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Episode 336: 2027 Member Cruise, Galaxy's Edge Timeline & Figment Popcorn Bucket image

Episode 336: 2027 Member Cruise, Galaxy's Edge Timeline & Figment Popcorn Bucket

Welcome Home: A Disney Parks & DVC Podcast
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On This Episode

The guys discuss the newly announced 2027 DVC Member Cruise sailing the West Coast to Catalina Island and San Francisco. Disneyland is breaking the current timeline at Galaxy's Edge, allowing characters like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker to roam Batuu. A new Figment popcorn bucket is coming to the EPCOT International Festival of the Arts. Disney is reportedly spending $22 million to convert Muppet*Vision 3D into a Monsters Inc. show. New details on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad refurbishment have been revealed. The guys discuss a recent article about the struggles within Walt Disney Imagineering.

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Transcript

Introduction to Welcome Home Podcast

00:00:07
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.
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello and welcome home. This episode of Welcome Home is brought to you by DVC Resale Market. Thank you for joining us on episode 336 of Welcome Home, a Disney Parks Vacation Club podcast. I'm Tom, here with Trevor. How's it going, Trevor? Oh, pretty good.
00:00:42
Speaker
feel like I've talked to you a lot yeah this week. Yeah, not not not like, you know, by the time we're doing this podcast, we spent what, like...

Hosts' Recent Activities

00:00:50
Speaker
Three hours playing mini golf last night. We did the food time episode during the week. I mean, yeah, we we've talked a lot this week. but Yeah, we've actually we got to get another food time episode. So for first of all, for those that if you haven't noticed, we we did do a food time episode for the Epcot Festival of the Arts, which I think was ah was fun. It was a fun episode. Mm-hmm.
00:01:12
Speaker
And I think we'll probably do another one fairly soon here. There's some Disneyland ones out, but I don't know. i We haven't really talked about what we're going to do another one. um And then we also ah just, you know, for everybody's information, we're also going to be, you know, I think a lot of you follow Depper Danielle and Depper Danielle was on our show. I don't know. Months, like months ago. July, I think. is that what it was Yeah, it was it was during the summer. Yeah, it was it was ah it was a

Interview Teaser: Depper Danielle's Epcot Book

00:01:37
Speaker
little while ago. Yeah. So we had we had her on to talk about her Magic Kingdom book. And then she said, well, I'm also writing an Epcot book. And, you know, I'll come back on to talk about the Epcot book. Well, lo and behold, the Epcot book is coming out. And so we're going to have it's out. Actually, it is out. Yes. So that it is out at this point. but And yeah, we're going to be having another conversation with her.
00:01:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So in the coming weeks here, so just keep an eye out for that. We'll, we'll give you more information we get closer to it. ah That one's actually, we're going to do that one on video too. So, ah so, you know, hooray for the video lovers out there. Yeah. I'm looking forward to it.
00:02:10
Speaker
Yeah. It's exciting. fun Her, her and her co-writer are going to be coming. Hopefully. I think we should have both of them. So her co-author, i should say. ah Yeah. So no, I, we just, we've had a, we've had a busy, ah busy week here, Trevor. We've just been doing talking a lot and doing a lot of stuff and ah you know, not a bad thing.

Kidani Rooms and Murphy Beds

00:02:26
Speaker
So yeah,
00:02:27
Speaker
yeah Yeah. I hope everybody checks out that free time episode. That was it was that was ah was a fun one. So, yeah. Yeah, for sure. And, we you know, as we said, you know, we're going to start trying to do more stuff like that. so And we are. Yeah, we're doing it.
00:02:40
Speaker
We're doing it, guys. We're doing it. yeah Anyway, wait I mean, I'm just trying to think of what else we have going on, Trevor. right You know, is there any any random stuff that you've got going on? Any business kind of stuff going on? What are your business? Well, well a Disney business stuff. Oh, yeah. yeah yeah you know disney Disney's serious business, you know. We all know that. Right. I don't know who sent it in the group, Trevor, who sent it in the Discord, but um I had to laugh at the the pictures of the refurbished Kidani. Oh, it's Chris. Thank you, Chris. So Chris sent in our Discord some pictures of the... one of the refurbished Kidani two bedroom rooms. And, and I think everybody, you know, the listens to this knows that, that Kidani is, is probably our favorite resort to stay at. And, ah you know, was due for refurb and those pictures look great. It looks, it looks excellent. I, and I jokingly said, ah you're welcome because ah my dues paid for that reno. So at Murphy bed.
00:03:39
Speaker
I paid for that. Those Murphy beds are nice, not going to lie. We know the difference. Like, you know, my my son, um you know, years ago, he you know, he used to stay on the the little um the little fold-out Murphy bed that's underneath the TV. Comes out of the TV, yeah. But then then as he got a little bit bigger, he didn't want to sleep on that bed. And we we ended up up just using it for luggage storage,
00:04:02
Speaker
Because it's he's probably he's got to be too tall for that yeah at this point. Right. yeah Definitely. Now, or actually, no, I mean, he could still fit in it, but it wouldn't be comfortable because there's like no room to to roll left or right. Yeah. um But but so we we use the couch bed ah or the fold out couches one year.
00:04:19
Speaker
And he, would you know, he being a, yeah you know, younger kid, he was like, yeah, it was fine. He's like, it wasn't great. But, and but then once the Murphy beds came, he was like, this is good. like And, and also i I, I can say to, you know, um when, when I went with my brother last year, my brother's a very tall guy, as, as you know, he and very and he was able to sleep comfortably in the Murphy beds, which I think says something like there's, yeah. You know, you know, if, if,
00:04:48
Speaker
If even tall people can be comfortable in them, that's, ah you know, that's a good sign. Well, you know, teenagers can sleep anyway, right? I mean, when you're teenager, you so you can sleep wherever. It yeah doesn't matter, you know? My brother you know, he's one of those people that, yeah, you know, he's perpetually had the issue of his feet hanging off the end of the bed and yeah he was able to... By the way, not saying your brother's a teenager. I was going back to your son. I know. Yeah, it's all like like relative. Yeah. You know, teenagers are the same thing. It's, you know, they're they can be they can be difficult to ah accommodate in ah in hotel rooms sometimes because, you know, you know they they're they're becoming adults and it's fair that, you know, they And I think part of it, too, is, you know you know, when your kids are young, you kind of like, you know, you get the good bed because you paid for the room.
00:05:37
Speaker
And, you know, because like I would i wouldn't be sleeping on the on the fold out couch if I paid for the room, I guess would be my take. Yeah, no, I understand that. Yeah, no, I get that. get that. So it's hard, like, when we've, you know, when we've brought family with us before and we've, you know, done, we've, we've quote unquote paid for the room, you know, with DVC points. and and we Yeah, you still pay for it. Well, and we ended up not taking the master bedroom and it's like, well, you know, we probably should have the master bedroom, but we got our parents with us and, you know, it's the right thing to do to give it to them and, you know. Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, it is up to your discretion, of course, but, you know, my, my take on that is, you know, it's, you You should get first pick of the room or pick of the the sleeping accommodations if you paid for the room. So even if you choose not to take, you know, the biggest room or whatever, you get first pick. But like i said, I feel, you know, to the point of, you know, Disney renoing these rooms, they're making it a lot easier that, you know, you know, there there's no there's no bad.
00:06:35
Speaker
sleeping accommodations in the room. They're trying to eliminate that, right? They're trying to make it consistent that it's like, well, it doesn't matter which, you know, whether it's the Murphy bed or the the standard bed that you're sleeping on that, you know, you you get the same experience, which I think it's good that Disney is paying attention to stuff like that.
00:06:53
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I agree. i agree.

DVC Member Cruise Announcement

00:06:56
Speaker
Anyway, let's talk some, uh, let's talk, let's talk some new, we got some interesting stuff. This, uh, this, this, this, this show, I think some DVC. So we're starting with some DVC news. It looks like about, uh, it's DVC slash DCL, right? Where we're doing a double up. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, yeah, we usually don't talk cruise, but it's DVC related. So, and I know this is a very popular thing with a lot of DVC members, and that's the member cruise, right? know, they do these member cruises that are DVC members only, and they just announced another one, which is in April of 27. It's going to be a Disney Wonder trip. It's a West Coast trip, Trevor, for a months.
00:07:35
Speaker
Seven days ah through Catalina Island, San Francisco and Mexico. And then it ends, you know, back in, it starts in San Diego, ends in San Diego. So ah it, yeah, so it's pretty, pretty cool. ah You know, a really kind of neat thing. If you haven't done these before, which I haven't, but I i would, you know, I would like to. um But, you know, these are you can pay with points or you can pay cash, but they always sell out pretty quickly.
00:08:01
Speaker
Right. um And so if you want to book this, you know, and as a heads up, February 28th, that's the day. ah So, you know, be prepared to call and because they are going to sell out, ah you know, over a couple of days there. But you do have to pay in full for for this at the time of booking. So it's. ah it's ah It's not one of those things that you can ah you can you can do. you know You can put a deposit down. You got to pay. so Yeah.
00:08:26
Speaker
Yeah. But so be ready for that. But yeah, listen, these crews are great. I would love to do a member cruise one of these days. I don't know. But it seems like it can happen. Yeah. And the, you know, we've talked about, you know, obviously the cruises have come up as a discussion point for us. This is, you know, I know you're like, hey, it's a West Coast. Like, you know, maybe you could do it. Yeah. But it's a seven day, which.

Cruise Preferences Discussion

00:08:46
Speaker
Well, I didn't say that you could do it. But yeah. Well, i I feel like there was an implication there. No, no, no, no. Honestly, there wasn't. yeah There wasn't. Because I know you guys have decided against it. So I'm not. Well, we, again, it's not, it's not 100% off the table. But, you know, we we've we've kind of, you know, we were we were initially looking at it and we kind of dialed it back because, again, we, you know, we made other plans. So so this took a back burner. But, yeah.
00:09:13
Speaker
But, yeah, you know, a seven-day cruise sounds, that that honestly does sound like a it or I feel a three-day wouldn't be enough if i if i did get into cruising. i You know, a three or four-day doesn't feel like enough. A seven-day feels like the right amount of time to be on a cruise. I personally, so I've i said this before, i don't want to do anything less than seven days. I feel like if I'm going to get myself down there and do all the stuff I got to together, cruise, I'm going to do it for seven days to make it.
00:09:44
Speaker
yeah Otherwise, to me, it's I don't want to say it's not worth it. It still is. But it's like, it feels like a lot of work for, as like you know, you get on the boat, you get comfortable, and then you're leaving again. You know, i don't know. it's it's I would rather go for multiple days. Because, we you know, obviously, I think I've talked about this in the show. We've been talking about what we're going to do this year, and we we haven't quite figured out what we're going to do this year. and And one of the ideas that came up was, you know, a couple days at the beach and maybe a shorter cruise. But I'm like,
00:10:10
Speaker
and you know, i kind of want to do a long cruise thing.

Vacation Planning: Beach vs. Cruise

00:10:14
Speaker
A few days at a beach and then a longer cruise? Yeah, I mean, yeah. Well, and my wife's like, you know, we don't have like a limited time off, right? And I'm like, well, you know, and we can take some time off. It's not, you know, like it's not the, not the of the world, take some time off. So, ah but, you know, you can push it. Yeah, yeah, it'll be fine. It'll be fine. Yeah, so, yeah, yeah that's that's a little news item, but I know people, it's DVC, so, so, you know, we should talk about it. But I think the, yeah the good.
00:10:40
Speaker
Yeah, no, i yeah, agreed. But yeah, and and I know you're where you're going with the next one is we' we're going to talk about Galaxy's Edge. Yeah. But so, OK, the the headline to this is Galaxy's Edge timeline soon expands at Disneyland.
00:11:00
Speaker
So, and yeah. Yeah. So this is specifically applying to Disneyland. So this is Disneyland news, but I think it's still relevant to both both Galaxy Edges. i I'm assuming they're doing this at Worlds, too. I don't. It doesn't say in the article. I they're starting it at Disneyland. Yeah. You know, good because the the thing is, is that like Disneyland does get they do get different stuff than Disney World. But yeah. OK. The whole implication of this is that.
00:11:26
Speaker
Galaxy's Edge has been

Galaxy's Edge Timeline Expansion

00:11:28
Speaker
stuck in the final trilogy timeline this entire time, meaning that, you know, episode seven, eight, and nine are reflective of what you see in Batuu. So you always see like Kylo Ren and like like all the newer Star Wars characters.
00:11:43
Speaker
In Disneyland, they're going to start expanding out that they're going to include the entire nine movie, ah nine movies timeline into Galaxy's Edge, meaning that, you know, they're breaking their rule of no, you know, this is only for the new stuff and and whatnot. You're you're going to be able to see characters like Darth Vader in Galaxy's Edge and Disneyland, which I think is kind of huge. um Yeah, it is. When you think about it. Yeah. And I think there was probably a lot of um feedback from from visitors saying, you know, where do I see Darth Vader? Yeah. Yeah. yeah It's and I remember when they kind of revealed all this Star Wars stuff before they built it, right? And I remember at the time there was a lot of conversation around this because it was like, well, why are they doing a planet that doesn't really exist in the movies? You know, they're doing like a planet that doesn't really exist in the movies. They're doing a timeline that's like, you know, it stuck to a very specific window of yeah the show. Yeah, it it felt very interesting to me that they were doing that in the first place. And listen, they were trying
00:12:53
Speaker
You have to we have to give Disney credit for this and that they were trying to do something. i don't want to say new, but they were trying to do something different. Like, could they have shoved all of the characters in there from the get go? Yeah, they could have. They were trying to make Galaxy's Edge and Batuu a living in breathing, immersive place that was real.
00:13:13
Speaker
You know, and so to do that, they they kept it at that one timeline. Right. Because it doesn't make that the whole timeline stretches out so far that it wouldn't really make sense otherwise. Right. So it's I understood why they did it at the time. And I i thought it was kind of ah a bold thing for them to do, especially with a a a property like Star Wars. Right. You know, where they're just like, there's all this history here and all these people love this history, but we're just going to do our own thing.
00:13:39
Speaker
You know what i mean? It was, it's kind of, it was weird. yeah But yeah, it, it, it almost seemed like, um, a little bit like they were hanging a carrot on a stick kind of thing that, you know, Oh, you're, you know, you're going to get star Wars stuff, but you never actually get what you want from it because it was, like it was their version of it. It wasn't the millennium Falcon and and you still get, you know, like you still get, but again, it was, but it was all tied to the the final three. Yeah. the Yeah. The, the new, the new trilogy, which, you know, I, I get,
00:14:10
Speaker
I get Disney's intent. I get them trying to keep, you you know, build world consistency and all that. But, you know, I think I honestly believe that this, like I said, it came comes from feedback. And I think it comes this comes from a change in their leadership that, you know, it's it's less this move tells me that they're realizing that, you know,
00:14:37
Speaker
They're not trying so much to push necessarily the latest and greatest thing of theirs, which, you know, you know understandably they should be you know, they're always trying to make money off of, you know, box office and and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. um so So, you know, they're always trying to push it as their most latest. But, you know, the the ironic thing is, is that the Galaxy's Edge actually went against the everything else in the parks in terms of, um yeah you know, if you look at things like, like, you know, Sleeping Beauty's Castle and like like things that they built around IPs in the past, they, you know, and I mean, to be fair, you know, you know, like Sleeping Beauty's Castle was, was built when Sleeping Beauty was new, but I don't recall them ever holding themselves to a rule of like,
00:15:24
Speaker
you know, that you will only see, like, Maleficent around the castle. You will only see, like, like like if they had held them to that high level of, like, consistency of the story, you would not see characters wandering in Fantasyland. You would not see, like, you know, half the stuff they see. Even, even like, um you know you know, seeing, like, Jack Sparrow near Pirates of the Caribbean and stuff. Like, there's...
00:15:50
Speaker
You could argue all kinds of timeline consistency stuff. And so it's kind of silly that they made that rule for themselves around Galaxy's Edge. And it's kind of showing that it did. I think they kind of shot themselves in the foot with a lot of it, because i know for a while people have been kind of saying like Galaxy's Edge like, or what was the comment that I saw was, you know, you know, go here if you want to look at piles of space junk.
00:16:14
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's Star Wars, though. I mean... But but but the but the thing is, is it was like you said, it was meant to be posed as like like a living, breathing outpost. But it's like, because of the fact that they didn't, they couldn't, they could only do certain characters. It was like, oh, you know, a large swaths of the park are basically empty. Like, there's no character interaction. There's no nothing. But it's like, oh, but you can look at, you know, here's like a speeder that, you know, is half taken apart. Here's a, here's a you know, a ship of some, like, it's...
00:16:44
Speaker
it it It makes it look like a like more like a junkyard than an outpost. And the thing is, is that bringing back in you know, characters from different timelines that gives them the ability to play with it a little bit more and to have the the a whole area be, you know, frankly, more.

Star Wars Character Introductions

00:17:00
Speaker
or it has the potential to be more interactive because like, you don't have to have like, you know, Kylo Ren having conversations with Hera from, uh, you know, Star Wars rebels, but because, you know, again, that doesn't make sense, but you know, but they can have them in different parts of the park, right? Like, yeah. it's wow yeah And by the, so for everybody that, uh, just, you know, for everyone's information here, it starts April 29th. It's when it's going to start.
00:17:26
Speaker
Um, and so we're talking, ah Darth Vader, Leia, Han, Luke, they're going to be joining Batuu. And, you know, I don't know if they're just, are they just walking around? Are they, this says it'll enable you to experience the Galactic Civil War and New Republic, as well as the Age of the Resistance and the First Order. So like literally you're just spanning the entire timeline of of films right i mean listen it's it's galaxy is is really interesting to me because in so many in a lot of ways because it is ip based but at the same time it was almost in a way an original thing that they did right because it was it's in the universe of star wars and the millennium falcons in it and of course all that other stuff's in it but like again it was it was a fairly net new thing they made like they created a whole planet that didn't exist and and they They tried to break it out so that it so yeah wouldn't be locked to like, oh, this is like Tatooine and will always be Tatooine, right? like Yeah. yeah so Okay, so Darth Vader is going to be wandering around looking for Luke.
00:18:28
Speaker
Makes sense. And Stormtroopers, of course. Leia and Han are going to... It says Leia and Han are going to be reunited with Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca amid the Rocky Spires. Luke Skywalker will roam the outpost seeking knowledge of the Force and artifacts related to lightsaber building, kyber crystals, and more. Leia is going to be near the Millennium Falcon, which will recruit travelers and locals help keep Luke safe. And Han will also, of course, linger around Millennium Falcon. um so
00:18:59
Speaker
Interesting. I mean, they're also saying, too, that, um you know, some of these other characters like the Mandalorian and Grogu and R2-D2 is still going to roll around the land and stuff like that. Sokka and looks like Rey is still going to be there, too. So it's they're just going to have all of them there now, i mean which, you know, OK, great. I mean, i it's funny to me, though, because it's like I said, I was thinking about this because I I do wonder.
00:19:26
Speaker
i because I think the general human being person, right, like that goes to a Disney park that isn't like really into the whole theme park and immersion thing doesn't really care about the timeline. Right. They just want to see Darth Vader walking around. They don't they't care that there's a timeline. Right. And yeah. and And you also have to be mindful of, you know,
00:19:46
Speaker
which movies people have watched, right? And, and you know, the the reality is the vast majority of people have watched the middle trilogy, you know, the episodes four, five, and six. Yeah. More than anything else. And that's really what they're adding here. Yeah, is that, yeah, they I think they realize that, you know, hey, you're you're kind of leaving...
00:20:06
Speaker
you know, money on the table by, you know, not not letting people meet Luke and Leia and those characters. But, and again, you know, expanding out that that world doesn't hurt. Like it doesn't, they they're not hurting themselves by doing that because, um you know, yeah, some people may like the newer trilogies. I i honestly don't know of anybody that's like,
00:20:32
Speaker
and and i And this isn't to say that people like that don't exist. And this is your opinion. That's totally fine. But, you know, everyone that I've ever talked to about Star Wars has been like, 78 and 9 were okay. Like, like they were they weren't... some Some people didn't like them. But it's like, you know, the yeah, they were okay. They they were good movies.
00:20:51
Speaker
But 4, 5, and 6 were where it's at. Right? like it Like, you know, you still you still go back. You still hear quotes from like... like those original ones, you still like see, or like people meme, I think on the original four five and six more than anything else, because they are just so old, right? Like the, yeah I mean, i ah yeah i do. I wonder if it's generational though, too. Right. So like, I bet people, you know, my age, your age, you know, we're, we're not far, far off in age. Right. But would say those grew up with four, five and six. But I would get you there's a lot of like teenagers and such out there that would say though the last three movies because that's that's what they knew growing up. me I don't know. I could be wrong. Well, I would argue teenager or, you know, you know, you know, kids that are my son's age, like teenagers.
00:21:43
Speaker
we were introducing them to four, five, and six before let's seven, eight, nine even came out. Like, like i know I know for us, we like we watched the original trilogy before before we watched any of the new ones because it was actually part of, you know, there was a a phase where my son was into Star Wars and we were watching, you know, it was when Rebels was on. So, yeah. you know, he was into that, but then by proxy that we're like, oh, hey, there's these movies. And so we're like, we watched four, five, and six because, you know, you know, sorry, what one, two, and three are, yeah that mixed bag of good. Some people love them though. I mean, I have a friend whose favorite movie is one of those. forget which one it is, but yeah. They have good beats in them. i
00:22:25
Speaker
I just think four, five, and six overall are better. Again, yeah, you know, where I grew up was, you know, you know seeing all nine of them, it's like, Four, five, and six are still still solid. like They're more solid than the other ones to me. The other ones have gaps and all that. and Sorry, i'm I'm going to start a whole debate on this, and I'm not meaning to. but You are, yeah. yeah um but but But the point is, you can you know you know coming back to to Disneyland, you're going to see more of these characters.
00:22:55
Speaker
I agree with you that this will happen in Disney World at some point, but I'm curious. Are they testing it? Yeah, I if they're testing it. The other thing, though, is that Disneyland also seems to have that...
00:23:08
Speaker
it has that natural um effect of roaming characters are far more prominent there just because of It's like a lot more roaming characters at Disney world lately, though. The past couple times I've been, I've seen a ton more roaming characters. Yeah, you're you're right. yeah You know, they've been getting better about that, but I sometimes feel that, you know, that they hold back on that stuff at Disney world just because of, it might be be because of volume of you know people coming through and stuff that, you know, maybe they don't,
00:23:38
Speaker
they don't do it to the same extent. i I hope that this is something that they start, you know, you know that that eventually comes to to Disney World because, yeah i you know, I should be able to go to you know, Star Wars land as, you know, because I know it's Batuu and Galaxy's Edge, but, you know, people going to Star Wars land, like, I should be able to see Luke at Star Wars land. Well, that's why they're doing this, right? Because, I mean, I would bet you so many people would be like, oh i want to meet Darth Vader. And then, like, they go to Galaxy's Edge, it's like, why is there no Darth Vader? And I remember because, you know, before before all of this opened up, they had the, um what was it called? The, um,
00:24:21
Speaker
They had that, they had that like that preview. since Oh yeah. The launch bay. you're talking launch yeah Yeah. I wanted to call it rebel outpost, but yeah, it was called launch bay. yeah Um, but, but they had, there was uh, a ah Darth Vader meet and greet there. there was. Yeah, there So it's like, you know, that kind of set a precedent. Like, oh great. You know, you know, well, I'm meeting him here. So, you know I'll be able to meet him in galaxy's edge. And, you know, for the longest time they were like, nope, you can't do that. So, They also used to have at Launch Bay, they used have the Jawas walking around, and that was actually my favorite thing. That was the coolest thing. Yeah, the Jawas were cool. I mean, just, again, ah it just all feeds into, you know, you know the I'm not there to see, you know, one slice of Star Wars stuff. like like And I think that's been the thing, is it's like, yeah you know, seeing Rey and Kylo Ren and all that, it's like, eh, you know, okay. But they're like, I'm not there to see them. Yeah.
00:25:16
Speaker
it's Yeah, I mean, yeah, I know what you mean. I'm just saying, like, I also see like a lot of young kids like dress like Ray or like doing the Kylo Ren thing. And like the whole Internet right now is obsessed with the canceled Kylo Ren movie. Right. Like so like like that's been going around to like so i I agree with you. But I also think that there is a generation where those movies are more relevant to them than the originals. I do i think that exists. And, you know, that, that, but that, that impact though, and, and, you know, those, those kids, yes, there are certain kids that are showing up in the park, which, sorry, it's their parents that are dressing them like Ray and whatever, but,
00:25:53
Speaker
but it It's when those kids are adults and they're spending their money, they can decide what which one is is going on in the park, right? yeah Yeah. So the other part we should bring up with this, there are other things they're doing too. And I actually don't like this change. I feel like this is just fan service, which I guess is what they're trying to do. But listen, I think there's nobody that will say that, you know, will disagree with...
00:26:20
Speaker
John Williams score for the you know original three movies is one of the greatest movie scores of all time, right? It's iconic. Should it be playing around Galaxy's Edge? I don't know.
00:26:31
Speaker
like i liked before where it was, because again, we're moving away from this living, breathing planet thing, and now it's just like, ah, here's the music for the movie. We're just going to pipe it in. You know what i mean? I don't know.
00:26:41
Speaker
I mean, isn't that everywhere in the parks, though? It is. know. But this is supposed to different, Trevor. This is supposed to be different. I don't know. Listen, I'm not going to complain. Because, listen, the songs are great, right? They're iconic. So it's fine. That weirdly is a departure for me that I don't love.
00:27:04
Speaker
I don't know. Maybe it's just mean Okay. guess... the okay i guess i the i I appreciate your your point of view on that.
00:27:15
Speaker
and And, you know, I never thought about like the music selections, though, as being something that would detract from the experience for me. I don't think it necessarily will detract. I think it will.
00:27:28
Speaker
I don't know. It's just here's the here's what the problem is, Trevor. If I want to do the immersion thing and pretend like I'm on another planet, right? Like hearing that music is not going to do that for me. It's going to make me think of the movies, but it's not really going to make me feel like I'm on the planet. I want to hear like oh so nature sounds and, you know, it's the sounds of the planet. You know what I mean? Like in. Okay, so, so okay, i I get what you're saying.

Concerns About Star Wars Music at Galaxy's Edge

00:27:50
Speaker
is yeah I was thinking because I thought that, like, some of the music from it was from, like, originally from, like, ah the newer trilogies, and they're just moving to the older trilogies music. But what you're saying is that you don't want music around their period. You just want ambient. want the ambience. Yeah, I want the ambience. You want ambient sound of, like, an outpost operating sound.
00:28:10
Speaker
And right like just background noise, not. Yeah. Not structured music. That's exactly what I'm saying. OK. Like I it'd be to me. It's like if I were walking around, ah you know, ah Pandora at night and instead of hearing, you know, like sounds of like the animals and stuff that are around you, I'm hearing a song from the movie. It's like, why am I hearing this?
00:28:30
Speaker
But there there is music in Pandora. Yeah. But it's not like it's I don't know if this is too iconic for me. I think that's what my problem is. Is it or I guess maybe because it's clearly enough of ah of ah a brain worm that when you hear it, it's like it it immediately and evokes like that's what it is. Like all the.
00:28:51
Speaker
All this stuff from, yeah. too famous. That's what is. It's too, you can't. I mean, yeah, they even say like one of the tracks is the emperor, the, the, yeah the, the
00:29:12
Speaker
you know what i mean like That's not how life works. Right? So that's where my problem is, really. And that's that's what i guess what I mean, right? Because like if they're going have Darth Vader walking around looking for for Luke, are they going play that music while that's happening? Because why?
00:29:26
Speaker
like they It's not what would happen and real life. I don't know. I just... yeah that's that I know I'm being like ridiculous about this, but it's it's just it's ah it just feels weird to me. I don't know. But now I do want background music as I'm walking around Costco. um i want i want I want some sort of... you I don't know what it would be. Probably some sort of frantic, crazy thing. But um anyway.
00:29:49
Speaker
Okay, so I... Sorry, I was wrong. Someone's going to come for me. i I was wrong about what the Emperor music is. I was thinking of Darth Vader's music. The Emperor music is...
00:30:00
Speaker
far more um far more low-key than that. like it's not It's not in your face, and it is in the same tone as star as Darth Vader's music, but I'm listening to it right now as we're as we're talking.
00:30:15
Speaker
It doesn't... I mean, that that piece alone would not pull me out of whatever I was doing be like, oh, this is from the the show, right? okay yeah. So, I mean, maybe it's not...
00:30:29
Speaker
maybe they are being a little more careful with the pieces that they're picking that it's not the like over the top. Cause no, but it's okay. I mean, it's, it's, it's the main title. The main title music is playing as you walk in. It's like they haven't piped into the tunnels. the I mean, hasn't that always been, I don't think so. No, i don't remember hearing that. I mean, maybe, maybe i couldn't maybe I'm forgetting it. I don't know. There was always like a distinct soundtrack of star Wars. Yeah.
00:30:59
Speaker
Yeah. I don't think it was that exact song, though. I don't think they've been playing that. I mean, I don't remember. It's been a it's been a while since I've been to Galaxy's Edge. we I think we stopped doing... We didn't do Hollywood Studios last time we were there. So, um yeah. I don't know. maybe maybe Maybe I'm wrong about this. Maybe I'd have to watch the video.
00:31:17
Speaker
So, again, like I said, i'm i'm I'm quickly going through those pieces and I'm listening to them here as as we're doing this. um These are not... These are like a very much background ambient um music pieces. Yeah. Like they're they're not the in your face ones. So I think I feel that that, you know, Disney's intent with this is that it's going to be very...
00:31:43
Speaker
It'll be subtle, but it'll probably invoke like, oh, this this sounds like, yeah, this does sound like, you know, you're in a, you're in Star Wars or you're in, you know, that, that, but it's not, I don't think it'll actually take you out of like being immersed in the land. I think it might actually help.
00:32:02
Speaker
now that I'm listening to it. So, yeah. All right. well I mean, I could be very wrong about this. I just. just That's my opinion. Just like like if you listen to these, a couple of these pieces that they're not over the top. They're very, they're very subtle, very, um very deliberately background music, I think is the thing. yeah They're also changing, by the way, a couple. They they said, ah as Batuu's history is represented with new storylines, you may notice some updates to buildings and shops. So they're changing first order cargo to Black Spire Surplus.
00:32:32
Speaker
And it's going to have Imperial and Rebel items that you can obviously purchase for your you know to bring home with you from the Galactic Civil War. They're also going to just, it looks like they're going to be doing some new merch in ah in some of the other shops as well. ah you know, little little changes it seems like here and there. um But outside of that, it's you know generally staying the same. And then there's going to be a projection show. There's a projection show at night. So that's that's not new. they've had I like how they they feel like they have to immediately like
00:33:06
Speaker
retcons or like, like yeah again, you know, to the point of like updating the shops is they say, you know, an earlier generation of the Mubo family will be, will operate the Droid Depot. Yeah. This isn't, this isn't the people who are operating it. This is, this is the older yeah So it's so it somehow tracks with. ah I guess. Yeah. I feel like maybe they're trying too hard and they should just let people, you know, think that enjoy it in the moment. i don't know.
00:33:35
Speaker
Yeah. No, that's fair. Yeah. yeah I don't know. Everything has to have an extensive backstory, I guess. And maybe it's. You know, I guess maybe, it you know, it doesn't hurt to have an extensive backstory, but I feel like they're kind of trying to hit you over the head with it a little bit. Yeah, I could see that. Yeah, I agree. i agree. All right. That's interesting. i want to see how this plays out a little bit more. Yeah, agree.
00:34:01
Speaker
I agree. we Listen, so we did the food time episode, and usually during the food time episode, we talk about the popcorn bucket that's going to be at the thing festival. But there was no popcorn bucket listed. But now we can see the popcorn bucket, which for Epcot Festival the Arts, Trevor, and it's ah it's it's figment. Of course, you know, why wouldn't it be? yeah ah And and um we got a new figment popcorn bucket here.
00:34:24
Speaker
And it's Figment Artist Popcorn Bucket. It's a Figment with a little artist ah hat on and wearing a, is that like a smock of some sort? Is i know that bow tie? It's a bow tie. Okay. Yeah. But it has all like it has paint on it. Color on it. Yeah.
00:34:40
Speaker
Yeah. so it's a bow tie with color with like colored paints on it. And he's holding a ah paintbrush that looks like it glows based on the picture. It's a magic paintbrush, of course. magical paintbrush. Yeah. Uh, and, uh, an Epcot logo on it of some sort. I can't tell which which one it is. Yeah. Oh, it's the, no, it's the imagination one. That's what mean. That's that. Yeah. I guess. Yeah. That would make sense. Yeah. Makes sense. Right. Yeah. Um, but it's a cool looking popcorn bucket. I don't know.
00:35:09
Speaker
I don't know if it's going to create the craze of the original one back in a couple of years ago. But, you know, the the funny thing is, is like I when I saw this, i literally looked at the popcorn bucket that I have.
00:35:22
Speaker
yeah And it's exactly it's the same. They just added the beret and the bow and the like like it's the same design. So so, you know, likeman right. So, yeah. yeah so so but But like my point, is they didn't drastically change it in terms of like.
00:35:38
Speaker
like the, you know, the shape of the popcorn bucket. Um, you know, just it made him more festival of the artsy. Yeah. I looked at it and I was like, well, if I really wanted my popcorn bucket to look like this, like I could just get a cheap beret and like, you know, You know, I i could make this myself. ah But does it have a magical paintbrush ever? I can put LEDs in a paintbrush as well. like it's Yeah, I will be interested to see if this gets the kind of like, ah I don't know, would it was like a cultural moment, I feel like. like it was I mean, we, you know, I'll admit, you know, yeah, we we went out of our way to get one of the the original popcorn buckets.

New Figment Artist Popcorn Bucket

00:36:18
Speaker
You know, my wife and I looked at this one and we were like, eh, it's, you know, don't. don't need it that badly. Yeah. Yeah. But for those that do want it, it is available now.
00:36:28
Speaker
ah So you can, you can get this now two per gas, 30 bucks, 29 bucks. but I'm assuming, you know, somebody, you know, you know, if you, if, if, you know, figment is like, you know, if you're an artist and you like figment, this is obviously the, ah you know,
00:36:43
Speaker
You know the intersection of both of those things. So, you know, if if that's what you want, that's fine. But I you're right. I don't know that I see a lot of people lining up for this one, but I could be I could be underestimating how much people hype over.
00:36:59
Speaker
popcorn buckets too. The 2022 Festival of the Arts, when the first one came out, people waited for seven hours. I mean, it was it was a whole thing. um Now, but but for if anybody's looking for this, it's over at the at Figment's Inspiration Station at the Odyssey, which also has some really cool food items. ah So we Trevor and i talked about this on the Food Time episode. So there's some this cool food over at the Inspiration Station, including that Figment cake that we were, the the the Figment, whatever it was, Swiss Roll or whatever you want call it. Yeah. Yeah. Like with the Figma wings on it. So, you know, go over there, get yourself a cake, maybe a popcorn bucket and then, ah you know, go from there. So.
00:37:37
Speaker
Also, one one last thing on the popcorn bucket is, you know, for anyone wondering, it will be available through mobile order in the My Disney Experience app. So don't just expect you can walk up and get one. And also, it's a limit of two buckets per guest. So, you know, they are trying to stop the. ah The reselling.
00:37:55
Speaker
The crazy reselling that does happen around these things. So. Let's my you know, my wife was ah my my wife was saw a a jacket on Instagram. It was a Disney jacket that she saw and she was immediately like, I must have this jacket.
00:38:10
Speaker
Right. And I was like, OK, let me like look this up and see where it can be found. But while I was looking it up, you know, of course, eBay listings came up for this jacket. And I was like. man, I don't know how much this jacket costs in stores, but I know like the markup that they're getting on on eBay right now is pretty decent. There are people that make their entire living out of just buying Disney stuff from the parks and then reselling it online. And Disney's been trying to stop that for a long time. I don't know really how much they actually care about it. They don't.
00:38:38
Speaker
do yeah Do you know why they don't? Because they're still getting paid. Well, no. So so here's the thing. if If they really cared about squashing resellers, The shop DVC website would not be as garbage as it is and would not be as limited as it is. And yes, I am saying that as an international customer who has tried to use it and found that it is actually easier to go to the eBay sellers lot of times than try and deal with shop Disney and all of their hoops that they make you jump through. Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:12
Speaker
Or whatever they call it now. um Yeah, it's back to Disney Store. Is it? i Well, I guess, yeah, because they don't have the the Disney stores anymore. So they can call it Disney Store because it's not confusing people, I guess. but But the point is, if Disney, I'm just, I'm going to put it out there. If Disney cared about, you know, stopping resellers, make your website better so that people don't have to go to the resellers. well And also just put everything on the website. Offer all of your product as yeah as online options. But, you know, you know, Disney doesn't do that. So it creates this great market. And here we are. Right. Yeah. I mean, you know, I don't want to get into a whole thing about this, but I'm i'm sure they probably do that to like try to get people to go to the parks to go get these things. Right. I mean, I guess I guess there they they have some things that are parks exclusive for that purpose. But I don't know.
00:40:00
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, ah I get that too, but you know they're not I don't think as much stuff needs to be park exclusive as Disney thinks it does. Yeah, no, I don't disagree with that.
00:40:13
Speaker
yeahp All right, let's go ahead and do our ad and then we get a couple of things to talk about and we can we can do that from there. Okay, that sounds good. So the sponsor of this episode is DVC Resale Market. DVC Resale Market, a world of DVC company, is the leader in the DVC resale industry with 13 former Disney Vacation Club guides and three former Disney Vacation Club quality assurance managers. If you're thinking of buying DVC, browse the largest selection of DVC resale listings anywhere with DVC experts on hand seven days a week to answer your questions. If you're thinking of selling, turn to the friendly professionals at DVC Resale Market, where over 98% of listings sell within 30 days. In 2024, DVC Resale Market helped over 4,400 families join or add on to their memberships.
00:40:52
Speaker
Go to DVCResaleMarket.com slash welcome home or call 1-844-DVC-PROS. That's And when you speak to them, be sure to let them know Home sent you.
00:41:05
Speaker
All right. all right. um So, you know, we haven't talked about Monsters, Inc. land in a minute. Yeah. So this next piece is so Disney, I guess, has they're planning to spend um twenty two million dollars to change Muppets vision, Muppet vision 3D into a Monsters, Inc. show is the headline of this.
00:41:32
Speaker
Yeah. so the ah the Orlando Business Journal did a got a records request and found out that Disney spending twenty two point for oh why they're looking this up. I don't know.

Muppet Vision 3D to Monsters, Inc. Conversion

00:41:42
Speaker
But, you know, i mean, it's it's curious. and you know, you know I think I think, you know, if I had access to that kind of information, I saw something like this, I'd be like, oh, that's that is interesting. Which is why I put it on here. yeah ah it is interesting It feels like it's it's going to cost more for the attraction, though. Right. It seems like the twenty two million dollars is just for like, you know, getting rid of it like to to to change the building. Right. Like the attraction itself is going to cost more than that.
00:42:10
Speaker
So, well, I guess, are you thinking about the roller coaster attraction are you thinking about the this replacement for Muppet Vision's three d I just assume they're going to be rebuilding. I mean, no i'm talking about my provision 3d. I'm assuming that they're going to, i mean, even if it's like a stage show or just like a screen show or whatever, they're still going to have to spend a lot of money to do whatever they're going to do.
00:42:33
Speaker
Um, you know, so, I mean, I was looking at this as like, they spent the money on the facade and all of the interior demolition and, and all of the new, whatever they're going to be installing on the outside.
00:42:47
Speaker
ah you know, that's that's what's costing $22 million. dollars I can't imagine the attraction as a whole is going to cost $22 million. It just feels low for an attraction these days. That's all that's all I'm thinking. Right. I mean, yeah, that that's fair. as you You know, I was thinking about it from the the stance of, you know, that like you said, you know, you know the whole and the interior of the building needs to be gutted because it's all Muppets themed and and it's all that. And it's old, too. I mean, it probably needs to be like, probably needs work. I mean, honestly, it's an old building. It probably needs a lot of work.
00:43:16
Speaker
Yeah. so So there is that. And and and also, you know, just just because it's an old building, i wouldn't I wouldn't assume that they're going to, like, do any massive structural redesigns of it. Like, i I think you're going to, like, when this new one opens up, as usually what happens when they redo these things, is you'll still be able to see, like, remnants of, like, oh, this is where that thing was.
00:43:38
Speaker
yeah Like, it's... There's still going to be stuff there from from the previous attraction, but I'm assuming it's going to, like, the kind of things they're installing is, like, possibly... um like 4D type effects that would be going into the show and stuff like that. But yeah, yeah like you said, it's not, yeah yeah, it's not, it's not something that, uh, um, the entire show shouldn't, this shouldn't cost just $22 million dollars because I assume that if they're building out an entire show, I'm, I'm assuming it's going to be another Muppet visions, uh,
00:44:11
Speaker
type and a thing yeah type show where you like it's or like Country Bears or whatever where it's like you go in it's like a five or ten minute show and um you know I'm assuming it'll be like like something you know video with you know a couple of animatronics or or whatever um but yeah the this Now that you pointed it out, I was like, you know, $22 million seems like a lot, but not for something like this, it's really not a lot of money at the end of the day. I mean, that's that's why I'm saying that because, like, I mean, listen, I know this is not going to be, like, a marquee attraction or anything like that, but, you know, it's...
00:44:51
Speaker
yeah I'm still holding on to like it better be like put that thing back or so help me like the stage show. Like I'm i'm really hoping that that that is what that's what this becomes. Or it I mean, i I think I maybe brought this up on a previous show.
00:45:09
Speaker
Maybe I did. Maybe I just had this idea right now. But what I mean, what if they're going to move Laugh Floor over there? Like do a just end Laugh floor at Magic Kingdom. That's a huge space in Tomorrowland that a doesn't really fit in Tomorrowland and B has been there for a long time now. And it just it it would make sense to put something different there.
00:45:29
Speaker
Right. And because now you're going to have a whole Monsters Inc area. Why would you have Monsters Inc at Magic Kingdom, but then also in Hollywood Studios? I don't know, to me, that you can consolidate it all into one place. And maybe, you know, it's not Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, but it's the next iteration of whatever that is, some sort of, you know, interactive thing or or whatever it may be. But I kind of wouldn't be shocked if whenever they open this Monsters Inc. land that we we hear, you know, that Laugh Floor is closing and that they're going to use that space for something else because, ah you know, maybe it's part of a larger plan that we are not aware of.
00:46:04
Speaker
You know, that that is actually a very good point that yeah I don't think Laffler needs to change. Like like you said, they they could pick it up and move it over there in its current state because Laffler really you know, at the end of the first movie, it it kind of plays into, you know, they're they're focusing on laughter instead of screams.
00:46:24
Speaker
And it it is absolutely, it's a you know, it's a very kid, yeah you know, kids-focused show. Yeah, it's a fun show. It's fun. Yeah, and and it's and it is highly interactive and and all that.
00:46:38
Speaker
um And also, you know, I think the other thing that... um that justifies it a little bit more is, you know, we, I've been saying this for a long time that there's not enough,
00:46:49
Speaker
people eater type stuff in Hollywood studios. Yeah. And this would definitely be something that you could get a lot of, you know, a lot of people into and a lot of people through. And again, it's also, you know, something, something for kids in, in a park that doesn't have a lot of young kids stuff. I find, you know, outside of, yeah, I think they're clearly making an effort to, to make it more kid friendly. Yeah.
00:47:14
Speaker
Yeah. So, I mean, yeah, I was I still want to believe that they'll do put that thing back or so help me. as i mean, they could. They could could. Because because also, yeah, you know, in the in the concept art, they they mentioned that this, you know, you know, are they're redoing the the outer facade and and it's going to be called the glob, you know, ah but which is play on the globe. Yeah.
00:47:35
Speaker
And but yeah yeah, I guess I was thinking like it has to be like an actual like like show production going on in there. But it could know it could be laugh floor. could It could be something where it's, you know, meant to be like more of an improv interactive thing, which.
00:47:54
Speaker
you know, I, you know, I'm not, I'm not opposed to the other interesting thing though, is, um, those, those improv type shows. So so like things like laugh or like it's been going for a long time.
00:48:05
Speaker
um I have to wonder how hard it is to maintain it because you do need to, you need to constantly have, um, you know, cast members yeah performers yeah that are, that are, you know, performing in there. Right. So I, I mean, I, I hope Disney doesn't, uh,
00:48:23
Speaker
ignore that or that that they, I hope that they don't move away from that because, you know, you know, having that, that improv and and interactivity, I think is, is very valuable, but I can also see where they could just slap in like a stage show that, you know, like I said, like a country bears type thing where it just runs and, you know, you know it you know, you get, you get people going in and sitting in AC for 10 minutes at a time is basically what it turns into.
00:48:48
Speaker
Well, yeah. And I mean, it's yeah to your point. It's the anytime you have of these theater shows, you can you can actually, you know, you can soak up a lot of people. I mean, I just looked it up. They the that theater holds five hundred eighty people for 15 minute show. You know, it's which is a you know fair amount of people. You can you know, you probably they do those shows back to back. So you're talking you can do that four times an hour. You're talking about over two thousand people an hour. That's a lot of people, right? In terms of in terms of ah theme park attractions, right? And listen, we know Muppet Vision of theory was three d was not...
00:49:23
Speaker
wasn't full. It was not full. No, nor is, nor is Muppet Vision 3D to be, i mean, to be honest, I, the last like two times I've done it, there's been half the theater has been empty. So it's, you know, I don't know. I don't know what they're going to do, but I wouldn't surprise me if they decide to consolidate all of that IP into one place. And then,
00:49:44
Speaker
you know, finally do something with the rest of Tomorrowland, right? Like, let's, let's let's read you know, let's let's use that space that's just sitting empty where Stitch it was, ah you know, and do something with the space where Monsters, Inc. is and do something that fits into Tomorrowland. Like, i don't know. but Yeah, that to to that point, Tomorrowland does have a large amount of unused space if Monsters, Inc. goes away.
00:50:10
Speaker
Yeah. now Now that you're pointing it out. But I know that there was... The interesting thing about, i didn't think about this with where Stitch was, but that show backs on to Cosmic Rays.
00:50:25
Speaker
as well. Yes. So, because it's all the same building. So, i I think if something was to happen with that area, like, like you know you know, moving from Hollywood wood Studios to talking about, you know, what they would do to Tomorrowland, I think you would see ah ah some kind of reno or redo of Cosmic Rays going alongside Stitch.
00:50:48
Speaker
You think so? If and when that ever happens, yeah. I could see that being kind of the catalyst for but that kind of work. Yeah, I mean, you know, Stitches already is is gone, right? Like, that's it's gone, gone, right? Yeah. like theyve They got rid of all the stuff that's in there. And I think someone, one of the listeners told us that it's ah it's a cast member, like, break area now, which which is kind of a bummer. But at the same time, you know, it it is what it I mean, but that's...
00:51:15
Speaker
even as a cast member break area, that like they're just using a fraction of that space. It's not that, you know, it's a pretty big space. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, it is definitely a big space. And i you know, i don't know. There's, there's just a lot they can do with Tomorrowland. And this is, this is a problem they have. And actually we're going to talk about it in a few days. I mean, they have this problem at the Disneyland Tomorrowland too.
00:51:38
Speaker
ah It's, you know, it's, it's, it's a problem with the Tomorrowlands ever. And listen, you want to talk about, something that eats up a lot of space that probably should go at this point. And and this may be a controversial thing to say, but Tomorrowland Speedway should go.
00:51:51
Speaker
And I, I'm still holding out for Tomorrowland Speedway should just get an upgrade to electric. So we don't smell gas all the time. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you know I think honestly, if they just, if they just replaced the cars with something newer, um,
00:52:08
Speaker
I don't know. That isn't gas. I think that would go a long way to to keeping Speedway as a um as a viable attraction. i ah I don't think Speedway should be taken out. It's just my feet it's a huge amount of space. Huge. It is. But yeah but it's also an attraction and it's also like, yeah you know, a people eater and and all that. i feel like,
00:52:32
Speaker
h ah I don't know how feasible this would be, but if, you know, if they could redesign it so that like loading and unloading people was quicker than yeah what it is right now, um that would go a long way to justifying it as well. But again, I don't even know what that would look like. What that would entail. Yeah.
00:52:52
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, listen, I i'm not i don't dislike that you know like it as

Tomorrowland Speedway's Future

00:52:59
Speaker
a thing. I do. i really i it's it's And for a lot of kids, it's like the first time they get to like you know drive, quote unquote, right? But like it just, I don't know. It's loud. It smells bad. It takes up a lot of space. And and it's in the middle of Tomorrowland. It just feels like there's something better they could do with it.
00:53:16
Speaker
and So I, I, my, I'm defending it that, you know, if they took out the the engines, so if it wasn't, if the engines weren't loud and they weren't emitting exhaust, I think that would greatly improve your impression of Speedway.
00:53:30
Speaker
Yeah, I'm just saying, like, if I... I'm just looking at a Google Maps here. It's double... The space that it's in is double the size of the footprint of Space Mountain. Double. Yeah, but that that doesn't mean that it should be replaced just because of that. No, I'm just saying there's less space. There's less space. mean, if you're going to argue that, like, you know, look at how much space Kilimanjaro Safari takes up. You could fit, like, you know you know, evict all those animals and you could fit, like, you know, six space mountains in there, right? never say that. I would never say that. Tom wants to evict... ah Kilimanjaro. That's what he's saying, everyone here. I'm putting words in his mouth. i Listen, I know that a lot of people will probably be like, no, it's a classic and you can't get rid of it. And that's fine. i
00:54:10
Speaker
I don't disagree with that. I just, I mean, and listen, they did announce that they were going to replace the Tomorrowland Speedway car. I mean, that's it's not Tomorrowland Speedway and Disneyland, but the Autopia cars, they were going to replace them with electric cars. There's no reason why they can't do the same thing here. Right. yeah But i I feel like that.
00:54:27
Speaker
Things happen in Disneyland and it's kind of because it's smaller scale. Maybe they can test it a little bit differently or better. And then and then, you know, if if they can get it to scale where they're happy with it, then you'll see it come over to.
00:54:41
Speaker
Yeah. To Florida. Right. Listen, I'm not I'm not I don't want to be the person advocating to get rid of Tomorrowland Speedway. I'm just saying you could. and There's a lot of space there. You could do some cool stuff. And Tomorrowland needs a redo. It just does.
00:54:54
Speaker
Yeah. I 100% agree with you. I don't think getting rid of the Speedway is the way to redo it. That's my opinion. That's fair. yeah A lot of people will argue with that. Valid, right? Valid.
00:55:07
Speaker
Valid. Exactly. yeah yeah yeah That's a reference on Food Time, so go watch Food Time. um Anyway, ah what were we talking about? um We're talking about Big Thunder now. i I figured you were chomping at the bit to ah talk about Big Thunder.
00:55:24
Speaker
You know, it's it's funny. I'm always chomping at the bit, to talk i but I didn't even watch the video included in this in this ah in this article here. so But they released some new details here about about ah Big Thunder. And i listen, I'm very excited for Big Thunder to reopen. I'm going to try to get my daughter to ride it.
00:55:43
Speaker
It's going to be hard, but I'm going to to get her there. But ah anyway, they ah we we know the opening time frame, right? we ah But they they've said some interesting things about it.
00:55:54
Speaker
ah you know And and what was that what was the one quote? I'm trying to find it in this in this article, but they said something interesting. Kind of weird it. mountain will also push back against you. That's what it was. the yeah The mountain will push back against you. I don't know if I know what that means.
00:56:09
Speaker
like Oh, okay. Um... I'm wondering if the cars... no ma Okay, they're not replaced they didn't replace the ah the trains themselves, did they? think they did, actually. No, I mean, well I don't know. It says... ah No, yeah, it says all new ride vehicles. um Okay, so...
00:56:32
Speaker
So what I'm wondering, because the way that the way that Big Thunder was structured before there, the only part that are actually sorry, it's not just was it just on the one part leading up to the last lift hill where you have. um You have there's a there's a trick track there where late like that it makes the the cars kind of wobble back and forth. Yeah, it goes. It kind of yeah does that with. Yeah.
00:56:56
Speaker
Yeah, so I was thinking, or when i when I hear pushback against you, what it feels like to me is maybe the cars themselves will have something in them that will make some of the turns feel...
00:57:08
Speaker
but worse than they are like it you know it'll either lean you out or you know you know pull you in more on the turns so maybe maybe that's part of it is that they've they've you know kind of taken um this would be taking some notes from ah guardians of the galaxy because cosmic rewind does this where like like they're doing it more overtly where the cars are turning it you know in certain directions deliberately to enhanced certain parts of the ride. like Like, you know, it has you facing in, you know, on certain turns and, and you know, turning, almost turning backwards and stuff. So I wonder if, yeah you know, obviously Big Thunder is not going to like, like the cars aren't going to turn crazy like that. But, um...
00:57:51
Speaker
Yeah, so what they say here is all new trains, audio and animatronics, refresh throughout, new effects, things that hasn't been haven't been working for years they're fixing. ah so And then they're also putting gold in there for the first time. There's going to be gold on the mountain. Gold props being used on the mountain for the first time. i didn't I didn't really think about this. I guess that was kind of the whole point of Big Thunder was it was it was a gold mining operation that you never saw any actual... Gold in. golden and The actual gold, yeah. they They did also in this video preview some more of Buzz Lightyear too with some new scenes and stuff too. So there's actually, there's ah they previewed a scene of one of the aliens going up and down and and also what looks to be the new tunnel scene, which is looks similar, but I think it's just, it's just you know the oh yeah, look at that, Buzz is in it. Okay, cool. I'm watching this as we're doing it. So yeah, so Buzz joins you in me in the in the actual like ah battle in the tunnel scene, which is pretty cool.
00:58:45
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Listen, I'm excited for I'm excited for Big Thunder to come back. I don't even care like what they've added. Like, I just want it to be back. And it's nice that it got brandy new tracks and new trains and just they replaced the whole thing. It's like a brand new ride.
00:59:00
Speaker
now Now, let me ask you this. So I know you're not, um or you like, your take on roller coasters is you you don't like more extreme elements yes on the coasters. yeah Is it possible that the refurb of this could push Big Thunder into a place where you don't enjoy No, because I'm not really on the, this this Big Thunder's never really had me on the edge of that. You know, OK, here's the thing, Trev, I get really motion sick specifically with that stomach dropping feeling. Right. So that right. Specifically when you have drops. Right. And so a lot of the Disney coasters, including Big Thunder, kind of eliminate that because they you almost go part of the way down the hill before the chain lets you go. you know It's long, long sweeping exactly drops, not yeah like long. straight turns yes Yeah, exactly. and And I was thinking like, well, they do have drops, but it's like like the big thunder ones. They're just those little dips that they do like as like it looks like you're going to hit the rock and then you dip down underneath of it and stuff. yeah so Exactly. Exactly. So it doesn't.
01:00:07
Speaker
those don't bother me. Right. Like, and I can do that. It's, it's, I mean, cause like even like, I mean, even like a dinosaur at the very end, when you take that one drop that used to get me every once a while, you know, be like, Ooh, or like pirates, you know, I can deal with those. Like it doesn't bother me to the point where I don't do them. You know what i mean? But it's like, that's the kind of stuff that can kind of can get me at times. Like it can make me feel kind of sick. So, uh, you know, but that's why I like a lot of the roller coasters at Disney's cause they, you still get, you know, some thrill out of them and you don't,
01:00:36
Speaker
There isn't um that that straight drop like that that's going to make me feel motion sick, if that makes sense. No, no, that's that's totally fair. I you know i i get i get your your sentiment on that. And like I was just asking more from like if there was any effects in here that could potentially push it to a place where you're like, I used to like Big Thunder, but... No, no, I can't. be pan No, they're never going to, unless they, you know, ah i mean, I think no matter what they do to that ride, yeah they're going go on it. so So to the point, I'm going to keep plugging you on this until your wife, no you should ride Guardians, Tom. Really? Like there's not, it doesn't have big drops. Like it's,
01:01:18
Speaker
Yeah, but here's the here's the Guardians. I don't really have a reason for not writing. Right. Because like, um like, the launch part is not a concern to me. I mean, like, I go on test track and the launch is essentially the same thing. It's just backwards. Right. I mean, it's way slower than test track. No, it's the same speed eventually, though. I mean, it doesn't doesn't get to 60 miles an hour. I thought it did. now Oh, you're right. gets to fit. you're I'm thinking, I'm sorry, I'm thinking ah Tron.
01:01:43
Speaker
as i was thinking yeah Yeah, Tron, fair. Yes. Guardians, though, yeah. Because Tron is usually the one you're trying to convince me besides Guardians. so it's i i I think you should ride Guardians before Tron. but Yeah, I don't really have a good reason for not writing it. Interesting.
01:02:00
Speaker
Yeah. i Interesting. slowly honest yeah Yeah. Okay. I don't like the evil voice going on. Yeah. No, like I because i don't get emotions. I'm doing some scheming now. You know, you know we we talked about this last night that our our wives talk more than we do. i'm Things are going to start happening.
01:02:19
Speaker
What does that mean? the Anyway, on to our next subject. I'm scared now. What's happening right now? Yeah. my My wife. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. We'll we'll talk later. It'll be fine. All the last the last thing we had in here, and we're not going to spend a lot of time on this, too honestly. i don't think we will anyway. But there was a Wall Street Journal article that came out about a week ago, a little over a week ago with some really. and like The only reason I want to cover this, Trevor, is because at the end of the day, I part of why I love Disney is I when I was a kid, I really fell in love with Imagineering, you know, like just the whole the whole of it. And that's why I'm like a nerd about the Imagineering stuff. You know, I just am. I love i love that stuff. Right. And so.
01:03:06
Speaker
Even though this is, um you know, we we don't like to cover negative stuff, so to speak, but there's some interesting things in here. Right. but i think this is good learning on mistakes that were made. I think that's the best way to frame this is, you know, it's not to solid it happening at the time. Yeah, we didn't yeah we we did. did. We saw all these veteran you know Imagineers that were leaving, right? like Because they were getting reported on.
01:03:31
Speaker
And like they you know he was when Chapek came in, he was he got rid of a lot of people. He you know cut the budget of and Imagineering and got rid of a ton of people. Yeah.
01:03:43
Speaker
Yeah. And so so the the whole point of this article is that it's touching on or the the title was rebuilding Walt Disney Imagineering.

Impact of Chapek on Disney Imagineering

01:03:52
Speaker
Yeah. Which um speaks to, you know, the they were having issues, you know this was post covid and also with JPEC being at the helm. Yeah.
01:04:04
Speaker
A lot of things were like, like I'm seeing some of the highlights that that you have in here through, through these, uh, through this article. and article You know, you know there there was things that they wanted to do. Like, like, you know, they were talking about re-imagining, uh, Tomorrowland and in Disneyland.
01:04:19
Speaker
Um, there were supposed to be additional missions in Millennium Falcon. There was, um, um You know, they, they you know, Imagineering wanted to create new attractions and stories and stuff, but they were told no to a lot of these things. And so so the interesting thing about this, I, i like you said, yeah you know, it's not it's not a matter of like, you know, poking holes and like, you know, Imagineering is terrible and they, you know, we, you know, we should be mad at Disney because they they did this to Imagineering.
01:04:49
Speaker
This to me is, yeah you know, I feel that this is learning opportunities where, you know, you know, when we look back at, you know, you know, the last really five years of Disney and, and you know, i I think I touched on this in in an earlier episode that, you know, it felt like, you know, for a while, Disney was kind of spinning its wheels and like, you know, both, you know, in their in their movies, but also in the parks, you know, you know, it seemed like they were having a really hard time with you know, you know, being innovative, finding that next thing and, you know, you know, taking risks on new attractions and stuff that, um that even like, it seems like a lot of the stuff that had, that they've been doing was like very half baked and very like, not, not quite as good as it could have been.
01:05:37
Speaker
And this article does really highlight that. I think that, know, um You know, you know, and you know, I'm not I'm not excusing it. I'm not saying, you you know, that, you know, this is, you know, this is entirely the reason why everything that we don't like is the way it is at Disney. But, you know, you know, I understand it's very hard to, you know, make decisions and and make things happen when you have leadership and whatnot that are, are you know,
01:06:04
Speaker
putting you on a leash effectively. like Like that's what it seems like is that, you know, Imagineering was on a leash here for a while. And, but the, ah but the thing, or you know, the silver lining of this, I guess, is that, you know, I feel that, you know, in some of the stuff that is coming in this year and, you know, just a lot of the plans that Disney has announced, know,
01:06:27
Speaker
you can see things turning back around. Sure. You do see that, you know, they are starting to, yeah you know, even, you know, even, you know, talking about the Galaxy's Edge thing earlier and in this episode that, you know, you know, I feel like Disney is, you know, they're they're starting to,
01:06:43
Speaker
branch out away from, um you know, things things that they tried that didn't work. And, you know, the whole Galaxy's Edge thing, yes, I know that that was, you know, you know that was opened when it was it was under Iger um when it initially opened. But I think, you know, a lot of the, you know, being able to change things, expand things there, Chapek made it, you know you know, Iger didn't allow for yeah you know, certain things to happen either. And a lot of that is, you know, due to climate of, you know, how the the economy is doing at the time. They don't always have budget. I know Disney has a lot of money, but, you know, you know, when we're talking in millions and billions of dollars, um you know, they they don't always want to spend money on the things that we think they should spend money on. But,
01:07:27
Speaker
I think JPEG made things a lot worse and that, you know, when somebody did have an idea, you know, you know, squashing it or, you know, saying, no, you know, we're, you know, we're not going to touch anything with stars. We're just going to leave it the way it is because, you know, you know, on a spreadsheet, it's the most optimal way to do it is that kind of stuff has hurt them up until this point. And, you know, now that we're seeing, you know, small changes with it, I'm hoping it leads to, you you know, things kind of getting back to, i don't even know what, honestly, what would be a a good example of like the best era for Imagineering. Like, I mean, there's there's a lot of times and in, in,
01:08:07
Speaker
Disney history where like, like Imagineering would like really like go off and like, well, I, I still think even during this period, they still did some

Disney vs. Universal: Creativity and IPs

01:08:15
Speaker
of that. Right. Like, I mean, yeah. Say what you will about the Star Cruiser. Like that was a huge risk and it was crazy that they did it. And by all accounts was very well done.
01:08:24
Speaker
You're right. And very innovative, but they, you know, it ultimately failed, but you know, it's, they they still did some of that. It's just some of those other things kind of, you know, got budgets cut and they, you know, had to abandon part of them and, know,
01:08:36
Speaker
Stuff like that. butt we'd But it's just been happening the whole history of Imagineering, right? It's like not just now, but it's it just seems like it was COVID really did a lot. And then JPEG just being the the cutter that he was, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was kind of a perfect storm of yeah like, yeah, you know you know, COVID hurt things for a while for a lot of companies. But you saw, um you know, actually, you know, Universal is a great example of, you know, how they bounced back.
01:09:03
Speaker
after COVID because, you know, we got Epic Universe last year and and that's like, you know, that's a, they're already working on that though at the time though, right? So like that was already in motion. Yeah.
01:09:14
Speaker
Right. But, it but it have canceled it it. It could have been dragged out a lot longer than it was like, like Universal, you know, they, they were able to pick it up and start moving with it a lot quicker. Whereas, you know, you know, a lot of the comments around Disney has been like, you know, Hey, Universal built all this stuff.
01:09:30
Speaker
you know, so much quicker, Disney, why are you taking so much longer? And I think, you know, you know, in retrospect, looking at things over the last five years, like you said, it's not that they weren't doing anything, but it was probably a lot harder to get things moving when you have somebody at the helm who's like, you know, doesn't, doesn't follow the, you know, the, you know, sorry, imagine hearing that the mantra of it is very much, you know, take risks, try things and, you know, you know, you know, give, know,
01:09:58
Speaker
people's space to be creative. Like that that's really where Imagineering is supposed to be. But when you have somebody who's like, you know, you know, being like me, no fun allowed unless it it it, I can see it on a spreadsheet. Like that doesn't help matters. Yeah. Yeah. No. And listen, if you watch the Imagineering story, they actually talk about this a lot where there is always been since the creation of Imagineering and after Walt Disney died, there was always been, a power struggle between the creative people and the business people. The business people don't necessarily understand why you spend, you know, a million dollars on a fountain.
01:10:35
Speaker
Whereas the Imagineers understand that, you know, you need to have that fountain, you know, like, And there's always that give and take and that pull back and forth. And it just seems like during the JPEC era that the business people won and the creative people lost, you know? And one of the interesting things they mentioned on here was, and this is actually an Eiger thing too. and And, you know, you can, we can argue about this back and forth, but, you know, one of the pieces of this is talking about how Imagineers want to do original stories and they want to do original lands like they have in the past, but everything is IP focused, right?
01:11:07
Speaker
And that's, that's an Eiger thing. And, I understand the argument against IP and for original things, but I also understand why Disney doesn't want to do it.
01:11:18
Speaker
And I mean, I think you can look at just ah the past couple bombs that Disney has had. What have they been? Original properties, right? Yeah. like As far as movies go. But I think it also, you know, goes for for the lands too. I mean, I think it it falls into the same thing. Now this, so I mean, it's risky to spend $500 million dollars on a new land for something that people might not like.
01:11:39
Speaker
You know, I mean, I heard that Elio movie was actually really good, but nobody went to see it. Right. And it was an original property. mean, that new thing like that honestly came more down to their lack of marketing, I think, than anything. Yeah. But I i thought this was interesting because one of the things that they said is even though villains land will have characters from snow white, Peter Pan and Aladdin, it's not based on a specific film that makes it the closest thing to an original Disneyland, ah original land in Disney us parks in 25 years.
01:12:10
Speaker
I it's, I'm almost looking at villains land the same way as I was just talking about galaxy's edge where yes, it's based on existing IP, but it, it, they're creating a place that doesn't exist in any of that IP, you know? yeah And, and it it's, it is pretty much just like, uh,
01:12:28
Speaker
it's feeding into fandom and you eat the, the popular thing. Like, yeah, you know, it's, it's taking all bits and pieces out of popular IPs and putting them all into one place, which, yeah, like you said, it's not, it's not directly IP related, but um i think the interesting thing about that too, is that it does actually give them opportunity to, you know, you don't have to build an entire land that is IP free, but you can, you know,
01:12:56
Speaker
um You feel like a little bit of both. like Yeah, you you can start with like, you you know, you can have IPs in that land, but you can also leave space for, you know, possibly expanding something new and unique that, you know, the the funny thing is, is that, you know, the the whole IP thing is like,
01:13:15
Speaker
you You know, well, we have to have ah an established IP. Well, how do you get that established IP? It did it it has to it has to come from a movie or a show or something like like the the the funny thing is, is that we have examples of IPs that started in the parks and expanded backwards into movies and such. Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion. Yeah. You know, you know.
01:13:37
Speaker
you know, respectively. Varying degrees success of success there, but yeah. Yeah, but but they but they've both done that, right? Yes, they have. That they, you know, they they started from the parks and went backwards.
01:13:48
Speaker
The hard part, though, is finding, figuring out how to make those, those or yeah, you know, the risk of building an attraction going, I hope this resonates enough that we can make an IP out of it. But, you know, the the interesting thing is,
01:14:03
Speaker
you like I don't know what the formula is for this, but it like you know Pirates being its own independent thing, you know it it was... you know Over the years, the animatronics and stuff have been updated and all that, but when you look at it on on its most basic level, it's just a dark ride that happens... you know The track happens to be a boat, right? But it's just... You know you know you could put that dark ride in any other...
01:14:32
Speaker
um theme park and there are there are examples of like like similar dark rides where it's like like random like or like not random animatronics but like like animatronics themed to a certain thing and it's like wow that's weird or creepy but it's like what makes pirates so endearing that it got to a point where you know it it spawned a movie franchise Yeah. Right. Like it's hard to figure that out. It's yeah it's hard. I mean, they even say that in the imaginary story that they they build things and then they they think everyone's going to like it and then they find out quickly whether they do or don't. And it it's just hard to know, you know, like it just. said Yeah.
01:15:08
Speaker
I mean, if it if it wasn't if it was easy, then every movie would be a hit and every, you know, attraction would be a hit. Yeah. They'd have the formula nailed down and it they would just be churning them out. Yeah, it's just not how it how it goes, you know, and I think that's ah that makes it hard to do original properties and and end up losing all that money. So it's, yeah, I don't know. I understand both point of views on that. I mean, listen, it's funny to me that Universal never gets a hard time about this because Universal is basically all IP. I mean, now I know that they have that one area of of Epic that isn't, right? That's kind of like ah their own thing, but like,
01:15:41
Speaker
but So pretty much every other theme park is, you know, that's that's that kind of theme park is doing IP. Right. And it's it's universal and Disney basically. and the ip And that's I mean, I understand why people have a hard time with it because Disney I mean, but IPs always been in the parks. It's not it's not a new thing. You know, it's I don't know.
01:16:00
Speaker
You actually, you you did touch on it on an interesting point that I thought about is, you know I see it like it's far more prevalent over in Asia because they're like, yeah like I've seen like in Korea and Japan and China and all that. There's like, there's theme parks that pop up around all kinds of different IPs. Like yeah ones that I didn't even like expect were actually like that should be.
01:16:23
Speaker
a theme park, you know, they they've got, there's a theme park for like shows and animes and stuff that, you know, you wouldn't expect that over here. But again, you know, you hear about it and like, oh, that sounds, you know, you know, hey, that's cool that they're doing that.
01:16:39
Speaker
I never hear the opposite of, you you know, why did they do that? Like, it it is honestly weird that, know, that people poke so much at Disney for like, why are you doing everything with an IP?
01:16:50
Speaker
Right. Like it's like, well, yeah, because it's Disney like that. Yeah. close but They should be doing that. Like it's someone say someone's bad business not to like, you know, like it's, yeah they have the most valuable IP that exists. I mean, they just do. they have, I just look at the box office this past year. I mean, they are, they are still leading the box office and I, they're just, and they're it's continuing. Yeah. It's such a, like, in really, like, breaking it down, like like you said, you know, it it really is an interesting criticism people have about, like, you know, I get being creative and and building new IPs and all that, that, you know you know, Disney should be trying to do that. But when they do something in a theme park and it's based on IP, I don't understand why there's so much hate around it. Like, you know, is it just because it wasn't what the IP that you wanted it to be or
01:17:43
Speaker
Oh, and that's yeah that's that's funny. It's funny to me that Universal always escapes this criticism, like that people just go after Disney about it, especially since the IP that Universal uses is mostly not even their own. like i mean like i mean, most of the stuff that they have in those parks, I mean, Harry Potter doesn't belong to them. All the Marvel stuff doesn't belong to them. i mean it's there's a super i mean, Super Nintendo does. I mean, none of the Nintendo stuff belongs to them. They're just licensing this stuff out. I mean, Simpsons, there's so much stuff in Universal that they I will say this is, ah you know, you can come for me if you want. the The Simpsons area needs to go away in Universal.
01:18:17
Speaker
Well, i think I think there was, remember, we I think we talked about a rumor where they were plotting that because i i yeah theyre they're they're literally paying Disney for half their parks to rent out the Disney's IP for their parks. Yeah, there's that part of it. But like that area of the park, like like the ride and everything, it just needs like i know it needs to go away. but Yeah, should put it back to back to the future. But that's besides the point. Yeah, that would have been better. but Yeah. But anyway, all right let's let's wrap this up. I just thought this was an interesting kind of thing. It is, yeah. know I mean, it yeah, like I said, you know, i know it comes off as, you know, you know negative. And yeah yes, you know you know, we are slamming on Chapek because, you know, we do see that he... He's an easy one to kick, though. I mean... he He did hurt a lot of things. yeah He hurt a lot of the the things that we we very much enjoy about the parks. And, you know, whether he...
01:19:09
Speaker
whether he did it intentionally or not, you know, whatever. But, you know, I think it's good, you know, it's good to talk about these things because from a retrospective, this is how you learn from mistakes and this is how, yeah you know, you know, companies like Disney, you know, the fact that they are, you know, looking at the stuff and going like, hey, you know, yeah i feel like, you know, since Iger came back in they're revisiting some of the stuff and going, yeah, we don't need to like fully cut cut back on, know,
01:19:39
Speaker
you know, creativity and imagineering and all that because it it does, you know you know, it may not have showed initially for JPEG in the numbers, but we did see, you know, towards the end of his tenure, it was having a major effect on, on, you know, Disney's reputation and business and all that. So, yeah you know, hopefully there's some lessons learned from that, that, you know, you know, like you said, you know for the, for the business people who don't necessarily understand the creative part that, you know, you do have to concede a certain amount of,
01:20:09
Speaker
If you want this business to continue functioning, you have to allow space for creativity. Yeah, no, I agree. i So it's actually really ah one last thing before we do this.

Bruce Vaughn's Return and Future Plans

01:20:20
Speaker
Right. So one of the things I was interesting interested in in this article and i ah we talked about this when when after after Iger came back, they brought back ah Bruce Vaughn, who is a pretty well regarded person.
01:20:36
Speaker
imagineer at the time, right? And so they, he and he but he was working ah as, I think, Airbnb or something like that. He had left during this Chapek time, right? Or it might have been before that, actually, but it was Chapek's time as the head of parks.
01:20:49
Speaker
And so they ah they asked him to lunch ah Iger and Josh G. Amaro, who's probably going to be the next CEO of of Disney as well. Yeah, and that's that seems to be meaning that way. Yeah, it seems going to be happening. which is good because he's a parks guy. and And I think that will be positive for the parks, but let's see. That's a whole different discussion. But um so it says Vaughn fully expected to play a mentor role because that was the thing that Iger started doing when he came back was getting a lot of the old Imagineers that had left or retired and having them come back and be mentors to the younger ones, which is smart to do. But yeah, So they took him to lunch and he was, he was quote surprised when the conversation shifted to the plan to nearly double Disney's investment in parks, cruise ships and related technology to over $60 billion dollars over the next decade. And he said, that blew my mind.
01:21:34
Speaker
Uh, and that's, I guess why he decided to come back, uh, you know, is is to do this, to, to lead that. So, um, you know, it's, it is, it's, it's interesting. I, he's, uh, he seems like a good person to be leading Imagineering and, uh,
01:21:48
Speaker
you know, really, really is turning that around and and and changing things. So, yeah. Um, Do we want to just stop it there? Yeah. I think we talked about it. yeah to write yeah Yeah. We want to wrap. Okay. we yeah How do we get? Okay. Gosh. I just look at the time now. Man, we've been talking for a lot while about this. All right. Let's finish it. Yeah.
01:22:08
Speaker
Yeah. But I mean, we we always do. yeah we we shouldn't We shouldn't stifle our own conversation and creativity either, just as we talked about with the with the parks. Yeah. Of course. Yeah. course so um Yeah. So, you know, you know, to that end, though, you know, we're we're going to do the the business part of this now, which is, you know, doing the

Contact Information

01:22:26
Speaker
wrap up. So, um yeah, you know, I'll start with the usual stuff. If you want to reach out to us, you can always find us at welcomehomepodcastatgmail.com.
01:22:34
Speaker
You can send us your trip reports or you know share your thoughts about things you hear on the show, all that kind of stuff. We love hearing from you. um You can also find us on social media. So we are on Facebook as Welcome Home Podcast. We're on YouTube as Welcome Home Podcast. And we're on Instagram as Welcome Home Picks.
01:22:49
Speaker
Also, we have our Facebook group, Welcome Home Disney Waitlist, where we talk about all kinds of stuff from the show. um And also just you know you know people sharing their general... ah experiences with Disney and Disney parks and all that. So, um you know, again, love, love seeing that love seeing, ah you know, everybody having their own takes on on, what, what they're doing with Disney and, and all that. So keep it coming.
01:23:15
Speaker
And if you want to help support the show, you can go to store.welcomehomepodcast.co. You can check out all of our different merch there. And again, it just it just helps us continue to to run the show and all that. Similarly, we have a Patreon for that too. So you can go patreon.com slash welcomehomepod and check out exclusive ah Patreon merch. that It's stuff that is only available on our Patreon. And all of our Patreon supporters get access to the Discord server, as we mentioned during the show.
01:23:44
Speaker
um You know, there are conversations that happen there, you know, people talking about refurbs that at Kidani and and random stuff. You know, sometimes Tom talks about his weather machine as well. talk about it one time, Trevor. Okay, one time. Tom talks about his weather machine all the time. I talk about it one time. Thank you.
01:24:05
Speaker
Sorry, it's still funny. That makes it sound like I own some sort of evil weather machine that where I can control the weather. yeah Yeah, you know how people complain about the rain at Disney? That's Tom. Yeah, tom that's me. It's not Disney controlling the weather machine. It's Tom controlling the weather machine. That's exactly right, yeah.
01:24:23
Speaker
But yeah, you know, you can join the discord to find out about stuff like that. So, um, uh, yeah. So, you know, please check out our Patreon if that's of interest to you. And, you know, if you're listening on iTunes or Spotify or anywhere that, uh, you can leave a five star review, please do so because it just helps, uh, helps us get out to more people and, and, you know, find more people to enjoy the podcast.
01:24:46
Speaker
Yeah, and don't forget to subscribe to Welcome Home Podcast. You can be reminded every time we release a new episode, you can find us on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Stitcher, Spotify, YouTube, YouTube Music. Make sure you go to our YouTube page, by the way, our YouTube channel to watch Food Time and any of the other videos that we're going start putting out. So check that out. Yeah, we have videos now, so that too.
01:25:06
Speaker
Yeah, and those are on Spotify, too, and they're on Apple, too. So, like, anywhere you can watch video podcasts, too, you can watch the those videos. So, huge thank you to the sponsor of this episode, DVC Resale Market, and, of course, World of DVC for being supporters over the years. You know, please check them out for any of your DVC needs. ah they're They're great over there. So, ah join us next time for more Disney Parks discussion, of course, more DVC talk.
01:25:27
Speaker
We hope to see you all real soon.
01:25:31
Speaker
um a wall The Voice of the Jungle signing off from Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC. The Voice of the Jungle
01:25:47
Speaker
um