Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 005 – Lakeshore Lodge Update, Tons of Refurb News, Jollywood Nights Changes, Epic Universe Ticket Prices, and the Airplane Seat Question
75 Plays24 days ago
In this week's show, Lakeshore Lodge is confirmed to have a lazy river. Plus, the guys talk about a lot of refurb going on in the Magic Kingdom and then talk about changes coming to Jollywood Nights at DHS this year. Also, Shanghai Disney is getting a new resort.
In the Aftershow, ticket prices for Epic Universe are released and EU is now included as part of park hopping. Disney purchases the film rights to the Impossible Creatures book series. Lastly, Damon talks about his cruise he just booked.
This episode sponsored by Dontresistthetravel.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Patreon Shoutout
00:00:13
Speaker
Hey folks, welcome to episode number five of the Rhubarb Travelers podcast. We are recording this show on Tuesday, November 4th, 2025. twenty twenty five This is Blake.
00:00:24
Speaker
With me as always is Damon. How are you doing, my friend? You got the the date right this time. I got the date right. This is take two, folks. You didn't hear the first one. Doing well. It's been a busy day. We'll talk about it later. But Royal Caribbean, you know, released their 2027 itineraries today. Oh, yeah, ah yeah. And I had to get in on it.
00:00:42
Speaker
Had to get in on it. so You already booked something.
Future Travel Plans and Nostalgia
00:00:45
Speaker
I already booked. First day, I already booked. All right. Well, we'll talk about that in a little bit. Yeah. all right so ah before we get into our show we wanted to send our shoutout to our patreon subscribers and today's shoutout is longtime friend of the show jeremy he has been with us in various iterations of this show for a while um So, Jeremy, thank you so much for being a Patreon subscriber. Although I have to say your meme game has slacked a little bit, Jeremy. We got to pick up the memes. All right.
00:01:17
Speaker
Right. Yeah. you're Pretty good at it, but you got to get back on it. All right. Yeah. We need more people in the group. Everyone come to the group. That's right. So if you would like to become a Patreon subscriber, please go over to Patreon dot com.
00:01:29
Speaker
ah Do a quick search for Rhubarb Travelers and please consider becoming a Patreon subscriber. It helps out quite a bit. right.
00:01:41
Speaker
Moving on. DVC news and tips. Not a whole lot of news, but an interesting one, at least. Lakeshore Lodge construction update. It has now been confirmed to have a lazy river that will be running through it. So...
00:01:55
Speaker
I saw that the pictures of what River Country looked like and then what Lakeshore Lodge looked like, and it just kind of hurt my feelings a little bit. Like, how much really miss out on River Country and and how...
00:02:13
Speaker
awesome it was. Like, it was one of those things. It was pretty much my introduction to Disney was that trip, right? Because again, my parents couldn't afford to take us. My aunt and uncle took me, you know, and they didn't even have kids at that point.
00:02:26
Speaker
They took me to River Country. don't even remember like where we, oh no, we stayed at ah The Contemporary. And we went to River Country. And that was probably, well, I mean, that was my
DVC Decisions and Booking Challenges
00:02:38
Speaker
first Disney experience. And I miss it. So this was a tough one for me to kind of see kind of the overlay.
00:02:43
Speaker
It looks good. And yes, there's a lazy river. i mean, not River Country. Yeah, you've got nostalgia going there. Yeah, I do. And I just feel like it's such a good, like, water park. like It's such a good way to do a water park. Like, you could do it now without right.
00:03:03
Speaker
the crazy lake water, right? You just kind of paint the bottoms a darker color and you kind of make it feel like that. But I just, I don't know. Like, I feel like a third water park would be great. Maybe they have something in the cut, but this is good.
00:03:17
Speaker
I just wonder what else will be there kind of as, you know, kind of hidden gems. But yeah, I mean. so So was this your very first experience with with Disney World? Like, did you go to this before you even went into a park?
00:03:30
Speaker
the as far as it's funny because you know it's so long ago that i don't remember exactly and out of that trip honestly i have pictures of river country and i have pictures of like uh like animals like like you like i don't even know from where at that time i mean obviously something was like at disney they had like animals and stuff but i i don't remember where i don't actually remember the park at all I think I did, but I'm not sure. Like, probably. I mean, I wouldn't see how I wouldn't have, to be honest with you, but that's just not what sticks, right? It's funny what sometimes sticks in your head, and river country is what's stuck in my head, for sure.
00:04:13
Speaker
Right. Well, the folks we've got, ah construction is ongoing at Lakeshore Lodge. That will be coming online most likely later next year. so Yeah, I was wonder if I'll buy points there. I may, though.
00:04:28
Speaker
you You know, what we've been doing for DVC is just kind of like, you know, I know everyone doesn't like this, but I just, it's the way that I do it is I just buy points, get my 10-year, know,
00:04:40
Speaker
loan or whatever the case may be and then when that loan's over i just buy more points and get another 10-year loan i don't care like it's probably the my the no it's not probably it definitely is not the best way to do dvc i still make my money back though right so it's like you know people can say oh well don't you know don't put it on a loan but okay so you have a loan for 10 years you trust me you still make your money back oh It's not like that loan affects you making your money back. Yes, you don't make it back as quickly, but so what? like I don't mind having that small little payment every month just to have more points. So yeah I may do that.
00:05:16
Speaker
was going to say what you save it what you save in future inflation of room rates more than makes up for whatever interest you pay. and Sure, absolutely.
00:05:26
Speaker
yeah So, yeah, maybe this might be might be one.
Listener Feedback and Merchandise Strategy
00:05:29
Speaker
it You know, I'm looking at the rooms and everything. it doesn't. Yeah, we'll have to see. I have to see what it looks like inside and what the rooms look like inside before I make a decision.
00:05:38
Speaker
All right. So now that's a good segue talking about Damon and all of his points that he has. Damon, you just made some reservations, right? I i did. so Where are you going?
00:05:49
Speaker
Going to Hilton Head. And again, like we have family dynamics that kind of we don't go to Hilton Head all that often. Have been to the resort once. I've been to Hilton Head every year, excluding the past two years, I think.
00:06:03
Speaker
gosh, we must've hit darn near, you know, 17, eight years, 18 years in a row. Anyway, we you know, we were kind of having this discussion with my daughter about what she wanted to do for her sweet 16. I'm one of those parents like, Hey, let's have a blowout. Like let's go crazy. And she was just not for that. You know, some of the girls at school that she had gone to, they have these huge parties, a hundred people, like everyone gets dressed up. It's at some, you know, event space in the area.
00:06:28
Speaker
And she just wasn't about that. But you know, what she had planned on was like, well, just going to go to a concert in Charlotte. Like, okay, and you can do that anyway, though. Like, that's nothing special. And if that's what you want to do, like, that's fine, right? I don't ever tell her what she has to do. But what I said was, I said, why don't you do that?
00:06:45
Speaker
And then what about if we go to Hilton Head? for a day or two. And what's interesting is, though, is that, you know, you kind of forget because when you're at a resort like that, that you don't have the ability to just say, hey, I'm going to book two days in March.
00:07:03
Speaker
right Even though school's not out, like the only thing we were actually able to get was a three-bedroom for one night. And so we took that, we wait-listed another night, but I was like, well, I didn't want to get stuck.
00:07:16
Speaker
So what we did was is we wait-listed another night and then... got a room at a hotel, like one of the nicer hotels that's on the beach for the night before. So that way we're still going to go two nights regardless. It's either going to be hotel Disney or Disney Disney.
00:07:31
Speaker
And we have the ability to get our money back on the hotel, like up until like a week and a half before. Right. So that's what we're shooting for. But I think it will be a nice party. She'll invite some friends. There's, you know, great places have dinner. You can go super fancy. You can go not super fancy. You have the beach.
00:07:45
Speaker
She's been a big proponent of going to the beach. And, know, since we're not in New Jersey anymore, You know, the beach is, not that it's any further for us, but it's just not like, in New Jersey, the beach is like kind of a rite of passage.
00:07:59
Speaker
Right. And in North Carolina, it is not really like that. So she doesn't get to go as often as she would like. So I think that will be fun. So yes, we will be down there in March, at least for a night.
00:08:10
Speaker
Hopefully, too well, we'll be there for two nights, but we'll be at Disney for a night and hopefully two nights. And we'll have to see where we're going to get a cake from. That will be fun too. do you you normally eat have You normally eat off property when you go there, right?
00:08:22
Speaker
Oh, yes, absolutely. There's just too much good food to not eat off property. Yeah. I don't think I've ever eaten on property there. Lots of times. I've only been once, but like maybe you twice.
00:08:33
Speaker
Now, you see, now that I think about it, maybe it was twice. I don't remember. But yes, this will be, ah it will be fun though. I think that's something good to do for a sweet 16. You know, again, it's one of those things where you kind of can let them do whatever they want because you feel pretty comfortable confident and comfortable because it's Disney, right? So right yeah we'll be good there.
00:08:52
Speaker
right. And when he comes back from that, he'll give a trip report. But we now have a trip report from one of our listeners, Russell. Russell C. went to Walt Disney World and we asked him for a trip report. And Russell, my friend, you delivered.
00:09:08
Speaker
He delivered like it was a dissertation. yeah He had to defend this in front of everyone. So. No, no life. Wait minute. Before I'm going to let Damon talk this over, but i'm before he does, Russell sent in no lie, a 10 page essay, single space.
00:09:25
Speaker
Microsoft Word said there were over 5000 words in it so Russell. My hat's off to you, my friend. And I love it, right? Like, I love it. So i had ah I had to cheat a little bit and kind of get it summarized by our you know our favorite favorite AI apps here.
00:09:39
Speaker
So this was ah a pretty big trip, right? It had 13 people, five kids. It was celebrating, you know, 75th birthday and and all that. they Yeah, man. passes and all that. So they stayed in Saratoga, which I think is very nice. I'm a fan of Saratoga. I think the point value there is pretty darn good. They had a three bedroom villa.
00:10:02
Speaker
It's big enough, right? And it's all that. And they got to use the concierge program and they went to Typhoon Lagoon. They, you know, the whole group got on Guardians of the Galaxy. And Wow, they did an awful lot.
00:10:16
Speaker
And, um you know, I guess his brother had ridden Rise of the Resistance for the first time. And then they dedicated a fair amount of time to Magic Kingdom and did, you know, Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.
00:10:29
Speaker
They had some low wait times over at Tron and a lot of candy and this, that, the other thing. So that's that's great. What we're going to do is we love these trip reports and we're actually going to kind of catalog them over at our website. So that's rhubarbtravelers.com.
00:10:45
Speaker
Podcast.com? Is that what it is? I think so. Yes. Or is it just Rhubarb Travelers? See, now now you got, I think it's just rhubarbtravelers.com. Yeah. So if you go over there, give us a day, we will have this trip report and we'll be also taking other trip reports as well.
00:10:58
Speaker
I mean, if you want to make them this in depth, that's great. If you want to make them a little bit shorter, that's fine too. And we'll keep them over at the website so everyone can kind of look at them. And I think that's a great thing. So thank you to Russell. And like I said, everyone, make sure that they go and read it.
00:11:12
Speaker
Yeah. And I would, you know, the the very last thing he talked about was that concierge program. Yeah. That seems really interesting. Like, I kind of want to get Russell on just so we can talk about that concierge program. Yeah.
00:11:25
Speaker
so We can do that. Yeah. We can do that. All right, folks. So again, like Damon said, if you are heading down to Orlando, and it doesn't have to be Disney World, it could be Universal or it could be any other theme park, it but we would love to have trip reports from you. So please reach out to us and let us know if you're willing to give us a trip report.
Park Updates and Innovations
00:11:47
Speaker
right. ah Before we get into the news for this week's show, we are going to have this word from our sponsor. We'd like to welcome our inaugural sponsor to the show, DontResistTheTravel.com.
00:12:01
Speaker
Folks, vacation travel should be exciting, memorable, and most importantly, completely stress-free. Ha! Right. However, as we all know, planning that perfect trip for you and your family can be anything but that.
00:12:18
Speaker
And that's where the folks at Don't Resist the Travel come in and save the day. Whether you're traveling with your family and want a vacation that's fun, effortless, and full of memories, or you're looking for a luxury escape,
00:12:32
Speaker
With VIP experiences, private tours, and hand-picked resorts, the folks at Don't Resist the Travel handle every detail just for you. When you work with Don't Resist the Travel, you don't just book a trip, you build an experience that's truly tailored to your personal needs.
00:12:51
Speaker
So don't resist. You know you want to travel. Visit DontResistTheTravel.com and start planning your next unforgettable getaway today. And make sure to let them know the guys at Rhubarb Traveler's Podcast sent you.
00:13:08
Speaker
That's DontResistTheTravel.com.
00:13:15
Speaker
And we're back. All right. So park news, lots of refurb, refurbishment news coming out for the last two weeks. First one is Mickey's PhilharMagic is going to be undergoing refurbishment. It has actually just started, started back on November 1. It will run for three weeks until November 22nd.
00:13:35
Speaker
I didn't see any details about exactly what's going on with this refurb, but thats hopefully it's not too major. ah A big one, though, is Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It is now down. Well, it's been down, but it will be down until 20 later in 2026.
00:13:53
Speaker
The ride track has been replaced. The crews are now working on refurbishing the show scenes within the ride. um So you should see some ride envelope testing that's going to be starting here, hopefully before the end of the year.
00:14:07
Speaker
All of that should lead to a 2026. I mean, we're starting to see some of the scene work that's happening. Right. Man, I just, i I have such a difference of opinion, you know, internal tussling because like, on one hand, like I get that it needs to be refurbed. and But on the other hand, I have nostalgia. But then think the time they take to refurb and the money they take to refurb could be put into new stuff. Like, I just, I don't know how to feel about it.
00:14:35
Speaker
Big Thunder Mountain is not one of my favorite rides, to be honest with you. I just think it's okay. I think there's other rides that are much better than that. So I guess, you know.
00:14:47
Speaker
mean, I think they're trying to just get this done before villain land. villain Yeah, i and I get that. But then on the other hand, I think to myself, like, okay, you know, just some scene refurbishment. I don't know.
00:15:01
Speaker
Yeah. So other other big refurb news, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin is now closed for major refurs refurbishment. I cannot talk today for some reason. So they are redoing the ride system. you know So from the news, they're going to include the new laser gun shooting system that is already in place over at Disneyland.
00:15:23
Speaker
um And there it's going to be new car control. So all of that is coming see to Orlando now. And this is one where like I'm behind this, right? So like this needed to happen. It's not like they needed, you know, the ride system to kind of, you know, be a little bit better and they definitely needed new guns and car controls. So I'm okay with this one.
00:15:44
Speaker
Good. um And then after that, Carousel of Progress is going to go down for a refurb. This will probably not happen until after Buzz Lightyear is done and back open.
00:15:56
Speaker
But they're going to be redoing the initial introductory scene. Yeah, I think we talked about this already, right? right Going to be adding in Walt. the the The whole thing about all of these reapfer refurbs, folks, is that with Big Thunder Mountain down and now Buzz Lightyear down, those are some those are some big people eaters, right?
00:16:17
Speaker
Buzz, definitely. Yeah, capacity is going to be an issue for the remainder of the year. So just be aware of that as you are heading down to Orlando ah for at least the next five or six months.
00:16:30
Speaker
It's going to be some capacity issues that you'll have to deal with. All right. In other park news, Zootopia, the better zoo gather is going to be opening up this Friday in a couple of days, November 7th.
00:16:44
Speaker
And of course, this is replacing the It's Tough to Be a Bug show over at Animal Kingdom. There have been some previews that have been available. The DVC member preview actually happened earlier couple days ago, back on November 1 through November 3.
00:17:01
Speaker
And annual passholder previews will start tomorrow from the date of this recording. It's starting tomorrow, November 5, and happening on the 5th and the 6th. um So I've been hearing pretty good things.
00:17:14
Speaker
um They, you know, reused a fair amount of the functionality but of it's tough to be a bug. Right. yeah Which, which I like, cause I thought that was always pretty good. Right.
00:17:25
Speaker
Even though kids got scared a little bit that you would have thought that they would have made the adjustment there, but it doesn't seem that way. And then I heard that there's a really good animatronic, but there's also, but don't know, a different type of, you know, kind of interaction as well. That was different from it it's tough to be a bug.
00:17:42
Speaker
I always liked it's tough to be a bug. I always thought, that you know, again, the spiders, I'm not a spider person. I think it is a little scary for the kids sometimes, but I think this will be interesting. and And while it's not a new ride per se, right, this is another kind of, i can get behind this, I think. I mean, I'd love, it's tough to be a bug, but I get how they're kind of.
00:18:04
Speaker
They need to refresh the IP on it because. Yeah. I think that's what it is, right? Like, you know, Zootopia, think as an IP fits, ah fits well. So. Right. ah So one other bit of note for this, they are using a virtual queue for the annual Passover. I hate that though.
00:18:20
Speaker
Yeah. I hate virtual queues. It's going to be just like every other virtual queue. So you do it at seven o'clock in the morning or one o'clock in the afternoon. No word yet if this is going to continue on when it opens. I can't imagine, even if it does, I can't imagine this going for a virtual queue much longer than month. I mean, who who knows though, right? They do love virtual queues. And as long as you have the ability to single pass lightning lane it, like that's fine too, I guess. Just give me an option. I want to have the option to be able to go if I want to.
00:18:51
Speaker
Right. All right, let's move over to Hollywood Studios. There are some changes coming to the holiday specials over there called Jollywood Nights. So it's running on select dates from November 8th, which that is this weekend it starts, through December 22nd.
00:19:11
Speaker
It runs from 7.30 p.m. to 12.30 a.m. That's way too late for me. Yeah, so that means Damon would actually experience about 30 minutes of the entire time. When I went to it last time, though, I mean, I and i didn't go to that one. I went to the one at Magic Kingdom.
00:19:26
Speaker
I, um, or whichever one I went to. I stayed at pretty late, though. Like, later than I normally would. have man i with this time With this time change, I'll tell you the honest truth. ah In this past, you know, a couple of days, I was like, oh, I'm going go to bed. My wife's like, you know, it's 615. And was like, oh, it's dark out, though. Like it was 615, though.
00:19:49
Speaker
I was like, oh, I guess I can't
Special Events and New Technologies
00:19:50
Speaker
do it. Man, i I remember back when we took the boys when they were younger, when if it was the extended hours at nighttime, like the park would just stay open till 1230. And we were there from rope drop ah until that extended over.
00:20:07
Speaker
We were a commando during that. so No, I couldn't do it. All right. So some changes about Jollywood Nights are that ticket holders are going to be able to enter 30 minutes earlier this year than last year. So you will be able to get in starting at 530, provided that you have the special ticket for Jollywood Nights.
00:20:26
Speaker
There's going to be two new shows running. The Little Mermaid, a music adventure, and the Disney villains, Unfairly Ever After. Now, those those are already there in the parks, but they're going to be added to the events as part of Jollywood Nights.
00:20:41
Speaker
My guess is that they are running these, again, just to have some capacity. Yeah, it could be. At the event to keep people from the extremely long lines that are the character meet and greets.
00:20:53
Speaker
that always are there for these, ah ah for these events, the big character events. I didn't know about all this. Yes. Life day Chewbacca is coming to galaxy's edge for Jollywood nights.
00:21:09
Speaker
If you are not familiar with what life day Chewbacca is, then you need to go. As soon as you are done listening to this podcast, go to YouTube and, and search for ah star Wars holiday special.
00:21:22
Speaker
and Okay. That is where the life day Chewbacca, it was a in completely horrible TV show that showed one time and never again. But ah Chewbacca, the the story up behind it is Chewbacca is trying to get home to his planet for what they call Life Day, which is his his version of Christmas, the holidays.
00:21:44
Speaker
And so the whole show is about him trying to get back. Anyway, it showed one time. It was so bad it never showed again. But now it's kind of after so many years has come back. People want it. And so now Life Day Chewbacca is going to become canon.
00:22:01
Speaker
He is now canon in in the Star Wars galaxy. It's going to be on, specifically, it is going to be on November seventeenth this year. And the reason it is on November 17th is because that is the date that the holiday special first aired way back in, ah believe it was the late 70s, I think, or early 80s when that came out.
00:22:23
Speaker
I cannot remember when that show first aired, but And that should have been right in the notes here, though. I know. All right. Other character meet and greets that are coming. Party Source Rex. like that.
00:22:34
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good one. From Toy Story is going to be in Toy Story Land. And then Bing Bong from Inside Out is going to be on Grand Avenue. Another good one.
00:22:45
Speaker
Yep. Over at Echo Lake, Max Goofy as Powerline. I just don't even like that. I don't like that movie. Powerline has a big following. for It does. It does. I don't have i don't like it, but yeah.
00:22:58
Speaker
Stitch, dressed up as Santa Claus, is going to be over at Echo Lake as well. And then this is a kind of a rare one, I think. Baloo and King Louie from Jungle Book. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, we'll be there. So if you are into some rare characters, this is a good place to go.
00:23:12
Speaker
ah a new A new character is going to be over at Rock and Roller Coaster, Miguel from Coco. Nice. So. A lot to see. A lot to see. lot to see. All right. Let's actually go over to the West Coast.
00:23:28
Speaker
And they are doing some drone testing at the Disney Ranch in Santa Clarita. Yeah. And this is for, unfortunately, this show doesn't look like it's going to be coming to the States.
00:23:42
Speaker
From what I understand, this is a show that's going to be debuted at Disneyland Paris. And I don't know how I feel about the drones. Like, it looks kind of cool, but it's still not fireworks. Like, I get you can make more complex things, but things that go boom, I think, you know, kind of supersede things that go block.
00:24:01
Speaker
Now, if you look at the video, and it's out there. Yeah, it's interesting. There are, i gosh, there's got to be at least a thousand drones doing this. There's a lot.
00:24:12
Speaker
and There's a lot, but... but ah But along the lines of what you were saying about fireworks, so unfortunately, if I had to put on my you know my fortune teller's hat, I think this is the future of fireworks shows, is going to be drones.
00:24:28
Speaker
Partially, maybe. I just think people like the boom, though. I agree with you. But from ah from a money standpoint, I think it's going to be cheaper in the long run to do drone shows than fireworks shows because fireworks are one and done.
00:24:43
Speaker
Yeah, hopefully we get some combination of both, some hybrid combination I would like. I think that would work out well also. Yeah. So if you go online, look up the drone testing over at the Disney Ranch, it looks pretty cool. It's cool though.
00:24:55
Speaker
It looks really neat. Very detailed, ah the images that they're doing.
Universal Announcements and Personal Experiences
00:25:00
Speaker
All right, next up, Disney is changing, thank goodness, how it does merchandise sales to offer holiday merch online. And this is all is about battling the resale market.
00:25:13
Speaker
I agree. we were talking about this just in general, me and my wife, you know, not even Disney specific. But like if you're looking for something, it used to be like after the holidays, You would go and you could get a discount. like can you be it Now the resellers just buy everything after the holidays too. So when things go on sale, they don't come in and buy one of something. They buy them all.
00:25:32
Speaker
And then they just mark them up. It's terrible because you used to be able to get like, you know, if you wanted a, you know, one of the artificial Christmas trees. Yeah, you know, wait till after Christmas. They'll be cheaper, but not anymore because they just get bought up. Same thing here.
00:25:45
Speaker
Yeah. And so what Disney is doing is now, instead of like Damon was saying, instead of waiting till after the the event to put things online, they are doing it right now so that if for some reason you can't make it to the event, you can always buy it online and hopefully...
00:26:02
Speaker
That will put a dent on these resellers i hope so making money. I hope so, too, because, man, the pictures you see of people carrying literal trash bags of merch out of the parks is crazy. Yeah, and it's not just there. It's Pokemon cards at Target and Walmart. It's sit's everywhere. There should be some limitations.
00:26:22
Speaker
Yeah. Anyway. All right, moving on. Let's move over to an entire different continent, and we're going to talk about Disney Shanghai. They are building a new resort. This will be the fourth themed hotel at that resort. It's going to include an expansion of the shopping, dining,
00:26:42
Speaker
and entertainment that they have going on there. there's There's no word on the exact theme yet. um The interesting thing about this is they are announcing this fourth hotel before they are even done Building the third hotel. That tells you something.
00:26:58
Speaker
Yeah. So there is definite demand over there. And so all of this is happening right now as Shanghai Disney Resort is welcomed. It's 100. Oh, gosh. What 100 millionth guest?
00:27:10
Speaker
one hundred millionth guest So 100 million people already at Shanghai Disneyland. That's crazy. So anyway, new resort coming there ah from the concept art. And of course, it's just concept art at this point. Looks really nice.
00:27:27
Speaker
So could be a bucket list.
Disney's Future Film Ventures
00:27:29
Speaker
Bucket list trip. All right, folks, that is everything for Park News. So now it's time for the after show. Kind of my favorite part. i'm not going to lie to you.
00:27:50
Speaker
All right, folks, it's time for the after show. First thing right out of the gate, Universal Orlando announces Epic Universe 2026 ticket prices. And let's see, from what I saw on the website, it ranges from the low point is about 164.
00:28:07
Speaker
ah This is going to be on a Wednesday or Thursday in January, and there's some of those dates are in February as well, all the way up to a 194 in late March and early April. And of course, that coincides with all of the school spring breaks.
00:28:21
Speaker
These are just individual day ticket prices. So obviously, if you're going to buy an entire week worth of tickets, you're going to get some sort of a little bit of a break on that. um I love love that. Yeah. Now that it's included in park hopping. Yeah. huge. Yeah.
00:28:35
Speaker
Yep. So what Damon is talking about now, Epic Universe has now included, and this is breaking news, by the way, Epic Universe is going to be included now in park hopping. So they've got some ticket packages specifically for that.
00:28:50
Speaker
Most of them um are going to be four-park, three-day tickets or three-park, three-day tickets. And the only difference between those two, really, is that they don't include Volcano Beach ah in the three-park. Volcano Bay.
00:29:03
Speaker
Volcano Bay. That's what I'm saying. The water park. And it's it's funny. I have not been there. And it's on our list of, like, why haven't we been there? But yeah it's tough to make it there for... Like, it's one of those things where, like, I don't want to pay the price for Volcano Bay one-day ticket.
00:29:19
Speaker
I want it wrapped up in something. But last time, we just didn't have enough time. Like, that was a quick epic trip. So let me tell you, well, first, let let's just say that Harry Potter and Forbidden Journey will have a short refurb from November 10th to the 20th, which is, you know, short refurb.
00:29:34
Speaker
But here's the interesting thing about Epic Universe. And this is, I say this all the time, all the time. I want to be there when it opens because that is the one time in theory that everything's going to be up.
00:29:49
Speaker
Everything's going to be operational. Things haven't changed. So right now, right, we're already dealing with people with there's some like cornhole in front of like the universal monster ride. like Yeah.
00:30:00
Speaker
ah The ah burning um windmill is down. Like all the things that are not working for people. Like I said to my wife, I said, see, this is why you go early. This is why you go when it opens, because now you can get to do everything that you wanted to do.
00:30:18
Speaker
And again, I heard it's kind of busy in comparison to when we went. We went, it wasn't even busy. and And going first thing also allows you to experience it the closest to how the engineers dreamed it up, right? Yeah.
00:30:31
Speaker
Because there's always going to be a B mode where things break down. So the earlier you can go, the closer to the dream or the closer to the image or vision that the Yeah, plus these poor people that go and, you know, they don't get to ride things.
00:30:48
Speaker
yeah Like, my thing was, and we were scared that Stardust Racers was down the day that we were there and we're like, oh, no, but it finally opened back up because we've ridden everything now, right? and don't need to rush back there. which is great. It's a great feeling where you're like, oh, I miss this one rider. I miss that.
00:31:04
Speaker
We plain just got lucky with the Harry Potter ride. Like I said, my daughter just made the decision. She didn't want to do Stardust Racer. So we turned, boom, Harry Potter, 20 minutes, which is unreal because that's normally not the case. of People waiting two, three hours. Like we were done with the whole park, riding everything twice, excluding Harry Potter. And I think the werewolf ride, which was just not worth it.
00:31:26
Speaker
And out of there by two o'clock. was ah Is the Werewolf Ride a 4D screen? No, no, no. It's just like, it's like it's not even like a coaster. it's like It's a coaster, but it's not like a big coaster and you kind of just spin around. like and it's not It's not worth it.
00:31:43
Speaker
It's definitely not worth it. Okay. So, you know, speaking of Harry Potter, aha Disney's always looking to kind of figure out what they can do to compete with Harry Potter, right?
00:31:56
Speaker
Yeah, then they look down the street and they think, man, what if? Because they had the chance to buy Harry Potter way back in the day. Yeah. And I think that happens with a lot of things. But, you know, for them now, it's like, you know, you do have Harry Potter kind of making that resurgence with the HBO special, excuse me, not special series that will be coming. Right. And it's going to be back.
00:32:18
Speaker
Right. It's going to be back. And it's funny. It will be interesting how Universal handles that because they have such this amount in the original Harry Potter technology, right? Like the train, what are they going to do? Are they going to redo the voices? Right. One never knows. Right.
00:32:34
Speaker
But based on that, you know, this is rumor that we're saying that Disney has purchased the firm rights to impossible creatures. Right. So did they do that because they're looking to create a world along the same lines?
00:32:50
Speaker
I think so. I mean, Oh my God. But is it a park thing or is it a Disney plus thing? Or is it both? Ooh.
00:33:01
Speaker
i and and And here's the other dilemma. So they purchase the film rights to this and say, okay, so again, I didn't know much about this because it you know it follows this boy named Christopher who discovers an archipelago, which again is a Rudolph thing for me, the baby new year, right?
00:33:17
Speaker
right um And then you know teams up with this girl and they're find out why magic is not around and magical creatures are dying. But the problem that they have here is is that You know, it's comprised of two books, right? One released in 23 and 25 with three more books planned.
00:33:37
Speaker
yeah Okay, so Rundell, let's say Rundell recently became the first UK children's author since Rowling to reach the number one position on children book charts in the UK and US. But the thing is, it's not done.
00:33:50
Speaker
Like Game of Thrones is a perfect example, right? We can all relate I was just thinking that, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I was reading the books when the books first came out. I've had many discussions with Martin himself in person, right? Super nice guy to me, right?
00:34:03
Speaker
But look at what happened. And like, it's definitely a stain. So like, can you say that This is going to be a great ending. We don't know yet. So I don't know what we're going to get out of this, but it is always interesting to see that Disney's looking to do that. Right. And again, the same thing, like when Harry Potter first came out, they didn't necessarily know how big it was going to be, but once it picked up and was huge, right.
00:34:28
Speaker
the The parks were built way after the fact. Right. and And, you know, the information we have right now is they've just purchased the rights. There's, you know, very little development, if if any development has started on a film yet. I'm i'm sure there's been some, you know, story ideas and script writing, but nothing major. So and ah the first film is still two to three years away.
00:34:51
Speaker
Right. so And here's the other thing. we We had Harry Potter. Those films were great. ah gosh, as close to perfect as as I can think of a film, to be honest with you, in relation to source material, right?
00:35:06
Speaker
Right. And even that wasn't enough, right? They pulled out so many threads that they're going back and creating an eight year series, nine year, eight year, whatever they decided HBO series to get more out of those books.
00:35:19
Speaker
Right. And I've always find that interesting. I've told people many of times, I'm not a movie person anymore. People ask me about movies and, you know, the the big thing for movies always was that they had a larger budget.
00:35:31
Speaker
But now with the way, you know, CGI is done and special effects are done, you don't necessarily need this huge budget to create this realistic world. So for me, I'm not ah i'm not a movie guy. i Listen, the last movie I just watched, I did have to watch the reboot of Vacation, which I know came out a while ago, but I just hadn't seen it.
00:35:48
Speaker
But outside of that, I don't watch movies. I only really watch series. Interesting. I wonder if i'm I'm looking back over the, is it, did it specifically say a film series or did it say...
00:36:02
Speaker
Or is it possible it could be a TV series? Not sure. That I'm not sure. And it would depend where it goes, right, to see how I would feel about it. But interesting, nonetheless, I'm always, like, I'm a fantasy person, so I'm always happy when fantasy series, you know, kind of get looked at.
00:36:20
Speaker
Yeah. I might actually have to read this now. I've never read it, but, like, it might make me kind of give it a quick read. Yeah, my kids and never read it. I think they've aged out. At least I know our youngest one is probably aged out, which means the older two have aged out.
Cruise Bookings and Family Plans
00:36:34
Speaker
Yeah. but they would are you I use all those Amazon digital credits I get.
00:36:39
Speaker
Yeah. Right. Like, i don't I don't need anything that fast. Well, that's not true. Some things I need that fast, right? But most of the time I don't need stuff that fast. So I just go, hey, I'll get it on Wednesday for a dollar digital credit and then ah buy Impossible Creatures with my digital credit and not have to pay anything. I like that.
00:36:56
Speaker
Right. ah You know, I kind of wonder why they did never tapped into... Are you familiar with the Kingdom Keeper series? Yeah. I i like still don't understand why they haven't done anything with that yet.
00:37:09
Speaker
i more I mean, it's not like they've got to license out that IP. It's their own IP. Yeah, but I think it almost hits a little too close to home and it can mess with what they want to do in terms of I think other story stuff, right? I mean, think about it. We have this huge series that I don't even know if you're aware of um from um Disney, right? With the whole, what's that say? after I'm looking it up because I kind of forget. It's the it's the Alice one.
00:37:41
Speaker
Oh gosh, I'm going to, you know where I'm going to go to look it up, I think? I'm going to go BSC kids. could I think somebody wrote about it there. Shameless self-plug there. Yes, shameless is absolutely right. Yes, and it is here. it's called Twisted Wonderland, right?
00:37:57
Speaker
So what this is, this is an an anime for, and it arrives on Disney+, plus but it's based on Alice in Wonderland. And I think and it's it's such a huge anime.
00:38:10
Speaker
Like, that's also something that would be interesting. But it changes, you know what I mean? Like, that I think that's where you kind of worry about. Like, he kind of changes what you're talking about in terms of canon stories, right? Like, if you watch the trailer for that, because I actually haven't watched the show, like, you have Alice, and then you have all these anime characters, and it's Academy, and, like, all the things that would throw off, you know, canon stories about Alice.
00:38:35
Speaker
Right. so All right. ah The other bit of after show news, I'm going to let Damon talk about because it's about him and a cruise that he just booked. So again, like we have the first day out of cruise booking for 2027. So we are skipping 2026 in terms of cruising as because my son was sick on that last cruise. And it's funny because he was like, I'm never going on a cruise again. And then I was like, all right, we're going to make one for 27. You okay with that? don't know. We'll just see. And I like, okay, cool.
00:39:06
Speaker
But then at the end of the day, i was like, Could we have gone on a cruise this year? He's like, yeah. I was like, yeah, wasn't, I understand you were sick, but like, you just got to get past that. Like, I think he thought, and again, get it, like that he was sick from the ship. Like, like, oh, I didn't like being out on the water, but we had been on so many other cruises where he wasn't sick.
00:39:25
Speaker
But if you're sick, then the rocking of the boat is definitely worse. I'll tell you, I was on the Utopia, I think twice the whole trip as four days, is like for like one brief 10 second time frame twice that I felt the ship.
00:39:41
Speaker
They're just so big. yeah Anyway, so we're looking at a 2027 trip. So this is kind of how we're doing it. um You know, I got to start involving the kids, you know, boyfriends, girlfriends, ah girlfriends. Now, my daughter doesn't have a boyfriend yet.
00:39:57
Speaker
But, you know, and involving them in kind of our trips. So my middle one's girlfriend has come with us and my older one's ex-girlfriend had come with us on like a trip to Dollywood, you know, things like that.
00:40:11
Speaker
But we're like, let's open it up a little bit. But, you know, i'm the one paying. So yeah there's always that. What we decided was, is like this year we're doing that cross country trip, right? We're going to Dallas, Grand Canyon, all that.
00:40:23
Speaker
Okay. It's the one where we're going to be right by Disneyland, but no one wanted to go to Disneyland, that one. And then, and then Dollywood. So we have those two trips this year. And then in 27, we're, we both just booked a star of the seas. So Royal Caribbean, it is itinerary, which we kind of like my one son kind of likes going to different places.
00:40:44
Speaker
So we are going to perfect day. um We are going to, you know, St. Thomas, St. Martin. I think it will be nice. Right. We may do an excursion. It's a seven day trip. We'll do the same thing that we did before. we have an ocean balcony for me and my wife. And then on the other side, directly across from us will be the three kids.
00:41:06
Speaker
And they have a balcony that opens up into the middle of the ship. I forget what they call that. Yeah. neighborhood balcony because they kind of like put these things together as neighborhoods. But I'm going to tell you, Star of the Seas looks great.
00:41:18
Speaker
I understand there's been some problems with some of their water rides, but I think they got it right here this time. And we had a great time. the The thing that looks like this is going to be a little bit better. There's like a little food hall in part of the ship which i think will be a nice uh differentiation i think the other thing too is we will do some main dining but we may do some specialty dining and i think this go around think we might have to get like the soda package for all of us it was just too hard to find like water what did you do before then what do you mean just
00:41:54
Speaker
You just drink water? Like, what did you do? so so you have you have water, you have like four or five juices, and I guess there's, I don't drink coffee, but I think there's just coffee and tea as well in like the Windjammer, right? But what happens is, is like, after everything's shut down for the night, like, let's say it's like nine o'clock, 10 o'clock.
00:42:13
Speaker
Right. And then you're like, yo, I'm thirsty. Right. Well, you're kind of stuck because what do you get, right? Like the soda machines, you can't have soda because you don't have the special cups and you can't get water out of the soda machine. So you have to actually find a water machine somewhere, which is very difficult.
00:42:31
Speaker
That is a lesson for us that we learned. So we'll just wait it out and find like, when we can get a pretty good price on the package. And that's what we'll do. Because that was definitely ah minus for us.
00:42:46
Speaker
Because again, I remember there was like a few nights where like, yo, I'm so thirsty. like Okay, go let's go get some water. And we're like, dude, the ships are not small. they're The Utopia is a big ship. And to find water like took us a while. It got so bad that like we would send people out for water. like It was some sort of like desert trip. Yeah, exactly.
00:43:07
Speaker
Can you go out and get three waters? Like, because we're not going out. Like, yeah, I guess I can. Right. You know, and after we found out where they were, it was still kind of a pain. So I think that would be the one thing we would change. and We'll probably do an excursion on one of the islands.
00:43:20
Speaker
Um, so, but yes, I super excited. It is, it's funny. So like a seven day on this, um, cruise will probably be and about what a four day is at Disney.
00:43:32
Speaker
yeah But again, the Disney food is a lot better, but there's a lot more to do on the Royal Caribbean. So we're excited though. So that's 2027. And then in 2028, which we did not book yet, cause it's not out yet, but we are going to do legends of the season. That's where we're going to bring everybody. I guess I better get my, um, wallet ready.
00:43:49
Speaker
yeah Because that's going to be super expensive to add three people that are, you know, not mine. yeah Make sure you can get that second mortgage on your house. right yeah Yeah. Right. um You know, add those people that are not mine, but I'm so excited about it. So just today that happened. And again, they just opened up bookings today and we were, we were waiting.
00:44:07
Speaker
Our MEI travel agent hooked us up. So, cause that's who we used for the past couple ones. Yeah. Yep. And then we'll get a trip report from you when you get it. All right. All right, Damon, you wanted to lead this
Engagement and Closing Remarks
00:44:21
Speaker
next part.
00:44:21
Speaker
Everyone, so we've seen this social media thing where it asks you who you would sit next to on a plane, like pick a seat. We decided to do something very similar with Disney characters, thought it would be kind of fun. You know, you can find it over on our TikTok at Rhubarb Travelers, on our Instagram at Rhubarb Travelers, on our Facebook.
00:44:37
Speaker
And, you know, it makes sense to join our group, even though we don't necessarily talk about this there. We talk about a lot of really fun things. So if you are not aware of what Damon is talking about, pause the show, head on over to the Rhubarb Traveler TikTok account and take a look. It is all about ah airplane seats where you have to essentially choose who are you going to sit between or beside on this very long plane ride. So, Damon, where are you going to sit?
00:45:04
Speaker
I looked at this and decided, for me, it's Baymax and Fairy Godmother. So seat number three for me. And I think this is because the Fairy Godmother could turn that airplane food into, you know, a gourmet meal.
00:45:16
Speaker
And just in case I needed something... Baymax is right there, right? If the case is something, I get hurt. you know Whatever I may need, I think Baymax has it covered. you know The other ones, they're tough for me.
00:45:29
Speaker
Mickey and Minnie would probably be a decent choice as well. you know The Tiana one and Bell one might not be bad, but... Some of these, I don't know if I could do a 12-hour flight. I'm going to be honest with you. So for me, it's the Baymax and the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella.
00:45:45
Speaker
I'm all in on sitting on that seat for 12 hours with no problems whatsoever. Okay. For me, I had to think about this. Believe it or not, I think I would choose the Maleficent and Joy seat.
00:45:58
Speaker
And here's why. I think Joy and I would probably spend the entire 12 hours trying to get Maleficent to crack a smile and doing whatever it took to do it, because that would be a hard nut to crack. Right.
00:46:12
Speaker
And I just think it would be amazing if Joy and I were able to actually make Maleficent smile. If I couldn't get that one, I would probably do Belle and Tiana, mainly because Belle would just read her book the entire time and Tiana would watch something about cooking on the screens. And that would leave me alone so that I could watch my movie. So first choice is Maleficent and Joy.
00:46:36
Speaker
Second choice is Belle and Tiana. Folks, we're going to be doing more things like this. So make sure you go on over to TikTok, follow Rhubarb Traveler so that you can be the first to know about all of these super important surveys and talks that we're going have. OK, well, folks, that's going to wrap it up for this show. We'd like to thank our sponsor.
00:46:57
Speaker
ah Don't resist the travel dot com, please. Yeah, i should have gone there. I just, you know, again, I got already have everything on file over at the other place. But I'll tell you, I really got to switch. Yes. So if you're going to take any type of travel anytime soon, please go to DontResistTheTravel.com and let the folks over there handle every detail in creating and helping you plan out your next extraordinary getaways.
00:47:24
Speaker
Please listen to us on all of your podcast streamers and rate us. If we are not on your favorite platform, drop us a message in the Facebook group so that we can get set up there. um We are also asking, can you just go over to Apple Podcasts and leave us five-star rating and a review there? It will help us out tremendously, even if you don't use Apple Podcasts to listen to the show.
00:47:44
Speaker
Just head on over there. I agree. Make an account and just give us a five-star rating. All right? It'll help us out. And join the group. Please, can we get to 100 people already? Gosh, 97. We're stuck at 97. Please. I know. For those of you that are in the group, share it on your timeline so that we can get more people into the group.
00:48:02
Speaker
We have an email that I've always forgotten to say it until this point. Well, it's funny because people asked. I know. So if you want to send us an email, send it to rhubarbtravelerspodcast at gmail.com.
00:48:16
Speaker
So if you have any questions you ask us you have trip report, like Russell said, send it to our email, rhubarbtravelerspodcast at gmail.com. Like we mentioned at the very beginning, please consider joining our Patreon group.
00:48:33
Speaker
It's just $5 a month right now. That goes a long way into helping servers up running. So please consider joining our Patreon subscribers.
00:48:44
Speaker
We are on all of socials. Make sure you go follow us x slash Twitter. Yeah, we have to talk about that, though, right? I know. Here's the thing. I did one of the airplane things.
00:48:55
Speaker
Who would you sit next to? It's on TikTok and Instagram. Would love it if you could go over, share it, comment on it, all that fun stuff. Plus, you get videos late. That's right. You can't beat videos of late.
00:49:07
Speaker
You can see that I have a face for real.
00:49:11
Speaker
By the way, a big shout out to my nieces, Paige and Jordan. They helped me out. They are sharing that TikTok with all of their friends, and hopefully that will help them out. So please head on over to TikTok, follow Ubar Travelers, and like all of those videos.
00:49:26
Speaker
We're also on Instagram, we're on Facebook. Head on over and follow all of those. So, with all that being said...
00:49:39
Speaker
Folks, the Rhubarb Travelers podcast is for entertainment purposes only. We are not employed by the Walt Disney Company or NBCUniversal, the Karen company of Universal Studios. And as such, all opinions expressed on the show are exclusively our own.
00:49:54
Speaker
Please consult a DBC or Disney cast member or Universal team member for more information about anything we might have talked about today.