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Episode 352: Bluey’s Wild World, Muppet Animatronics & Soarin' Across America
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On This Episode
Tom shares the details of his newly booked Walt Disney World vacation. Bluey’s Wild World at Disney's Animal Kingdom will use a virtual queue when it opens. Disney provided a first look at the pre-show animatronics and merchandise lines coming to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets. The Swedish Chef’s new food kiosk menu is revealed. Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu is debuting in theaters soon and Disney Parks are offering specialized Magic Shots, exclusive merchandise like the Jetpack Sipper, and new themed food. Disney announced the full location lineup for the upcoming Soarin' Across America attraction at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Disney Cruise Line is launching new onboard summer programming for certain itineraries featuring a "Frozen" deck sing-along and an updated Mickey and Minnie pirate stage show. Disneyland debuted more exclusive merchandise for Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary.
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Episode Links
- Bluey's Wild World
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets
- Mandalorian and Grogu
- Soarin’ Across America
- Summer on Disney Cruise Line
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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
Welcome & Introductions
00:00:07
Speaker
This is Skipper Albert A. Wall, the voice of the jungle, broadcasting on the DVC to all points unknown. If you're within the sound of my voice, you're listening to Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC.
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello and welcome home. This episode of Welcome Home is brought to you by DVC Resale Market.
Casual Banter & Lego Talks
00:00:34
Speaker
Thank you for joining us on episode 352 of Welcome Home, a Disney Parks and Vacation Club podcast. I'm Tom, here with Trevor. How's it going, Trevor?
00:00:41
Speaker
Hey, pretty good. Have, uh... Having some warm tea and some Timbits and ready to talk about stuff this morning. That was a really Canadian phrase that just heard. It was. I need to throw that out there because they're doing some 50th anniversary Timbits and they're really good.
00:00:57
Speaker
And so i've been I've been enjoying those. Excellent. It was like a cinnamon one and lemon and yeah, a bunch of flavors that they didn't have before. Yeah. It's always funny when we start the show, but then we've ah we've already talked for like 20 minutes before started the show. It is. Yeah. yeah we we We had a very serious business meeting before the show. were talking about Batman. Yeah.
00:01:19
Speaker
I mean, I was trying sound like we had like something. We did have a business part of it. did, yes. And then we started talking about Batman. Yeah, that's usually how our meetings go is that we started off with serious business and then it devolved into, comic books and... movies and stuff. I don't know how. Yeah, it was whole thing because I just built I think we got on it because I was saying that I just built the Batmobile from Batman Forever in Legos and my daughter had bought that for me as a birthday gift because she knows how much I like Legos and you know, so she got that for me and then we just got talk about Batmans and even though that Batman Forever wasn't very good, the Batmobile was pretty awesome in it. But
00:02:03
Speaker
I actually want leave it there. Yeah, we'll leave it there. It's funny the Legos a because I didn't put this on the rundown because there's actually a lot of stuff to talk about. But yeah, um there's there's a rumor out there that the Lego is about to come up with ah come out with an official um Main Street USA set.
00:02:19
Speaker
ah which will include minifigs of the Dapper Dans ah and include the Emporium ah as well. I forget it it it listed what they are are you know going to have. But as soon as I saw that, I was like, I'm out of room for Legos, like for real, out of room for Legos. So I don't know i if that comes out, I need to buy it. Like it's going to it's I have to buy it. There's no no argument about that. I just don't know where i'm going to put it. like You need to invest in a shed.
00:02:46
Speaker
Or you need a shed filled with Legos. You guys don't do basements there, do you? Oh, God, I
Disney Trip Planning
00:02:52
Speaker
wish we did, man. Yeah. i yeah i would be like i That would be a basement project for sure. like i would like I would have the basement that was in the Lego movie if I could, you know? Like, just Legos everywhere. the Lego city and yeah. Yeah, that would be me. That would be me. But ah just to bring it back, get it back focused again.
00:03:15
Speaker
So after last week's show, you know, you and i we were talking about, ah you know, the the the member, the welcome home weeks, right? Yeah. Which I wish, you know, was something that, you know, we we were affiliated with somehow, but obviously we're not. But we were talking to all these discounts and stuff, right? Yeah.
00:03:33
Speaker
i So we i was driving to we were driving ah to soccer to my daughter's soccer game, and i you know my my wife was asking me, she's like, well, what did you guys talk about on the last episode? And I you know just started talking about all the stuff we had talked about.
00:03:45
Speaker
And when I mentioned the 40% off thing, she was like, oh, that's cool. and great And there was just like kind of this moment, and it wasn't the 40% thing, but it was just like all the stuff that that was happening and all the stuff that that was being announced and all that. And there was just a moment where we kind of just like had like a shared moment of like,
00:04:03
Speaker
we should take a trip this year. There was just like a thing that happened, right? And so I just said to her, I looked at each other, you were like, we should do this, yes, yes. Yeah, let's do this. I was like, because, you know, I just, I kind of just looked at her and was like, let's do trip. Let's do it. Let's make it happen, right? Like, we weren't going to And I've talked to this before. My wife has limited time off. Right. So she you know is very limited, you know fairly new at her company. So, you know, you know she didn't get a lot up front. So and we already obviously were gone for a week with the cruise.
00:04:34
Speaker
So, you know, we ah so she's like, well, OK, well, let's just you know, can you just like look and see what's what's available? And I was like, OK, you know, um and I was like, we're not doing July because that's just no.
00:04:46
Speaker
Like we've done July before. it's I mean, listen, any time between now and and, you know, basically October, it's going to be hot. Right. Like there's no there's no difference to me, I guess, between like all of those different months within the summer.
00:05:01
Speaker
But we decided we're going to we were going to look in early August, you know, just the first couple weeks of August. She goes back to school to at the end of August. And so we thought it would be like a nice little way to kind of get back into school. And there was actually actually like a ton of availability the first week of August.
00:05:15
Speaker
And so we were like, all right, let's let's do it. So now we're going to we're we're going to be at Disney from August 5th to the 10th. Nice. Staying at Bay Lake in a one-bedroom.
00:05:27
Speaker
So that looking forward to that. we i Interestingly enough, I mean, this last time that we stayed at Bay Lake, I really wanted to stay where we are. rica Because, you know, we have we kind of have like a... um I don't know. ah we We have a list of all the ones we've stayed at. Right. And we're only there's only like three that we haven't stayed at.
00:05:46
Speaker
Right. That are the at at Disney World. Right. And that's ah Beach Club Riviera. And what was the other one? Oh, my gosh. It's not old. Key West. No. No, we stayed at Ol' Kiba. We stayed at Pali, but we haven't stayed at the Tower. So we'll kind count that, right?
00:06:04
Speaker
um so But we stayed at all the other resorts at least you know one or not one night or so. And so you know were trying to go through that list. And Riviera had availability. But I asked my daughter. I said, you know i you know, I left up to her. I said, would you rather stay closer to Magic Kingdom or would you rather be close or would you rather be at a hotel that has a Skyliner station, right? Yeah.
00:06:23
Speaker
She said Skyliner at first because she loves the Skyliner, right? And then she was like, well, wait, is it the one that we got to stay at for the for the party, you know, for the party last year? And I was like, yeah, but we're not going to have a grand villa again. Like, that's not going to happen. And she's like, oh.
00:06:37
Speaker
She's like, okay, well let's stay there. So now we're staying at Bay Lake. and i I wanted to stay at Riviera. Yeah, no, it's still great. I wanted to stay Riviera just to check another one off the box. And i also, also the Skyliner station, of course. But Anyway, so that's happening now. Now we have to figure our lives out um of of what that's going to look like.
00:06:58
Speaker
um And we we are definitely going to utilize the 40% off. I'm telling you that right now. You got more warning this time, at least. So there's that. yeah You know, yeah you got more time to to plan it out. And also, I think it'll be easier this time because your daughter will be out of school and everything. So you won't have to be like...
00:07:15
Speaker
planning around that right yeah that was really the big hang up you know but like i i my daughter really wants to do this bluey stuff right and so which i understand like i want to check out the blue stuff too so you know and we were just looking at it and it's like we we got to do that there's too much cool stuff going on right now and you know there's availability we got lots of points just sitting you know that we can use so let's let's use them right now let's let's do it so I'm going to ask this question. i already know the answer, but I'm going to push you on it anyway. oh no um You know, are you going to attempt to ride rock and roller coaster? No, no, not rock and roller coaster. Maybe Guardians, but not rock and roller coaster. No, it's not happening. I mean...
00:07:56
Speaker
you might well My wife will definitely do it. Yeah, fair. I assume she would. Yeah, of course. She rides in. I guess, yeah I mean, you could also take the same path my wife does, which is she will get in queue with us and like go through and do the- do the bailout. Yeah, yeah. Do the right exit. so Yeah, yeah, yeah. i I could do that. Yeah, I could do that. i So we are i think we are going to do something this trip that we have never done before. which is Which is, I think we're going to go to one of the water parks. Oh, nice. Yeah, you're going to take advantage of the first day I think so. Yeah, think so, because couple weeks ago, my daughter, one of her best friends, had invited us to go to Great Wolf Lodge. I don't know if you're familiar with Great Wolf Lodge. Oh, yes, I know. Great Wolf Lodge. Yeah, we have one up here. Yeah. Yeah. So, and, you know, she had never been before. And so she, and I unfortunately could not go. but, you know, we, only one of us could go with, you know, whatever was set up. And, and so my wife decided to go and my daughter basically spent the whole time in the wave pool and was like obsessed with the wave pool. And I'm like, well, like kid, we can do a wave pool, man, like at Disney, like, like that's, we can do that. So, So yeah, I think that's what we're going to do. I think we're going to go down that morning and spend the day at the water park and then maybe just do like four park days, you know, one at each park, which is less than we usually do. But as I said, it's only the 5th to the 10th, right? So we're fairly limited on time.
00:09:25
Speaker
um But I think, you know, park day you know a water park day and then a bunch of park days, i think I think that would be good. I think it'd be fun. Okay. Let me ask you this question then. Okay. ah Are you thinking more Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon? Because there is there is things to consider in both parks.
00:09:44
Speaker
Yeah, and that that is ah to be determined, I think. yeah So I guess some you you know if if your your daughter's um take is that she wants to spend lots of time in the wave pool, the the interesting thing is, I guess, depending on her appetite for large waves, um so the Typhoon Lagoon's wave pool is intense.
00:10:09
Speaker
Like, yeah, my my son enjoyed it, but he was not prepared for how hard those waves hit because they are they are big waves. And even when you're standing in the shallow water, people still get knocked over.
00:10:21
Speaker
So they used to they used to do surfing lessons there. I don't know. They do them before. No, they do them before the park opens. I are actually sorry. You're right. Maybe maybe it did end. I thought it was a COVID casualty, but it looks like it's still they are still doing it. So. Yeah, I was going to say, I'm pretty sure I've, I know as of like, I mean, years ago, yeah, you know, they have the surfing lessons before the park opens. So it's like you go there in the morning and you do surf lessons. Yeah, they do still have it. I did just check that. Okay. So, so yeah, the thing is, is that that like, that is a much more intense wave pool, but it's still very fun.
00:10:57
Speaker
um The Blizzard Beach wave pool is more like a standard wave pool. It's like when you would find it any other water park that does wave pools. So something to consider is, you know, if this is good advice though, because I'm, this is a blind spot for me, right? Yeah, exactly. That's why I figured I would ask you because I know that you haven't been to either the parks and they both have their merits and, you know, both of them have lazy rivers and I know I'm, yes, I'm obsessed with lazy rivers because we don't get them up here. It's stupid. I love lazy rivers. and like yeah we don't I wish we had them up here. I wish they would do them like, ah we have an indoor water park in Edmonton and they, i don't, or they used to have a, like a,
00:11:34
Speaker
a tube slide, but it was like a lazy river. it was like, yeah it was this whole thing, but, um but yeah, we don't get stuff like that, but so both parks have those, but then also like, i guess depending how much you and your family want to do slides, like both, both parks have their own,
00:11:52
Speaker
amounts of slides. Blizzard Beach actually has more slides and more unique slides. So, um, Typhoon Lagoons are a little more basic in in the sense that like they're, they're not anything you wouldn't find in another water park. Whereas Blizzard Beach is like, like they have like the toboggan racers and stuff like that, which are,
00:12:12
Speaker
pretty interesting. Or I guess I haven't seen those at other water parks as much. um And then ah the big family too, Bratz, which again, I know like you're not like, I have to assume you're going to do it. it's It's not me. I like water parks. My wife does not.
00:12:27
Speaker
Oh, OK. I mean, that's I figured you would be the one not wanting to get on a ah big. you ever it's not It's not like I'm not going to go out of my way to do it, but I don't I i do like water stuff. My it's my wife will jump out of an airplane with a parachute, but she a water slide is like literally like she won't do it. She just literally won't do it.
00:12:51
Speaker
Yeah, which it doesn't make any sense to me logically, but that's that's how it how she works. so Yeah, everyone's got their things, and that's fair. um Yeah, yeah i i listen, I'm open to suggestions on this because the I think we were leaning towards Blizzard Beach only because, like you said, it has the gentler wave pool, but also it has like that whole frozen play area, and I think my daughter would be really into that.
00:13:18
Speaker
um But, you know, I would love to hear what people have to think about it. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. You know, you know, everyone has their own takes on the water parks too. Like I said, mine my personal take between the two is I very much love the vibes of Typhoon Lagoon. I, ah yeah I'm i'm of somebody who like, you know, I will go hit up all the water slides and me and my son both. Right. like So like we, you know, you know, for us, it's like, you know, there's a good selections of water slides at both. But then, yeah, when you get down to it, it's like the, the lazy rivers are both the same pretty much.
00:13:50
Speaker
Uh, and But again, I just, I like the vibes of Typhoon Lagoon more. So, so for me, it comes down to just, just the aesthetics and everything of the park is more favorable. Also, I guess Typhoon Lagoon does also have a water coaster. So, um like, I don't think you did that on the, yeah you didn't do that on the cruise. Yeah.
00:14:09
Speaker
so we never got a chance to. I was really disappointed. So, I mean, yeah, you you would have you would have a chance to to try a water coaster if you went to Typhoon Lagoon. So that's something to consider as well. But like I said, I think if if the wave pool is a big thing for your daughter, i i like I said, my my son, he very much enjoyed the wave pool. But the first time we took him there, he was he was a bit older than your daughter is. So he was...
00:14:34
Speaker
he was able to handle it, even though he still got like just completely knocked over the first, but like he he was not ready or, or he, he had known from like, we we have like indoor, uh, um, wave pools in, in Calgary. And so like, he was like, he knew those like, you know, growing up, he's like, oh yeah, this is like a wave pool. He didn't realize how big the waves are in Typhoon Lagoon. So yeah. yeah so so Something to consider, like, like just, you know, you know,
00:15:04
Speaker
you know, be or, you know know, don't go charging in, wait and see what comes back first and kind of gauge, you know, whether that makes sense to you or not. Yeah, i I'm not sure which one.
00:15:18
Speaker
So we're we're gonna we're going to look at it ah for sure and and try to figure it out. I you know i don't know. i I would say, though, we're probably leaning towards Blizzard Beach just because of the kids' play area and the more gentle wave pool.
00:15:31
Speaker
um I would be all in favor of the less gentle
Animal Kingdom Tours & Bluey Attractions
00:15:34
Speaker
wave pool, but, you know, whatever. it's my daughter it's This is about my daughter, not about me. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, I think, like you said, it's good to good to be aware of of your options. And yeah, you know, anybody else who, you know, I'm just sharing my experiences with the water parks. You know, other people, please chime in because, you know, let's help Tom out with the yeah figuring out the blind spots.
00:15:56
Speaker
Yeah, because i like I said, i it's it is kind of crazy that I still have blind spots like this, but i we just have never done it. So like, i you know, I only have so much room in my brain for Disney things. Yeah. I'll admit I have my own blind spots too. there There's certain things like actually for me, a lot of it is um the shows at Disney World. Like I've just like, I've never done Festival of the Lion King and it's, it's just a matter of,
00:16:22
Speaker
it's a matter of timing, you know, when we, when we happen to be there and, you know, it's, it's just never on our radar and it's not to say that I, I'm sure I would enjoy the shows, but I don't know what I'm getting into with the different shows. Right. So, yeah. Yeah.
00:16:36
Speaker
yeah So I, I think that's what we're going to do. i don't have, um, you know there's There's still a lot to figure out about this trip. I think we also may do a... I think my daughter's maybe old enough now to do maybe behind-the-scenes kind of tour at Animal Kingdom. She she loves animals. Absolutely loves animals. you know She is like a she I mean, I think she would want to like work at a zoo or be a vet. She just is obsessed with animals. And so I was thinking um doing... it's the The tour options at Animal Kingdom these days are so far limited to what they were pre-COVID, right? like there were There were way more options ah you know before or before COVID. And now there's really just like a couple, like really just a small handful.
00:17:20
Speaker
um So I think we might do the um but Really, the two that would would appeal to her is the caring for giants, which is which is one that we have done already, but my daughter has not done. So that's where you go and get to see the elephants, you know, in like their backstage area. Behind the scenes. and Yeah, yeah. The other one is up close with rhinos, which the main difference between the two things is that I think, I mean, you know, and I feel like we did the rhino thing too. But like the rhinos, you get really close, the the elephants, you can't. Right. So like the elephants, you have to pretty far from. Yeah. There's good reason for that. Yeah. And which is, you know, a hundred percent. Right. Like, I'm not saying I want to get close to the elephants. Right. But um I could just see my daughter being like, oh, why isn't the elephant closer? You know, like that kind of thing. So I i think she likes elephants more than rhinos. And we we already did to meet a rhino before we we we we we ah gave. Right. I think I talked about I know I definitely talked about it on the We, you know, at the Philadelphia Zoo, we met a rhino and we, you know, patted it and everything like that. So, you know, I think maybe should be, you know, dig the the elephant thing a little more, ah you know, because when we did, ah we we did one when we stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge, like, i don't know, probably 10 years ago.
00:18:36
Speaker
where we went in, it we like it it started at like 6.30 in the morning, and like we went in before the park opened, and you know there was we got to like feed all the birds in the ah you know in the the bird area. we got to It was really, really cool, but it was also like a three-hour tour, and I don't think my daughter's doing that. So a 60-minute tour with the elephants, i think that might be more airspeed. So we'll see. I don i don't know. we're goingnna we're around We're going to think about it but But yeah, I'm excited.
00:19:02
Speaker
It's going to be fun. can't wait to see how this unfolds for you because, yeah, there's... And, you know, let's dovetail this into, you know, everything that you're talking about for your trip.
00:19:13
Speaker
We're talking about these things on the show now. So, you obviously, as you mentioned, one of the first things is, ah you know, Bluey is going to be coming to Animal Kingdom here very shortly.
00:19:25
Speaker
on twenty May twenty six so ah So, you know, within the next... week or so. Yeah. Yeah. A little over a week. Yeah. So we got some more details. Yeah. Right. And one of those is we've been talking about the potential disaster of the, uh, the train that is the wildlife express train. However, good for you, Disney doing the right thing here. I know not everybody loves a virtual queue, but this is the smart thing to do here. So they're doing the virtual queue for Bluey's Wild World over a conservation station. To me, they had to do that. I know that not everybody loves it, but they are so capacity constrained with that train that it's just going to be better for everybody. Like, everybody saw the... I don't want to see the disaster that happened because that makes it sound like I'm one of those, you know, garbage blogs that's out there. But it was... They had a rough time at Disneyland getting this thing off the ground. It was way more popular than they anticipated. it was... i I don't know if they were caught off guard by it or not. um But, you know, they're preparing for this time. but Okay, but before we get into the details of this, you know, it's funny you point that out. is that it It feels like... I think we as consumers of Disney stuff, we we're always looking or, you know, we remember all the things that happened over the years. And it's like, you know, we we understand the points where it's like, oh, you know, they opened up this ride and it was ah you know, it was ah a gong show for for a day or whatever. Right. Yeah. yeah yeah um I think the thing that we forget is that, you know, over time, they're they're it's not the same people that are running these things. And it does sometimes feel like there there is like some selective amnesia that it's like, you know, they they go like, Blue is opening up and we're like, yeah, are you ready? And they go, oh, yeah, it'll be fine. And then, you know, Disneyland happens and and then they go, oh, wait, whoa. And then and then they they adjust, right? Yeah. So, so and and I think we kind of stand the outside and go like, how could you not see that happening? And I think it's a matter of, you know, those of us that are like invested in it, like like there's not to say the people that are working there are not invested in it, but there is different levels of like when you're when you're outside of it and very passionate about it, you know that people are going to like swarm towards these things. Whereas I think when you're working somewhere, you're like,
00:21:51
Speaker
I feel like there's there's like a weird thing where they're like, it'll be fine or you know it'll just be for a day or two and we'll manage it. And it's like, no no, you can't do that. Not with you can't do that, man. yeah You really can't. Now, they do say here that they're just doing this for the initial initial opening period and then they expect to have a standby queue later. Which makes sense. Yeah. So...
00:22:13
Speaker
Yeah, I just can't remember the last time they had a show like this or, you know, a show and experience that had a virtual queue. that yeah and when it was Yeah, this is actually different from other virtual queues because, i mean, it's kind of cool that like they're they're utilizing the train definitely as a as a funnel point. Yeah. yeah But they're, they're queuing an area. It's not, this isn't like, like queuing for like Guardians or Tron or anything. This is, you're queuing to get into an area, which is like you go, when you go to the area, like there is like, there's, there's a show and stuff there, but like, you can just kind of wander around the air. Like you, you don't have to.
00:22:54
Speaker
It's not just the show. yeah smart let me You're not just there for like one thing. You could be there for a little while, but, but I think they're also assuming that, you know, people are going to get bored. Yeah. After a certain amount of time anyway and just leave anyway. So, um yeah, so it makes sense. Yeah. But yeah, also, I'm i'm interested in how they chose to structure this um queuing.
00:23:16
Speaker
So so I'm just going to read this off. So so for anyone that's curious about this and I'm sure Tom, this will be interesting to you is, you know. If it's still a place by the time I get there in August, I mean, it might happen.
00:23:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's good to at least be aware of this. is So so they're they're doing two different virtual queues throughout the day. But it's at the first one is at 7 a.m. m The second one is at 10 a.m. So they're they're fairly close together. The 7 a.m. virtual queue, um you have to have obviously valid um park admission to virtual queue. But you don't need to be in Animal Kingdom when joining that queue. So this is for, you know, everybody that I i remember, I've had to do this where, you know, you're waking up at 630 in the morning, you're refreshing the app, you know, you'll get in the queue as fast as possible.
00:23:59
Speaker
um So this is this is that is, you know, you know, you can queue from your hotel room first thing in the morning. The 10 a.m. queue, though, is you have to be in Animal Kingdom in order to join the queue, which is interesting because I i even remember, you know,
00:24:16
Speaker
i I pretty sure was guardians where, um, so I'm just thinking this was back in like 2022. So this was a little while ago now, but, um, but they were still doing the virtual queue for guardians and,
00:24:30
Speaker
and But they had the two queues, so it was it was like 7 a.m. m and 1 p.m. And I remember being in Magic Kingdom and hitting the 1 p.m. queue for Guardians, knowing that we were going to be in Epcot later that evening. So I didn't have to be in the park.
00:24:47
Speaker
to queue for that particular one. Yeah, yeah. But for this one, they're they're actually enforcing you have to be in Animal Kingdom at 10 a.m. if you want. So if you miss the 7 a.m. queue, you have to go to Animal Kingdom and you have to queue from Animal Kingdom.
00:25:02
Speaker
Yeah, that's interesting. Which is, yeah. Like I said, I get it. it's It's an interesting choice that that they're doing this, but and I see the intent. I see that they they know that there's going to be people...
00:25:13
Speaker
standing around hoping to you know hoping to get into the queue at animal kingdom um the only thing that sucks about that is like if you i mean if you were park hopping it's uh or basically i think if you're going to see if you're going there with the intent of seeing bluey you're not park hopping out of animal kingdom Because unless you but unless you get like a really early one after yeah the 7 a.m. queue, because for the 10 a.m. queue, you have to be there and then you queue at 10 a.m. But then, you know, I'm assuming that that your your callback time is going to be sometime in the afternoon.
00:25:52
Speaker
Right. yeah So, yeah, yeah i'm I'm a huge fan of I like the virtual queue. I think it's a smart idea here. i love Conservation Station, by the way. I think Conservation Station is kind of a hidden gem at Animal Kingdom. It's if you haven't been over there, i i which I'm sure you probably have. trevor Right.
00:26:09
Speaker
Oh, yes. Many times. Yeah, I love it. It's one of our favorite areas to an Animal Kingdom. Yeah, and that little train ride is nice. You actually get to see like some behind-the-scenes stuff, and it's it's it's great. So, yeah, no this it's interesting how they're doing the virtual queue here. I do wonder how long it's going to last, but I do think it was very smart of them to do this. um When you get over there, though, so conser they're it's no longer... they're They're taking away all the Rafiki stuff, right? So poor Rafiki has been replaced with Bluey's Wild World. um But, you know, it's... so which you know listen
00:26:41
Speaker
Bluey way more relevant than Lion King is at the moment, believe it or not, which is crazy to say, but it is. i'm Sorry. i mean, if if you're hearing this right now, you probably need to go take some medicine for your back. So you just realized that Lion King is not as popular as Bluey. Yeah, Bluey's insane. But so they're going to, I mean, it seems kind of similar to what they're doing at Disneyland. i mean, we don't really know what it's going to be, but what they're saying is, ah You know, it's a playful and immersive experience. Bluey and Bingo arrive to play. There's a fun-filled adventure through their family's activities.
00:27:17
Speaker
ah Games like Keefe Yuppie, you know, the Magic experiment Asparagus, you know, like lots of fun stuff like that. like Bubbles. All the kind of stuff that, I mean, my daughter's going to lose her mind at this. ah There's also just still the, you know, we talked a little bit ah you know about this too. Just the rest of conservation station is very cool.
00:27:36
Speaker
There's the veterinary treatment room, which if you show up there at the right time, you can see like literal, like, you know, ah treatments being done on animals. Like, and it's kind of incredible to watch.
00:27:47
Speaker
I also did a tour one time where we were on the other side of that glass and I really did not enjoy that. It felt very, very weird. I felt like, you know, people were coming to watch the humans in the human tank. And I don't know how people work like that on a daily basis because just even as a to on a tour, I was like, I don't like this.
00:28:04
Speaker
I felt the same way when I did Behind the Seeds and Living at the Land while we're just walking around, you know, the greenhouse. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it it it did feel like that because people are just you know floating by, ah you know going about their days. And you know here I am on the ride like, hey hey, what's going on, guys? um As we predicted, by the way, we we completely predicted this. ah So they've replaced the petting zoo over at ah over a conservation station with what they're calling Jumping Junction.
00:28:33
Speaker
Which, you know, we, we guessed, you know, that it was going to be kangaroos and wallabies and we were right. It's kangaroos and wallabies. So, yeah you know, obviously, i mean, those, those are the easy is the Australian ah ah wildlife to bring to somewhere like conservation station. Yeah. It is worth noting, though, from what I've read, that this is not going to be a petting zoo experience experience anymore. this is going to be more like traditional, you know, looking from afar kind of thing.
00:29:00
Speaker
I mean, i would definitely... I wouldn't be surprised if they do... um i probably not with the kangaroos. I think with the wallabies, it might be a little bit easier. is you know You know when they do like those supervised, where they where they bring out an animal that like there're there's a keeper. Oh, yeah. there's yeah think good I see them do that with like turtles and stuff where like, you know, a turtle is not something you have in a petting zoo because they they can be very dangerous. But, you know, you have it in like a, so like like I wouldn't be surprised if you have like handlers coming out with um with animals supervised. But yeah, like you said, it's
00:29:34
Speaker
Yeah, wallabies and kangaroos. Kangaroos, i would not mess with. um they're They're very scary. um i like the little fact here. You know, both kangaroos and groups of wallabies are called a mob. They're called a mob. I guess it's better than a murder. um Yeah, it's not a murder of crows. It's a mob of kangaroos. I don't know if that's actually better. Yeah. So I made the mistake this morning. ah We were sitting in the car for a few minutes waiting for people. We got to soccer game a little early this morning. So i was like, hey, you know, Autumn, let me show you, you know, ah my my daughter. You know, let me show you this bluey stuff. Right.
00:30:10
Speaker
And so we started going through the merchandise. And like as I'm scrolling down the page, she goes, I want that. She's like, no, I want that. No, she's like, no, I want that. She's like, can I have that? I want that too. And I'm like, okay, hold on. so You can have some of these things. There's these headbands. There's the ears. wants the headbands. Yeah. She wants the shirt.
00:30:27
Speaker
Oh, it looks like they're bringing the the fairy bread cake over. Or no, sorry. That was at Pete Safari. Okay. Yeah. So. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. So there's some really cool merch. There's the the headbands. There's the customizable headbands. I like this, ah the dad one, although I hope they just have it in just a shirt and not a not a hoodie. I'm not a huge hoodie guy, so I would, you know, I would do a shirt.
00:30:49
Speaker
I also do like this ah Disney World one that they have, too, with Bluey and Bingo on it, which I think is ah it is pretty cool looking as well. so And I can't imagine this is the end of the food stuff because they only really give us two or three food items here.
00:31:05
Speaker
Yeah. I feel like there should be more I'm wondering if they're going to phase the ah the food stuff because... Yeah. Actually, well no there's there's a couple. Yeah, there's like three total, right? So there's a... there's a we We already know about the fairy bread. The next one they revealed is a... ah It's ah a frozen twist on Bluey's beloved fruit salad. Whackadoo fruit freeze is made with simply fruit punch and garnished with a fruit salad. It's pretty basic.
00:31:29
Speaker
Yeah. um You know, we have the same sipper from Disneyland, so i which we I think we also said was going to be the case, right? And then the last thing is ah a Bluey's berry lemonade, which is frozen Minute Maid lemonade blended with flavors of blueberry, blackberry, and raspberry. so no you miss You missed Pretzel's pretzels, though. I didn't miss there. I just didn't get there yet. Oh, but you said the last thing was the... Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Okay. Yeah, I was like, wait, you that's not the last thing. There's pretzels here, too. The stuff at Disneyland was just a little more themed and cooler. Yeah, they did they had the asparagus and stuff, but I mean, I'll be honest, I really want these pretzels. yeah Pretzels with cheese and blueberry mustard sauces. That's... Interesting. That's interesting. sounds Yeah, it sounds very interesting, but those pretzels look delicious.
00:32:18
Speaker
They do. You're right. You're not wrong. Yeah. But when I showed my daughter the magic shots, that's when she yeah really got excited. So you they're going to have magic shots with the grannies, which, my again, my daughter was like, oh, I want to do that one. like She would immediately like. So my my wife's, one of her favorite things from the show is the grannies as well. Yeah. yeah So she would she would love this. Yeah. Yeah, so we got the grannies, we got Bluey chasing after a butterfly, and then both Bluey and Bingo dancing and doing dance mode. So, listen, all of this looks great.
00:32:48
Speaker
um i I'm excited to experience this. I you know i think it's going to be a lot of fun. If they do release any more food and merch, we'll talk about it. But, um you know, i this is it's great.
00:33:00
Speaker
I think this is ah kind of... it the The food is kind of not as themed as the Disneyland part, but like I said, I'm going to give them some time here because it hasn't opened yet and they maybe they'll reveal more. I don't know.
00:33:10
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, i I wonder, like, I mean, I think we've always said this is like the the food offerings at Disney World don't always... size up the same as they do at Disneyland or any of the other parks, honestly. Yeah, that's because it's the tourist park, right? that's Yeah. but But I also, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised too, like you said, you know, maybe it's maybe it's a matter of that this is just the initial launch stuff. And then, you know, this gives them a reason to kind of keep bringing it back around months later that, you know, hey, there's new bluey stuff at Animal Kingdom, right? And it just, you know, it just keeps the hype up, which I mean. Exactly.
00:33:47
Speaker
Honestly, isn't the worst way to do it either. But, you know, if I get there and I can't find pretzels, I might be mad.
Muppets-Themed Updates
00:33:53
Speaker
Another thing that is imminent, okay, imminent is, ah you know, and we've been talking a lot about it, but we keep getting more and more details, is the Rockin' Roller Coaster starring in the Muppets.
00:34:05
Speaker
And we've gotten some really cool new details. So, first of all, we we we can see now the totality of all the painting they did and all of kind of the decoration on the outside, which I think looks great.
00:34:17
Speaker
But they've also shared ah both videos of the pre-show And this was just put out there today. Yeah, I saw that this morning, too. yeah I just added this in.
00:34:29
Speaker
So one of the things, and you listen, spoiler alert, if you don't want to know about this, just, you know, skip ahead here. Skip ahead in five minutes or something. Yeah, skip ahead, however long this is going to take.
00:34:39
Speaker
But they took the Statler and war Waldorf ah Muppet Vision 3D animatronics and moved them into Rock and Roller Coaster. where they sit and heckle you, I think, as you're about to leave. it sounds Yeah, that's what it sounds like. from From the little clip that they played, it sounds like as you're getting off the the ride, they're they're heckling you on your way out. Yeah, i this this is amazing. um like I love this. ah this is This is so cool. It says, as guests are pulling away from in their limo. So it's it's right before you you you take off.
00:35:15
Speaker
Oh, okay. Oh, yeah, even better. Okay. So as you're as you're sitting there waiting. Yeah, the starting area. Yeah, you're getting heckle. Which is hilarious. love that. Yeah. I also love that they they ah they retained a joke from in vision 3d, which is, ah do we have time to go to the bathroom before the next song? We can't you all fool? We're bolted to the seats, which Yeah, I mean, that love the callback. Yeah. Love the callback to Muppet vision 3d. I love that they brought these animatronics over and the fact that they didn't, this somehow didn't leak out and they didn't talk about it at all. Like, cause we, we really only thought the, and the only animatronics were in the pre-show, but yeah, we were wrong about that. We didn't know that we didn't know about these. And so I love this. I love this got announced. I think this is hilarious that they did this. And I, I just, I think it's very cool that they are recycling these animatronics, like letting Muppet vision 3d continue on in in a different way, you know?
00:36:09
Speaker
Yeah, it's I mean, honestly, I think people are going to appreciate, ah ah li you know, just based on that. But I'm sure there's going to be lots of other things in this queue that just call back to Muppet Vision 3D. And yeah I, you know, as much as I know, people are, you know, lamenting the show being gone. It's like this is still, you know, the fact that it still lives on in the parks is amazing. Right. Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:35
Speaker
i I hope that they have like a really wide array of of jokes like and not just like a couple recycled, you know? And something a little further down in this that I like – um It's hard to tell if if they're joking. Actually, I don't even feel that they're joking. I feel that they're actually serious about this. is um So the the scooter animatronic. Yeah, they did this. Yeah. like yeah like they so So they didn't just like make an animatronic. They actually had...
00:37:08
Speaker
They motion captured the Muppet of Scooter. So like, you know, thinking about how like Muppets move and everything, they actually got some like, you know, Scooter's handler to to mocap Scooter.
00:37:23
Speaker
and And so that, like, that honestly just brings another level to, yeah, to the ride and the pre-show and everything is that, like, you know, there's there's, like, watching, like, Muppets on, you know, ah you know they they're going to be on on the screen and whatever, but having, like,
00:37:41
Speaker
Having ah like, ah you know, and electronic but but having it feel like a real Muppet, like not like because, you know, they've done this in the past where um and actually even thinking about like the the the Stalin Waldorf um um characters in Muppet Vision 3D, like, you know, they were older animatronics and you could you could tell like they, you know, they moved a certain way like that, you know, it wasn't it wasn't the same as the yeah the character performers. Right. Yeah, yeah. this is this is bringing like this is This is really bringing that forward into like, hey, this this feels like you're watching somebody perform, you know, scooter every time you go in the ride, which is which is very cool, right?
00:38:23
Speaker
Did you watch the actual video of the pre-show? I stopped it at a certain point because it's... things started happening i was like no i don't want to see how you don't want to ruin it yeah yeah you know i saw i saw a scooter and i was like wow like that is he looks really good amazing yeah yeah they they i mean he looks like he's there with you i mean like that it's really really well done they've really i mean i you know i think i'll be interested to see what the the actual inside of the ride looks like you know as as far as like the the ride itself what's different there but
00:38:54
Speaker
everything else that they've done here with the pre-show is it's not been like a simple reskin of this. You know, it's, it is, uh, they're, they're putting ah all these animatronics in there and they're really bupifying whole thing. Um, and, uh, you know, they're also, they, they've got the merch too. So that's the it's a, it's a, you know, the rock around the rock around the shop and it's got, uh, I, you know, i'm not going lie. I didn't love the selection of merch, but then again, this is like the first kind of,
00:39:23
Speaker
kind of, you know, release of it, I guess. But no I mean, it was, i don't know. i These shirts are pretty cool. Pretty cool. Yeah. I don't, I don't dislike them. I just, I don't know. There was, so I don't, i don't know what I was looking for here. I mean, I definitely like, I like this beaker and, ah and, and honeydew one. I like the, ah the Stadler Walder for it is pretty funny. Yeah. There's one that's, it's, it's, it's a shirt that it says, ah one of them is holding the go away sign. And then it says number one, anti fans, which I think is pretty funny.
00:39:52
Speaker
Uh, there's a, there's a Fozzie bear one, which is pretty cool. Um, yeah, you know what? That that one's pretty cool too. I, I'll, I retract what I say. Yeah. said earlier it's pretty I think, I think maybe you just kind of had an initial glance and you didn't know, like the the interesting thing is they're very colorful, but they are yeah I guess the way that they're done, they don't pop necessarily.
00:40:13
Speaker
ah like yeah Like the the color, or like looking at the Fozzie one, like it's it's meant to look like a sketch, right? So it doesn't it doesn't pop out the same way that, you know, some other shirts would. So I get that. do like the Fozzie one, though. I like it. It's cool. I mean, honestly, all of them are good. Like i don't i don't see a bad shirt in the bunch here.
00:40:34
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Even this button-down shirt is kind of great, too, actually. The the one they did with that a company. The Miss Piggy one is pretty insane, too. Which was the very first one? The little girl one? are you thinking... Oh, no, no. Okay, I know which one. The bedazzled one. The bedazzled one. Yeah, that one is is crazy. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. Bedazzled shirt. Yeah, that that is crazy. ah It also says, you know, there's a Muppets water bottle, although I don't see a picture, to my unless I'm missing something. but ah Yeah, I don't...
00:41:05
Speaker
I don't see... Wait. Oh, no, that's a lounge fly bag. Okay. Yeah. That's a lounge bag. Lounge fly bag is also insane. Yeah. There's a... oh yeah guitar Yeah, the guitar. Wait, that's a bag? i just Bag. that's very cool. Bag, yeah. I like that.
00:41:22
Speaker
yeah I like that. i You know, I think I just expected more merch with like ah you know with with the Electric Mayhem on it. like And I'm a little surprised that there's not... Because it's mostly the other characters, right? like There's only really the one that has the has all the band members on there. You know what i mean?
00:41:40
Speaker
You know, I i feel... Here's my take on it is, you know, yeah you know, we are fans of the electric mayhem, but they're not as mainstream and as you want to think they are.
00:41:52
Speaker
I don't think they are at all. Yeah. so So, I mean, well, but, but like, you know, us growing up with the Muppets and everything, like we know who they are. Right. And, but I get where, you know, in a theme park, like, obviously you're going to be introduced to the electric mayhem through the ride and everything, you I think, you know, for a lot of people buying merch, um you know, they also have their favorite Muppet characters. And I don't think, um you know, I think Disney is paying attention to, you know, hey, you know, some people, you know, you know some people don't care about the electric mayhem. They want a Fozzie shirt, right? And so yeah so they're they're doing the, you know, the initial launch of this is obviously they're just covering the gambit of yeah they have all the standard Muppet characters, which yeah honestly they should. And
00:42:38
Speaker
You know, to to your point, i I feel like, again, you know, this if Disney is being smart about this the same way with Bluey is that, you know, this is an opportunity for them to cue this up as seasonal stuff.
00:42:50
Speaker
And, you know, having, you know, at various points, having, you know, a ah selection of specific character characters. Yeah. um Merch coming through. Right. and And I mean, honestly, with the Muppet stuff, like, you know, this initial selection of shirts is awesome.
00:43:06
Speaker
There's nowhere they like the sky's the limit with where they can go with these shirts. Right. Like they're every six months they could be pumping out new shirts. And I feel like it would, you know,
00:43:20
Speaker
You know, as long as they're, you know, as long as they're designing them the same way that they're doing these ones, that it's like, hey, this is something cool that, like, like any of these shirts are, like, they're theme park shirts, but it's like, yeah, I would still wear that. Or, like, you could wear that around. It's like, people would like oh, yeah, cool. Like, that's that's a cool Muppet shirt, right? Like, it's not...
00:43:38
Speaker
it's not It's not just limited to being like a Disney shirt. Yeah. This does a good job of replacing that that Muppets store that was like sometimes open in Muppets Quartyard, you know, over there. like that It would have Muppets stuff in it. But like this is like, you know, taking it to another level, you know. So i listen, I think this is cool stuff. You know the part, you know, the thing that was actually, that it wasn't the merch that was disappointing me. It was the food part that was a little but a bit of a bummer to me. oh the ah The food by her. Yeah. Food is food by the Swedish chef. I just I you know, listen, I it's like a little food booth thing. So I know they're not going to have like a lot of stuff, you know, a lot of crazy stuff there. But I don't know. This just felt kind of boring to me. So they have the waka walking nachos. Waka walking. Okay. Yeah. ah Which is corn. It's like one of those corn chip things, you know, like in in the bag when they throw in there with some tomatoes and some guacamole. Okay.
00:44:41
Speaker
All right. Cool. ah um yeah Yeah. A churro drumstick. It's just a churro. I mean, yeah Like, Okay, a churro looks like a drumstick, so let's call it, yeah. Yeah, like, that's it's a little lazy to me. It has animal-themed sprinkles on it. It feels like they put a like a culinary intern on this ah on this menu. You know what mean? Take churro, make it red, add some orange and wrinkles boom orange and yellow sprinkles. Like, that's...
00:45:10
Speaker
Like, yeah, you're right. It it feels very um like the the easy route. Yeah. Yeah. And and then there's the mayhem soft surf float, which I swear I've seen before.
00:45:22
Speaker
I have seen something like this, especially with the ah the cotton candy. Yes, i so but i I swear we've seen this exact thing before. Like, I feel like it was during, like, one of the holiday parties or something. It it just feels very familiar to me, this exact thing where the with the frozen Phantom Blue Raspberry and the pink cotton candy on top.
00:45:39
Speaker
Yeah, but it it was it was framed as, ah like, either a holiday. I want to say maybe it was for, like, a stitch thing. Yeah, I don't remember. it was but i this looks way too familiar to me.
00:45:51
Speaker
Um, so yeah, there's that. And then there's a pink lemonade with guava. Lemonade. Lemonade. Okay. yeah No one's going to say that when they order it, right? i mean, no one's going to say that.
00:46:04
Speaker
Except Miss Piggy. They're just going to say, like, can I get the pink lemonade? right Of the pink lemonade. Yeah. Well, that was pretty good. That was good. yeah um And they threw some of the edible glitter in there, too. You know, just the... Yeah. And then there's pond water limeade, which... The pond water is... it looks cool, actually. This is one of these... Like, I've said this before about, like, foods that kind of break my brain a little bit. Yeah. That, like...
00:46:30
Speaker
like Like I ran into this in Epic Universe where it was like I'm eating something and I'm like, I feel like I shouldn't be eating this, but it's delicious. It's really good, but it shouldn't. Yeah. And this is this is one of those things because it's ah it's a lime or a mint made limeade um green apple and then fruit juice filled pearls, which, you know, it's the like the boba pearls. oh but Yeah.
00:46:55
Speaker
Makes it look like you're you're breeding frogs in a cup. It does, yeah. Which, really does obviously, the yeah, you know, the pond water limeade makes sense. And yeah, like, it it thematically, it fits with, like,
00:47:08
Speaker
that, that, you know, you know, Kermit the frog swamp kind of thing. But in my head, I'm going like, i don't know that I actually want this. yeah Do I really want this? Yeah. Like aesthetically it's, it's, it's strangely off putting, but that actually makes me want it a little bit more.
00:47:27
Speaker
you know what? I can see that. That one to me is the most creative of the bunch, right? Like if I were going to point out the one that was the most creative, I would go with that one. Yeah. ah you know And then there's just, you know, there's corn dog nuggets and chocolate chips and chips. and And listen, I understand all the usual stuff. It's just, yeah, I get it. It's just a snack stand. I just feel like they kind of phone this one in, which is a little bit disappointing. But, you know, it is what it is.
00:47:54
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you know, I can't, I feel like they're they're doing enough with the ride. Like, i mean, honestly, I don't know that I was even expecting there to be a ah food booth associated with this ride. Oh, I wasn't either. Right. yes I wasn't either. But if we're going to do it, do it. You know, that's all. I guess. Yeah. Fair. That that is fair. Yeah. Especially if you're going to tie the Swedish chef to it, you know.
00:48:17
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I really just, i you know, yeah I guess. Yeah. that Yeah, you're right. that That's the hard part is, you know, when when you bring in the Swedish chef, you assume you assume something wacky and goofy. And this didn't quite hit that mark. That's what I'm saying. Like, I want it to be like, you know, every time the Swedish chef like makes something that it ends up being like a crazy mess, right? Like he's, things go wrong. And yeah like, why not do something like that? Like, you know, where, where these are kind of what you were talking about, the things that break your brain, where it's just like, it looks really bad. Like, it looks like it was a disaster, but it tastes really good. Like do that.
00:48:50
Speaker
Like, I don't know. That just felt like a miss to me. um But you know, it's, it's a food booth, so it's going to change as time goes on. But you know, this is, This is opening time. This is when you should be doing the the crazy things and and not the simple things. But I don't know.
00:49:04
Speaker
i but Maybe that's just me. Maybe I'm just expecting too much there. Yeah. I mean, like, i you're right. Like, it's it's a matter of, I don't know that I was expecting anything, but i guess I do have a certain bar for Muppets stuff. Yeah.
00:49:23
Speaker
Right? Like, it's... Yeah, like, I feel like the Muppets is not the place to phone it in. i feel like they've done a great job with everything else. Just yeah yeah that one part. that that Yeah, that is the hard part, is that it it feels, it it almost feels like they ran out of time or something, or it was like, we need we need to, you you know, we got we figured out, you know, all the merch, we figured out the ride, we figured out, oh, we were going to do a food booth.
00:49:48
Speaker
ah Okay, we well, we got, like, two good things, in and I just kind of, you know, throw some stuff in. Like... like that's I'm joking when I say they got a culinary intern to do it, but I'm i'm kind of serious. like But it feels yeah, it's... it I mean, part of it too is I know that they also... Like you said, you know, the fact that one of those items feels like something we saw somewhere else. yeah I feel like there's also... As much as we're like looking at it as, you know, oh, they're they're opening up a booth. A lot of these things are literally just like Disney trialing things.
00:50:20
Speaker
That's true. Yeah. So... You know, I guess maybe you'll see what what resonates with people or what doesn't.
Star Wars-Themed Offerings
00:50:27
Speaker
And yeah like, I mean, this whole food booth might be irrelevant in six months anyway. So it might be. I'm going to find where I've seen this before because it's it's going to annoy me. It's bugging you.
00:50:38
Speaker
Yeah, because like i I'm like positive I've seen it. Like it's it looks way too familiar. i i just don't remember what it was from. But i I'm going to find it. Like I'll find it It feels like a Jollywood Knights thing. I don't know why. Yeah, you might be right. But you know what? While while you're figuring that out. I'm not going to that right now, but yeah I'm going to figure it out eventually. Well, maybe I'll try to figure it out because I believe it's time to do the ad, isn't it? It is time to do the ad, yes. That's correct.
00:51:07
Speaker
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00:51:21
Speaker
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00:51:36
Speaker
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00:51:56
Speaker
Well, let's let's stay at Hollywood Studios, Trevor. let's All right. I know you're out on Star Wars, but let's talk a little bit. of what what I'll still talk about Star Wars. just Sorry, just to throw back, while while you were doing that, I did a quick Google search. And the I'm sure that there's another reference, but the closest I could find was back in 2021. They did a blue raspberry lemonade topped with cotton candy. Okay.
00:52:20
Speaker
What was it? Was it just there? They just had it there? This was in Animal Kingdom, yeah. So they had... um it It was, yeah, something that they were doing at Isle of Jav. It wasn't related to anything specific. It was just they actually two different flavors of it. so um and I feel like this is a recent thing.
00:52:39
Speaker
Yeah, maybe. that That's just, again, from a quick Google search. But but to your point, ah you know, sometimes they do recycle yeah some of these things. just It's just like, you know, if you've ever seen like Disney animation stuff where they, you know, they reuse animation, they they reuse their snacks sometimes. Yeah.
00:52:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's that true. Okay, and we're not hating on it. Like, I'm not, I'm not hating on the fact that they do it. It's like, you know, I get that, you know, sometimes it's good to like do that where like, you know, they they they bring something out, people like it, and then goes away and then you bring it back and people get excited for it again. And then honestly, it's, you know, it's easy because you don't have to, you know, you don't have to reinvent it again. It's just you bring it back and people forget that it was a thing. So...
00:53:22
Speaker
You know. Yeah, okay. okay just Just put it out there from a business standpoint. It it does kind of make sense. All right. i'll love you know yeah I'll give it to you. Yeah. yeah All right. Anyway, let's ah back to Hollywood Studios and Star Wars. So yeah this is all around the... um irby That's coming out. Yeah. Mandalorian, Grogu. um they're They're doing a bunch of stuff in the park. We also are getting the... ah the update to, um, smugglers run yeah like and kind coming May 22nd. So very quickly here, like yeah there's so much stuff coming here in like the next week. Yeah. The next week is going to be the next two weeks they are going to be very busy.
00:54:02
Speaker
Yeah. Um, Yeah, so i or so just looking at what they're ah what they're advertising here for stuff in the parks, the first thing I see is looks like some macaroons.
00:54:17
Speaker
Yeah, blue. Yeah, blue macaroons. I don't know. Yeah. i Yeah. ah these yeah and it Does it even say? I'm trying to find the... The words around it? Yeah. they gro go Are they calling these Grogu cookies? Is that what we're what we're doing here?
00:54:33
Speaker
No? I guess. umm um Yeah, okay, yeah. Grogu cookies. um Yeah, okay. So, so yeah. there's and It's weird how they structured this. It is weird. Yeah. and then But they also did the sweet and spicy puffer pig pasta, which has blue eggs involved here.
00:54:51
Speaker
Okay. Blue eggs, again, this is another brain-breaking thing. It is a little yeah. It's just like you can do that with an egg where you just like... you you like You can insert dye into the ah yeah into the the egg and then ah you know hard boil it and then it comes out like a blue tint. It reminds me of like Easter when I was a kid when you do the egg. you know youre like is did you ever do this? We you had like people we painted the outside of the egg because never had like Oh, we always had like a liquid thing that we would like dip it, dip the outside shell into.
00:55:25
Speaker
And sometimes it would like permeate through the shell and the egg would change color on the inside. Oh, I actually, i never opened those eggs. Okay. never we We had those eggs and we just, when we were done with the Easter, we just threw them out. I never, I was never, I was scared because those eggs would sit out for days. i would, I did not want to open those eggs. That's that's fair. That's fair. uh the sipper for this is i actually think kind of awesome um the backpack yeah so it's the mandalorian and grogu jetpack sipper it's literally the jetpack that the mandalorian wears with grogu on the back of it and a big straw coming out of the back it's a camelback yeah yeah it is it's a camelback yeah it's like a backpack it's kind of awesome
00:56:08
Speaker
I love it. Okay. I i didn't. Okay. Yeah. that That is cool. And then i I thought they were just showing off the BDX droids. Yeah. I was like, oh, it's going to be a Disney World. it's like, oh no, they're doing a popcorn bucket. It's ah it's a popcorn bucket. That's a BDX. Yeah. No, no yeah I thought it was the real droid. I really thought it was the droid. And I was like, oh, cool. The BDX droids going to be walking around. It's like, oh, no, no. They made a popcorn bucket out of the BDX droid.
00:56:35
Speaker
I mean, I'm not mad about that. not mad about it. I do really like the BDX droids. I think they're they're awesome. so I really want to see them in person. like I yeah very much want to see them.
00:56:47
Speaker
Yeah. so yeah So, yeah, that's interesting that they started there. i guess i guess those are their their food offerings. um Yeah. and that I just think it's, oh, because I forgot that the BDX droid is going to be in the movie.
00:57:03
Speaker
That was a whole thing they talked about. So like they decided to put the BDX droids in the Mandalorian movie. So it's kind of full circle there. Because I was like, what does that have to do with the Mandalorian Grogu? Oh, that's that's it. Okay.
00:57:15
Speaker
Yeah. They're they're proper in-universe characters now. Yes. Yeah. oh wait. So when there's also at Disneyland Paris, there's a a Grogu burger. and a Oh, so the Grogu blue macaron is at Disneyland Paris. And then there's also a Grogu biscuit.
00:57:32
Speaker
Oh, OK. OK. Yeah, it's weird how they structured this love that article. Like, i'm it's hard to kind of pace through it because they're like, they're talking about all this stuff and it's like, but you don't get it. It's not for you. yeah There's lots of great stuff here, but you're never going to see it. Ever, yeah. ah There's also... Okay, but but to be fair, so yeah, the stuff that we listed, the Grogu cookies and the Puffer Pig pasta are going to be at Disney World Resort, but then but then yeah, there's this other Grogu biscuit that is at...
00:58:05
Speaker
Disneyland Paris. Okay. ah okay i'm I'm just, I'm trying to like figure it out where, ah okay, where is this stuff now? And then yeah, the, the jet pack sipper and the bucket, the, the BDX droid bucket are at both Disney world and Disneyland. on top That zipper is going to be, I feel like that's going to be a popular option.
00:58:23
Speaker
That's, that I mean, I think like cool think both of them will be. and And they also have the usual limit to per person. But, you know, somehow there's people that get like 50 of them and sell them online. but Yeah, because they always do. Yeah. ah There's also there' some merch where they have like the, they have like a water bottle that says, wherever I go, he goes. has the Mandalorian on it. It has that, whatever, what's that logo? Is that the...
00:58:45
Speaker
I forget what that logo is. The, yeah oh, um I know, is it the the, like, skull? Yeah, yeah. I forget what it is. Is that for, you know, i i forget what that's for, though.
00:58:57
Speaker
Oh, the Mythosaur crest. Okay. yeah Got it. Got it. Yeah, I was trying to remember what it what the term was. I couldn't remember the name. Yeah, so things I was blanking on it, too. And, of course, because it's Star Wars, there's toys.
00:59:08
Speaker
So. Yeah. You know, you can't get you can't have Star Wars without toys. There's, of course, a lot of Grogu stuff. There's, ah you know, there's a Mandalorian action figure, which are people still buying action figures? I don't know.
00:59:20
Speaker
I mean, yeah, they're we see action figures all the time when we do like merch rundowns. So, I mean, they're not. sure Or I guess you're just not buying action figures because yeah you don't have, there's nobody in your family that's interested in action figures. Yeah, the the action figures in my house are Barbies. so That's the yeah closest I get to action figures in this house is Barbies.
00:59:41
Speaker
And we have a lot of them. We just, my daughter for her birthday got, um, What was that? is that thing on Netflix that everybody likes? Why am I forgetting what's called? um K-pop Demon Hunters. Yes. She got K-pop Demon Hunters ah Barbies and she also got a Stitch Barbie.
00:59:58
Speaker
So it is. you like Dude, Stitch is in everything. Yeah, oh fair. But i'm' I just had a horrific vision of no ah like a stitch, but a Barbie. like It's a regular Barbie with a lot of stitch accessories, right? So she's wearing like a stitch shirt. She's got a stitch backpack. She's got a stitch purse. Like it's that's what it is.
01:00:22
Speaker
But I was like, oh, okay, Stitch Barbie. Interesting. um And then we got some Lego sets because, of course, we got some Lego sets. and I will say the Razorcrest one is pretty cool.
01:00:33
Speaker
I can see myself building that even though it's only 930-piece kit. kit ah that's I typically like to go a little bigger than that, but that's okay. That one's pretty cool. Yeah.
01:00:45
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. This is pretty cool. All this looks really good to me. I, you know, oh, there's also I almost forgot the magic photos here, too, ah which, you know, okay i'm I'm really disturbed ah by ah ripped. um What's his face? yeah This looks like Jabba the Hutt with abs is what wanted to say. But i'm um this isn't Jabba.
01:01:08
Speaker
um i have a son i believe yeah i'm looking it up now um yeah i i something like that but he's like mean he's all ripped and i know the hut is or no is that yeah that's his son yeah it's his son so there's ripped robber the hut yeah yeah i think it's rata okay okay so you can take a picture with with him it's a magic shot so don't don't expect him to be there but he's got like an eight pack you know he's Yeah, he's been working out, for sure. For sure. Yeah. You can take a picture next to Grogu, which, again, not really there.
01:01:42
Speaker
um I forget what these little dudes are called that like ah do all like the little... like ah they got Oh, the... um Yeah, yeah. I'm such a bad Star Wars fan. They're like the mechanics. Yeah.
01:01:53
Speaker
There was the one that was in the the mainline Star Wars movie that... they talk to and I can't remember her name, but yeah, it's, yeah, it's a little mechanic guys. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm bad with this too. I've, I'll admit I've not been keeping up on the like terminal or the in world terminology of like the different species and stuff like that. so Yeah, I'm bad at that too. of of course and of course also the you know the Mandalorian will be walking around with with the and the little animatronic Grogu in his bag too, so that which I've always wanted to see in person. And I hope to get a glimpse a glimpse of this when i I go this next time because I do think, i don't know if you've watched videos of it, but the the Grogu animatronic that he carries around is pretty impressive. It's pretty cool.
01:02:39
Speaker
Yes, i have I have seen a lot of those... ah ah videos And I watch... um ah Or I assume you know who Adam Savage is, right? Yes, I do. Yeah, so... Mythbusters.
01:02:52
Speaker
yeah exactly Yeah, exactly. Mythbusters. like And he's done stuff where like he does like behind the scenes with like the people who worked on those and everything. and Yeah, i I love seeing that stuff. like it's ah you know It's not that i I don't hate Star Wars and I don't hate seeing the stuff. It's, you know it's a very, it's very interesting to me from just like how they do that stuff. Right. Like it's, and especially like walking around with an animatronic like that. Like it's, it's very impressive.
01:03:18
Speaker
So, Trevor, ah the reason why it was structured that way is because I'm stupid and I forgot that we have a whole separate article just about the food that we had on the rundown that I just forgot that that was there. Oh, that would be why. Okay. So, okay. So we covered air everything else and we can circle back on the food, I guess. My bad, my bad. Okay, so food, right? So he said there's the sweet and spicy puffer pig pasta. It's flat noodles with pork belly, bok choy, sweet and sour sweet and spicy soy sauce, and a hard-boiled egg that is bluish.
01:03:49
Speaker
So that's what that thing is. the The Grogu cookies are white chocolate dipped macaron cookie with pineapple cream. Pineapple's an interesting choice there, but okay. um And then we have ah we have whoa some stuff at Oga's, which again is the kind of tu what you were talking about, Trevor, right? Which is, i don't even know how to describe what this looks like. These are like Petri dishes. Yeah, they look like Petri dishes. Yeah, they think they well, that yeah, these two do. And so it's, um what is this? Oga's Obsession is the first one, I think. So it's a Minute Maid lemonade, cotton candy, blueberry fruit juice filled pearls with bursting dried fruit mixture and gum.
01:04:27
Speaker
and That's what that is, though? That doesn't look like it looks like a Petri dish. Yeah, I know. you i'm confused. What? the That's weird.
01:04:38
Speaker
Yeah, it's what it I'm so confused by this. But no, this is it because like you can see the frog and the pearls and everything. The pearls, yeah. it's like a very, it's a very shallow container that it's in. I guess the base is lemonade and then, okay.
01:04:53
Speaker
Yeah. And then there's an alcoholic version of it Yeah. The Rhodian ration is what it looks like. Okay. So Tito's Handmade Vodka, D- d de cuper pucker sour apple schnapps liqueur green apple sprite fruit juice filled pearls and gummy candy frogs it's i mean is that really it i'm so lost on this this feels so wrong that i think that is it and then oh this next one the the spotchka is uh this looks like a so star wars drink it does look like wars drink yeah because it gets done Yeah. good
01:05:32
Speaker
Honey syrup, Lilit Blanc, aperitif, lemon juice, ball blue, Caraco liqueur served in a jet chill glass. But yeah, this this looks like it's right out of the movie. like yeah It looks like a science experiment. Yeah. I mean, they all do like on different levels. Yeah, clearly they they they put all of their chef resources on ah on this instead of yeah Muppets. um The Ganachery has a dragon fruit ganache covered in 65% dark chocolate that just kind of has like a little Star Wars-y kind of thing going on there. called Beskar ingot pop. Okay, sorry. I should have read it. Beskar ingot pop. Yep, got it.
01:06:08
Speaker
so looks like ah It looks like an ingot or like money yeah from... ah if If you're wondering what a beskaringan is, it's it's basically supposed to be look like... It's the equivalent of a Star Wars chocolate coin, I guess, what that seems to be. Yeah, that makes sense. Disneyland, I feel like, went a little more normal, but kind of went... when Okay, the first image, no, but the rest of it looks pretty normal stuff, okay? yeah So, I like how you you tried to tee that up as normal, and I'm staring at this thing with blue onions, and I'm like, what is this? Yeah, so it's ah a bounty. This is a docking bay seven ah bounty bun with ah spiced beef and pork with a toma tomato chutney, golden aioli and sauteed blue onions. So it kind of looks like ah it's just a sandwich and it's got some blue onions on it, but it it looks really good.
01:07:01
Speaker
Yeah. the the The funny thing is, is like the the blue onions very much, like they're doing a lot of the work visually here that, again, it feels very in-universe for Star Wars, but, you know, they're just onions. the The sad part is, I wish they had picked something besides onions because onions are like my least favorite thing to have on a burger.
01:07:24
Speaker
so but But you could do this Adelphi cheesy noodles with fried chicken tip-yip with pancetta, toasted herb breadcrumbs, and sweet and spicy chili sauce that looks like it's being injected into it with a little, like, ah plastic... ah Yeah, a little... Yeah.
01:07:41
Speaker
vial of chili sauce. Yeah. That looks delicious though. It does. Yeah. I would a hundred percent get that. This is what I meant Trevor. This is like a fairly normal dish, right? Like this isn't, this doesn't look crazy to me, right? Like it looks like it's chicken. It's Mac and cheese basically, right? They're just, they're going to use fun words for it, but yeah you also had the good, sorry.
01:08:01
Speaker
ah even So, yeah, to that point, even the next one, like it's still it's youngling cheesy noodles and fried chicken tip yip served with low fat milk or small Dasani water. So it's the kid's meal. But the interesting thing is they say it's cheesy noodles. They they look like um they look like thick.
01:08:21
Speaker
they're very thick. Yeah. it's it's It's like a thick Chinese noodle is what it looks like. Like ah like what you would get in like udon noodles.
Updates on Soarin' Ride
01:08:31
Speaker
It looks like worms almost. It's like worm size. it's not like mac and cheese with chicken. it's like or like it's still It still would taste like mac and cheese, but it's a thicker noodle. yeah The funny thing is, like I know like for my son, like we we've actually had a conversation about this where when it comes to Chinese food, like i like the ah I like the dishes with the thicker noodles and he likes it with like the the thinner chow mein noodles.
01:08:55
Speaker
And so he like if I put this in front of him, he'd be like, oh, I don't want that. yeah But yeah, it's still like it's it's the same, but just slightly interesting enough. Right. Like it's.
01:09:08
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's all the new stuff. But yeah, I mean, there's some fun stuff in here that they decided to do and and good looking stuff. I mean, it it looks they like it looks tasty. So ah the the Ogas Cantina, I did.
01:09:20
Speaker
I'm still my brain is not working with those. I don't know what's going on there. I feel like that's supposed to be like a shot or something that you're like, you're yeah taking that whole thing and like. slamming it into you. like i need some I need a picture of that. like I need a review of this from the internet just to see a picture of it yeah what it looks like in real life.
01:09:41
Speaker
The interesting thing is there's so much going on in these these oga yeah i don't know if you even call them drinks. Like they're like little. They're like shots. Yeah. They're based. It's weird. Yeah. There's so much going on. Like like it says, you know, Minute Maid premium lemonade. it's like, are you even really tasting the lemonade? because there's so much other stuff going on. Yeah. This looks like a, you know, jello shot you'd make in college for Halloween, like a themed Halloween. yeah You know what I mean? Like, yeah you're right. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, that's kind of what it looks like. It's hard to describe. I will post pictures of these, but, you know, it's it's OK. Cool.
01:10:14
Speaker
ah Okay, so I think that's it for Mandalorian and Grogu. um Yeah, I guess we have one more thing really to talk. Or I guess, yeah, you know, it like three more things, but yeah yeah. Well, there's one more Disney Parks thing to talk about. that's That's soaring across America. That's right. So I am going to get to experience this, which, you know, listen, I love that they keep... updating Soren. I think it's great because I mean, it really lends itself to that. Right.
01:10:40
Speaker
And I think that's that's really cool. So they they actually just announced the locations, ah you know, where this is going to be taking place. And of course, you know, we got the opening days, but ah we got um let's see here. but do Oh, yeah. Okay. So, obviously, Mount Rushmore here. There's some, like, um coastline, New England coastline, probably, like, Maine-ish. Looks like Maine. main yeah Yeah, looks like Maine. New York Harbor, ah Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon, yeah. yeah of course I mean, Grand Canyon was an obvious one. they They were going to do that. ah You know, then there's like it says the autumn colors of the heartland, the beauty of the bayous, great plains of the West, northern wilderness, ah sunlit island shores.
01:11:24
Speaker
So, I mean, this this this is this should be pretty cool. i I'm looking at this, though, and I don't know if anybody else does this, but I do this. I'm looking at these scenes and I'm like, So what are the scents going to be? like i was just thinking that too, because the, the sworn around the world scents were very distinct. And,
01:11:45
Speaker
I'm wondering how that translates for this particular version. Because I guess... Ocean's easy, right? We know what ocean's going be. So like we're at the harbor, we're going to smell that's the salt water of the sea, right? I'm just reading here the Great Plains of the West. I feel like that maybe we're going to get a little bit of like the ah the same, like the grassy smell. Dusty, yeah. Yeah, yeah. the grass and And so maybe we get that. um i You know, I don't think the Grand Canyon smells like anything. I haven't been there, but I assume it doesn't have... It's dust and dirt and it yeah doesn't actually have a smell to it. OK. We have a or it's not I mean, it's not exactly the same thing, but it's a very similar um or we have ah in the Badlands in Alberta.
01:12:27
Speaker
They're like it's these like canyons or like, yeah, it's the same kind of ah same kind of. What's the term? Like biome as what yeah ah what the Grand Canyon is. So, yeah, there is a there is a distinct smell to it. It's almost like desert, I guess. Yeah, yeah. You think desert doesn't have a smell, but it does actually have a smell to it. Okay, that's fair. Yeah.
01:12:51
Speaker
The other part about this, though, i ah I'm reading here a new musical arrangement by Bruce Broughton. brouch braden I don't know how you say his name. Of the beloved Jerry Goldsmith's Soren theme underscores the adventure.
01:13:05
Speaker
That always concerns me a little bit. Because, listen, i i was worried about it when they did Soren around the world, but they kept... pretty much the whole thing intact right like you kiss i don't think soren would have been would have been uh as popular as it was and and as beloved as it is without that that you know score right like that yeah that score makes it right like it really does and i mean i i think i've said this on the show before that's my alarm song when i wake look wake up in the morning i wake up to soren okay to to yeah The funny part is, you know, because it starts off kind of slow. So, like, usually I don't wake ah wake up right away. And I usually get, like, right to the part where you it's, like, really starts. that That's when I wake up. Yeah. In the morning. That's that's what wakes me up. Because I think, I mean, it's one of the best pieces of music at Disney.
01:13:55
Speaker
And ah so hopefully they did what they did with Storing Around the World where they... mostly kept it the same and they just maybe added in a little bit that's kind of sounds similar. um But they do also to say ride programming, wind and more add to truly. I so i don't know if they just changed, you know, if they change any of effects or anything, but it sounds like they're just, you know, just probably some more 4D stuff going on, if I had to guess. Yeah, but yeah, sure. You know more spritzes of water and wind and stuff like that. but I will say this, though. the I guess ah as much as I love Soarin', one thing that always gets me on the ride is the transitions between the scenes. Okay, yeah. Like, so you, or assume you've written it as much as I have, that, like, you you get to a point where it's like,
01:14:43
Speaker
you're not even, or sometimes you're not even enjoying the scene. You're like, you're looking at like, oh there's the bird way off in the distance that, you know, comes, you know, you know comes into the foreground and like like, that's the cut to the next scene.
01:14:55
Speaker
I'm wondering how they're going to do this for this incarnation of the ride. If they're going to do that same, like, Like those transitions, right? Yeah. I feel like, I mean, obviously like the the the transitions somewhere around the world, we're starting to show their age a little bit. um But I mean, i don't, or like they can definitely do them more naturally, but it my only thing is, is like, you know, it's it's such a great riding, you know, a great show to enjoy. That little bit does take away from it a little bit for me just because, know,
01:15:30
Speaker
it like you get, you almost get distracted by the transitions, right? Yeah, I get that. Yeah. So I'm just, I'm curious just how, like, yeah you know, the the the scenery and everything I'm sure is going to be fantastic, but it's like,
01:15:45
Speaker
You know, how how are they going to do those cuts is what I'm wondering next. That will be interesting. i know a lot of people didn't love in Starring Around the World, which, you know, we'll come back. It's not like it's gone. The CGI parts, you know, that they they added in and everything, which, you know. Yeah. it's I thought they were fine.
01:16:03
Speaker
ah They never really distracted me all that much. I mean, listen, the the original, you know, that that that ah that that bird wasn't really flying in your face, you know, like the the people weren't actually, um you know, ah hang gliding in front of you. There's there's always been cgi there, right? I mean, it's not, ah you know, it's not new. But it's just when it when it eventually takes over,
01:16:23
Speaker
like large chunks of the the what you're when you're they're supposed to be showcasing yeah like various areas and it's like oh here's just a CGI version of that it's like well yeah like that that's not what I came here to watch right I agree I agree yeah i agree yeah listen I think it's good I think they picked good areas you know I i think they'll you know capture you know all of the the real you know beautiful stuff we have in in in the United States so I I'm i'm excited for this I'm excited to check it out I always love new things and, uh, you know, to, to take something like Soarin' and, and now we'll get to ride the third version of Soarin'. That's kind of great.
01:17:01
Speaker
Yeah. I, I have to wonder if, uh, I mean, that it might be harder to do than what they did with Star Wars is eventually get it to a point where um scenes are randomized. But I don't know that that's... that probably Yeah, that'd probably be challenging.
01:17:18
Speaker
I mean, ah but it you'd say that, but they did it in Star Wars. And and Star Wars, it's that there's actually like a cohesive story that flows through it. so That's true. I mean, they could do it with Soarin'. I'm just... ah Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah.
01:17:32
Speaker
Just pointing that out that, you know, maybe it could hit a point where instead of it being like, you know, specific versions of it, like Soarin' Over California is just like... I like it. know, just Soarin', but you don't know what scenes you're going to get, right? i like that. That's kind of cool. I like it. Maybe it's just... Maybe it's just... combination, you know?
01:17:50
Speaker
Yeah, or if if you get a bad draw, you're just like... flying over a like, you know, just farmland. Like, it's just, it's just nothing but farmland, right? know, it's, it's funny to to talk, you know, you talk about Star Tours, right, and stuff like that. So, you know, one of the conversations we were having after we booked this trip is, the things that we're going to try to get my daughter to do for the first time on this trip that, you know, we've done forever, right? was And one of those things with Star Tours, we haven't pushed her to try that yet, but I think that she's probably old enough now that she, you know, might enjoy it and and have a fun you know have a good time with it. She loves Soarin', now given Star Tours a little more turbulent than Soarin' is, but, you know, stuff like that Obviously, Big Thunder, where I, like...
01:18:32
Speaker
I am going to get her in Big Thunder. I don't know what I have to do, but I'm going to make it happen. Like, there's going to be bribery involved, probably. um But, you know, we're going to make it happen. But, like, we have we've been having this conversation now of things that we're going to try to get her to do. we we i think we're going to try Flight of Passage, if we can. um that's That's actually a very good one. Like, it's... yeah It's an intense ride, but it's also not.
01:18:55
Speaker
It's also not intense because it doesn't move that much, but it is intense. Exactly. is funny, though, you say that. It's usually intense, Yes, I remember my stepdad when he went on it, he got off and he said, he's like, that's like the most intense ride I've ever been on that doesn't move that much. And I'm like, I know it feels really intense. My parents were very impressed with it, too, when I went on with them. I think my daughter would like it. You know, it's one of those things. She's lot like me where, you know, when she kind of pushed them together. Like, we're not going to try Space Mountain.
01:19:22
Speaker
ah Like, that's not going to happen. She already doesn't like the dark. So, like, you know. Yeah, that's fair. I get, you know, getting getting into a ah dark room when you're you're unsure of what it is in the first place. I can see that.
01:19:36
Speaker
I mean, again, i just I can only speak to my own experience with my son was, you know, he was, you know, his first foray into roller coasters and stuff was in
Disney Cruise & Alaskan Adventures
01:19:47
Speaker
Disneyland. But like it was the same kind of thing. You know, I took him Big Thunder and the one that actually stuck or that that was sticky for him was the Matterhorn in Disneyland because yeah it's similar to Space Mountain in that it's it's actually a very rough ride.
01:20:01
Speaker
ride. Like it it it wasn't or the the things that gone was the ride was rougher than all the other coasters because it is a very old coaster. And, ah you know, obviously the Yeti was ah his first go around. He didn't like the Yeti and he wanted to avoid it. But then the next time we went back, he was like,
01:20:19
Speaker
Yeah, I'll do that. And it was like just giving him, like even if he didn't like it the first time, just having the experience and being able to process And then like, you know, the next time he went, he was like, he thought it. He was like, no, it wasn't as bad as like, like he kind of like, he knew what to expect. So he was like, no, I'm good now. And then from then on, it was like,
01:20:41
Speaker
He was, you know, you know, any any new ride we went to, he was like, yeah, I'm down to try. Like he, he, he was down to try because he knew it couldn't be any worse yeah than what he had experienced already. Right. So there's, yeah there's, I, I've been trying to tell her, I'm like, there's, there's a wooden coaster. There's a kitty wooden coaster at our local park that she's gone on a bunch of times. That is 100% more intense than the Big Thunder is, right? And so I'm trying to tell her this. Like, even Seven Dwarves, we haven't tried yet with her, right? Because she's, like, looked at him and, been like, no. And I'm like, kid, you've ridden things that are way... Yeah, I'm like, i've you've ridden... You wrote this wooden coaster that's, like, 50 years old, and it's your favorite ride.
01:21:22
Speaker
Like, I'm telling you that these rides will be less scary to you than that. Right. Like, so I, I think I'm going to get there, but we're going to listen, no matter what I'm going on, big thunder. Like, I don't care what happens. I'm going on It's happening. So it would just be nice to do it with your daughter. as like Yeah. I would like to go. Yes. yeah I've had plenty of rides with my son on big thunder as well. So yeah. Anyway, sort across America open, uh, you know, in a couple of weeks, couple weeks here.
01:21:47
Speaker
Yeah, so the, you know, and I know this is, a you know, not not necessarily your thing to talk about, but um but... It's fine. I'm not sure. Has this stopped us before? It has not. like yeah This is actually really specific to me, and I don't know if this is still going to be happening next year, but um they're they're making some changes on Disney Cruise Lines specifically for Alaskan Cruises, which I, you know, as you know, and I think as the podcast audience knows,
01:22:12
Speaker
audience knows I'm doing an Alaska cruise next year on the Disney wonder. And I, you know, obviously very excited about that. But ah one of the things that they're going to be doing is, you know, they're going to kind of pair the fact that, you know, Alaska is in the background with ah doing ah for the first time in forever frozen sing along. ah So they're going to be doing that on like the, ah like the main deck while, you know, you're, you're in Alaska, which I think is pretty cool actually that they're kind of, I'm assuming it's You know, them naming that, it is the one from the parks. I i assume, right? Yeah. I mean, it but however they choose to do it, it's like you said, it's the perfect background for it. Yeah. You know, having having Alaska, you you've not seen the mountains up close, or you will see the mountains up close. Yeah. So it'll make sense that ah like it it very much fits in with, like, I'm just thinking about, you know,
01:23:09
Speaker
the movie and what I know about the mountains. It's like, yeah, I, you know, that this, this is the the right time to do a frozen sing along. yeah Yeah. And then they're also going to be, they're going to have, Anna's frozen fun hunt. It's a scavenger hunt. And then they're doing an Oaken thing, like a dance celebration. And then a frozen, what's that? Sorry. Oaken's maple swirl and twirl. Yeah. and An atrium dance celebration filled with music and movement. Huh? Interesting. Yeah. And then there's a frozen themed dining experience where you can eat ah Nordic food, even though you're in Alaska, and not, you know,
01:23:45
Speaker
You're so far enough north. Yeah, sure. let's we'll We'll go with that. um And along with special dishes inspired by the hit movie. and So listen, I don't know if these things are still going to be around next year when I go, but if they are, that would be very cool ah because I you know these i think these this is a good idea and this is pretty cool that they're doing this. ah you know Obviously, I think that's really the main one, but they're they are also going to be doing a new Sail Away show. So Trevor, one of the things they do before you leave Right. As they do the sail away show. Right. and And so it's like there's a big show on the on the stage on the top deck ah before, you know, while you're still docked. And as you know, they do like a countdown, you know, you know like, you know, 10, 9 to 1. And then at 1, they blow all the horns that do all the different Disney songs. And then, you know, you start to leave. You start to leave the dock. It's like it's a whole thing. And it's a lot of fun and, you know, it's really cool to go to.
01:24:38
Speaker
um But they're they're changing it, which I don't think is a bad thing. I mean, I think it's good to continue updating these things. um But this is a ah new a new show called Let's Set Sail. um So that's it. They've already kind of like ah piloted at this, I guess.
01:24:53
Speaker
ah But so that's pretty cool. And then ah there's also, you know, ah the the color spin dance party, which they, I guess, also have been testing.
01:25:04
Speaker
And they're going to bring this across other itinerary. So, you know, this is obviously a dance party, but they're bringing that to the Disney Magic in May. And then they're also updating Pirate Night, um which is interesting, although seemingly not on all all ships and sailings. So it said select Disney Cruise Line sailings will debut Mickey and Minnie's Pirates in the Caribbean. Now, so Trevor, for, you know, for your reference, Pirate Night, you know, people dress like pirates and then go to the fireworks at night and it's a whole pirate themed show and it's, but it's very Pirates of the Caribbean themed, right? so Jack Sparrow and all that.
01:25:38
Speaker
ah So it seems like they're doing, ah you know, they're kind of moving away from the Pirates to the Caribbean thing and doing obviously a Mickey and Minnie thing, which, kind of makes sense to me. My daughter has no frame of reference for Pride to the Caribbean, but if Mickey and Minnie are involved, she's down, right? You know? Yeah, it's good it's kind of a weird thing now that you're pointing it out, is that like Pirates has been a lot ah pretty big thing for the last 20 years, honestly, but it has fallen off. Like, like you know, obviously that there hasn't, or i'm I think there's another movie
01:26:11
Speaker
in the works but it kind of fell off like i think before covid honestly yeah so yeah it kind of makes sense like especially on a cruise like you know them being like hey pirates of the caribbean like you know kids are not kids are not like the adults are like yeah let's go oh yeah but the kids are like okay i guess but but whereas yeah you know if it's mickey and mini pirates it's like Yeah, you know you know, kids get on board with it. Like, yeah, I get it. It makes sense.
01:26:42
Speaker
I agree. And I think it's it's always good when they up update these things. now and By the way, this just meant it's only mentioning that this is happening on the select ah sailings and it it it mentions ah the the wonder and the magic. So I don't know if this is going to the other ships or not. It doesn't really say.
01:26:57
Speaker
ah But, you know, yeah it'd be interesting if it does. anyway, yeah, i'm I'm looking forward to all this stuff when I go on my Alaskan cruise next year. That's going to be the whole thing. you you got lots of You got lots of planning to do for that, i think. Oh, gosh. Yeah, I'm going to spend a small fortune on the excursions related to that. um That's really what the money is going to be is all those excursions that I'm going to want to do. Because if we're going to Alaska, I'm going to do the excursions. And yeah, it's I'm ready for that. We'll have to talk about this later. I don't even know what excursions you would do in Alaska. oh there's so many. Well, okay. But i mean, sorry, for from my point of view, that's like...
01:27:34
Speaker
i I'm so close to the mountains that like saying like we're going to go walk in the mountains. It's like that's an excursion. Like I can do that. i can do that anytime. Right. like Yeah. I get it. But I know i like I get it. It's you know it's because it's a it's a location that is you know unique and and and all that. Yeah.
01:27:55
Speaker
But I'm just I'm just curious what the excursions are, I guess. But like so we don't have to talk about that right now. I'm just I'm curious. yeah the The tricky thing is, is not all of the excursions are kid friendly. Right. Right. And and which, you know, it's understandable. Right. Like I not everything can be kid friendly. Right.
01:28:14
Speaker
Yeah. So um in Alaska, like I'm wondering some of the excursions require people having bear spray. Right. ah Probably. Yeah. um I would, I would think so. I mean, but like, let look, I'm just, you know, I'm just looking around here.
01:28:26
Speaker
There's a a lumberjack show. I love lumberjacks, man. That's not really what I want to do though. I just saw that. I was, I'm not going to do that, but like, I mean, they've got a seaplane, you know, thing you can do. There's like helicopter floors.
01:28:39
Speaker
There's a Alaskan crab expedition. There's, you know, you can rent like a, you know, four wheelers and, know, I mean, there's there's all sorts of stuff you can do. I mean, but whale watching, um you know, there's a lot of cool stuff in here. And I want to do kind of all of it, but I obviously can't, ah you know, clearly. um You know, ah some of it is because, you know, some of it's not going to kid-friendly. But, you know, some of it is also just really expensive, too. Like, I would love to do this dog sled adventure by helicopter, but it's $1,000 a person. I'm not spending that. Really?
01:29:12
Speaker
oh yes yeah, because by helicopter. Okay. Well, yeah. Hmm. yeah i or I know you're coming up here in the summer, but if you came up here in the winter, I know a place where you can do dog sledding. I would love to do dog sledding ah for sure. So, you know, there's a lot of stuff. I haven't looked through them all yeah all yet, and yeah I'm sure we're going to do that. ah But yeah, no, I'm going to have to take out a second mortgage on my house, I think, to pay for all the excursions on this trip. But anyway, I'm going have to do
01:29:43
Speaker
We'll leave that
Disneyland's 70th Anniversary & Conclusion
01:29:44
Speaker
there. um Yes, we will leave that there. I think we have one last thing to talk about here, and then we can probably wrap this up. Because there yeah there is some ah merchandise for the Disneyland's 70th anniversary. Isn't it already the 70th anniversary? And they've been putting it out over time. So we have as they've been releasing new merch, we've they've been we've been talking about it. And so the last merch drop was February. Now we've got we've got some more stuff that just dropped. And I...
01:30:11
Speaker
It's really cool looking. I really like it. A lot of purple going on, but... Yeah. No, sorry. I just realized, like, I know we've talked about this before, but I didn't actually clock it in my head that, like, I was at the 60th anniversary. Yeah. Which was 10 years ago now. 10 years ago. Yeah, 10 years ago, man. You know, math works and all that. Yeah.
01:30:33
Speaker
But, yeah, wow. Okay. That's... Yeah, I can't believe that we're hitting 70. But yeah it's yeah, like you said, there's yeah it's a lot of purple. lot of um It's like a... Retro.
01:30:46
Speaker
Yeah, the the color scheme almost feels like 50s, like original Disneyland, but but it's a lot like it pops a lot more, right? It does. It's a lot more vibrant than...
01:31:02
Speaker
than the original Disneyland colors. A lot of bedazzling going on. by the Yeah. A lot of bedazzling. Yeah. Yeah. Lots of gold. I'm just, I'm just looking through if there's anything that really jumps out at me here that. I like the shirt that the guy is wearing in the first one. I think it's a, maybe technically a spirit Jersey, but.
01:31:19
Speaker
Yeah, it is. So, you know, I like that look. Original sign on it. Yeah. I think it's pretty cool. And I also like these jumbo, the trading pins, you know, these pins that they have here. These are pretty cool. Are you sure those aren't coasters? Like, holy, most of these are huge. No, it's the 70th anniversary finale jumbo sign trading. No, but it's like a, it's the size of a coaster. It's got to size your hand. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. So, yeah, no, like, these are cool items. I just, I kind of like them. So what I'm talking about. But we will post pictures on them.
01:31:53
Speaker
I will say, actually, that the more, like, as they're releasing more of this, ah there's, this does actually feel better than the 60th anniversary collection because there there is some variation to it.
01:32:07
Speaker
Whereas the 60th, I remember it was like, it was this like iridescent purple they were doing, but it was like everything. Like like there was like no, like it it was just like everything was slapped with the same coat of paint.
01:32:21
Speaker
Right. yeah Whereas this time around, they've actually got some, some variation and some color to it, which I do like. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. I think that's it. I think we covered it all.
01:32:32
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, yeah, I guess, I guess that was a that was a good long episode. I didn actually wasn't sure if we were going to talk that long, but, I, I should have known better because the, the rock and roller coaster stuff really ended up. Yeah. And the bluey stuff too. Yeah. Yeah.
01:32:48
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Lots ah lots of good stuff to look forward to. So, you know, if, uh, you know, if you listen to the show and you want to share your own thoughts on anything we talked about, or you have your own, uh, trip reports or, you know, anything else that you want to reach out to us on, you can always email us at welcomehomepodcast at gmail.com, or you can, uh, go through our website, welcomehomepodcast.co, and you can, uh, hit the contact us section and, uh, And reach out to us through there as well.
01:33:15
Speaker
um You know, we love hearing from you guys and and getting your own takes on things that we talk about. um In that same vein, we are also on social media. So you can find us on Facebook as Welcome on Podcast. you YouTube is Welcome on Podcast. And Instagram is Welcome Home Picks. Make sure you also check out our group on Facebook, Welcome Home Disney Waitlist, where, um you know, lots of great conversations go on about stuff we talked about from the show. People asking questions, figuring out their own Disney...
01:33:43
Speaker
um, Disney travel stuff and their own, you know, everyone has their own take on Disney, which is part of the fun because, you know, we, you know, everything we talked about on the show is our take on Disney and we know that you all have your own takes on it too. So, uh, you know, come join the group if you want to have some good conversations about that.
01:34:03
Speaker
And, uh, if you want to help support the show, you can go to store.welcomepodcast.co and check out our different merch. Um, And if there's anything that you don't see on the the store that you would like to see, just, ah again, send us an email. And, yeah you know, we have the ability to add stuff to the store. So, you know, we can we we can we can make you some merch if there's if there's something specific that you're looking for. for you.
01:34:26
Speaker
Yeah, just for you. Exactly. um Also, if ah ah if you would like to support us through Patreon, you can check out our Patreon page at patreon.com slash welcomehomepod. We have exclusive merch for our Patreon supporters, so it's a logo that you can only get on Patreon.
01:34:41
Speaker
And everyone who supports us through Patreon also gets access to the Discord server, which is yet another place that we have more conversations about stuff from the show. And again, everybody just sharing their own experiences, asking questions, um trip planning, you know, sometimes, you know, Tom, Tom coming and dropping bombs about, you know, all of a sudden he's doing a trip. And i i i thought it was because of the 40% discount, but yeah, I know it was more than That just started the conversation. That's all. Yeah. But so I was partially right. You were partially right, yes. Yeah. And it wasn't my fault this time. No, it really wasn't. Yeah.
01:35:20
Speaker
Yeah. so So, you know, come check out us out on Discord if you want to get in on that conversation as well. And ah 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's it's good for the the show and just helps us helps us get around to more people.
01:35:39
Speaker
And you can also write us review on iTunes and let us know what you think about the show. Yeah, and that's a good way to do things. But the other thing you can do is subscribe to Welcome Home Podcast so you can be reminded every time we release a episode. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Spotify, YouTube, YouTube Music, just about any podcast app that's out there, you can find us. And if there's one that you want to listen to us on and you know we're not on, just let us know. and we'll We'll add ourselves to that right away, you know really quickly. We're on everything, though. i don't I don't think I've ever heard of a thing that we're not on, Trevor. it's We're everywhere.
01:36:10
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's easy now. You can you can find us anywhere. Yeah, wherever. ah Thank you to our sponsors, ah DVC Resell Market, and of course, Keyholder Vacations for sponsoring this episode and this show. ah Great friends over the years, and they're amazing at what they do. So check them out for for really anything DVC-related, or just park tickets, whatever. they will ah They will help you out. So join us next time for more Disney Parks discussion. Of course, more DVC talk. We hope to see you all real soon.
01:36:38
Speaker
This is Skipper Albert A. Wall, the voice of the jungle, signing off from Welcome Home Podcast on the DVC. We do a hug when we head to church.
01:36:50
Speaker
How cheeky cuddle is no man's affair. I look around from all the poles, found her in her sugar bowl. Hey, look out, here goes my ball and chain.
01:37:01
Speaker
The End