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Episode 340: New DVC Incentives, 2027 Cruise Itineraries & New Ride Patent
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On This Episode
The guys answer a listener's question about which classic Disney attraction they would choose to replace. DVC has released new incentives including $1,000 off for Disney Visa cardholders. Disney Cruise Line has announced its summer 2027 itineraries, including cruises in Alaska and Europe. The guys discuss the new 30% room discount offer for Walt Disney World. The Mandalorian and Grogu movie is coming out soon and Disney gave a first look at new merchandise for the movie. A new Disney Princess collection from Bath & Body Works has been released. The guys dive into a new Disney patent for an articulating ride arm and recklessly speculate on how it could be used.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:08
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.
00:00:24
Speaker
Music
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello and welcome home. This episode of Welcome Home is brought to you by DVC Resort Market. Thank you for joining us on episode 340 of Welcome Home, a Disney Parks and Vacation Club podcast. I'm Tom,
Health and Travel Concerns
00:00:39
Speaker
here with Trevor. How's it going, Trevor? Hey, better this week. You certainly sound better. Yeah, I'm i'm getting there. it was you know you know It is cold and flu season, and so i I will admit, I've not actually been sick like that in like four years. Oh, wow.
00:00:58
Speaker
it was It was an adventure, for sure. and Well, and we were we were talking... Go ahead, sorry. I was going to say you know you know, one thing that I was thinking about with it was that actually one of the last times I was sick like this was 2022. I got sick down in Florida,
00:01:14
Speaker
and A place to get sick. Yeah. Yeah. And I was actually thinking about like, you know, you know, handling stuff at home versus handling sickness while you're traveling is a very different thing.
00:01:28
Speaker
Yeah. And ah I would I'm not saying we need to talk about right now, but it would actually be a good thing to maybe kind of talk about. Like how to handle like getting sick on vacation because, yeah you know, I feel like it's, a you know you know, everybody has their own things or their own way of handling it. But yeah, it's I think it's an interesting conversation. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, we've had a fair amount of experience with this topic. Myself getting sick multiple times. My sister got sick. um
00:02:00
Speaker
You know, I mean, i like the time we did our meetup, I, you know, I came back with COVID. Although it didn't, have I didn't really get sick with that until after we had already left and everything. And I was like, you were like leaving and you said you were starting to not feel well. Whereas, yeah, like like being, being like in, in a foreign place.
00:02:21
Speaker
place and yeah not different yeah like like like actually this last week i was thinking about it was like you know you know i was fairly well set up at home where it was like i didn't need anything like i had everything to kind of you know make myself feel better and handle it and everything but it's like that's it's very different when you're traveling right oh yeah yeah 100 yeah i i think I think about that a lot. i It's because it's, I mean, just anytime you're anywhere that where you're not at home, you know, it's like, because you're just, he this is why, though, like, whenever I, like, go anywhere, i always have, like, a pharmacy with me, you know, like, I just have like everything I could think of that I could possibly need ah because I'm always worried. And and actually, i was you know I was telling you before we started recording is everybody in my house is sick except for me at the moment. um
00:03:10
Speaker
Usually, the order of operations in my house goes my daughter, my wife, then me. I'm usually the last one to get it, so which is good because it staggers a little bit. And then you know my my wife will be down for a couple days. And then when she's feeling better, then I'll get sick. And then, you know... But hopefully that doesn't happen. But I mean, the last time we were at Disney for the party, ah you know, I fully expected in the context of the Christmas party that we were, you know, at least some of us were going to get something, you know, you're talking in Thanksgiving. It's like the ah I mean, Orlando is a top five destination for Thanksgiving travel, believe it or not. And so you have people from all over the place there and, you know, bringing stuff. I just we somehow did none of us got sick, which was.
00:03:55
Speaker
kind of amazing. But, you know, I'm not going to complain about that. But it's, yeah, it's, that is, it is a good topic, Trevor, you know, talking about being sick away from home. Yeah, like I said, I think maybe it's something like, you know, maybe we can do that as like a, like a topical show someday that, you know, just, or just kind of talking through like,
00:04:14
Speaker
all the All the things, like you said, yeah I'm the same way I pack a pharmacy, but it's like, well, what do you what do you plan for? what how do you How do you make sure that you kind of cover as many bases as possible? Because...
00:04:28
Speaker
Yeah. like Like, I guess i'm I'm of the opinion, you know, kind of like you, is that when when you're traveling, it's like you want to try and account for every possible scenario within reason.
00:04:40
Speaker
But yeah that means different things for different people, too, right? so I will say, i if you get sick on Disney property, it's it's not terrible because it's there's like so many places you can go in in close proximity, you know? And i mean, you can some of these places even like they'll shuttle you over there, you know what I mean? like Yes, you i mean we have to use that.
00:05:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I mean, and you my my sister used it when she, ah you know, i don't know, it was probably like 2019 or so when we went with them and and she got strep. And I mean, she just, they they picked her up and they they dropped her back off again and she got all the meds she needed. It was all, it was like such a easy process and i think i've talked about this on the show before the one time i got really sick at the parks was uh i we were walking in tomorrowland and someone just sneezed directly in my face like i got sick like the next day i mean what i mean sneeze directly in my face too it was like literally like i had the moisture of it on my face like within within two meters yeah kind of thing yeah i had to wipe my face off six feet i guess put it to you that way yeah yeah
00:05:49
Speaker
And I was like, that can't be, that can't be good. ah That's, that's not going to turn out well. um And sure enough, it didn't. But, you know, and I was like the sickest. I but i mean, we cut our our our trip short, actually, because of that.
00:06:01
Speaker
Because I just, I couldn't do it. So, and it was just my wife and I, at that point, it wasn't, you know, when my daughter was around. So. But yeah, anyway, um yeah, we're talking about, but I mean, it's funny because I, you know, it's everybody goes through these at different times of the year, you know, because so many of the listeners were talking about everyone being sick for Christmas, you know? Yeah, I think up here, I say up here, you know, up in Canada, specifically in Alberta, somebody pointed this out to me. I didn't really think about it, but it makes sense. Our cold and flu season was delayed this year because...
00:06:34
Speaker
We actually, yeah there was a teacher strike back in October. And so the kids were actually out of school for like a month. And because of that, you know, normally kids would be passing stuff around in like, you know, October into November. And so you get a lot of, you know, kids getting sick before Christmas. That didn't happen.
00:06:59
Speaker
And so because of that, I think a lot of it's kind of coming back around now because like, because like the kids went back, but then it was like, like they were back in November, but then it was Christmas. And so they had break again. And then like January is where it really kind of started picking up again.
00:07:16
Speaker
And yeah, so so it's kind of interesting that like that aspect of it too is like, if you're yeah You know, cold and flu season is also like kind of dependent on how much you're interacting with other people.
00:07:29
Speaker
And if you're like forcibly not interacting with people, it kind of messes up when this stuff hits. So always laugh because like my daughter, am my my I'm sorry, know my daughter my my wife works from home, right? she doesn't have co-workers that are here. So I'm just like, whenever she gets sick, i'm like, how did you get sick? You don't even like see people. Yeah. I mean, it's the same as my son brings stuff to me. Yeah, it's usually my daughter. yeah Yeah, it's usually my daughter. that But this this time it was my wife that started it, though. this that She got sick first. So now given she had just gone on a trip. So she had just she just come back from from ah being on a a long weekend trip. so And she had taken a train, and and which was like a 13-hour train drive. And I was like, oh, yeah, you definitely got that on the train. Like 100% that the train. Like, You know, so it's probably from that. But, you know, generally, I'm just like,
00:08:22
Speaker
She's like, how do you, how do you even get sick? You don't have coworkers. So anyway, uh, but yeah, so that's what we've been dealing with so far this weekend is, you know, my wife's not feeling well, my daughter's not feeling well. And, uh, I'm, I'm chugging along until, uh, you know, I somehow get sick. So only a matter time, I guess.
00:08:41
Speaker
Yeah. And then, and then you'll be in my position that I was in last week trying to struggle through the show. I mean, throughout the history of the show, I've done it. I don't think... Yeah, you've been sick more than I have, just because of where you are in your life. Like, when my son was younger, like, yeah, we had colds and stuff going through the house a lot more. It doesn't happen nearly as much now. But, yeah, you're in that space where we were years ago Yeah, like stuff is just always being brought into the house. And I mean, sorry, kids are just like that. They don't. It's your machines. Yeah, it is. Yeah, it's which is, you know, it is what it is.
00:09:21
Speaker
You deal with it, right? So, but anyway, ah yeah, I mean, so but we've been, you know, we I came to the realization, Trevor, that I have no vacation scheduled for this year. I have no idea really what.
00:09:35
Speaker
No, I got nothing. Nothing. And, i you know, which is kind of a bummer. I mean, I really would like to do something. ah and And I'm not saying I'm not going to. i We probably are. i just we just don't know what yet. We've been kind of like going back and forth on trying to figure out what exactly we want to do.
00:09:55
Speaker
And just it's been, you know, it's been kind of it's weird. i was thinking about how weird this is that since we've had my daughter, The past, like, I don't know, two, three years, we've gone to Disney less than we did before she was born. And I i don't know if that's just because we used to just have ultimate freedom to go whenever we wanted to. And now it's like, well, you can either go in the summer and, you know, deal with the, ah you know, the the surface of the sun. Yeah. Yeah. Or, ah you know, you can take her out of school. And it's like at that we're getting to the point where we don't really want to take her out of school anymore.
00:10:37
Speaker
You know, and I don't know. it's It's just hard. It's hard to figure out, you know, but it's just it's funny to me that we go less now than we used to. I mean, we we ended up in a similar boat. Like, yeah, you know, when our son was younger, we we weren't traveling to Disney all the time. But, yeah, there was years where we were actually taking multiple trips to California within the same year.
00:11:04
Speaker
And, yeah, you're right. when when When he was younger, it was a lot easier. And then as he got older, yeah you know you know, trending towards junior high and high school, yeah.
00:11:15
Speaker
it It hit that point, same as you, where we were like, well, we don't want to disrupt his schooling. But we did like like there was we yeah yeah we we did pick and choose like like or we tried to minimize the impact by like planning around like like teachers convention and stuff where like you like they would have a couple of days off anyway. And so we would try and and plan around that to minimize how much of his time he was missing.
00:11:37
Speaker
But yeah, it kind of hits a weird point where um yeah, you like you you you take you take as many vacations as you can with your kids. And then as they get older, you take less and less vacations. And then eventually they become adults. Well, no, when they become adults or when they're closer to adults, like even, you know, the conversations I've had with my son, it's been like, yeah you know, he he wants to come on trips with us, but he's also like like turned to us and saying like, you know, if I'm working or if I'm busy, like,
00:12:10
Speaker
I may not be able to go. And yeah we have to be okay with that because we've we've had our fair share of of family trips. you know You know, it's not to say like we've we've missed out, but there is also that point where you realize that you can't take your kids on trips forever or not like how you
Vacation Planning with Families
00:12:31
Speaker
did. Yeah. Not like how you did. Cause, cause even honestly, like, you know, the, the last trip that, uh, that I took with my son, yeah we had, we had, I, and I think I, I talked about this at that point was, you know, we, we had a conversation like mid trip where,
00:12:46
Speaker
where like my son was acting differently but you know it was typical like teenager um i'm too cool to be here kind of vibes yeah yeah but like he he he wasn't being like like a jerk or anything but it was very much like he he wasn't into it or he wasn't reacting to things the same way that he used to and kind of like like how we wanted, or I say how we wanted to, like like we we had ah an unreasonable expectation at the end of the day. And because of that, we ended up having a conversation. We were like, hey, are you like good on this trip? Like, are you happy with what we're doing?
00:13:24
Speaker
And he turned to us and he was like, yeah, I'm having a great time. Just because I'm not like smiling and laughing doesn't mean I'm not having a good time. Like I'm just... Like, I'm just taking it in the way that I'm taking it in. And I was like, i kind of realized it was like, oh, yeah, he's becoming an adult and I can't expect him. Like, it's hard to because, you know, you're not you're not at that point yet. Like like teenagers moving to adults is like, you know, that they have that that. um era of like, you know, I have to be mature and being mature means that, you know, even if, you know, Mickey Mouse is waving at me, I don't wave back because, you know, yeah I'm an adult when ah when the rest of the adults are like twice as excited as the kids. Right. But yeah, like it's that transition phase. Right. So it is. Yeah, i it's a hard thing. Like it's, I get it is, you know, you know, you know, take you know planning trips um at the space you're at with your your your daughter right now.
00:14:24
Speaker
um I mean, like i said, we we made the choice of pulling him out of school was the option because like like you, you know, we we knew there's no way we could handle the Florida sun in in the summer.
00:14:36
Speaker
So, we We opted for, you know, try and take them out of school, but try and minimize it as much as possible was how we handled it. yeah But yeah, it's it's a hard thing. Like, like yeah yeah, even for us, like, you know, we're we're not, we don't have a Disney trip planned this year either. But like, as we said, you know, because we have a, we're saving up for a bigger trip.
00:14:58
Speaker
next year but part of that you know not planning that trip this year is like yeah it it kind of feels weird it feels off that it's like yeah well usually I would have like something that I'm doing in May or or I you know I'm going in November or something and it's like no exactly not not right now not happening I'm not not happening now uh yeah no and that's kind of where i where we're at it's and it's I mean, I don't know. i I want to do a vacation this year. I just i just kind of need to figure it out. like it's It's just been this weird kind of thing where it's just like we haven't we we want to do it, but we just haven't quite figured out what we want to do yet. you know ah So i don't know. It's it's just it's it's one of those things. So we're going to have to see what what actually comes of it. I mean, i'm sure well I'm sure we're going to end up doing something. I just don't know what or when.
00:15:49
Speaker
I mean, is places like Hilton Head or Vero Beach on the in the realm of possibilities? or is it Yeah, we talked about Vero. Those are closer for you, right? like therere now I is not what I would call close. but Okay. Yeah, I mean, Vero is probably a solid, i don't know probably a 10-hour drive from here. Oh, yeah. Okay, no, never mind. I mean, well, I listen. That's not out of the realm of possibility for me. I don't care about driving that far. But, ah you know, my my my wife, on the other hand, is not a huge fan of trips like that. Yeah, i i feel that I've i've done those 10 hour trips myself and I i i limit at myself at three to four hours.
00:16:34
Speaker
so Okay, so it's nine now. I just had to look it up because I was i thought I might be exaggerating. Nine's totally different. That's doable. That's doable. Yeah. Well, here's the thing, though, Trevor, I've talked about this before.
00:16:47
Speaker
I don't like the beach. I don't. Like, I'm not a beach person. I'm not a fan of the beach. I don't like sand. I don't like the fact that every time I go into sand, I'm going to find sand for the next week, no matter...
00:16:59
Speaker
You know, yeah I'm going to find it in my shoes. I'm going to find it in my clothing. I'm going to find it somehow. It's coarse and it gets everywhere. I hate sand. I hate it. But I do like the ocean. Like, I enjoy listening to the ocean. I enjoy looking at the ocean. I enjoy the creatures of the ocean. I just don't like the beach. And i am in the minority on this in my family. So my daughter and wife would absolutely love to go to the beach. So I'm willing to...
00:17:24
Speaker
to to do this, you know, like I'll go. It's not like I'm not going to go. i just don't like it. So I, it's probably why we haven't booked anything yet is because I just haven't, you know, I'm and not, I'm not saying I'm not making the effort to book it, but I mean, i and I've looked, but it's, you know, it's hard to get Vero, ah you know, certain times of the year. So, you know, I, I don't know, maybe we'll see. We were going to try to do a Vero a, and a cruise.
00:17:51
Speaker
But like, ah you know, a couple days of air. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah. yeah Yeah. Yeah. I remember you were mentioning that, that you were looking at maybe like. Yeah. Was this year you were planning for an Alaska cruise or was that next year? It's funny you say that because we are going to do that next year. So that. OK. All right. And one of the things we're going to talk about on this show and the reason why we're going to talk it. I see it on the rung down.
00:18:14
Speaker
yeah Yeah, the 2027 itineraries have come out. And so that sparked a conversation with my with my wife's family about, hey, we need to get on figuring out when we're going to go to to to Alaska. So... um Yeah, we'll'll' we'll talk about that a few. Okay, we'll we'll get there. So um why don't, you know, since we've we've talked now for 18 minutes about just, yeah we not ever no random things, but, you know you know, kind of Disney adjacent
Disney Ride Debates
00:18:45
Speaker
things. But um we do have a listener question.
00:18:49
Speaker
And Jason wants to start trouble. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. appreciate Appreciate you, Jason, for wanting to start trouble in the discord. And um so he says, if you had to replace one classic Disney attraction, think Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Small World, et cetera, which ride are you replacing?
00:19:06
Speaker
Let's start a fight. And of course, you know, this is not, you know, yeah. Yeah. The laughing crying emoji, which is, you know, um Yeah, okay. i i'm I guess I'll start this off. Wait, and before we start this off, I have a problem with the fundamental part of this question.
00:19:24
Speaker
how can you define How do you define a classic attraction? Is it like, i I know it when I see it? kind of like Are you going to call Figment a classic attraction? Are you going to call yeah Living with the Land a classic attraction? Living with the Land was a day one attraction.
00:19:40
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I'm just asking the question. I mean, okay, all right. I mean, ah so, okay, I i guess my I would qualify it, you know, he he says like Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Small World, et cetera.
00:19:52
Speaker
I mean, I would say anything that has like an established tenure in the park, meaning like if it's been there long enough that you just assume that it's always been there, i think it's been there, like it qualifies for this. Like like even though, yes, there are rides that's like, well, that's only been there for like the last 30 years. It's like it's still been there 30 years. Like it's it's a classic at this point. Okay, so like even though Maelstrom closed to make way for Frodo, would that have been considered a classic attraction prior to closure?
00:20:21
Speaker
Maelstrom, yeah. like I mean, yeah. i'm just i'm just I'm just working on what the definition is here. I'm i'm not where it i'm i'm doing it from the the place of, you know, in my mind when I look at the parks or if I look at it, you know, you know theres there's the obvious like new shiny rides like, you know, the Trons and, you know, yeah know even like Ratatouille, like that's a fairly new ride.
00:20:43
Speaker
yeah Like like those those to me are newer rides because I'm aware of like in in the last like, you know, 10 to 15 years, they've come online or, you know, they've made changes to them that are, you know, redone rides that, you know, it's the newer iteration of the ride. But then there's other rides that have been there. Like, you know, I would say, you know, classic is going as far back as like, you know, even if it was, you know, touched in the 90s or something like it's still, know,
00:21:11
Speaker
at this point it's a classic, sorry. I, I, I hate to like jostle anybody out of like their, their, their age specific stuff, but the nineties was like 25 to 30 years ago now. I don't, I don't want to hear it. know. and and Okay. Okay. And, and I, I say this because I actually, I was upset earlier this week because, um Sorry, and you all know this about me. I play video games a lot. And there was an announcement of a new Castlevania, mainline Castlevania game coming out. And there hasn't been one in like 15 years. And then people who are commenting out were like, oh, yeah, it's like Symphony of the Night. And then there was people that were responding back going, what Symphony of the Night? And I realized that game came out in 1997.
00:21:57
Speaker
which is like 30 years ago. And I'm like, oh, no, it's, oh, it's, ah it's like, I play this game all the time, but it's a classic. Oh, no. yeah i'm I'm old.
00:22:09
Speaker
I'm sorry. Well, i think I think I've told you this before, like every year for my birthday, just as like a thing to keep me feeling like younger, is that we do, I always do what I call big kid birthday, where we do some sort of birthday party that we would have done as children, but I do it an adult.
00:22:24
Speaker
And so this year I wanted to because we we were talking about how in the 90s, like every birthday party you went to was like bowling or roller skating. Like that was the two birthday parties. I'm sure it was the same about you too, right? It was bowling and roller skating. That was it. We also we had Chuck E. Cheese as well. Yeah. we had check in there too yeah Yeah. Yeah. So like arcade. Right. But I feel like every other party you went to was a bowling party or roller skating. Yeah. you're Yeah. You're right. it was Bowling alleys were easy and rollers. We had a roller rink up until like 2015 here that finally closed. But yeah.
00:22:57
Speaker
So we are doing roller. We're going to do a roller skating party. Nice. There's a roller skating rink down the street. And then someone came up with the bright idea was, how about we dress 90s, too?
00:23:08
Speaker
And I'm like, 90s. And I'm like, this sounds great. I'm excited for this. I'm going to dress very 80s. I'm going to get all the neon stuff. Get some neon clothes. Yeah. I feel you on that. A headband. Yeah. You eat from one of those Charlotte Hornets jackets. Oh, yeah, that everyone loved in the 90s. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You see them around here still sometimes. So, yeah. But anyway. But anyway. Sorry, we went down a... Wow. I don't even know how we got there. We got there, but okay. I think we were establishing what old rides... Or what is classic, right? Okay.
00:23:46
Speaker
So, okay. So, back back to the question. I'm going to start off. I said this in the Discord and I'm going to expand on it. I would replace Winnie the Pooh. oh and And the reason I say this, and yes, y'all can come for me and that's fine.
00:24:02
Speaker
um Winnie the Pooh is the It is the worst possible iteration of that ride as it stands right now.
00:24:13
Speaker
you're not You're not wrong. Only because of the fact that it took over Mr. Toads. so it's yeah so it's a So it's an overlay of an existing ride, whereas the one in Disneyland is, you know, it was its own, built as its own thing. or sorry, not, I mean, they they built like the whole track and everything because it was built where Country Bears was.
00:24:31
Speaker
But But the one in Disneyland is like actually built for being Winnie the Pooh. And then you have other iterations of the ride, such as Pooh's Honey Hunt over in... is vastly superior. Yes, exactly. So so I would say Winnie the Pooh, yeah because i because I was thinking about it, and i was like, you know, of all the, like, like I immediately went to, like, Fantasyland for, like, dark rides, because it's like, there's there's dark rides that could use love. And I almost said Peter Pan, but I stopped myself, and i was like, no, Peter Pan is still fine. so It's classic, yeah. It still works. it doesn't It doesn't need to be messed with.
00:25:09
Speaker
Winnie the Pooh, though, needs some love. um I actually have i have a picture of one of the in the the queue, one of the screens where like or there's like the honey where you can like like touch it. It actually crashed and it was at like a Windows And I got a picture of that when we were there last time. But, but I, so, so like there was that, but then also like there's little things throughout the ride that you can see, like it hasn't quite been as well maintained as it could have been. Um, and I think it's an opportunity for, you know, maybe a trackless rider, maybe another ride system altogether that, um,
00:25:49
Speaker
You know, sorry, i think Winnie the Pooh is... yeah when i When I look at all of the the dark rides in Fantasyland, it's the...
00:26:00
Speaker
It's the one that I care about riding the least. And you can be upset about at me for saying that. But I'm putting out that out there anyway, i you know, because, hey, we're starting a fight. But um you can be upset at me about it and that's fine.
00:26:15
Speaker
I think it needs ah it needs an overhaul. And I think I think that would be the right to be replaced. I don't even think necessarily as a Winnie the Pooh ride. I think like they could do like a totally different franchise in there at this point and it would be fine.
00:26:26
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. i I think that makes a lot of sense. And I don't disagree with you. i think that that right well that right certainly needs some love. I mean, it it needs love. So I think i have made my opinion on this one fairly clear. Right. I don't remember what episode we were talking about this, but I think Tomorrowland Speedway's got to go. i just do. Okay. i the The thing takes up a ton of space.
00:26:56
Speaker
Prime real estate in the middle of the park. that And it's loud and it smells bad. And it's, I mean... If they upgraded it, I'd be okay with it. But like the fumes and the loudness of it are just just take me out of that area, you know, and it and it bothers me. But if like and also the other part that bother bothers me, too, is those cars are just unsteerable. Like you just can't like I know you don't find now. I know, but I want to like, if um if you're going to put a rail there to make it so that I can't veer off my lane, I want to like challenge myself to never hit the rail, but it's impossible because the steering doesn't work. I mean, my daughter, even my last time we were there, she figured it out and figured out pretty quickly that she didn't have to steer at all. She just took her hands off the wheel and let it go.
00:27:42
Speaker
And she's like, I don't have to steer. It'll just let me get, I'm like, you're missing the point of this traction, but yeah. You know, she was fine with it. But yeah, you know even even though even though you're going to fail, it's still fun to try. That's amazing my problem is primarily with how much space it takes up.
00:27:56
Speaker
I mean, that's it's a huge amount of space. You could put so much. OK, I get what you're saying, but so so let let me just put this out there.
00:28:08
Speaker
if they If they replace Tomorrowland Speedway with something else, it would assume a it would most likely it would be something that would be indoors.
00:28:19
Speaker
would you be okay with that entire area suddenly having a large building there obstructing views? I'm with you. You see, you see the problem. don't want to build it. Because the thing about Tomorrowland Speedway is that, yes, you're right. You know, the, the cars themselves need an upgrade. You know, they're too noisy and, and the smell and everything is terrible, but it keeps sight lines open between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland and, and, uh, Mickey's circus as well.
00:28:48
Speaker
um which I think if they replace that, it would, it would hurt the overall area. I don't disagree with that. I think an outdoor attraction would be good to put there. Yeah. So, so, so, okay. So, so I hear what you're saying, but I, yeah, I, I would say the only rule around replacing Tomorrowland Speedway is it can't be an indoor experience. That's, that is a, that is an extraordinarily fair point.
00:29:14
Speaker
But listen, that that's just our two opinions. I would love to hear what anyone else has to say. ah You know, so put it in the comments, you know, just tell us what you guys think of of what attraction you would just get rid of. i I mean, listen, I don't think you can, you know, Jason said Jungle Cruise pirates. It's a small world like.
00:29:34
Speaker
Those are fairly untouchable things. How are you replacing Jungle Cruise? I mean, you're not. It's just not going to ever happen in history. like I mean, to probably people would have said that about Tom Sawyer Island, but like that's not as beloved as Jungle Cruise or Pirates or even It's a Small World. like You're never getting rid of those things, ever. They're still going to be playing It's a Small World you know when the the you know if forever. i mean, it's just going to be forever. there's no They're never getting rid of it.
00:30:01
Speaker
It's, yeah. I don't, yeah. that You're right. the The funny thing is, is, yeah, sir like, you know, he was saying replace one classic ride. the The hard part is, is that it's not just, like, if it if it was just the ride in a bubble and saying, like, oh, this ride would be way cooler, you know you know, Jungle Cruise, but now it's a roller coaster and it's going through the jungle and that would be amazing, right? But...
00:30:24
Speaker
Make it a flu ride, make it like a splash mountain. Yeah, yeah yeah maybe maybe make it splash mountain. but But in relation to the rest of the park, though, like you said, that's where it gets really difficult. Is that when you start thinking about like, how does this fit into...
00:30:39
Speaker
the land, like you can't just like, you can't just snap things together and say it'll work because, you know, for as funny as it is, that's actually how Disneyland was built was, you know, they they kind of started with ideas and snap them together. But the problem is, is now that it's established, it's very hard to uncouple things from one another without it being like,
00:31:05
Speaker
this is wrong, right? Yeah. You can't make that change. No. Yeah. It's, that's, yeah. i It's, it's, it's, it's a tough one. It is. yeah It is. I like, i i like a question like that.
00:31:18
Speaker
h So let's talk. ah Let's talk to some DVC.
Disney Vacation Club Insights
00:31:23
Speaker
Yeah. There's a couple things going on right now. So there was just a price increase recently. Right. On direct points.
00:31:31
Speaker
ah But what we've got now and, you know, they like to do incentives to. But so they've got they're doing $1,000 anniversary incentive, which applies to first time purchases of 200 points or more and owner add on add ons of 150 points or more. So it's a it's a flat $1,000 off your purchase.
00:31:53
Speaker
um So really, it's where's the discount? What do you mean? Where's the discount? Yeah. I'm going to be honest. Like when you're talking 150 or more points, saying $1,000 off is like, that's like saving the GST or the tax on something. Like, sorry, I say GST. That's a Canadian thing. But, you know, that's like saving the tax on something. Like,
00:32:18
Speaker
Big whoop. Well, and they, you know, they, they, they mentioned here too, it's basically puts it at a maximum value of $5 per point. However, there was just a three to $8 per point price increase. So it doesn't really, it it doesn't really offset it. You're not really coming, coming out ahead here, but ah you know, obviously, know,
00:32:41
Speaker
it It just depends on on how much you how much you end up buying, right? so But there's the other thing, too. it's not just that There's $1,000 for that, and they have another $1,000 offer that's like... ah It's funny because we're I'm reading an article on DVC News, and ah you know and and the the the writer here is ah very frustrated with... ah because Yes, I read that too. Yeah, I like the starting line. Disney Vacation Club continues to alternatively excite and frustrate buyers with hidden offers and insider deals, which seemingly require a secret handshake to redeem.
00:33:17
Speaker
What a great sentence. that's That is excellent work. ah but So there's also $1,000 savings on a purchase of 100 points or more, 150 points or more on ah if you have a Disney Visa card.
00:33:34
Speaker
ah So that's... Yeah, that's, again, that like yeah This person's right. DVC is making it very obtuse to get savings at this point, which is like if you want to maximize buying direct, it's like we got to get the the visa and you got to, you know, talk to them. And in this article, they made the joke, too. You know, if it's if it's Tuesday and you happen to be wearing purple when you purchase, you might be eligible for an extra five hundred dollars. Like it's i yeah he sounds a little bitter. There's little there's a lot of lot of bitterness going on here.
00:34:11
Speaker
I get that because, like I said, yeah you know you know i've I've seen them in the past do like promos where you know they try to get people to buy certain resorts or you know you know get people in the door. But this this feels the very... like lowest bar possible I've seen in a while.
00:34:30
Speaker
Yeah. I'm going to admit like it's, yeah yeah you know, for the amount that they're asking you to buy in on when you start, you know, when you say like save a thousand dollars, that that's like I said, it, or, you know, the equivalent is, is like, you know, you're buying a new car, right?
00:34:44
Speaker
yeah And you always, you know, whenever you go to a dealership, you're like, well, you know, what can you do for me? What, you know, what promos are there? And, you know, this is the equivalent of them saying, like, you know, we'll we'll we'll throw in the floor mats for free. Like, it doesn't it doesn't feel like anything. like That's fair.
00:35:02
Speaker
i get that. I i mean, the the nice thing is that you can stack these, right? So you can use both of them at the same time. Yeah. So, so then, you know, maybe if, if this, like, again, to, to this person's point, if the stars align and you have the visa and you, you're, you know, you're looking for direct points at this time, you can save a couple thousand dollars, which yeah, you know, translates to, you know, you're saving more than, than the latest price increase. You're, you're getting points at a, at a better rate.
00:35:31
Speaker
um But yeah, it's, it's still, it still feels like an, an awful lot of work. to get a discount, right? A discount direct. like like so So specifically, you know, everything we're talking about here is around direct pricing at the moment, which...
00:35:49
Speaker
I mean... Still with the $500 resale administrative fee, it's still a better deal to do resale. Yeah, yeah. I hate to say it, but like there's there's nothing here... you know Years ago when I bought Direct, you know it was it was expensive at the time. you know you know For 10 years ago, it was it was expensive.
00:36:09
Speaker
But I felt like I was getting the value out of it. The problem is now, or even then versus now, like the... the the disparity between direct and resale points yeah wasn't quite that bad. So it it was like, yeah, I want to go direct because, you know, i understandably, yeah that you know, the perks are, they were very clear about don't, you know, don't just buy it for the the ah the direct for the perse perks. Yeah. So, but, you know, we wanted to buy our first contract direct and and we did and i and I don't regret that.
00:36:43
Speaker
If I was in that same position right now, I would probably not be looking at buying direct because, again, with with the price per point and the minimum and the fact that there's, like, no discounts on this. But, I mean, I guess, you know, Disney disney then is not making it... Or i'm I'm not the target demographic, I guess. I don't know who is, but Yeah, like like the the like the these kinds of offers, I don't know. It just, it doesn't feel, it doesn't feel like they're they're doing enough here, to be honest. But but maybe they don't need to be. maybe that maybe they' finding that they're and Maybe the fact that they're, you know, they're probably still selling contracts credit quite regularly. They don't feel that they need to to give any substantial offers. so Yeah, exactly. Okay.
00:37:36
Speaker
Yeah, I mean. Exactly. It's their choice. I mean, I'm just giving my opinion on it. I'm not, I'm not, yeah you know, anybody that's looking at buying direct, I am not like dissuading that. I'm just giving my point of view on it. Um, yeah you know, if, if buying direct makes sense for you right now, like, you know, absolutely. My only criticism of this is the fact that, you know, Disney is really, they're, they're not doing anything to incentivize people.
00:38:03
Speaker
to to like right to earn yeah yeah yeah to do direct is you don't know any better though like if you don't know any better you don't even know that resale exists and you just say oh i I get a thousand dollars off that's great you know like because on its face it looks good we just don't know that it's whatever because we're kind of jaded it's But I mean, but even when I was buying direct, I did like I looked into both at the time. But like I said, this the decision point was like, yeah, you know, it's a little bit more expensive direct. But, you know, at the time it was like, hey, there there is a couple of perks we could use now. and understandably, it was like, hey, we know, we'll see what comes of it. But we wanted to, you know, we wanted to have that blue cart up front. Right. had So, yeah. So so we, you know.
00:38:48
Speaker
And I mean, yeah, I guess, you know, it would be the same thing right now, too, is, you know, maybe somebody looking at wants to have, you know, I get I get the feeling of wanting to have, you know, direct purchase and, you know, you know, knowing that it's, you know, officially you bought something officially from Disney. Like, I get that.
00:39:05
Speaker
Yeah. But, yeah ah you know, offering me a thousand dollars on like, ah you know, a twenty five thousand dollar plus purchase is I don't know. I feel like they could do something else. like that that's That's what's getting me. as i guess i it does it It feels like it's like the most like uninteresting promo that they've done in a while.
00:39:28
Speaker
That's fair. Yeah, I get it. I get it. Okay. well Sorry. I'll stop complaining. you you know you're You're good. you're You're good. Let's, let's do our ad and we'll talk about some other things. And, ah you know, I, you probably have too many things going on in this episode now that we've talked forever about other stuff, but it's all good. Um,
00:39:49
Speaker
The sponsor of this episode is DVC Resale Market. DVC Resale Market, a key holder of vacations 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 In 2025, DVC Resale Market helped over 4,400 families join or add on to their membership.
00:40:21
Speaker
Go to DVCResaleMarket.com slash welcome home or call 1-844-DVC-PROS. That's 1-844-382-7767. And when you speak to them, be sure to let them know that Welcome Home sent you.
00:40:34
Speaker
So it was yeah was kind of talking about this in the beginning of the show, Trevor. But, you know, so Disney Cruise we don't have to talk about this for long, but Disney Cruise Line put out ah their itineraries for next year. And as we've talked about, ah you know, we are planning to do an Alaska cruise next year.
00:40:52
Speaker
which you know goes out of Vancouver. should be Yeah. Which, look, I'm excited to do this. i I've always wanted to do a cruise in Alaska, and I think it'll be really kind of a good time for my daughter to go. you know She'll be nine at that point ah you know when we go next year. So I feel like it's a really – it's an age where she'll remember some of it at least. You know what i mean? And considering how – much we're going to spend to do this cruise. It's going to be a a pretty big vacation. So i worry I mean, we're pretty excited about it. I'm not going to lie, but we haven't planned it yet. And part of it is, as I talked about before, this is always a challenge with, you know, school and everything, but also we're going with my wife's entire family. So, you know, now we have to plan with a whole bunch of other people to try to figure out, you know, what, what time, but when we can go. And that's, that's always a challenge.
00:41:48
Speaker
Yeah, and part of the heart or part of the difficulty of ah cruises, too, is that, like, I guess the difference is, you know, if you're planning, like, a vacation to the parks, you can kind of set when you arrive and when you leave.
00:42:03
Speaker
But a cruise is a lot more difficult because the itineraries are explicitly set dates because it's a it's a cruise ship. so Exactly.
00:42:13
Speaker
Yeah, I get that. I do see, ah you know, just, you know, for anybody that's wondering, you know, they're they're doing Disney Magic and Disney Wonder are going to be sailing to Alaska. And it looks like they're offering or both ships will do seven night sailings, but then the Disney Magic can do six and eight night options. So, yeah, I think we're probably doing a seven night as far as I know. But I mean, as if the if the eight night, I guess, fits into what we want to do, I don't know. I'm just along for the ride on this one. I'm not going to lie, Trevor. I... This is my wife's family setting this up, so I'm just kind of like, you know what, guys? you know Whatever works for everybody else. I'm flexible. ah you know As long as we're doing seven nights, I'm i'm cool. If i'm going to fly all the way up to Vancouver, then I need to be there for at least seven nights on this cruise. but um yeah
00:43:00
Speaker
yeah Yeah, you're going to want some time to take it in because i mean i think you've not really gotten to experience like the Rocky Mountains and all that, which will probably be...
00:43:11
Speaker
that That'll be a very ah very different experience than, you know, what you guys have been doing going to Florida. it's Well, sure. Yeah. I mean, it'll certainly be the furthest west I've ever been. Well, because, I mean, the first the furthest I've gone at this point is is Vegas. I mean, have I haven't gone past Vegas. So, yeah I don't know. I mean, it's going to be interesting to see how this how this trip kind of, you know, ends up.
00:43:38
Speaker
Like, you know, I don't know. We're going to see. But it's it should be it should be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it, for sure. But listen, we don't have talk too you much more about that because, well you know, they've got some more European
Disney Cruise and Travel Offers
00:43:51
Speaker
dates. They've got more Caribbean, of course, you know, all that stuff. The Wish is heading over to Europe, so...
00:43:56
Speaker
yeah Yeah, I was going to say, yeah you know, we should probably, you know, call out the other itineraries that are coming. They do also have Southeast Asia on here as well, too. So the... That's the new adventure that's only selling out of Singapore. Yeah. yeah with And so that's that's three and four night itineraries from January through August. So...
00:44:16
Speaker
They call it itineraries like they're going anywhere outside of theyre they're literally it's just you go to see and you come back again. yeah But, you know, I mean, that's probably the best they can do out there right now.
00:44:29
Speaker
i Yes, I guess. i just It's just funny. i just it's like i would i Listen, I'd be all for that because i I don't really care that much about ports, to be totally honest. ah Just, you know, it could take me out yeah bring me back again. We're cool. The ship itself is ah is an experience, right? Yeah. The ship is all I care about. Yeah.
00:44:48
Speaker
So anyway, let's move on to other things, Trevor. So we've got some ah some new discounts going on here. So there's 30% Disney World discount that just came out here for ah May 1st to July 29th. So we got that going on in the summertime. And as always, it's the the more expensive resorts, the the bigger discount you get, right? Yep.
00:45:14
Speaker
So, you know, you get all those... With the, ah sorry, i'm I'm scrolling down the list here. So, so yeah, all the ones that are 30% are the deluxe resorts. Deluxe resorts, yeah. So, like, you know, any pretty much a deluxe resort you can think of. 25% discounts um include, so Animal Kingdom Villas Jumbo House and the Polynesian.
00:45:38
Speaker
Oddly. Are the only deluxe resorts that have less of a discount. Interesting. so So I'm guessing that they know that those resorts are busy enough that they don't need to. They don't really need to do it. Yeah. Yeah. But then but then also, you know, Caribbean Beach, Coronado, Puerto Orleans are in there. Surprisingly, All Stars Sports also gets 25% discount. Maybe there's not.
00:46:01
Speaker
It's random. I'm guessing a lot of people don't like staying at All-Star Sports. I stayed at All-Star Sports. I feel like we were always at music or movies. Yeah, we always stayed at movies when we were at stage. Yeah, we've done movies. Yeah. And so, yeah. So then similarly, know, 20% discount
00:46:20
Speaker
All-stars movies, music, art of animation, family suites specifically, Pop Century and Port Orleans French Quarter. But then at the very bottom, saved 15% on Disney Art of Animation Resort, Little Mermaid Standard. a Little Mermaid Standard. Which to me very much says they know that these are the extremely popular rooms. So these are the going to be...
00:46:41
Speaker
the the lowest discount yeah yeah that makes sense i mean they probably have fewer i think there are fewer of them too we've never stayed at art of animation we kind of want to though even though we're dvc members obviously like i just i know many people that swear by art of art of animation and plus listen it's a popular resort i know that like it's yeah and skyliner man skyline yeah skyliner access that's what matters uh yeah but yeah It's, it's, these are good discounts if you're looking to go this summer. You know, i like I said, I'm, I mean, I'm not ah necessarily, but I might, I don't know. We might still do Disney trip this year. I have no idea. Honestly, Trevor, I swear. I really don't know what's going to happen. So we might end up going, but these discounts are not really relevant to us because, you know, I guess we're bougie DVC people at this point. And so, but it's certainly relevant to some of our listeners.
00:47:29
Speaker
I mean, you know, to, to that point, like if If the math worked out, you know, renting your points and staying at one of these places at a discount might be a viable option. But again, the problem with that is it's a whole bunch of extra work versus just using your DVC points, right? Like, yes, you're right. You know, we are, you know, obviously we're we're we're both DVC members. So it's like, you know, you look at this and go, oh, you're discounting rooms. How quaint, right? Like, it's What's paying cash for what you you could still do that? how is that possible No, I'm just kidding. I i mean, there's nothing wrong with doing that. You know, most people do that. It's it's the the funny thing is, is that so so these discounts, um,
00:48:14
Speaker
usually So ah this didn't actually register too much with me because i am perpetually getting bombarded by Disney for the Canadian discount because they're they're always like sending out messages like, you know, Canadian residents can save 25% on rooms, which basically just gives us like...
00:48:34
Speaker
we're We're saving the the exchange rate on the on the dollar is what it comes down to. Yeah, yeah. um so So it's funny how like like when I read this article, I was like like, oh, you know, I always have 25% discount, like big whoop about any of any of what they're they're trying to promo here. But it is kind of funny because it it does actually show a reflection of like...
00:48:56
Speaker
If you're paying attention, like you said, the the rooms that are more heavily discounted are the ones that are, you know, either either more expensive resorts or the not as popular places that they're trying to get people to go to.
00:49:11
Speaker
Yeah. so So if you're planning, that's also something that you can factor into your planning. So it's like, even though how we pointed out like All-Star Sports has a higher discount than other All-Stars resorts, that says something. That says that They want people to stay at All Stars, but they don't want people to stay at Art of Animation.
00:49:30
Speaker
Right. So, you know, it's that that that that part I think is kind of interesting. That, you know, Disney is kind of, they're they're kind of telling you what's busy and what's not, I guess. that's I mean feel like that's kind of what they always do, you know, with these things. though Anyway.
00:49:48
Speaker
yeah ah um Did you want to talk about some merch? ah We don't have to. and Okay. We can't. No, we can't. So, so the Mandalorian and Grogu
Merchandise and Marketing Trends
00:49:57
Speaker
are coming out. I have not kept up with the show. I did like the first season of it. I didn't keep up with it. Like I wanted to though. And i mean, I guess I can at any time and I, you know, listen, is you know, they great people still really like Grogu and stuff and the Mandalorian. So, and, and that although the, although the marketing for this movie has been very weird and ah that nobody really knows what's going on in it. And, and, I couldn't tell you either. Like I, yeah, know i I do like, yeah, like, like you, I kind of stopped paying attention a while ago, but it's still odd to me that actually the one thing that threw me for a loop and I had to look this up was i saw that there's a Zeb figurine.
00:50:38
Speaker
And you're probably going, who's Zeb? um Zeb is one of the characters from Star Wars Rebels, but he does show up in The Mandalorian as well. And so I was confused at first when it was like there was like Grogu stuff and then there was a Zeb figurine or Zeb Funko in this list. And I was like, how does that work? But of course, yeah, dis Disney is doing their their typical crossover stuff that they do. you know you know or they're They're trying to you know cross over the various Star Wars characters um
00:51:10
Speaker
stories or or shows or whatever. But yeah, this this stuff in particular, like and maybe maybe it's just me, but you know, they're they're they're trying to sell all this Grogu stuff.
00:51:24
Speaker
I feel like Grogu is kind of over. You think so? Like, like I guess, ah like I remember there was hype around it for like the longest time and Like, this feels a little forced to me, but maybe I'm wrong. like Like, maybe it's because I just don't look at, like, the Mandalorian at all. I don't i don't have any attachment to it.
00:51:47
Speaker
It seems like they're really trying to force the Grogu thing with this merchandise. I don't know. I mean, I think Gergu is still pretty popular. i don't know. Okay. Maybe it's just me. Yeah. It might just be you. I think Gergu is still pretty. I mean, I know my sister will pretty much buy anything that has Gergu on it. So she she does. I mean, she's really into it. I mean, like there's some cool things in here. There's some Funko Pops, right? There's some ah Legos. There's ah some of those walkers that you can get, the like remote control ones, like which would be pretty cool.
00:52:21
Speaker
ah To mess around with that, right? i I mean, but I, you know, I've always talked about this that I'm a more of a casual Star Wars fan than one that needs to buy stuff that says Star Wars on them. You know, i do have i with do i have a Star Wars. I thought I had a Star Wars Lego set, but I do not.
00:52:37
Speaker
ah But I've thought about buying them in the past. Well, they there's a Lego set in this list. I see. There's a bunch of Lego sets. I just, I don't know. These are too small to for me. Just personally, they're too small. i like bigger sets, and these are pretty minimal.
00:52:51
Speaker
So, anyway, I have like complicated ones, too. The only one I would do is... The X-Wing looks pretty sweet. The X-Wing does look pretty cool. Not gonna lie. that would that That would be pretty cool to have. They have a bunch of X-Wings, though. That's not a new thing. they they They have a bunch of them.
00:53:05
Speaker
Mm-hmm. yeah Yeah, you know, the X-Wing is not just one ship. You know that, right? Like, there' there's entire fleets of them. i I'm aware of this. I'm just saying it's not the first time they've had an X-Wing, ah you know, Lego set. That's all. Yeah. So, of course, there's all kinds of variations of it. Yeah. Yeah.
00:53:24
Speaker
Ah, fine, Trevor, fine. I will say, actually, one thing that surprised me in this list is that it looks like there's a couple of books that are coming out, which um that that piques my interest because there used to be, before Disney took over the Star Wars universe, there was the expanded universe where there was all kinds of interesting writing and stuff. Like, like it, yeah ah yeah the problem was it it kind of got out of hand. and And so it like, it kind of started blurring into like almost fan fiction, which is not great.
00:54:05
Speaker
Um, but the fact that they're actually publishing, um There's um Star Wars Outlaws, Little Red Moon, and ah Star Wars Sanctuary, a Bad Batch novel coming out.
00:54:18
Speaker
though I'm not saying I'm going to go out and read those, but I do appreciate having novels or having um having means of expanding the universe beyond the shows. Because the the shows are very... um prescriptive, I guess, is the best way to put them in that you you can't, there's not anything left up to imagination around them.
00:54:41
Speaker
Whereas in books, like you you get description, you get like expanded information, but it also does leave room for, um, I guess, inferring things that are, you know, you know, maybe tie back to those shows, but then also maybe like, you know, hint at other things going on in the universe.
00:55:00
Speaker
I think that's something that that the Star Wars universe is is missing right now is that everything feels very like it has to be like written into canon or it has to be like,
00:55:13
Speaker
given a proper story arc or else they they just ignore it altogether. But I think that they need to make some room for this kind of stuff. So, yeah. Yeah, I get what you're saying. Yeah, it's... I do like when they do that. They've been doing a lot more of that recently, I feel like. Yeah, I feel like they're starting to figure that out, that, you know, you can't just, like...
00:55:37
Speaker
you can't contain the universe in a tidy little box. It has to have some loose ends and it has to have like weird little tangents for people to explore if you want it to be interesting.
00:55:49
Speaker
Um, so yeah, I, like, like i said, that that was the only thing that stood out to me in in this list of merch was I was like, Oh, they're actually like publishing or they're they're advertising that they're publishing books. I know they have published books in the past, but the fact that they're advertising it here is, uh, is a bit surprising.
00:56:08
Speaker
Yeah, i even even like the the advertising the advertising for this movie is very comic book-y. You know, like the way that they're like, yeah, it's just like the way they're doing like the the logo and text and everything. because I saw like a cutout for it when I went and saw the SpongeBob movie with my daughter at the at the movie theater. And i it looked pretty good. Like that was cool, but nobody knows what this movie is about or anything like that. So...
00:56:31
Speaker
But anyway, ah let's ah let's keep moving on here. i i reluctantly put this in ah at the direction of my wife. ah Okay.
00:56:43
Speaker
So ah Bath and Body Works has a new Disney princess collection. And it's got a bunch of different like princesses and like, you know, different merch associated with them and candle holders and candles for like Mulan and Aurora and Rapunzel, Snow White.
00:57:03
Speaker
Was that Cinderella? No, Snow White. Okay, sorry. ah Yeah. so I mean, like there's ah there's all these different ones and they're pretty cool looking. I'm not going to lie. like the The packaging is pretty spot on.
00:57:15
Speaker
Yeah, like these candle holders are pretty awesome, actually. Yeah. yeah Even the the soap bottles are very yeah fancy, like like these little the foaming hand soap. It's like like the the detail on them is quite surprising.
00:57:31
Speaker
And then there's yeah where are these like um scent infusion things that you plug in, like the Glade plug-ins kind of things, but they've got little... or that they're they're tuned to the different princesses, right? Like the, I'm looking at the Mulan one and the Snow White one right now.
00:57:51
Speaker
Yeah, it's the, I think the one that my daughter, like, we got most excited about was the Rapunzel one, which is like Rapunzel's tower, you know, and it holds the candle on top. I think that was the one that she was like, ooh, she's like, I like that one. And then she wanted, of course, all the nightlights, you know, because she can't just have one.
00:58:07
Speaker
The nightlight scent things. Yeah. night lights slash scents right yeah yeah like i said it those glade plug-in things yeah but with like a nightlight though do i did the plugins have a nightlight i don't think they do yeah yeah they they come with nightlights the these just have extra i mean i'm assuming that these are like not plastic or maybe they are i mean they they don't look plasticky but i think that's the thing about this is like you know looking at all like the candles and everything like it none of it looks like None of it looks cheap.
00:58:40
Speaker
No, it looks like nice stuff. Yeah, it it definitely looks like really nice stuff. And it's... Yeah, trust me. If my wife hasn't ordered some of this already, I would be pretty surprised. Maybe I need to have a conversation with my wife if she's been talking to your wife. because Well, yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe she didn't. Maybe she's not buying it. I don't know. but i I'll know when it shows up at the house. Because...
00:59:04
Speaker
It's is pretty cool stuff. i mean We do have Bath and Body Works up here, too. So there's a good chance that if if my wife catches wind of this. i I want to... I'm going to place a bet here without talking to my wife. But of these collections, I think she would be most interested in the Mulan stuff.
00:59:22
Speaker
So... Yeah, i see, here's the if I would have read about this prior to Valentine's Day, i probably... Now, given they didn't really give a whole lot of time, I'm not making my way out to an actual physical bath and body work, so I would have had to order this online. But this would have been like a really good Valentine's Day gift. Like something from this collection would have been excellent Valentine's Day gift if you celebrate such things.
00:59:45
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's fair. I was going to say, I mean, if if you do celebrate Valentine's Day, we... i mean we've we've been we've been married for years and we decided a long time ago that Valentine's Day wasn't wasn't something we needed to celebrate. But outside of that, though, like I think this is these are just nice gifts for your significant other anyway. You don't you don't need Valentine's Day to buy something nice.
01:00:11
Speaker
Yeah. Just saying. Yeah, no, i you're totally right about that. Yeah. So, yeah, that's that's interesting that... um the the The Bath & Body Works stuff, I've always...
01:00:27
Speaker
I mean, I've always ignored Bath & Body Works, obviously, because i don't I don't have any reason to go in there. But um the fact that they... yeah Like, this looks like they put a lot of effort into it. It does. Like, it doesn't... but and And not to say that, like, Bath & Body Works doesn't put effort into their stuff. It's just... i usually collabs like this don't... They don't look quite as fancy as what I'm seeing here.
01:00:54
Speaker
So... Yeah, I agree. let's ah Do you want to move on to this last thing here? yeah Yeah, I figured you were chomping at the bit to talk about this because this leads into reckless speculation. ah but i well Hold up I mean, I'm not. You dont know it does. I wasn't going to play the song. I mean, if you want me to, I can. But, you know. Hey, that's up to you. You know, you do you. But...
Innovative Disney Ride Technology
01:01:22
Speaker
You know, we we have a patent here to talk about. so do we want to talk about the patent first or do you want to just run the song? Reckless speculation. Here's your answer.
01:01:33
Speaker
Reckless speculation. Speculation. It's so reckless. It's so much speculation. Speculation. We may be wrong.
01:01:44
Speaker
We may be right. But it doesn't matter because it's reckless speculation.
01:01:53
Speaker
I love that song. um All right. This isn't really right. So we we're going to do some of that in here. But, you know, this is a patent. So this is a real thing that could be built. Right. So, like, it's not all that reckless, but it's we we could speculate on what it could be used for.
01:02:11
Speaker
ah And so this they've they filed a patent application for it's called that what they're calling an articulating boom arm that could move a ride vehicle up and down and side to side on a ride path.
01:02:24
Speaker
So it's like, how do you describe yeah It's like a vehicle on the edge of a end of an arm, right? Okay. good imagine So imagine if you're sitting in a roller coaster and you had a broom.
01:02:39
Speaker
And you stuck the broom out as far as you could and you had a camera sitting on the end of the broom and you were like filming on it, right? Right. so So imagine that visual of, you know you know you know, you're like using a selfie stick, you know, holding it on as far as you can.
01:02:54
Speaker
But then that gives you the ability to move, like you can move the the yeah the stick like, you know know, far to your left, far above you, far to the right. That's what this looks like to me. but so So then the car itself is on the end of that stick. So you have like the main, the main,
01:03:13
Speaker
attraction car or the vehicle that is moving along a track, but then you have this extremely long boom arm and they show like it looks like a pod racer on the end is what it looks like to me. You probably never watched the first. I know what you're talking about. Not as pod racer. Actually, looks more like a sand speeder. Sorry, not a pod racer, a sand speeder.
01:03:37
Speaker
So, yeah. so what they're showing is like, you know, you know is able to you know, not just, or it can move like down a little bit, like or like it it can't go like completely underneath the track, but it can move down, it can move up. They also show the cars themselves rotating on the boom.
01:03:55
Speaker
So, so this to me gives the impression of a a Flight simulator. So so like ah a roller coaster type ride, you know, not necessarily as fast as a roller coaster, moving along a track like how a roller coaster would. Yeah. but But having the vehicle simulating flight is what I would i would equate this to.
01:04:18
Speaker
Well, you could also, though, I mean, you could do a lot with this, though, right? Because you could, this is like the actual piece where the arm is going into, it like goes to like a middle track, it seems like, right? So like you, you could make, i mean, you could theoretically with the new, ah a cars ride that's coming to magic kingdom, you could make it so that somebody could drive the car, like actually drive the car and use the steering wheel and it would move to different parts of the track, you know, laterally, like it can go, like you could have, it gives like the ability of, it gives the more control over the experience of the ride, and not just, okay. Yeah.
01:04:55
Speaker
Yeah, I wasn't thinking about from that lens that, you know, actually being able to control the movement of it. I i was thinking on this more in terms of like how Guardians is structured, where the the ride vehicle is able to move around in ways that enhances or changes the normally how you would move along a track, right? like Because that's what Guardians does is that the the cars turning around changes like how you handle certain turns and stuff is that, you know, it really emphasizes things. This to me, like I was actually envisioning this. We had talked a long time ago about
01:05:29
Speaker
um a possible Mulan ride where it was like you're on the on the boat like sailing. I could see an an application for this where it's like, you know, you you could have the main ride vehicle being like off to the side hidden, but it gives you the impression of like, you know, they can move this boom arm around so that it feels like you're, you know, on a boat, like, like you know, crashing over waves and stuff like that. So, Yeah. Yeah.
01:05:58
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, this, if you look at this further, it has, ah you know, it has ah an example that, you know, could almost be the, the cars ride, right. Where it's, it's got kind of like a dune buggy kind of thing where, you know, there's a two car wide ride path and, you know, you'd be able to kind of move in between those and possibly, you know, be, be controlled by the user. Like,
01:06:22
Speaker
That would be kind of cool if that was something, you know, it says, it also says to, you know, let's see, the ride system may include a ride vehicle configured to move along ah a a ride path adjacent to a track with an arm coupled to the ride vehicle. The ride vehicle may be moved separately from the arm. So like, you know, the ride vehicle may include features to support the ride vehicle on a ride surface of the ride path. ah It may articulate between positions to adjust the position of the vehicle.
01:06:48
Speaker
uh, the arm may adjust la to the lateral and or vertical position of the ride vehicle along the ride. So like it can move it basically, and it you could pivot it and all sorts of stuff. So like it basically is allowing you to, it's almost like what, uh, the, the, the, um,
01:07:03
Speaker
the Donkey Kong coaster at, uh, but it's doing it in a, it's, it's having an arm and it's, it's going to be controlling it in a different way. Whereas the arm on Donkey Kong is just used to, you know, create an illusion. This is an arm that would actually move and do things, you know? Yeah. Yeah. The the Donkey Kong one is, it is static for sure. Like, like, cause all it's doing is displacing where the actual, yeah.
01:07:29
Speaker
coaster is so that you you know they can create visual effects of like the the mind track disconnecting and all that kind of stuff um yeah like you said that this to me yeah yeah you know reading through it ah one of the things that they compared it to was the ah um the Stark Flight Lab, um which Oh, yeah, which is being built now, yeah. Yeah, which which is similar. Like, you know, they had those robotic arms and they're moving around and whatnot, but they're they are on a track, but it's very... um It's very...
01:08:04
Speaker
this very slow limited movement. It's very similar to also like Harry Potter and yeah um like, like those rides in universal. This is the Kuka arms or whatever they're called.
01:08:15
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. This is more like the, you know, instead of having those those arms is different. Yeah. Like they're showing like different ride vehicles. And actually one of the other ones they show here too is like a motorbike, which is kind of an interesting idea that, you know, you could, you could control like,
01:08:33
Speaker
like off-roading on a motorbike and and changing, changing or i guess the idea is is that with the the way they're proposing this is that it's not just a matter of having the ride go along a particular path and like the arms moving or whatever, but may like you said, you know, the potential to control it or the potential to to change things or add variation to the ride depending on you know, know, either just like randomness or people interacting with it in certain ways.
01:09:01
Speaker
So, um could you imagine if they did that with the cars ride where you could actually drive the vehicle Like, that just feels crazy. Like, but I mean, drive it they can still control you. You know what I mean?
01:09:13
Speaker
Right. But I mean, it it would be kind of again, it like the the theme here is, you know, it's reminiscent to other ride types that we've seen. But like in Cars Land right now, the the cars race each other.
01:09:29
Speaker
But you don't have any control over it, but it still gives that, you know, it gives that excitement of racing side by side. Like you said, you know, if if the if the new Cars attraction was set up where, you know, everybody was hooked to like a main ride vehicle, but their individual cars, like you said, you have some ability to control like or making Again, making it feel like you're racing or making it feel like you have some agency over how the yeah how the ride behaves. Yeah, that that's very interesting. that that's ah that's a That's kind of a huge thing in terms of interactivity yeah um that they can bring to these rides with this patent.
01:10:10
Speaker
Yeah, and and this article mentions that it's it's similar to like Tomorrowland Speedwear or Autopia where you like are able to control it but not really. this is almost just like a this is like ah a ah higher tech newer version of the rail in the middle of the road kind of thing.
01:10:27
Speaker
It's the rail in the middle of the road, but it's, I mean, theoretically you can make this completely and totally invisible. You know, you could you could make it so that so there's lots of ways to hide it. Yeah, like you would have it would give you the complete illusion that you are actually controlling this when you, you know, really are controlling it, but not really. You're you're controlling it within the within the confines of how Disney wants you to control it. And they they actually have in here that this could be used basically for, I mean, a whole lot of different things. And, you know, one of the examples, they have like ah some sort of flying thing where it could literally,
01:11:01
Speaker
you could have it go completely upside down and to a whole other side of the track, or you could use it with a boat or a motorcycle, like you said. Like, so there's, there's a seemingly ah endless ways that you can actually use this. But,
01:11:15
Speaker
Listen, these these things, you know, Disney files patents all the time. It doesn't mean they're actually going to use them, ah but they could, you know. And like I said, if this were to somehow show up on the new Cars ride, that'd be pretty cool. not going to lie. It'd be pretty cool.
01:11:34
Speaker
What do you suppose the chances are? I know. Okay, this is probably way off left field. Well, we played the regular speculation music, so you can say whatever you want. But, you know, you're talking about Cars Land, but what if they were able to use this to some capacity on the coaster in Monsters, Inc.? Interesting.
01:11:55
Speaker
Interesting. Because, again, the thing about Monsters Inc. is... that How would they do that? I mean, the the funny thing is, is that they wouldn't have to hide anything necessarily. But yeah ah because of the fact that, you know, Monsters Inc. is a very... Or, you know, the doors moving through the the the the system they have is very mechanical. And so, you know, maybe it's, ah you know, they they could make it seem like you're being attached to something that is like a wider...
01:12:26
Speaker
a wider version of their door transportation system, but then giving the ability that you you and other people on the ride are maybe moving around like above and below each other so that like you're not just static across a single row, but that like people are moving above and below you as well.
01:12:48
Speaker
So right you're you're saying like you're saying like this wouldn't be like your traditional suspended roller coaster like we've seen in the images, that this would be like – it would look like you're the you're in the actual – like, you know, they would make it so that it would – it's i see It would feel more chaotic. Like like it would feel it would feel more like, like I said, the idea of like, you know, you know, other people passing above you or below you that were like, you know, if you're looking around, you see other people that, you know, started off next to you and they're moving, you know, you know, in relation to you ways that they shouldn't be. um I think that's, that could be an interesting application for something like this.
01:13:29
Speaker
i I feel like if this is going to get used anytime soon, I'm feeling like it's going to be the car's attraction because especially this one example where they show how like it could like lift the vehicle like in the air to kind of simulate terrain. Or jumps, yeah. Yeah. so like Ramps and stuff, yeah. That's what I'm saying. Like this whole new cars ride is supposed you're like off-roading. Right. And so like, how cool would it be if they could simulate, like they don't need to make the track, like they could actually make you do jumps essentially off of it.
01:14:03
Speaker
You know what i mean? Without actually having you do a jump, like having a controlled jump. You know, because like if you're going to off road stuff like that, you're going to get air at certain points. Right. In real life. So it's assumed. Yeah. Yeah. If you're off roading, you're going to hit a jump. And so this is a way that you're right. They could control that feeling without the ride itself being dangerous.
01:14:25
Speaker
Yeah. anyway I listen, this is a crazy thing to to think that they would do, but I mean, pardon i i just kind of, part of me believes that they're not just going to do the car, the, the, the car on a track thing again. i just, I don't know. Yeah. I, I, I kind of agree with you. I i hope that I hope this is somehow utilized in like in an, in the upcoming car stuff.
01:14:54
Speaker
I mean, but I also wouldn't be mad either if they just made it like an off-road version of Radiator Springs Racers as well. Yeah. Because, I mean, Radiator Springs Racers is still a top-notch ride.
01:15:06
Speaker
Yeah. yeah sure Yeah. I mean, like, that's that's yeah that's true. But that's that's where I'm going. I think if they're going to use it, they're going to use it there. That's that's what I'm going to go with. Okay. i'm I'm still going to hold on to the idea of ah of an extra crazy inverted coaster, but yeah' I'm probably way off in left field. but i Listen, that's that's what regular speculation is all about, right? It's the same things you don't actually believe.
01:15:30
Speaker
So anyway, like anything else about that or should should we wrap her up? No, I think I'm good to wrap up. I am Even as we talked about the beginning, I'm getting better, but I'm finding I'm hitting my limit. yeah Yeah. So probably probably a good time for me to wrap up. Yeah.
01:15:49
Speaker
um All right. I'm going to try and do my best to get through this without coughing. you have a problem, I'll pick it up. Yeah. I may have to just pause for a second, just putting that out there.
Listener Engagement and Support
01:16:00
Speaker
All right. So if you want to reach out to us about anything on the show, if you have questions or you want to share your own trip reports, share your own experiences around anything we talked around the show, you can find us at welcomehomepodcast at gmail.com. You can also contact us through our website, which which is welcomehomepodcast.co. So, you know, you can go there and, and ah you know, hit us up through through the contact section as well.
01:16:27
Speaker
um We also have links to all of our episodes and the store and everything on, on the website. So i make sure you guys go and check that out. Cause Tom put a lot of work into it and you guys should go and check it out. Let me get a chance.
01:16:39
Speaker
So check it out all the time. Just to admire my own work. Yeah. That is your, you're constantly working on it too. I know. Well, there's that. Yeah. ah but But also, similarly, um if you want to find us on social media, you can find us on Facebook as Welcome Home Podcast. You can find us on YouTube as Welcome Home Podcast. You can find us on Instagram as Welcome Home Picks. We also have our Facebook group, Welcome Home Disney Waitlist, where you know we do talk about stuff from the show. There's you know interesting questions that are posed there. People share their trip reports and you know just just generally good vibes about Disney stuff. So if that's of interest to you, you know please come and check us out.
01:17:15
Speaker
um if you Again, if you want to help support the show, so you know you can go through the website, but also you can go directly to the store, which is store.welcomeonpodcast.co. And you can check out all of our different merch there. We've got some cool stuff there now. We are selling hats.
01:17:31
Speaker
Um, we got some, you know, we got things like water bottles and t-shirts and, and all kinds of good stuff. So, you know, please have a look at the store if there's, uh, you know, maybe if you want to, to get some merch to help support the show. And also, you know, if you just need some merch, maybe for your next trip, um, if you do buy something, you know drop us a pick, let us know that, uh, you know, let us know what you got and, uh, what you think about it. Cause the store is fairly new for us as well, but, uh,
01:17:56
Speaker
And know we're hoping that there's some stuff in there that you guys might enjoy. um So check that out. Also, another way you can support us is through Patreon. So go to patreon.com slash welcome home pod and check out our different levels of Patreon support. All of our Patreon listeners um get so there there is merch that you can get there depending on the level of support. that is exclusive to Patreon. It's a logo you can only get through Patreon nowhere else.
01:18:22
Speaker
um Also, our Patreon listeners get access to the Discord server, which as we talked about, is yet another place that we we have conversations about things from the show and just sometimes fun randomness as well. So, you know please check that out if it's of interest to you.
01:18:37
Speaker
Last but not least, if you're listening on iTunes or Spotify or anywhere, you can leave us a five-star review. Please do so. um It just helps more people find the show. And you can also, on iTunes, write us a review and let us know what you think about the show too because we like to we like to know your thoughts there as well.
01:18:53
Speaker
And I think that covers it all because my voice is slowly dying on you. And it's gone. Yeah. ah Don't forget to subscribe to Welcome Home Podcast so you can reminded every time we release a episode. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Spotify, YouTube, YouTube Music, just about any podcast stuff that's out there. You can find us. a huge thank you to our sponsor of this episode, DVC Resale Market and Keyholder Vacations for...
01:19:17
Speaker
ah Being our our longtime sponsor, our longtime friend, so please check them out for anything DVC-related or really not just DVC. If you want to buy some tickets, you want to plan some vacations, go go check them out.
01:19:29
Speaker
They've got just about everything you possibly need for for your disney ah Disney needs. So ah join us next time for more Disney Parks Discussion. Of course, more DVC talk. We hope to see you all real soon.
01:19:42
Speaker
This is Skipper Albert A. Wall, the voice of the jungle, signing off from Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.