brand new park from scratch now that they could do that? Yeah, I do think they could. But they're just not doing that. Everything's been so piecemeal. You know, it's like you land here, a land there. it It makes it a little harder to have a cohesive thing. But they should still do those things. You know, they should still do more of that. And they, you know, Star Wars was supposed to be that.
00:30:31
Speaker
Remember, there was like games you were supposed to play. You were supposed to like have a reputation that gets built up. And you remember all that stuff that was supposed to be there. And then for some reason, it all got abandoned. i don't know if it was a COVID thing or what happened there, but that was all supposed to be part of it.
00:30:45
Speaker
I hate to say it, but I think part of it was that the it is a reflection of their leadership at various points. Chappick, unfortunately, he did cut a lot of stuff out. And you're still seeing the ramifications of that. is that There's a lot of things that we we talk about we miss. that we're you know that you know To your point, you know there's things that used to be in the parks. sure They're not there anymore because ah they decided to cut budgets. you know Even going so far as... like you know, in Hollywood studios, the... ah the um The actors on the street, yeah. Yeah, the actors on... I forget what they were called, but... People of...
00:31:21
Speaker
people of hollywood boulevards yeah it was yeah something like that they did that yeah they had all that right yeah so so you know just taking things like that out has just really flattened the experience it's made it dull i think what happens sometimes too and i don't know how many people actually realize this but imagineering creates everything they build everything right and then when they're done with that they hand everything off to operations at the parks and believe it or not they're like separate entities right like they're totally separate entities I work in projects, I understand. and Project to ops transitions. Exactly. so But what happens, I think, sometimes in that is that ops is like, well, we can't do this. You know what I mean? like it' It's not maintainable or you know it's not built in a way that they can. can do it yeah so it's like yeah that was a great idea but is it practical probably not uh you know because we talked about this bunch of times too if and and you know i don't know how this is going to shake out at at universal either but like you know the whole droid thing the roaming droid droid thing you know and i damon you've said this many times where like if just there's a droid roaming around how long till a kid jumps on top of it and breaks it
00:32:25
Speaker
like five minutes, right? Like, and that's like probably why they, did they cut back on that in the first place. But I mean, they still developed it. You can actually, there was a, there was a whole thing on Disney plus where you could watch them with the free roaming droids that they built for galaxy's edge. It just never did. And just never put out there, you know, ah for one reason or another. I mean, you know we don't really know the reason why, but there, you know, probably is one.
00:32:47
Speaker
ah But yeah, I listen, I, I agree with you, Trevor. I hope that they do that based on the pressure
Leadership Decisions & Impact
00:32:52
Speaker
of competition. i mean, you know, it's, it's It's something I hope they do, yeah.
00:32:58
Speaker
Okay. Anyway, we we totally got off track once again. You know, I think that we should just put it on the rundown that, you know, Epic Universe talk for the first 30 minutes.
00:33:09
Speaker
I just, i just i I feel like I need to, like, if we're going to keep doing this, I need to actually, like, you know, have my thoughts better in line here because I feel like I don't do a good enough job of saying what my point of view is on this. um Because i feel like I feel like everyone thinks I'm just being, like, a hater, and I'm not at all. I'm totally fine with, you know...
00:33:25
Speaker
i get i get you're trying to see both sides of it. um And, told you know, i I agree with you there that, you know, Disney, I don't discount the stuff that Disney has done. But, i know you know, the whole thing about Epic Universe is that it just shows where, hey, there is room for improvement. There is room for, you know, if you drop $7 billion. Yeah.
00:33:45
Speaker
Oh, right. I mean, even even, you know, the the windmill did not cost seven billion dollars. Like, yeah you know, it was an entire theme park. You know, the windmill is one part of it. Oh, no, of course. Yeah.
00:33:57
Speaker
You know, Disney could do stuff like the windmill. They just haven't. But anyway, let's ah so we do have some listener questions. I would really like to actually like should we try and get through our listener questions? There's no tips.
00:34:10
Speaker
Wait, there's no tips? Oh, do we have tips? Not this week. or We're still. so That's such a disappointment. We'll get them eventually. It it it takes time for these things. Okay. So for for anybody listening, you know, please call into our tip line. That is 833-WHP-TIPS.
00:34:27
Speaker
And, you know um know, we call fake ones in. You go ahead, do it. i don't care. you will when I want hear you do like a fake voice and I'll play that on this. That says AI. It's super easy. Just do an AI voice. Okay. Yeah.
00:34:41
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Well, that's fine. Do that. um Can we. Can I call it right now? Like what would happen if I called right now while i was on the i don't know. it would be probably probably be good to test it out. i ah ah Why don't we do our ad and then we can talk about this other stuff. Okay.
00:34:54
Speaker
Okay, all right. Yeah, we will we'll start the ad here. So and this week, our sponsor is DVC Rental Store, which is a world of DVC company that offers magical vacations at an incredible value.
DVC Promotions & Resort Tips
00:35:07
Speaker
Save up to 60% off retail rates at Disney Resorts. DVC Rental Store now includes deposits as low as 25% at the time of booking and a built-in cancellation policy for every reservation. As always, DVC Rental Store pays out the most to members looking to rent their points.
00:35:21
Speaker
Want to learn more? Go to DVCrentalStore.com slash welcomehome or call 1-855-DVCRENT. That's 382-7368. And when you speak to them, be sure to let them know that Welcome Home sent you.
00:35:33
Speaker
I also want to mention, you too, there's something else in here. Yeah. Yeah. so you You added an extra. i did. i didn't i I didn't tell you that. I should have probably said that beforehand. ah Yeah. So DVC Rental Star wanted our listeners to know that if you're if you're looking to rent points right now, they are offering a huge promotion right now. They're offering their lowest points of the ah prices of the year to rent.
00:35:52
Speaker
ah DVC rooms so ah go check that out because there're they're offering big discounts right now so ah you know definitely go and check out the site and see you know especially if you wanted to try out DVC there's no better way of you know trying out before you buy it than renting right so yeah I think this is the first time that we've done the ad without actually even being in the show yet And I think it's the first time that I'm actually going to be on the show where I'm not even going to get to the first thing on the show. i mean, probably. Yeah, that sounds right crazy.
00:36:22
Speaker
That does sound. I mean, the only thing I would say is that like I looked at the questions and the only one that actually is is of interest that I'm going to answer before I go so I can get ready for church is um I would stay if I had to have a relatively relaxing trip.
00:36:36
Speaker
What DVC resort would I stay at? Um, that's from Jason G by the way. he Yeah. from Jason G, I guess it would have to be probably old key. So I could play tennis.
00:36:47
Speaker
I mean, i don't know if that's relaxing for other people, but if I'm having a relaxing trip, it needs to be as cheap point wise as possible. And the ability to play tennis. See, I don't care. If I'm having a relaxing trip, I don't really care about the point value.
00:36:59
Speaker
i feel like because i' I feel like at that point, if I'm just going to like hang out at the resort, then I don't really care about the ticket price. like I don't care about the price because I'm not paying for tickets. You know what i mean? I know it's still points. I can go to any resort I want.
00:37:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. i For me, the criteria is, is it an area that's maybe quiet and has something to look at or you know is relaxing? So for me, I would say two different places. I would say Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom.
00:37:25
Speaker
And again, maybe I'm just being you know like a homer here but um by saying Animal Kingdom. But you can sit out on your porch and watch animals all day if you want to. there's you know but It's a pretty cool thing to watch. So you know a lot of people would...
00:37:37
Speaker
would like doing that i would do i i've done it before we've we've done half you know midday breaks where we've just sat out there and watched the animals for a couple hours it's it's a nice relaxing thing to do yeah trevor's gonna say polly no no no i actually answer to this i mean paul polly is definitely one that i would stay at but i mean if i'm looking at criteria for a place to relax like for me the the things that i care about um um you know is ah you know I like to spend time by the pool if I'm just having a relaxing trip. So you know Wilderness Lodge is still on the table for me. like I think they have ah you know a great pool area. And I think that ah overall, the the feel of the resort, like you can just wander around the resort and...
00:38:21
Speaker
And, you know, just look at stuff and that's fine. The other thing, though, that I think is is important if you're just staying at a resort is um food options. So, yeah, yeah, I think Wilderness Lodge is actually a good choice because they do have they have ah a couple of different food options there. So, like, you don't always have to hit the quick service. You can go to um sorry, what's it called? cant What's the the one where they bring you like way too much ketchup?
00:38:48
Speaker
um You're talking about Whispering Canyon? Whispering Canyon. Yeah. Thank you. yeah I knew was Canyon something. um Yeah. So like Whispering Canyon, there's the storybook dining there as well. Like, you know, for something again, you know, a bit more expensive. But but I think, you know, a place like that is a great, ah you know, just staying on staying at the resort kind of place because there is lots of options. I would also even go so far as to say, um Staying at the Riviera is a good one um because it is kind of or it's central to a lot of other resorts for for that point of, you know, having places to go and eat if you're not going into the parks.
00:39:31
Speaker
um Riviera is a good one because you can you can get on the Skyliner and hop to a couple of different resorts to go and have different different food options. Yeah. That's a good point.
00:39:42
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's a good point. I can see myself hanging out there. like That would be good. All right. Well, that's a good question. i See, I liked i liked the that Dan's question of how many points would you be willing to spend to stay in the new poly model villa inside the Canadian Pavilion?
00:39:58
Speaker
kind of like a i had to read this question like three times. when he was i was like, poly villa? getting it. yeah Where? that Yeah, right. Okay. So so the the demo the demo villa they have...
00:40:10
Speaker
Inside of the Canada Pavilion, which... Yes. let Let's not assume that there's actual, like, proper plumbing. No, there's definitely not, right? Yeah. um But how many points to stay in there?
00:40:23
Speaker
i mean, if it was, like, Cinderella Castle, ooh, I mean... the The hard part is like like in my head, I was like, well, it would, you know, i would, I wouldn't pay any more than I would to stay in a bungalow, I guess. So, so like, you know, the, however much it is like 300 points a night or whatever it is, whatever exorbitant to amount it is. i haven't looked at the point values for the bungalow in a while.
00:40:49
Speaker
Um, actually, so I don't even think it's 300. I think it's like 150 a night or something like that. But, uh, it, yeah, Yeah. Like to me, it feels like it would have to be a lot of points because you are staying in a park, right?
Value of Theme Park Stays
00:41:04
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. But then there is also the point of, because you're staying in a park that actually, that actually does detract from it a little bit because you're not really go anywhere at night. Yeah. Yeah. It's not, it's not like you, it's not like you have free roam of the park after hours, or if you did, that would be, that would be insane.
00:41:24
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Um, Yeah, I mean, yeah, I wouldn't pay any more than I would pay for a bungalow. I guess that thats that's my limit on how many points I would pay that. I mean, that that makes sense to me. ah Yeah, I because it's like.
00:41:41
Speaker
just trying to think here. Like, you know, it what would you pay for the Cinderella suite at Magic Kingdom? Is that a different equation, right? It's like, that's a different amount because it's Magic Kingdom and you're in the castle and it's like the crown jewel kind of thing. where And it's far more bougie than staying in like a a clone of the the Polynesian villas.
00:42:02
Speaker
Yeah. No, that that makes sense. That makes sense. um Yeah. don't I don't know, man. I think it would have to be, it would have to be a lot of points, like a ton of points. Yeah, I don't know. it's a good I thought it was an interesting question, though. i thought It is.
00:42:17
Speaker
i like It sounds cool on paper, but when I start thinking about it practically, like there's many other places I would actually stay before I would want to go into one of the... or go stay in the Canada Pavilion.
00:42:32
Speaker
Especially, like... Inside reading inside the Canada pavilion, it's like, why would I go all the way down to Florida and stay in a pavilion that is, you know, a clone of Canada where I'm from?
00:42:46
Speaker
Yeah. yeah yeah Right. Like it it seems to me, it seems a little silly to to like go all the way to Florida to stay in in a pavilion that I i live in. Well, i think for you, you have to pretend like it's another pavilion, right? Like, what if it's like the French pavilion or something? they I don't know.
00:43:06
Speaker
Yeah, fair. If it was another country pavilion, I would probably be a little more interested because because there is also the aspect of you yeah you know you have to stay in the room, but I feel like you know even leading up to clothes you know park close, I would spend time exploring the pavilion or whatever, but if it's the Canada pavilion, i it's not that I don't like the Canada pavilion. I definitely you know stop and kind you know I'll poke my head in there every time I go by, but it's usually from a lens of like, yeah, that looks, this looks like a gift shop that I've seen in Vancouver. Like, well, yeah, that's, I mean, that's, that's what it is. Right. Yeah.
00:43:45
Speaker
yeah Yeah. That makes sense. Uh, okay. Well, I, I like those questions as I thought there were some, some fun ones in there. So that's good. Um, we were going to talk about, but we kind of already talked about the test track vehicles. I,
00:43:56
Speaker
Like I said, I want to see with this how this fits into the larger thing. If they made them black so that it blends in with the rest of it and you can't really see them, i I think that could be cool. But I understand the thought of wanting to make them you know something cooler than that.
00:44:09
Speaker
I mean, the you know to that point, the the whole thing is is the ride is called Test Track, which assumes it is about the vehicles, right? It's not about... or or it should be about the vehicles, but it's not like they're, if they're trying to blend in the vehicles with the background, that's, it's an interesting choice, but I guess we'll have to see what the intent is when the the ride actually reopens.
00:44:34
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. That's what I'm wondering. Yeah. So we'll, we'll have to see what happens. Yeah. All right. Um, this next piece you have on here, VIP pass holder days returning to Walt Disney world summer 2025. Yeah. Yeah.
00:44:48
Speaker
yeah what so i don't remember what this was it was just like special events for pass holders right but i guess i mean the times that i had an annual pass i was never able to partake never able to go events yeah yeah yeah but like you know these special events never run whenever i'm there because i'm never there during a busy time i guess i feel like all this stuff is happening like right after we leave like there's so many things that are happening starting after we're gone Which, i I mean, makes sense because that this is that – or, you know, we're heading into May, which is that, you know, lead up to the
VIP Passholder Days Return
00:45:27
Speaker
start of summer. So, yeah, I think i think a lot of things kind of start, you know, end of May going into June, right?
00:45:33
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Actually, yeah, this says it starts May 14th, which is – I'll be there, but, again, I won't have an i won't have an annual pass, so Yeah, the last last time they did this, they had a special pass holder magnet. They had like discounts, and then they had that lounge. They had a pass holder lounge.
00:45:50
Speaker
Right. And then some other like random perks, too. So like that's pretty much what it is. but What I've been trying to figure out Trevor, and I actually asked this on the Discord, and and this is, you know, kind of, sort of relevant to this, is should I buy the membership magic membership Magic Beyond, even though I'm only going to be there for two days, and I may not go again this year?
00:46:12
Speaker
Like, is it worth it to spend the $100 for the two days that I'm going to be there? I'm going to be in both parks that have lounges, so There's that. And just for the, yeah um you get the PhotoPass, right?
00:46:27
Speaker
Yeah. so So just for the fact that PhotoPass is built into it, i mean, because yeah like you're you're at that point where you're really going to make use of PhotoPass. Like even for those couple of days, I assume you're going to be going and doing like character meets and stuff like that. Yeah, that so exactly. Exactly.
00:46:46
Speaker
So, I mean, yeah, between that and, the you know, getting, getting, you know, fast passes to the lounge. um Yeah, I don't think it's I don't think it's a bad idea to to go for it. Like, it because because it it it is cheaper than getting Memory Maker, right?
00:47:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So it's that right there is your answer. Yeah. Well, that's not what I mean. Here's the thing. How much am I really going to use Memory Maker over two days? i don't know.
00:47:17
Speaker
Oh, you can. You can use it a I can go out of my way to do it. Yeah. i yeah and And I mean, the the thing is, is it's you know it's every ride that you go on and it's every...
00:47:28
Speaker
character meet at like, like, and even like there's like those photos you do and, you know, in front of the the castle and stuff like the zoom out photos and everything. Um, that's true. that's true Yeah. Like, like those things don't take very long.
PhotoPass Considerations
00:47:40
Speaker
Like, and I guess the thing is is if you know you have it, like, you know, every time we've gone and we've had, um you know, you know, memory maker, photo pass, whatever um we've gone out of our way, I guess that you like, you know, we're, we're walking our way to ride, but if you see like a photo pass cast member, you know, we'll just stop and be like, Hey, you know, can we get a photo? Like, like, like most of the ah there's a lot of, there's a lot of good photo ops stuff that, you know, it's not necessarily character meets, but there is like,
00:48:10
Speaker
you can You can definitely make use of it because yeah because there's a lot more PhotoPass cast members than you realize. and Because they're they're doing like the the magic shots and stuff like that, right?
00:48:22
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah, I guess I could do that. There, have I talked you into it sufficiently? Hey. I mean, you know, probably. Yeah. but Just do it. Just go for it, Tom. Yeah, that's what going to do. On the flip side, I i was actually... So i I was looking at this, too, because we're going to be there. And and i was like, do I get Memory Maker? But then... um I thought about it and i realized that, you know, we're not. So on the flip side, you know you know, my brother and I are going to be there.
00:48:54
Speaker
We're not going to be stopping for like like photo, you know, character meets and stuff too much. My wife was very disappointed because she wanted us to go and do the Transformers um ah where you meet. Yeah.
00:49:05
Speaker
o Megatron. Yeah. And, and we, and I said, now we're probably like, we, we want to hit rides and stuff. we're We're not going to start for this. She stopped for this. She was very disappointed when she heard that because that's her, her kind of stuff. Right. She would love to do that. Yeah. She loves like character meets and all that. oh okay. I got, um, but, uh, but I realized that while we're there, um Because or so we're going to be doing all the rides and i and I was going to pay for Memory Maker.
00:49:34
Speaker
So was like, you know, i want to make sure that we at least get a ride photos. But then I realized that if you get the the premier lightning lane, that does include ride photos.
00:49:45
Speaker
It does. Yeah. So I was like, I get do that, though. Yeah, it's the the premier lightning lane is actually looking a lot more attractive because One, it gets us – so it also does include um lightning lanes for the the normal rides that are individual, so like Tron and Guardians.
00:50:05
Speaker
Yeah. Those get included in the premiere, but then also it includes the ride photos. So I'm thinking I might just skip on on Memory Maker altogether and just use – the premier photo pass. it And I know it is like, I'm not saving money on it, but it is a huge time savings for us, which like, you know, like you, we, this is, this is my only trip to Disney world this year. And it's my brother's only trip. I don't know when he's going to go back or he will go back at some point, I think with, with his family, but it's probably going to be years out for him. yeah,
00:50:43
Speaker
Like, again, this comes down to, you know, the whole time versus money thing. So, so it's funny that like, I'm talking you into like, you know, you should, get you should get this thing to get cheaper than memory maker, but I'm going for the more expensive thing that like, yeah, I, it would actually be better for me to get memory maker and just, you know, you know, deal with lightning lanes. And I, you know, I could just get the regular,
00:51:06
Speaker
um ah multipass But I'm leaning towards the premier right now because I feel like it's going to be of more value to me than then getting all those separate pieces.
00:51:18
Speaker
Right? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That makes sense. yeah I actually looked into doing the premier pass for what a Magic Kingdom because they they show you the prices ahead of time now. It was $400 a person. And I was like, no.
00:51:32
Speaker
That's more than the tickets for two days. Yeah. Yeah, I know. Like, like that's the thing is I know it's expensive, but that for us, it's going to be kind of a, you know, this is a this is a once it's a once in a lifetime thing in the in the fact that it's me and my brother on a trip without our families. So, yeah, it's different. we are yeah Yeah. You know, I think we can justify it a little bit more.
00:51:58
Speaker
I mean, that makes sense. yeah That makes sense. So. Yeah. Okay. but why don't we Why don't we just do one more thing here, Trevor? Sure. And then I was thinking we'd talk about this Hong Kong Disneyland thing because I i thought it sounded kind of interesting.
00:52:11
Speaker
All right. And then, you know, whatever else we had on here, we could do at a later time. so Yeah, maybe we can... Right? Yeah. Because, yeah, we we do... or we We have to figure out some waitlist stuff too, which, uh, cause since we're both going to be gone, we're not going to have shows coming up here in a couple of weeks. So yeah, and we're going to have a couple of, or one, maybe two waitlist. We haven't decided that yet.
00:52:33
Speaker
Yeah, we will, free we'll figure it out. But yeah, since we're going be gone, there's going to be, you know, it's going to be some stuff. So. Okay. So Hong Kong
Hong Kong Disneyland's 20th Anniversary
00:52:40
Speaker
Disney. Yeah. They're celebrating their 20th anniversary and they're doing some cool stuff. First of all, just this first picture, Trevor, you know what I'm going to say?
00:52:48
Speaker
The drones look fantastic. That's a lot of drones. First of all, number one and number two, that looks incredible. I mean, I don't know if this is concept art or if they, yeah I was going to say, is is is that real or is that like it?
00:53:03
Speaker
It's really hard to tell. Honestly, it looks real to me. It looks real to me. I got to zoom in on this. like Yeah. Cause so the, the, basically this is all part of that show, ah the show that they're having ah that they're debuting, debuting called momentous, which is going to have a special anniversary version.
00:53:21
Speaker
And it's going to have these projections and they, although it's funny cause they don't, what do they, they don't even mention the drones in the, in here. Oh no, they do say it. Okay. With drones, water projections, choreographed water ah fountains, flames, lasers, lighting, pyrotechnics.
00:53:36
Speaker
It's lot of stuff. Like, I mean, i don't know if these are actual pictures or not, Trevor. They certainly look like they're real. I'm yeah, I'm I'm literally like zooming in really hard. Yeah. Like like I'm trying to figure out if there's like weird it looks too shadowing and stuff. Yeah, it's too perfect. yeah Well, yeah, the the thing is, is that the like It looked like the surrounding area. This looks like yeah like the the trees and everything look real. It doesn't look like, so you know, character or, you know, concept art interpretation of trees, which are usually very fuzzy.
00:54:12
Speaker
Yeah. So I'm inclined to say that this is the the majority of the the image is real. I don't know. I feel like the drones could have been put in there because it baby it doesn't.
00:54:28
Speaker
Some of these drones I've seen are really crisp. I mean, they're really well done. you know like they're They look this good, I feel like. Yeah. but And then the problem is is because you've got the castle production projection too. like like That's really... like And we know like like castle projections also look you know you know out of this world.
00:54:46
Speaker
Sure, yeah. everything Everything combined here just makes it it makes it look like it's it's concept art. But if this is how it really looks, that's going to be a cool show. 100%, right? And I'm just looking at it. It just looks... I mean, it it it looks like a real photo. It really does. So I don't know.
00:55:03
Speaker
Yeah. Because usually you can tell with concept art, but this looks like they took a photo. Now, maybe they took a real photo and then enhanced it a little bit. and you know I'm leaning towards that. Yeah. Yeah.
00:55:14
Speaker
Yeah. Like I said, and looking at these other photos, like, you know, the the details of like the surrounding hills and, you know, the trees and everything, it all looks accurate to the, the other photos on here. It does. Yeah.
00:55:28
Speaker
Like it doesn't. Yeah. Like, like compared to the concept art stuff, like the, the backgrounds are usually very like, fu like, you know, they do it on purpose. You know, the background is just very fuzzy and yeah ah this is I feel like this is what people are going to get for the show. Yeah.
00:55:42
Speaker
Well, I mean, and also, too, if you scroll down to see the parade, this friend-tastic parade, they have a picture of the float. And that float looks so vivid that it doesn't look real either. But then if you go down, you can see the concept art. And actually, I feel like it almost looks better than the concept art. Yeah.
00:55:57
Speaker
yeah You know what the float reminds me of? um You know that scene in Hook where they're eating the the imaginary meal and then it becomes yeah real? And there's ever there's like all the like plates of like whipped cream or whatever? yeah It kind of looks like that. like it It looks like colored icing or whipped cream, which is it's weird. But like again, it's you're right. It's very cool. like it It looks unreal.
00:56:25
Speaker
unreal yeah It does. Which I mean, that that means, yeah, they you know they' they've definitely done a good job on on these floats and and all the stuff that they're there you know proposing here for the 20th anniversary. And even the ah the projections on Main Street look...
00:56:43
Speaker
amazing Like, again, it's. Yeah, it just all looks so vivid. Yeah, I think those are. i And actually, yeah, to that point, I think it's, you know, whatever camera they're using, they're they're using like, you know, night sight, which gives you a very, ah very, you know, strong picture of any lighting, basically. Right. So. Yeah.
00:57:04
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, it's the this sorry that this goes back to what we were talking about earlier that, yeah, you know, the the parks overseas do a really great job of, you know, immersion and like, you know, you know, really wowing you.
Desire for Drone Shows at Disney World
00:57:21
Speaker
And I just hope we see stuff like this in Florida sometime soon because. Yeah, I agree. Like this drone show or, you know, all the stuff that they're doing with the castle with the drone show and everything.
00:57:33
Speaker
I really want to see that. Like, I want to see that happen in Florida. I hope that Disney has something up their sleeve to do that. Yeah, I mean, i there's no reason why they can't. i just i mean, maybe there is. Maybe there's a good reason why they can't do the drone shows in Florida. I don't know, right?
00:57:50
Speaker
But like you think they would have done it by now. I mean, they did you know at Disney Springs for a little but while, but why is there no drone portion of Happily Ever After, right? Like... They could, they could just add it on. They don't even need to do a new show for it. They just make a drone portion of happily ever after.
00:58:04
Speaker
You know, I think, I think they, you know, they closed down part of fast land because of the fireworks. Right. Cause it's, it's a safety thing. I feel like they need to have a plan in place if they're doing a drone show, because it, know, drones fall out of the sky, if there's a failure or whatever,
00:58:20
Speaker
I think it's just making sure that, but you know, somebody can pick them up in Fantasyland before they open the the walkways back up to the public. Yeah, yeah, yeah. i know Because i could I could also see the other side of this too, where something like like not just the the safety part of, yeah, you know, a drone failed and and fell down.
00:58:40
Speaker
But what if what if a drone fell like into the middle of Fantasyland and somebody picked it up and walked away with it before a cast member could get to it? like Yeah, yeah i' I could see that. I mean, they'd have to have the drones like where they shoot the fireworks off, you know? Because they shoot the fireworks off like back in like that employee parking lot area, like way behind Magic Kingdom. You'd have to have them displaying there.
00:59:03
Speaker
but But not all... so So the reason that they close off Fantasyland is that there are some fireworks that go off immediately inside of Fantasyland. That's true, yes. Off the castle, yes. Yeah, so... So they could do it. And I think the thing is, is yeah, do we, or yeah, you're right. they They could do it one way or the other, where they either do them like really like immediately in front of the castle or like next to the castle or um yeah do them really far back so that, you know, either way they're, they're not, or, you know, people aren't in the path of where, where the drones would, would be, but yeah would be if like, you know, thinking about how failures would, would go, you know, cause literally you have large plastic objects pulling out of the sky.
00:59:43
Speaker
but yeah, it's large, heavy objects like that. Yeah. Yeah. Rough. So, yeah, but, but you're right. Like I feel like, I feel like Disney, you know they They should be doing that or they could have done that in the last couple years. And I just feel like somebody missed the boat on it.
01:00:01
Speaker
and the guy is see But the guy that's the head of the nighttime shows, is has like he said like a couple of years ago, he's like, drone shows are coming to Disney World. They're coming. like it's There's obviously something stopping them from doing it. I don't know what it is, but there's something.
01:00:17
Speaker
Yeah. ah Because they they want to do it. I mean, they and they they do it everywhere else. Right. Like, and there's no reason why they can't do it. Well, and that's a weird thing. Right. yeah like like That's exactly the point is that, you know, we we're seeing it so many other places and it's like.
01:00:32
Speaker
it does the The absence of it is actually speaking louder than if they did it but did it poorly. Sure, yeah. like you know you know when everybody you know You're seeing it in Hong Kong, Disney, and all that. And then it's like you're turning to Florida and you're like, guys, why are you not doing this? And it's like...
01:00:51
Speaker
There's got to be a reason. there just There has to be some sort of reason why they haven't done it yet. i just i just tend to believe that there's they want to do it. There's no reason for them not to. But there's there's probably there's probably something. right like There's probably something with safety or getting approval. or i don't know.
01:01:07
Speaker
there There has to be something stopping them. i just don't no but it We just don't know. We have no idea what it is. We don't have a source inside of... you know the entertainment group where yeah i mean tell us what's going on but you you know i guess i guess if you really want to see it tom you got to start figuring out a trip to hong kong oh god that's not happening anytime soon that's way too long of a flight come on it'll be fine you you could you could do like you could do one flight to like california and then you could get on another plane to hong kong and it's just that that sounds like a lot how about you go to hong kong to I mean, i i want to go to Japan before I go to Hong Kong. But yeah, I mean, I guess i guess if if I'm heading over there, I could probably, you know.
01:01:45
Speaker
Just get on over there. Swing that. All this I have a friend that did that trip, actually. He went to Japan and then went to visit family in Hong Kong. So. That's cool. Yeah. I'll ask him how that played out. No.
01:01:57
Speaker
right, Trevor, let's wrap this up. I do want to say first that we are going to have a food time episode this week. We are going to do our first food time. And I think I mentioned before, this this is going to be a video podcast. This is going to be our first one that we're doing, obviously. So production value, not going to be where we want it to be yet, but we're going to get there. so We have to start somewhere and it's going to be a mess and it'll be fine.
01:02:15
Speaker
Yes, it will be fine. i We still got the song. It's still there. it's so The graphic part, not going to be there yet, but we're we'll get there. so Wrap us up. Okay. So, uh, yeah, as usual, you know, for anything you heard about on the show, if you have your own trip reports or things that you want to, uh, you know, you know, share tips with us, you know, so you can always email us though at welcome home podcast at gmail.com. Um, we love hearing from you guys and, you know hearing what, uh,
01:02:43
Speaker
what you have going on with your Disney planning and all that. And similarly, we are on social media. So you can find us on Facebook as Welcome Home Podcast. You can find us on YouTube as Welcome Home Podcast.
Listener Engagement & Merchandise
01:02:54
Speaker
And you find us on Instagram as Welcome Home Picks.
01:02:56
Speaker
Make sure on Facebook, you check out our group, Welcome Home Disney Waitlist, where we talk about stuff from the shows. There's... There's memes that pop up in there. i see I am seeing the memes. My wife and i we've we've been watching in the group. I appreciate all you that are putting in the memes about stuff that we're talking about on the show.
01:03:13
Speaker
um very you know Very funny. um you know Love seeing that again. you know Keep it coming because you know we we love a good meme. But also, if you want to talk about stuff for you know planning your own trips, all that kind of stuff, you know the wait list is a great place to talk about that stuff.
01:03:31
Speaker
um Also, if you want to help support the show, you can go to store.walkonhomepodcast.com and check out our different merch on there. Again, if you're planning a trip and you need some shirts, we have shirts. you know you know Get a Welcome Home Podcast shirt.
01:03:43
Speaker
Send us a pic of you wearing our shirt in the park as well. we Again, we love seeing that stuff. um It's very cool that we have merch out there that people... We're around the parks and all that.
01:03:54
Speaker
Similarly, we also have a ah Patreon. So you can go to patreon.com slash welcomehomepod and check out our different levels of Patreon support that have an exclusive logo. So you can get some exclusive Welcome Home merch from the Patreon that you can't get on the main store.
01:04:10
Speaker
And all of our Patreon listeners get access to the Discord server, which is yet another place that we talk about um some of the different topics on the show and just general topics. general Disney stuff as well. And our Patreon supporters also get access, early access to things like food time. So, you know, if you're a Patreon supporter, you will get food time before anybody else. So, um yeah. So, yeah, hopefully that's, you know, hopefully if people enjoy that as we go into our first episode here shortly.
Focus on DVC Content
01:04:38
Speaker
Should be fun.
01:04:39
Speaker
And last but not least, if you're listening on iTunes or Spotify or or, you know, any site where you can leave us reviews, you know, leave us a five-star review It just helps us. It helps get our name out there more. It helps the algorithm, ah you know, put us in front of more people and, you know, leave us a review on iTunes as well. You know, we love seeing those written reviews of what you guys think about the show. I, I assume, I don't, don't think we had any new ones this week. ominous Yeah. So.
01:05:05
Speaker
Well, we have one, but it's kind of negative and I don't want to read it. Why not? I don't know. I just was kind of like, you know, I mean, it's still a five-star review. It's just, you know, Saying that we should... ah Enjoyable, but wish you would do more about DVC and less about other stuff.
01:05:22
Speaker
Which... Okay, but... just wait we've heard that We've heard that message and we're doing it, so... Yeah, we are definitely talking more DVC stuff, but I i would... you know that That is fair criticism, and I know i like hearing that, but... No, no, it is fair. I would argue that you know you know DVC is you know they're They're not pumping out stuff weekly, so it's very hard to talk about DVC exclusively every week. so Exactly. yeah and we can't We talk about it whenever there is news to talk about. We we hear you guys. we We are making sure that we are and we're focusing on it when it's there. And that's why we broke off Food Time into its own show, so you can choose whether you want to listen to it or not.
01:05:58
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. So, but on top of that, don't forget to subscribe to welcome home podcast. So you 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 podcast app that's out there. You can find us just a reminder to our listeners. Welcome home pockets. It's for entertainment only.
01:06:16
Speaker
We are not employed by the Walt Disney company. as such, all opinions we express on the show our own. So please consult a Disney cast member or DVC cast member for more information about anything we talked
Episode Wrap-Up & Closing
01:06:25
Speaker
about but today. Huge thank you to our sponsor, DVC Rental Store, for sponsoring this episode.
01:06:29
Speaker
ah You know, please check them out. Like I said, they got a huge promotion going on right now. So this is there's very few better times to to rent than now. almost said buy. But the rent, you want to rent. Or rent out your points. You know, rent out your points. But if you're looking to to rent a DVC room, now's the time 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.
01:06:51
Speaker
this is skipper alberne wall the voice of the jungle Signing from Welcome Home
01:07:07
Speaker
I looked around from pole to pole, found her in a sugar bowl. Look out, here comes my ball and change.