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Episode 348: Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets, Big Thunder Bats & Endor Merch
0 Playsin 2 hours
On This Episode
Disney announced an opening date, ride vehicle, celebrity cameos, and a set list for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets. DVC members will have access to a preview of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppet prior to the May opening date. The free Water Park perk is returning to Walt Disney World in 2027, but with a new restriction. Walt Disney Imagineering revealed that the newly refurbished Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will have 2,000 new bats within the mountain. Disney will offer the Deluxe Dining Plan again starting in 2027. Galaxy’s Edge timeline updates will start soon at Disneyland and Disney provided new details about the changes. Disney released another preview of May the Fourth merchandise including a mystery shirt box and Endor themed items.
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Episode Links
- Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets
- 2,000 Bats in Big Thunder
- Galaxy's Edge Timeline Updates
- Star Wars Day Endor Merch
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- Call or text the show with your DVC tips and trip reports at (833) WHP-TIPS and we may play them on the show!
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsor
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.
00:00:24
Speaker
Music Music
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 348 of Welcome Home, a Disney Parks and Vacation Club podcast. I'm Tom, here with Trevor. How's it going, Trevor?
Post-Disney Trip Blues
00:00:41
Speaker
Hey, pretty good. yeah So... What? how How's your your week been? um It's, you know, it's listen, it's always like a really difficult adjustment period to kind of like get back into the groove of like routine and work and... you know after being out for a bit. And so it's just been like... The post-Disney high is is real, for sure. Yeah, it's it we're down.
Disney Trip Planning Tips
00:01:07
Speaker
and It's really down, right? The post-Disney... Disney Blues is what I've heard it called. Yes. I think that's a real thing. um you know And then the question, you start looking at like...
00:01:19
Speaker
Well, we could go on it. We could go on another cruise this year if we really wanted to. mean You know, like it could go to the parks because now we're like, know, we're like kind of it, especially with all the park stuff we've been talking about. It's like my daughter's been kind of like, so when are we going to go again? and I'm like, I don't know. Sometime soon. I mean, I don't we don't really have a plan.
00:01:42
Speaker
You know, but i mean, you want to schedule something to be honest, considering the timeline of when everything is opening up. I like, yeah, this isn't like a drop everything and go in two weeks or even a month. Like i I personally think based on everything that we're seeing, we're going to talk about a bunch of this today, by the way, because there has been a bunch more announcements that have come out.
00:02:07
Speaker
i'm I'm of the opinion if I was to go, I would leave it until the fall because yeah know kind of like i know there's the whole like, oh, getting there
School Absences and Family Vacations
00:02:16
Speaker
like right as these things open up. And and you know that's great. like i've I've done that too, and that's awesome. But...
00:02:21
Speaker
I'm of the opinion, you know, kind of let summer go by it and let people like, like let all the hype. Yeah. The hype goes away. yeah yeah Yeah. And then, you know, you know, you can get into like September, October and you can, you know, you can go and enjoy it and, you know, find, find those windows where it's not quite as busy and then you can go enjoy the new stuff even more would be, that would be my take on it. And so. ideal Yeah.
00:02:47
Speaker
Yeah, that's me saying to you, you know, hey, remember when I said, you know, plan around your your daughter's like PD days and stuff like, you know, start looking at your fall calendar and we actually that happens. It happens. We got a letter because she's had three unexcused absence absences now and they send a letter after three unexcused absences and I'm like all right, whatever. Oh, you don't get a phone call home every day?
00:03:09
Speaker
Oh, we know we do. so we get like an automated call, but like there's a thing like you can feel like there's an online form you fill out right when they're absent and just say why they're absent. And so we did all that, but we still got a little letter home being like, you've been absent to pass three times in the past, you know, because I think we took her out one day to go down to Florida for Thanksgiving. But again, it was like the day before Thanksgiving break and the day before spring break or two days before spring break. Yeah.
00:03:38
Speaker
Like, you know, you weren't doing anything anyway. You're probably watching a video, you know, like, yeah, I know. Like, like I'll be honest. Like that this is we we kind of go through the same thing. Like they they don't send a letter home, but that they have ah like a policy that like after so many unexcused absences,
00:03:55
Speaker
They can, or in my son's case, you know, it's, this is high school and they they'll be like, if you miss a class so many times, we can remove you from the class kind of thing. So it's like, that yeah, so, yeah you know, you know, I get, you know, you know, every school has their own rules and everything, but when it comes to the vacation thing, like, like this has always been a touching point i didn't think we were going to talk about this today, but I think we should just get into it because but why not?
00:04:19
Speaker
Um, the you know i get the the school is like, you know they're trying to make sure that the kids are, you know you know that they're there and you know that they're they're getting the curriculum done and everything. But it's like, if a parent chooses to pull their kid out of school, that's their prerogative. But then the other side of that is the onus is on them to ensure that their their kid does what they need to do to catch up or yeah you know miss anything, right? And that's always been a thing for us too, is like, you know when my son has missed school due to due to trips and stuff like that, we have, you know, we, we've put it on him like, Hey, you know, you got to get the extra material. You got to, you know, you know, catch up, you know, you know, write tests, do whatever needs to be done that you missed.
00:05:01
Speaker
And, you know, you know, he goes back to the teacher and is like, Hey, you know, can i you know, can i do whatever I need to do to fill in for this? The, the other side of like the whole, you know, you have unexcused absences. It's like,
00:05:15
Speaker
I feel like that's the school overreaching a little bit because it's like, yeah yeah you know, my my opinion is, you know, you're in charge of your family and your kids and, you know, everybody chooses to do vacations whenever they choose to do vacations.
00:05:33
Speaker
It shouldn't come at the penalty of, you know, the the school wagging their finger at you, right? Like they're not, yeah you know, sorry, but it's, you know, I don't know. It's it's ah such a weird
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Updates
00:05:46
Speaker
backwards thing to like for like the schools to like i go after the parents for it. But I also get there are some parents, too, that will like. Unfortunately, this is a result also of, you know, I don't dismiss the fact that there are parents that like, well, I took vacation, but why didn't you make sure that my you know little Billy got caught up? And it's like.
00:06:06
Speaker
yeah thats why yeah that's not the school's problem, right? So it's, yeah, i I get it, but also like the, you know, sending home letters like warning of unattended absences and stuff, it's like,
00:06:19
Speaker
okay, if if I know why my kid was away, like, you know, and you, and especially like, because, you know, you fill out the form and you're like, yeah, you know you know, I justified why they're away. It's like, now it's none of your business. Like if if I didn't know that my kid was away and they were coming to me and being like, hey, you know, there's a bunch of excuses, it's like, wait, hold up. We have a problem, right? Yeah, wait, we yeah what's going on there? Yeah. Yeah, but this is like, no, I know what happened. Like, mind your own business, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was just like, a hey, try to like, you know, keep, you know, it wasn't like any like threatening thing. I think they only like really do anything. It was like 10 or more or something like that in a certain amount of time. And then we're nowhere near that. So, yes i you know, I don't have a problem. ah But she's in second grade, too. She didn't miss like, you know. Yeah, that's the other thing, too, is like, you know.
00:07:09
Speaker
Yeah, I get like, you know, I was the same way up until about grade six with my son. i was like, whatever with it. Once he got into junior high and beyond, it was like, OK, like, you know, we have to, you know, he he can't make like these. This is getting into harder curriculum.
00:07:26
Speaker
He can't really miss as much school as he did previously. So, you know, we didn't. or you know we tried to yeah We tried to minimize that. But then the funny thing is we're on the flip side of it now where he's in grade 12 and he's at a point where he's like he's he's got like two classes left and most of his credits done because because the way we do high school graduation is you have to get so many credits and then and do certain courses and then you graduate, right? and so Yeah, yeah. So he's he's down to where he has a couple of classes left, but he's he's managing it. But then every once a while, he'll say to us, like, hey, you know I don't want to go to class today.
00:08:00
Speaker
is that like he'll He'll actually reach out to us and be like, I'm not going to class today. And we're like, yeah, that's fine. So then we get the the phone call and it's like... okay, whatever. Like, what what are you going to do Kick him out next semester? Oh, wait.
00:08:11
Speaker
Like, he's... He's done. He's done. Yeah. So, like, yeah yeah, you have to kind of pick and choose your battles with it, too, right? So... Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It didn't bother me. I just thought it was kind of funny, you know? I know. I i get it. And, yeah, it's... Yeah, without context, it seems very, like, you know, getting... getting Or I guess because like you said, you filled out the thing saying that your daughter was going to be gone, right? Or that that you. Yeah. It's just they only accept it if it's like a doctor's appointment or they're sick. you know Oh, my goodness. Okay.
00:08:45
Speaker
Okay. um Yeah. No, guys. Come on. flat Chill. I took my daughter on vacation. She's going to remember that Yeah. If the parent excused it, it's none of your business. Yeah. that's i Listen, i'm I'm with you, but it is what it is. But I just thought it was funny. i Yeah, I get it.
00:09:05
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Well, do you want to get into it, though? Because I... so let's Let's talk some announcements. I feel like I need to start off... that we We have to start off with all the rock and roller coaster stuff because... Oh, my goodness. Yes. So much, ah which which I really...
00:09:19
Speaker
really love the way that they're rolling this out. They're doing it in such a fun Muppety way. And like, you know what I mean? Like they're not like most rides you get, you know, you just get little bits and pieces. They're doing so many fun things with this. um And, and so, and I, I actually think we predicted this Trevor, that the, the electric mayhem would be,
00:09:42
Speaker
doing a bunch of covers of songs. I think we hoped that they were going to do that when they first announced this, you know, and that's, that is what's going to be happening. So, I mean, which it makes the most sense. I, uh, but there's so much to kind of unpack here because they just released whole bunch of different stuff. so So, so can, why don't we just start with the set list? Cause like we said, you know, we talked about, they are doing songs and yeah so we got, we have five songs confirmed on this, on the set list.
00:10:08
Speaker
And I'll just go down the list here. So we have song two. And it says the Electric Mahan song two, but it's it's song two by Blur. But they're doing a cover, it which is awesome. If you don't know that song, it's the woohoo, you know, that song. That's the song. And yeah, and I said this on the Discord because I said like, oh my gosh, you know, song 2 by Blur. And I think it was Dan said like, I don't think I know that song. and i'm like, if you were alive in the 90s, you know that song. You may not know what it was called, but you know that song. And yeah, everybody does that song. Even if you weren't in the 90s, like everyone does that song. Yeah, it's been around for forever, right? And yeah, yeah and and the thing about it. So like that, that was like their lead in like the first song. was like, OK, like we're starting off strong. Yeah, I sent it to my brother and i and he was like, okay, Animal needs to be singing the song. Like, even though Animal's the drummer, like, it just fits that it would be like him doing the cover, right? So i I hope that's how it plays out. But again, we don't know for sure. and there's like There's not really, like, lyrics to that song other than, like, woohoo. There is. Yeah, but, like, it's not significant lyrics. Everyone cares about the chorus. Yeah, I mean, it's it's hard to understand what the what the lead singer is saying. he He's British and he has an accent. Yeah, of course. But he is, you know, he is singing through the song, but, you know, it could very easily be translated to, like you said, like animal gibberish through the song. Yeah.
00:11:34
Speaker
yeah and And then also thinking about rock and roller coaster as a ride, like... I see how it fits like like when I think about the amount of times that I've ridden rock and roller coaster and just the pacing of the ride. Like, yeah, like easy easy win for that one.
00:11:49
Speaker
um The next song on the list is Born to be Wild. um The electric mayhem feeling featuring Camilla the chi chicken. Which is hilarious. yeah and And if you don't know who Camilla... I mean, everyone. Camilla the Chicken is in in so many of like the like the songs and like the the bits that they do. like It's... Gonzo's.
00:12:11
Speaker
yeah The chickens are always around. feel like it's almost... Is it his girlfriend? i don't know if Camilla is. is is it Is it? No, I don't think so. i love Because he's always like hanging out with the chickens. And I thought like, i don't know. It is it seemed like he was only or like he was always like into Camilla is how I saw it. But maybe I was just reading. Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, no it is. it's It is his girlfriend. Yes. Yeah. There you go. So, yeah. It's yeah. So Gonzo's girlfriend is Camilla. The chicken is a hen who is Gonzo's longtime girlfriend. That's right. There you go. Yeah.
00:12:48
Speaker
Yes. So, yeah. Again, um you know, great song. It fits fits the the theme of the ride. yeah You know, the the thing is, is that these these songs, Like, you know, you look back at like the Aerosmith songs that were in the ride and it's like, you know, these are still kind of fitting in that same line. But the thing is, they like the the the time or how can I explain this?
00:13:14
Speaker
The amount of like the eras that these songs are coming from are like huge. Like like it's a it's a very wide breadth of like, you know, we've got songs from the ninety s and Like, like eighties, eighties, seventies, eighties, nineties, I feel like it's kind of the, the, the, the breadth of where these songs are. But the nice thing about it is that they're like, that means like they can go anywhere with this. mean, you we said this previously is, you know, they, they could pick any songs in the future, but like said, so, so far born to be wild. And then the next song is love rollercoaster by the electric mayhem featuring Jennifer Hudson and quest love. What a great, that's going to be awesome. That's going to be so cool. Yeah. Yeah. That's going to be really, really good. feel like that's such a great song for them to do. I mean, it's also just a great song in general. And I'm just really looking forward to hearing that cover of it. I think that's going to be awesome. Yeah. And then the next one is Rock Rock Till You Drop. The Electric Mayhem featuring Def Leppard, which is so weird to think about. It is. that like Electric Mayhem is covering a Def Leppard song, but Def Leppard is...
00:14:25
Speaker
with blu yeah fits you know totally totally easy to envision on the ride and then the very last song um is walking on sunshine electric mayhem featuring kelly clarkson which is that's pretty big i that's huge yeah she's perfect for that song by the way she did her voice is perfect for that and that's gonna be a great song for them to do yes absolutely like and so here's the interesting thing about this like but When I think about Cosmic Rewind, I have a tier list of like, these are the songs that I really don't want to... There's six songs. Two of them I really don't want to hear. Two of them I'm okay with. Two of them I'm like, yes, I want i want to hear these songs. So like their selection of songs really like kind of forced it into a tier list.
00:15:14
Speaker
Looking at these songs, I'm like, if I heard any one of these, I'm like, yeah, cool. like and like It's it's not There's not any one song that I'm like, this is like, I have to hear this song. i Like I would not be disappointed by any of these. That's right. Yeah.
00:15:34
Speaker
That's the way you want to be worth noting, by the way, that Kelly Clarkson covered, ah walking out sunshine like six months ago on her show. So, uh, maybe that was little, little preview of things to come. Yeah. Yeah. A little preview of things to come, but yeah, no, I, I, so I'm assuming you're going to get like similar to cosmic rewind. You'll get one song per,
00:15:53
Speaker
per ride right i'm assuming like it's going to be randomized you'll get one of the songs each ride yeah i i can't imagine that there's any way they're doing multiples because the ride itself is only like two minutes long so ah yeah you're you're not fitting in multiple songs a minute 22 seconds is what i just saw wikipedia okay so so yeah yeah feels like two minutes it feels like it feels long um But yeah, no, I like i think they did a great job with with the songs that they picked. And, you know, they can add, what like you said, they can add whatever anytime. Like, it's not, you know, and like because they've changed up the songs at
00:16:33
Speaker
at um cosmic rewind they did it for like the holidays and uh you know they can do the same 21st they yeah just run september on repeat yeah yeah yeah exactly they can do that here too where you know they could change it up if they really want to so and i just love that they have the electric mayhem doing the covers of these things because i just that just makes it so much more fun and you know so much more muppety i i had to believe that they were going to do that like and i think when they first announced this they didn't say that but i think we were hoping that they were going to do that and i Yeah, we we kind of assumed it. and
Water Park and Ride Enhancements
00:17:05
Speaker
And I mean, this goes as far back, like, you know, I mean, going back to like the Muppet show.
00:17:09
Speaker
Yeah. You know, they did covers then, but then also like on like I've seen on YouTube, like various Muppet covers of songs that they've just done over time. And it's like. why would they not like like yeah yeah yeah like, like, like, you know, yeah, they could obviously just like get these people to come and do this stuff, but it's like you said, it's so much more fun to have it being, you know, it's very clearly the electric mayhem playing it, but then all these other people jumping in, let it like the Muppet show. If you think about it, like that this is the same way, like how they do guests on the Muppet show. Right. So, so yeah, it's, it's going to be awesome. It's great. And ah by the way, they're keeping the same storyline for the ride. They're just replacing Aerosmith with Electric Mayhem, basically. Right. Like, it's still like that you, ah you know, they're going to see the Electric Mayhem and then you get backstage passes. It's still GeForce Records. ah The band is, you know, they can't find the band. Like, it's the whole thing.
00:18:07
Speaker
ah You know, so it's... Which is, you know, fine. Like, I don't think they needed to change the storyline of it. um ah You know, they're doing enough changing here. So the one thing we didn't say from that, we were so excited about the music, we forgot to mention they already announced the the ah reopening date, which is May 26th.
00:18:23
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. That's coming real quick. Like we're we're you nailing on that. Yeah. They only just closed rock and roller coaster, but the beginning of March, I think. So this is, this is a very quick turnaround on this now given, I think most of us expect, I mean, I think the expectation was they're not, they're not changing any parts of the ride, so to speak. Right. So like the ride itself is staying the same. It's really all the stuff around it.
00:18:48
Speaker
um that they're that they're doing. So obviously they were prepared to do this quickly and, you know, which is as long as it's good and well done, i i don't think people care if it's, you know, quick, ah but it is it is interesting that they're able to do this, you know, they they really don't. Usually these reimaginings take like a ah lot longer than a few months, you know? know i i feel like this to me strikes me as something that, and I,
00:19:15
Speaker
I know Disney hasn't really talked about this, but I'm kind of seeing it in the way they've been doing or planning these things is that they're getting a lot better at doing things off site or doing things like, know,
00:19:27
Speaker
without having to close the ride down. Yeah. And, and like, like, being more prepared like staging it ahead of time. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. This, what this feels like is that it's probably been in the works for a lot longer, but they were able to keep the ride open up to a point. And I think the closing of the ride, honestly, is like you said, like the ride itself is not changing, but I'm a, I'm assuming because inside of the actual ride, there are their signs and stuff that you see as you're as you're going around on the roller coaster. I'm assuming you know all that signage inside of the ride ah has changed.
00:19:59
Speaker
um Obviously, the the you know the pre-show has changed. and They've added animatronics to the pre-show. All the you know all the posters and everything in the queue, like like all that stuff has changed. But like you said, the the fundamental, like the ride itself, you know the queue, everything else...
00:20:15
Speaker
like they haven't had to do like major sweeping changes to it. So it feels like, yeah, you know, it was a lot easier for them to probably go like, Oh yeah, you know, we can, you know, we can like, you know, you know, build out signs, build out air, you know, animatronics and everything and kind of have them waiting in the wings.
00:20:29
Speaker
And then onces like when we close it, you bring everything in and you just, you know, you're just setting it up. Right. So exactly. Yeah. And i it certainly helps that they don't have to change the actual ride itself like that. really cuts down at the time. They're really just, you know, changing, giving it a new coat of paint, so to speak, you know? Yeah. And, and changing the music and all that, obviously. But, um, some of the other things, Trevor, though, uh, they put out like these, uh, these like, uh, posters.
00:20:55
Speaker
Did you see these posters? These posters are so cool. I saw a couple of them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I love these posters. um They're just really, really cool. You know, they have for each member of ah the Electric Mayhem, you know, they have they have their own poster. You know, Animal House one that just says drums, drum drums, drums on it. You know, ah and and there's some really funny things in here. But... um you know I just kind of love the whole aesthetic they're going for. The other thing that they announced is that there is going to be... It says ah there's going to be a bunch of celebrity cameos woven throughout the experience. Now, I don't know what that actually means.
00:21:32
Speaker
But like, I don't know if it's just like, are these just like posters like going through the queue or So, alone so I actually saw, so so specifically I saw something from Weird Al Yankovic that, that he said he will be in the queue. and he said like, you know, not like,
00:21:50
Speaker
in the queue, but he said like there's like he'll be talking to you through like a video or something. So what I'm assuming is... um Because throughout the ride or throughout the queue, there is posters and stuff.
00:22:01
Speaker
I wouldn't be surprised if some of the posters got some upgrades to them where instead of just being a static poster, is you know move you know yeah yeah yeah you know Like If you stand there long enough, like you know people come in and do like a little bit and then...
00:22:16
Speaker
And then what move on kind of thing, right? I'm a little disappointed they didn't record a song with Weird Al, because that would have been a lot of fun ah for them to do like a song with Weird Al.
00:22:27
Speaker
So the celebrity cameos they list off here are Awkwafina, Danny Trejo, which is a random one. but Okay, no no, no, hold on. You can't say it random, like...
00:22:40
Speaker
anything with Disney or with Muppets, like that's it's all fair game. You can't, you can't be like, that's random. Like Danny Trejo would absolutely be on the Muppets. yeah i think you're I mean, you're not, and and by the way, they're each pictured with different characters here. So Danny Trejo is with is with Beaker. um And then there's Darren Chris, who's with Rolf.
00:23:02
Speaker
yeah And let's see who else we got. Stamos, of course, because, you know, Stamos. I like that. Yeah. Stamos is with, um what's his name, Bobo? Yeah. Which is hilarious. But I just, first of all, I'm annoyed at how good John Stamos looks. He has to be like in his 60s, right? Yeah. Like, I feel like he keeps getting better looking. He's got that same Paul Rudd, like, yeah vampire gene or whatever it is. They just don't age. Yeah. Exactly. And but by this list feels like a list of all of the ah well, not all, but a lot of like the the super Disney fans that are within the orbit that are also celebrities like the next one, which is Neil Patrick Harris, who's with Gonzo, which, you know, that's great, too. We got ah Travis Barker yelling an animal. Yeah.
00:23:50
Speaker
I mean, that one feels random too, but you know, whatever. You've met Nicole Brown, who's with Miss Piggy and ah and um ah Kermit. And Kermit, yeah. And also with Miss Piggy and Kermit is Wayne Brady. Yeah. yeah again it makes sense but it's like yeah he's another one that i like i know he doesn't like do a lot of music but like his his improv music and stuff that he does like
Dining Plan Changes and Tips
00:24:16
Speaker
he did a lot of singing on whose line is it anyway you know he he did a lot of that well i've also seen him ah i't know if you ever watch uh dropout uh he's done a couple of okay drop well dropouts a whole channel but they do like they've got their own set of shows and he does some crazy improv on there as well so oh cool yeah
00:24:33
Speaker
And then last but not least, Weird Al, who is with Fozzie, as he should be. Yes. yeah that's That's correct. that's where They feel like they would be best friends. Yes, they would. Yes, they would. So, no, I i think this is very cool that they're, I mean, throwing bunch celebrities into it. That's, that's,
00:24:50
Speaker
really neat. ah You know, and then we, you know, you talked about the animatronic, ah the audio animatronic of Scooter, ah who's, you know, going to be there. And of course the penguins who, you know, low key, the penguins are some of my favorite Muppets. I love like some of the weird Muppets, you know? Yeah. that Like that they're not like starring in a, in a space, but they're like,
00:25:11
Speaker
You can always like see them do it. like there's There's enough penguins that they're always like doing stuff in the background. Yeah, exactly. yeah Oh, I didn't even... Not to go back to my cruise, but for a second, there's... And I don't think I talked about this, and i don't I'm not even sure if you're aware of this, but there is on the Disney Fantasy, Trevor, there is a tiny... There's a replica of the cabin room doors, but it's very tiny.
00:25:37
Speaker
and it's And the room number on it is 5148 and a half. And it's and it has it has a Pepe the Prawn crown on top of it. So it's it's Pepe's door on the ship.
00:25:51
Speaker
ah and And there's also, though, like it's it belongs it's supposed to belong to Pepe the Prawn, right? and But there's also like a whole bunch of like Muppet stuff on the door. But it's just, I forgot to mention it because it was one of those things i actually didn't know about. And I just thought it was so cool. You can walk the door. You're like, oh. Yeah. what yeah it's i just it It made me laugh, really. And I was like, this is this amazing. And it has Pepe's little activity schedule on it and all sorts of fun. There's a Muppet mini golf team ah thing on it and all this stuff. And it's just really funny. And I forgot to mention it because it was one of those things that is just...
00:26:26
Speaker
So random, but also so funny. And you know how much I love Pepe. So anyway. Well, and anyway. You know, to tie that back to Rock and Roller Coaster, like this is this is the level of stuff I expect to see in the queue is that like it's it's not that it'll be. And this is the like it's the best way to do it is.
00:26:46
Speaker
there's There's lots to look at. you know I'm sure that this queue is going to be like, you know, when i when I walk through Rock and Roller Coaster, it's like, you know, I looked at the posters enough times. It's like, oh, yeah, you know, there's like there's things around, but there's not like details that you're hunting for. i feel like with Muppets, I'm assuming that there's going to be a ton of details and little things like that, you know, references and You know, you know, things that, you know, even if it's a character that's not necessarily in the ride, you know, maybe there will be a shout out to Pepe in the ride somewhere. um
00:27:18
Speaker
You know, you know, going back to, um you know, you were talking about how they didn't like fundamentally change the ride. I actually disagree with you um based on one of these posts because they did actually um the the ride vehicles themselves have been changed.
00:27:35
Speaker
They're formally named lengthy Lengthy Immediate Motion Objects. And as per Bunsen and Beaker, um the acronym for that obviously is LIMO. so That's what they're called yes. yeah that So they are called... yeah i i this is again and why i love why they did like how they did this because yeah they didn't really need to do that but they did it no no no they they absolutely needed to do that that you know they they couldn't just leave the old limos in there they had to you know you know they needed the scientists to look at it and make a new ride vehicle that is you know you know that you know bunsen honeydew obviously put some thought into it and you know made sure you know, the lengthy immediate motion object was the right fit for the ride.
00:28:23
Speaker
Yeah, that's it. Lengthy, immediate motion object. so It's hilarious. I love Muppet stuff, man. Like I said, I love how they're doing this. They're just doing this in the way that's like the best Muppet way possible. And i it's just, that it it makes me happy. I love it.
00:28:42
Speaker
Yeah, i I will admit towards the end of the the Aerosmith run of Rock and Roller Coaster, You know, I, my son and I would go and ride the ride, but it was like, it was entirely like a, you know, if we had nothing better to do or like, you know, we'd run it once and be like, yeah, you know, I'm good. Right. Like I didn't need to go and ride it multiple times, even though it's the same ride. the funny thing is because of all these little things and because of the, you know, just the whimsy around, yeah, the songs, but then also the whimsy around, oh yeah you know, just it being Muppets.
00:29:19
Speaker
Like, I'm looking at this going like, I could, like, see myself getting on this, like, two or three times in a day. Yeah. Well, you know, you were talking about all the details in the queue. One of my favorite parts of Muppet Vision 3D was that there were so many details in the queue and in, like, the pre-show area that, like...
00:29:40
Speaker
There was always something to look at and always new things that you'd find every time you went to the point where I remember sometimes I would go and I'd be like, I don't remember that being there before. Was that always there? feels like a new thing. And they can do that here too where they have all those little Easter eggs and interesting little details and things like that.
00:30:00
Speaker
I always used to i i always love the Muppet Vision pre-show because the videos they had up there were always really funny and just really entertaining while you were sitting there way or standing there waiting. Yeah. So yeah, hopefully you're going to, you're going get a lot of that hopefully here. So yeah, I, I remember, I i think it or it happened a few times, like even with my son, but I remember there was a, it's always the the part that always stuck out to me in the, in the the Muppets 3d queue was when, ah um, um,
00:30:30
Speaker
there're I think it's Kermit is talking and then Gonzo comes onto the screen and is like, oh, you know, you know Mickey Mouse is here. And they all hype it all up and then Rizzo comes out and says, Mickey Mouse. Yeah, that's The way they do that too... Kids would always get so excited in the crowd. Like I would always like, you you would hear that like, and then Rizzo would come and everyone like, yeah, it was it was just so funny. Yeah. It's also just funny how it was on a bunch of different screens, like the way they made that work where it was, you know, there was like, it wasn't one continuous screen. It was like a whole bunch of different screens next to each other. And then they'd have like one character on each screen at a time, but they were looking at each other. It was just funny the way that it was done. It was the same way that they do like the, um like on the, on the Muppet show where like they would like, you know, one person would poke out of a window and they'd be kind of like talking back and forth to each other through like, like different windows and stuff. Like it, it gave that kind of vibe.
00:31:26
Speaker
Yeah, I totally agree. i was I mean, and I hope they bring a lot of that to Rock and Roller Coaster. But I think this is, I think they also put out two, don't know if you watch the videos of ah the Muppets recruiting the ah band members for the songs. I saw the Def Leppard one and and there was an audio recording of Jennifer Hudson. I didn't i don't know if there was a...
00:31:45
Speaker
Yeah, the Questlove one is pretty funny. I've seen the Questlove one. question That one was pretty funny, too, because Questlove just seems like he's confused. There was no Kelly Clarkson one. But again, it's just like they they didn't have to do those things, but they did. And and it's it's just really funny you know the way it's done. So i you know I don't know. I just am glad that they are are honoring the Muppets in the way that they are.
00:32:12
Speaker
So the last part of this though, Trevor, is that ah while the ah ride is going to officially open on May 26th, DVC members and annual pass holders are going to get an early preview. We don't know the details of that yet. We just know that DVC is going to get a ah preview.
00:32:32
Speaker
ah So that's, that's exciting. um You know, we'll get some, ah we'll get some more information on that ah though soon. um But you know, yeah You know, I think the the, so we talked about this previously with like the Buzz Lightyear opening that, um, so I guess, cause I think I'd said something to the effect of, you know, you know, they tend to reserve the DVC stuff for bigger openings, but I mean, really this is not any different than the Buzz Lightyear redo, but the fact that we're getting a DVC, um, uh,
00:33:04
Speaker
preview. I have to wonder if it might be a matter of they can only do so many previews or or like, you know, Because because yeah yeah like I forget it. I sometimes forget about the fact that like we're like, oh, well, you know, DVC is Disney. They should just be able to do previews for it. But I have to wonder if there is maybe some budgeting for preview time. And maybe and I'm wondering if it's the DVC might have to pick and choose their battles around which ones they actually want to get previews for. Like they can't get every single preview.
00:33:35
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know. That's interesting. Yeah. It seems like, oh, well, they're the same company. Then why can't they do that? It's, it is, but it's, it's, you know, they still have to, even in the big company there, it, that the way they have to do these things is, you know, is, is measured. Right. So like they can't just DVC can't just do whatever they want in the parks. They're, you know, different, different divisions and they still have to, you know, be able to, cause I mean, I think in the past we've,
00:34:01
Speaker
ah you know, that they, they have to like, you know, they got to pay for stuff. I mean, they, they have budgets around this stuff. So like them doing events in the park, they do have to technically pay money to the parks to do it. And that comes out of like a DVC budget or it's, it's moving money between buckets. Yeah, it really is. Yeah. But it's, There's still budgets for these things and you know because there's also opportunity costs for for Disney and so you know of letting DVC do things that other people can't do. so i mean listen I would expect that this is probably going to be you know a couple weeks ahead of time or a week or two before before launch and they'll probably do that. you know You're going to have to register for it for sure.
00:34:39
Speaker
So just keep, i would say, just keep an eye out, if you remember. And I, I also am going to assume this is going to be a blue, blue card benefit. So, ah you know, just, uh, they usually are. So, yeah. Yeah. I don't think there's ever been a point where resale people have gotten,
00:34:58
Speaker
um no Yeah, I'm i'm just, i I was trying to think as I was saying, i has there actually been a point? No, yeah. that not There's not been a point where where resale only members have gotten preview opportunities. So, yeah.
00:35:12
Speaker
I guess if if you're if you're wondering why you never get invited to these things, if you only have resale points, that's why. umm I'm going to tell you right now, though, i just to go back for a second, the ah the the merch that's going to come along with this new ride is going to be awesome. Like, I'm going to want a shirt from this. You know what i mean?
00:35:29
Speaker
and like Like you said, I found the or I saw those posters you were talking about. Like, yeah, that that posters are cool poster collection awesome. I would assume that there will be T-shirts ah with those posters. I hope there is at some point. Yeah. um And yeah, just yeah, there'll there'll be lots of lots of good opportunities for merch with this. Right.
00:35:49
Speaker
Yeah, and and the one in the one ah concept piece of concept out of the guitar, they do have like ah they have like a couple people wearing like some generalized merch. But I doubt that's what the actual merch is going to be.
00:36:02
Speaker
You mean like that electric mayhem jacket and stuff? His ah his ah denim electric mayhem jacket. It's not even like jacket. It's like a vest. it's it's a Yeah, it's ah it's ah it's like a jacket with yeah with the sleeves cut off, yeah.
00:36:17
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. So, and it looks, awesome somebody also has like it looks like a mouth on the back of their, on their shirt. So i don't know if that's like a, it's like lips, right? Which could just be, i mean, it could be the band member lips or it could be, you know, something else. But, and again, this is concept art. So it probably has nothing to do with like actual, what is going to be in the shop. But ah the electric mayhem have a pretty cool logo as it is. And so now, you know, there's going to be, there's going to be good stuff in that gift shop.
00:36:47
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. the The funny thing is, is and I pretty sure I said this before, is that, you know, coming off of rock and roller coaster, I never stopped in the gift shop ever because I just, ah you know, I don't. That gift shop was sad. Yeah. It's not that like.
00:37:03
Speaker
Aerosmith is okay, but it like i was but that's exactly it. I have no desire to stop and like look at Aerosmith merch. or like yeah generic like It was very generic looking like band merch. and yeah Like you said, it like it was ah it was a very skippable shop, whereas now it'll be like, you know you you'll get off the ride and I'll be interested to see what all ah what all stuff they have. This merch is going to be popular. I'm going to i'm going to say this right now. I think it's going to be very popular. And I wouldn't be surprised if there's like, or I hope that it's stuff is rotating over time because it feels like something that, you know, the initial, you know, hype of the ride, but then, you know, over time they can, you know, keep changing songs. They can add stuff in and it's going to like,
00:37:52
Speaker
There's going to be so many opportunities to do just more merch for like it's it's such a good IP if you really think about it. Like it's it's a very easy IP that you can you can make merch that, you know, you know, is kid centric. But obviously, like Muppets is very timeless at this point. So there'll be lots of stuff that will appeal to all age groups. Right. So.
00:38:15
Speaker
Yeah. Great. All right. Well, anything else about that before we move on here? i mean, I think this is exciting. I think the Internet's excited about it, which means, you know, people are going to be flocking back to Rock and Roller Coaster.
00:38:27
Speaker
Yeah, I'm just sad that I'll have to actually like wait more than 10 minutes to get on the ride now. So. ah Yeah, yeah, that's true. You will. ill I'll have to actually plan like lightning lanes for stuff. Yeah, you will.
00:38:40
Speaker
So we're only we're only four months into 2026. I mean, which feels like, you know, how are we four months into 2026? But whatever. But um even though we're only four months into 2026, we're already getting confirmation that the free water park perk that for Disney hotel guests that has been I don't know if it's been popular or not. I don't really know if people have been using this. I assume they have been because it seems like they're happy with this because they're going to extend it ah for next year as well.
00:39:10
Speaker
So already they're announcing that. The interesting thing, though, Trevor, is that next year they are going to exclude guests who stay at the campsites at Fort Wilderness.
00:39:21
Speaker
Hmm. That's a choice. Yeah, it' it's kind of odd, right? Yeah. Why specifically that group of people? Yeah. I mean, well, I guess, you know what I think it probably is? Or that that this is my assumption.
00:39:38
Speaker
Staying at the campsites is, I'm pretty sure, one of the cheapest ways to stay on property. That's true. And I feel like it's like...
00:39:51
Speaker
I could very easily see making a vacation out of just going to you know Fort Wilderness. like like like When I was a kid, like you know we would go camping out in British Columbia, and you would go to these these campsites, and it was like you didn't have to leave the campsite. like you you know It was just like, go hang out at the pool, like you know explore the campsites, you know do whatever.
00:40:14
Speaker
I could see people going, you know Hey, this is a great thing because you can, you know, go to the campsite, you know, just spend your time at the campsite and, you know, have a free water park day, which, yeah um, and I get why Disney would actually be like, wait, no, um, I don't want you just spending time at the campsite and then getting free water park. I think the assumption is, is that, you know, the free water park day assumes that you're spending money at the other parks and,
00:40:44
Speaker
And, you know, you know, ah doing other things, right? like Like the thing about a camp, you know, going to the campsite is kind of like DVC. um You can go there and bring all of your own food and you don't have to interact with any like Disney dining or anything like that. Like you can, you can plan to, you know, when you're camping, you can just, you know, you bring a cooler full of food and that's all you need. Right. So, yeah.
00:41:10
Speaker
Yeah. So I see where they're probably looking and going like from a, you know, maybe a a, you know, the, the, the benefit of the, the offer greatly outweighs justifying it for the campsite. That would, that would be my assumption because yeah if I was close enough that I could actually make use of the campsite, I would be like thinking about like, Hey, you know, I could just book, you know, you know, book a campsite for, you know, like three days or whatever. we get a free water park day and, know,
00:41:40
Speaker
You know, that's that's honestly a relatively cheap vacation if you if you have all the camping equipment. Right. So, um yeah, I can kind of see that why they would why they would exclude the campsites.
00:41:55
Speaker
it's It's just interesting that they just decided to do that now, you know, but it's whatever. i feel like, well, I feel like, you know, this is the third year they've been doing this now, right? So I wonder if they have enough data points where they've kind of realized that maybe there was a subset of people that figured out this as a hack as, you you know, hey, you know, you know, go camping, you know, and just get a free water park day and you don't have to do anything else at Disney, right? So I get it. Yeah. Yeah.
00:42:22
Speaker
Interesting. Well, yeah, so that's all we got for that. But I do think it's interesting that we know now early on here that they're continuing to do that. i Listen, i would love to actually utilize this benefit. I just haven't, you know, because I still haven't been to any of the water parks. I want to go to the water parks.
00:42:41
Speaker
you know I keep forgetting that. I feel like you have been at some point, and it blows my mind that you've never actually been to the water parks. I know, right? That's crazy, dude.
00:42:52
Speaker
Yeah, it is. it is. i don't know. I mean, it just it just hasn't been a thing we've done because my wife doesn't really like water parks, so... kind of They're just my wife, but I still made her go with me. It's also always been, though, too, that we like the way that we do our trip is that we set it up so that the first day is like a full day. You know, like we come early in the morning and we got a full day. like And I think, you know, a lot of the things that they have that is like so, you know, the people that arrive, you know, maybe midday or something like that, they can kind of, you know, do something and instead of feeling like they're waking, wasting a park day, you know?
00:43:29
Speaker
Or um I think the other side of that, too, is getting people to justify spending another day because, you know, that it actually that there is actually bit of mental gymnastics there that you can actually get people to spend an extra day because they go, well, I'm getting a free water park day. So, you know, instead of being a six day trip, it'll be a seven day trip or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Yeah. And also, now that I think about it, too, I also know your daughter has been young enough, too, that going to the water parks hasn't been something as easy to justify. For us, it was... Even when my wife and I were much younger, I said, hey... Or it wasn't me dragging my wife, but we both were like, let's go check out the water parks. So I think...
00:44:19
Speaker
The first time we went on our honeymoon, um we did both of the water parks because we we had not experienced either of them. At that point, River Country was close. It was just Blizzard Beach and Daffin Lagoon. and ah But you know with I think the difference is you know when we started coming with our son, he was at an age where we were like, we actually used the water parks as a yeah as a yeah As a bit of wind down day. like so so we've never the The funny thing about having the water parks as the first day of the trip, we would never actually make use of that. even if even if it didn't or The thing is, is like when we fly in, we're usually arriving at 6 p.m., so like it would never work out for us to to use the water park on our first arrival day anyway. But even if we were arriving sooner...
00:45:08
Speaker
We, we never use it as the first day. We actually use it like towards like the end, like Wednesday, Thursday, if we're there for a full week, um, that we use it as a means of breaking up the, you know, cause we've been running around water or running around the the parks for days. The water parks are a little bit more slow paced, but it does still give the opportunity to go and, you know know, you can go and charge around and do all the slides or you can just lay in the lazy river and, you know,
00:45:34
Speaker
you know, relax, which I know you could just have like a pool day at the resort, but the water parks also have like, like I said, you know, having the slides and everything there is, is it's, it's that like compromise compromise of like, you're not just like taking a day off and doing nothing at the resort. Like you're still doing something, but you're not running full speed either. Right. yeah You're not like exerting yourself. Yeah. Like yeah I can see, I can see us doing it sometime in the next couple years. Cause my daughter does like the water park. So like just so it likes water stuff in general. I think she'd love, you know, like some water slides or,
00:46:11
Speaker
you know, the wave pool or whatever. ah I think she would really, really dig that. So, and I, listen, I like a lazy river. So and now my question is, is would she yeah ever be able to get you to go on summit plummet?
00:46:26
Speaker
No, no, you'd you'd never do summit plummet. She's not going to do it. I mean, you know, I mean, you never know. my my My son was apprehensive about it at first. And then as he got a bit older, he was gung ho for all that kind of stuff. So, yeah, probably probably not. But well, why don't we go ahead and our ad and we'll talk about a couple other things. hows that sound?
00:46:49
Speaker
Sounds good. All right. This week's sponsor is DVC Resale Market. DVC Resale Market, a key holder vacations company, is the leader in the DVC resale industry with 13 former Disney Vacation Club guides and three former Disney Vacation Club quality assurance managers.
00:47:06
Speaker
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00:47:27
Speaker
Go to DVCRestyleMarket.com slash welcomehome or call 1-844-DVC-PROS. That's 1-844-382-7767. when you speak to them, be sure to let them know that Welcome Home sent you.
00:47:41
Speaker
All Trevor, I had to put this in here because... Because it's a funny pun and... well Because what? It's funny pun for the title and that's about it. what What do you mean it's a funny pun for the title? You missed the pun, really. no what What's the pun? What's the pun? Okay, okay for for everyone wondering, that the the the title is Disney teases over 2,000 bats in revamped Big Thunderman Railroad. Okay, all right. Revamped, whatever. Come on, yeah um on Tom. I'm going to take away your dad joke card if you can take up on that. All right, whatever. Whatever. No, so like like a dumb thing to put in here, but I don't think it is. i know. I think it's i think it's interesting. I think it's very I didn't think about how intense it is to design like a a scene at the beginning of the ride like that. well And also the fact, you know, like, I think, listen, I love Big Thunder and I think Big Thunder is awesome. But the bats in the beginning were always a little corny, right? Because they you you could see them on strings, right? They were just kind of like, and they were just spinning around and like, they just looked silly kind of, right?
00:48:55
Speaker
And which I didn't, I never minded. i never like felt like it was it detracted from the ride or anyone in any way. But as part of the refurb, they've added 2000 bats now, Trevor 2000 bats.
00:49:09
Speaker
And they're not just the ones on strings. They like built them into the rock work. Yeah. so it so it creates the illusion of there is a giant bat bat cave in the back. Like you're going by a natural cave that, and like they, like they said in in the describing here, it looks like it goes on forever. Like it's it's a very cool, very cool effect. And very much like, like I said, you know, you don't think about it, but like,
00:49:37
Speaker
you go by the Batcave so quickly at the beginning of the ride. Yeah. And, but it really does set the tone for the ride. If you, if you're thinking about it, right. Like it's never been on the ride before. You don't know that. And spoiler alert to those that haven't been on it. Close your ears that you start right off in the pitch black with a drop, like a small drop. Like you don't know.
00:49:57
Speaker
Right. yeah From the outside, it's, it's kind of a surprise. And so you're kind of like, Whoa. And then all of a sudden you're in that back cave, right? it goes It goes through the back cave and immediately transitions into the rainbow cavern, which yeah like I said, that that very much sets the, the tone of the ride is, you know, you know Hey, you're in a, you're in giant caves, natural caverns. And, um you know, it, like, like you said, that the, the, the bats on the strings very much were,
00:50:24
Speaker
I was willing to overlook them. Like, i guess it's, and, and actually even looking at there's still going to be some there, there but they've just further amped up like the, the bats that you will see in there. So, so I, I think they won't stand out quite as much as being like,
00:50:42
Speaker
like feeling like a a bad Halloween decoration because that's what it reminded me of before was like, and I get like, you know, when Big Thunder was initially built, it was like, hey, you know, they were working with what they had at the time. And, you know, you know, bat strings were, know,
00:50:58
Speaker
you know, you know, the only thing that they probably really do with it. Yeah. so But like, yeah. And the thing is, is they're not taking away from it. So I, you know, for anyone, you know, wondering, like, it'll still have it there, but I think it's going to be blended in a lot more with, you know, these larger groups of bats and it'll definitely make an impression of like, Oh, like this is, this isn't a cave with a few bats in it. This is a bat cave. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. i I, you know, honestly, i one of the things I love about big thunder mountain is the way it starts because you are kind of, your brain is kind of trained with roller coasters that you leave the station and you go up a lift hill immediately. Right. And like, that's where you start. Right. And,
00:51:41
Speaker
Disney ones don't do that now that I think about it. They really don't. But it's it's so surprising because Big Thunder, you really don't know where it starts because you are underground. right like you You climb up that little mountain and then you go down and you i mean you you would you assume if you if you've never been on it that you're going to go up a lift hill, which you do. But that's not really you know there's that whole little part first where you go through that area and it just is surprising. and it always ah I always think that's one of the cooler things about it.
00:52:09
Speaker
um But the other thing too, I noticed in this video, Trevor, i don't know if you watched it, but I thought it was kind of cool. Just the imagineering nerd in me is that they took a 3d scan of the entirety of the mountain in in order to make these designs. Cause I guess they didn't have, which makes sense. Cause they probably, when they built it originally, they probably just, they just made rock work, right? Like I'm sure this rock work is, you know, they didn't, they had details that there was needed to be rock it was here and there, but probably not down to the detail, the, the you know, my new details. There was structural engineering of it and like, like concrete work and stuff. But yeah, not, there wasn't the level of planning, like you said, with a 3d scan, they can really like,
00:52:50
Speaker
Like you said, map out surfaces and and all that, which, yeah, they're they're definitely taking advantage. I think part of that their disclosure was they realized it was an opportunity to actually scan the whole ride. Yeah, exactly.
00:53:03
Speaker
Which means that, yeah, you know, going forward, you know, like we said, yeah you know, this goes back to the whole thing of, you know, seeing that Disney is getting better at doing prep work versus.
00:53:13
Speaker
Reconkeeping and stuff. Well, too yeah, like like like it's honestly it's a change in in the methodology of Imagineering if you think about it, because, yeah yeah you know, a lot of things in Imagineering, you know, when you hear about the stories of how things were done, you know, you know, way back at the beginning and whatnot, it was ah it was like they were given a problem. They had to, like, solve it in the moment. kind of thing, right? And and it wasn't like, we'll go back and you know you know do some some work on the computer. It was like, no, they were like you know solving it live as they go. The difference is now is obviously we have a lot more, you know we have technology at our disposal and whatnot.
00:53:48
Speaker
And they're they're utilizing that now. So instead of them having to react to things, you know, live, they can use the computer. They can go, hey, you know, you know we have a 3D scan of this. We can build stuff, you know, you know they can 3D model stuff. They can 3D print stuff and go, oh, you know, we can build it all out off site. So, you know, they don't have to disrupt the ride, but they can, you know, they they can have all this stuff figured out ahead of time.
00:54:15
Speaker
Right. So. it It reminds me of an imaginary story. There's one Imagineer that he's like, we're building this this ah full, ah this this giant rope walking robot that's like the size of an elephant. And he's like he's like, this model is the only one. This is one of one.
00:54:32
Speaker
If this works, which it probably won't, it will be the only one that exists. Because like that's just how they do it. Yeah. He's just building it to to to see if it's going to work. And if it works, then great. and that's the one that's there. And then that's how they always did it. You know, it was like, that's, that's why the Yeti is in the state. It's in, in, in Everest because they they built it. Didn't think about, you know, there was some structural issues and it was like, Oh, well,
00:54:59
Speaker
that's it. Like this is the only one. Yeah. Yeah. This is the it's a one of one. There's no copies. I mean, now listen, they they are doing, if you're paying attention and you know, I mean, I don't mean you Trevor, I mean, everybody out there, they're, they're changing that up a little bit. Cause like they're, they've been talking a lot about this lately. Like for example, the Olaf robot, the free roaming one that they 3d printed that, which means it's repeatable. They can just keep, they could 3d print a hundred of Olaf. They can have an Olaf army. Like, you know, like that's and that's kind of a shift for them, you know, where 3D printing and some of these newer technologies have made it so they can do stuff like that. Whereas before it was just like they just would cobble together whatever they could with whatever parts they had. And if it works, cool, you know, like, yeah.
00:55:45
Speaker
I mean, I wouldn't say it's not fair to say they would just cobble stuff together. Like they were, they were working with the technology they had at the time. And had to be fair, ah a lot of the, like they were doing a lot of experimental things and they still are. Yeah.
00:56:00
Speaker
And, and I, I would argue that, you know, the fact that they're using 3d printing now, you know, I know that they're not like on the bleeding edge of it, but they are, they are using it. Um,
00:56:11
Speaker
The same way that, you know, or I would argue that, you know, if you if you put this technology in the hands of the original Imagineers back in the 1950s or said, like, hey, you have the ability to to manufacture stuff, they would absolutely be doing it the same way that.
00:56:27
Speaker
Oh, yeah. but You know, Disney's doing it now. You know, this would it is it is very much a tool for. giving them the ability to to try and fail at stuff. But then the nice thing about it is, like you said, it's you know you know the the extra step of it is you know it's not that somebody built it and hadn't had ah you know a flash of brilliance and you know it never happens again. It's like, hey, now they can actually document it. And yeah you know in 10 years when it breaks, well, we still have the plans. We can make another one, right? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, listen, they're there're there're um they're i mean they have an entire lab that's just devoted to like doing experimental and you know stuff and creating things. And that's how we end up with all these patents and some of the cooler stuff that you see in the park. So, yeah, I love this kind of stuff. And also, you know I just love Big Thunder. So it makes me happy that they're doing stuff. you know I'm excited to see what the new... new big thunder looks like and i'm i've i'm gonna get my daughter on it no matter what like that's happening so much so much stuff coming so fast i know it really is uh so you know it's not ride related trevor uh there's a new but kind of old dining plan coming to the disney dining plan so i say that because Pre-pandemic, there were three options for the dining plan. right there was
00:57:47
Speaker
You had the quick service, you had the like the regular table service one, and then you had the deluxe one, right which was you know the the higher end one. and ah you know The quick service was included you know two quick service meals and drinks and and snacks, and then table service was one table service per night. And then the deluxe was two table service per night. So that one is for like, you know, if you want to eat at some of the really nice restaurants, those will cost you too. ah So right now though, they don't, they didn't have the, um the deluxe, they didn't have the, the deluxe plan anymore. Right.
00:58:22
Speaker
ah So now it's, it's, where we're going to have the, the deluxe plan back, but you know, and the renaming the other plans. to the same bull Well, yeah, I was going to say it was so.
00:58:35
Speaker
So, yeah, it's funny how they're saying, you know, is formerly Disney dining plan or the table service dining plan, formerly the Disney dining plan. And then the quick service was the Disney quick service dining plan. Like, it yeah, it's yeah to say it's exactly the same. it just bear Yeah. so So all they've done is they've relayed, renamed it to table service, dining plan, quick service, dining plan and deluxe Disney dining plan, which this like you said, you know, going back to pre pandemic.
00:59:01
Speaker
This makes sense. This is, you know, it's clear what it is. um You know, the breakdown of it, like you said, it you know, it's clear that, you know, quick service is exactly that. You get two quick service meals, a snack and a refillable mug.
00:59:14
Speaker
Table service, it's one quick service, one table service, snack and a mug per day. um or sorry, the mug's not per day, the mug's per yeah your stay. And then, yeah, the deluxe is two table service meals per day, one quick service, one snack.
00:59:30
Speaker
And the funny thing is, like you said, initially when when I was looking at the deluxe, I was like, there's no way I would ever use the deluxe. But I forgot about the fact that, like you said, there are some yeah are some meals that take two credits. you could very easily You could very easily make use of the deluxe.
00:59:48
Speaker
The thing for me is... or If I was going to have a ah trip like that where I was like, I'm going to do table service every day. The funny thing is, is that I don't do table service every day. Like it's the the only thing about the dining plan is that.
01:00:06
Speaker
I kind of sit between the table service and the quick service one. So there's not a plan that actually works for me. So i I get that. I get that. Yeah. Well, you know, we, we did the, you know, you could also just do sit down lunches with the deluxe one though too. Like there's a lot you can do with the deluxe one. It is a lot more expensive though. I mean, it just is right. Like, but it is good for like, you just want to do some of the signature restaurants because the signature restaurants are two, right? They, they those are two dying dining, dining entitlements. So, um you know, yeah it just depends.
01:00:41
Speaker
the Speaking of expense on here, i I don't see pricing listed anywhere here. you don't really see it listed these days. Yeah, because I was looking into this. um So when we first started doing DVC, I was trying to do the math on could I be justified in buying a dining plan with my you know with having a DVC stay? And the problem is is that but when I did the math, it was technically I could do a dining plan, but It was under the assumption that every single day was going to be... I was going to be... If I was eating way more than I think I would eat on a normal trip is what came down to. And also part of that math too was I was looking at... My son was younger and he was at that age where we would have had... I think it was that 11 to 12 age where it's like they start... I think it's that...
01:01:36
Speaker
can't remember if it's 10 or 12 where they start, um you know, the kids are, are considered adult prices. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, so it was hitting that point. I was like, okay, like my kid is not going to eat,
01:01:48
Speaker
anywhere near enough food to justify this. So it was like's like, it's like, actually sat down and did the math and it was like, it made way more sense to just pay out of pocket versus using the dining plan. But like I said, you know, that was, that was years ago. And the fact that, like you said, this is going back to how it was, um you know, pre COVID.
01:02:09
Speaker
Yeah. um You know, having more options for it. This is something that, know, um Yeah. Like it, I think, you know, for anybody wondering like, well, is, is this worth it? I mean, you really got to do the math and you really got to figure out like, you know, are you, are you actually like spending a bunch of time? um Like, or how many of your days are you actually doing table service versus quick service versus like like those premium options too, right? Like it, I feel like, you know, with, with the, ah like you said, some of the signature restaurants and stuff, I feel like I could make it work, but yeah.
01:02:45
Speaker
Yeah, the the Deluxe still seems insane to me. like Yeah, it's it's a lot. i mean And so it's worth noting that so the Deluxe, first of all, is not coming out until 2027. So it's not available this year, 2027.
01:02:58
Speaker
twenty twenty so ah Maybe that's why the pricing isn't out yet. Well, no, the pricing is out, actually. ah So according to Disney Food Blog, the pricing will be $163 per adult per night ah for for that, and then per child per night for Deluxe.
01:03:16
Speaker
ah currently for the regular Disney dining plan. So the quick service plan is 62 per adult per night and 25 per child per night, which actually 25 per child per night for quick services is That's pretty juicy.
01:03:28
Speaker
and Not bad. Honestly, even even for the adult, like, you know, that's up thinking about quick services, that yeah, that's that's not awful for the quick service. because also Don't forget, too, that the the dining plan, doesn't it's not just the food. You also get a snack every day. I mean, yeah it's not just the meals. You get a snack every day. And then you also get the resort refillable mug, which is worth its weight gold. you know that's I mean, yeah, those are $20 or $30. But yeah, over over the span of a stay, yeah, they are absolutely invaluable. Exactly. But also, too, you know, you get ah when you do quick service, you get ah ah the entree or the the combo meal. So you get and a beverage. So it's the meal and the beverage.
01:04:05
Speaker
And then at like tables for the table service ones, you get entree and dessert. um And that is so the standard one is currently running at ninety nine eighty seven per adult per night and thirty one per thirty one ninety four per child per night. So, I mean, listen, we used to we used to do the dining plan. Right.
01:04:24
Speaker
All the time. And then one year I decided, okay, let's not do the dining plan. And i will add up at the end of this. I will do the work, as you said, Trevor, and I will add up all the money we spent on food while we were there out of pocket instead of doing the dining plan. And it turns out for us, we ended up spending a lot less on food ah than we would have if we had done the din dining plan. So...
01:04:49
Speaker
Right. Yeah. You know, it's, that's the thing. It depends on your situation, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, that's exactly it. Is that like, like said, you know, doing the math on it for, for anyone that's wondering, you know, does the dining plan work for you? It's, you got to look at your own family and how you, you know, I, I'm the, the funny thing is, is like when I'm at home,
01:05:12
Speaker
i'm very like I'm very rigid on my meals. like I make sure like I have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. i like i i'm very consistent. when i'm When I'm traveling, though, that does kind of go out the window. And part of it, too, is the like you know there is a time zone change for us, so it does kind of offset like when I would normally yeah eat. But then also, it's like...
01:05:33
Speaker
like Especially when you get into like the, ah you know, if we have like a table service. So like we made the mistake once of we did a garden grill at Epcot and then we went to Via Napoli in the same day.
01:05:47
Speaker
Bad idea. Yeah. Because because it was it was lunch at Garden Grill, which was like, it it's ah it's a you know family style, all you care to enjoy. So you know we ate probably way more than we should have. But I mean, that's kind of what you do, right? you know If you're going to like a buffet or something, you eat way more than you should.
01:06:05
Speaker
but then we went to Vietnam and we grossly under underestimated how big those pizzas actually are. Yeah, they're good, yeah. Yeah. And so, so we were like, you know, you know, we were done. Like we were like, we cannot eat, eat this. Right. So, um so yeah, like it's, you have to kind of look at um like, i I feel like, you know, the quick service seems like it could work, but i don't know about the table service. and And also the other thing too, is that, you know at the price point for the, for the deluxe one,
01:06:38
Speaker
I feel like if you, like I said, I feel like the deluxe one works into, if you had a plan where it was like, you know, looking at like, you know, going to garden grill and stuff like that's, that's an expensive bill like like you know every time I go out like I I know that it's going to be expensive but then when they hand me the bill and it's like yeah that was like a couple hundred dollars like it's like okay but but again like that's if I was doing that every day I could see justifying it but I'm not doing that every day is the only thing yeah
01:07:11
Speaker
Yeah, i will and to your point, so i the buffets in general, any of like the all-you-care-to-enjoy are usually one dining credit. And that's to me, that's actually where you get a lot of the value. so Because I said before the some of the character ones, really the only character one that is two is... Cinderella's?
01:07:31
Speaker
Acreshoes. And Cinderella's. Acreshoes? Okay, yeah. Yeah, those are really the only two. The rest are just the signature restaurants like, ah you know, ah be Our Guest, Le Cellier, you know, Brown Derby, Tiffin's.
01:07:46
Speaker
Sorry, Be Our Guest is a signature? Yeah, these days, yeah. Really? Yeah. i it's I feel like it was closer to like a quick service. than I mean, it is technically casual. i think it's probably too, just because of how popular it is. Maybe that's yeah, that's fair. Discourage people from going. That's the only thing I can really think of because your point, it's not technically a signature restaurant, right? It doesn't fall under the signature banner. I mean, but the prices are signature level. I mean, if you just pay for it, it's pricey. I mean, it's not cheap.
01:08:18
Speaker
Yeah. i've I've never, I've never actually gone there. I have no desire to go to beer. It's probably just more based on price, right? So it's because it's 72 per adult for BR guests these days. So, yeah, that's rough, man. I'm good at Garden Grill. Thank you. Yeah, yeah exactly. right Sorry, Garden Grill is my favorite. it's like i know i know it's like in line with a lot of the other places, but it's ah or it's it's my family's favorite because we have lots of great memories at it. Yeah.
01:08:47
Speaker
And that I'm not, it doesn't diminish from anybody else, you know, you know, any other place that you go, that's your favorite. That's fine. We just, I just always go to garden and grill. Yeah. yeah By the way the other one, too, is Storybook Dining at Artist Point is is awesome, too.
01:09:01
Speaker
But again, that's a signature restaurant, right? so Right. And i that one, actually, that one we did, that that was really good. And I can see, like, that is justified as a signature. so Yeah, absolutely. Like, listen, we did, ah interesting it's it's interesting what this, the because I feel like they've changed these, ah you know,
01:09:18
Speaker
a little bit. But i you know I remember when we went to Narcooses when we were on our honeymoon and I think we had the meal plan and my wife got surf and turf, which was on the menu at the time. I think it was like $105. And I was like, I'm glad we have the meal plan. and I mean, it was two entitlements, right? But it was like, I think that the signature, where them I'm sorry, the deluxe one is good for like either if you want to go to all those nice restaurants, at you know every night you want to go to a signature restaurant, great. Or if you want to do just a regular restaurant at night, and but do also do sit down for breakfast or lunch every day.
01:09:52
Speaker
That's what I would think is the is your is your market for that. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, listen, yeah, I think the dining plans are great. Honestly, I know the math doesn't work out for everybody and you know, if, but you know, they're doing free dining for kids this, this summer, you know, for, for certain dates. I mean, that's, that's a good, that could be a good savings for a lot of people, you know? Yeah. We, um, like I said, you know, we we're still very much in planning phases for a, uh, our, um, we, we have our, um, 25th anniversary coming up next year. And so we're,
01:10:25
Speaker
We have been like this is actually something that would weirdly be on the yeah on a table for discussion because I don't think I would do the dining plan like every other trip. But that feels like a trip, like you said, to that point of, you know, hey, if there's a bunch of signature dying that we want to do.
01:10:45
Speaker
The deluxe one might actually make sense, which is kind of weird for me to say. Yeah, I get it. I get it. I think if we were going to do it again, we'd probably do the table service one because our typical is we'll do a quick service during the day and we try to do a table service most of the night. that really fits into most of our...
01:11:05
Speaker
I mean, like, listen, you can use one table service in entitlement at Ohana or, you know, any of the buffets like really good. It's a pretty good value. You know, when you look at the prices of those things. So, you know, yeah, I don't know. Challenges is, yeah. Like you said, if you're, I guess I find it hard.
01:11:22
Speaker
Like I, I book maybe two to three table service throughout it, like throughout a full week trip. Yeah. But if If I was having to book them every day, the the only... or I guess...
01:11:38
Speaker
I shouldn't say it's a downside, but it's something to be factored in is like, you also got to think about where you're, where you are. Like, like, you know, you know if if I'm spending a day at Epcot, it's like, you know, what table of services am I doing there? What am I doing at?
01:11:52
Speaker
yeah yeah Like, cause the, the only problem with table services is that kind of like fast passes, like, like, you know how we, we've talked about how the old fast passes were, you'd love where you would book like a bunch of them 60 days out as it's like, you're kind of committing to, you but Or like you have to do table service reservations ahead of time. yeah So you're committing to being in certain places at certain times. So you don't mind that. We can we we we really – to us, the table service is part of it.
01:12:22
Speaker
we we want it like it's It's part of the vacation. i like Yeah. Absolutely. But like, but that's where I like, I try and I like to try and limit myself to like, you know, I don't do like a table service every day so that we have some flexibility that like we can, you know, change parks or change what we're doing. So it's not like, well, yeah, I know we're going to Magic Kingdom, but we got to get over to Epcot because, you know, we have a reservation at four o'clock or something. Right. Yeah. like yeah Yeah. so since the end yeah So, yeah, it's in like it's it's a lot to think about, but you know, like I said, you know, more options is not bad. And, uh, and these, these don't seem, i know there's been a lot of things that, um, have been,
01:13:05
Speaker
commented on that, you know, you know, Disney is nickel and diming. This actually does feel like they're, they're trying to undo some of that a little bit that because it is going back to, you know, how they had it pre pandemic. And like I said, it's honestly not,
01:13:22
Speaker
I still don't think it's like an, an, an easy win for like, yeah, i would do this again, just because of DVC. Um, if that is part of a bigger package, yeah, maybe, but it's, it's not bad that, that this, that, you know, they're expanding the different, uh, the different plans you can do. Right. So more options, more better. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I don't have to use all the options, but I'm not mad that, the that they're there.
01:13:47
Speaker
Yeah. Agreed.
Galaxy's Edge Character Additions
01:13:49
Speaker
right. So last but not least, Trevor, Star Wars stuff. There's some Star Wars stuff. So the much ah talked about ah changes to Galaxy's Edge's timeline is are coming up here.
01:14:01
Speaker
And we're getting some more details here. So ah beginning on April 29th, you're going to start seeing some ah some different things going on over at Disneyland. Not Disney World yet. It's so weird that they're only doing it at Disneyland. I don't know. I don't get it.
01:14:17
Speaker
i i honestly don't get it I mean, it's got a habit at Disney World. it' just i've For some reason, they are doing this first at Disneyland. I don't know why. i don't know Yeah. Okay. let Let me ask this because I'll be honest. I haven't like you you know me. I've not been paying a ton of attention to Star Wars stuff. Yeah. I've seen a lot of stuff happening at Disneyland that like, you know, they they've done like these special events and stuff.
01:14:43
Speaker
Have any of them really come over to Disney World or is Disney World's Galaxy's Edge been just kind of. I think they're just doing different stuff, you know? Okay. Yeah. But they showed us here, though, we've we've got, ah you know, so Darth Vader, of course, you're going to have Darth Vader walking around, which, you know, I think everybody kind of wants. Mm-hmm.
01:15:04
Speaker
yeah we talk It's the the original trilogy characters are all going to be out. Yeah. yeah we we talked it We talked about this at length, so I don't want to get too into it, but yeah. So, you know, of like why it makes sense and everything, but then, you know, and how it really, I understand why they did what they did in the first place, but listen, people want to meet ah Darth Vader. They want to, they want him walking around. They, they want, you know, Luke Skywalker floating around. They want, you know, Leia and Han Solo. Yeah. Yeah.
01:15:32
Speaker
even though these two don't really look anything like them, but that's okay. They're going young. They're going real young. Yeah. I mean, that's honestly the smart way to do it. They can say, well, this is pre-trilogy Leia and Han Solo. And then the same way that they did the movies like Solo and stuff like that, right? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. And then Luke's going to be roaming around to roam the outpost seeking knowledge of the force and artifacts related to lightsaber building. Okay, so he's just gonna be wandering around.
01:16:05
Speaker
ah And then Leia also, might it seems like they're going to be in kind of different places, like, you know, randomly around the, well, not randomly, but she's, it says Leia is going to be spotted near the Millennium Falcon, which we recruit travelers. Then Han's also going to be there. And of course, Chewie's going to be there. ah And then they're going to continue to have ah the Mandalorian and Grogu walking around and Ahsoka and also R2-G2 wandering around, but also still Rey. Yeah. the race still sure i mean why not why not like yeah yeah like no it's fine this this is exactly what needed to happen like it like limiting themselves to the later trilogy it like it was honestly the worst move they could have done yeah like it's yeah yeah no i would agree with you i think it's i think it's smart because like we talked to we talked about this do people really care about the timeline of the land i don't think they do
01:17:01
Speaker
like I think they want to see Darth Vader. They want to see Han Solo. They don't really care. It's honestly no different than seeing characters wandering around Fantasyland in Disneyland because like you, you, you will see like the Mad Hatter and Peter Pan and you're not going like, but that's not canon to, you know, one. Yeah. Yeah.
01:17:20
Speaker
Yeah. yeah like Like, come on, you're in a theme park. Just like people just want to have a fun interaction with yeah their favorite character. Yeah. Yeah. You're okay with it. It's not that deep, but it's not, it's not, but yeah, I listen i understand why is there's probably some people out there that would get mad about it, but I think the majority of people don't care that, like I said, they do when they want to see Luke Skywalker, they want to see Darth Vader, they, you know, all that. Yes, yeah exactly.
01:17:45
Speaker
Yeah, I think these are good changes, but these are all you know starting to happen in the next few weeks here. and then just I hope that they do mirror this stuff more in Disney World. because i get like yeah like Sorry, I see all the stuff about Disneyland. and you know i like I love both parks and everything, but it feels weird when you have the same...
01:18:06
Speaker
Like they have the same area in galaxy's edge. And it just feels weird that they're like picking one over the other. Like they're they're, they're, they're playing favorites. It is a little weird. I'll give you that. It's a little weird.
Star Wars Merchandise and Nostalgia
01:18:20
Speaker
Yeah. Well, last but not least, Trevor, we do have, ah we talked about this, the Star Wars Day merch, because it's counting we're counting down to then. And we we missed we missed ah one of the announcements while we were you know well i was gone. ah So actually, did we miss two? Wait, did we miss two? We might have missed so so yeah. So what we got. There is a bunch of merch on here. There's bunch. yeah Yeah. So first thing, though, is they have Rebel Alliance and Imperial ah jerseys. they're like They look like baseball jerseys.
01:18:50
Speaker
Not a fan of this one. Just not really my thing. They're fine. They're all right. I mean, yeah, if if you want a baseball jersey, they're they're fine. yeah Sure. yeah The thing I think is way cooler, Trevor, is this mystery box. These spirit jerseys. And we all know how you feel about spirit jerseys. However, these are pretty cool because they are retro, like, ah poster concept art.
01:19:14
Speaker
like And they it's a mystery box, so you don't know what you're going to get. Yeah. I think it's kind of awesome. I mean, and no. Like, okay.
01:19:26
Speaker
I would be mad if I got um but Revenge of if i got If I got episode three and I actually... and So, okay. looking Looking at these, they are cool, but I have my favorites. And actually, my favorite is the Return of the Jedi one. The Return of the Jedi one is sweet. And yeah and like i love that.
01:19:49
Speaker
I would be very sad if I bought a mystery box and I got like episode two or episode three. be great if few That'd be great if you bought like three of them to try to get a three different ones and you just got all episode three. Yeah. yeah that That's a weird thing. Like I get that there, you know, mystery boxes are, you know it scratches an itch for people because it's, you know, it has that air of mystery and, you know, excitement behind it And you never, really you know, um it takes out the, the, you know, the choice of having to decide on which one you want, but
01:20:21
Speaker
Like I said, the problem is is that not all of these shirts are created equal. And there are some that are better than others. And I mean... thing about mystery boxes is when they're small figurines, it's like, yeah, I can get a bad figurine and I'm like, whatever. When it's a shirt or something... What are you going to do with a shirt that you're not going to wear? Yeah, exactly. If I get the one that I'm not going wear, it's like, am I just handing it to the first kid I see and walking away? Yeah.
01:20:48
Speaker
So I'm going to make a bet right now, Trevor, that once like the whole like event is done, like a month later, they will sell these individually. Right. Like probably. Yeah. They're going to sell these individually. Like, please, they're not going to they're going to sell. the they're They're very cool. I love the retroness of them.
01:21:03
Speaker
I like the the actual retro kind of poster look and the way they they kind of put it together is really, really neat. i and They remind me of like the old, uh, the VHS tapes of the, like yeah when you would buy the VHS is of the original shows and stuff. So well even the box is very, like very retro. The, the box that comes in is yeah. It's got that look. This is, this is cool. I like this stuff.
01:21:32
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. i will say, though, that's not that's not my favorite thing on this list. Oh, OK. is um So further down or actually, you know, first of all, I should do a shout out to I do actually like this ah ah Commander Pyre figurine they have, which is like the the gold stormtrooper. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. because I think that's Star Wars Resistance. Right. So yes. And you like that show.
01:21:59
Speaker
Yeah, i I do like that. But the Endor collection is is hitting a certain way for me. Let me get to the Endor collection. Ooh, okay. The Endor collection is a vibe, I will say. it's not It's not overstated. It's not like... like it's It's nice. And and it fits, like obviously, like you know you know that... like woodsy theme of Endor, you know, like Redwoods.
01:22:25
Speaker
um I like the mug actually, or not the mug, the tumbler with the Ewoks on it is that's kind of so cool. Yeah, I love that. yeah yeah Yeah. The Endor stuff is ah i I mean, i think it's a matter of just when I grew up, like, like you know, Return of the Jedi was um you know, Ewoks were in there and There was also those other... um there was those Ewok movies that came out. Yeah. Yeah. So, so like for me, like, like I think I was in that sweet spot of growing up where like Endor and there was also the animated show too. There's the Ewoks animated show. So it was like Ewoks were very much a thing for me growing up. So seeing the Endor stuff, I'm like of all the Star Wars stuff, like I'm not, it's kind of a weird thing. I think it's just that it's hitting a nostalgia point for me that,
01:23:21
Speaker
It's like, yeah, I like that stuff. I liked the Ewoks. I liked the whole idea of, you know you know, the third moon of Endor and yeah you know this whole civilization living on there and everything.
01:23:32
Speaker
These little furry things. yeah yeah which Which apparently were based on George Lucas's dog. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, um he had ah or I think he said he had Shih Tzu, which if you if you bring up a picture of a Shih Tzu, you can see where the inspiration for Ewoks would have come from. By the way, I want to throw out, ah well, first of all, the I know you wouldn't buy this because it's not really you know something that's our style, but the little mini backpack is pretty cool too. with the Yeah.
01:24:04
Speaker
Yeah. yeah it's the same It's the same design as the tumbler. So it's got it has the Ewoks walking across the the bridge on it, which, yeah, again, very very cool. um And actually, I think it's even in the, ah looking at the ah the baseball jersey, it's that it's that same picture, but it's like, it's done into the lettering of Endor.
01:24:24
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. What I was going to say, Trevor, i don't know if I recommended this to you or to the show before, but there on Disney plus there is a, uh, there is a, a, um, uh, industrial light magic docuseries that is really,
Film and Animation Innovations
01:24:40
Speaker
really good. And just really, really cool. Like if you're really into like star Wars,
01:24:45
Speaker
Like they really show you how they do so many of the effects and how they like figured out how to do all the modeling and, and all the, it's really a really, really neat docu-series. I think you'd really like it. Cause it's like a behind the scenes kind of thing of, of ILM and, and, and, Also, just you realize that like George Lucas, like basically invented so much technology that is used in the in movie making, ah not invented, but like pushed along, you know, that yeah get that stuff done and, you know, made theaters upgrade equipment and stuff like that. There's so many interesting things that he was just like.
01:25:18
Speaker
I want to, you know, want to edit video. I want to edit movies digitally. Let's just invent the technology to do that. Like, you know what I mean? Like, let's just do that, you know, but it's really, really good. And I think it's really, you, you learn a lot of interesting things about how they made star Wars and, and I feel like that kind of stuff. Yeah.
01:25:34
Speaker
Yeah, I haven't. I know the docuseries you're talking about. I haven't watched it, but I i the weird thing is I've seen a lot of like over time there have been like little things on TV and, you know, like behind the scenes stuff. So I feel like I I know some of it. But yeah, you're right. There's probably a lot more to it that I'm I'm realizing. I know even like because even like THX was. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It was like his brainchild as well. Like you said, to the point of like the, you know, you know how the how he was pushing like the theaters to upgrade and stuff was so that he could.
01:26:07
Speaker
yeah He could, you know you know, build out these movies and stuff and really like have it hit the way he wants in the theater. Well, yeah, there's there was a part of it where he was like, and I forget the exact thing, but he wanted to use, he wanted to use digital. And at the time they were only really using digital, like a movie type cameras for like television, but they record at a different frame rate ah than, than movies. And so he just like called up whoever the manufacturer was and was like, I want to use these cameras, but I want you to, to, to make them so that they can work for movies. And they were like, okay, like you know And that's basically like how it happened. it like He just kind of forced the company to... Not forced, but you know used his... Forced. His power. See? There's punch. pushed them into you know doing it. it's That kind of stuff is really cool to me. I... you know
01:26:56
Speaker
I'm imagining him doing the Jedi hand wave. You will build your cameras for this. Yeah, exactly. okay okay Okay, yeah, sure. It was like, it was like ah you know... like You didn't even have to do the hand wave. I would have done it anyway. Yeah. there was an article about this recently where Christopher Nolan, who I love Christopher Nolan's movies, uh, wanted to do his next movie all in IMAX.
01:27:17
Speaker
And, but he said the IMAX cameras are cumbersome and heavy and loud. And so he called up IMAX he's like, Hey, make better cameras. And they were like, okay. Just like, you imagine that just like calling him be like, I have so much clout that I could just like call them up and be like, your cameras stink, make better ones. Honestly, I don't think we really appreciate the fact that that,
01:27:40
Speaker
you know, a lot of the the reason that we have the things we do is because somebody, you know, comes from a place of this sucks. I wish that this was better. And somebody else goes, all right, I have an idea, right? Like, that better yeah like like it's, but, but it, you know, it kind of goes back to, you know, you know, we're talking earlier about imagineering and all that is like, that's,
01:28:00
Speaker
That's really how that all works is that, you know, it's not, it's not that somebody like, you know, suddenly gets like divine knowledge blessed upon them and they're like, I'm going to make this thing. It's more so like, Hey, I don't like this or this. I wish this happened this way. And then somebody goes,
01:28:16
Speaker
I think I can make that work. And then, you know, that's why you have all the stuff you have around like movies. And yeah, like I said, I get, you know, appreciating the the behind the scenes of like. I love that stuff. Like George Lucas. Yeah, he he definitely ah he definitely paved a lot of stuff that that we take for granted nowadays because you know we're just we're so used to it. But yeah.
01:28:41
Speaker
just um Just the way they did so much though. And like, like, you know, like the whole ah scene where they're, they're flying through the trench in the, ah you know, in the death star, right? Like they did that in the parking lot, like, but and they show them doing it in the parking lot. And I mean, or they, there's one scene that was in the, you know, in the original version of stars where they digital up all the, you know, effects and everything that was literally a Polaroid that they took, that they took a Polaroid of the model and,
01:29:08
Speaker
And then did some stuff to the Polaroid. And I'm just like, that's nuts that they did. Or like one of the asteroids is a potato that they painted. yeah I mean, you know... one that So so not or not Star Wars specific, but I saw this actually i saw a clip of this and I didn't even think about this. It's like, you know, in shows like Ghostbusters and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, you know, when they have like when the clouds like like start expanding out. like so So like in Ghostbusters, when like when you know the portal opens up and you see like the clouds expanding over New York.
01:29:41
Speaker
The way that they did that was they put, I believe it was a mixture of water and vinegar and I think soap ah to ah into a fish tank. And then they take a syringe and they they shoot milk into it.
01:29:56
Speaker
and and the milk And the milk clouds out that way. and so they And then they just, they film that and then they overlay it into whatever they want. Which again, is it like it's stupid when you when you hear it described as like, oh, this like big looming cloud. Yeah, that's just milk. like but that one guy at im was Like, he was like, you know, I was looking at the I was looking at the ah the the asteroids and he's like, you know, I bet I could put a potato in there and you wouldn't even know. And then he was like, all right, let's do it. it's Potato. get a potato and they paint it just see if anyone would notice that it's a potato. like you know But I mean, yeah like i love sure, it looks like a rock. like it it's Exactly. Well, of course. Yeah, it works. Listen, as long as it works, that's all that really matters. But that's what's fascinating to me about this stuff is just you know how they kind of... It was like, how are we going to do this? And they just figure it out. It's that it's that lateral thinking of like looking at looking at things in a different angle
01:30:52
Speaker
is how you get a lot of this stuff happening. Yeah. It's, it's, it's a really, really, really neat, uh, neat, neat, uh, just look into, into that. So I also don't forget, you know, Pixar started as a, as in industrial light magic, the entire Pixar would not exist if it wasn't for, uh, for ILM, right. That was a, Pixar was a division of, of ILM and, uh, that's where they started with computer animation and stuff. And so, you know, like it's, so make sure you thank your local Ewok. There you go. Exactly. All right. On that note, Trevor, why don't we wrap up and finish this together. On that note, thank you, local Ewoks.
01:31:31
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. We we don't thank the Phoenicians. We thank the Ewoks. Ewoks, yes. Anyway. um Yeah. So, um yeah, that that was a weird...
Listener Engagement and Podcast Support
01:31:41
Speaker
That was a weird random thing. But um if you have weird random things that you want to share with us, you can always ah email them to us. So you can find us at welcomehomepodcast.gmail.com. You can also find us through our website, which is welcomehomepodcast.co. You can just go to the to the contact us part and send us an email. Like I said, we love hearing from you guys, hearing your own, um you know, adventures, things that you're doing at Disney. um You know, if you've got questions, all that kind of stuff, you know, you can always send them to us that way. You can also find us on social media. So you can find us on Facebook as Welcome Home Podcast. You can find us on YouTube as Welcome Home Podcast. You can find us on Instagram as Welcome Home Picks.
01:32:22
Speaker
And if you want to help support the show, you can go to store.welcomehomepodcast.co. You can can check check out our different merch there. if there's If there's something that you would like to see in our store, you can, again, send us an email and let us know. We can add more stuff to the store. um But we think we got a good selection of stuff out there. And also, you know, hey, if you guys are wearing merch in the park, we love seeing pics of that. I know, you know, we've seen...
01:32:46
Speaker
people share stuff on discord and in Facebook and stuff. Um, yeah you know, you know, love, love seeing you guys, uh, enjoying the merch and, you know, you know, wearing it in the parks and stuff like that. So, you know, if, if you do pick something up, you know, send us a pic of it.
01:33:00
Speaker
Um, Also, if you want to help support us through Patreon, you can find us on patreon.com slash welcome on pod. Patreon supporters get yeah all the merch on there is exclusive to Patreon. So depending on your level of Patreon support, you get different merch and it has an exclusive logo that you don't get anywhere else.
01:33:20
Speaker
And all of our patron supporters get access to the discord server, which like I said, is another place that we talk about um things from the show. You get a little bit more behind the scenes. Sometimes when we're, when we're planning stuff, um you know, the discord listeners will, they'll get previews and, um and just, you know, that, that, you know, next level of interaction. So if you're interested in that, please check out our Patreon. And last but not least, like like my feelings about the music on board of the Disney fantasy, don't,
01:33:47
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. to Tom realized that um the the song selections on the fantasy were interesting, um which yeah I did see that. And yeah, you you make a good point that that they missed the point of the song. Yeah. I'm just like, i mean, I'll tell everyone as you know, but I, it was bothering me because i the song, the Phil Collins song, another day in paradise. It's great song, right? I really love it Fantastic song.
01:34:15
Speaker
But we were at, we were at one of the islands and they were playing like an island version of it. It wasn't like Phil, you know, it was like a cover of it. And I'm like, guys, this song is not about being on ah an island. Like this is not about being in paradise. Yeah. Yeah. it It was meant to be sarcastic and yes, it's, Just because paradise is in the name doesn't mean it's about paradise. Yeah. Like somebody should realize what the song's about and maybe not play it, but it was like an a new version. So like, it was like, ah okay, well maybe this song isn't as depressing as it actually is. But anyway, it just bothered me. Every time I heard it, was like, this is not what the song is about.
01:34:51
Speaker
So, so yeah, like I said, you know, if you're on discord, you, you, you catch, uh, you catch little, uh, rants like that. Exactly. 11 o'clock at night. Exactly. um So yeah, you know, check us out there.
01:35:05
Speaker
um And then last but not least, if you're listening on iTunes or Spotify or anywhere, you can leave us a five star review. Please do so. It just helps more people find the show. And on iTunes, you can write through review and you and let us know what you think about the show. We love reading that as well. You know, just hearing what you guys think about what we're doing.
01:35:22
Speaker
Yeah, please do that. Also, don't forget to subscribe to Welcome Home Podcast so you can be reminded every time we release a new episode. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Spotify, YouTube, YouTube Music, any podcast app that's out there. I can't list them all because there's like hundreds of them. It's crazy.
01:35:39
Speaker
There'd be a whole other podcast episode just listing podcast episodes. Yeah, we could do that. I could do it like those commercials where they do the really fast talking for the terms. It would just speed it up so fast. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, there's podcast apps anywhere. We're on all of them. If we're not, email us and be like, hey, where are you guys? And we will be on there. Okay. So huge thank you to our sponsor, DVC Resale Market and Keyholder Vacations for being our sponsor and being our friends and being with us for a long time now. They are very cool to us. So please check them out for any your DVC needs. Join us next time for more Disney Parks discussion. Of course, more DVC talk. We hope to see you all real soon.
01:36:24
Speaker
This is Skipper Albert A. Wall, the voice of the jungle, signing off from Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.
01:36:40
Speaker
run for all the home ma